Medical Treatments:

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).

Aidan did 40 dives at 1.3 ATA and 100% oxygen in a mono hard chamber in June/July 2007 and 40 more at 1.5 ATA in October/November 2007.  The treatments were through Dr. Paul Harch www.harchhyperbarics.com.  We did not see any real improvement and Dr. Harch recommended that we not continue the treatments.  However, Dr. Hammesfahr (see below) believes that HBOT combined with his vaso-dilation therapy, can be beneficial.  Therefore, in June of 2009 we took Aidan to Miracle Mountain http://www.miraclemountain.org/, for further treatments.  Aidan completed 40 dives in a multiplace chamber in July 2009. since the summer we have noticed an improvement in Aidan's speech.  Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing whether the HBOT contributed to that improvement.  In May and June of 2010 Aidan did 40 more dives in a multi-place  chamber while attending  Ability Camp  in Canada, for 5 weeks. I seems as though he  had a slight spike in speech development this summer, and again, there is no way to know whether this is just natural development or the result of the hyperbaric oxygen.  We also noticed some slight improvement in his trunk control, but this seems to be related to the conductive education, rather than the HBOT.
 

G-therapy: www.g-therapy.org

G therapy is a treatment developed on Aruvedic principals, by Dr. Oswal, in India.  We were able to obtain G therapy, in Fall 2007, when another family traveled to India to obtain G therapy for their child and offered to bring it back to several families.  We tried it with Aidan for a few months, but then discontinued when he went to Russia for stem cell treatments.  We did not see any improvements during the time he was taking G-therapy.

Autologous Stem Cell Treatments in Russia:

www.neurovita.ru

As a result of countless hours spent surfing the internet and lurking on yahoo chat groups, I met a man from Ireland who was taking his daughter to Russia for autologous (derived from the patient, rather than a donor) stem cell treatment.  Brian decided to fly to Russia to meet him and his daughter and the doctors performing the treatment.  After speaking with them (sort of, there is a big language barrier there), Brian took Aidan for his first treatment in December 2007.  Aidan had three additional treatments in Russia at 6 week intervals thereafter.  We discontinued the treatments after 4 because we observed no significant improvement in Aidan.  After completing the treatments in Russia, we learned from a U.S. researcher, that the type of cells used, really could not effect change in Aidan’s brain.  Currently in the U.S. there are clinical studies being done, treating children with brain injury (mostly CP) with their own stem cells derived from their own stored cord blood. There has been some success with these treatments.  We did not save Aidan's cord blood so we are limited to using his own cells (adult cells), or some one else's cells.  As far as we know, no one in the U.S. is using adult or donor cord blood cells to treat brain injury, although these treatments are available in China, Germany and elsewhere.  I am skeptical as to whether the donor treatments work, because I have never seen anyone claim to have more than just the slightest improvement from the treatment.  We are hopeful that the science will advance SOON so that we can try donor cord blood with Aidan in the U.S. 

               Vaso-dilation Treatment-Dr. Hammesfahr: http://www.brainandstroke.com/

Dr. Hammesfahr is a neurologist who, until recently,  practiced in St. Petersburg, Florida.  He claims that vaso-dilating medications can increase the blood flow in the brain and thereby improve brain function.  We took Aidan to see Dr. H in November 2008, and began the therapy then.  After starting the treatment we noticed an improvement in his language development.   In (December 08/January 09) he began saying some simple 2 word combinations, such as “I go”  and “my keys”. We returned to see Dr. Hammesfahr in the Summer of 2009.  In October of 2009 we encountered grave difficulty in dealing with his office.  As a result, we discontinued the treatment.  In the Spring of 2010, my husband received a voice mail message from Dr. Hammesfahr saying he was closing his practice in order to do research.  When Brian tried to call the office he, of course, got no answer and no return phone call.  Dr. Hammesfahr called a few days later and left another message to the same effect.  Brian was never able to speak to anyone to find out what was going on, and we still do not know.  We are saddened by this turn of events. We invested a lot of time, hope and money in trying to implement this treatment,.   I feel now more than ever, that DR. Hammesfahr's treatment may have been a scam.

Therapies:

Therapeutic Horseback Riding (Happy Trails, Franklinton LA (985) 839-9736

Aidan started horseback riding in October 2007.  It took us a while to find a riding center that would allow children under the age of 4 to ride.  The theory behind this therapy, as I understand it, is that the motion of the horse approximates the motion of walking in the trunk and hips, and provides input to the brain as well as strengthening the muscles.  I’m not sure that horseback riding has done Aidan any good physically, but he enjoys it. 

This is basically a home program of exercises, based on the Doman method that is taught at the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential: http://www.iahp.org/. (Also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Institutes_for_the_Achievement_of_Human_Potential for Winkipedia’s entry on iahp).

Aidan was evaluated and we started his home program.  The problem with these programs is that you need time and people.  Most of the exercises require at least 2 people to perform and it is recommend that 3-4 people work with the child.  We managed to do the exercises about 5 times a week for about 8 weeks. Then, we got busy and the whole thing fell apart.  Aidan started pre-school in October 2008, and we just do not have the time to do this program at night. We may re-visit the plan, if we can get our lives more organized.  After meeting a family at Miracle Mountain that had a lot of success with the Doman/iahp program, we decided to re-start the "patterning program" from Hope and a Future.  Unfortunately, we once again failed. . . more about this under neurodevelopmental evaluation on my blog: http://blog.aidansanswer.org/.

Intensive P.T./Suit Therapy

Aidan did three weeks of this therapy in May 2008.  We chose to go to Therapies4kids in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida: http://www.therapies4kids.com/.  The reason that I chose therapies4kids, it that I knew that the hyperbaric oxygen center in the same building had a Quadriciser (an exercise machine that can replicate a crawling pattern, claimed to provide input to help the brain overcome deficits or more information visit: www.quadriciser.com, and I wanted Aidan to try it. In all honesty, I do not think that Aidan made any improvement as a result of the therapy, and it is quite expensive.  About a year after attending  therapies4kids we learned that a suit therapy center opened about 45 minutes from where we live, Innovative Therapy & Fitness.  and we decided to try another three week session at the end of the summer 2009.  Innovative Suit therapy now takes insurance so we  returned in  2010, and plan to try to do 4 sessions per year as recommended.   You can learn more about suit therapy at http://www.aaippt.org. 

The Feldenkrais Method: http://www.feldenkrais.com/

I can’t really explain Feldenkrais; best to look at the website. I was lucky to find a very experienced practitioner in New Orleans, and Aidan has had quite a few lessons since he started in October 2008.  Over the last few months, he has made some slight improvements in his prop sitting and also in the use of his hands.  As always, we really don’t know if these improvements are the result of any particular therapy or treatment.  Because Aidan was out of town the majority of the summer pursuing HBOT and visiting Dr. Hammesfahr,  I discontinued Feldenkrais.  in the summer of 2009.  We returned for about 4 months  later in the year, but we have abandoned this therapy again because I really did not see any improvement in Aidan.

               Chiropractic Care

Aidan has been treating with a Chiropractor for about two and  a half years. He performs adjustments on Aidan about once a week, and also employs a massage therapist who gives Aidan a massage intended to improve his range of motion.  Our chiropractor also gives Aidan homeopathic medicines and supplements that are supposed to improve brain function.

Conductive Education:

Aidan attended a 5 week  conductive education camp  at Ability Camp in Canada in May and June 2010. Although, as a result of the brevity of the camp, we did not see huge improvements, we did see enough improvement to make me believe that Aidan could benefit from continued Conductive Education.  Unfortunately, we cannot continue with Conductive Education where we live.  The best that we can do is to return to Ability Camp or take him to a summer session at one of a handful of Conductive Education Centers in the U.S.

Other:

I know that many people believe in the power of prayer, and I know that people we know and people we do not know have prayed for Aidan’s recovery and continue to do so.  At the suggestion (insistence?) of a friend, I took Aidan to see Sister Dulce, a catholic nun, with a “healing mission” in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Unfortunately, we did not see a "miracle cure", but who am I to say that his improvements are not the result of divine intervention?

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