Three things:

Because I'm in a Lovely Listing (otherwise known as Energetically Enumerating) mood, here goes:

1. Having had NBear on biomeds under the care of one Dr. Mielke, it's become easy for us to see when a yeast overgrowth is occurring. (3 things to remember, as per Dr. Mielke - stimmy, silly, spacey) So, it looks like we'll be following what Jenny put in her book - To remove Evan's candida, we did start him out on a prescription of Diflucan but after a few weeks, I switched him to a natural supplement that did the same thing. It is called ThreeLac, and if you Google it, you will find many places that carry it. (page 200, Louder than Words)

2. We went to my mom's apartment yesterday, and - for the first time EVER - we both noticed that NBear had NOT once rewound the Blues Clues video she was watching. (Mind you - this is her routine as soon as she enters the door: say hi to grandma, rush to the TV and VCR *yes, VCR - remember those?*, pop in the video, and rewind certain scenes numerous times until we leave.) It was a good day!

3. This post was beautiful. It features a teenage orator named Soeren Palumbo, taken during a speech he makes during (I'm assuming) a student body assembly. He doesn't talk about autism specifically, but about disabilities as a whole - and how the world (as we know) can be a cruel, unforgiving place. I won't tell you anything more, in hopes that you will watch it in its entirety. Don't let the shaky camera in the beginning turn you off to the rest of the video!

What are YOUR three things? :)

You Go!

This woman is the BEST.

Meet Dr. Leony Go, from the Fremont branch of Kaiser Permanente.

She has been my childrens' ONLY pediatrician. She is not only caring and easy to talk to about normal issues, but provides a TON of support when it comes to working together with Dr. Mielke for NBear's benefit.

I received a phone call from her the other day to discuss the most recent test Dr. M. requested, and she was all ears about how the whole DAN! experience was going. (So tell me again what DAN! stands for? I'd like to try to understand as much as I can.) Of course, like I do, she worries about chelation therapy. In the end however, her wonderful words were, "As long as you feel you are doing what's best!" :)

Need you ask if I'd totally recommend her for any other A-Club members?

AFP Tablets

During our last meeting, Dr. Mielke gave us these tablets for NBear - being that her allergic reaction to gluten was higher than what the Doc had expected.

They're chewable, so easy for my "I-can-swallow-capsules-now-anyway" big girl to take. (try saying THAT 5 times in a row!) :)

They're nice to have, considering any possibility that she may ingest any type of gluten or casein. They also came at a perfect time, because we were planning our summer destinations: Monterey (*check!) and Disneyland in Anaheim. (Thought I'd add the city in, lest you thought we were insane enough to bring all three munchkins to Florida!)

She took two tablets after Monterey because we didn't pack her her usual gluten-free lunch (I had to endure the Huz's evil eyes because it was my suggestion that we try to survive without it). Fortunately, the cafe had hot dog and french fries available. Sans bun, of course. Still, we were being overly cautious.

It's just nice to know that these pills - and this website! - exist.

Pass it on!

photo shoot

After many grueling hours of hair and makeup, background lighting adjustments, and the pain of choosing the perfect location, it has all come down to this.

Presenting, NBear's biomeds arsenal in all their photogenic glory:

(the newest member to this group is the 200mg of ZEN bottle - Dr. Mielke called these pills "calming amino acids" :) Have they worked? Our answer is yes. NBear hasn't quite achieved her ULTRA ZEN state as of yet, but we'll take it! I wonder if they'll work for me.....

Pictured above is the "needs refrigeration" group. These supermodels were hard to deal with, considering they were extremely picky about superficial details like harsh light, and the amount of time they wanted to spend out of their cool environment. They were definitely a hard bunch to please! (from top: ProbioGold *probiotic capsules*, Glutathione topical cream, and - this was the hardest one to book because of its popularity - B-12 shot.)

I'm okay! Really.....I.....am....

Our minds are so full of information right now, it wouldn't surprise me if brain matter started oozing out of our noses.

Meeting #2 with Dr. Mielke was all about answering our questions (phase 1), going over the lab results (phase 2), and getting the rest of our pharmacy goodies (phase 3) - all in a mere two hours. Needless to say, phase two was my least favorite:

So - she hands us a stack of papers and said they were NBear's lab results. You're kidding, right? - sneered my inner dark self - this REAM looks like the rough draft of the book "War and Peace"! We're going through all of this? Shouldn't you have allotted 6 hours, then? How could 1 stool sample, 1 hair sample, and 3 urine samples have come to this? *side: I must remind myself to post about THAT experience as well! We could all use a hefty laugh.* Alas, all I had the strength to say was, "Oh." Here is what we (hubby and moi) were told, or rather, how we understood what we were told:

*NBear had some serious viral issues - results showed that her digestive tract tissues had some serious inflammation going on

*As for food allergies, our hearts sank when EGG WHITES and YOLK were on her "not-to-eat" list. There go the morning over-easies, the gluten-free cake mixes.....*sob*....also on the list was wheat, rye, cow's milk, and our good friend, gluten. Incidentally, her body's reaction to gluten was so high (she scored a 0.859 on a scale of 0-1!) that Dr. Mielke wondered if the poor child could possibly even suffer from celiac disease. (same link, but look at the 5th paragraph. *lol* Notice the last sentence there? I hope the Pope plans on hiring some people from the "Gluten-Free Eucharist Ministry". Soon.)

*Yes, metal toxins - mercury, lead, arsenic - were still an issue. Chelation was definitely going to have to happen, if we wanted to move forward. I'm not going to lie about my fear of chelation. How can I possibly be 100% FINE when there are things like this and this? OMG. We did receive a test kit - called the Challenge kit - to see if NBear would have a "positive" reaction to the chelator known as DMSA. (I'm assuming that "positive" in this context does not mean happy faces and plus signs, but rather if:

1) she is willing to take the chelator orally, despite the fact that its sulfuric content matches that of a rotten egg...in both smell and taste, I may add. *clearly remembering Dr Mielke's face as she stressed the words "...it...tastes....hooorrrrriiiibbbllleee!"

2) she does not have a bad reaction (a bad reaction to ingesting rotten egg-like powder? Now who ever heard of such a possibility?)

3) it works for her. Alas, some chelators can be picky with the metals they choose to adhere to, and may not secrete them as planned. Let's hope NBear's metals are high on the attractive list .

Would it be so bad to ask all of you who read this to please ask the big G-man (aka J-man, HS-man) to keep her in mind when I administer the test tomorrow? *groan* I'll also have to follow her around for 6 hours after the capsules are taken. Just call me Princess Urine-Collector. *Where's the catheter when I need it?*

***Last Word:
~ Two teary tantrums and one "woe-is-me" speech to hubby later.......and I am fine. really.
Did I also mention that my wallet is now concave? That book idea doesn't sound so bad after all.