It Goes On And On And On And On

I asked a question about lifespan. I already out-lived the life-expectancy given to me. There isn't much known about the neurogenesis process, and that was proposed to have happened to  me. So I sought advice from an expert. "If you were in a PVS, you would be at much greater risk in the near term from the consequences of constant immobility than from aging." Where did "immobility" come from? If you look at my pictures, there is a slow progression in the opposite direction. I started with immobility. When I say slow, it has been years to get to this point. I only purposely move one arm and I am able to type this through accessibility features on the computer.

What's out there, knowledge that I need, is proposed. It's not for sure. A theory should have been developed. I'm having a hard time finding it, and no wonder why. Look at the video.

 

 



So I am finding things in other areas. I've found things on neurogenesis in Aging. I hadn't even thought about looking there! On a positive note, this is already naturally occurring in people. "The good news, which first became clear a couple of decades ago, is that neurogenesis is happening in all of our brains! The unfortunate thing is that it only happens in a very limited number of areas of the brain, and the neurons that are generated are only put to very limited purposes." [From  an e-mail to someone at The SENS Foundation.] What's happening in me isn't natural. It's not following what has been proposed. So I really need the theory that does exist.

It's good I have a background in Early Childhood Special Education. I'm finding the progression I am experiencing similar to early childhood development, but a little different. Namely, it's SLOW!

 
I started immobile. I've slowly gained movement. This indicates brain growth. There has been slow progression in every area. Again, this would be brain growth. It is slower, though, than the typical growth of a child.  A child has brain growth. Child development would be the best  framework available.

The slow progression is seen in my breathing. When I first had the bleed, I did not breathe. I was put on a ventilator. After months, I was on the ventilator part-time. Then it was no more, but that wasn't it. I then kept a trache in my neck. I was routinely suctioned  by nurses (If you watched the chicken video, http://thoughtfulveg.blogspot.com/2013/05/why-am-i-so-weird.html   this is why the chicken died.) I also received breathing treatments. For a short time I got "Postural Draining" where the hospital bed is inverted and the feet are higher than the head.

I was still on the ventilator at night.

It didn't stop with that. Sure I had that tube in my neck a long time. It was a couple of years before it came out. When it finally came out, I had an open hole. I was told the hole would close on its own. It didn't. Another year and then a surgery to close the hole in my neck. During that year, I went from routine breathing treatments to regular use of an inhaler, like what is used for asthma. I gave up that inhaler when I left the hospital. I just got frequent pneumonia still. It's been a while since I've had one. Hopefully it will be a long while. 

During this last year I started coughing. That's another issue:  you are dead if there is no gag reflex. So I wasn't a vegetable. I was dead! This is getting even better. ("Absence of the gag reflex and pharyngeal sensation can be a symptom of a number of severe medical conditions, such as damage to the glossopharyngeal nerve, the vagus nerve, or brain death." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharyngeal_reflex This definition is a little better. At least one can be alive; barely.) No gag was observed in me at times of suctioning by nurses. I didn't cough until years later when brushing my teeth.

Now, I have a closed hole in my neck.

Progression has been strange, but it appears to me as a slowed down version of child development. Child development is a time of brain growth, and that's what appears to be happening. I write this. Am I doing this with my brainstem (all that was left)...or did my brain regenerate, allowing me to write? For that a new scan will have to be done.

(Looking at the pictures, you can compare and see the differences. Besides not having  a tube in my neck, I now have expression in my face. Not just one side of my face either, but both sides. Slow progression warranted one side for a long time)

I've stated I am finding the theory elsewhere. I never would have thought to look for neurogenesis in aging. That's completely opposite. Neurogenesis is brain growth and I associate aging with decline. Now, for why I am so confident...what has happened so far has loosely followed child development. That's my MA--Early Childhood Special Education.  It's child development with a twist. Theory is there. I am well-versed in it, too. Growth implies more to come. That means this isn't over.

Long ago there was a medication associated with neurogenesis. It's quite possible it is responsible for the effects you see today, although I don't take it anymore. If it caused neurogenesis at a very fundamental level of the brain, then effects wouldn't be seen for years. As slow as brain growth has been, it has been and will continue to be a long time to see effects. It's possible no end will ever be seen. For the same reason, continued therapy becomes important.

Life goes on and on and on and on. Don't stop believing something will happen.

Updated 7/29/2015