Silent Gaze...Part 2

Now when Daddy first heard Aunt Jenny tell him about Braco...he was a bit skeptical. But Aunt Jenny is one of Daddy's really good friends and has always tried to get Daddy to explore the world of alternative medicine and healers. And it was such a weird coincidence that Aunt Jenny would call from Brazil telling him she was just thinking about us and that we needed to see Braco, the day after we saw the neurologist. Daddy said he had some flashbacks to some of the "adventures" Aunt Jenny would get them into...but they always emerged unscathed and with a funny story. But Daddy wanted to keep an open mind because it was just too much of a coincidence even though was thinking back to the time when he was sitting at Aunt Jenny's beach house watching her burn mugwort and wafting the smoke around her knee (which had a torn meniscus) because a psychic healer in Mexico told her she didn't need surgery. So Daddy said he would do some research on Braco and go on a little adventure...it would hurt to see if Braco really had some healing powers or at the very least Daddy would have a funny story.

To understand the Braco...silent gaze experience, you should watch this video below first.





When Daddy arrived to see Braco, there was already a crowd and line up of people waiting to enter the session. The crowd was an interesting mix of older new age hippies, some people with physical challenges, and other just average people like Daddy. Some people seem to know each other, some just keeping to themselves wanting to be anonymous and some like Daddy looking around curiously wondering why they were there.

At 9am the line started to move, one by one we walked into the conference room. They didn't check your ticket or print out, you just dropped it into a basket. There was soothing new age music being played by a quartet and a bunch of volunteers directing you to the rows of seats. A woman with a calming voice was welcoming everyone and speaking warm encouraging words like a yoga instructor. Once everyone was seated, the woman introduced herself as Jane Sibbet, and she had produced a documentary on Braco and helped him organize his Tour of America. For those who watched the TV show "Friends", you'd recognize her as Carol...Ross's lesbian ex-wife.



Jane asked the audience some questions and then asked if some people wanted to share why they were there. Daddy said a young guy stood up and said he had met Braco in Hawaii and after the gazing session he felt all this positive energy surrounding him and then a number of good things started to happen. Then this middle aged guy shared his story of meeting Braco over a year ago and at the time he had been fighting with the Department of Defense for years to get compensation for exposure to chemical during the Vietnam War...well shortly after meeting Braco, he got a settlement. Then he said he also experienced a spontaneous remission of a cancer. He was diagnosed with a lymphoma and was about to start chemo but after meeting Braco, he said something told him to ask the doctor for another blood test...which came back negative. Daddy said the guy was visibly emotional telling his story. Jane then shared her experience with Braco which was somewhat different because she didn't participate in a gazing session but she was around Braco filming him and just by being in his presence she had experienced healing...not for herself but for her father. Jane talked about her father having been put in hospice care and given a few weeks left to live but after being around Braco, the energy help her father leave the hospice 18 months ago.

After the moving stories, Daddy said everyone was asked to stand to begin the gazing session. At that point Braco, walked into the room and stood on a stage in front of the room. He silently gazed out into the audience and scanned the room slowly from left to right to left to right and back to the center, then Braco quietly left the room. Daddy said, the whole gazing session took about 8 minutes, then people sat back down in silence for a few minutes. Looking around, Daddy said some people were visibly emotional, other basking with glowing smile. The volunteers were darting around the room with boxes of tissue handing them out to people crying.

Daddy said, Jane then asked people if they wanted to share what they experienced. One lady said, she felt an overwhelming sense of calmness and warmth with Braco's gaze. Another lady said she saw an aura around Braco. Jane said the last time they were in San Francisco, a lady said she saw Braco morph into Jesus and she was a Jewish. Daddy didn't feel any warm glow and tingly sensation but did comment that there was a sparkle in Braco's eye when his gaze was in Daddy's direction.



When Daddy came home and told us about his experience, we were all curious if the silent gaze of Braco was legitimate. Well Braco, doesn't claim to be a healer or that he heals anyone. People pay $8 to be in a room and have Braco silently gaze at you and that is exactly what Daddy got...so in his mind Braco is legit. So $8 maybe a small amount to pay to have some hope and I think what Braco does it offer people hope...not cures but hope...which sometimes is the best treatment possible. By the way...after Daddy came home that day...my colic wasn't that bad that day...so maybe Daddy did channel some good energy from Braco.



Well hopefully my silent gaze brings you happiness and hope!




If it does you can paypal $8 to Daddy...then I will laugh all the way to the bank like Braco!

Silent Gaze

I'll just over 10 months old now....7 months corrected age. I've spent 86 days in hospitals, had two GI surgeries, one barium enema and seen doctors in 8 specialties (pediatrician, neurologist, gastroenterologist, neurologist, physical medicine & rehabilitation, ophthalmologist, pediatric surgeon, neurodevelopmental pediatrics). I am followed regularly by a pediatric nurse practitioner from the Regional Center of the East Bay and a developmental specialist from Project Jason. I get weekly therapy in home from Easter Seals and twice weekly physical/occupational therapy at CCS (California Children Service). You would be amazed at how good Mommy is at making sure I get to all my appointments. See my calendar of appointments for the month of March....it's almost as full as Daddy's work calendar. So now you know why I haven't been updating my blog as frequently...I am just a busy girl about town! I've told you about all the traditional western medical treatments, but I have also tried some non-traditional modalities over the last 6 months. We started with the Anat Baniel Method (ABM), which is a specialized form derived from the Feldenkrais which tries to rewire and retrain how the brain learns. I went and did lessons for a period of 3-4 months. Although many of the things Anat says made sense to Daddy, in terms of movement and theory of being more fluid and not to force the body into positions or to do things it's ready for, there were also parts that he didn't agree such as having to either choose doing ABM or physical therapy. Also ABM was less about getting the parents involved and didn't really attempt to teach Mommy and Daddy how to do any work on me but more about recommending doing more lessons with an ABM practitioner. We've stop for now because it was getting to difficult for Mommy to take me to lessons in San Rafael 2-3 times a week while she is pregnant with my little sister. So did the ABM lessons help, I think in some ways yes...I did get more loose and flexible but not really sure if I would have gotten similar results with traditional physical therapy. I have also been seen by a traditional Chinese Qi Gong Practitioner who used his Qi (vital energy) to help me. Daddy was a bit skeptical because basically the practitioner would just wave his hand over me. But I have to say that after going for a few sessions, something happened to my Qi because my reflux decreased and I wasn't as gassy and spitting up after my feedings. Also Mommy had a quick session and without touching her, the practitioner scanned her back and told Mommy that he could tell that she had an old injury and he actually pointed to the exact spot. After a couple of more sessions, Mommy's persistent back and shoulder pain went away, along with the clicking sound in her shoulder blade. Mommy is trying to get an appointment to see Master Zhao who trained the practitioner we saw. Then finally I saved the best for last and wanted to share the experience of Braco...the silent gaze. Back in February, Aunt Jenny when to Brazil to go visit John of God who is arguably the most powerful unconscious medium alive today and possibly the best-known healer of the past 2000 years. On Friday February 4, I saw the neurologist who told us that all sign are that I have cerebral palsy. The next day, Daddy was about to make a call, when his cell phone rings and the caller ID says it's Aunt Jenny but she is actually calling from Brazil. Without Daddy mentioning anything about the diagnosis by the neurologist the day before, Aunt Jenny tells Daddy, she was thinking about us when she was having a discussion with a group of people (including some doctors and nurses) about this guy from Croatia...who for fifteen years, people from all over Europe have been streaming to Zagreb, Croatia to experience and be healed through the simple act of gazing with a kind and gentle man who goes by the name of Braco (pronounced Braht-zoh). While Braco doesn’t call himself a healer, hundreds of thousands around the world do and the group of people Aunt Jenny were talking with thought he was legit. So it seemed like a weird coincidence that Aunt Jenny would call from Brazil the day after we got some not so good news to urge Daddy to go see Braco because he just happen to be touring the US and would be in San Francisco the next weekend. Well Daddy went on February 13 to the Holiday Inn on Van Ness Street in San Francisco and paid his eight dollars and experienced the silent gaze....to be continued

Hard work can be fun...

I am learning from an early age that you sometimes have to work hard to achieve your goals...but working hard can also be fun. As many of you know I was diagnosed with PVL in July 2010 and we've been doing various therapies as early intervention in the hopes that my brain would rewire the neurons lost in the areas of damage....the idea of brain plasticity. If you want to learn more you should read this book by Dr. Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself.

Well the question probably on everyone's mind is how is the therapies working??? Mommy and Daddy both think that I am less stiff in my legs and at times can be quite loose and flexible...I can put my toes in my mouth.



But when we saw the Dr. Daniel Birnbaum, my neurologist in early February, he was still very concerned that I am too hypertonic in my legs...i.e. there is too much tension and my legs extend straight out whenever I am stressed and it takes a bit of work for Mommy and Daddy to get me to let go and release, especially my ankles. So what is the prognosis...well we don't know definitively and won't until I am about 18-24 months old, but Dr. Birnbaum has to explain worst case scenarios and what we could potentially expect....which is that I likely will have cerebral palsy.



Okay now that you've had a moment digest that...Mommy, Daddy and I were pretty shocked too when he told us and obviously we were hoping for better news. It's something that we have to prepare for as a possibility but as Daddy said on the drive home..."we are not willing to give up and accept it as a final conclusion." For those that know Daddy...you know how much he enjoys proving someone wrong and keeping the medical establishment honest...and I think he has a better chance of winning this challenge when we are on the same team with the same goal, then he had with the Biggest Loser/Gainer Challenge.

When you hear cerebral palsy (CP), the picture that pops into your head is probably of someone who walks with crutches or is in a wheelchair with spastic cerebral palsy. But did you know that Abbey Curran, Miss Iowa in the 2008 Miss America Pageant has cerebral palsy?

What I may have is spastic diplegia, also known as Little's Disease which is hypertonia and spasticity of the lower extremities which can really be broad ranging from mild to severe. Our goal is to work very hard to successfully resist and "push through" the extra tightness I experience so that I will be able to walk with no assisted devices or little noticeable gait.



So right now, I get in home therapy weekly with Easter Seals, my developmental specialist Rebecca sets up goals with Mommy and Daddy. Rebecca works with me and teaches Mommy things we can work on daily or brings in other specialist, like physical and occupational therapists like Antonietta or Annie (Rebecca's supervisor) who does infant massage on me.



I am also starting up with California Children's Service's Medical Therapy Unit where I will go in and get weekly therapy (physical, occupational, speech) at the Castro Therapy Unit, which is close to home in El Cerrito.

Those are the two primary things I am doing now. We decided to stop the Anat Baniel Method for while because it was getting to difficult for Mommy to take me to all the appointments. We'll see if it makes sense to start back up after my little sister arrives.

Other none conventional things we've tried are a bit more in the "if it's doesn't do any harm, what do you have to lose" category....I'll tell you about Daddy going to see Braco's Silent Gaze in the next blog.



Till then...I continue with all my therapies but I think food therapy is the most fun!