Welcome Home......

Cameron returned home to his apt in Ventura California friday of this last weekend. Friends greeted him with gifts and visited to celebrate his release. Mom (Mary) attended also, she flew down earlier in the week and will be in the area until Saturday.

Some pics should be posted next week. He has made significant progress and on Saturday completed a long walk on the beach. His schedule is full with physical therapy three times a week, along with what he does on his own at home, cognitive therapy for mental development, visual therapy (to expand their range to the left), dialysis 3 - 4 times a week at (each is a four hour visit), and this week it is an apt each day with the kidney, heart, and brain Dr's.

Right now his concern is high blood pressure. As I currently understand it, the issue with blood pressure is that the kidney cleanses the blood by passing it through a straw like tube and tiny extentions filter out bad particles that are the result of a regular cycle. If the blood were a city then the kidney would be its trash disposal service. Anyway, when the blood pressure is high or moving with much more force, it will cause the tubes to constrict and therefore the tubes are not able to cleanse the blood as thoroughly while the blood spills over and around it. So because of this he has additional medication to counteract high blood pressure. One new med (Kepplar i think) has a side effect of dizzines, nausea, irritable skin, etc. and its expected that these effects will be prominent for 4 weeks until the body adjusts to the intake. I reviewed the side effects of all of his other meds (prednisone, lisinopril, etc. and they all have similar side effects). Not the best thing for Cam as he works hard to regain normal functions and cope with standing and movement exercises. Its almost like the doctors are sending Cam off to run a relay race and before he goes they say, "hey good luck, but wait one minute while we tie these bricks to your ankles.") Not sure why they do that.

I would be painting a false picture if I were to say he is doing great. His body is adjusting to a serious environmental change from intravenous to normal intake. This can result in muscle aches, and elevated pain in many other areas. He has a continual high low cycle of nausea and doesn't sleep throught the night, instead, he sits up and rocks while coping with pain. He is on a lot of medication, a lot of it is new, and that in itself can make anyone less attentive and social. So all In all from my perspective, I have faith that we will see significant improvement over the next few weeks as his body adjusts to new meds and the blood pressure is controlled.

It is good that he is home and on his own, although, there is a feeling of urgency, to be aggressive in Physical, Mental, Visual and Social exercises. This is because the effects of a stroke can be reversed mostly in the 6 months following the initial event. After that, the body settles in and doesn't allow much more improvement in most cases. Cameron is not quite at the level he intends to be at and exhibits visible frustration in it all. So we are sure to help him as much as possible, and in keeping his spirits high throughout this personal pursuit.

I believe it is important for all of us on Cameron's support team to stop, slow down, and meet Cameron on the level for where he is at, and listen to what his spirit and voice say. Many studies conclude that several mental illnesses and resulting physical ailments with men and woman in their thirties and aftewards are caused by peopel not speaking their minds or working through their stress and mental anguish. Generally, because they do not have anyone to talk too (or they refuse to talk to anyone) or that they feel they can relate to. By this they mean, expressing the things that frustrate you, make you happy, or make you excited each day. For some reason it is important for our bodies to be a part of life and the people that are in it. So that if, people buld a life of no relationships, or avoid their family, do not have friends etc. they can develop mental disorders. Many of these people are business people and workaholics such as myself, and they go to therapy in order to work through them all. Me myself, I have anxiety and a bit of OCD (Obssessive Compulsive Disorder). The first time I went to the Doc and he told me I wasn't sick and it was anxiety, I could have slapped myself. I refused the meds and decided to work on stopping myself when I begin to bottle up stress, etc. As well as work harder on building supportive and more long lasting relationships, verses the disposable relationships I so love to maintain. Anyway......

So the magic in professional mental therapy is simply that the person is able to speak their mind and eventually know that the listener understands them and this in turn makes the person feel normal and not like an alien on a foreign planet. It also allows the person to work through their mental conflicts and better understand themself. Overall, it promotes mental health, and since the brain is the issuer of commands to all major functions in the body, it also promote good physical health. So I'm not saying that Cameron has a mental illness, I'm just relating the ideology of it all to him as a way of stressing how important it is for us to stop, slow down, and listen, as well as return some words of understanding while he continues in fighting his fight. I extend gratitude and thanks to all of you and especially Chantal for your support. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Curtis