Home school had it's advantages

                                             Vacations

Being home schooled with health issues allowed us to work with Chloe’s doctors to take some great vacations. We took extra medication and had emergency plans worked out a head of time.

1998 when Chloe was 6 year old, we went to France with a church choir that my husband and oldest daughter belonged to. We travelled all over France and stayed they sang at different churches and also site see in that amazing country. Her emergency plan worked out well and was put on extra allergy medication so she could totally enjoy her vacation. We travelled all over France for about 2 weeks.

2000 when Chloe was 8 years old, we travelled to California. We went to Disneyland and Sea World and other attraction. Concerned about allergy issues we found the trip in was well managed and so was the vacation. We did run into delays on takeoff at the airport which caused a brief episode but for the most part the planning with the doctors really helped.

2001, Chloe was age 9 years old. We travelled to Mall of America in Minnesota. It was a much easier trip by car and we went to Minneapolis and St. Paul site seeing. We did not have to deal with airplane and airport issues so it was a much easier trip to plan for.

2004, A cottage was built on my husband family land. Since then, we go up several times a year and travel on one day sightseeing trips from the cottage.

2012, in January we travelled to Palm Bay Florida to see Chloe’s godmother, a good friend of ours who recently moved there. We went by car and had fun travelling there and back through all the different states we

Chloe was born with a bulging disc in her neck which caused a pinch nerve in her upper back which caused her not to move and develop her muscles properly due to pain when she moved. This is the theory the doctors, occupational and physical therapist are working with.  Chloe saw the neurologist this last Thursday. The neurologist sees through exercising with the bulging disc is now mild Chloe’s arms has more strength and she has more control of them. Her arms are recovering nicely with proper exercise. Her ability to bend her back she still problems with so the neurologist has referred for more physical therapy on her upper back to evaluate it and give suggests how we can work on it after therapy. The neurologist complimented Chloe on her progress and the Doctor says she sees major changes every 3 months when she sees Chloe.

Recovery plan

Chloe sees a personal trainer 2 hours a week at the YMCA, usually on Tuesday and Thursday to work on strengthening her arms without weight bearing and cardio-vascular activities. Chloe goes to the YMCA and either swims 10 lengths on her back and works on proper arm movement after, or she does a cardio-vascular and stretching type workout and  I supervise either one.

For the past 3 months Chloe has worked a volunteer couple hours at St. Vincent DePaul thrift store on Saturday. Her job is to pick up the clothes and hang up Shirts, Skirts, Pants and shoes. She straightens shelves and book shelves. All activities she is using her arms and whole back in none weighting activities.   I supervise her and she is very slow but can eventually do these tasks independently.

She volunteered at ST. Ben’s meal program. It was too fast a setting and Chloe had a hard time bending her upper back slightly and scooping food up on trays she seem to just not be able to do that either.

So as you can see finishing the final chapters as we do them can take us in different directions then expected!

Today Chloe was able to lay on 5 different mattresses at the store. She was able to tell the clerk and me which ones were okay, fine and great! We bought one that she said was great. She is able to express her needs and wants better every day with this treatment to reduce pain. We have another example to tell the neurologist about as to why the treatment is working when we see her next week. Also she is now not wearing ear plugs in either ear but carries them along in case she may need them!

Amazing what can happen when the spine and discs are in proper alignment!

Chloe is now working on her City bus skills. She is using her arms at SVDP thrift store hanging up clothes and straightening shelves. Friday night we will check out a meal program to see how she can help out there once a week with a two hour shift helping with supper. September we will also check back at the YMCA to see if she can volunteer behind the front desk and how that paper work is progressing.

Chloe's sensitivity to sounds keeps improving this is a suggested reason why that might be so!
Excerpt from the book:

                                                 Language sensitivity

Prosody is the rhythm, stress and intonation of speech.

Various features of prosody are the emotional state, the form of the utterance

 (statement, question or command). Other features maybe the

presence of irony or sarcasm, emphasis, contrast and focus.

All of these are processed in the right hemisphere of the brain.

Chloe’s bulging disc is at a mild state and she has improved control of her left side of her body which is connected to the right hemisphere. She is now able to tolerate more discussions around her

and listen to singer with unique voices.

She still is very concerned about laughing or clapping but not sure if

 she still having issue with them or if she still thinks she will have

 pain when she hears them so it is more a conditioned response.

Changed the opening of the paragraph to what happen and how we had to rehab the condition to figure it out!

  The neurologist explained that the MRI will help us to understand the neurological disorder Chloe has that caused her to be born a floppy infant with low tone, loose joints and muscles. After the MRI on December 21, 2011, the neurologist got a call from the Doctor who was reading the MRI results and reported the brain was not showing any abnormalities.   The occupational therapist in sessions with Chloe after this, kept pointing out that this felt like a pinched nerve in Chloe’s upper back.   At her next Doctor appointment, I asked if I could use the words pinched nerve in the story I was writing.  The Doctor said only if we can find a reason then he turn his attention MRI report and found the reason.  This bulging disc appears to be a major factor in Chloe’s tone, muscles and joints issues.   We will attempt to show you what therapies, medications and learning techniques help us finally get answers and possible why they may of helped and how we rehab the condition so we could figure it out.

3 half hour session left on understanding the Brain! Here is another excerpt from the book!

                                                     Language

Thanks to music therapy Chloe is quite a talker. Music is processed like language in the brain.

 Music and language have areas of the brain that deal with rhythm, tempo and anticipation ending.

We hear music in our heads like we have self talk there too.

 Both music and language are auditory and have a written
 language.

There is hemisphere dominance or specialization in both
language and music.

Chloe learned language by hearing it but by the written word,
she understood it quicker.

 When we would have an emotional dispute we would discuss it on
a white board.

 At the start Chloe would understand what was said on the white
board faster than if we just discussed it.

 Now she understands the spoken and written word equally most
of the time.

Music therapy kept the language pathways open while we cleared
 up her pain issues.
 Now she can focus on language in both speaking and hearing it.

                                            

The research is fascinating.  Here is one of the systems I did not
 know about before Chloe's bulging disc was discovered.

                        Somotasensory system

This is the system that informs us about objects in the external
environment through touch. It also lets the position of the body
 parts(proprioception) through stimulation of muscles and joints.
 Another action of this system is to monitor the temperature of
the body, external objects and environment. This system tells
Chloe what is painful, itchy and tickling stimuli. All of these
messages are sent along different anatomical pathways
depending on information.

In the book I share how Chloe is working through several
 issues she has with this system.