DAY 40

Heard Ty about 4am and his fever was back at 102.5 - I climbed into bed with him and got him back to sleep, fever broke on its own around 6am and he was fever free when he rose at 8am. Good spirits all day, but not eating much at all. Fever didn't return. We have company in town and he actually hung very well out and about shopping all afternoon, restaurant for dinner, etc. He is happy now to be home and stimming, lol. Not much to report on the cognitive front as it has been a weird few days with the fever, most of it with him napping. He has continued to potty well, even through illness. Small independent BM yesterday. Will be glad to get him back to school on Monday!

DAY 39

Ty awoke with a low grade fever and good spirits, albeit he is weak. I did manage to get his tea in last night. Was surprised actually because his fever got very high so I gave him a sponge bath to lower it and dosed more motrin. The bath brought it down from 105 to 102.5, but then after he snuggled down in our bed for some TV, it shot back up to 103.5 - this about 45 mins. after a full dose of motrin which should have kicked in sooner. So, I gave him his tea, and within 5 mins the fever was down to 99 - timing fluke or kind of interesting?



Fever spiked again this afternoon after AM motrin wore off. I have to think he is just having a heavy viral episode. When the motrin is working, he is happy go lucky, but the minute the fever returns, he is down for the count - so NO other true symptoms of illness (fussiness, pain, vomit, diareah, rash, etc).

DAY 38

3 am. wake up but played in his bed until 5 am and fell back to sleep until 7 am (I think that is how it went down, lol, as I just listened restlessly to the monitor!) He has a low grade fever this morning, 99.6, cold may be taking a turn for the worse. Seemed like it was on the mend the past 48 hrs, but nasal discharge this morning. Vocal stimming was rampant during his night owl episode, however his high pitched squeal was mixed with some beautiful articulated babble and "mom and dad's", lol - so it sounded like this "yi, yi, yi, yi, yi, mmmom, mmmom, yi, yi, yi, yi, dad, dad, dad, yi, yi, yi, yi, baabay, peeyah, peeyah, duh, duh, duh, yi, yi, yi, yi". And when he climbed into our bed at 7a. he snuggled in next to me and said "hi yah"! Overall, (knock on wood so we don't jinx it), I am seeing a slight uptake in language since being on the tea. It is subtle, and scattered instances, but better than we have heard in a long time!
Day took a down turn when his fever spiked to 102.5 - lots of motrin, one really nasty BM in his pants, and more fever and chills early evening. Early to bed, poor guy is pretty sick.

DAY 37

Great interaction this morning... centered around shredding unfortunately! So we were all eating breakfast and Ty was too quiet in his room. When I got there he had ripped most of the pages out of his Elmo Coloring Book. He stood in the middle of the pile and knew he was in trouble. He bowed his head and slowly looked at me out of the corner of his eyes. I said, "Ty, mommy told you not to rip the book". He began stimming on his hand avoiding me. So I took his face in my hand, and I said "look at me, didn't I tell you not to rip your book" and he cracked a huge smile and said "yeah!" WOW!
Went back to bouncy play place - he just loves it! Other than that... stimming up a bit while home, and 3 BM's today! Not sure what is up with that....

DAY 36

Ty welcomed the day shredding, lol - just when I think we are making progress in that area... it's baack! But without school, it is certainly more downtime than usual, so I am not too surprised - it seems mostly out of boredom as when I remove the shredding material, he is not seeking it more.
I was making a list today of our experience thus far to give to our TCM Dr. I will share it here to give a sense of what we are seeing - Ty's tea batches have been tweaked every 2 weeks.

Week 1-2
Loose stool, vomit smell
Heavy urination, reduction in stool volume
Phlegm
Shredding (normal, favorite stim)
Began vocal stimming (high pitched noises)
Better joint attention and engagement
Diaper rash and butt pimples

Week 2-4
Excellent bowel movements, formed and no undigested food
Independent toileting spontaneously (BM a first)
Decreased phlegm
Welt like splotches on thigh, butt pimples and face splotches
Vocal stimming
Shredding
Slight decrease in joint attention
Wandering

Week 5-6
Calmer
Decrease in shredding (50%)
Decrease in vocal stimming (50%)
Requesting more, coming to me for needs
Better articulation with 10 words he knows
Increased babble and some notable true jargon
One new word “grandpa” (said once)
Decrease in butt pimples
Dry and peeling lips

DAY 35

Interesting developments. Ty and I both had a cold coming on the past few days. I ramped up LDM-100, OLE and Oregano for ME and I am virtually symptom free after just one day of congestion. I didn't want to disrupt the tea regimine for Ty with other stuff, so I decided to just let it do its thing and see how his cold played out. Well, this is one of his stranger colds - like me he sounded head congested, but he had no loose nasal discharge, just some hefty boogers! But under his nose, he had a red welt (like you might see on a child who is wiping their nose all the time) and yet, he wasn't. Very weird. It looked like a red moustache yesterday and is fairly faded this morning. Today he has some chest congestion but is in good spirits.

As for Christmas day, we spent the day at my parent's with other relatives. Normally, Ty goes straight for their playroom where there is a VCR and he can go back to his old favorite video stim (we no longer have a VCR at our house so he is always happy to have his stims from the past there). He rarely comes downstairs when we are there. But not yesterday, he was up there for about an hour and spent the rest of the day with everyone in the family room. He wandered a lot but definetly wasn't that interested in secluding himself, which was great. We also brought him in underwear there for the first time (I tend to keep a pull up on him there as Mom has all white carpeting, lol), but he used the potty all day - I prompted a few times, and he had a BM independently when we got home last night! Another nice one this morning, they are back to being formed. Will probably try the oat/barley trial again to see if that was our problem the other day. Shredding stim of late is probably reduced 50% (huge improvement) and new calm is noticable on this current batch of tea. Babble is sounding very good, vocal stimming is also reduced about 50% (only true negative that came on when we began the tea). I am actually getting fairly excited to get through this next week of vacation and send him back to school for an "unbiased assessment" from his teachers. Hubby and I both agree he looks "better" (y'all know that feeling you get when you can't necessarily say one huge thing or another, but the kids just look more with it and present!).

My daughter got me the "Between Heaven and Earth" book, by Harriet Beinfield, LAc and Efrem Korngold, LAc, OMD that was suggested reading on TCM, for Christmas, and what little I have been able to dive into thus far has been a fascinating read. Hopefully I can find a quiet corner and enjoy it more today (lol).

DAY 34 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Well, hubby put it simply "he didn't get it again this year", to which I replied (ever the optimist) "maybe next year", LOL! The holiday milestones are tough, as we all know, but I am grateful for the progress we have made, albeit small steps in a giant journey. We have health and happiness, and will continue the warrior fight until we are done. Thank you all for joining me on this path, have a blessed 2009 and may all of the kids experience a year of gains to fuel our strength and perserverance!

DAY 33

Good sleep, a little "rashy" last night though. Some face splotches, some discolored areas on thigh, and a tad butt cheek itchy. Mild compared to what we have seen previously though. He does seem calm again today! Wonderful park outing with Daddy, and spent the afternoon eyeing the Christmas Cookies my daughter and I baked. I did give in and let him have one - he gleefully ran to his room to enjoy! Calmness continues - just having a lazy day! Thigh rash was back at bathtime, not welts, but red "mosquito bite" like pimples, some bum rash too. Independent BM in the potty today, yay!
My parents came over for Christmas Eve dinner and when my Dad said "come give Grandpa a hug, Ty!".... TY SAID "GRANDPA"! We have never heard this word before, Merry Christmas!!

DAY 32

A small BM accident last night before bed, our first in many days. A small wet stool. Could be two things - one, I have been letting Ty have a few dietary infractions (oat and barley ingredients in some "wheat free", not gluten free, food), or the new batch of tea, which sometimes we see a few changes while he adjusts to it. Interesting though, he is making the "accident" connection. I found his pj bottoms again by the toilet, lots of toilet paper attempts (lol) and 1 extra pair of soiled undies. So basically he tried twice to change his undies and clean up his bum ! Lots of A.M. vocal stimming, but mixed today with some nice babble jargon also.

Went to a bouncy house play place today and Ty had a ball. I put a pull up on him since I didn't know if he had pooped this morning, and he did end up having one while out. Well, the stool was back to our old mashed potato consistency and had a small amount of undigested food.. Bummer! So I will pull the dietary infractions and wait and see (and hope he is just adjusting to the new batch of tea!) - will keep you posted! I told Dr Kim how good his stools had been and to keep the antibiotic herbs in his current batch... I will have to email him and see if he reduced them or something???
Another BM early evening, and on the potty - he flushed before I could check it out, lol. We'll see what tomorrow brings.... Oh, and no shredding today, only a little vocal stimming in the afternoon, and one sensitive/emotional episode. Still noticing a nice calm about him.

DAY 31

Began new batch of tea today - Dr Kim advised should help with "hot" body rebalancing we were seeing. Took Ty to gym daycare while I worked out. Usually I have my NT daughter in there with him, so I was a bit nervous taking him solo as she had a dentist appt. and it was VERY crowded with the break, but he did great. When I picked him up, he was in the climbing tubes. I called him once as I could see him through the netting up high, and said "come down the slide, time to go" and he responded immediatly! The staff said he played in the tubes the whole hour. This was nice, as sometimes he fixates on the coloring table and tries to rip the books, or goes into the video area and climb to get the movie boxes. Today's play was much more appropriate. We have been hearing some nice requesting with his acquired words, and his "mama" has been great articulation (often "bama", but he is hitting the "mmm" sound nicely).

Well, the day only got better - this new batch is a hit with Ty. We just spent 2 hours getting my older kids eye exams, ordering contacts and picking new glasses frames, and Ty was a champion throughout it all. Hubby was with me, and we both agreed Ty was unusually calm for such an outing. Normally, he would be pulling at the store pamplets, picking stickers off of things, etc. but he just kind of "sat around" while we waited, and waited and waited! No fussing what so ever, very exciting!

DAY 30

OK, we made it to the thirty day mark and I am on board for another 30 days! I like what I am seeing, and again, we are not seeing any true regression being off of all of his supplements. This aspect continues to truly amaze me. Dr Kim and I spoke at length yesterday when I picked up Ty's tea. He again reinforced the process of chinese medicine, said while the organs rebalance, the brain can have a tendancy to be unorganized (I suppose similar to what we call a healing regression, etc), but again, this is probably the first intervention in a long time that I haven't seen Ty lose skills (while gaining them, pottying is going great) - usually I have to "trade something for something" which is always so frustrating.

Stimmy day today, but I have been busy cleaning and well, left to his own, that is gonna happen! Lots of vocal stimming, no butt rash for several days, slight hacking today.

DAY 29

Awoke to Ty climbing in our bed and snuggling with us - nice. However phlegm hacking and vocal stimming are way up this morning. An adventurous day planned - have to go and pick up his new batch of tea, and then we will be going to a special viewing of the new Despereaux movie (we have a local theater here that closes one theater to the public for one showing and only special education children/siblings can attend! It is a great concept, you don't have to worry about them being loud, stimming, etc! And it is FREE!). We will then go home for some down time, before heading to the special education PTA Christmas party being held at the local Gymnastics place, which I understand will also be closed off to the public for the kids to roam and play! Will post later with updates on our doings!

Well, the movie was a success. This is the 2nd time we have taken him. Last one was Madagascar, and visually that movie was more enticing, but he hung through Despereaux and was mostly quiet and calm - personally I thought the movie was very boring (as did my NT 11 y.o.) and the story line was way too complex for Ty, but I was glad that he hung so well.. good to know he is learning the concept of attending a movie regardless! Had a ball at the gym party and was great when we went out to dinner afterward. What a nice day!

DAY 28

hello Winter Break - ugh - LOL! Ty had a 1/2 day at school today and I found him to be very engaged this afternoon. He sought me out for many requests, used his words, and eye contact was excellent. Stimming was down and wandering seemed more out of boredom than unengaged. He was receptive to joint activities, though his attention span was short.

Butt rash diminished the last 2 days! Mellow demeanor, a sort of calm, nice book before bed again!

DAY 27

Slept great and awoke happy. Forgot to mention the last few nights I have been making it routine to read a book to Ty at bedtime. We have periodically tried this through the years with no success (grabs at pages, starts to jump on bed, etc). Well, my sweet boy now lays in bed with his hands clasped behind his head and jabbers away with babble while I read a full book! It is delightful to have this quiet time with him, I am really enjoying it.
Teacher reported some new independent toy play today!
Mellow afternoon - 2 BM's in the potty!!! Love it!

DAY 26

Slept long and hard, didn't want to wake up for school. Butt pimples fairly pronounced last night after bath. Took an A.M. sample for UTM, wanted first morning urine to run an essential elements panel with it. On Yasko, Ty's lithium ran very high and we could never correlate why. Also, interested to see where his cobalt level is now off of B12 shots for over 3 wks. Should be an interesting comparison to his past results.

Teacher reported a "great day, and he used the word up spontaneously". We actually hear "up" all the time at home, but Ty very rarely uses his 10 words at school, so the teacher gets pretty excited when she hears one!
Independent BM again - can I just say I AM LOVING THIS! Less wandering this afternoon, more engaged, came and got me for several requests and articulation was good.

DAY 25

All righty then! Ty awoke at 4 am, chipper and on the stim-go! Haven't had an early waking in ages. Started with some heavy vocal stimming, but transitioned into some very nice babble. Happy though!
Spoke with Dr. Kim today. He said the itching is organ detox, said "the body is hot" and Qi is balancing, all part of the process. He is going to add something to his next batch (this Sat.) to address it.
Teacher reported he was active and vocal today, no problems with shirt/itching in class.
Independent BM (so independent I missed it, lol. If not for the skid marks in his underwear, I wouldn't have known it happened! Now there's "normal" LOL!)
Went to bed early after his lonnngg day - very sweet demeanor early evening.

DAY 24

A little OCD this morning.. strings and straws, lol - his favorites grasped in each hand and fussed when I took them away as his bus arrived.

Independent BM after school, yay, but wandered a lot this afternoon.

Teacher reported that he was itching like crazy under his shirt today (though no rash noted). She said when she changed his shirt, he quit scratching, but kept taking his shirt off (8 times!). I have emailed the TCM Dr. about this, as Ty is due for a new batch of tea on Saturday. Butt pimples minimal this evening at bath, and no thigh itching.

DAY 23

Rash and itching was gone when Ty awoke this morning. He did have a BM accident mid morning, and it was loose and stinky. Seems the BM success is dependent on the nicely formed stools which must give him more time to process the urge and get to the potty on time. He did however leave his soiled clothes in the bathroom and went and put clean underwear on though, lol!

He did well in Walmart today, and then we tackled the Mall - smooth sailing. Some itching this evening, but when he scratched, it isn't welting up like last night. Lots of good babble today, but mixed in with vocal stimming. He shred quite a bit today, but was nicely engaged. Good mood all day. Butt pimples very itchy before bed, gave more benadryl.

DAY 22

Face splotch was gone this morning, but welt on leg is interesting. While the red has faded, the area is still welted, but it looks more like a patch of cellulite.. very strange, will keep on eye on it.
Went shopping this morning and he was difficult in the store, darting off and then pitched a fit because he wanted to climb a store ladder that was out in the aisle. Ty is usually very good in stores. Vocal stimming and phlegm hacking is up today. Big wow for the day continues to be pottying - another independent BM which is absolutely huge for a weekend, when his schedule is off. He also came and got us to get into the bathroom once, as the door got locked by mistake!

He was a little emotional this afternoon - bumped an elbow and stubbed a toe, both of which resulted in a lot of crying and big need for comforting (more sensitive to pain??). Shredding was way down today (and he had lots of opportunity with a new deck of word cards he got). I did test out some more mastered skills that hadn't been worked on in a while, and he nailed them. This is reassuring as I am at the 3 wk. mark without supplements and cognitive decline was a big fear of mine.
Was going to skip bath tonight, but around 8p I noticed he was scatching like crazy on his thigh where the welt was, and his butt too. I dropped his pants and the welts were back and so were butt pimples.. I put him in the tub and he fussed and went crazy scratching.. I pulled him out, gave him benadryl and he settled down. Huh?

DAY 21

Ty was in a great mood this morning! Very happy off to school.
BM on potty after school, still incredibly amazed at the "no smell" poop! what a concept! Met with his teacher yesterday as I am in the process of having them evaluate Ty for a communcation device, and while there, the teacher and I were talking about handwriting. I have a tendancy to push the school on Ty's curriculum (I am convinced they sell him short due to his nonverbal status) and wanted letter writing to replace several mastered goals in his IEP. Well the teacher looked at me like I was crazy, as in waaay too advanced for Ty. When I shared with her that we were already working on it at home and that she should try it with him, I knew the "challenge" was established (lol, funny sometimes how you have to go the long way around for the school to be ignited!) Anyway, she said his horizontal lines were awful. I said, try "H" - draw the vertical lines and let him finish it. Today she sent home an excited note with a perfect horizontal line on his "H"! Thank you, Sir Ty, for making Momma proud!

Noticed after school a welt like rash on Ty's outer left thigh? Last night I noticed a red splotch on the side of his face/chin area, but thought maybe he bumped it playing - not so, it is still there today. Hubby was home with him during the evening, they had fun roughhousing!

DAY 20

Forgot to mention that Ty's butt pimples were mostly gone last night at bath. When they are not pronounced, we usually see a faded, red area. However, before the tea, his butt cheeks looked totally normal. Awoke on his own this morning and very happy, ate well.

Got UTM results from tea, arsenic and nickel in green - that's it on that one. We send in 3 a month, so I will be taking another one shortly. Not too surprising, we just had 2 of 3 last month elevated Hg, it is not uncommon to get a few duds in btwn. We'll continue to track excretion though.
Another great potty day! No accidents and independent BM - school reported independent all day too! Teacher also noted shredding is down there. Some excited tense stims in bath tonight, and again wandering and unengaged this evening. Echoics not as good as the wknd. either. Baby steps, baby steps... lol.. we'll take potty success as the big wow this week!

DAY 19

Ty was buried under his covers when I went to wake him. I peeled back the layers and said "hi" and much to my surprise, I got a "hi" back! Ate his breakfast quickly so he could be excused and go swing (loves his swing in his room, best purchase we ever made! See Ikea website, $15!). Independent 1st a.m. urine, yay!

School reported unprompted pottying all day! He boycotted our prompted BM trial after school, but went independently early evening!! Stool was beautiful :), no smell and perfectly formed. I cannot say enough about the gut healing I feel is taking place on the tea!

Some phlegm hacking back this evening, and he was a bit hyper after school, but happy.
I tested him on some sight words that his tutors hadn't pulled out in ages and retention was great. Bedtime has been much improved with the new tea batch. Right to sleep with no play.

DAY 18

Ty had his own agenda this morning, but somehow we managed to be ready for the school bus!

Good day at school - he is in 1st grade specials inclusion and today was Drama... apparently they were doing a Rudolph skit and made Ty fly ? Not sure the details, but he supposedly had fun!

Excellent pottying after school - while he wouldn't poop on prompt when he got home, he did return on his own to the toilet and had a BM independently shortly there after! Bummer though, I missed it, so I didn't get to inspect, lol. No urine prompts at home again and NO accidents. God Bless, pottying is making a strong come back!

Wandered quite a bit after school. Couldn't really find anything to settle into - mood swings from happy to a tad aggitated. Spontaneous vocals down a bit from the past few days, but articulation still great on the words he did use. Overall, a mellow night.

DAY 17 12/8

Happy this morning getting ready for school. Have noticed increased appetite the past few days.. constantly snacking, but also eating a wider variety of foods. Several more spontaneous urines in the potty last night, and very calm at bedtime - no bed play before sleep.

Teacher noted 4 more spontaneous and independent potty successes today! I, however, did not have such luck with a BM accident after school, arrggh. The BM was well formed with no smell though, and no urine accidents the rest of the day at home!
Lots of "tense stims" in the afternoon. Vocals remain good, went through many echoics with him this afternoon and articulation sounds great on his words he knows. Butt pimples back in full swing at bath time.

DAY 16 12/7

Ty's good vocals have continued today. Getting lots of "mama's" on approach and he is using a lot of his words for requests. His babble is also great, we have heard many new blended sounds - pee-ya, la la, shhh, ch, mmm, dada, just lots of stuff we don't usually hear.

1 BM accident this morning (small and formed, this one though had that metalic smell, wish I had the money to send in for a fecal metals test, but not today!) and several spontaneous urines in the potty. Butt pimples were mostly faded this morning?

Came and got my husband when his TV messed up.. said "yaddy, up" to get him to follow him. His self initiatian is improved the past 2 days, and I dare say, we had one incidence of appropriate pointing while looking in the refrigerator.

Took Ty to the park to wrap up the day - we practiced pointing to airplanes in the sky (we live 12 miles from the airport, so lots of opportunities!). By the 10th one, he was saying "ah-pane" (which we used to hear about a year ago) and I got 2 spontaneous points! He also went to the pantry when we got home and got on a chair and pointed to the Keebler Club Crackers! I felt so bad that I couldn't give them to him (gluten), but he seemed okay with his crackers - the pointing was great though, we have only had a handful of points in probably 4 yrs!
1 small BM before bed, vomit smell and wet - and sure enough, the butt pimples were back!
As for the first day with the new batch of tea, I want to add that he was noticably calmer and stimming was about 20% reduced today (for a Sunday that is good!).

DAY 15 12/6

A good day for Ty. We went to my older son's wrestling tournament and Ty did well. We spent a lot of time outside on the High School grounds, but when we did go inside to watch my son, he sat on my lap in the bleachers for a decent amount of time. Only a little ear covering (which was impressive with four mats going and lots of referee whistles blowing!) and some vocal stimming, which mixed in well with the cheering, lol!



He did have a poop accident when we got home - meant to prompt potty when I walked in the door, but the phone rang and well, enough said! The BM however was small and nicely compact, and smelled normal. Major butt pimples this afternoon though, the most I have seen in a long time, probably 20-30!!! There is definetly some gut healing taking place with the tea, without a doubt!

Potty success early evening. Small BM in underwear and moved to toilet on his own and finished!!! And good vocals - he came to me at the computer and stood there. I met his gaze and waited, he said "mama" and pulled me to the cupboard (where we keep his treats). I waited and he said "up" (we let him stand on the counter to pick what he wants out of there), I blocked the cabinet doors and he said "open", and when he chose cookies, he said "ookie"!!! Now none of these are new words, all part of his 10 word repetoire, but my goodness, we never hear so many in a row and unprompted to boot!

Oh my! The day is finishing up with some more great vocals - he has approached me with "mama" four more times, and twice more repeated above scenario for treats. Got 2 more spontaneous pee's also. Don't let it end.....

DAY 14 12/5

Ty awoke on his own at 615am, happy. I have noticed more ear covering beginning yesterday afternoon, and a few brief "tense stim" episodes. Vocal stimming is down a bit, and a major reduction in teeth grinding. Hand flapping seems increased the past few days.

Teacher reported a spontaneous independent pee on potty at school! These are rare, so that is great.

This afternoon while watching a show, the children on TV were counting to 10. Ty held up his hands and began finger counting. Although we have worked on this skill for imitation, the children on TV weren't finger counting, only verbally counting, so that was good referencing on his part! He also worked well with me for hand over hand letter writing. He even initiated a few strokes on his own.

I picked up new tea which we will begin Sunday. Overall, while better joint attention, I feel like stims are all over the place (not so rigid, but still very present).

DAY 13 12/4

Great appointment with DAN! He's on board for our TCM trial. He agrees that we have tried so many interventions, and SO many supplements that a break was in order and the timing perfect for TCM. He was very impressed with the joint attention progress, and the better articulation (referenced that to possible decreased inflammation in the brain from the tea, like a stroke victim might regain speech). My DAN is from India and he read through an online reference I gave him explaining Chinese Medicine's explanation of Autism and he said the aspect of Wind, Heat, Fire, Cold, Dryness and Dampness as external pathogenic factors in CM were very similar to the Indian ideaology he grew up on. He was surprised the spleen was one of the organ's identified. Anyway, he wants to speak with the local Dr. I am using and to keep him closely updated on Ty's experience with the tea!
On the Mercury front, my little Toxic Ty pulled yet another elevated Hg, 11, mid yellow on a Nov. UTM (unprovoked). DDI even wrote in comments "mercury double checked", as the only other metal present on the results was a blip of arsenic. Interestingly, I had noted in my biomed book that on that UTM, Ty had been on Liver Life for 5 days. Now, we stopped the LL when we began the tea, but since the TCM is addressing the liver, I am wondering if that is why we have seen some kicked up detox symptoms. Of course the 1st "tea UTM" won't be back for a week, so we'll have to wait for that comparison. I am a bit overwhelmed with the amount of mercury that he has excreted through the years. We cannot identify any current source, and he has continually pulled elevated levels for 4 years. It doesn't matter if it is provoked (td dmps, dmsa, ALA, IV's, suppositories - we have tried them all), or by supporting methylation via Yasko protocol (unprovoked), it just keeps coming out. For the past 2.5 yrs on Yasko we have done 2-4 UTM's a month and I would comfortably say that he hits elevated Hg at least once a month if not more. That, coupled with our lack of "wow" cognitive gains, is certainly the most frustrating aspect of his biomed.
Ty came off bus and ran to give me a big hug (gotta love that!) Nice BM on potty after school. Teacher didn't have too much to say today, but did note that he was no longer saying /"T"/ in answer to "what is your name?" in circle time. This is not too surprising, he had only done it 3 times before Thanksgiving break, so it wasn't really something he had been doing for a long time. However, yesterday at home when he wanted the TV on, I did get a "T" response for that!

DAY 12 12/3

Ty played in bed again last night for an hour. It isn't a problem, he is happy and a bit giddy, but sleeping about an hour less which so far hasn't effected him functionally. I spoke with Dr today about his next order of tea which we will pick up on Friday. We went over positives and negatives since beginning, and he is going to tweak Ty's tea batch a bit. He said he is going to add in an "antibiotic herb" to address possible bacterial die off (skin irritation from feces and butt pimples that we noted) and some different herbs for anxiety to see if it will decrease verbal stimming and shredding. I'm all for that!



Teacher reported today in his communication notebook that "he is following verbal commands better!", and he had one spontaneous request, "jump" (most of his documented requests are under the prompted column, unprompted is few and far btwn.!) However, she also noted shredding attempts were over the top today!



Wouldn't poop afterschool on potty, and ended up having an accident an hour later. BM was dark brown and "sticky" with slight vomit stench. He did have 2 spontaneous urines in the afternoon though. Excessive urine output again this afternoon also. Ate very little for dinner (and I made him his favorite). Hubby took Ty in the shower with him and said when he went to wash his body, Ty swatted at him with total fear to back off. VERY STRANGE, but I remembered I had a similar experience over the wknd. when attempting to brush his hair. At first I thought he was doing his tense stim, but this was different - he actually had fear in his eyes. Both incidences were fleeting, thank goodness, but odd none the less.



Meeting with DAN tomorrow and will bring him up to speed on our current trial (hmm.... lol), and he should have 2 UTM results from before we began the tea (then on full Yasko). Ty's mercury had dropped off late summer (even on IV's), but then picked back up with excretion in yellow (unprovoked collections) early Fall.

More bed play before sleep!

DAY 11 12/2

Ty was happy at breakfast - nice interaction happened. I turned down the volume on his dvd player and he immediatly went to turn it back up, but he hesitated and maintained eye contact with me. I told him "don't do that, daddy is sleeping and it is too loud." Well he watched me like a hawk, finger hovering over player, and I kept his gaze with a stern face. This went on for about 15 seconds and as I turned my back to get something out of the pantry, he went for it. I caught him out of the corner of my eye and whipped back around and before I could say anything, he stopped dead in his tracks, wide eyed and stone faced. I let my angry face crack a slight smile, and he burst out laughing! He totally got the entire scenario with intent, and read my emotions. And this isn't the first time in the past 10 days that we have seen this - he is definetly more aware and engaged.. interactions are expanded and no longer fleeting, joint attention excellent! Really cool!


OK, now we're gettin' somewhere - teacher wrote "Ty was more active around the room today, walking from area to area", however she noted more vocal stimming also and he tore all the paper off the crayons, lol.

BM on potty afterschool (more volume than I have seen lately), normal smell. More great interaction. Ty was swinging in his room and holding his dvd player (multi-tasker, lol). He kept listening to the "Franklin" intro. song, so I began singing to it. He started stopping it at a certain point, and listening to me sing, then he would smile and restart it - I think he was giving me an intra-verbal trial.... HA, HA! He did this about 5 times and giggled everytime I sang (ok, I'm a bad singer), but he really enjoyed our little game. Another example of improved joint attention for sure!

DAY 10 12/1

Ty was cranky going to bed last night which is unusual for him, but it quickly turned into giggle fits and hyper behavior. Jumping on bed after I turned off lights. On the 3rd attempt to settle him down, hubby found him naked swinging on his swing in his room - major pee accident in bed. Awoke on his own at 615a when I went to get him for school. Happy and ate breakfast well (usually is up and down from the table, but sat thru the whole meal this morning).

First day back at school and teacher wrote he had a difficult time transitioning back into his routine. He was non compliant in manding session because he wanted to stim on the cards, and she heard tons of vocal stimming - UGH!

One good note, he came off the bus and pooped in the potty (lots of accidents over the holiday, so that was a welcome routine success!) - it was nicely formed and normal smell. We had 2 spontaneous urines early evening, but one BM accident early evening. Had more excessive urine later in the evening, took him to potty 5 times in 1.5 hrs and he went each time. Collected a urine for testing, it was very light, which in the past has been indicative of good mercury pulls for Ty. We'll have to wait and see -

Hyper again at bedtime.. about an hour to settle into sleep while playing in bed.