IEP-Eve

It's the night before our Child Find meeting -- this is an organization run by both the Health Department and Frederick County Public Schools. When we first called to make the appointment, we were dealing with the worst behavior we'd ever experienced. We felt so lost - like no one else had ever dealt with these challenges before.We would have done anything to "fix" our son.

When the appointment was made, we were about 2-3 weeks into Feingold. Max's behavior was atrocious -- now I know that this could be been due to detox or to the non-Stage One items I was still exposing him to. When Max had to be removed from class, I doubled back and restarted our diet. Since then, we've seen massive improvements. I don't know how to explain it except to say that, really and truly, FG changed our life. By changing Max's diet, we changed his whole world in the best possible way.

I'm not really sure what we're going to say in this meeting tomorrow. In reality, I have a feeling that we won't get approved for services. Part of me wishes we would be approved, at least so that Max could get some Occupational Therapy. However, I've been doing a variety of sensory activities with him at home. At this point, I want them to hear him speak so they can decide if he needs some speech therapy or if we can wait. Also, Max's teacher (one of them, anyway) will be there, and I'm interested/terrified to hear what she has to say to the group at the meeting. I am pretty sure school has seen all the same positive changes I have but I can't be completely sure.

Regardless, I know that FG will have to be brought up. In fact, it is essential to bring it up. They need to know - they being the professionals in their field - that food has assisted us. That food is primarily responsible for the change for the better we're experiencing. I will try not to be too pedantic or anything -- but I hope I can convert some skeptics. It's really important that the meeting attendees understand what a difference FG has made in our lives.

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.

A Picture Says 1000 Words

This is from Easter weekend, but it's a pretty accurate portrayal of my boy. I think about the boy that refused to let me take his picture, who would cover his face -- it makes pictures like this all the more beautiful.

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...

Preserving the Gut

I know, I know -- I'm sorry! I had every intention of doing this daily or at least bi-weekly. The last few weeks have been incredibly hectic. Matt travels a lot in the spring and, on top of dealing with Max's issues, I've had writing deadlines and teacher-related disputes.

Things are mostly the same here. The big changes:
1.We've eliminated dairy from Max's diet.
2. We've noticed that Max reacts unfavorably to chocolate and other oxylates. We're working on that to see if they need to be removed or limited.

The improvements:
1. Max has gone about 3 weeks without a major meltdown. His issues at school continue, but he has been using his chewie necklace and some other self-soothing tactics.
2. Max has been happy, overall. We've seen a behavioral specialist twice now and I think she sees most of his behavioral issues as minor and correctable.

The negatives:
1. From the slips we've had over the course of the last six weeks, I'm pretty sure it will be a long time before Max can eat salicylites again. It makes me sad -- there are things he misses, like berries and peppers. And we will try them -- but I'm going to wait until I can pick them myself from a garden or orchard. Then I'll know exactly what Max is reacting to.
2. Max is still having behavioral issues. I think Matt and my parents think I'm being too hard on him -- that I expect too much of a four year-old. But I'm around other four year-olds and I know what they're like -- Max still has a long way to go.

Our next step is to start probiotics to help heal Max's gut -- this is a Austism Spectrum treatment that many use for ADHD and other diagnoses. Taking a probiotic, like FG diet itself, can't really hurt -- so we'll see. After we see some success from that, we plan on adding in a digestive enzyme.

We have hope -- we continue to see improvements. There are steps forward and back. It's challenging and somewhat disheartening at times. We just keep on keeping on.

What Healthy Looks Like

Obviously my intentions to update this blog daily haven't exactly come to fruition. It's not that the desire isn't there -- it's just that sitting down at the computer vs. enjoying the weather with the boy really isn't much of a competition.

After our incredibly difficult beginning of last week, we were able to even Max out and have a good weekend. We hiked with my parents, aunt, and cousins yesterday, which Max loved. Anything that gets him out in the wild where he can run and jump and play is great. The bridge in the picture below was his favorite part.



We were pretty worried about Saturday's behavior. On Friday, for St. Patrick's Day, Max had a icing/sprinkle covered animal cookie and a chocolate gold coin. We held our breath for 24 hours, waiting for the fall-out and it never came. That makes me think two things: 1, Max is more sensitive to salicylites than to dyes/preservatives and, 2, Max's difficulties last week might have just been a detox reaction, which apparently happens to a lot of kids.

So now it's Sunday morning. We had a perfect day yesterday, which was wonderful. But it makes me really nervous about tomorrow. We had such a great weekend last weekend -- but then a terrible Monday and Tuesday. I just have my fingers crossed that we won't see a repeat.

We did, however, make cookies -- which are probably the most delicious thing I've ever cooked and they are chock full of health.

Chocolate Chunk Pecan Flax Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulate sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp. whole Flax seed

1/2 cup ground Flax meal

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 pkg. Bakers Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Sunspire Sundrops for topping

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix butter, sugar and egg. Add in dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chunks and pecans. Using a teaspoon, drop rounded spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. If desired,

3.14 Accountability

Guess who made Play-Doh after dinner? ;)

It's my mom's recipe, but we boiled down red cabbage to make the food coloring.

3.15 Lunch

Dannon All Natural Vanilla Yogurt, Cantaloupe, String Cheese, Pringles (of all things - never bought these in my life, but they are actually approved!), Whole Wheat Pita Pocket with Butter, and a Chocolate Covered Cookie from Indie Candy.