Mini-Van Madness

It's been awhile since I've put a post on here (obviously). These weekly trips for acupuncture are making it difficult for me to find the time to update everyone. But, here I am, and I am happy to say that Owen is doing pretty well. His seizures have been either the same or better since we started weining him off the diet--what--9 weeks ago? He had two really bad days right after going down on his ratio, but according to his dietitian, that is completely normal. Phew! I was starting to feel a little, well A LOT, guilty for demanding Owen go off the diet! Thank goodness he's been doing great. The meals are getting tastier with every two weeks that pass. He is getting more fruits and vegetables and less mayo/butter/oil. And Owen is LOVING this change in his meals! He actually SMILES and TALKS during mealtime...and going from vomiting to smiling and talking is nothing short of a miracle in my eyes. I have in the past month or so made a shocking realization that could potentially help solve this puzzle of Owen's seizures....or at least make them a little better. POOP. Yeah, that's right. Poop. There is a very strong connection with Owen's seizures and his BM's. For example, he pooped three times on Monday...only had TWO seizures at school on Tuesday (that is an amazingly low number as they are usually 7-10). Since this breakthrough of mine, we have made it a priority to make Owen poop every single day (I might add with the price of Miralax and suppositories these days, this every day obstacle is rather expensive. But thanks to all you Warriors out there constantly stocking our shelves with these products is not a financial struggle! Still reeling from that fundraiser by the way!). Ok,...I don't think I can talk about poop for one more second.

Now, onto another note. It's official. We have found a wheelchair-accessible van for Owen. This van in particular that we are getting was sold to another couple, and lucky for us, their financing didn't get approved. We have been online shopping and comparing for months, and have recently visited United Access in Lenexa to get educated about the bells and whistles of a conversion van. The first time we went and looked, we wheeled Owen up into a van they had on the lot, and he smiled with excitement. I'm pretty sure he's ready to get out of that stinkin' Camry! Gavin and I wanted to wait as long as we could before we took the plunge and bought a van. However, Owen WILL NOT sleep in his car seat in the Camry. All these acupuncture trips to Lawrence have clearly taken a toll on him, therefore, we are ready to buy the van simply for the fact that Owen can lie back in his chair and take a nap reclined. We will hopefully be picking up the van next week....we are so excited we can hardly stand it!!!

Sorry for the big HOLD sign...but you get the idea. It's a 2009 Dodge Caravan (a little fun fact about conversion vans..if you want any kind of warranty on a ramp, you must buy a van and/or ramp that is no more than 3 years old). The door and the ramp open and unfold BY THE PUSH OF A BUTTON....ugh, it's amazing and I can't wait.

Busy-ness

Packing, making meals, unpacking, packing, making meals, unpacking...I feel like this is all I'm doing these days. We have been going to Lawrence going on four weeks straight now, and I can tell the boys (and myself) are feeling the car-lag. As for the acupuncture treatments, I had a lapse in confidence a few days ago, but I think I'm feeling better about continuing them for at least another month or two. Owen wasn't eating or pooping as well as he had been the first couple of weeks, and I was afraid his body and mind was reacting in the same manner it did with all the meds...he would have a honeymoon period where his issues improved, but then after a couple of weeks they would return again. Well, after the third round of treatments, Owen was back to eating and pooping better again; I think it's just one of those situations where he'll get worse as the week goes on, until he can have another round of treatments again. On a good note, about two weeks ago, I was feeding him and talking with Gavin on the phone. Out of nowhere, Owen said, "mama", as clear as day. It was so clear that Gavin could even hear it on the other end of the phone. That moment was just the greatest, and I hope we have more to come.

I know I've talked a lot about eating and pooping with the acupuncture treatments (trust me, more than I would like to talk about eating and pooping...well, mostly pooping), but I haven't mentioned a whole lot about seizure control. That's because we're in a tough place right now with the seizures. They have presently gotten worse, and it scares us to think that the diet has anything to do with it. For the last 7 months or so, we were adament that the diet was not helping him. But now that he's on a lower ratio and he's slowly getting off the diet, he's beginning to have a slightly elevated frequency of seizures, and we don't know what to do about it. Gavin and I are still plotting our next move. Hopefully the increase in seizures is because of something like allergies or fatigue.

These pictures really have nothing to do with this blog post....I just wanted to put two updated pictures of both Dex (10 whopping months old) and Owen up so everyone could see how big they're getting....and so everyone could see what a freakishly weird tongue Dex has.