Thursday, May 24, 2007

Awesome Possum

John just sent me this video. The quality isn't great (it's pretty dark), but what you CAN see in this video is what's important: Uma lifting her right arm (which, for the last few months, has been almost completely immobile)

Before seeing the movement in this video, I'd only seen her move her right arm with the tiniest of movements--this arm lift is HUGE.



She gets stronger and stronger every day!
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

YAY!
Makes me all warm and fuzzy,
and I imagine that arm in good use with Ums dancin'!
:) Weeeee!
-gt

5/24/2007 09:35:00 PM
Anonymous said...

wonderful!!!!!
love,
lindsay lindsay

5/25/2007 09:49:00 AM
Anonymous said...

Hi Jen, Erik and Uma,

I'm glad you emailed me. I have had the good fortune of working with a noted
Acupuncturist and MD in China that specializes in stroke rehabilitation and I
have worked on a few patients myself. The good news is that Traditional Chinese
Medicine (TCM) can help and in fact both the United Nations World Health
Organization and the National Institutes of Health endorse Acupuncture as a
treatment for stroke-related disabilities.

As far as risks...there is very little. The methodology behind TCM is to help
the body focus on healing itself but the problem with stroke related
disabilities is that longer you wait, the less likely that the impaired part of
the brain will recover and regenerate. As for the risk of the Acupuncture
itself, we use only sterilized one-time-use only needles and improper insertion
is very very rare. Statistically, there are significantly more risk with
Western medicine than Eastern medicine.

The truth is that there is hope for Uma but there is no magic bullet. Everyone
responds differently to TCM and it can take time. Should you decide to explore
TCM on your road to recovery, please feel free to give me a call at
323-365-1095. Also understand that TCM is a highly personalized therapy, I
can't begin to understand how to treat Uma or well she might or might not
respond until I have meet with her.

Also, I understand that finances are an issue. Most insurance companies do
cover Acupuncture...you can always call yours and ask what your benefits include
but do make sure that you are quoted for Acupuncturists that are out-of-network
(few are in-network for various reasons). If TCM still seems financially out of
reach, I absolutely suggest going to a TCM university clinic were the fees are
very low and all treatments are overseen by licensed Acupuncturists. FYI, it's
a 3000 hour Masters of Science to gain a license so the students that would help
treat will have been in school for 2 years or more.

I hope this has been helpful...

All best, Maija Merchant, L.Ac.
Maija Merchant aeonflux@earthlink.net

5/25/2007 11:41:00 AM
Anonymous said...

Awesome is right! This is so wonderful! Go Uma!!!!
Love,
Sherry

5/27/2007 11:11:00 AM

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