Leo's friendships are even deeper and more meaningful with the same boys he's known for years in elementary school. They talk a lot about nothing, kind of like Seinfeld. It's really cute and so grown up. He had a sleepover recently, and for the first time I could tell he didn't share everything that went on, especially their talks before bed. I see that the world sees my baby boy differently as well. Other Dads will see Leo and say "Hey what's up." The restaraunt hostess won't give him a kids menu.
He's had a great baseball year in AAA. He is known to pitch well and is now a strong batter.The games seem a little bit more exciting than last year. His coaches are amazed how he can keep his composure, even when they've switched pitchers, bringing him in to "close" an inning if the bases are loaded. Must be that linear mind of his.
I still don't have the stomach for sports because I still remember how much harder everything has been for him and how far he has come. I worry when something big changes, or if it rains or if the field changes how Leo will handle it. So far so good. He has turned out to be very confident and upbeat as a player. He is known to rile up his teammates, getting them clapping and cheering when they are in a slump. Emerging leadership qualities (both his teacher and his coaches have said this more than once).
Leo is amazingly even keel throughout a garden variety day. No peaks and valleys as in the past. Ideally, "quiet time" as a break in the afternoon (on weekends) and regular snack breaks would be nice, but we are no longer owned by them. Maybe not as even throughout the day as the next kid, but very close. I am sure my kids still go to bed earlier than most (8:30pm??) because they'd certainly fall apart if we regularly kept them up after that. He can go without a break all day and stay up late and even eat late with no consequence.
We continue to be strict with food at home (GF, organic, whole foods) and with lunches, but when we are at parties, sleepovers, field trips, or at friends houses I let him partake and make his own choices. He is very compliant with his supplements so I honor his good care of himself with this. And his body can handle it which continues to amaze me. The only difference I insist upon is having a snack during a field trip - going from 8am to 1 or 1:30 with no food is just idiotic.
We determined finally through testing that another bacteria, Mycoplasma Fermentans is a causative factor to Leo's minor tics that wax and wane along with the Strep we've been addressing. This knowledge has made a big difference since we are able to target this bacteria through Rifing. I am sure Lyme is in there somewhere, but for now it as a manageable level. Perhaps we caught it early enough through Rifing. I continue to use blended homeopathy and nutrition support for detox and die-off from Rifing. A night and day difference from the winter where they got so bad.
Leo has also been a trouper when it comes to all the attention Sydney has required this past year. It hasn't been easy for him. He has an almost adult-like understanding of the big picture of chronic illness and has empathy for us and for Sydney. He could easily be the kid that you could ignore and he'd plug along doing the "right thing", his chores, his homework, etc. I appreciate his steady character and maturity in handling his irritable, emotional, and sensitive younger sister. So, I try to make an effort to spend special time with him, which doesn't always work out as the pill-pusher chief medical officer of Sydney. One day I'll make it up for him.
Globally Sydney is better but has a long way back to recovery. I can only hope that she can get there. Applying what I've learned from the Autism battlefield has helped exponentially that's for sure.
My DH is still out of work. We are hopeful that he will find employment back on the west coast away from endemic Lyme areas. I welcome bad air, bad water, and a higher cost of living with open arms. I say bring it! (Sure that may be dated slang but I just love it).
As for me, I am all about Lyme. Lyme Lyme Lyme. So many kids are not diagnosed and undertreated. Yet another category of illness that makes up the now typical fabric of the American classroom.
For "fun", a fellow Lyme mom and I took out the class directory and counted how many "regular" kids there were in 4th grade. Between the 2 of us, we knew every kid. I have a boy and she has a girl in this grade, so we really had it covered. There are about 108 kids - an average of 5 per class of 22 had no health or learning issue. I mean asthma, allergies, learning disability, ADD, ASD, OCD, diabetes, obesity, Lyme Disease, P.A.N.D.A.S. like disorder, Psychiatric disorder, Behavioral disorder, or some other IEP related issue.
Just 5. FIVE KIDS on average that had no problems. The next day I stared at this very group during the Spring Recital. There they all were, all lined up on stage singing. I started to tear up but not for the reasons most people would think. A picture of health? No, a scary, devastating picture of the future.
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