Time to rant . . .

WARNING: This post may offend.  There, I said it, you've been warned.

Society today over-medicates and over-sanitizes the hell out of everything!  Do you ever wonder why people are so sick today?  #1, they eat crap "food", leading to an unhealthy body that can't fight off anything.  #2, they over sanitize everything, leading to antibiotic resistant bacteria.  Seriously, the commercial that states "never touch a germy soap pump again"??  REALLY??  What happens after you touch said germy pump?  YOU WASH YOUR HANDS!!!  If you're hearing a loud "bonk, bonk, bonk" that's the sound of my head hitting the wall, and the whooshing sound is me rolling my eyes.

I got the feeling last night that some people really thought I'm an idiot and probably a bad mother.  Why?  Because I let Kaiden get into everything.  Yes, even the Walmart shopping carts.  I know they are a fantastic source of bacteria, viruses, and probably fungi.  But before you judge (and sanitize yourself for even reading this), ask yourself this question:  how often do you get sick, and how often do you run to the doctor? Here - we don't.  Why?  Because we don't need to. We aren't just "lucky". For one, we eat FOOD, not FDA-approved non-food.  Read up on the paleo diet, don't take my word for it.  For another, holistic remedies are cheap and they WORK. And we rarely need them.

People get so grossed out seeing a kid chewing on something other than a toy.  Gee, where do you think their hands (and the toy) have been?  On the floor!!!  Right where you and the dog walked, after having been outside where the rabbits, squirrrels, birds and other animals poop all over everything.  But eeeeewwwww, GROSS, if they licked the floor.  Uh, same thing, there's just an extra middle-man.

And just for the record, yes, we wash our hands and practice good hygiene.  But don't expect me to sanitize everything.  Doing that is what helps people get sick in the first place.

EEK! A toddling toddler??

We are getting closer!!!  Mr. Kaiden still doesn't do 4-point creeping (what we normally call crawling), he 'inchworms",  but his assisted walking is getting so much better!  He only needs to hold onto our hands and off we go!  When he decides he's had enough, he sits.

My favorite new thing is that when we go to read some books - I know which book is his favorite (Moo, Baa, La la la by Sandra Boynton), I purposely bury it in the pile of books and grab a different book to start with.  He has now done this several times - he pushes the book I'm holding out of his way, then finds and grabs his favorite book.  Then he closes the book I'm trying to read to him, takes it out of my hands and gives me his favorite and tries to open it.  Oh, and I must read it several times; once isn't enough!  He is so darn cute!!

Kaiden is now beginning to understand the concept of pointing - when we point to something, he looks at our hand and follows it to what we are pointing at, no problem, even the therapists got to see that today.  But, he still doesn't point to anything himself.  Same with eating.  Doesn't want to self-feed.  In fact, earlier this week he grabbed the spoon from me and I was able to help him load some food on it - but to get that spoon to his mouth - ooooh did that ever make him mad!  He yanked the spoon out of my hand and threw it on the floor with some authority, then screamed at me!  I don't get this - he brings everything ELSE to his mouth, why not food??

Funny thing is, I've found he learns new skills best by watching other children - but it's not just any children, he learns best by watching other children with Down Syndrome.  I never thought that when we started going to a support group that THAT would be the result . . . what a funny child he is!!

Update on the lymphedema

I came across the section on the lymphatic system in one of my holistic healing books while looking for something unrelated and gave it a re-read, and I'm glad I did!  It suggests, for getting the lymphatic system back on track, certain dietary changes for awhile along with herbal help - hawthorne is of course mentioned.  For the most part it's stuff we already do, like no refined sugars, no processed foods, no caffeine, no alcohol, but it also listed no red meats and meat fats.  It went on to state that to encourage lymphatic drainage, the individual should go on an all-fresh-fruit diet for awhile, then slowly reintroduce fresh veggies, then slowly reintroduce white meats.  I thought, what the heck, it certainly can't hurt.  There are fruititarians out there, who believe that eating fruit only is the way to go . . . so I gave Kaiden only fruit, plant fats (avacado & coconut milk), and chia seeds for 3 days, then added in veggies for 2 days, then added in chicken breast.  And you know what?  His fingers look almost NORMAL!  The swelling is I'd say 80% gone.  This is something I definitely want to do this again with him; I am willing to bet we'd get back to completely normal. 

However, we do have a weight check coming up in a month; doing a fruit only diet isn't exactly going to make him gain weight, which is what the pediatrician thinks he needs to do.  He is a light little peanut at around 20lbs, but he is growing and gaining skills, so I'm not worried.  I could see after just 3 days on fruit he was a little skinnier although he still has plenty of baby chub . . . I don't want to take away all his baby chub, so we'll be doing this in steps.

Still, though, it just floors me that western medicine claims there is no cure for lymphedema . . .

Seems to be working . . .

Tuesday night Kaiden got his first dose of Hawthorn Heart Berry Syrup.  I keep hawthorne on hand for Lola, with her significant heart murmur.  And what happened?  Kaiden peed all night long, and peed heavily all day Wednesday, without upping his normal liquid intake.  His fingers do look better; the color is better and his hands aren't turning blue anywhere near as much. 

What does this tell me?  That his heart wasn't working as efficiently as it could and he was indeed retaining fluids.  The fingers on his left hand may take awhile to heal . . . having them swell up so badly and burst the capillaries is like a bad injury.  Time will tell how long it takes.

Another WIN for holistic medicine . . . and remember, western medicine says there is "no cure for lymphedema". ;-) 

I'm not saying we should all stop listening to our western medicine doctors . . . but please don't take their word as law.  There ARE alternatives, and in my opinion, much healthier ones!

lymphedema?

Maybe the horseradish was a coincidence, or maybe it showcased an underlying problem.  Lymphedema is the closest match to what's going on with Kaiden's fingers.  They are fine when he wakes up, whether from a nap or overnight.  But as soon as he's active again, the swelling & bluish color comes back.  His fingers are not consistently hot when swollen; it's not inflammation.  They are not consistently cold, either, and do not turn white; not Raynauds Syndrome.  It's a fairly slow progression from turning pink to swollen . . . the swelling will last days or weeks before the the swelling gets bad enough that it bursts the capillaries, making his fingers basically bruised.  It's in 3 fingers on his left hand, extending into the palm, and has spread to one finger on his right hand.  That one is pink and swollen, but not nearly as swollen as the others got and looks to be receeding, so maybe the swelling won't burst the capillaries on that one.

According to western medicine, as long as you aren't born without a lymph system, there is no known cause and certainly no cure.

According to holistic medicine, hawthorne (for the heart) and/or dandelion leaves added to the diet will take care of it (along with a healthy holistic diet, of course). 

Kaiden's hands have always spontaneously turned blue, then within 30 seconds to a minute they go back to normal . . . I took him to an endocrinologist for this about a year ago and was told it's very common with Down's kids; it's a "hiccup of the vascular system".  And not to worry about it unless his fingers turn blue and stay blue, which they don't.

Kaiden's heart has been extensively checked out by ultrasound/echocardiogram (at least I think that's the right term) - while in utero and 3 times after birth.  In utero we were told one wall of his heart leaned a little to the left, but everything else looked fine and he would be monitored after birth to verify there were no problems.  He was born with an open ductus; common with preemies (which he was) and it's also common with Down's kids (which he is).  Either way, 2 doses of neoprofin and it closed, verified by the last 2 monitoring checks.

But, as heart problems are so common with Down's kids, it is possible they missed something tiny, or something not visible on the screen.  So, hawthorne it is for now.  It can't hurt him at any rate!  Dandelions will come when the snow melts. ;-)