Dr. Nemeh - August 13, 2015

Kevin had his visit with Dr. Nemeh and it was an interesting day. The appointment was originally scheduled for 10:30am and we received several phone calls (2 before the day and 2 the day of) to postpone our time to accommodate someone who was flying in to see the Doctor. The constant time changes - kind of made a long day for us - but we were happy to help someone else and we still got our appointment that day- especially since my parents came up to visit and go to the appointment with us. 

Not long after Dr. Nemeh began the diagnostic part of the visit he asked about Kevin’s fall/s. He had asked us this same question on our first visit in February - which didn’t surprise me because Kevin had a scary tumble down the steps in December. So at the February visit, Dr. Nemeh treated Kevin’s neck and back where he saw the negative effects from fall. So when he asked about it again at this visit - I was at a loss - because I wasn’t aware of any big fall that Kevin had (and we are together nearly all the time so it was unlikely that I wouldn’t be aware of it). The only thing I could think of was that Kevin will sometimes fall gracefully - meaning he will lose his balance and catch himself with his right hand and lower himself to the floor. Dr. Nemeh told me, “a fall is a fall”. Earlier in the day, my Mom had mentioned how much better Kevin’s walking looked compared to when we were in Myrtle Beach on vacation in July. I had forgotten or blocked it out - because his walking was really awful at that time - making me cringe with every step. This reminded me of several “graceful” falls during that time - which was after our last visit with Dr. Nemeh in June. Dr. Nemeh explained that once he had treated Kevin’s neck and back in February it shouldn’t show up again in the diagnostic unless there had been an injury - so he was basically telling me Kevin had a fall not asking me. We discussed it later and felt very fortunate to have this information available to us from Dr. Nemeh because Kevin is unable to communicate to us - if he did have a fall and I was unaware or if he was having discomfort from it. During this visit Kevin was happy and vocal during the treatment but his mood drastically changed when Dr. Nemeh began treating his neck and back area that was affected. It was obviously very sensitive for Kevin and bothering him. So we feel grateful.

While Dr. Nemeh was working on Kevin’s left foot - I remembered him commenting at our last appointment in June about 2 of the bones looking better in his foot. I had a hard time seeing the positive change he mentioned at that time. But during this visit I realized the bone that had been protruding on the top of his foot was much less pronounced (I had actually forgotten about it until then). So that was a very positive thing to realize. 

As I mentioned, Kevin was verbal during this visit again. Dr. Nemeh was encouraging Kevin to say “ok” and Kevin was able to get something out that sounded very close to it. There was also one more word that he encouraged and Kevin again got something very close out - but we can’t remember what the word was. 

Overall, it was a very good visit and worth the wait! As we were waiting for Dr. Nemeh to come in at the start of our appointment, we saw THREE deer running by outside the window - we took it as a good sign. 

We will return for another visit with Dr. Nemeh on Kevin’s birthday! I can't wait to see the changes he develops in the next 8 weeks. 

We had such a good visit with my Mom and Dad while they were visiting. They got to see the various “faces” of Kevin in his home environment. Kevin practiced a lot of “no” sounds. I would guess it won’t be long before he begins using it as a response. We are trying to encourage “ok” to counter having “no” added to his vocabulary. 

On the last day of my parents visit, when they were packing up to leave - I could see Kevin process the understanding that they were leaving and it made us both sad - which is another positive progression for Kevin’s development. We are so thankful for our time together with Grandee & Pap and a bunch of new memories. 

Kevin with Grandee & Pap 

This is the painting "Friend" was able to paint after his healing 

from Dr. Nemeh that hangs in the office.