Cerebral Palsy - making it all work

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a disorder that affects muscle tone, movement, and motor skills (the ability to move in a coordinated and purposeful way). Cerebral Palsy is usually caused by brain damage that occurs before or during a child's birth, or during the first 3 to 5 years of a child's life.

The brain damage that leads to cerebral palsy can also lead to other health issues, including vision, hearing, and speech problems, and learning disabilities.

There is no cure for Cerebral Palsy, but treatment, therapy, special equipment, and, in some cases, surgery can help a child who is living with the condition.

About Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is one of the most common congenital (existing before birth or at birth) disorders of childhood. About 500,000 children and adults of all ages in the United States have the condition.

The three types of Cerebral Palsy are:

1. spastic cerebral palsy — causes stiffness and movement difficulties
2. athetoid cerebral palsy — leads to involuntary and uncontrolled movements
3. ataxic cerebral palsy — causes a disturbed sense of balance and depth perception

Cerebral palsy affects muscle control and coordination, so even simple movements — like standing still — are difficult. Other vital functions that also involve motor skills and muscles — such as breathing, bladder and bowel control, eating, and learning — may also be affected when a child has Cerebral Palsy.  Cerebral Palsy does not get worse over time, but it can appear to get worse as the effect of muscles that do not grow with the bones cause various physical deformations.

Causes of Cerebral Palsy

The exact causes of most cases of Cerebral Palsy are unknown, but many are the result of problems during pregnancy in which the brain is either damaged or doesn't develop normally. This can be due to infections, maternal health problems, a genetic disorder, or something else that interferes with normal brain development. Problems during labor and delivery can cause Cerebral Palsy in some cases. but this is the exception.

Premature babies — particularly those who weigh less than 3.3 pounds (1,510 grams) — have a higher risk of Cerebral Palsy than babies that are carried full-term, as are other low birth weight babies and multiple births, such as twins and triplets.

Brain damage in infancy or early childhood can also lead to Cerebral Palsy.  A baby or toddler might suffer this damage because of lead poisoning, bacterial meningitis, malnutrition, being shaken as an infant (shaken baby syndrome), or being in a car accident while not properly restrained.

I have worked from home for 10 years to meet the needs of my son who has Cerebral Palsy due to contracting meningitis at 3 weeks of age.  I did not want to work from home - I had to learn to work from home.  Its a job, and anyone who says it "easy" and works instantly while you sleep.... is totally full of garbage.  If you really want to learn, contact me anytime.

Until next time,

Carrie Smith - Mother to son with Cerebral Palsy - and lots of hands on experience!

Do it Yourself Organic Baby Food

Do it Yourself Organic Baby Food

I am the mother of a "forever baby" - my son is 10 years old and he is developmentally equal to a 5 month old baby.  He contracted meningitis at 3 weeks of age, and it changed our lives forever.   So why does this make me qualified on organic baby food?  If you do just a little research on children with cerebral palsy, you will find their bodies commonly look like that of starved children.  Their spastic muscles eat up calories like crazy!  I have been blending organic baby food for my son for 10 years.  No jar foods, and he looks like the photo at the left.  He has Cerebral Palsy, but does not look under or over nourished.    By the way, that is his dog is laying next to his head.... not a deformation!

My son is not supplemented through a feeding tube in anyway, and he eats mashed organic baby food like a champion!

So, if the idea of feeding your infant mashed peas and carrots with a packaging date predating your pregnancy is giving you the heebie jeebies, consider whipping up your own organic baby food. This way, you'll know exactly what goes into your child's chow, without having to spend hours reading and decoding nutrition labels.   You also won't be adding baby-food packaging to the landfill. Plus, considering that a 4-ounce jar of baby food costs between 60 cents to $1.20, you'll get to sock some extra cash away for your child's college fund.

Stage One Organic Baby Food

You will need a blender and some food-cube trays (or covered ice-cube trays)

1. Thoroughly wash the fresh, organic fruits and vegetables you've purchased.

2. Steam, bake, or boil to the consistency of your baby's stage of eating.

3. For your stage one organic baby food, the blender works best.  You will have to add a little water to puree it until you have to texture you want.  You don't need to add salt or sugar.  Try a bit of lemon juice as both a preservative and a natural flavor enhancer.

4. Many people say to strain the food to remove any stray peels. As long as you have a decent blender, you should not need to strain the puree.  My blender is a kitchen aid.  My son ate "stage one" organic baby food for 2 years before he could manage stage two food organic baby food.  It took 3 years of making me organic baby food daily before I burned up by blender!  My son was larger, so he ate more... thus I used my blender more.  If you happen to have a less powerful blender, you might have to strain stray peels.  You WILL know by the appearance of the puree.  Stage one organic baby food should be very thin in texture.

5. Pour the organic baby food puree into the food-cube trays and stick them in the freezer. When the cubes are completely frozen, transfer them into individual glass containers with two or three cubes per container. Label with contents and date, then pop the containers back into the freezer.

6. When it's time to eat your home-made organic baby food, warm the individual portions. Remember to test the temperature of the food before feeding your baby.

Stage Two Organic Baby Food

You will need a food processor and some food-cube trays (or covered ice-cube trays)

1. Thoroughly wash the fresh, organic fruits and vegetables you've purchased.

2. Steam, bake, or boil to the consistency of your baby's stage of eating. Personally, I can make just about ANY organic food into a stage two organic baby food.  Raw nuts, raw carrots, raw cauliflower.   For your baby, use some caution.  Raw nuts and veggies have a lot of fiber.  We need lots of fiber because my son does not walk.  Immobile child, means less natural bowel movement.  My son has been eating stage two organic baby food for 7 years.  You won't be grinding organic baby food that long!

3. For your stage two organic baby food, the food processor works best.  I use a simple Hamilton Beach food processor. 

You might have to add something to make your meal a bit "sticky."  Water will work, but it will separate if you plan to freeze the organic baby food.  Here is a sample:  Chicken, rice and salad.  I put this all into the food processor with the "blending cutter".  The texture is going to be very dry.  But this is how you will easily be able to verify there are not big chunks.  Now, just add a bit of apple sauce to your mixture and you have stage two organic baby food for your child.  Another idea, add an organic avocado to your mixture of chicken, rice and salad.  Add some lemon so the avocado doesn't turn brown - this is not needed if your serving it your organic baby food immediately, but the avocado will turn brown if your freezing your meals.

Steps 5 & 6 are the same - if you started out following my stage one steps, your already like professional at frozen food trays and warming!

Until next time, I am Carrie Smith.  Work at home mom serving the needs of my family!

IntraMax - The benefits of the right liquid multivitamins

IntraMax - The benefits of the right liquid multivitamins

Many people may choose to use a liquid multivitamins. Some people have problems swallowing pills and taking a multivitamin in a liquid form helps them to avoid these problems. Some people also believe that liquid multivitamins are more potent, and are more readily used by the body, than their pill counterparts. Yet, there are some side effects to liquid multivitamins that you should be aware of and try to avoid.

Your body can only absorb so much liquid multivitamins – or any nutrition – at one time.  Don’t overdose on your liquid multivitamins.  Lets say you are committed to improving your health, and have selected liquid multivitamins as part of your work to a better you.  Let me ask you this – how many years did it take for you to see the negative effects on your body?  Do you think you can take extra liquid multivitamins and bounce back in a few days of taking more?  More is not always better.  Just like a cut, which scabs and flakes away as the new skin grows, it takes TIME to heal.

We are well acquainted with the word 'supplements' for many years now. Either as part of medications for deficiencies or as energy sources, these have been used over and over by one and all. It is difficult to find out the exact reason why these have become so popular in masses but you surely can't overlook the benefits associated with them. Of all the supplements, the most popular ones have been vitamins! I am sure you must have heard of vitamin pills or capsules and would have used them a couple of times as well. Let us see the possible reasons behind the popularity of liquid multivitamins and how they prove to be useful.

How do I know this?  I’m a special type of mother.  I have a son who doctors said would not live.  He contracted meningitis at 3 weeks of age.  His brain was damaged, and it basically washed away like that scab we talked about earlier.  My son’s skull actually collapsed into his head where brain matter once “was*.   Here is a photo for you at the right.  This changed our lives, and his forever.

After 10 months of seeking help for our brain-injured and medially fragile son -- we were fortunate to find a naturopathic doctor.  I knew very little about the field, most of what I read said it was “smoke and mirror healthcare”.   The truth I have found is this.  Hospitals and standard western medicine is great for saving lives, performing thousands of different types of surgeries, and emergency medicine.  But, your daily wellness, that comes from what you put into your body.  The old saying “you are what you eat” is 100% true.

Everyone has a different body.  They look similar on the outside, but the contents are ALL different.  Two people can eat everything the same or take the same liquid multivitamins -- however, the environment or genetics might change something about the way their body reacts to exactly nutritional input.

The change liquid multivitamins might make in your life

Today, my son is 10 years old and looks like the photo at the left.  He is a very neurological injured child.  However, he is happy, and his head is not as sunk as it was for the first three years of his life.  It was not always this way.  He was very unhappy for the first 3 years of his life.  He could not sleep, he could not stool for 10 days a time, he could not chew his food, and sometimes choked and vomited what he had worked so hard to consume.

If your seeking a place to start, I would start with IntraMax liquid multivitamins.   Why?

I could write so many reasons here.  But, it comes down to this.  If I can give my son IntraMax liquid multivitamins and his body can go from Picture 1 to Picture 2 -- what can it do for the concerns you have about your body?  I am a person who goes by what I see in life.  I am clearly a “proof is in the pudding” type of person.   I work from home to support the needs of my disabled son.  Anyone can easily find me and see his progress.  I am not saying I can “FIX” cerebral palsy, or any other disease -- and I am certainly not saying liquid multivitamins can cure any or every disease.  Our life is far from what would be called “perfect”.  But, I don’t fear colds or illness will take the life of my once frail son. We are healthy!  And for that, I am thankful.

Getting to the mindset I am now regarding health and wellness took years of learning.  My son and I have entered a hospital 3 times for a needed surgery.  After our most recent 4-hour hip surgery, we were discharged the next day!  Doctors are amazed we function as well as we do.  My son is non-verbal, can only eat mashed foods and had a skull filled would mostly with only cerebral spinal fluid.

If you are looking for a place to start – I can’t tell you exactly what to do, but I can tell you where I started IntraMax liquid multivitamins.

Why tell you?  Because I am a different type of person.  I can’t do much in life – I am busy caring for my son all the time.  My life was reduced to daily hygiene, toileting, drool wiping and food mashing!   My son and I feel useful if we share just a little tip that might help someone else and make my son’s life experience be a useful piece of information for someone else.

From our home office to you!

Experience with an Infrared Heating Pad

Experience with an Infrared Heating Pad 

I have mentioned so many times previously – I write what I know. With a son with cerebral palsy, I have learned a lot of “outside the box” types of solutions.

Last year we discovered an infrared heating pad. It is an innovative heat therapy device, which does not over-heat like traditional heating pads. My son is non-verbal and has spastic (very tight) muscles. Pain management is just a part of life for us.  One of the reason why we could not use traditional heating pads was because of the fear of burning him -even on low - a traditional heating pad just sometimes had hot spots. Especially at night, I could not just leave a traditional heating pad on him. Clearly when any temperature on the pad exceeds 130 degrees, it will create significant bodily discomfort or injury.

In using the infrared heating pad as a heat therapy system, we found the infrared heating pad sends rays of light into the body. This seems to penetrate deeply into muscles to help relieve acute and chronic pain. The benefits we found were the heat from the infrared heating pad was gentler and a more natural heat. Using the heating pad for longer periods has found to be both harmless and effective.

As my son gets older, his body is stressed because of the strain on his muscles and often has symptoms associated with arthritis, fibromyalgia and tendonitis. The infrared heating pad seems safe and effective in allowing thermal energy to be absorbed into the body, gently increasing blood flow to naturally relieve pain. It has been the ultimate non-invasive pain reliever for our son.

My son is 10 years old, and his muscles are tight all over. So, we bought the medium size infrared heating pad (21” x 30”) but there is a small and large size as well.

I also have used this heating pad before introducing it to my son to compare it to the average traditional heating pad. It seems the heat clearly penetrates into the skin – they say as much as 3 inches into the skin. Personally, I really can’t measure this, but I can say it much more comfortable and does not “sweat me out” like an ordinary heating pad does.

I have also learned some of the following:

1) Unlike ordinary heating pads, the infrared heating pad does not radiate harmful electric magnetic fields

2) Automatic comfort control gives you adjustable heat settings for the exact comfort level you need, and I have never been overheated. I don’t ever get any hot spots that might burn me.

3) The pad molds to every contour of your body so you can treat just about any area.

My husband has used the heating pad for muscle cramps and back pain. His arthritis pain has been replaced with increased mobility. The infrared heating pad has just been a great thing to have around for our entire family – but mostly for our son!

Until my next post – hope this helps you in your life’s challenges!

Chihuahua – the Cute Little “Lap Dog”

Chihuahua – the Cute Little “Lap Dog”

Our family has always been dog friendly, but we were always very partial to larger breeds. We had Dobermans growing up, a Shepherd - Beagle “mut” mix for 12 years, a Great Dane. But, never did our family ever consider a Chihuahua breed. We saw a small Chihuahua as a dog without real purpose to our family. The dogs always went with the kids. What good was a 5 pound Chihuahua ? I remember laughing at these small dogs and saying – that is not a real dog…. It’s more like a pet squirrel?

Let me correct myself – I was WRONG. In July 2007, my disabled son met a Chihuahua. I had no intention of bringing this dog home with us. But, here I was watching my child’s face beam – which as the parent of a severely disabled child did not happen often.

I knew NOTHING about a Chihuahua – so after bringing this little dog home with my son, I looked it up on the Internet. I found comments like:

• A Chihuahua can be strong-willed without the proper human leadership.
• Slightly difficult to train, but they are intelligent, learn quickly.
• A Chihuahua may be difficult to housebreak.
• May develop behavior issues, such as jealousy, aggression with other dogs or humans.
• A Chihuahua who is pack leader of their humans may snap at children.
• This breed is generally not recommended for children.
• Small breeds such as the Chihuahua tend to become snappish, yippy, protective, and untrustworthy Chihuahua's who are their human's pack leader tend to be fairly dog-aggressive.

I was shocked. This seemly sweet Chihuahua sitting on my son’s lap could grow up to be a snappy little monster who just might not let me near my own disabled son?

This is what I did:

I trained our Chihuahua similar to how I would train a large dog. Except for the fact I used my son’s lap and a backpack for every movement. I did not look at the dog for 6 months. I looked at my son, but not at the Chihuahua. The dog learned she was not to move unless she needed something or was spoken to. I was very picky about how people were allowed to address the dog. They could not get all excited and do any high pitched talking to the Chihuahua. Calm and social was the goal. Anyone who could not follow my rules, was not allowed to touch or speak to the Chihuahua. This was a wonderful benefit in potty training. Dogs clearly do not like to potty where they sleep. So, when the dog acted jittery or whined. I knew she needed potty, food or water.

I showed her the backpack, she would crawl into the backpack – I lowered the backpack to the grass and she would piddle. I praised her and life went on. Today, my son’s Chihuahua is 5-years old. She has clearly made some of her own rules now regarding who she likes best and gets all excited about. But, mainly, she has changed my son’s life. People did not speak to my non-verbal disabled son. They didn’t know what to say. Now, they greet his dog and ask him if he likes dogs and people tell him about their dogs. My son is happier because people notice him. And this all happened because of his little Chihuahua “lap dog” companion.

Because of their size, this breed tends to be babied and things we humans clearly see as bad behavior for a large dog is looked over as cute with a small dog. An owner who realizes this and treats the Chihuahua no differently than they would a large breed, becoming a clear pack leader, will get a different, more appealing temperament out of this wonderful little dog, finding them to be good little child companions.

I have also had many comments from our veterinarian about the good health of our Chihuahua. This breed is prone to rheumatism, slipped stifle, colds, and gum problems. Also corneal dryness and secondary glaucoma, do to their protruding eyes. Gains weight easily. This is a very small breed and it will not take much to poison them. Susceptible to fractures and other accidents in puppyhood. Some Chihuahuas have a molera, an unclosed section of the skull which can remain open throughout life. This makes the dog prone to injury. Has a tenancy to wheeze and snore, because of their small, short muzzles. Prone to stress, caused by the owners tendency to treat them like little babies.

All these facts are practically non-existent in my son’s Chihuahua. She does have some teeth and gum problems. By the age of two, I think we already had 4-6 rotten adult teeth. But all other common Chihuahua health problems are not a problem for us. We can only account this to one thing – fresh raw vegetables and her organic dog food. My son’s Chihuahua loves raw vegetables!

Avocado
Tomato
Yellow, red or orange bell pepper
Cucumber PEELS – not the actual cucumber?

Its strange, we have never fed our dogs any people food. And it was very importance my son’s Chihuahua did not have bad manors when I was feeding my son. My son also likes lots of fresh raw vegetables. Even though he is 10 years old, I must use a food processor to grind his food into a stage two organic baby food. The rule is, if the food falls onto my son’s lap, its belongs to his Chihuahua. If it is on his bib – she knows not to touch it.

Maybe this is why my son’s dog started clearly getting excited when we touched peppers, tomato or avocado! Is this why her health is better than average? Who knows, but it can’t hurt to try it out if your planning on bringing a Chihuahua into your family.

Just like the average family.....

My mothers wish was for my life to be "normal".

A family which includes an individual with cerebral palsy thinks - "this IS normal" as long as your child is not having a seizure, surgery or other neurological struggle.   

Many do look upon us and say, "I don't know how do you do it?"    Some days a pray for just a little NORMAL... today is normal.  The kids went to school for the 4th week.  The homework came home, the after school football game - the stress and drama of the football team loss - the unique wrapping of the motor disabled child to keep him warm and dry.  Trying to figure out who will spend Saturday selling popcorn with the cub scouts with my middle son.  Eating dinner, doing the dishes while verbally forcing showers and baths to my house full of boys.  And finally - kids to bed. 

Now there is a little time left for mom to complete some light work.  This means I just may get to bed before 2am.... what is everyone talking about?  Isn't this is normal?   I think everyone else is doing the same, right?  Where is the "not normal?"

Hope your day has been "NORMAL" too!

So - how was your day today?

Its Friday - the kids went back to school this week.  My youngest child, with severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy was moved from a center based program (where all children at the school are disabled) to a regular education program, where just one room in the elementary school has disabled children.   

It was a interesting experience changing from a school where many of the children are medically fragile.  It is very quite to enter.  Its nice, but like walking into a very nice nursing home.  You still sometime get a nose full.  It happens - its part of life for any severely disabled child or adult.  

This week I walked into a regular school, no nurse walking from room to room.  Regular children, excited and running in the hallways.  We worked hard for 9 years to get to some type of educational program that felt a little more "normal" and a little less "hospital" feeling. 

But, now we are faced with a different problem.  Imagine - you have a mosquito bite on your arm. It itches terribly, but you can not control a single muscle in your body.

What does this mean? This means: Can not control your voice -- so you can not speak a need to simply scratch. Any attempt just makes you APPEAR to scream without clear meaning or any intelligence. Can not walk -- so the idea of walking to a wall and rubbing the itchy location on a wall is out of the question. Can not move a finger or an arm - so they just fly wildly around as if they have their own agenda. What would your day be like? Do you feel human? Do others seem to treat you like a human?

How do you get others to understand your truly in there and understand to a conversational degree.  I'm not saying my child is a complete brain.  But, he knows discomfort - he knows FOOD - and knows how to yell for it.  He knows how to be patient.  He get's his point across fairly well - no need for true speech.  However, as his mother, I still wish and pray for it every day.

Imagine - What it's like if every time you entered a room, no one spoke to you?  What if everyone just looked at you and wondered if you could speak? What if people always questioned your intelligence? What if people never spoke to you - but always spoke about you - even when you where present?

What is it like to have someone tell people what you liked & what you didn't like - and what if they were not accurate? You came home and had to eat your least liked meals everyday - because someone else says it's your favorite. 

What if everyone thinks your always cold - so they bring you blankets. Actually, you always feel hot and hate the blankets.

So how was you day today?  No matter how stressful your day was at work, you still have choices YOU make, and decisions YOU make.

May these words help you if you did have a bad day today.  Because even with all these things that happen to us on a regular basis - we are still thankful for what we do have every day.  Its not much, but life could be worse.