While fear of the unknown caused a brief upset, Arianna voluntarily climbed into our "tent" complete with PINK sheets and pillows for our first HBOT dive today. Other than the ear pressure in the beginning she did WONDERFUL and even wore her mask on and off as well which made me happy. We go back tomorrow morning for session #2 and have 20 scheduled through the 3rd week of August. The COOL thing is that I can use my phone, we can watch movies, play games and have something to sip on in our capsule which is different than a hard shell type. When you're inside there for one hour and 10 minutes it seems much longer.
It was fairly comfortable and myself I would've easily taken a nap but Arianna kept telling me to "wake up mommy!". :) I did have quite a headache for about an hour or two afterwards but that's typical.
There are some positive/negative effects with HBOT where the kids get a bit hyper, have sleep disturbances and have some other symptoms that get worse before the better part kicks in but at least I'm prepared for that.
Another positive note is that we received our Stem Cell Enhancer today and when I saw that the powder inside the capsule was neon emerald green I was a bit nervous. To my surprise and happiness, Arianna didn't mind her glowing green applesauce one bit and took her very first dose this afternoon. Soon her body will be making MILLIONS of new stem cells to help repair and heal her wherever the cells are needed. Time to evaluate and do some more diet changes as well. While some of Arianna's foods are gluten and casein free not ALL are. We will be removing some items to get even closer to totally GFCF as we can to help heal her gut. Another order of Methyl B12 is about due which is another $150 expense for just 1 vial but it's worth every penny to help my daughter.
We did the ATEC (autism treatment evaluation checklist) today and got Arianna's beginning scores. The lower the number the better...here are her results:
Total score was a 68 which is about smack dab in the middle area as I've seen some kids with starting scores of 94 and above.
*Speech/Language score is at 10 (a year ago that would be doubled)
*Sociability score is at 8 (just a year ago that would be 4 times higher!!)
*Sensory and Cognitive Awareness score is 18 (3 years ago that was doubled as well)
*Health and Physical Behavior score is 32 (1 to 2 yrs ago would've been doubled)SOOO...after 20 sessions we will do this evaluation again and see where we are. Obviously my main areas of improvement I'd like to see are in the two sections with highest numbers which is primarily where her Autism is stuck so to speak.
Will update again tomorrow after our next session of HBOT. I can say 1 thing, maybe I'm crazy but doubt it, but i already notice Arianna looking me directly in the eyes more tonight when she's telling me something. God knows what I'm fighting for and I pray he will reward us for our hard work and determination.
Wow! That's really great. Couldn't wait to hear how it went. You are truly special as is Arianna, especially for being so brave. Just need to keep praying for you both. Stay strong and positive.....John
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