AlonTree

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Welcome to AlonTree.com

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What is 'neuroplasticity'? And how can I get some?

First of all, you need to learn about neurons. A neuron “is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals. These signals between neurons occur via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons can connect to each other to form neural networks.” (Check out “neuron” on wikipedia.org.)

When someone has a stroke and has paralysis, the neural connections in the brain’s motor system can no longer connect to the spine's neural networks. Also the spine's neural networks can't connect to the affected body part’s neural networks to control muscles and ligaments.  Without that neural control, affected limbs cannot move.

Neuroplasticity is the electrochemical process in the brain that allows neurons to form new neural networks. When you learn something new, new networks are formed.  In stroke some neural networks are damaged or destroyed.  This causes the paralysis and other effects of stroke.

Because of neuroplasticity, new neural networks can be formed to take the place of the old, dead networks.  Then signals can be sent to and from the affected limbs.  It is a continual process of stretching, moving and thinking about moving the affected limbs.  It is hard work that is worth it. You can reconnect some different neurons to do what your dead neurons used to do.

It took a long time to exercise my body and my brain to the point that I can use my affected limbs. I work at it 24/7. I needed the experience of all of my years, past and present.

From my father's journal on December 4th, 2008:  “the brain surgeon was obviously upset - he said there were two choices - do nothing and let him die or do a hemicraniectomy and evacuate a clot the size of a fist. He gave us a grave prognosis: even if he lives, he would be aphasic, hemiplegic and possibly incapable of understanding anything. Later, after the post-op CT scan we were given really grim news. The clot damaged or destroyed so much of his brain, Alon will never talk again and may not understand what he is being told. He will be a hemiplegic. We are heartbroken. Helpless. There is a gaping hole in the center of our lives.”

So what if the brain surgeon said, “no, I refuse to operate on your veggie son”?

So what if my ex-wife said, “No!” (She could have lived on my life insurance for ever).

So what if I lived a third world country with no access to health care?

So what if I lived in an 1980's America?  Even here, at that time little could be done to help a stroke person like me.

So what if the nurses refused to deal with my bed-sores and I got an infection and had to have an amputation?

So what if I didn’t have access to professional Physical Therapists?

So what if I hadn't been a super-fit man?

Dayenu!

It would have been enough for us!

(Jewish sarcasm).

What bothers me is some people including caregivers believe that prayer can solve EVERYTHING about stoke, but even with prayer, hard work is required to recover from stroke.

I will tell you a lovely story about the Old Man and God:

During the flood of New Orlean, waters will crept up and ruined the foundation of the houses of the parish. An old man sitting on his roof to avoid the sewage of the water.

A firefighter standing in the muck called to him, “Can I help you?”

“No,” said the old man, “God will help me”.

The firefighter shrugged and walked away.

A rowboat carrying a group of soldiers. “Can we help you?”

“No,” said the old man, moving to the next level up, “God will help me”.

Night fell.

A helicopter churned overhead. A pilot said, “Can I help you?”

“No,” said the old man who was shivering because the water was lapping at his waist, “God will help me!”

The flood water washed the old man away.

Later on, in Heaven, the old man stormed up to God and yelled, “You were going help me!”

God said slowly, “But, I did. I summoned the fireman, the bunch of soldiers and the pilot of the helicopter to go and help you!”

“God” is your deputy persona.

“The fireman, the group of soldier and the pilot” are your exercises, your health & your rest.

“The water” represent your stroke.

And, you are the old man.

Sorry.

Prayer is not enough to recover.

Even professional help is not enough to recover from stroke. Okay I did get my grandfather’s sheer charming, tinkering, salesmanship & courage-to-live-another-day genes. Even that was not enough.

I had the help of many professionals: the luck & persistence of the surgical team, the care of ICU nurses, my physical therapists.  I had the help of my family, my friends, my yoga teachers, my tango teachers, my ecstatic dancing.

I invented & designed my stroke rehabilitation prototypes.

I needed access 24/7 to the kinds of equipment I developed to get me where I am today. After I left the hospital I looked and moved like I stepped out of a 1950’s horror movie: I had a scar running from my left ear to the back of my head that looped around back up to my forehead.  I was mute, dragging my affected right leg, my right arm was numb and unmovable.  Now with hard work and access to the AlonTree equipment  I  walk, talk, drive a car, ride bicycles, dance, cook, take care of my three daughters.

AlonTree Company are having a Stroke Heroes Party @ Thurs. December 3rd, 7pm @ The Mothlight, 701 Haywood RD, Asheville, NC 28806, where we will demonstrated our new products.

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Alon is a “oak tree” in Hebrew.  “And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord”.  (Joshua 24:26)

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Stroke: a terrorist act to destroy your brain

Your brain is a command center issuing commands to the army (your body). Imagine that some terrorists blew out one room, maybe three, with a grenade. Now imagine those “terrorists" are a blood clot. The "grenade" is the damage done by the blood clot to your host of neuron cells. No one has an answer to your questions about your stroke. No one. Except you do. Here’s the truth behind some of the most common stroke myths. (Except they may change in the circumstance of facts.)

1. MYTH: Strokes only happen to elderly people.

FACT: “It’s true that as we get older, our risk for stroke goes up,” says Eric Bershad, MD, a neurointensivist with St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and a vascular neurologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. However, babies, children, teenagers, young adults, and middle-aged people can have a stroke just by being pregnant, obese, having high blood pressure, being in a car accident, having genetic transgressors, or, nothing at all.

2. MYTH: Strokes are rare.

FACT: Stroke statistics reveal that strokes are quite common. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 6 million Americans have had a stroke. “..and stroke is currently the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S.,” Bershad says.

3. MYTH: A stroke takes place in the heart.

FACT: “A stroke takes place in the brain,” Dr. Igor Rybinnik, MD, an assistant professor of neurology at the Cushing Neuroscience Institute in Manhasset, NY, explains. “The nervous cells in the brain, called neurons, require blood flow and the nutrients and oxygen in blood to survive and function. If the blood supply to the neurons in the brain is cut off either because of a blood clot or a disease of the blood vessels, those neurons die. That’s what a stroke is.” 4. MYTH: Strokes aren’t preventable. FACT: “The notion that strokes can’t be prevented is a giant myth,” Rybinnik says. “One of the biggest studies on stroke, called the International Stroke Study, examined risk factors and found that 90 percent of strokes can be attributed to vascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity — and all of which are preventable to a large extent.”

5. MYTH: Strokes can’t be treated.

FACT: The vast majority of strokes are ischemic, which are caused by a clot, and they can be treated. “If a person comes in within 4 and a half hours of the onset of stroke symptoms, we can give a clot-busting medication called tissue plasminogen activator that may prevent or possibly reverse damage that would’ve been done by the stroke,” Rybinnik says. By the way, rehab equipment such as AlonTree products may help your affected body, and speech therapy may give way to eloquence in written and spoken language.

6. MYTH: The most common sign of a stroke is pain.

FACT: “Only about 30 percent of people will have a headache with ischemic stroke, so pain isn’t a reliable symptom,” Bershad says. The most common symptoms of stroke include sudden onset of numbness or weakness on one side, double vision, confusion, lack of coordination, and trouble understanding what someone is saying. “If you experience any of these symptoms, call 911 immediately,” he says. “People with stroke symptoms are treated more promptly in the emergency room when they arrive by ambulance.”

7. MYTH: Strokes aren’t hereditary.

FACT: “Strokes do run in families,” Rybinnik says. “The vascular risk factors for stroke, such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, all have a genetic component. And the more rare causes of stroke in younger people, such as cardiac tumors, clotting disorders, and abnormalities with blood vessels, can also be passed down from generation to generation.”

8. MYTH: If stroke symptoms pass, you don’t need treatment.

FACT: “When someone has temporary symptoms of stroke, called a transient ischemic attack or TIA, it’s also a medical emergency,” Bershad says. The difference between TIA and stroke is that the blood vessel that was blocked during a TIA opens before it causes permanent damage. However, someone who’s had a TIA has a high chance of having a stroke within a week. “It’s very important to seek medical attention for any stroke-like symptoms, even if they pass,” Bershad stresses.

9. MYTH: Smoking doesn’t affect your chances of having a stroke.

FACT: “Smoking is one of the biggest risk factors for stroke, especially in younger people,” Bershad says. “This is true for both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, as well as first-time and recurrent strokes.”

10. MYTH: Stroke recovery only happens in the first few months after a stroke.

FACT: Wrong, again. Stroke recovery is a continuous process. Your brain, your body and your speaking may take decades to work the affects out. - http://criticalhealthfacts.com/10-deadly-myths-about-stroke/

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A decision no parent ever wants to make.

Alon's father talks about the difficult decision that could leave his son incapacitated for the rest of his life.

From the ashes a phoenix will rise.

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Community

Living in L.A. in my twenties, I was always meeting new people; people like me who were actively seeking a meaningful community to take part in. I was meeting people whom I would never ever ever see again.

“I’m seeking community” was the third thing that the new person who I never saw again would tell me, right after “I’m writing a screenplay” and “What do you pay for rent?”

Seeking community was an obsession: like a late twentieth century gold rush.  And like the 1849 California yore, we mined the greater Los Angeles basin for emotional wealth and found a lot of fool’s gold.

Looking back, I realize in the whole eight years that I spent out in La La Land searching for that gleaming prize nugget of community that would set me up for life, I never once stopped to ask myself what exactly community was or what I’d do with it if I ever found it.

I was like a dog chasing a car.

The new people I met that I never saw again spoke about “community” like it was something you could find on aisle five of the Whole Foods next to the nutritional supplements.

Maybe it was.  I could never afford to shop at Whole Foods anyway.  The place I shopped was an old Persian market in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood where you had to fight with old ladies for one of the ten shopping carts in the store.

The old Persian ladies at the old Persian market had community coming out of their ears but I wanted nothing to do with it.  I just wanted their shopping carts.

Not that the community I was seeking was unrealistic in any way.  All I wanted was a place that I could show up, get a hot meal, talk about not selling screenplays with other twenty-something east coast transplants, find some spiritual nourishment and be validated as a person at the end of a hellish week of attempted prostitution in the film industry.  If we got bored in this utopia, I imagined that we could compare our exorbitant rents.

My ideal community was a warm loving Family that didn’t make me set the table, do the laundry, listen to stories I’d heard a hundred times before, or deal with their neuroses.

In other words, the Bradys.

I wanted everything that I could get by moving back in with my parents but without having to constantly explain to anyone what I planned to do with myself when I grew up.

I wanted college dorm life without the midterms.

I wanted everything that a decent name brand Cult could offer; except with better hours and casual Fridays.

I wanted what Laura Ingalls, Ma, Pa, Carrie and Mary had in the Michael Landon TV series, but with hot indoor showers, THX movie screens and sushi.

I wanted that moment when everyone on the team hoists the rookie on their shoulders after the surprise win, but without having to join a team or learn to catch a ball.

Club Med without the cash outlay.  The Army without boot camp.  

I couldn’t understand why this kind of community was so damn elusive.

I never found it.

Now, years later, living in a neighborhood with my wife and kids, being on the board of my synagogue, teaching Sunday School, driving my daughter to ballet class, visiting my parents and in-laws on Thanksgiving and birthdays, meeting new people who I not only see again but who become regular friends, I don’t have time to seek community anymore.

I’m too busy.

[its-deedee-bitch-deactivated201]

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Love Wins. Always.

[feel-better-yoga]

self.com

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We could all benefit from a lesson in ‪#‎love‬.

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Stroke at 20: Like having a three sandbags attached to you

Stroke at 20: Like having a three sandbags attached to you

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Never forget it. Anything you put your mind to can be accomplished. ‪

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Thailand: See the fan? The computer fan or, hard-drive fan cooling the Thai feast or.... driving away those sneaky lil' sonofgun black flys....

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While in Thailand I took the bus from Karon Beach to Phuket (16 miles) for 35 baht ($1). One afternoon, this thug & his tuk tuk charged me 300 baht ($10) to take me to Patong (5 miles). Chupvat! The "bus" was made out of truck parts, a couple of pews, and soldered together knick-knacks in a wish that the bus may not fall apart... Maybe, I should have taken the bus to the airport...

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#WorldEnvironmentDay: Busy bees. A large key in the functionality of all things natural. Their buzzing is musical in my front yard.

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Love is something that everybody can relate to. And Love comes in ways that we can easily overlook in our daily lives. So, I try to find the meaning of love in our daily lives and make it into artwork.

Puuung

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I never gave up. Nor should you.