Day 2: FAR Clinic
Today was day 2 out at the FAR Clinic, and it was supposed to start with the green medical smoothie at the clinic. John woke up looking taller (I always think he should start a growth spurt, he's 63 lbs and 4'6.. which is kind of why people think he's 8-10, not 12). He was also very hungry, so I reached out to Matt to ask him if we could let him eat. He was given the green light on oatmeal but not fruit, which was explained to us later. After oatmeal, we walked around Station Park Mall then we drove in for the chewy smoothie, which John said "tasted no bettter but complaining won't do me any good." We were off to South Davis Rec Center to meet Elanda (personal trainer) and Rod (Clinic owner) and go through his exercises.
South Davis Rec Center has anything anyone would want. Two sheets of ice (woohoo!), indoor basketball, a few pools, some water slides, hot tub, full gym with weights and cardio... this place is ginormous. We were there for a stationary bike and some simple weight machines, but we soon learned that 12 is too young to use the equipment we needed. Our backup plan was the hotel, but before we left, we got a big explanation of Lyme and what they are looking for with these exercises.
Rod is a unique guy. Wildly intelligent, highly passionate about health, quiet when his gears turn. Think Crocodile Dundee minus the hat and accent, but add in genius IQ and a quest for ultimate health. Elanda is a fitness guru. She knows her stuff and is motivating and friendly. The conversation centered around what Lyme spirochetes do. They are anaerobic in nature, and can go anywhere in your body. One thing they commonly do is hang out in the chest and disrupt the electrical signals that tell your heart to pump blood. When it disrupts the heart, the pump is weaker, and less blood flows than is supposed to. The body is smart and knows you're not pumping the same volume of blood, so it increases the speed of the pumping, your heart rate, to compensate and move more blood. Thus, John's resting heart rate is higher than it should be. I asked if the higher HR could make his metabolism faster, and make him burn through calories, thus make it hard to gain weight. Rod said it's possible, but usually there's more to it. Rod also explained to us why to avoid sugar and even fruit sugars. The spirochetes are thought to feed and thrive on sugar. Feed the body sugar, help the spirochetes grow. I verified with other websites on this, and the consensus is to avoid added sugar. If you must have it, stick to berries and the more sour citrus like grapefruit and lemon. We will certainly try to modify his diet little by little, but it's pretty challenging when you're already corn free, wheat and gluten free, dairy free and egg free (especially when you don't like nuts and avoid soy too... there isn't a lot left). I digress...
We needed to test his heart, particularly how it responds to activity, so off to the hotel gym we went. The first exercise was a two arm shoulder press, with lighter weights.
He was to do this repeatedly and fast, exhaling through his mouth with noise. John doesn't like to accentuate his breathing and he kept laughing trying to do it. Elanda kept trying to get him to focus and keep moving. John was getting frustrated and started to shut down. He was really getting tired and didn't want to keep pushing through, even though that's what we needed him to do. Elanda got him to finish, albeit reluctantly. I was concerned he wouldn't cooperate with her anymore because she was trying to explain why we do it this way, and he just wanted her to back off (he never would say this, but as his mom, I know when to not "poke the bear." He was in bear mode. Rawrrr! His pulse and oxygen levels were monitored, and it looked like his heart pumped stronger with the exercise. This was a good sign, but more investigation was needed.
The next exercise involved finding a space of wall with which to put an exercise ball against. He was to position the ball so that it would move with him as he went down to a 1/2 squat and back up as fast as he could go without locking his knees at the top. When Elanda counted 65, John stopped for another HR and oxygen test.
We moved onto the sprint phase of the workout. This was supposed to be done on a recumbent bike so that if the participant gets weak and woozy, they are already safely seated. A 4'6" boy doesn't fit on a recumbent, even if he has long legs. His pedal stroke didn't have proper form because he had to reach too far with the pedals, so we had to modify with the treadmill. John had to get used to a 2 mph speed before Elanda moved it to 4.0. From there, she bumped the speed up slowly until it looked like he was sprinting. He sprinted for 10-20 seconds before straddling the treadmill so we could take his HR and oxygen levels. He did this three times total, receiving canned oxygen for two of his runs.
They determined that his recovery time is fast and strong, but that his oxygen drops off during exercise. Most people are at 98-99 on the oximeter but John drops to 95 during a workout. At 87, people pass out. They told us it might be a good idea to get an oxygen generator and keep canned oxygen on his bench for hockey. Oh boy!
After the workout, John had to simulate the hyperthermia suit in the hotel hot tub. The reason this is done is so Rod and Elanda could teach me what they are looking for. The hot tub is a perfect place for hyperthermia because you can raise your core temperature better there than a sauna. In a sauna, your body adjust and compensates for the heat with sweat to cool off. In the hot tub, the body can't compensate and your core temperature rises as a result. So, John sat in the warmth while Elanda monitored his temperature and heart and oxygen.
When his temp hit 101.5 orally, we could tell that was enough. John got flush and a blank look on his face like when he is sick, so he got out and changed, put on his fuzzy robe to hold in heat for the ride back to the clinic.
Back at the FAR Clinic, Matt was waiting for us. He took John's vitals,
and started him in the health pod again. After a 6 minute jiggle shaking, John was presented with another chewy smoothie. John drank this as he sat in the PEMF chair while also on oxygen. He also took serrapeptase to help break down the biofilms where spirochetes like to hide. Matt let us mess with Alexa (amazon smart device) so we heard some bad jokes, Rush music, and Alexa sung to us herself. This was about 30 min. The frequency used here was specific to stem cell production. Finally, John stood for 5 minutes on the G force machine.
Matt and Rod told us that John should really try to get deep sleep when we got back to the hotel. Before sleeping, John most wanted to talk to his brother at home. John's grandma recently bought the boys iPods, so it's been fun for John to FaceTime Patrick at home. Big bro has been so sweet showing John the dogs he misses so much. And if you read this, Patrick, your brother misses you. John took a good nap while I hunted down some salads from Cafe Zupas and some non itchy sheets from HomeGoods.
I will say I really wanted to book an airbnb out here, but the Hyatt in Farmington is really important a good location. There's an amusement park nearby, thought neither of us want to do rides right now. The shops at Station Park seem new and walking around is pleasant.
They really take care of their landscaping and sidewalks. We found there are concerts in the mall park this week, so we might be able to see a Motown cover band, as well as Pat Benatar and Earth, Wind, and Fire cover bands.
South Davis Rec Center has anything anyone would want. Two sheets of ice (woohoo!), indoor basketball, a few pools, some water slides, hot tub, full gym with weights and cardio... this place is ginormous. We were there for a stationary bike and some simple weight machines, but we soon learned that 12 is too young to use the equipment we needed. Our backup plan was the hotel, but before we left, we got a big explanation of Lyme and what they are looking for with these exercises.
Rod is a unique guy. Wildly intelligent, highly passionate about health, quiet when his gears turn. Think Crocodile Dundee minus the hat and accent, but add in genius IQ and a quest for ultimate health. Elanda is a fitness guru. She knows her stuff and is motivating and friendly. The conversation centered around what Lyme spirochetes do. They are anaerobic in nature, and can go anywhere in your body. One thing they commonly do is hang out in the chest and disrupt the electrical signals that tell your heart to pump blood. When it disrupts the heart, the pump is weaker, and less blood flows than is supposed to. The body is smart and knows you're not pumping the same volume of blood, so it increases the speed of the pumping, your heart rate, to compensate and move more blood. Thus, John's resting heart rate is higher than it should be. I asked if the higher HR could make his metabolism faster, and make him burn through calories, thus make it hard to gain weight. Rod said it's possible, but usually there's more to it. Rod also explained to us why to avoid sugar and even fruit sugars. The spirochetes are thought to feed and thrive on sugar. Feed the body sugar, help the spirochetes grow. I verified with other websites on this, and the consensus is to avoid added sugar. If you must have it, stick to berries and the more sour citrus like grapefruit and lemon. We will certainly try to modify his diet little by little, but it's pretty challenging when you're already corn free, wheat and gluten free, dairy free and egg free (especially when you don't like nuts and avoid soy too... there isn't a lot left). I digress...
We needed to test his heart, particularly how it responds to activity, so off to the hotel gym we went. The first exercise was a two arm shoulder press, with lighter weights.
He was to do this repeatedly and fast, exhaling through his mouth with noise. John doesn't like to accentuate his breathing and he kept laughing trying to do it. Elanda kept trying to get him to focus and keep moving. John was getting frustrated and started to shut down. He was really getting tired and didn't want to keep pushing through, even though that's what we needed him to do. Elanda got him to finish, albeit reluctantly. I was concerned he wouldn't cooperate with her anymore because she was trying to explain why we do it this way, and he just wanted her to back off (he never would say this, but as his mom, I know when to not "poke the bear." He was in bear mode. Rawrrr! His pulse and oxygen levels were monitored, and it looked like his heart pumped stronger with the exercise. This was a good sign, but more investigation was needed.
The next exercise involved finding a space of wall with which to put an exercise ball against. He was to position the ball so that it would move with him as he went down to a 1/2 squat and back up as fast as he could go without locking his knees at the top. When Elanda counted 65, John stopped for another HR and oxygen test.
We moved onto the sprint phase of the workout. This was supposed to be done on a recumbent bike so that if the participant gets weak and woozy, they are already safely seated. A 4'6" boy doesn't fit on a recumbent, even if he has long legs. His pedal stroke didn't have proper form because he had to reach too far with the pedals, so we had to modify with the treadmill. John had to get used to a 2 mph speed before Elanda moved it to 4.0. From there, she bumped the speed up slowly until it looked like he was sprinting. He sprinted for 10-20 seconds before straddling the treadmill so we could take his HR and oxygen levels. He did this three times total, receiving canned oxygen for two of his runs.
They determined that his recovery time is fast and strong, but that his oxygen drops off during exercise. Most people are at 98-99 on the oximeter but John drops to 95 during a workout. At 87, people pass out. They told us it might be a good idea to get an oxygen generator and keep canned oxygen on his bench for hockey. Oh boy!
After the workout, John had to simulate the hyperthermia suit in the hotel hot tub. The reason this is done is so Rod and Elanda could teach me what they are looking for. The hot tub is a perfect place for hyperthermia because you can raise your core temperature better there than a sauna. In a sauna, your body adjust and compensates for the heat with sweat to cool off. In the hot tub, the body can't compensate and your core temperature rises as a result. So, John sat in the warmth while Elanda monitored his temperature and heart and oxygen.
When his temp hit 101.5 orally, we could tell that was enough. John got flush and a blank look on his face like when he is sick, so he got out and changed, put on his fuzzy robe to hold in heat for the ride back to the clinic.
Back at the FAR Clinic, Matt was waiting for us. He took John's vitals,
and started him in the health pod again. After a 6 minute jiggle shaking, John was presented with another chewy smoothie. John drank this as he sat in the PEMF chair while also on oxygen. He also took serrapeptase to help break down the biofilms where spirochetes like to hide. Matt let us mess with Alexa (amazon smart device) so we heard some bad jokes, Rush music, and Alexa sung to us herself. This was about 30 min. The frequency used here was specific to stem cell production. Finally, John stood for 5 minutes on the G force machine.
Matt and Rod told us that John should really try to get deep sleep when we got back to the hotel. Before sleeping, John most wanted to talk to his brother at home. John's grandma recently bought the boys iPods, so it's been fun for John to FaceTime Patrick at home. Big bro has been so sweet showing John the dogs he misses so much. And if you read this, Patrick, your brother misses you. John took a good nap while I hunted down some salads from Cafe Zupas and some non itchy sheets from HomeGoods.
I will say I really wanted to book an airbnb out here, but the Hyatt in Farmington is really important a good location. There's an amusement park nearby, thought neither of us want to do rides right now. The shops at Station Park seem new and walking around is pleasant.
They really take care of their landscaping and sidewalks. We found there are concerts in the mall park this week, so we might be able to see a Motown cover band, as well as Pat Benatar and Earth, Wind, and Fire cover bands.
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