Day 86 - Friday March 9, 2012

Our big goal for today was to get Bridgett over to Jenn's so that she can start massaging her.  We got up and got Bridgett dressed.  She was very tired and wanted to go back to bed, but I talked her into coming out to the couch.  She didn't want any breakfast, but managed to get some Boost down her.  I had to run to the store and then I got home and talked Bridgett into some applesauce and organic brown rice cereal.  Then we headed to Jenn's house.  Jenn did a very light massage on Bridgett.  Jenn said that it's lighter than she touches Caden.  She did it on me to feel and it's very light.  She said we need to get Bridgett used to touch again so we must go slowly, especially after this episode of hypersensitivity to touch.  In fact, on the way over Bridgett said she was afraid that Jenn would hurt her.  I told Jenn this and she told Bridgett I will go very slow and if you hurt at all tell me and I will stop.  Anyway, we made it through the massage.  Actually Dr. Speed told us that accupressure could help some of her symptoms.  Jenn will add accupressure soon to the massage.  After the massage Bridgett moved to the couch and had a short nap before we went home.  When we got home Bridgett was still tired and took another nap while I made stew.  A couple of days ago Bridgett told me that she'd eat my stew.  When she was remembering back to when Bridgett was so sick as a teenager.  She slept like all the time for several months.  I said she probably slept for 20 hours a day.  She'd wake up and go to the bathroom and eat a little and then sleep.  I know that the body heals while sleeping so I have been wondering about this.  Some people tell us to make sure that she's up and doing things all the time.  Mostly she has been.  However, I am wondering if I should let her sleep more.  I finally got around to calling Bree's mother this afternoon to ask her about her experiences and advice about the sleeping and the not wanting to eat or drink.  Actually it was a very good conversation.  She said that they let Bree sleep a lot so that she could heal.  They let her sleep as much as she wanted to as long as she was getting to rehab appointments.  Also, she said that Bree did not have these issues with drinking and eating.  She tried to remember what part of the brain regulates thirst and told me to google it.  I did that when we got off the phone and found that the hypothalamus regulates thirst and hunger.  The hypothalamus sits above the optic chiasm which is where the optic nerves cross.  We know there was shearing in the corpus callosum and there was damage to the optic nerves, so that is not a stretch to wonder if there is damage to the hypothalamus as well.  In addition, the pituitary gland dangles from the hypothalamus.  It's really hard to totally picture the whole thing without having a hands on model to look at.  Maybe next time we are at the doctor they will have a model so we can see.  Hopefully we will get into the endocrinologist soon. I have that appointment for March 27th with the PA, but several people have told me to go to the U of U system of doctors because this endocrinologist is good here for routine things, but for anything big we need to go to Salt Lake.  So, that's why we got a referral to Salt Lake.  Anyway, there is a lot to discuss with the doctors about this. We are talking about a lot of interrelated issues it seems to me.  I told Mark perhaps all of the doctors realize exactly what I am talking about, they just aren't explaining it to us.  I am used to studying and knowing what is going on, so I want to know these details.  Maybe they think that if they speculate it will cause us more anxiety.  On the contrary, I think it makes me feel a little better realizing that there may be a reason for all of this.  Of course, I know there is a reason, I am just trying to find out what it is.