Come Find Me

"Make eye contact with me. I am in here--come find me. Encourage me."

--Jill Taylor's Forty Things I Needed Most

"To the right mind, no time exists other than the present moment, and each moment is vibrant with sensation. Life or death occurs in the present moment. The experience of joy happens in the present moment. Our perception and experience of connection with something that is greater than ourelves occurs in the present moment. To our right mind, the moment of now is timeless and abundant."

from My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Taylor

The author of the above quotes is a neuroscientist and a survivor of stroke. An aneurysm such as the one Daniel has experienced is a stroke. Following surgery it took her 8 years to completely recover all her physical and mental functions. The brain has the ability to repair, replace and retrain its nueral circuitry. It has incredible plasticity. For an article on plasticity, please click on The Vega family picture to the right.

Yesterday I spent 8 hours with Daniel. Daniels heartrate increases periodically; when it goes too high, 130 BPM or higher, Daniel gets some medicine to help him calm down. Doctor Wong says that it is normal for Daniel's heartrate to increase slightly in response to therapy or the activity that surrounds him. However, a significant increase means that Daniel gets a dose of medicine to help him regulate his heartrate, breathing and body. Daniel was running a fever off and on which was treated with tylenol. The nurse took some cultures to check for infections. It takes several days to get the results back.