Hives *sigh*

This poor kid, man. I feel like he keeps getting put through the ringer.

Max has never done well with Amoxicillin -- it makes him sick to his stomach, have diarrhea, etc. This time around, it made him vomit twice. I don't know why we, as parents, don't just say, "Okay, enough." I guess it's because the idea of hearing damage via ear infection worried me more than puke.

Anyway, we were at the grocery store when Max started itching. It went on for ten minutes or so until I finally looked under his shirt. I just saw the welts around his shoulder at first; we rushed over to the medicine section and I grabbed a Benadryl topical gel. Then I lifted up his shirt. I wanted to cry -- he was just covered in hives. Poor guy looked so completely miserable. I doused him with the gel, before I'd paid for it, of course, and got us and our groceries out of there. I called Matt. My Mom. The Doctor. We got home and I doused him again. The hives went away.

Still, we went to the pediatrician -- if nothing else, I wanted his ears looked at. Of course, they were still infected. Not only that, but there was an internal build-up in his ear that had to be removed. It really hurt him -- enough, that I had to hold him in my lap with his head pressed against my chest. You could see the red on his face from where I had to hold him so hard.

As I suspected, they gave us another antibiotic -- so I went through the ringer again: i.e. we're on FG, we need dye free, etc. But in the end, we got what we needed. It's a once a day Rx, which is GREAT. Hopefully this will be the answer we should have gotten from the beginning.

Of course, now that we know he's allergic to Amox, it makes me furious that he was rx-ed it so many times - times after we begged for something else because of the pain and vomiting that Max went through. It's taken FG for me to advocate stronger and harder for my boy.

Getting Healthy

The last few weeks have been a joy in terms of Max -- while we only recently discovered his sensitivity to chocolate, he's made it three weeks without any major meltdowns, at home or at school. Of course, he's only been to school for two days this week and one day last week - and four days the week before. I hate to say this, but I'm sort of nervous that he's been doing so well since he hasn't been at school much. I'm telling you, if we went back in time to when Matt was rolling in Five Guys cash, I would have quit my job in a heartbeat. Now, we need my salary. It sucks.

Anyway, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were big FG victories for us. First of all, Max had been struggling for about 3-4 days with what I thought were allergies: coughing, stuffy nose, etc. He seemed fine for the most part -- and then, on Tuesday, he spiked a fever. Turns out he has the beginning of a double ear infection. What does the "beginning" mean? That he had fluid in his ears and that the ear infection was most likely going to take hold.

Max had chronic ear infections as a kid -- CHRONIC. But he hasn't had one in almost two years. Still, giving him an antibiotic was a conflict for me; first, because of his gut health and, second, because of the dyes/flavors.

I went to CVS. Walgreen's. The grocery store. The compounding pharmacy downtown -- no one could give me a kid's liquid antibiotic without flavor/color. I begrudgingly filled it. But I never gave it to him. Instead, I called the doctor the next day and had her prescribe plain old Amoxicillin capsules. I mix the powder in honey and he takes it orally. No colors. No artificials. No upsetting the FG balance. I feel vindicated. I feel like I've won a battle for my child, and all I had to do was ask.

We're trying some homeopathic stuff, too -- tea tree and olive oils in the ears, specifically. But since the fever is hanging on, I think the antibiotic is a necessity. We're hoping he goes back to school tomorrow. And we're hoping that next week we can get back to a daily routine.

Which still begs the question -- what about this summer? Am I keeping him home with me? Sending him a few days a week? It's a big decision...

The Five W's

As an English Teacher, I'm always re-teaching students the "Five W's" - Who, What, When, Where, and Why (and also How.) It's the way you get the most important information front and center, the way to capture your audience and convey your purpose. Hence, it's the title of my first post.

Who?

We're the Fiore's, but I'm Kelly and I'll be doing the blogging - although, I really hope Matt and Max will chime in with comments and anecdotes. We live in a suburb of Frederick, Maryland, which is about 45 minutes from Baltimore and an hour from DC. Matt and I met in college and we've been married almost 5 years. Our son, Max, turned 4 in February. You already know I'm an English Teacher. Matt is a Territory Manager for a restaurant sales company. We have a great life -- our neighborhood is fantastic and we've been blessed with great friends and family.

So, why are we doing the Feingold Diet? I'll get to why in just a bit -- instead, we'll move on to ...

What?

For about a year or so, Max has had tantrums. On and off, these tantrums have been of varied intensities. Sometimes they're "typical" of a child his age. Other times they are scary -- he will hit, kick, throw things, scream bloody murder, run away, yell "I hate you", and, our triggering moment for all of this, pretend to shoot a gun and talk about killing. That, right there, is every parent's worst nightmare. It happened to us. And something had to change.

So we've decided to try the Feingold Diet program. Originally piloted for kids with ADD/ADHD, it's been embraced by the Autism community, sufferers of MS, kids with ODD, and dozens of other medical or health issues. The Feingold program is an elimination diet -- it removes "triggers" from the diet for six weeks; then, like any other allergy diet, it reintroduces those triggers one by one to see which are the problem.

Where/When?

I'm addressing these two at once because I think they sort of coincide.

Max had trouble in his at home daycare. It wasn't the right place for him. In fact, the catalyst for the move was my then-three year old son saying to me, on the way home from daycare, "Mommy, why am I such a bad boy? Why can't I be smart like everyone else?"

So we moved him to a center close to our home. Regardless of Max's behaviors, this was the absolute right move for him. He is, at all moments of the day, happier than he was at the other daycare. For the first three weeks, he flourished with perfect happy lovely behavior. And then all hell broke loose. The event I refer to is the one we call the gun/killing incident -- threatening his teachers, kicking, screaming, and talking about blood. BLOOD. No, I'm not kidding.

Yeah. So. The move -- the where -- is still the right one. The when is RIGHT NOW; well, actually, the when has been about a week in the making. We've been following a modified Feingold plan for about 5 days. Yesterday was our first "Feingold All In" Day. And it was a great one.

Why?

There are so many whys. The biggest one is because the Feingold Diet is an extremely healthy diet. It can cause no harm to my child -- whether it addresses his behaviors or not, it is essentially, at it's core, a very nutritious balanced diet.

Another "why" is that I believe that if I can help my child be the best Max he can be through his diet, then there is no reason I shouldn't. I don't want to medicate him and I will no longer let myself feel embarrassed or ashamed of his challenges.

How?

Lots have people asked about a doctor's input -- yes, we are going to see the pediatrician. I want Max to get a hearing test and have blood work taken to test for any food allergies. I don't believe he has them, but I want to rule it out. I also think it's important that I notify his pediatrician of what we're doing. However, I don't care if the pediatrician endorses this or not. This is a healthy diet that can only benefit my child in one way or another. I don't need a doctor to tell me that.

As for the Feingold Diet itself, you can find a lot more information at http://www.feingold.org/. It'll walk you through the basics; we're still waiting on our materials, so we're working off those basics right now. Some things are more challenging than others -- that's something I'll address in future posts.

I don't know who will end up reading this - I don't know if anyone will. But, honestly, I just need an outlet to write about all this stuff. To a certain extent -- to any extent, really -- it's consumed my life right now. Figuring out the details, the ups and downs -- it's totally draining. I feel so many things at once, but most of all I feel hopeful. Hopeful for the future, hopeful for what could be. Hopeful that every day I'll drive to Max's school and be greeted with the words, "Max had a great day today!"