Amazing Discoveries

I was skeptical at first. Asking a natural medicine doctor what is wrong with your baby - when you have a flood of highly recognized specialists at your finger-tips, was a bit disconcerning. Our last appointment was amazingly informative but I still left with a few doubts about the logic behind presumptions and fear about our future.

This Wednesday I had a follow-up phone appointment with our doctor again. She wanted to confirm a few things I had shared with her previously, answer some outstanding questions she had.. and most importantly, she wanted to know more about what happened that night Annabelle came into this world. Which drugs exactly were used during labor, why and how long, and mostly how "I" was responding to them.. how did Annabelle thrive in the NICU and what were some of the affects it possibly had on her little body once she was born. I hadn't thought about any of these things for so long. That big event from only 2 1/2 years ago has become a distant memory. Annabelle's birth is a sad, sensitive subject for me and one of which I do not enjoy discussing any more than absolutely necessary. It was a day of full disappointment on every level beside meeting my daughter.. and even meeting Annabelle, was not at all how I planned, dreamed, prayed or imagined. September 20th, 2011 was a very hard day - and we're learning now, that it may have actually been a more defining event to Annabelle's life struggles than we ever thought.

Annabelle's labs came back with just as much concern as her labs notoriously do. However this time, we understood their rhyme and reason a little better.

The most alarming results that we discussed:

• Very high indicators for both Hep A & B
• Lots of chemical build-up with extremely high levels of heavy metals throughout her body
• Indicators for a congested liver (which we know)
• Lots of inflammation within the intestines (minor bleeding throughout both large and small) - we call this a "leaky gut"
• Very high levels of fungus / bacteria within the body
• Dangerously erratic Lymphatic System
• Signs of Hyper-Coagulation
• Sympathetic Nervous System concerns
• And an obviously very stressed liver and thyroid

The conclusion that was made based on Annabelle's history, her books upon books upon books of abnormal labwork and our most current labs/disposition is that at one point she's undergone a significant trauma to her body's function that has in result triggered her body into a 2 1/2yr immune stressed situation and is unable to fix itself. As result, her body has only continued to act in the reponding way of her immune system constantly fighting which has slowly, and now rapidly, destroyed multi-systems in the process. The liver is acting like it's previously had an auto-immune response from the birth trama of being flooded with high amounts of magnesium. When the liver cannot function properly, (we know whats happened already to Annabelle... she's flooded with ammonia) but what we didn't know were the other things that were happening while her liver doesn't function. It doesn't take the food Annabelle eats and turn it into fuel - which then doesn't allow the food/fuel to turn into amnio acids that are essential for the body to function and heal itself. Without this process, the entire body is weak and slowly dying because it's never able to get what it's needing to thrive.... we're literally just buying time day after day and feeding Annabelle just enough nutritional formula that she keeps weight on her body and looks healthy, but not gaining an ounce more. Because her body has no clue HOW to get any nutrients / fuel from food. Her body doesn't know how to repair itself from whatever trauma or absense of development has happened. Her body is artifically surviving and not by her own effort and work, but by feeding her the nutrients she needs, enternally by tubes and medications, to keep her alive and walking so that on the outside she looks well.....


Just the other day, we were out to eat and I ordered Annabelle chips and guacamole. We eat corn chips and I make quacamole at home all the time. It's nothing new and she's never shown signs of an allergy or anyting before while eating it.

 This time however, after only a short few minutes enjoying her dinner of chips & guac, we wiped her face to discover she was in the midst of an allergic reaction. Her chin, cheeks, lips, fingers and hands were red, developing blisters and swelling. My heart sank with dispair at the same time it began beating thru my chest of panic. "How is this happening? She's had it before? Was it cross-contaminated? WHY DOES MY CHILD HAVE TO SUFFER, LIVING THIS KIND OF LIFE!!???? Is absolutely nothing in this world safe to her?" 

I posed the question and explained the situation to our doctor during the phone call. What she explained was quite easy. "Annabelle can have avocado and all the ingredients. She isn't 'allergic' to them per say, even though it outwardly presented that way. The day prior, Annabelle's meal consisted of very similar ingredients. Because her liver is so very congested, her intestines are inflammed constantly and her immune system is attacking everything it see's coming in ... the small amount of guacamole she ate was apparently just enough to overwhelm that conversion factor in her liver when attempting to convert the foods into fuel. The liver's inability to process the food, activated high IgE's (allergen cells....) and then set the immune system into fight mode, once again. That's why we saw an outward reaction all over her skin - what we didn't see happening inside her little body however, was far worse. It's a tiny example of how unbalanced Annabelle's little body is.


We are still working full steam ahead to figure out what to do. SO many things have been addressed in the last couple weeks. So many discoveries have been made and so many times, my heart has sank over and over and over at the realities of what my daughter is living thru.

I cannot believe her strength and courage every single day. I knew she was a strong child before, but I didn't have any idea just how much fight she has put forth since the moment she was born to still be here, smiling and giving us hell every day. This child is absolutely amazing beyond belief. Her body is doing every single thing it can to drag her down and also trying to sustain another day - while Annabelle herself is doing everything she can to live each minute on this world to it's fullest and loudest, by absorbing everything around her. I cannot, CANNOT believe this child. I cannot believe the doctors and their discoveries in the last couple weeks. I cannot believe our God for what he's done to bring us to this place. I cannot thank anyone enough for the strength you've shared to make sure we are here and where we are today with Annabelle. The realities of what I've learned lately scare me to a nauseas state but the miracles I see before me restore every ounce of fear and doubt I have ever had.

Thank you, every one of you from the bottom of my heart for everything. Keep this child lifted in your everyday prayers, because someone big, with the most power is listening upstairs and these prayers are working!!!