In case your wondering where we've been...
Brayden was sick. He was so sick for so long. He didn’t have a terminal illness but his
constant coughing, his incessant runny nose, the inability for my 11 month old
to fall asleep for any length of time without gagging and chocking was killing
us. We don’t have a picture of him
before the age of two where his little mouth isn’t draped open as he struggled
to breathe.
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At Children's Hospital, with a Sinus Infection |
We went to the doctor every
week from the time he was nine months old until he was well over a year. He had multiple cases of strep throat, never
ending ear infections, RSV, H1N1, pneumonia, reflux, bronchitis and more ear
infections. We were sent to the
gastroenterologist, the pediatric pulmonologist and the ear, nose and throat
(ENT) specialists. He was prescribed 12
different antibiotics before his first birthday and was subjected to two
different torture chamber style chest x-rays in the same amount of time.
The first time we saw the ENT,
he took one look into his happy, cherub cheeked ears and asked how long our
little fellow had been this way. I
counted back the months as he asked me if my beautiful little fellow was always
this happy. I proudly answered yes and
sheepishly told him “That is why no one believes me when he is sick”.
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Happy little boy, struggeling to breathe |
At that Friday morning
appointment just before Christmas, just before his first birthday, Brayden was
scheduled for emergency Eustachian tubes to salvage his hearing. He was also scheduled for three very painful
intramuscular injections of antibiotics to try to clear up the persistent infection
before the surgery. We scrambled through
a pre-operative exam and held his chubby, little body to the table as he
received his shots; one on Friday, one
on Saturday and one on Sunday. The
emergency surgery was at eight a.m. on Monday.
After his procedure the
Harvard educated doctor came out to meet with me and tell me how it went. They had to remove quite a bit of gunk, but
with the drops he gently placed in my hands that would help with healing,
instructions for keeping water out of his ears and wishes for a merry
Christmas, he predicted far fewer ear infections for the future.
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Cheerios can get stuck pretty easily when your nose never stops running! |
A lot of things were new when
Brayden first started to get sick. We
had just moved to our new house with a new climate; he was in a daycare center
with 250 other kids and he had been on solid foods for about four or five
months. We started making changes to see
what would help. I cleaned like I had an
obsessive compulsive disorder and cried because I couldn’t keep our wooden
floors clean enough. We interviewed
smaller daycares and started making changes to his diet, eliminating certain
items while adding things that we had heard might help. In spite of all of that, his ear infections
continued and his doctors were no longer helpful. The general practice doctor continued to
write scripts and was unbothered by the sharp drop from 50th
percentile to 30th percentile on the growth charts. The pharmacist greeted us by name as passed
by to pick up toothpaste and cotton swabs.
The pulmonologist couldn’t pin point the coughing but told us if we
thought dietary changes were helpful to please continue them. I drew the line when the gastroenterologist
recommended more tests.
No one could tell us why our little one, the first love of our combined lives, was so sick all of the time.
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Learning to cover his cough |
He slowly disintegrated into
a toddler who was hyper emotional and susceptible to very low moods. We would find out later that his attention
span was also quite a bit shorter than an average toddler taking away the baby
who could sit with his parents and a pile of books leaving behind a toddler without
any interest. We continued to struggle
with his health after the birth of our second son, Jack. Jack’s first ear infection provided our
second big break at improving Brayden’s health.
I refused to struggle through the antibiotic process again. After so many antibiotics, Brayden was in the
process of being tested for C-Difficile, a dangerous and life threatening
condition that is caused by the overuse of antibiotics, usually seen in
geriatric populations in long term care facilities. The doctors had dismissed his diarrhea as a
symptom of toddlerhood and too much juice.
Our third general practice doctor finally understood my concern that
this was not normal and after taking his case history and antibiotic use into
consideration, she had him tested for several other antibiotic resistance
related troubles as well.
When Brayden was first
troubled by ear infections we had heard others had great success with
chiropractors. I had met a pediatric
certified chiropractor that was covered by our insurance, and I kept her
card. When Jack’s fever started and he
began rubbing his ears, I didn’t even bother with the doctor. I went straight to the chiropractor’s office. She adjusted baby Jack while he wiggled and
massaged his lymph fluid away while we talked.
She supported my efforts to improve their health and decrease the ear
infections by cutting dairy out of their diet.
Cutting dairy out of our diet
(I was breastfeeding baby Jack) was the only thing that had done what the
Eustachian tubes were supposed to do: stop the ear infections for Brayden. It also cut Jack’s reflux and gas issues; he
was no longer as stiff as a board all day and night. We remained puzzled by cradle cap, eczema and
“toddler diarrhea”, but were exceedingly relieved to be able to sleep at night
without waking up to coughing and choking.
It had been a long road and we were becoming worn out.
While Brayden was busy struggling
to grow and breathe, my sister started to see a naturopath. He lifted the fog that enveloped her every
day. He helped her to stop her near
constant migraine pain and avoid a costly gall bladder removal. She recommended repeatedly that we take
Brayden to go see him. We weren’t
opposed to natural remedies; we had such wonderful success with our sweet
chiropractor. But we struggled with the
upfront costs that weren’t covered by insurance. Those up front costs that were in addition to
the medical costs that actually were covered by insurance but that we were
already struggling heavily to pay. We
knew we had to do something different.
Gratefully, Brayden’s C-Difficile tests came back negative, but he was
still struggling. So I made an
appointment and sold our horse trailer to raise the cash for his appointment
and some of his conventional medical bills.
The majority of our
appointment with the naturopath was spent in education. He took about 10 minutes to diagnose Brayden
and didn’t even need to listen to his long medical history. Brayden’s diagnosis was simple but frightening…and
changeable. He had a toxic level of
yeast in his short little body. He was
only absorbing about half of his vitamins and minerals. He explained why my short, well fed toddler
was growing so very slowly. He explained
that eliminating the dairy had helped with the symptoms, but never completely
eliminated the problems leaving behind the tummy and skin troubles. He explained that grains go undigested and
unabsorbed by those under the age of five.
He sent us home with supplements for both of our children and dietary
changes that would help them become healthy children with growth and breathing
unhindered.
We followed his
“prescription” to the T. Drops were
taken three times a day and no grains or sweets for Brayden, Jack or the mommy
who was making his milk, until our follow up appointment two months later. Miraculously, things began to change. Baby Jack’s gas pains subsided, his reflux
faded away and so did his eczema, cradle cap and the stiffness that held him
like a board every day. The best news of
all was that Brayden’s diarrhea stopped (even though he still drank
juice!). Brayden’s snoring stopped. During the day, he could breathe without
wheezing and could even pass air through his nose. He didn’t cough through his sleep or gag on
his tonsils anymore.
I don’t wake up at night
anymore because the house is quite, because no one is snoring or chocking and I
am afraid that means not breathing. I
wake up because Brayden is growing and his little legs and feet hurt. I get to watch him sniff at flowers, and
spices, and dirty diapers and mommy’s hair and daddy’s shaving cream and try to figure out what smells and
why. We are back to sitting with books,
reading and telling silly stories and jokes with baby Jack. His low moods are few and far between and
don’t last for hours, but for much more normal toddler lengths of time. In addition to running around and acting
silly he will color or paint on his own again.
He works on puzzles with concentration and success.
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Brayden and Baby Jack, "reading" a book together |
He is well on his way to a
healthy life, saved from an eternity of sickness, of discomfort and mysterious
pain and freed to a life that is comfortable and long, God willing. When we look back at those pictures, I wince
at how sick he was. His cheeks always
flushed, his mouth always agape, struggling for air or blood dripping from his
ears-all of that is such a stark contrast to the beautiful calm face we are
graced with today. The same beautiful,
happy eyes, ringed with his daddy’s dark lashes, the same cherubian cheeks,
always in a smile. Now his closed lips
curve into that smile too. It was a very
hard fought, very expensive lesson in parenthood, nutrition, life and grace. And we will never be afraid to be “on the
fringe” again.
1 comment:
So excited you're back and that your boys are doing so much better. Praise the Lord! :)
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