February 7, 2011

Still Recovering

CKS is still recovering from his regression a few days back. His cheeks are bright red and rough. They look painful. He has a few spots that look like pimples. This is new. His hands are rough and red and he says they sting. Sometimes he will just cry that his hands hurt. He wants to hang out with me and be with me because he does not feel well. He has a hard time catching his breath at times. His cognitive and social skills are a little better than yesterday. Whew! Oh, the constant urgent trips to the potty are back in full swing and he took hours to fall asleep last night and tonight, as well.

I plan to keep our diet simple and hope that it all settles out again in a day or two. I just hate to see him sick like this. It is sad. BUT...I have to remind myself that he is in a much better place than he was in 21-24 months ago. Yes! He is indeed doing very well.

On a positive note: He and our little ballerina (age 6) put on a dance show for me tonight. It was precious. CKS danced to a song called Rock Monster. You can only imagine. He was throwing himself all over the place and having a great time!

Oh, yeah! I almost forgot! CKS sat on my lap during most of the church service today looking very limp and moaning a very little bit, but he DID go to Children's Church with his older sisters towards the end of the service and they tell me that he participated and was very interactive. When we questioned him about the lesson, he asked his sisters what the lesson was, but when they wouldn't tell him, he said, "Well, maybe Jesus died. And maybe they put him in a cave. Maybe he rose again. Maybe."

Tonight he asked, "Did God die?"
He knows that Jesus is God. He's trying to understand.
How cool is that?

February 5, 2011

Pest Control

We had two days of "normal".  Ahh!  It was so nice.  And then...

Yesterday, all was peaceful in the morning.  In fact, when I went to get the kids up my oldest daughter was excited to show me how wonderful her little brother CKS was doing.  He woke up cheerful.  He did not have to rush to the bathroom.  He was talking and talking and talking and he was telling her about his dreams.  He told her four dreams and they were creative and imaginative stories.

One "dream" was that he bought a chicken and four baby chickens.  Chickens are farm pets so they would need a barn.  He went to the barn store and bought a barn.  It was heavy.  He had someone help him carry it home in the box.  The chickens were hungry so he went to the chicken food store and bought some food for the chickens.  And on it went...

The morning went very well and we got everything done in record time.  We had a little time before lunch so we went outside to check out the ice and icicles all over the cars and trashcans and rooflines.  We live in Houston and are not used to the cold weather, so we did not stay too long.

We went back in the house to get lunch on the table and CKS was clingy and irritable.  He was very rigid and had to have things just so.  He had his hands in his mouth and was complaining about everything.  We were all saying, "What happened to CKS?!?"

It was such an immediate change.  We couldn't figure out what happened.  We had not eaten anything yet.  Maybe he was just hungry, we thought.

He continued to have problems all the rest of the day even after he ate.  His daddy came home from his retreat and CKS was still not doing well.  He clung to me and didn't want to be away from me.  He told me at bedtime that he didn't feel well and that he was having trouble catching his breath.  He took hours to fall asleep.

We were puzzled over what had caused this regression.  Just before my husband and I went to bed, my husband mentioned that he saw the receipt from the quarterly pest control and asked if that could be it.  The bug guy had come the day before.  Maybe CKS had gotten his hands in a place that had been sprayed and then put his hands in his mouth.  Possible.  I follow the bug guy around and make sure he only sprays behind bookshelves and heavy furniture and such, but he sometimes gets a few places I would prefer he didn't, so it is possible that this is what happened.

However, this morning I was thinking about when CKS began to regress and I remembered that the bug guy came the day before and that it was cold outside.  Instead of spraying around the perimeter of the house and yard, he sprinkled granules around the house.  Ack!  We had never done that before!  We won't be doing that again!  CKS regressed before lunch and after we went outside to check out the icicles.  The kids walked on the granules.  CKS took his own shoes off and put them away when we came inside.  I think it is a reasonable conclusion that it was the bug poison that caused his regression.

Some of the rest of us had troubles, too.  I was so frustrated and upset until I figured this out because I had taken out the bone broths and had gotten things back to good again and I had changed nothing in the diet to cause any regressions.  I thought, "What more can I do?"

Today has been better, but not great.  Maybe by tomorrow things will settle out again.

February 2, 2011

Ahhh...Finally a Little Bit of Normal Again

Today was a good day. We stopped the bone broths and the long cooked meats and broths (crockpot) and quit the bone patè last week. I think we finished the leftovers 4-5 days ago.

Finally, CKS' cheeks are smooth and soft again (almost).

Finally, KES has stopped scratching scabs into her forehead from eczema.

Finally, CKS' urgent trips to the bathroom every 15-20 minutes has ceased.

Finally, the beds are not uttery soaked through in the mornings. They are wet, but not soaked. We even had one completely dry pull-up.

Finally, CKS plays on his own again and sits and reads books to himself instead of clinging to my leg and following me around all day.

Finally, SSS' poos are forming up again instead of being orange (carrot juice) and wet and full of undigested food. Lovely. I know.

Finally, CKS is happy and easy-going again.

Finally, the rash on the back of CKS' hands is beginning to clear up.

Finally, we went to church on Sunday and had NO reactions.

Finally, we went to the library today and had NO reactions.

Finally, CKS is not gasping for air anymore. He was always yawning and gasping for air recently (I think since the holidays when we added all of the broths and patès). It would get really bad and a little worrisome when we visited someone's house, had guests, wore hand-me downs, went to church, or went to the library. I am so relieved not to be seeing this anymore. I will have to try the hand-me downs again and see if he can handle it.

Finally, CKS woke up and 'told' me he had to go to the bathroom, for the first time in what seems like forever, instead of waking up and crying out in a loud panic that he has to go to the bathroom. Just now!!! 12:30am. I hope he does as well in the morning. We shall see.

Finally everyone seems to be fairly happy and cooperative. Yay!!!

And all of this is just in time, as my husband will be gone for business for the next three days. Whew! We will NOT be adding anything new for the next few days. We will NOT have any bone broth or patè for awhile. This is the break I needed. Whew!

I am so relieved. We are still eating nuts and we just added eggs with yolks back in (now that Farmer Brown's chickens are laying again), so I know now with certainty that these two foods are finally OK for us. These were two foods that we could not eat before we started on GAPS. I am so happy that we can eat these.