Monday, April 18, 2011

Pokey, Pokey

Owen had his first two rounds of Japanese acupuncture last week. Since Japanese acupuncture isn't as common as Chinese acupuncture, we had to drive all the way to Lawrence for this procedure. The acupuncturist we chose is Gina Halsey; she specializes in neurological disorders and seemed to fit the mold of what we wanted. Owen responded with flying colors to the treatments, and he tolerated the needles extremely well, as I knew he would. Although we didn't see a drop in seizures, we saw many other improvements: 1) he can poop on his own! Hopefully no more suppositories every other day!, 2) his energy level was through the roof; I had a hard time telling if he was having a seizure or just moving his body like crazy, 3) awesome eye contact and tracking; he followed his cousin Ashtyn (sorry if I mutilated the spelling Tara) all the way across the dining room, and he laughed and smiled like CRAZY after the treatments, 4) and finally last but definitely not least, a decreased gag reflex; Owen isn't puking during mealtime almost every day anymore! He has lost quite a bit of weight because of the loss in caloric intake over the past few months, so I'm hoping he'll gain this weight back now that he's eating well again. This is all great news to us, but we are hoping in the next few treatments that we see a decrease in seizures as well.

We are so lucky to be able to stay with Gavin's cousins Randy and Tara, and their kids, Peyton, Ashtyn, and Houston. Tara has a stay-at-home daycare (not to mention an AMAZING house!) and has offered to watch Dex while I take Owen to treatments. She was a GREAT help and Dex seemed to love the new environment and all the other kids. We go back (already) on Wednesday and Thursday. Gavin is able to come with us this time, and I am super excited for him to see the process, and especially to have his help! We'll see what this week's treatments bring.

No comments:

Post a Comment