Natalie and I are leaving for Maui!!

If all goes smoothly and everyone shows up to get Josh covered, Natalie and I are off to the Grand Wailea in Maui on the 5th of April!!  We cannot wait.  I so desperately need this!  I have hit the wall and if I don't get out of Dodge soon, I'll end up in the big house for sure!!  Then, there will be no Josh and no one to care for Natalie and the dogs....among other things...   I guess I am sick of rowing the boat, just plain ole exhausted mentally and physically.... 

Have I told you guys about Vin, Josh's newest caregiver?  He is a wonderful young man who just graduated from college in the Phillipines and is studying to be an ICU nurse.  He is humble, patient and very efficient!  He  stays with us from Thursday to Monday.  Vin is 22, speaks perfect English and plays Xbox, Monopoly, Chess, scrabble and pool with Josh.  It's wonderful!  When Vin is around, Josh doesn't call me 20 times a day and ask me in the haunting, crazy voice...  "When am I going back to college, Mom?"  Only drawback is Vin does not drive yet.  So...I am still running Josh around to his appointments. 

Josh has started up again with the hyperbaric oxygen therapy and has also started a new program called FastForward which is a neuroplasticity computer based program which is designed to remap the brain, open up new passage ways, help with memory, speech and yes, REASONING!!!  Wouldn't that be nice?  To be able to reason with Josh would be amazing.  Josh continues to have moments of clarity, but most of the time he is still into the "Where's Dad?" thing and the "When am I going back to college?" thing....  very frustrating.  Josh continues to do well with others.  He does not act as nuts with his caregivers as he does with me.  The mothers are always the whipping posts.  Lucky us!  PARENT ABUSE. 

My brother, Mike and I had a telephone conference with Dr. David Perlmutter, the neurologist out of Naples, Florida, that wrote the Better Brain Book and Brain Recovery.  We had a three way conference call and Dr. Perlmutter actually gave me somewhat of a road map to go by.  He said Josh needs another 50 to 75 hyperbaric oxygen treatments, that he needs to take 1250 mgs of DHA, a fish oil which will turn on the seratonin in the brain.  He also gave me a laundry list of other vitamins and minerals which Josh needs to take, like vitamin D, NAC and resveratrol, to name a few.  Dr. Perlmutter did not hesitate to tell us what we needed to do for Josh.  I liked that.  He had Josh's medical records and the original MRI which was taken immediately after the accident.  He said that Josh's hippocampus (the part of the brain which has to do with memory) can regenerate itself over time.  That was nice to hear...  

We'll see what happens over time...  In the interim, things suck.  Josh's progrress is extraordinarily slow.  I do see some small improvements with memory.  He is learning to know the names of new people.  For example, he knows all the guys at HBOT, like Bob Sands, Ivan, Ben and Saul.  He knows Bob is from Australia.  He enjoys going there and has watched Oceans 13 the past ten sessions. I tell him, "Josh, you saw that movie yesterday," and Josh says, "No, I didn't, Mom."  It's like the movie Fifty First Dates with Drew Barrymore....  

I'll finish updating this blog when I get back.  I have to pick Josh up from the Encinitas Learning Center. 

 

Joshy, Colin and wild dogs, Ruffy and Daisy.  This photo was taken when Colin came to visit Josh before his trip to Japan.  Colin, hope all is going well in Japan and that you are having the time of your life....you lucky kid!

Zach came to visit Josh during Spring Break.  Open your eyes, Josh!

Here's Natalie, Olivia and Lauren, all dolled up for the National Charity League senior presentation ceremony held at the Four Seasons.

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