Tag Archives: brain

Perspective

6 Dec

Cole and I are back in San Jose.  We are in a hotel, and Piper (the dog) is with us.  Our room is spacious and the hotel package comes with daily complimentary breakfast and dinner.  And if I don’t look too closely, and if I don’t acknowledge the taste of tin in the beans and enchiladas,  I am happy and grateful to have the spacious room and food to eat.  It’s all in how you look at it, right?!

The last time we were up here Dr. Zhu wanted Cole to keep the needles in his scalp until bedtime (at the very least), but Cole wasn’t comfortable going back to the house, of my god parents, with needles still intact.  And I confess, I proclaimed that I didn’t want to be a part of the removal process.  So it worked out that the doctor removed them just before we left the clinic, thus Cole and my inhibitions were catered to, and we did not have to rise to yet another occasion.  But that is not the case this time.  Being that we are in a “hotel” (I use the word loosely, only because it reminds me more of a motel–though the staff are very kind), Cole decided to give it a go…and who am I to get in the way of progress!?  So just a few moments ago, after ingesting my free meal, I removed the needles.  WHEW!!

By the way, we both survived.  …just a few drops of blood!

Having Piper with us has been interesting.  We went first to Sacramento so we could attend the memorial service of my Aunt Hilda on Saturday.  My mom graciously agreed to house us all for the 2 days we were there.  She allowed Piper to take over her house as well as utilize her back yard.  Then we came to the “hotel”.  Piper is adjusting, but not having an enclosed yard is trying–for her and for me.  In fact, I need to wrap up this post because I need to take ‘her majesty’ out to do her business before we all turn in.  I have been on the mad search for an enclosed dog park so our little lady can go off leash for a time (she’s not used to doing her “main business” on leash), and thanks to my connections in the bay area (Stacey), I know where to go when tomorrow comes.

Uh oh, Cole just asked me if I smell cigarette smoke.  Yes I do.  The “hotel” is non-smoking, but that is all a matter of PERSPECTIVE!  So Cole and I (and Piper too) are deciding to like the smell of stale. second-hand smoke wafting down the hallway.  At least we don’t have carpeted floors.  In fact, I am sitting on the couch typing and there is a full length mirror in front of me.  I have just told my mirror-image that it’s a good time for a walk.  So ciao for now.

Cole and Piper on the couch in our hotel--needles still in!

 

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Have Flu, Will Travel

1 Nov

Well it didn’t happen as my title suggests.  I traveled, then returned home and awoke the next day with the flu.  That was yesterday.

Once a year my girlfriend and I take a weekend respite on the island of Santa Catalina.  Our weekend is typically planned one year in advance of our departure, so when the time comes rolling into view, our internal engines get revving for take off.  Or in this case, being it’s an island we are traveling to, our engines get ready to set sail.  Of course there have been a few years when circumstances on the home-front threaten to call off the voyage.  Such as when Brian’s mom was in the hospital in 2007, and such as this year when our family is still undergoing the recuperation of Cole Bent.  But alas, I needed this break so very much that I practically ran to the boat, luggage in hand, with the threatening promise to keep my phone off for the next three days (as well as the derogatory commentary which accidentally slipped through my lips that went something like this; “They’ll be lucky if I ever return!”).  And come Sunday, the last day of our Isla del Sol, I was seriously, though not wholeheartedly, considering taking myself up on the threat in parentheses.  Which is probably why I was punished the following morning with “Moctezuma’s Revenge” and had to spend most of the day connected to the latrine and when not in the bathroom, in the prone position.  Cole took over the candy duty for our neighborhood trick-or-treators last night as Brian had a gig, and Esther had other plans.  I remained on the couch, where I’m sure all the parents’ of excited children, were grateful to have me.

Today am feeling better, though a bit sluggish.

A strange occurrence happened to me while on the island this past weekend…I was plagued by hay-fever type allergies.  So much so that I actually bought allergy medicine for an exorbitant fee from the local store.  But the medicine did help stop the incessant sneezing.  It was strange for me to be in the shoes of an allergy sufferer because I have not been one in the past.  That was always my brother, Greg’s, familial position.  I was always the vocal bystander, the one who would point out to my brother how irritating his continuous sneezing was for all of us in his presence.  Anyway, I’m thinking my body chemistry is changing–which is something that has been “winking” at me for some time now.  An irritating reality!

Now the past two weeks or so, Cole has been asking me to find him an acupuncture doctor because he is interested in looking into the effects of acupuncture for his cranial nerve damage, more specifically, his face.  So while on Catalina, and because of my own personal health revelation, I mentioned the scenario to my friend.  She spoke of a doctor who came highly recommended in the arena of natural medicine, though she didn’t know much detail about her practice.  So today I followed up with the lead and learned this doctor is an MD who embraced holistic medicine because its benefits, she found, are more helpful to the patient on the long term.  Yet she still supports the influence of Western Medicine for acute scenarios, such as that of a brain tumor.  Anyway, her name is Dr. Connealy and her practice is in Irvine.  Turns out she has a broad range medical facility, with many medical partners and disciplines, including but not limited to, acupuncture.  I called and learned they do take many insurance plans, but not that of ours.  Dr. Connealy is not an Anthem Blue Cross provider which means we would have to cover the fee at time of consultation and then submit it to our insurance for “hopeful” reimbursement.  The fee?  A mere $425.00 per person.  Yes, I had hoped to go as well for my new found allergy issues as well as imbalanced hormone issues, but at $425- a pop, it’s not going to happen!

Here is where you come in…

Do any of you have a lead for Cole’s request specifically and firstly, as well as mine secondly.  I am hoping to find a naturalist doctor who is also an MD, who is in the Anthem Blue Cross network of providers.  I hope and pray you or someone you know will point us in the right direction; a direction we can afford preferably.  I look forward to your feedback.

Now back to my happy place I go, “Twenty six miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is a waiting for me…”

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The Fine Line

26 Oct

Today, while I was using a public restroom, I found myself crying out to G-d, tormented by my own dysfunction.  The part about the restroom is important because it happened to be the only location where I had a moment to myself…it was a single stall!

My cry?

“Why is it so hard at this very moment to have a good attitude?!  Why am I so focused on the things I want to dismiss?! AAAaaahhhhHH”

In other words, why am I walking such a fine line today?  Why, oh why, oh why!

What a dumb question.  What a pointless attitude…and yet, it was mine today!

But here is some good news;

Cole has ditched his walker and is using a cane.  He made this decision on Saturday, October 8th.  I remember because that was the day of Brian’s family reunion here at our house…as if I wasn’t tired enough, Cole decided to teeter and totter on that particular day.  The first week of his cane use I felt like I had sandbags running through my veins, mucking up my circulatory system, and therefore rendering me prone most of the week.  I was just so nervous he would fall over; in fact, he told me to not react so quickly to catch him when his footing went awry.  He told me to let him try to catch himself, like his friends do if he is with them.  I told him, “yeah right! I am not your friend, I am your mother…letting you possibly fall goes against my nature!”

Yet here he is in his third week of cane use, and his balance (or his compensatory abilities) have improved greatly!  I am not such a nervous wreck as I walk next to him, and his confidence makes for a good teacher.

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