Behold...
Brian's very first school picture.
Could you just eat him up? And yes, I dressed him in that outfit on purpose. He looks like he's in boarding school, doesn't he?
Poor Brian woke up this morning sick with a cold. This is his 225th cold over the last four months. Pre-school germs suck. I'm hoping, although I'm sure it's a futile experiment, that it won't go through the house.
Yesterday Brian had his first follow up appointment with Dr. Kang, our acupuncturist. To refresh your memory, she was the one that exposed his peanut allergy. She does this with muscle testing - very non invasive. Basically, Brian held a vial that represented mixed nuts and then held my hand as I laid on my back with an arm in the air. Dr. Kang tried to push my arm down. Without him holding the nut vial I was able to resist the pressure and keep my arm in the air. Once the vial was in his hand (and his other hand was holding mine) - I had no strength. When you can't resist the pressure, it says that your body is not in balance. In Brian's case - it showed that he had a reaction to the nuts. We went to an allergist after that - and she confirmed with traditional testing. We are turning to our acupuncturist to help eliminate Brian's nut allergies...and then we'll move on to the rest of the allergies and sensitivities in the house. I wrote all about that HERE in a previous post.
All week, I've been faithful with the massage exercises she told us to do with Brian. I explained that part HERE in this post. The idea was to expose him to the allergen (in a safe way) while massaging areas up and down his spine...and then perform acupressure on certain areas of his body. He was great about it all week - it felt very good to him!
Yesterday we went to our appointment and the first order of business was to redo the muscle testing. While holding the nut mix vial again - and holding my hand - there was no reaction. None. Crazy, right? So - does this mean that I'm going to start making him peanut butter sandwiches? No. Does it mean his allergy is gone? Not necessarily. What it does mean right now is that he is becoming de-sensitized to the nuts. I will continue to do the exercises with nuts - but I'm now going to isolate individual nuts. Like work on just cashews...and then retest again. In a few months, though, I plan to bring him back to the allergist for repeat testing. I will be SO anxious to see if his allergies show up with the traditional western medicine testing. Yesterday we moved on to egg. Brian has a sensitivity to eggs - and Gavin is allergic. I will put a hard boiled egg in a jar and work on that this week with both of them. After that, we'll move on to gluten. And I may even move on to dog for Gavin! (Don't worry, Schmidt family...we won't come knocking on your door to steal our dog back!!) I'm always so proud of Brian during these appointments. He needs to be still for twenty minutes (at home and in her office) after being treated - and he is so patient! Yesterday we stared out her window and watched the cars and buses drive by.
I want to say one thing - please don't try this on your own at home with your child unless you consult with a doctor or a practitioner that you trust. Every child is different - and what we're doing is very unconventional. I know it makes some people uneasy, but please know we would never put our children at risk. With that said, I truly do believe that this will work. (I always believe that everything will work!)
This morning, Gavin and I were out the door early for the hospital. He had an appointment with his eye doctor for a check up and eye exam. She is still so amazed that his cornea healed as well as it did - with such minimal scarring. It was this time last year that his eye was sutured shut and we were told he might lose his eye completely. The way he bounces back from extremely traumatic events has always been inspiring.
Dr. Lehman thought Gavin's lid position looked good. We're hoping it will be a while before he'll need his ptosis surgery re-done. Then she dilated his eyes, which always has me holding my breath until she examines him. I'm always worried she's going to tell me that Gavin (or Brian!) will need glasses. Ed and I have pretty poor vision! But Gavin was spared - no need for glasses!
As usual, he was so patient as we waited for the doctor. He's such a sweet kid to hang out with in any situation...
And as we made our way through the hospital, he was recognized by one person after another. Some who hadn't seen him since he was a baby - but knew him right away! He clearly made an impact on people - which doesn't surprise me. Gavin has a way of tugging at people's heartstrings.
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