Doctor visit...

Keith gets Fridays off since he works on Sundays. We usually do "family" things and/or anything I need him to help me with. This morning EK had an appointment with her doctor in Grapevine. We started seeing him in April. He ran several labs on her soon after we saw him and has helped us get her on some needed vitamins/supplements. He's a huge believer in the GFCF diet (gluten/casein free). After we got her bloodwork back, we found that she is highly allergic to gluten, casein (milk protein) and eggs. Today we went to see him to get our first round of allergy shots. It's very small doses of the things she's allergic to and should help her tolerate them in the future. Wouldn't it be great if she can eat pizza again?? :)
We dropped AC off with Miss Lee, Deanna, and Hannah. AC was quite excited to get loved on!
EK did SO well at the doctor visit. Last month she cried/screamed from the moment we walked into the office. This morning she didn't start crying until we went back in the room and she didn't get that upset. I could actually hear what the doctor was saying this time! :) All kidding aside, I am thankful for this doctor's insight and how he's helped EK feel better. We have a long way to go, but I give him a lot of credit for the progress we've seen.

Comments

  1. SarahAugust 1, 2009 at 9:20 AM

    Having confidence in your doctors is so important. I'm glad that you've found a good one!

    Shots are never fun. :( I'm glad that EK did so well, though!

    See you tomorrow! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 2, 2009 at 5:48 AM

    That's great that you found this doctor that you like. I have a question - do you think EK has these allergies because she is autistic, or does she just happen to be allergic to gluten/casein? Miss you! adrienne

    ReplyDelete
  3. MelissaAugust 2, 2009 at 4:34 PM

    Adrienne:
    Good question! I think EK had a compromised immune system early on. She had a constant cold from about 4 months old until around 15 months when we put her on Singulair. I thought she had seasonal allergies since we live in TX and everyone has allergies, but after doing the blood test, she only has food allergies. That means that when she was congested back at 4 months, it was the gluten/casein from me. (since I was nursing). I think that the compromised immune system allowed environmental factors to trigger her autism. Does that make sense? Lots of kids with autism seem to improve on a gluten/casein free diet. For whatever reason, their bodies can't digest the proteins and it causes lots of problems in the GI tract. I could explain more, but I'll stop, unless you want to hear more. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousAugust 7, 2009 at 1:18 AM

    That makes sense. Thanks for taking time to explain! I'm interested to hear more anytime but don't feel like you have to keep going. I'm sure you could write a book of everything you've been researching and learning. Sounds like you are doing great! We are praying for you guys. Say hi to Keith, and your parents and siblings for me too. Adrienne

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Autism Awareness Day

It's hard to believe this is our 10th Autism Awareness Day. Ironically, I also sat in EK's annual ARD this morning. To be honest, life is so busy right now that I haven't had time to think much about this day approaching. Maybe that's good. When I have too much time to think about how autism has changed our family's life, I sometimes get discouraged. When EK was first diagnosed in February 2009, we thought that if we got her in the right therapies, she'd start Kindergarten in a mainstream classroom. That was our goal and early on, it seemed doable. We changed her diet (which by the way, I don't regret at all. I truly believe it's helped her to be the happy child she is.), we did occupational therapy, speech therapy, ABA therapy, vitamins/supplements, school preschool program for kids with autism and many other things. Fast forward a few years  and we saw no real improvements. In fact, she stopped talking a few months before her 4th birthday. Those begin...
Read more

3 days in a row...

EK started back to preschool on Monday morning. After 2 weeks off for Christmas break, I was a little nervous about how sad she'd be when I dropped her off and how long it'd take her to get back in the routine. When I picked her up on Monday, I was SO relieved to hear that she hardly fussed that morning. She was happy all morning long! She participated in music therapy by playing the guitar. She worked on fine motor tasks with her teacher and she colored with a marker! This last thing is a BIG deal. For some reason, the past 6 months or so, she would NOT hold a writing utensil. I'm not sure if it's because I used to tell her constantly to not put it in her mouth or if it became a sensory thing or a control thing. Whatever the reason, she just wouldn't even try to hold a marker, pen, crayon, etc. If you put it in her hand, she'd drop it or throw it. We literally had to firmly hold her hand around the writing utensil to keep it in her hand long enough to scribble ...
Read more

3 months ago today...

Most of you who are reading this know what our family is going through right now. It was 3 months ago today that we took EK to a developmental pediatrician. We left there with a diagnosis of autism. Even though we knew it was coming, it was tough to swallow. We've done so much research, reading books, searching on the internet, and talking with those who've been down the same road. There is so much information out there. We're trying to be proactive and do all we can to help her live a normal life and I'm praying like I've never prayed before. She's still our sweet 3 year old daugher, our firstborn. Her diagnosis doesn't change our love for her. I'm not even sure it changes our dreams for her. We know that God is able to completely heal her, but regardless of the outcome, we know that our God has a plan for her that will bring Him glory. I'm so thankful to be the mama to EK and AC. They are such sweet blessings, even on the hard days. :)
Read more