We just got back from a fantastic trip to Kansas City with Brooke. The weather was perfect for mid February, 60 plus degrees. We left Wed. afternoon to get a motel room in Lawrence. Much easier on everybody. Each time we would stop for a break on the way down, Brooke would sit in her carseat and keep saying, "help", "help", "help". She wanted out of the carseat. When Grandma would undo her seatbelt, she would hop down and say "Thank You". We arrived at Lawrence at 6:30 pm. Brooke was quite hungry. Grandma had cooked chicken and potatoes before we left. All foods that are good for Brooke to eat. Brooke didn't want any potatoes, but ate 4 pieces of chicken. For desert, her mommy fixed her a vitamin filled peanut butter tortilla. Biomed treatment works great, the trick is getting the vitamins into Brooke. Cora gave Brooke the tortilla. Her and Grandma left the motel room for a smoke break. Everytime someone left, Brooke would go and lock the deadbolt and security bar behind them. She came back into the room, took 2 bites of her special tortilla. She then went back to the motel door, unlocked it, and tossed her tortilla out into the hall. I guess she wasn't very impressed with it. Not the best to have a peanut butter tortilla laying in the hall, so I brought it back into the room. The rest of the evening was spent giving Brooke piggy back rides in the motel room and watching Cartoon Network. Just before bedtime, Cora took Brooke into the bathroom for a bath. Brooke came out a few minutes later with a towel wrapped around. She climbed into bed and laid her wet head on Grandma's pillow. Cora came out and asked Brooke if she could put on her PJ's. Brookes response to her Mom, "NO". One minute later, Brooke had on her pajama's. An attitude from a 4 year old is a good thing, probably quite normal. Last time in the motel, Brooke slept with Mommy, not this time. I fell asleep first, Brooke fell asleep next to me in the middle, and poor Grandma didn't sleep at all. She said she saw 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30. Two beds in a motel aren't real big. Brooke takes up her fair share of the bed. Grandma was going to go to Cora's bed, but Cora spreads out across the bed. Not because she's a jumbo, she just has arms and legs everywhere. Needless to say, Grandma slept most of the way home, and at last check, she's still sleeping in her chair.The time finally arrived and we went into Dr.Brown's. He was running a little late because one of his kids was sick. Dr.Brown arrived about 10 minutes late. He apologized and said he would be ready in a few minutes. We were in his room talking to him from 9:15 to 10:45, going over Brooke's lab reports. What a wealth of information he is. He said for the most part, Brookes report was good. He went over each test and explained in detail what it meant.
1st we went over food sensitivities. Brooke has more than your average autistic child. The test are broke down into severe, moderate, and mild. Brooke has quite a few severe sensitivities. two that stand out are black pepper, and dill, as in dill pickles. He said in the future after he gets her system straightened out, she may be able to eat the foods on the list again.
Brooke has a yeast problem in her belly, very common for autistic kids. She will be given a liquid supplement to kill off the bad yeast. His biggest concern was for what is referred to as heavy metals. Brooke has an ungodly high level of lead in her body. She also has a very high level of aluminum in her body. He ordered more blood tests with Cora's local doctor to help see what is causing the high lead. If it's just in her body, or if she is getting constant exposure from it. Dr. Brown said he can do the tests, but with Cora's local doctor, health insurance will pay for it. He suspects she is getting constant exposure to it and her body can't remove it. He told us that almost every autistic child he sees has a problem with heavy metals. Getting the heavy metals out is one of the biggest things for turning these kids around. It takes time, but is well worth it. He gave me the responsibility of trying to find out where the lead is coming from. I need to get some test kits. It can be from old paint in a house, certain toys from China, in the dirt she plays in, etc. He said he can get the lead out of her, but we need to make sure she doesn't keep getting into it. He put Grandma in charge of the aluminum problem. He told us the biggest cause of aluminum is teflon cooking pans. Very convenient, yet very bad for autistic children. He recommends stainless steel cooking pans. He went over all the supplements Brooke is getting and made quite a few changes. He said most of Brookes supplements would be in her new pill tailored for her needs. She is also getting a topical cream rubbed on her (I think to get the lead out), a medicine for the yeast, and a vitamin B-12 shot every three days. This is all very common procedure for an autistic child going to a DAN doctor. Depending on the new blood test results, we may be going back down to KC in about a month to 45 days for a follow up.
It has been just about one year since Brooke started biomed treatment. The changes in the little girl are nothing short of a miracle. Going from severe tantrums and meltdowns weekly, to probably less than 5 in a year. She is 95% potty trained now. Her speech is constantly improving. Today in Dr.Brown's office she played for an hour and a half. She wanted out of the room one time. I held the door shut and told her no, she had to stay with us. She laid on the floor, started crying phoney tears (she was faking) got back up and started playing again. No tantrum, no meltdown, just a basic 4 year old response. I am anxious to see what happens now, with her plan tailored just for her. Dr. Brown said a few have fantastic recoveries, but most take 3 steps forward, 1 step back, 3 steps forward, on and on. But they continue to advance. Keep your fingers crossed, but the future is looking very bright for little Brooke LeAnn.
