Family Pain Management Day

We participated in “family day” at the pain management center today.  I took the day off from work (which gave me a little more sleep time—always a plus J).  Around 11 o’clock, Jennifer and I went to the high school to pick up Ben and Isaac and we drove down the Brea area for the appointment.  I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but I have to admit to being surprised at the size of the building.  The pain management portion was in the front of the building.  As we moved to sit down in the waiting area, I noticed that beyond the pain management section was a huge rehabilitation section with equipment designed to help strengthen different muscles.  I also saw an area where people could relearn how to walk.  I’d have to say I was pretty impressed by what I saw as I realized this building could help many different people with a great many different physical problems.

The first person I was introduced to was Cynthia Crain.  She is the coordinator for the program.  When Jennifer first learned about this program, Cynthia was the person she initially contacted.  After that first conversation, it appeared doubtful that Ben would be able to get into the program right away.  Only a small amount of people are taken into the program at a time (I think the number mentioned was 10).  At the time, the program was full up until September.  Jen was worried about the time factor.  She was hoping to get Ben into the program during the summer to complete the 8 weeks without it interfering with school.  Cynthia was willing to work with Jen and set Ben up to begin the program on July 7th.  If you’ve been keeping up, you’ll remember that the 7th was the day Ben's appendix (or what was left of it) was removed.  I was very impressed to learn that when Jennifer talked with Cynthia to tell her what had happened, she was immediately willing to set a new starting time that would give him enough time to recover from his surgery.  Unfortunately, the new start date coincided with the Ben’s second week of school.  His run through the program has necessitated him missing half of three days out of the week, but the school administration has been willing to work with him.  It’s been a bit tough for him to get homework assignments at times.  Overall, things have gone pretty well up to this point.

The screen looked kind of like this.

After a short wait, it was time for us to meet with Kimson.  She is the bio-feedback specialist.  One of the things she is teaching Ben is how to control his pain through breathing and relaxing techniques.  To help him (and her) see how these techniques assist him, she placed electrodes on Ben’s upper torso.  The electrodes were connected to a computer that can monitor his physical reactions to the stimuli she is giving him.  Kimson’s first test for Ben was to flash color words on a screen that were colored differently than the word (for example: BLUE).  Ben’s task was to say the color red instead of the word blue.  He was given about ten to fifteen seconds per word, so he had to go fast.  The words would flash up on the screen (GREEN, PURPLE, YELLOW, RED).  There were a couple of times when he said the word instead of the color.  It wasn’t easy (I was trying it in my head).  Most of the time, Ben really had to work to say the color instead of the word.  As the exercise progressed, I noticed Ben’s readings on the screen increased as his stress level rose.  Once the exercise was completed, Kimson told Ben to focus on breathing techniques she had taught him in previous sessions.  I was fascinated to see the levels decrease; slowly at first and then a little faster as Ben was able to calm his body.

She had Ben do another exercise which was similar in its effect, but different in the sense that she asked him to relate a story that would cause him to relive a stressful situation.  Afterward, she showed all of us the importance of belly breathing over chest breathing.  She said that belly breathing was actually the proper way to breathe as it would employ the diaphragm more effectively.  Apparently, as we become adults, we forget to breathe with the belly and focus on the chest.  I volunteered to be partially hooked up to the machine and noticed when I focused on breathing with my belly, it was easier for me to keep the markers within the “good” range.  This bio-feedback helps Ben to see the importance of these techniques and how they can assist him in reducing his pain levels when they increase.  I was quite fascinated by the process.

The next person we met was Dr. Boffa.  He is a psychologist and works with Ben to help him talk about his pain and put it in perspective.  I don’t know how affective his therapy session was with all of us sitting there in the room, but he talked with Ben and encouraged him to focus on the things he was learning with the other members of the pain management team over the past couple of weeks.  At first, it was interesting to listen to the exchange and Dr. Boffa tried to include the rest of us in the discussion, however I will admit to losing interest at about the mid-way point.  I started getting bored and a bit sleepy.  I felt bad because the whole point of this day was to see what Ben was learning and to meet his team, but talk therapy can only be all-inclusive for only so long when the focus is supposed to be on one person.  Dr. Boffa was very nice and seemed to be quite engaging with Ben.  I was glad to see how Ben responded to him and how the two of them seemed to have a good rapport.

A representation of what the pool looked like

After Dr. Boffa, it was time for physical therapy in the pool.  Ben changed into his swimming trunks and put on the pool shoes we bought for him (it was not easy finding size 13 pool shoes, but Dick’s Sporting Goods came through for us and we didn’t have to special order them J).  Ben’s regular physical therapist had the day off on our family day, so her assistant, Linda, was in charge.  The therapy pools and not long, but are about 5 to 5 1/2 feet deep (the water came up to Ben’s chest).  Once in the water, Linda had Ben complete various pool exercises.  He moved forward, backward and sideways.  None of what he was doing had anything to do with swimming, necessarily.  Instead, the resistance of the water combined with the specific movements he was being asked to accomplish were designed to strengthen his muscles and joints.  I asked Linda a few questions while watching her put Ben through his paces.  Pool therapy had only started last week, but Jennifer commented on how much Ben had already improved physically.

Finally, it was time to meet Vibhuti, the occupational therapist.  Of all the people we met during this tour, I’d have to say I was most interested to meet Vibhuti because of the things she had taught Ben.  Occupational therapy, from what I’ve been able to gather, differs from physical therapy in the sense that Vibhuti has taught Ben strategies to help him accomplish everyday tasks with a minimal amount of pain.  I asked Ben what three things he has learned from her that has helped him the most.  His reply was 1) relearning to do chores to get his life back, 2) playing the Wii to learn the fundamentals of playing sports without hurting himself, and 3) strengthening his walking, standing and sitting time limit.

I fully expected Vibhuti to teach him a few new techniques.  I was ready to watch the process and see how she worked with Ben to learn his latest method.  In this wish I was disappointed.  Instead of showing Ben something new, she asked him how he was doing with the things he’d already learned and then talked to him (and, extensively, us) about the importance of using these techniques.  Rats! L

Oh, well.  All in all though, I did find the time I spent with Ben and his “team” quite fascinating.  I was impressed by the time they took with him and by the things they are teaching him.  In the 3 weeks that he has been a part of this program, I have seen improvement in the way he carries himself.  Whereas at times during our vacation he had difficulty even standing, he seems to have better control over his body and is able to function closer to a normal level than before.  I know Ben is not out of the woods yet.  Pain will be a constant companion for the rest of his life and he won’t be able to do certain things that he used to take for granted, but his quality of life is improving and that is a great blessing.