Through prayer, God led me to the Carrick brain center. Over the next few weeks I will go into more detail, but for now I will simply post the emails I sent out during my 8 day stay in the Dallas,TX area:
I would like to update all and
thank you for your prayers.... They are working and I can feel them. I thank you
all for our concern and since your prayers and thoughts are with me and our
family I want to let you know in more detail what is going on.
Day 1---wow, what a long day. From snow blowing the snow away, rushing to work then
airport then getting to my room at 1am eastern time I was exhausted before even
starting. However, after waking up and walking to the clinic, the first full day
at the brain center was exhaustive. However, your texts and emails and prayers
gave me a huge boost. All paperwork was done so I walked in, got a tour of the
facility and then prepared to be diagnosed through several hours of testing.
They did an eye tracking test, balance tests, neurological exams, gait test,
hearing, sensitivity and reflexes. Each group of tests would run about an hour
each and then you'd go to a cool down area to let the brain relax. There were
others in this room and we talked about why we were there, what we hoped to get
out of this trip and what phase in therapy they were in. What a great group of
people... One with a spinal cord injury and you'd never know by his humor,
attitude and kindness. Many others in there with brain injuries, concussions
with nasty, prolonged side effects, a woman that suddenly was blind. It was
amazing to see their hope and faith expressed in kindness, empathy and genuine
laughter. I was floored at their hope and faith.
Any way I went with the
doctor to go over what he found and the plan for rehabilitation. He explained
everything thoroughly showing where imbalances were in my brain and body. I
won't get into too many of those details right now. The plan was to stimulate
the weaker parts of the brain and to basically reprogram the bad program that's
controlling the bad stuff and put new " code" in its place. The way they do this
is simple yet complicated. By stimulating the brain (visually and
electronically) repetitively will retain the brain to use the good code in place
of the bad code. So around 4pm (yesterday) we were able to start 2 of the 5
daily treatments. First was a tongue stimulator because my left pallet was not
functioning. This sends a signal to that part of the brain which controls....
You guessed it, neck muscles along with other Phantom symptoms I've had. Next
was a simple treatment.. Keep my head still and follow a dot that scrolls
randomly across the screen. Even though simple it's one of the more effective
treatments.We finished up around 5pm. At that point I went back to the hotel,
ate and then walked to a grocery store to get snacks and such . Talked with my
wonderful wife, we prayed and I was existed and went to bed around 7:30 pm
central time. End of day one.
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Hello all, once again thanks for
your prayers and thoughts. Today was the first full day of testing and it feels
like like I did not do much but my body is exhausted.
We did all 5 of the
rehabilitation techniques. In addition to the other two we did one that was like
a 55" ipad where to would fixate on one point and then touch dots that pop up on
the screen... Actually it was kind of fun. Then there's the rotation machine
that you sit in and it rotates in a way to counter ill effects on the brain...
It was weird but each I went through this process my blood pressure dropped and
dizziness disappeared. Everyone says this machine helps the most and I can
attest to that. Next was feet in water and they send electrical impulses through
it... I did not react well to this as my legs felt like led weights and my
stomach became upset. Everything else we did 3 times each in 3 separate
sessions. The foot in water thing was only done once. I finished up today around
3:15, went back to the room and took a nap. It's amazing how exhausted I was for
completing such simple treatments. End of day 2.
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Hello all,
I hope your week went well. It's still too early to see if
treatments are working but I do feel a little better in some aspects but
unchanged in others. Day three was challenging yet exilerating as well. He
pushed me to the limits on all 5 therapies 3x on the third day. I felt good but
completely Exhausted in a weird way. The only Way I can describe it is similar
to when you wake up from a nap... You feel calm and rested yet your brain and
body need to catch up. Anne and Jenna are here and really gave me a great boost.
It's so great to see them. They were able to sit through the many sessions and
see what's going on. The sessions are getting more intense which is good as it
shows there's progress. Today we are meeting with the woman who is blind and her
husband please pray for them as well. Their attitude and Outlook is amazing.
Thank you all once again for your prayers and concerns.
End of day 3
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Hello all,
Hope you had a great weekend. Went through another day of
therapy. Today there was some good news... My left palate that had no activity
was now actively flexing and reacting much better. Even though it was still
lower than the right side of the palate, it was actually functioning where
before it was not. We were able to get therapy sessions stacked and achieved
before 3 pm. I was not nearly as tired today and felt real good after the second
treatment. It seemed like a fast day as the treatments were back to back. Even
though there seems to be improvement we don't know exactly to what extent until
the botox injections wear off a bit and I continue with at home therapy as well.
Thank again for all your prayers and thoughts.
Tomorrow I have two more
therapy sessions and two post / release tests to get an idea of progress.
End of day 4
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