That's Just How I Am...

We had a bit of a scare yesterday with Gavin.  He loves to shake his sippy cup, which we are trying to discourage as he ends up spraying milk all over the place.  So a month or so ago we gave him a little water jug with a handle to play with and shake while he's drinking.  It's a plastic water bottle with a pull up spout.  He loves to shake it to watch the water slosh around.  Gavin is fascinated...mesmerized...in love with water.  It definitely solved the spraying milk problem and all was well.

Until yesterday.

I was sitting right next to him and we had just finished a meal.  Gavin was drinking his milk and shaking his water jug when suddenly he put his head down on the table.  He wouldn't let me lift him up to look at him... and then he started to cry.  The kind of cry that tells me something is very wrong.  I picked him up and carried him to the floor and I realized what happened.

My worst fear.

Gavin poked himself in the eye.  

I could see the white of his eye turning red and I yelled for Ed.  If you are new and don't know why I would freak about something like this... read THIS entry for an explanation.  Gavin had a corneal abrasion over a year ago that was so severe that he nearly lost his eye.  I am very over-protective about his eyes.  It doesn't help that this little boy sleeps with his eyes open, so he's especially vulnerable at night.  To this day, we put eye lubricant in before he goes to bed - just to keep his eyes moist while he's sleeping.  As a side note, he inherited this odd feature from his Daddy.  When Ed and I got married and were sharing the same bed, I remember talking and talking to him for hours as we laid there.  I thought, "Gosh, he is the BEST listener!!"  And then.... I figured out the truth.  

Anyway... I nearly took Gavin to see his eye doctor at duPont yesterday for an emergency visit.  But he calmed himself down and was fine for the rest of the day.  But today, Sara reported that he was fussy at school.  And when he came home, he was just "off."  When dinner time rolled around and I saw his eye getting red again, I called the hospital.  If it's still looking bad tomorrow and he's still acting "off" they want me to bring him in.  You can see what looks like a fine hair or a fuzzy stuck to his eyeball and you want him to blink it out - but I think that's actually a scratch.  The doctor said it should heal on its own and to keep it lubricated like we have been, but boy am I getting post traumatic stress just thinking about this again.  What we went through with his eye trauma before was no joke.  We had to put ointment in his eye every two hours around the clock... at times it was sutured shut with a shoelace stitch, so I had to unlace it to put the ointment in and then lace it back up... need I say more?  It was awful.

So I panicked yesterday.  I didn't show it - but I was panicking.  That's just how I am.  Can you blame me?

I got a question from a reader about the "Mercury Theory."  She wanted to know if I really, truly felt that all of Gavin's issues stem from mercury and if I am a little bit 'cuckoo' for talking to a medium and having Gavin take supplements.

Fair question.

So, yes.  I am a bit cuckoo.  I think, in fairness, that's already been established over and over.  Like... every day.  I'm 42 and I excessively use puffy hearts on facebook status updates and comments.  I can't help myself... because, like I said, I'm cuckoo.

But, as far as the mercury... no.  I don't believe that this is the sole reason for Gavin's issues.  Do I believe that it's part of it?  Yes.  I absolutely do - and I look forward to seeing changes in him as I combine the slow detox with his sessions with Dr. Trish.  I believe it because I've experienced mercury issues in my own body.  I was mysteriously ill - had my mercury fillings removed - I got better.  I know there's something to it.  But I don't believe that it explains everything for Gavin.  However, using the supplements - especially the very small amount - and making changes to his diet is something that won't hurt Gavin.  Ed and I have always maintained that we will be open and willing to try anything to help our sweet boy as long as it doesn't harm him in any way.  I will still be taking him for further testing and I am counting down the months (and years) until he's eligible to get into the Undiagnosed Diseases Program at the NIH.  

Yes.  Cuckoo.  I am overprotective of... and over the moon for... and overwhelmingly determined to help Gavin.

That's just how I am.

**p.s. - if you're wondering the outcome of the Parents Magazine Blog Competition, I did not win.  The "Best Blog" was "Single Dad Laughing" and it was well deserved!  I absolutely feel like the winner, though. The amount of exposure and help I've received because of that competition is something I probably couldn't have done on my own. Thank you to all who voted for me!  It meant so much to have your support and validation.**

Sailing Through The Weekend...

We've had such a busy weekend!  It seemed to sail right by!

On Thursday, after I picked Brian up from school, I surprised him with a "Love Bomb" date!  The two of us went to a local diner right around the corner from our house. I told him he could pick anything he wanted from the menu.

He asked for pancakes and strawberries...and that's just what he got.  This diner, "The G Lodge," has a bit of history in our little town!  M. Knight Shyamalan filmed a portion of his 2008 movie, "The Happening," in this diner.  Actually, I have been in line at Wegman's with Mr. Shyamalan's personal chef a few times.  Suffice it to say we have very different grocery orders.  

When it came time for dessert, the waitress asked Brian if he'd like ice cream.  She said, "Would you like vanilla, chocolate or strawberry?" and Brian paused for a second before saying with a big grin, "I'd like MOOSE TRACKS please!!"  We all cracked up - it came out of nowhere.  This child has never had Moose Tracks ice cream in his life!  Much to our surprise, they had it!  So.... Moose Tracks it was. Brian and I have been replaying "Vanilla-chocolate-strawberry-MOOSE TRACKS!" and giggling all weekend.  And then, on the way out, we put fifty cents in the crane game - the one that I am NEVER EVER lucky with - and Brian won a toy on the first try!!  It was such a fun date.

On Friday, Gavin, Brian, Miss Sara and I went for a long, overdue visit to Dr. Trish!  Gavin and I were treated in one private room - and Dr. Trish treated Brian in another private room while Sara stayed with him to watch.  This was Sara's first time meeting (and witnessing) Dr. Trish and she loved it.  At the end of the session, Dr. Trish told me she kept being led to Brian's mouth and asked me if he hurt it somehow or had been sick.  I couldn't believe it. He had just told me the day before that his mouth hurt.  I think he must have bit his cheek or his tongue.  Dr. Trish has such a gift.  Brian's mouth has been fine since!

The best part of the appointment was when I told her about our plans to remove the mercury from Gavin's system.  As soon as I mentioned what the medical medium had told me, she broke into goosebumps.  It just so happens that she is making changes in her practice to include homeopathy and treatments just like this!  And she told me she had just read a case study the night before our appointment about a young child that was on life support.  They were  making plans to remove support and let him die when an intuitive came in and diagnosed him with mercury and heavy metal toxicity.  They were able to treat him successfully - and he recovered.  

Nothing is ever by accident.  As you know, we have a long history with Dr. Trish and she has helped us so much.  I am going to have her monitor the supplements that Gavin is on (and me, too!) and we'll be going back to regular treatments with her during this whole process.  She also has connections with a woman who does testing for mercury and heavy metals.  I was all set to figure out how to send our blood and urine to a very expensive lab in France - but now I have someone local that can not only test us, but offer us guidance and support!  I'm so thrilled.

Ed and I and the boys spent most of Saturday out of the house.  The boys had their mop tops transformed from this...

...to this!  The shortest I've ever had Miss Silvia go.  Total buzz cuts - even on the top.  I love it!

We went straight to Granny's house from there.  Ed helped her set up a new TV while the boys and I had fun scouring her house for treasures.  She's preparing to move and as she cleans out cabinets and closets and attics and corners, she is finding treasure after treasure.  In her dining room buffet, she found a teething ring and rattle that was given to me when I was born from our good friends in Maine, the Kilbreths.  If you can see, it has Kathleen Marie engraved on the rattle.

She also sent Brian home with a ton of treasures!  One of which was a Watercolor Paint set which he has been playing with all day today.

Hopefully he will inherit his Granny's artistic talent!  One of the other treasures...perhaps my favorite... was an oil painting she forgot she ever had!  She moved an old filing cabinet in the basement - and underneath, perfect and intact, was this gorgeous painting of her's!  I hung it in Brian's "nautical themed" room and it looks perfect.

Our entire afternoon today was consumed with cooking.  Together, Ed and I made 29 quarts of food for Gavin.  We made Yams, Quinoa and a Veggie Stew which contained parsnips, peas, carrots, celery, leeks, corn and the newly added cilantro as part of his mercury detox.  

Our house smelled amazing and I'm still shocked that our food processor didn't blow up.  We definitely put it to work today!  Gavin wanted to be part of the process several times throughout the afternoon.

Since we saw Dr. Trish on Friday, Gavin's walking has greatly improved.  It's quite shocking to us that he was just casually walking around by himself all weekend.  He just takes off!  Check it out...

I'm pretty confident that seeing him walking around will never... ever... get old.  

We are so lucky.  And we know it.