It has been a really long time since I have posted on this blog. A friend , and fellow stem cell mom, advised me to write down all the "new" things we notice as far as new abilities and changes in Brady following his stem cell treatment. I was starting to post these updates on Facebook and then realized that it would be really hard to keep track of all of Brady's progress updates since they would get lost in either my own news feed or in a group news feed. So, I figured it was time to try and keep everything in one place...in fact I have a care page for Brady that I think I will go back and cut and paste those updates on here by the date they were originally posted in an effort to try and see all our progress updates in one place. Sometimes I forget just how far we have come since our diagnosis in March of 2010. It will help us as a family keep track of where we came from and how far we have come as a result of the many interventions we have tried. I also have a wellness blog that I have neglected, and I am not sure if I may duplicate some of my posts from here on there. I started that blog while I was in school to study aroma therapy, and complementary alternative medicine. That blog is not "autism" specific and can help many people who might not otherwise read a blog specifically about autism. We will have to see how much time I have to post in both places.
Here is what I posted on Facebook on April 12th after only TWO infusions!
We are in Panama for our first stem cell treatment. Here is what happened tonight after only two injections (2 more to go)!
Brady is 9 and before stem cells he was mostly non verbal. Before this week has mostly only been able to echo or say one word at a time.
Tonight we had something happen that has NEVER happened before...
Tonight when daddy was tucking Brady in bed he said "I want pizza". This was completely un prompted no coaching no queuing, nothing on our part. He said all three words all by himself! If we knew where we could get gluten free pizza here I would order him 10 of them! We are so thrilled!!!! He has been babbling a ton too! Not all of it is recognizable words but he seems to really be enjoying finding his voice!! Yay stem cells!! Oh and tonight he made really good eye contact with me, he held my gaze for so long I was the one who struggled not to look away!
Here is what I posted on Facebook on April 18th:
Ok, we just got back from Panama on Sunday. Cells are working! I was in Brady's room with him and just got attitude from him!! The doctors told us how important it is to really push him when it comes to getting him to talk, so I was exercising his speech abilities by having him repeat words after me. He was doing great, not all words were completely clear but he was really trying hard to say every word. Then I decided to change it up to see what else he could do, so I asked him what 2+2 is? His response was..."getout" all one word run together and pointed to his door!! 😂😂😂 I guess he was tired of being quizzed! 😂😂😂 I will take it!!! He is expressing himself, which is awesome! If one of my other two kids had said that... they would have gotten "the look", you know the one! 😂😂😂
We have been pleasantly surprised by these changes, as we did not expect to see any changes so soon. There have been other things we have notice too, but unless I write them down right away, I am realizing I am forgetting all the "little" things we are noticing. I need to take out my cell phone and send myself voice memos so I don't forget. There are lots of little things!
Some people on the stem cell group mention not seeing any changes in their kids, and questioning why the cell work for some kids and not others...here is my theory on why that might be happening...I suspect the reason we are seeing changes so soon is because Brady's body was "ready" to receive the cells. We have been gluten free since January 2011. Plus we eat very clean, and try to limit his sugar as much as we can. We also make all of our own cleaning products, and use essential oils instead of medicines when he has any illnesses. We try to give him magnesium baths with vitamin C and essential oils at least once a week. Brady also takes vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant supplements everyday. We do all these things in an effort to limit and or combat Brady's exposure to as many environmental toxin as we possibly can.
In the spring of 2016, as allergy season was kicking in, Brady started to be willing to take pills. I decided to try to get him to try to swallow a tiny Claritin pill since the pollens we bothering him pretty bad that spring. Normally I do not like giving him ANY medicines, but that spring was particularly bad for him. We were thrilled that he caught on and swallowed the pill because we had tried supplements that our DAN doctor had recommended in liquid form, but most of the time we had to fight to get Brady take any of the liquid supplements So now that Brady was willing to take pills, we have able to get the recommended supplements in him on a regular basis without a struggle!
Please note: In addition to being a registered nurse, I have also studied to become an aroma therapist, I did this because if used improperly essential oils can cause more harm then good since they are so potent. I wanted to make sure I knew how to use essential oils safely for Brady So, please if you want to use essential oils for your kiddo...make sure you seek the advise of someone who has studied how to use oils properly. There is a ton of bloggers out there who improperly advise people on the use of oils and our kids are WAY more sensitive to everything in their environment.
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We very much appreciate the love and support of our Friends and Family! Our HOPE is that one day Brady will be COMPLETELY recovered and will be able to look back at this blog and read all the love and support he got from all of you during this difficult time in his life! HUGS!!