Brady is the bomb!!

Gosh, let's just be honest and admit that I'm a sucky blogger. I go months in between posts. It's so sad because so many nights I sit down and want to share so much with whomever it is that reads this. Instead I read articles and read other people's blogs. Most of which seem glossed over with the good stuff omitting the real stuff. Meh, whatever.

So let's talk Brady right now. Brady is doing so darned good. A session or two ago his OT comes out after his session and says to me, "What are you doing differently? Diet? Supplements? Because WOW!" I can't tell you how big I smiled. And ya know what? We aren't doing anything differently right now. That kinda kicks ya in the teeth considering all the money we've spent before and all the things we've tried. The truth is he's doing really really good and it's not really anything *we're* doing. It's all Brady!

He is looking at us so much now. He's got joint attention. He's listening. He's compliant. He's smiley. He's rockin it in school. He has a HUGE list of words he can spell and identify. He's knows the continents and oceans. He's totally not your average kid with autism. Considering the fact he's nonverbal he's awefully mellow. His stims aren't over the top. He's really just an amazing little boy. Diet, eating, and diarrhea are really his big problems right now.

I do feel that some things we've done in the past have gotten Brady to this point though.....

1. Diet was the very first thing we ever tried. We started Brady on a gluten-free, casein-free diet on March 21, 2006. About 10 days into the diet he came to me and pulled my hand to get me to follow him. This was a big deal! He'd never tried to get us to follow him before. Whenever he had an infraction it was obvious in his stools and skin. I have no doubt Brady had a leaky gut. I believe it was the reason he has so many food allergies today.

2. While we never had any big wow moments, I do feel HBOT has been good for Brady. His receptive language greatly increased after we did our first 40 dives in a hard chamber. We've since done 44 dives in a soft chamber. I'd do more if I had the money.

3. Vision therapy has been one of the most amazing therapies we've done. Brady was struggling in school until we started VT. After VT he started flying!! Money well spent by far. He is absolutely awesome about leaving his glasses on. We had a spell of a few weeks he kept taking them off and would not leave them on. I took him in and it turns out his prescription changed. Once he got new lenses he left them on. Smart boy.

Brady is not on many supplements right now. He's taking VitC, Omega 369, Zinc, probiotic, and melatonin. He's got a new diagnosis of Eosinophilic Esophagitis but that's worthy of it's own post. -sigh- He did not need something new.

Project Lifesaver!!

On December 22 an officer from the Stafford County Sheriff's Department came and now Brady is all set up with Project Lifesaver. PLS is an amazing tool and has saved many lives. I'm thankful we have such technology to keep Brady safe. We had to pay $200 for the transmitter and then $25 a month for a new battery. Most counties surrounding us offer it for free but our county doesn't get very many sponsers so we have to pay. This is a trend with Stafford County in general.

He was mad at me the first day for putting it on him. He asked us to take it off many times by holding his ankle up. We told him no and explained that he had to wear it for his safety. He hasn't asked since then.

Colonoscopy and Endoscopy scheduled

January 15 Brady will have his second scope.

Dr. Hart is concerned with Brady's poor growth. Currently Brady weighs 37 pds which is in the 10th percentile. He continually moves down in percentiles. He defenitely has malabsorption issues. He is concerned as I am about his pancreas. He is going to do a pancreatic enzyme stimulation by administering Secretin during the scope. I am anxious to see if Brady does in fact have pancreatic insufficiency. We'll accomplish this by aspirating the intestinal contents and sending them to an outside lab to assess the function and adequacy of his pancreatic enzymes. Brady often has moderate amounts of fat in his stool indicating he's not making enough lipase enzymes. We'll see.

Brady started the GFCF diet March 21, 2006....nearly four years ago. Starting this August we started allowing him to have gluten and casein with enzymes. I am afraid that he's not able to tolerate them even with enzymes. Dr. Hart agreed much to my dismay.

I'm anxious for this procedure.

Seriously?!

I want to blog more often I just often lack the energy but with what I'm about to discuss I might have some early morning time to start blogging.

I'll get to his lab results in a minute but first let me discuss our newest issue. Brady has decided about 1-2 times a week to get up early. Like WAY early. This morning he woke at 2:45 am. So I've been up for a couple hours already and it's only five. -sigh- I'm so tired. It's really going to hurt later. I'm actually scared this isn't a temporary thing. I can't imagine doing this week after week.

Labs...EEG was normal. The mainstream docs called his MRI normal despite some mild abnormalities. Dr. Mumper however isn't going to look over the abnormalities. She things a SPECT scan would be a good idea to see the brain function. We've got to keep looking!