It was one year ago
today that Bryce and I headed down to Tucson
to meet with Marsha Dunn Klein for the first time. I was on a quest to
find someone who would help us safely transition our son to a blended
diet. With only one small change, we have seen miracles happen. We
have witnessed him doing things that we believed we would never see him do again!
Switching him to a blended diet may have been the best decision I have ever
made!
I've decided that in celebration of his "new food" anniversary I
would make a list of some of the changes that we have noticed throughout this
year.
You can see some of the earliest changes that we saw
written
here in a post from Nov. 2012 as well as listed below:
1. He seems to be more alert, aware, and involved in what is going on
around him. One of his physical therapists today described it as him
being more "present" in the world around him.
2. He has had the healthiest November that he has had since
becoming sick in July 2008. I'm a little nervous to say that with a few
days of November left, but so far, considering this is a month which I have
come to fear and dread, he has done amazingly well. The true test will be
to see how January/February go.
3. He gags less, has less reflux issues, and has good, regular
bowel movements. He is also willing and wanting to taste more and more foods by
mouth. This first started when I began giving him green smoothies, but
over the past month, we have all seen an even bigger improvement in this area.
4. His sleep has improved. Less waking up during the night!
5. Has more energy. He is trying to roll over or scoot around
more often and with more purpose in the movements i.e. to get his feet to
his sister so that he can kick her (seriously, he does this
intentionally...typical big brother!) or to knock over a stack of blocks
that someone has built just out of his reach.
6. Starting to copy more sounds that others make. The staff
at Ryan House last week really noticed this. Liz, one of the nurses
there, kept commenting on how much better Bryce seems to be doing now than he
was during our past visits.
7. He just seems to look and act better overall.
A few other things we have noticed since writing that post include:
1. Although over the last few months we have seen a little more
illness creep back in for him, he still seems to be healthier overall. He
definitely recovers from illnesses more quickly then he did before and doesn't
seem to regress after an illness like he often used to.
2. He is able to grasp things with his hands again. Sometimes
only for short periods of time, but he can do it.
3. He is able to lift his hands up and make small marks on paper with
very little help.
4. He can now bring things up to his mouth and chew on them. The
first time he did this it took him almost 45 minutes of trying before he got
the z-vibe to his mouth. He was so determined and did not want anyone
else to help. He just kept trying until he finally got it into his
mouth. Now he can bring something into his mouth on demand...within a
minute or two!
5. He doesn't gag when he does #4 above. In fact he is able to
tolerate having more things around his face. We are able to have
balloons, rubber balls, etc. in the same room with him again without them
making him gag and throw up!
6. He is able to reach out and grab for objects again. He is
able to pull them to him or push them away from him.
7. He is rolling again. He first was able to roll from his back
to his stomach and then just about 2 weeks ago, he rolled onto his back and was
able to get all the way over and get his hand out from behind him. I was
so excited! He was too. I haven't seen it again yet, but I'm sure I
will!
8. He is able to lift his legs in a walking motion when he is being
held up. He loves "walking" from place to place all over the
house!
9. He continues to gain weight at a steady pace. He is actually on the charts once again!
10. He is down from 4 to only 1 prescription medication on a regular
basis.
11. He continues to be so aware and loves to interact with people and
his surroundings.
12. He has much better head control. When lying on his belly and propped up on his arms, he is able to hold his head up to watch TV or something else going on that has caught his attention. We have seen him hold his head up for up to 10 minutes at a time. We used to count that time in seconds!
13. Bryce's GI doctor who was so against Blended Diet in the beginning
has come around completely. Going from being totally against the idea of
me changing Bryce's diet from canned formula to my own blended formula meal of
real food, to now suggesting that I talk to other patience of his as well as
telling them about the blended diet himself! When I tell him of Bryce's
latest accomplishments he says it is because of all that Green Love that I am
feeding him. :)
14.
The rest of the family is eating
much healthier as well.
Bryce is still
by far my best fed child, but the rest of us are coming around!
15. ...and probably the most exciting thing that we have noticed is
the results from his MRI that did not come back as abnormal as his previous
ones. His Mylen, or white matter is growing back! Unheard of!
Most of the things that he is doing, are not supposed to happen...medically
speaking anyway! He has stumped his doctors once again!
There may be more and I will add them as I think of them (or if others who
work with him think of anything else) but, we are seeing miracles with this
boy! I can't say for sure that all of these things are happening just
because I changed the type of food that he eats. However, this is the
only change that we have made over the past year and the evidence seems to
speak for itself. I know that these positive changes we see in Bryce are
miracles. They are things that we were not supposed to see our son do
ever again. They are miracles given to us by our Father in Heaven who
loves us, loves Bryce, and has blessed me with the knowledge and determination
to do what I needed to do so that Bryce could begin to heal.
May the eating and healing
continue!
