Fasting 🚫🍷🍩☕️🚫

   As I continue the protocol for my treatment the next step over the next five days is fasting. The program includes a five day fast mimicking package of five days called ProLon. Each box for the day includes packages of "meals" that you eat throughout the day. It is mostly soups and a couple of nut-based bars, teas, and crackers to go with the soup. Each day you follow the instructions and it slowly cuts things out of the diet from the first day or adds in a supplement. You are not allowed to drink caffeine on the diet so I started to ween myself off of coffee a week before I started this, so I wouldn't have the caffeine withdrawal headache that we all love so much. While I am fasting I am doing a hyperbaric dive every day. It is also said that after five days of fasting your body is at the highest of making its own stem cells to heal. On the fifth day is when I will get the stem cell infusion! Disclaimer because this is fast mimicking I am not starving myself and I am not doing it do weightloss, only doing it because it is proven to help the healing process. Because when your body is not focused on constantly digestive food it has energy to heal on the cellular level. The man who has created this ProLon fast mimicking diet is Valter Longo ( if you are interested).

   My mom and I have done a lot of research on fasting and there are so many benefits to it! There are also many different types of fasting and is something that everyone should try for health reasons or to just be a healthier more focused person. There is a documentary on Netflix or maybe it is amazon prime, called Fasting and it goes over the different types of fasts and follows real people on how they have changed their lives doing a fast. The video includes seven types of fasts: Time-Restricted Feeding, Intermittent and Prolonged Fasting, Long Term Water Fasting, Juice Fasting, Religious Fasting, and what I am doing Fasting Mimicking Diet. It also goes over some of the unsafety, but I am only doing this for seven days and it transitions you back into a normal diet. I am excited about this because there have been may good results from people just even for improved energy levels and brain function.

I am also excited because my very loving family has said that they would try to follow some of the protocol with me (mainly dinner and they would at least cut back on caffeine) to support me throughout the journey. Fingers crossed and prayers that my stem cells start working for healing on my brain, and if not that at least increased energy and mental clarity. PS. four hyperbaric treatments down, and about six more to go before the infusion.

Hyperbaric Education 👩🏼‍🏫👍🏻

      I almost feel like I could be a part of the hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) team at my doctor's office because I have done so many HBOT treatments (50+ I even have an honorary dive team shirt). When I was doing these regularly I felt very good after the treatments and know that they are worth the time and expense.  Today was my first Hyperbaric treatment in a really long time. Hyperbaric is what helped my arm to heal faster when I broke it in 2016 and is what has helped me be able to move to stay as active in school and training as I have been. Hyperbaric treatments consist of getting zipped up in what looks like an oversized sleeping bag. It looks intimidating at first when you hear that you are going to be laying in a giant bag for an hour, but they give you a walkie-talkie if you need to get out, but more importantly, this treatment gives your body a chance to relax and heal due to the oxygen being forced into your body. I fall asleep or do homework because it is pretty roomy.

     I have had these before, but this is to help get my body to get back to the level it was at before, now in preparation for the placental cells. The pressure and the extra oxygen speed up the healing process and reduce inflammation (which in my case benefits my brain). The process consists of getting into the chamber, they have an oxygen mask that you can put on for extra O2, and they pressurize the "cabin" that fills with more air to give your body the feeling of being taken down to sea level so you are breathing medical grade oxygen at higher than normal pressures. You basically are breathing oxygen you'd get from a doctor's office, two to three atmospheres "underwater" for about an hour (PSA your ears pop a lot until you are used to it). I was doing very well physically and mentally when I was doing this almost daily, and I know that it will help me feel good again and prepare me for the stem cells. Once you are in the chamber it’s an hour to unwind and sleep (I did that in the past even to the point of snoring) or listen to music and read. 

1 down 9 more to go

Me getting in 🥳

My mom not knowing how to take a picture ❤️ 

Studying and sleeping begins 🥱

HBOT is the use of pressure and oxygen to help heal, repair damaged tissue, and optimize health. HBOT allows us to deliver much more oxygen to the body's cells than normal. This extra O2 infusion supercharges the healing process, boosts recovery, and reduces inflammation. It provides oxygen to areas in the body where there may be limited supply due to poor circulation or injury. Hyperbarics have been found to increase vascular health, improve energy levels, enhance immune function, and regenerate tissue by releasing stem cells. Whether it's a specific health condition or general wellness and prevention, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can help you.

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HBOT is the use of pressure and oxygen to help heal, repair damaged tissue, and optimize health. HBOT allows us to deliver much more oxygen to the body's cells than normal. This extra O2 infusion supercharges the healing process, boosts recovery, and reduces inflammation. It provides oxygen to areas in the body where there may be limited supply due to poor circulation or injury. Hyperbarics have been found to increase vascular health, improve energy levels, enhance immune function, and regenerate tissue by releasing stem cells. Whether it's a specific health condition or general wellness and prevention, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can help you.

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HBOT is the use of pressure and oxygen to help heal, repair damaged tissue, and optimize health. HBOT allows us to deliver much more oxygen to the body's cells than normal. This extra O2 infusion supercharges the healing process, boosts recovery, and reduces inflammation. It provides oxygen to areas in the body where there may be limited supply due to poor circulation or injury. Hyperbarics have been found to increase vascular health, improve energy levels, enhance immune function, and regenerate tissue by releasing stem cells. Whether it's a specific health condition or general wellness and prevention, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can help you.

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Starting AGAIN 🧠

The following is a post from my mom's Facebook page. The response from people has been really overwhelming and humbling. Today it is with gratitude that I am beginning a treatment program, and I will be starting to post updates on how I am doing on my blog. I have a positive outlook on this treatment and am ready to take back my life so that I can feel good again. This treatment offers something very new and promising for individuals with chronic pain.

January 17, 2020

Dear friends and family,
So many people have asked us for updates on Malia and for a long time we haven’t had much to say. In all honestly, November and December were rough months for her. I did not get too many Christmas cards out, and I was going to try to do that today, but this feels easier. Thank you for your cards and well wishes and know that they are returned in our hearts. I will try to make this long, complicated story short. We moved Malia’s treatment to Cedars Sinai in December. We've seen the head of neurology twice. She thinks that she is going to diagnose Malia.

It isn't great news and it's not with something we've never heard of. The diagnosis is more of a determination of what she does not have, but it still opens treatment options and with an actual diagnosis she may be eligible for clinical trials. I'm sure you are asking what is it that she has? Well, it's called MOG which stands for Myelin-oligodendrocyte glycoprotein. It means that she has an antibody to myelin. There is a lot of money going into research and hopefully new drugs will be coming. In the meantime, our doctor in Thousand Oaks who has treated Malia for Lyme, did a test last month (when she was so bad) to see if there was some DNA of anything in the blood (such as viruses, fungi, bacteria, etc.) and that test came back clean. When I talked to him about this new diagnosis, he agreed it could be that, and had some new treatment options for her to explore. All of which are expensive and are not covered by insurance. Malia has asked us to stop throwing our money away on her, but she’s our sweet girl and we can’t until we find something that will help her feel better, function better or cure her.

Please know that we have done everything that we can. We have seen every type of doctor and alternative doctor, tried every crazy and not so crazy treatment. (God bless her- she’s willing to try them.) Malia cannot be tested for almost anything because she takes prednisone and she does not make her own Ig (which is what doctors test for). In fact, she did not test positive for MOG – but it is the only plausible diagnosis that the doctors can find. She gets an IV treatment once a month called IVIg which is 1,000 people’s immunity. (Thank you to people who donate blood.)

The money that our friends and family gave five years ago went towards us taking Malia to the Mayo Clinic. Although we did not get “answers” while we were there, that is where this diagnosis originated. Her doctor at Cedars has asked us to join the Guthrie Jackson Foundation, which is for a different but similar condition. We hope to make connections and that Malia will benefit from the research they are funding.

I feel we are in a good place. We are not moving forward by leaps and bounds, but it feels like progress. She is hoping to try some new prescription medication to help her feel better in the short term as well. Doctors move slow. The daily struggle is a lot sometimes and it's getting harder for her to put on a brave face. God bless her she does. No one could be stronger and withstand what she has been through with less complaint. This has gone on since December of 2013, with Malia spending every holiday of 2014 (except Christmas) in the hospital. Thank God that’s been the last hospitalization, not that there have not been close calls.

I know that we could not keep putting one foot in front of another each day without your constant prayers for her. When I get down and wonder where God is in all of this, I imagine what if He wasn’t here in all of this. Thank you – we couldn’t do it without your faith, love and support.

Finally, Tom’s friend is a member of Kiwanians – a service organization with a mind for children – they have started a GoFundMe campaign for her. The money will go towards her treatment. We did not ask for their help, but we cannot afford to turn it down. We are grateful that there are individuals with the heart and means to help children like Malia. We have already asked our friends and family and have been so blessed by you that we would not ask you again. However, if you are interested here is the link www.gofundme.com/f/support-malia-hassenbein-in-her-fight-fo…

I appreciate your interest and support. God bless you.

Level 3 Martial Arts

             

              The title is misleading because I didn’t do any martial arts. My brother Tyler has been taking karate classes at Level 3 Martial Arts in Moorpark for many years now. His Sense Eric has been offering me a session of training for almost a year now, so I finally decided to take him up on his offer. Going in I mainly wanted to work on self-defense. It is one of my greatest fears to caught in a situation that I would not be able to run away from. If I were caught in a fight or flight situation, I would need to be able to defend myself and I was hoping to learn some techniques that would help me. To my surprise, we spent the hour working on footwork and balance. I am happy that we started with this because I forgot how important that was for me and how much I needed help with it. We did three exercises to help with balance and coordination: leg lifts while kicking a padded block over, grape vines, and shuffling while hitting a pad. He gave me a  platform with two poles to stand on and support myself if I needed it. This wasn’t as intense of a session as I was anticipating, but it was good to start with footwork and having to keep myself balance while hitting something. This session also showed me all of the things that I still need to work on and strengthen. He showed me some exercises that I can do at home to strengthen the back of my legs and retrain my body. You can do leg lifts while holding on to a door so that you still have some support, grape vines, and kicking. These not only help balance but mobility too. I highly recommend going to Level 3 Martial Arts for their self-defense classes 

LA glass slide 🤘

This is not much of an exercise, but it was a lot of walking so it felt like one. Recently, I went to a new LA attraction the “terrifying glass slide” by OUE Skyspace. The glass slide is located on the side of the US Bank tower, which is the tallest building in LA. You slide from the 70th floor, down to the 69th, right on to the observation deck. When you reach the bottom you have a great view of the city and are able to buy food, drinks, and take pictures. Although it was a 4 second, overhyped ride, it’s fun to be able to say that you’ve slid down the side of a skyscraper. If you’re in LA and have time to kill, I’d suggest trying the skyslide. There is a lot of walking between the parking, to the building, and multiple elevators, but it’s exercise with a reward!

Pole dancing

To end 2018 I went pole dancing for a friends 21st birthday party. It was so much harder than I thought it would be and requires some coordination. It’s a great workout for people with balance problems, because you have a pole to hang on to, but challenges you since you are constantly moving and trying to put your body into positions that you didn’t know you could or couldn’t do. You have to keep your balance trying to pivot around the pole and engage all of your muscles at some point. There was so much stretctchimg before we started, since it requires flexibility, and the teacher walks you through each step treating it like an aerobics class. Even the things I thought I couldn’t do she would modify for me or encourage me to try. If you are looking for something different and fun to do with friends, I highly suggest pole dancing it’s harder than it looks.

Rock Climbing

              Recently I went rock climbing with a friend at Boulderdash in Thousand Oaks. I had loved going here when I was younger, but it had been a long time since I had been there. I went once with my family since my set back, but it still had probably been a year. We didn’t make an appointment for someone to belay us on the bigger walls, so we did an hour free climb. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to free climb with limited leg range and flexibility. To my surprise, I did an hour climb with no problems. I only did what I could do and made it to the top of a few different courses. I rediscovered a forgotten love. I don’t know how anyone could free climb for more than an hour. After 30 minutes my arms were killing me, shoulders were sore, and hands had blisters. Knowing I can do this, I definitely am going back and doing more of the courses with a belay guide. It is a great workout you feel the next day. It works out all parts of your body; core, legs, shoulders, and arms. This is a sport I would keep up with because it is something that is independent. The only competition is between yourself. Beating your last time, making it higher than before, and finding a new route to make it to the top. Rock climbing comes with many benefits for your body and brain.         It builds endurance, is good for improving coordination through intricate footwork, and develops lean muscle mass. Not only being a beneficial and fun cardio exercise, it is a brain function booster. The sport entails problem-solving skills. Where is the best hold to place your foot, before shifting your body weight, which notch is closest to grab, and so much more.  I don’t think I’ll ever take this sport outdoors, but it is a fun way to work out your body and relieve stress in a nontraditional setting. Hopefully, everyone goes to a rock climbing gym at least once in there life. 

(This isn’t a great picture, and I don’t have any of me climbing with my friend Katie, but the next time we go I’ll get some)