How we're doing

I think we are almost ready to move into stage 3. I am excited.

I am still concerned about my son. I wish he could tolerate more foods. But Clark is doing very well now in school. His teachers have seen so much progress with him since we started the diet. He's more focused, more engaged, and less likely to be acting out. He's acting like such a little boy and finally asking WHY. Why, why, why. What a great thing to hear.

My son is five years old. He has taught himself to tell time -- like, on a real clock. My mouth fell open when I realized this.

The problem with Clark will never be academics. It will be boredom, it will be social skills, but it won't be academics. His teachers are trying to give him special tasks and responsibilities to keep him engaged and occupied, because otherwise Clark will act out. See, Clark doesn't put too much stock in what other people think of him. At first it was because he wasn't aware of what the other children were doing. Now, it's because he really doesn't care.

I have to admit, I admire that quality in him. Haven't we all wished at one time or another that we could act without worrying about what others will think of us? And here my son does it, effortlessly.

However, Clark is still battling constant illnesses. He's still not healed enough to handle many foods. Squash is no good. Asparagus loosens up his stools. Spinach does the same thing. All he really tolerates well is the green beans and carrots.

I need to make more yogurt and try it with him, but I was battling the flu and I'm still not completely better, so there was no way I could wake up at 2 a.m. and check the temperature. At least Clark didn't catch THAT. But he caught a cold and was out sick yesterday. Again. It's so frustrating.

I am hoping we can try the yogurt again. It's probably been at least six weeks since we tried it last. I'm going to try the casein first by making an SCD cheesecake and we'll see how it goes again.

As for me, I just started trying legal cheese. I am eating avocados, which we haven't tried with Clark yet, even though I know I should. With the cheese, I am wary. I have been eating it now for two days, and each morning as I wake up, I wonder if it isn't just a little harder to get out of bed, if my fingers aren't a little more swelled up, if my right wrist hurts a little more than the previous day. It should become obvious over the next two days. If I start sliding into true flare territory, then I'll know.

I feel very lucky right now that my son is getting better. He helped me plant flowers on the balcony yesterday. We planted petunias, verbena, and asters. He called them asterisks. :) He still is very literal and loves learning the names of things. Clark and I were in his room the other day. I was sitting on his bed, and Clark had shoved everything out from under his bed with no explanation. He then started to go under the bed. Daddy came in and lay down on the floor, and asked what Clark was doing.

Clark: "I'm pretending it's a parking garage."

Daddy: "Oh."

Clark: "Daddy, what's that?"

Daddy: "What's what?"

Clark: "Come under here."

Daddy: "I won't fit."

But Daddy gamely shimmied a bit under the bed. Clark was looking at the wood slats under his Ikea bed.

Daddy: "Oh. Those are knots in the wood."

Clark: "It's broken!"

Daddy: "No it's not, they're part of the wood."

Clark: "There's another one! And there's a knot. And there. And there!"

Daddy: "Yes, there's a lot of them.

Too cute. :)

Pecanbread

About a month ago, I was offered moderator status on the Pecanbread Yahoo! group. I knew they needed the help, and I accepted.

Each day, there are new people joining that list, asking for answers, desperate for someone to listen to them, to help them on their way. Every day there are more people who have noticed that digestive dysfunction seems to go hand in hand with their child's autism, or ADHD, or that there must be a way to help their child with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.

We even get adults with fibromyalgia and CFS, and still others with rheumatoid arthritis. There are other moms with RA who have autistic kids, and we wonder together about this relationship.

There are about 3300 subscribers to this list. There are about 100 messages a day.

Most of the messages are not easy ones. Some ask how to start the diet. Some post lists of supplements, asking which are in line with the diet and which are not. Some post asking for alternatives to their child's current regimen. Some are confused as to how to implement the diet in the face of unsupportive family, friends, and schools; some just need a shoulder to cry on. Some challenge us to explain how the diet works. We do our best.

I would be lying if I said that being involved as a moderator hasn't been draining in some ways. There are some days when I just have to let go and let the other mods handle it. Fortunately we have several.

But I do take responsibility when I feel I am able, and I do my best to answer the questions that I can, because when I was confused, lost and alone, with only my own research and beliefs to guide me, they were there for me. And now I'm not alone anymore.

Lunch on the run

So, last week, I forgot my lunch. What's an SCD girl to do? I took a trip to the local grocery store and this is what I came up with.



The avocado was the most costly part, since the cheap avocados weren't ripe (naturally). So I had to get either a GIANT costly avocado, or a smaller organic one, and I went with the smaller organic one.

The whole lunch ended up costing me about $4.75, so it was not bank breaking. The tiny cans of Dole pineapple are the only ones I've found that say, "In its own juice," which means they are the only legal ones.

Pretty yummy.

Sorry for the lack of actual content as of late. I am a busy girl. I'm also now a moderator on the Pecanbread list, so that is kind of cool!

I am tired. I have been off my RA meds for a couple months now, and it's starting to catch up with me. I had moderate to severe disease activity from the start, so it's not entirely unsurprising. I should be getting meds from my new doc in early May. I am still optimistic that I will achieve remission eventually. Just not quite yet.

Cooking marathon this weekend was a bit low key. There was a lot of laundry to do, so less cooking got done. But I did make soup, ketchup, meatloaves with spinach, egg bread, yogurt, and my darling hubby made hardboiled eggs and boiled carrots to help me out. Also I have supplies up the wazoo, including ground turkey! Huzzah! Carolina brand ground turkey comes frozen in a five pound tube and it is legal. I found it at Smart and Final but they are always out of it. This time they had a bunch so we bought two and one is thawing in the fridge right now. I really like making sausage out of it, and this time I am going to make sausage and then fry it up with eggs for yummy breakfast food.

I think I am going to attempt to cook more during the week in the hopes that my weekends aren't wall-to-wall running errands and cooking. Egg bread freezes great, so every week now I make a bunch and toss it in the freezer. We toss a package in with Clark's lunch and it's thawed and ready to eat by lunchtime.

Clark is doing OK but he is sick AGAIN. I am so frustrated with his constant illnesses. It makes it hard to try new foods, because every time he gets sick his digestion goes all to hell too. Argh. His behavior is usually horrible on top of his illness which doesn't help either.

I have a lot of columns planned for this space. This month is bad though because I have a lot of scripts to do for Pendant Audio. And I get tired typing because of the RA too. So don't despair. I'm trying and I'll get there eventually! :)