Josie's Journey

We just got back from a Johnson family trip to the wild wild west - New Mexico - to see a Chinese Dr. named Dr. Jason Hao. Dr. Hao is one of the only Chinese doctors in the United States who practices an acupuncture method called Scalp Acupuncture. We did a lot of research on it and read many stories of people with severe brain injuries who, after just a few treatments, recovered. Paralyzed people started walking. When we spoke to Dr. Hao on the phone he was very confident he could help Josie. When asked what percent of his patients respond, he said "I'd like to say 100%, but most people don't believe that, so I'll say 99%." Music to my ears. He explained that it sounds like the neurotransmitters in Josie's brains aren't connecting and with Scalp Acupuncture he can get them to ignite. We decided to make it a family vacation and make it as exciting as possible for Tanner. I told him it's the start of our mission to visit all 50 United States. We d...

This post is dedicated to the people who work with Josie day in and day out to help her grow stronger - aka Team Josie. We had our 6 month IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) meeting with Early Intervention recently to assess how Josie is coming along with her current services. I was told that EI is unlikely to increase her services as they are going through budget cuts, but that wasn't the case for Josie. The coordinators understood that Josie needs more. While she is showing some moderate improvements, she has not reached a single milestone yet. She's still not sitting up unassisted, rolling over, making consonant sounds and/or anything above those skills. I personally think she's got these skills in her repertoire, but she loves the attention from all these amazing women every day. Smart cookie. So all of her services were increased by one. She will now have Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy and a Special Educator 3x week for 45 mins. And h...