With So Much To Do Today, Why Not Blog?

I have a day full of activity. I should not be on the computer right now. It is almost humorous to me that I am siting down to blog when I know I am neglecting several other "important" things right now.

But I just can't help it. I feel like one of the lepers in the Bible who didn't thank Jesus for healing him. I have to update you on what is going on.

First, I am employed. I start to work next Thursday after six short weeks of being laid off. That alone is a reason to praise Him. My new job is definitely more than all I could ask for or imagine. I can't believe how lucky I am. It is a job that will be interesting and fun, and one that I will enjoy greatly, but it is also so family friendly and schedule friendly. The staff are precious and have been so kind to me. And I am working for UAMS, a place that I have wanted to be with for years. UAMS takes care of Clay and Kylie, and now I am a part of the UAMS family. It is such a great feeling!

Also, I have to share with you that my dear friend, the one that I wrote about in my previous blog entry "Walking By Faith" received her answer for her earthly problem while I was typing that blog entry! She was calling me to tell me that God had provided an end to her situation while I was typing about her situation. Isn't God cool that way? Congratulations to my dear friend, who walked by faith so bravely and was rewarded for it!

Another blessing that I have to praise God for is Kylie's development. She is thriving on the GFCF diet. She has been off of antibiotics since June- three whole months without a sinus infection! She had her first sinus infection shortly after she turned 2 months old, and has had significant problems ever since. She also is off singulair, nasonex and zyrtec, which she started at 6 months of age. Her communication skills have grown at an amazing rate as well! She is talking with us more and carries on conversations with her peers. She is still in the beginning stages of this, and there are still warning signs with her language skills and OCD patterns, but the fact that she wants friends, knows kids' names and plays with them is a great step in the right direction! Her speech therapist was telling me that she is able to test Kylie's pragmatic language now and that we'll have those results soon. I smiled and bragged to the speech therapist and said "I think she is so much better. I think she'll pass it now!". Her reaction was precious- she just looked at me and didn't say a word. I guess she is not too confident that Kylie will pass the test, and she knows much more about it than I do, so we'll see. Our close church friends who know Kylie so well just keep telling me how much Kylie has changed in the past three months. The only difference is the diet and adding back the shots. I began thinking that maybe Kylie could tolerate milk, which is completely ridiculous since she has had all of these improvements being off of it, and thought to myself that we would slowly add milk back in the spring of 2012. Two weeks ago Kylie's teacher gave her milk for breakfast and lunch, and 1-2 days later, guess who had nasal congestion and, really, had significant behavioral changes- yep, little Zu Zu. She was wired, even for her, and couldn't concentrate. Her nose was so stuffy. I did not give her zyrtec and watched and waited to see if it cleared up, which it did a few days later, and now, 2 weeks later, she is back to being more in control of her thoughts and behavior. So I guess we'll stay CF a while longer than we thought.

McKenzie and I have no interest or longing for gluten-filled food because we like how we feel now that we are GF. McKenzie doesn't have casein issues, so we let her have it when she is at a party or a friend's house. One day last week Keith and I took her to a GF Mexican restaurant and I asked her if she wanted cheese dip- we haven't had that in months! I wish I could have video-taped the three of us attacking that cheese dip! McKenzie continues to have improvements with her stomach issues and her mood, and she has no interest in going back to a diet with gluten in it. I feel the same way as she does. Physically I feel better. Mentally I feel better. I have lost 20 pounds in three months without any effort, which makes me wonder just exactly what else a "regular" North American diet has in it that we don't know about. I mean, really, I bake bread and desserts all the time, so it's not like I am eating just fruits and veggies, and I continue to lose weight, so it really does make me wonder. Also, while I wasn't my "pre-pregnancy" weight three months ago, I had a normal BMI, so it's not like I had a ton to lose and so it just came off that easily. I am not meaning to harp on my weight loss, but I think it's fascinating that I have lost so much just by removing gluten. It just strengthens my bias against processed foods.

Clay is doing really well and has stopped stimming completely. Vitamin B12, B6 and folic are his friends. We met with the GI doctor at ACH's Autism Specialty Clinic on Tuesday, and he was precious. Actually, I should say that he was open-minded, well read, highly intelligent and willing to listen. He wants to send Clay to an immunologist to have further work-up on his allergic reactions, so we'll see what happens with that. Kylie actually had an inverted T-cell and B-cell ratio last year, so checking Clay out is a good idea. The GI doctor also recommended that we stay GFCF for now and continue to monitor him for improvements. I won't get into all the reasons that we are going to do that, but, after talking with him, I feel that he and I are on the exact same page, and I am happy to continue going down this path until new research comes out that sheds more light on kids like my Clay and Kylie.

OK, I am getting on my high-horse here. I don't do this often, but this is really bugging me. I have to get it out of my system.

By new research, I don't mean meta-analysis of the results of old research. Really, what is that all about? I mean, come on, I am dying to conduct clinical studies on kids like mine, and the money is out there, so why are all these providers reading old material to form new guidelines? We are learning so much about these special types of kids; I learn something new every month, and I don't learn it from reviewing other people's work from the 1980's or 1990's. I actually attended a seminar recently where a speaker was presenting evidence-based treatment guidelines in autism based on data that she conducted a literature review on that was originally written from 1950-1990. And this literature review produced new "evidence-based" guidelines for autism? How much have we learned about autism since 1950? The face of autism has changed since 1990, so basing treatment plans on information obtained before that era is beyond my understanding as a practitioner. It seems that a lot of the "current" medical information that I am reading is based on old facts, and none of my questions are being answered. I feel as if I am having to figure it out on my own.

OK, I will climb down off the high horse and put her back in the stall for now, until I need her later on. :)

But praise be to God for the wonderful blessings that He has provided for us this summer. I keep reminding myself that we may not have the answers to Clay and Kylie's conditions, but He does. And He is leading us down the correct paths of treatment for them. They are thriving and are precious. And they know Him as their God. What more could a mother ask for?