Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I Saw The Sign

The visit with the "functional neurologist" aka chiropractor studying for his Diplomate in Neurology, yesterday was quite a waste of our time.  However, I needed to chat with him to rule it out... give it a good look... feel with my mommy's gut that he could not help our Roa.

 The first sign-When you enter the one room therapy center and are greeted by the receptionist who instructs you to have a seat as she is so "busy", and  you look around to see 2 employees chatting, 1 client waiting, and 1 client involved in some sort of therapeutic method involving a chair, headphones, and magazine.... you wonder why you are there to wait. 
 I had filled out their lengthy intake forms and watched their dry videos of the doctor speaking on the brain prior to our consultation meeting as strictly instructed. The receptionist made me sign additional forms while I juggled my active Roa and then... we waited... 20 minutes, as the doctor chatted with a client in his little office off the therapy room. 
The two employees and the receptionist chattered away, pausing to watch me walk around the room, hunched over with King Roa kicking his ball.  There were no toys or objects of interest for Roa to be seen.
 2- Another "why am I here" sign.
When the doctor finally came to greet us, he shook my hand but gave just a glance to Roa.  Sign number 3.
We went to his office and he preceded to ask, "So, what questions do you have for me?"

"Well, I'm curious and wanted to meet with you today to see if you could help my son.  I saw your add in the paper, have been reading on the treatments of brain injury and so wanted to see what your program would look like for Roa."  I stated.

Well, with cerebral palsy there is no cure. It is something that he will have to live with. There are many things we can do to work with him but it would take us being very persistent and aggressive...3 times a week.... and many off the things we can do here he is just to young for....yada yada yada... punch   jab   stab    your   heart...

He asked me if I was familiar with the works of Glenn Dowan and the IAHP.org,  I told him, yes, I am reading their book on brain injury.  He looked shocked and unbelieving and then went on to tell me that he follows their methods, but that they are hard on a family ...necessary follow through daily.... patterning.... incline plane for crawling....  yada yada yada... church involvement for support of methods.....hardship and possible divorce...

Man, does this guy know how to bring you down without selling his program ONE bit!  HUGE FLASHING SIGN 4!

Funny thing, while Doctor Downer was lecturing away, Rojo was smiling up at him,  drinking from his sippy cup and kicking his ball with me in tow around the tiny office space.  Roa seemed to be laughing as if thinking, Why are we listening to THIS, Momma?  We should be playing!  
Final sign- we are outda here!

Brain based therapy, so very close to home, ruled out.  Checked from list.

There are many people out there in our world whose method WILL work for you given this that and the other.  I continue to sort, dig, pick and choose.   

Meanwhile, Roa continues to smile, laugh, and kick his ball, with me in tow,  all round the offices of  "The Land of Know".

2 comments:

  1. You certainly have a healthily developing taste for judging developmental interventions.

    If it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a quack. With the active help of your Roa, you soon had that one spotted.

    I imaging that Doman D will be next!

    Keep up the good work of whittling down the field...


    Andrew Sutton.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good for you following your mommy gut Jennifer. :) Keep watching those signs.

    ReplyDelete

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