Every three months we take a trip to Markham to Scarlet's DAN doctor. He does a procedure called a "live cell" in which he takes a sample of Scarlet's blood and looks at it under a microscope to see what is going on is her body on a cellular level. It is nothing short of fascinating. I am able to see what he is seeing on a computer monitor, so I am able to witness the changes first hand. When Scarlet first had her blood looked at it was a mess... kind of like blood with garbage floating around. There were white blood cells that were jagged, not round at all, some were tear drop shaped, and there were unsightly things floating around clogging up her blood. There was actually something that looked like a broken chain floating around. I asked what that was and he told me it was the Strep virus. She had just recently had Strep and had a round of antibiotics for it , but there it was still in her bloodstream...fascinating. To make yet another long story short, after waging the war of diet and supplementation, and chelation, her blood looks next to normal now. Her blood cells are now circular, which is just what kind of body type a blood cell should have. There is little to no "garbage" floating around. There are just a few fuzzy little critters that show that some viral load is still an issue and some indication that her healed gut is now starting to become leaky again. This means that I am going to have to go back on a rather restrictive diet for at least three months until our next live cell to determine if the change in diet (I have recently added rice to Scarlet's diet) is precipitating the unfortunate changes. Her digestive system may not be ready for rice yet.
I am not overly excited about going down that crazy road, but it has worked wonders in the past, so here's hoping it will help again.
Another wonderful thing happened this week with Scarlet. She spontaneously signed and said "all done" at dinnertime. I have not been doing this sign with Scarlet at all and I was so shocked to hear her and see her using it appropriately. It is nothing short of miraculous to see her emerging from her place of silence and angst. She is becoming more confident and happy and is quite funny.
She is continuing to do well with her voice output device. Right now she has several pictures of things like a brush, a ball, a television, a toilet, a person drinking, a person eating, and music notes. When she pushes a picture a little girls voice says the name of the picture. We have been hearing Scarlet ask for t.v. a lot. She is learning to find her device and ask for what she wants. Ball and brush are close seconds for her to request. The therapists are quite happy with her progress and have high hopes for her in the future.
Days have been so much easier. I don't think that we had one tantrum today! I continually thank God from whom all blessings come. Instead of dreading the day, I am waking up wondering what new thing I will learn about my little girl! Thank you for your prayers, they are working!
Angela
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