"I Love You" - God

A great “little” God-thing from this week I’d like to share. There is a kitchen appliance called a Vita-mix. It is a high speed blender that can break open the cell wall of foods, releasing their nutrition, can make nut butters, grind rice into flour, etc. With Jordan’s special diet needs, it would be SO helpful in my kitchen, save time and money and be able to make foods that have greater nutrition in them (IF I can just get Jordan to eat them…hmmm). I researched them, checked them out on e-bay, dreamed for awhile and gave up on it as WAY to expensive. But as I gave up on it, in an off-handed way prayed, “Well, God, if you want me to have one, you’ll just have to give it to me somehow” (or something like that). 

Fast forward a month or two. In-laws visit. mom sees the process I go through in order to make some of Jordan’s food. Conversations about better ways to do it take place. She goes home and comments to a friend that I could really use a Vita-mix. Friend had a conversation with a neighbor the week before about how neighbor got a Vita-mix and only has used it a few times. Friend said “If you ever want to get rid of it let me know I’ll buy it off of you”. Neighbor said, “I could really use the money”. MIL makes the above comment to friend about how I could really use a V-M. Friend thinks “Hmmm…I have one in my garage, THAT’s why that conversation with neighbor took place”. Friend puts it in the mail insured for $500.  It should arrive Wednesday!!!! A little thing to God…huge to me, it’s not just the convenience of an appliance; it’s a message of God’s love and care for ME in the midst of unknowns.

UPDATE - It arrived and not only is it a Vita-Mix, it's a RED Vita-Mix (my favorite), with an extra wet canister AND a dry canister - JACKPOT!!!

Coughs, Colds, & Congestion - A Quick and Natural Fix

With all the learning about toxins that has happened over the past two years, I’ve become reluctant to give my boys cold medicines when they become sick. I started taking the wait it out approach. However, the last couple times they’ve gotten sick it has gotten kind of bad – mucousy and congestion in their lungs. After a few days of it getting worse and worse, rather than better, I start to question my wisdom of not giving them medicine. And it only takes one or two nights of them being up most of the night, completely miserable (and then cranky all the following day ) for me to want to wave the white surrender flag and give in to giving them medication. But, with all the other work I’m doing through nutrition and everything else to keep toxins OUT of Jordan’s system, I just can’t stand to intentionally put some into him. So, what to do…Jordan was pretty sick, very congested – head AND chest. 

We have a D.O. for our family doctor who likes to use homeopathic things when she can, so I thought I’d call and see what she would suggest in place of an over-the-counter cough med. All I got was an earful (literal yelling – not at me, but at her nurse in regards to me) about how she would have to see him and evaluate him and what in the world was I thinking not bringing him in, but calling instead, blah, blah, blah… Well, in my mind, how was coming in going to help? I’m telling you, he’s congested, but it’s not THAT serious. I’m just looking for a natural expectorant (stuff that thins the mucous so it can be coughed out), something instead of toxic pharmaceuticals. If I brought him in, she is just going to say antibiotics won’t help and to go home, he’d be better in a few days. In reality, it would take him about 2 weeks to get better, but hey, who’s counting she’s not the one up rocking him every night, ALL night (can you tell we’ve already been down this road a few times). Which is fine, because even if she did think antibiotics would help, I wouldn’t give them to him anyway. We are already fighting the yeast war in his body and don’t need any antibiotics to make it worse and weaken him further, or add more toxicity as I mentioned earlier.

So, getting no help from the doctor once again, I turned to herbs. I had had my eye on a  herb book for kids, The ABC Herbal by Steven Horne. I started perusing. Although much of the book contains “recipes” for making different concoctions for treating various things. I came across a section on infections. It talked about garlic being nature’s penicillin with “powerful infection-fighting qualities” and how it can be very beneficial for colds, respiratory problems, earaches and infections, fevers, other infections, etc and how it helps to expel phlegm. Well, phlegm expulsion is definitely what my boys needed and I had garlic on hand! Not knowing much (or anything) about herbs, I didn’t quite understand how I was suppose to use the garlic, but I did read that it could be used internally OR externally. So that night at bedtime, I got out the jar of minced garlic we keep in the fridge (we love to cook with garlic), put some in a small container and as we tucked them into bed, I smeared some garlic on their chests and thighs. The next morning, my oldest son was basically better, just a slight lingering cough. Jordan rebounded after a few more nights of this treatment. Although it worked, I wouldn’t recommend doing it with this method. I’ll explain…

A few weeks later, the boys got sick again and it coincided with a trip to Jordan’s cranial sacral doctor. He recommended chopping up an organic clove of garlic and soaking it in olive oil = this makes garlic oil. Then take the garlic oil and spread it on the bottoms of their feet. I mentioned I had tried something very similar but had put it on their thighs, he quickly commented that if they did fine with it on their thighs, that it would be fine to put it directly on their chest then. Whew, that’s good since I already had. Again, it only took one night of this for my oldest son to be over his cold and congestion. And about 3-4 nights for Jordan. This is way better than the two weeks it had traditionally taken AND it’s all natural and completely non-toxic!! 

Additional Note:  An experiment I found interesting…in his book, Steven Horne related an experiment a nurse did. Here is an excerpt. ”She worked in a hospital growing bacterial cultures and proved to herself the powerful effect of garlic. She took a petri dish with a very powerful strain of bacteria and set a peeled clove of garlic in the center of the dish.  Within two hours, every bacteria in the dish was dead. She told me ( Steven) that it took eight hours for the strongest antibiotic the hospital had to kill that same strain of bacteria when the antibiotic was sprayed over the whole plate.  That shows you how penetrating the effects of garlic are.”

A Gluten, Dairy, Yeast, Egg, Honey, Color-Free Happy Birthday! Jordan is 2!

Jordan birthday is still a few days away and my older son still has 3 weeks until he’s 4, but we celebrated Monday since the grandparents were visiting. What does a birthday party look like without dairy, wheat, food coloring, eggs, yeast, honey, and minimal sugar? Well, it was GREAT! It took a bit of planning ahead of time, and keeping my eye out for something he might actually enjoy. He has yet to eat a gluten-free baked item. He takes one bite and spits it out – even things I consider quite good. So, I happily finish off his blueberry muffins and sweet potato biscuits (they taste like a pumpkin spice cookie/muffin cross!). However, I didn’t go to all that work making these special things for my enjoyment. And, with his birthday fast approaching, what was I going to make for his birthday dessert? And, with grandpa and grandma here, it must be something people with normal eating habits would enjoy too…that’s a tall order. Grandma is known across their region of the midwest for her wonderful homemade pies and other such delectables. And grandpa is a self-proclaimed beef and white potatos man, oh, and don’t forget ice-cream conossier! So, the way we eat here, well, not so much to their liking. But, we have a birthday party coming…so I started with what Jordan LOVES – berries – and went from there.

Just in case the food was a flop, I thought I’d get some decorations this year. We usually do birthdays REALLY simple: normal dinner, special birthday dessert, presents. I pull out the birthday candles that are still in the cupboard from last year (well, actually the last 4 years), and that is the sum total of our birthday celebration. But, this year just in case we didn’t have food to help us celebrate, I bought some balloons, foil stars to decorate the table with, streamers, plates and napkins with balloons on them, and a candle in the shape of a “2″ and “4″. Jordan LOVES balloons! And they’re 1/3 of the cost of all the Disney or cartoon character decorations! Ok, so I only spent $7 or $8 dollars for all this, but for us, this constitutes going all out!

Back to the food, particularly, the dessert. I saw a recipe for biscuits that can be adapted for shortcake, so thought that since Jordan LOVES berries, maybe, just maybe, Strawberry Shortcake would work for him AND for everyone else. Although, I had never tried this shortcake before, and you just never know how something will turn out. But it was GREAT! Very delicious! Jordan got half way through his, before he realized he was eating shortcake with his berries. He didn’t spit any out, but must have tired of it 1/2 way through because the rest of his bites, he sucked all of the strawberry sauce off and left the shortcake - ha! He was quite delighted with his dessert and with getting to blow the candle out!  Even Grandpa had seconds – wow! The shortcake recipe was taken from “Special Diet Solutions” by Carol Fenster.

A Brave New World

Jordan’s chiropractic neurology/cranial sacral treatments are going so well. He has been in treatment just over 2 months now. Every week holds new advances. He’s doing so great, catching up to what is appropriate for his age at lightning speed. Each week I think we have arrived and his advances will plateau and then a whole additional realm of development seems to open up. In the last 2 months, I would say he has had at least 7 months worth of development. In the last two weeks, everything has come together.

Communication.
Last week he started adding certain phrases into his regularly used vocabulary – “Thank you, Mommy”, “Here you go, Mommy”. This from a kid who 3 months ago couldn’t say “Mama” or “Dada” and would just stare at me when I asked, “Where’s your nose?” For the last few weeks, I’ve been writing down the words he adds to his vocabulary. He’s been averaging about 2 per day, which I’ve been ecstatic about! Between 15-18 months of age, not only did he not add a single word to his vocabulary, he lost many words that he had been proficient in up to that point. Then last Wednesday, he added 9 new words or phrases THAT DAY, whoa! He’s adding words to his vocabulary so quickly I quit keeping track this week!



Independence.  
Wow. For nearly two years now (he’s 23 months old) he has been glued to me. If I left the house without him, it was cause for a major meltdown. This didn’t just apply to leaving the house - walking to another room or setting him down instead of carrying him were certainly cause for great distress! For months (actually an entire year, from about 5 months old to around 17 months old), I had my kitchen set up so I could do everything one-handed because his backside was attached to my left forearm. My arm was like his permanent chair and should he be removed for any reason, terror-stricken frenzy would ensue – for hours. The up side was that I had the greatest bicepts of my life!

This week, his grandparents took him to the park. As he RAN out of the house, he turned and said, “Bye, Mommy” – no tears, no wailing, no flopping on the floor acting as if the world was about to implode, not even a frown, actually he was smiling. A joy-filled face excited to greet this day’s adventure! Who is this little guy? He has changed so rapidly I hardly recognize him. I’m still shocked by occurrences such as this.



Happy. 
A couple of days ago, Jordan awoke from his nap. How do I know when he is awake? Well, for months (perhaps about 20 of them), I would hear crying or screaming and know my little guy was no longer slumbering, but was now begging (or demanding) to have Mama’s company. The last couple of months this has gradually changed to hearing babbling, or more often the repeated mantra, “Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy”. But on this day, emanating from his room I hear:  “Ashes, ashes, fall down!” (crash) “Ashes, ashes, ashes, fall down!” (crash) ”Ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, fall down!” (crash). How cute. And not just cute, but amazing! He’s singing. He’s remembering. He’s understanding a game.  He’s developed an understanding (and enjoyment) for interacting with others! As soon as I got him out of the crib and he joined his big brother in the living room, he grabbed his brother by both hands and started pulling him in circles saying, “Ashes, ashes, ashes, fall down!” WOW. He initiated a game with his brother. Amazing! This is definitely a new thing. And of course, big brother was delighted to fill in the rest and round and round they went, “Ring around the rosie…”  This mama’s heart is overflowing with joy.



A Brave New World. 
Last weekend we went to the tractor supply store looking for stock tanks for the aquaponics system we are building (more about that in the future). Now, we’ve been taking him to stores for a good part of his life. But this time, it was totally different. There was an entirely new world just waiting to be discovered! This kid went crazy (well not literally), but his eyes took everything in, wide with wonder and excitement. His feet ran all over, climbed on things, crawled inside things, wanted to go in 5 directions all at once. There simply was not enough time to discover all the incredible things there were to discover in a hardware store!

Three months ago, the trip would have insited dull lifeless eyes, unless he saw anything round then he would have repeatedly said, “ball, ball, ball’ and if he didn’t immediately get the ball (which he rarely ever did) would have been followed with tears and angst. He would have had to be carried the entire time in the store, as he would not have wanted to walk or to be that separate from me - even so distant as holding my hand would have been too far.  The time limit on the trip inside the store would have been about 7-10 minutes before complete and utter misery would have set in, and with it squirming, fussing, flailing, and all-out meltdown, effectively ending the trip. But not this day. This day, the hardware store may as well have been Disneyworld! My son has woken up. He is not just functioning, he is participating. He understands there is a world around him and desires to observe and take part in it, discover it, have an adventure. The fear has been forgotten, the world awaits!



A Great Debt of Thanks.  
I must extend a great huge “Thank You” to Dr. R, and those words just don’t cover it. He has unlocked my hidden little boy. Two months ago when we walked into Dr. R’s office Jordan was sullen, unhappy, fearful, full of pain, unsure of everything in this world; screaming was his means of communication – and I’m not just talking volume, I’m talking content as well. He would scream and it was my job to figure out what was wrong or what he wanted. My little boy was trapped behind a wall of pain and unable to comprehend the world around him or interact with it.  Dr. R has unlocked him and set him free. He is smiling, curious, joyful, is so incredibly sweet, talking, laughing, communicating his emotions and desires, and is running to meet life and the adventures it holds! Dr. R, thank you for introducing me to this incredible little boy, giving me the opportunity to truly meet him, my son.

He is absolutely blossoming. Praise God!  Thank you, Dr. R!  Thank you, prayer warriors!

Hello Blogging World

Hello. I’m jumping into the blogging world to update friends, family, and other interested parties on my son’s health journey and share the knowledge I’ve gleaned along the way.  It’s my hope that what we have gone through and what we have learned will help other moms and dads out there who are struggling with very miserable little ones and who are desperate for answers as well.

P.S. Previous posts are notes I had emailed or sent in letters that I’ve added here for the benefit of the history of Jordan’s story.

DAN! Doctor & Cranial Sacral Doctor

Cranial sacral is amazing!! I had no idea how it could help or what all it could do. Course, we have an amazing doctor who is MUCH more than a cranial sacral specialist or chiropractor, and that’s always an advantage ;). I didn’t realize in what ways and how much cranial sacral was helping until our 4th week (and 6th treatment) into it, and after we’d been away for a week and a half through Christmas and New Years.

We went to a beach house on the Alabama coast over the holidays for 1 week! That was great, what wasn’t so great was that Jordan went backward in some of his progress and even developed a couple new things he had never done before that are classic autism behaviors – walking on toes, flapping hands when he got really excited, and opening and shutting cupboard doors for an inordinate amount of time. I definitely noticed these things and it really scared me. He also got really crabby and fearful. Fearful, like, if he was not being held by me he’d just scream – forget any independent playing on his own, or being able to make dinner with both my hands and arms available – no, one arm was always full with him, that or he would be clinging to my legs screaming. These irritable, fearful, dependent behaviors were very common and continued for many many months not so long ago, so I didn’t really notice them creep back into our lives. We attributed it to the molds and mildew around the house, and the chlorine from the pool he was swimming in almost every day and how those were affecting him.

Come Thursday after vacation and his cranial sacral appointment. The doctor did some adjusting and stimulation…I don’t know just what…but as we were walking out of the office he said a new word (hum, hadn’t heard one of those for a week). We got outside and he bounced happily down the path – alive, alert, happy, coordinated, not clinging to me. By the time we got home he had said 3 new words! We walked through the door and he ran off to play – ran off, by himself, hmmm, wow! I thought I’d check my email quick. He came up behind me where the bookshelf is and said “Read a book” as he pointed to the bookshelf!! Wow, a whole phrase, and he pointed! A month ago, he couldn’t even point at things he wanted. He would tug on my shirt and indicate a direction with his arm, but not a pointed finger! And then, he patiently waited while I finished my email (and without me holding him), whoa! If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I’d walked out of the doctor’s office with a different boy than the one I went in with – a much happier, alert, active, coordinated, confident one! These great improvements didn’t stick at 100%, and there was a little regression through the following week, but I’d say overall, he retained up to 65% of these for the week.

Friday, we got the remaining test results and treatment plan from the allergy specialist and DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) doctor. In addition to his leaky gut and systemic yeast overgrowth, it confirmed what we knew with his gut bacteria – he has lots of bad bacteria, and not much good bacteria, has lots of inflammation (from allergies), and the big one – he has heavy metal toxicity.
That brings us to his treatment plan. We’ll work on fixing them in this order: Correct his GI issues (kill yeast/heal gut/absorb nutrition), treat allergies, detoxify (chelation). So, we came home with some supplements – probiotic, antifungal, cod liver oil, enzymes, and L-glutamine (an amino acid that heals the gut).

That’s where we start for this month – things are in progress!

Gluten-Free & Cranial Sacral

Jordan and Grandpa

So, we’ve been casein free since Jordan was 4 weeks old, but just went gluten free 2 weeks ago. We started his cranial sacral treatment at the same time, so I can’t say for sure which has made the difference, or they are both helping (my guess is they are both helping). And, guess what? Astounding things are happening!

 

In 3 weeks Jordan went from being in the 25th percentile on his height to being in the 50th percentile! Whoa!! (I think that growth is due to the cranial sacral work.) He went down in his weight – from the 10th to the 5th percentile. But, he did have the flu for an entire week and didn’t eat or nurse for 4-5 days. He lost all the weight I had worked for months to get on him. He was so skinny and scrawny BUT, in the last two weeks, since going gluten free, he looks like he has put back on all that weight and more. His belly looks pleasantly plump now instead of bloated!

And for the really great news: one month ago he couldn’t say Mama or Dada. On Christmas Day, I walked by him and said “Hi, Jordan”. He looked right at me and without hesitation replayed, “Hi, Mommy”!!!!! He had never put two words together before! The next day, my husband and I were in the kitchen and the boys were playing in the living room, Jordan starts wailing (a hurt-type of cry). I look in to see our older son near him and ask, “What happened?” no answer. Jordan toddles over to me for comfort. I look at our older son and again ask, “What happened?” And from Jordan I hear, “I fell down.” Astounded, I ask him, “Are you okay?” and he replies, “Uh-huh”. WOW!! His first sentence! Not only that, it’s the first time he’s ever said the words “I” or “fell” or “uh-huh”. In fact, it’s the first time he has ever referred to himself, and he used a pronoun! Also, it’s the first time he’s answered a question with an affirmative answer. WOW!

The next day (or night – actually), we are in the car traveling to Alabama. And I hear giggles from the backseat – and, no, my mind is not playing tricks on me – I glance in the rearview mirror to see the boys playing a hand game with each other (the only playing together they’ve ever done is “chase” consisting of Jordan chasing his older brother through the house, or big brother giving Jordan a wagon ride outside). They’ve never played a reciprocal game together before!! And then their hand game turned into another game! At one a.m. we told them it was time to go to sleep, but they were having so much fun together, we just couldn’t enforce it and let them play together until two a.m., when we finally stopped them and made them settle down and sleep!!!

I sat in the front seat teary-eyed for hours, counting my amazing blessings, overflowing with the joy of enjoying my children, knowing that Jordan is going to be just fine. A long road ahead, but it sure is nice to be getting to see more of his true personality and not the one altered by alleriges and health issues that we’ve been seeing all his life.

Why Gluten and Casein Free? Well, the reason for casein (dairy protein) is two-fold. The first is easy – he’s allergic to it. The second, (and there are two different theories on this, but this is one of them) and the reason we need to avoid gluten too, is that his body doesn’t break down the proteins properly or completely, resulting in partial proteins, called peptides, going into his blood and therefore, into his brain where it has an opiate effect. So, when he eats these, it’s like being on an LSD drug. Is it any wonder his speech was so delayed? And, long-term exposure can cause permanent brain damage. He is so young, it’s unlikely that there has been any permanent damage.

So, that’s our great news. The last month has contained so many amazing advancements I can’t even remember them all, let alone write them all down. And, we haven’t even started treatment through the autism/allergy specialist yet. We are still awaiting test results, so the treatment plan isn’t formed yet. That will come next week. Praise the Lord! Thank you for praying and caring!