The “Whole Food” and “Raw Food” concepts have made quite an impact on our family! Now that Doug is working in Tampa, he usually gets home well past dinner time and sometimes past bed time! This means that it’s entirely up to me. It used to be so stressful figuring out, usually at the last minute, what in the world we would have for dinner. Now dinner has never been more exciting!!!!

Last night while I was putting the boys to bed, we all took turns praying. Bowen thanked God for our delicious meal. I couldn’t believe it, dinner was such a no brainer to prepare! We had a baked potato, baked spaghetti squash, tomatoes, red peppers, cucumbers, and stuffed celery. I bought some organic sour cream that had acidophilus and bifidus cultures (like yogurt has) and dill seasoning and made a dip for the raw veggies, and they loved it! It is so easy now to cook for our family and I feel so good about it too. I can’t wait to share how I got the children on board with eating this new way. That will need to be a post in itself!

A few times a week we have an organic meat dish. Honestly, only if Doug’s cooking! What we’ve learned is that our nutrition should come from fresh fruits and vegetables. To top it off, the majority of them should be raw! This news was so refreshing and making dinner has never been easier! I steam some greens like kale, broccoli or cabbage or sauté some spinach with garlic, maybe put a few veggies into the oven like squash or sweet potatoes and then bring out a plate of raw fruits and vegetables. Adelaine snacks on blueberries all day long. Cherries and strawberries are yum yum! Sometimes we walk right out the back door and pick a fresh organic pink grapefruit right off the tree. It doesn’t get any fresher than that!

No more of those prepackaged, processed foods for dinner for us! Beware of hydrogenated oils that are in so many of the things we were eating. They coat your cells with a varnish-like coating and prevent red blood cells from getting much needed oxygen. They also coat irregular cells so they hide, and your body isn’t able to attack and destroy them. For another nasty little toxin, look up carcinogen acryl amide on Mercola’s website:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic … chips.aspx[/url]
and
http://www.mercola.com/2002/jun/1/cooked_food.ht

During our journey to better health we’ve discovered that “fresh is best”! Organic is wonderful, but don’t run over to Wal-Mart and by their organic produce. If it ships from Argentina, it had to have been picked well before it has had the opportunity to ripen. Many of the important nutrients are lost in our fruits and vegetables because they were not given the opportunity to ripen on the vine. Plus I wouldn’t trust that it was truly organic in the first place. However, local organic is the absolute best, but locally grown is better than grocery store produce.

Another option is to buy organic produce selectively, as certain foods tend to have higher or lower amounts of pesticides. The following foods tend to have the highest levels of pesticides (from Environmental Working Group’s FoodNews.org):

Fruit

Peaches
Apples
Strawberries
Nectarines
Pears
Cherries
Red Raspberries
Imported Grapes

Vegetables

Spinach
Bell Peppers
Celery
Potatoes
Hot Peppers

These foods tend to be lower in pesticide levels:

Fruits

Pineapples
Plantains
Mangoes
Bananas
Watermelon
Plums
Kiwi Fruit
Blueberries
Papaya
Grapefruit
Avocado

Vegetables

Cauliflower
Brussels Sprouts
Asparagus
Radishes
Broccoli
Onions
Okra
Cabbage
Eggplant

We did a search over the internet to find a market place where we could buy organic locally,and found the “Saturday Morning Market”. It is a place where local farmers gather and sell their produce. Ironically is only about 10 miles from our home and we had never even heard about it! We can purchase everything organic for less than we couldd buy non-organic at the grocery store. If you live any where near us, it would be worth the drive to check it out. To learn more about the market and get directions, visit
http://www.saturdaymorningmarket.com/index.htm
You can search by internet in your area to find a local market too! Adelaine and I have gone there every Saturday since we discovered it about 4 weeks ago, to buy our food for that week. The guys are all planning to join us now that soccer season has ended.

The entire market is outdoors. Lots of taste testing takes place at the market. Adelaine gets to help peel and core our fresh pineapple. There is always a local band there too. It’s so fun and festive, going there is the highlight of my week. Adelaine calls it the “doggy market” because so many people bring their cute little dogs with them to shop. There is usually only one organic vender there, but it is huge and all we would need anyway. At the market, we’ve gotten raw honey, homemade pasta, fresh squeezed orange or tangerine juice (they squeeze it while we wait!), granola, the very best salsa, hand-made soaps, and so much more. Mason and Bowen have discovered homemade fish spread from one of the local fisherman there.

This past Saturday I was able to purchase duck eggs! Because Bowen and Adelaine are allergic to chicken eggs, I discovered they could eat duck ones instead. The vender told me that I can just leave them out on the counter for a week or two before refrigerating them. (I couldn’t do it, it seemed too strange, but it was an interesting concept). Eating fresh is like discovering a whole new world! Friday night while the children were at the Children’s Cancer Center celebrating Valentine’s Day, all the parents had four hours off to go out. Doug and I joined our friends Kat and Brad for some fine dining Hawaiian cuisine. I tried sushi for the very first time. Eating raw fish was never on my list of things to do, but it wasn’t bad. It was an opportunity for a new experience so I tried it, even though I’m pretty sure that’s not what they meant about eating “Raw Food”! Maybe I’ll try a raw egg and see how that goes. Mercola thinks eating fresh market organic eggs raw is a grand idea, so maybe I’ll give it a go!

Here’s a very interesting piece on Raw Food…

Raw Food — One of Your Keys to Outstanding Health http://www.mercola.com/2002/may/22/cooked_food.htm

This message is from the Center of Food Safety:
Sugar in our Valentine’s candy (and our cereal, granola bars, crackers, bread – anything that contains sugar) comes from several sources, including sugar beets. In fact, about half of the sugar used in the U.S. is beet sugar (the other half is cane sugar). In the next few weeks, sugar beet seed farmers throughout the U.S. will be considering what type of sugar beets to plant, and food companies will have to decide what types of sugar they will accept.

In 2001, Hershey’s, M&M Mars, and American Crystal Sugar told consumers they would not use genetically engineered sugar. But now that sugar beets are close to being planted commercially, they have made no such assurances.
Tell Hershey’s, Mars, and American Crystal to show us the love, and keep our sweets GE-Free! – Center of Food Safety

It’s so unfortunate that there is so much to look out for these days in the foods we eat. Our family has discovered “Sugar in the Raw”. It is made with 100% pure Hawaiian cane sugar. It is a much better alternative to the bleached processed sugars that we used to buy. Also, it can be found at nearly any grocery store on the sugar shelf. An even better alternative is “Stevia”, it is a natural sweetener that is formed from a plant. In South America, Stevia has been used as a sweetener for over 1,500 years. We have only seen it a health food stores. It is a bit pricy, but you use only a couple of drops, so it lasts forever. Even though our family has made these changes and we know that it will make an impact on our health, we are all going to be exposed to sugar from the outside world! Please take a moment to read the entire piece from the Center of Food Safety, then sign the potation on the site because there is just no protecting our children and ourselves from genetically altered sugar otherwise. Do we really want to injest Round Up Weed Killer from our processed sugar?

Please click here to learn more and to sign a petition to reject the government’s proposal to genetically alter sugar in our country. http://ga3.org/campaign/GEsugar/forward … 297t3jti3?

Check this out!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic … caine.aspx According to a new research study, refined sugar is far more addictive than cocaine — one of the most addictive and harmful substances currently…

Click here to read 100 ways sugar can damage your health![ http://www.mercola.com/article/sugar/da ... _sugar.htm [/url]

So, if we think that we can all get around this issue by switching to sugar we’d better think again!

http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/fraud.htm What is ironic, of course, is that while the FDA is scrutinizing this naturally sweet herb, they maintain a historically generous attitude toward synthetic chemical sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose. The symptoms of aspartame intoxication include severe headaches, nausea, vertigo, insomnia, loss of control of limbs, blurred vision, blindness, memory loss, slurred speech, mild to severe depression often reaching suicidal levels, hyperactivity, gastrointestinal disorders, seizures, skin lesions, rashes, anxiety attacks, muscle and joint pain, numbness, mood changes, loss of energy, menstrual cramps out of cycle, hearing loss or ringing in the ears, loss or change of taste, and symptoms similar to those in a heart attack. In addition, aspartic acid chelates (combines) with chromium – which is a necessary element for proper operation of the thyroid gland.

People who consume large quantities of aspartame may end up with a false diagnosis of Graves disease and suffer allopathic irradiation of their thyroid gland for no reason. Complaints about aspartame represent 80-85% of all food complaints registered with the FDA. More than 6,000 complaints have been made concerning the effects of aspartame. Thirty independent doctors and scientists have conducted research on the adverse effects of aspartame or have compiled supporting data against its use. The use of NutraSweet® or Equal® should be seriously curtailed or stopped.
http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/3/sucralose_dangers.htm It is just amazing what our country believes is safe to consume! There have been no long-term human toxicity studies published until after the FDA approved sucralose for human consumption. Following FDA approval a human toxicity trial was conducted, but lasted only three months, hardly the length of time most Splenda users plan to consume sucralose. No studies have ever been done on children or pregnant women.
Much of the controversy surrounding Splenda does not focus just on its safety, but rather on its false advertising claims. The competition among sweeteners is anything but sweet. The sugar industry is currently suing McNeil Nutritional for implying that Splenda is a natural form of sugar with no calories.
Dr. Mercola- This fall I will be publishing the most comprehensive expose on Splenda ever written. The world will finally see the truth behind how this product came to market and the shameful tactics that were used to obtain its approval.
One of the secret reasons that Splenda is used to sweeten many products is that they are using a loophole in the law. If a product has less than four calories per serving it can be legally called “zero calories.”
Many do not realize that “Splenda” is a combination of artifical and real sweeteners and has real sugar in it. But because of this loophole companies can get away with using sugar and questionably proven artificial sweeteners, whose safety is highly uncertain.
Usually, companies make a big deal about their ties to Splenda, but this latest one — Airborne — has been fairly quiet about it. However, three-quarters of their products use it, and the rest use sugar, a substance that’s just as health-harming.
Other products that added Splenda, perhaps while you weren’t looking:
Diet soft drinks,Breakfast cereals,Canned fruits -Mercola http://www.mercola.com/2006/apr/4/hidde … plenda.htm

I for one have always gotten an instant headache when I have even a piece of candy with artificial sweetener. Our children have been protected from this artificial stuff, so I thought. Did you know that flavored water has it? Also chewable medicines like cold meds, Tylenol and Motrin for children. Toothpaste for kids does! Juices that claim to be “light” have it, and every brand of chewing gum (not all bubblegum). It is so important to read, read, read labels and protect ourselves and especially our children’s growing bodies. It is any wonder that disease is so rampant in this country? We have said “Goodbye” to ALL these synthetic sweeteners in our home and “Hello” to Sugar in the Raw (in complete moderation) and a splash or two of Stevia! What’s sweeter than sugar? It’s those precious big blue eyes with the drooly wet chins from our three children when they were babies. I miss those days!

If our love one shows up with a box of chocolates, maybe we should wonder, “Does he love me, or does he love me not?” For Valentine’s Day I hope Doug will not show up with a box of chocolates or a bouquet of candy. If he does I’ll wonder what I’ve done to make him dislike me so much! Men, pay attention, (especially you, Doug) the following proves the old theory that diamonds really are a girl’s best friend!

One big reason that we sought after additional council over Adelaine’s health when she was diagnosed with Leukemia, was because of some advice that we received from her oncologist in the very beginning. Because she was taking massive doses of steroids over a long period of time, we could not seem to be able to fill her up! The more she ate, the hungrier she seemed. We were concerned over the types of foods she was craving. I asked her doctor what exactly we should be feeding her. I was dumb-founded buy the advice I got,” Anything she wants”. I explained the types of junk food she was begging for and the doctor said to just feed her whatever she wanted? Then I asked about taking nutritional supplements and he just chuckled and said something to the effect of, “That’s not going to do any good”. He went on to say how he did not want her to take vitamins at all because there were certain things in them that would interfere with chemo. Somehow they make parents feel that if their sick child eats chocolate ice cream for breakfast, it’s perfectly alright.

It seemed so bizarre to me that while we are literally poisoning or children to kill off cancer, that it is not at all necessary to give our children good nutrition. We do follow medical advice by not giving Adelaine a vitamin supplement. MonaVie is actual juice and Juice Plus are food extracts, so they are in natural form and are absorbed differently from a supplement, and serve a far better purpose! Still some our doctors shy away from it, and then there are some who shrug their sholders and say it should be alright. Why does it seem like it is WAY out of their field to recommend good nutrition? (FYI St. Jude Research Hospital is currently doing a research study on Juice Plus for ages 6 to 14, and our boys are taking it for free)!

The research is plentiful on how sugar directly effects the growth of cancer cells. I’m not sure why many of our oncologists are still so in the dark about it. Below are excerps taken from Mercola’s website. Please click on each link to find out more…

“Of the 4 million cancer patients being treated in America today, hardly any are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy beyond being told to “just eat good foods.” Most patients I work with arrive with a complete lack of nutritional advice. I believe many cancer patients would have a major improvement in their outcome if they controlled the supply of cancer’s preferred fuel, glucose. By slowing the cancer’s growth, patients allow their immune systems and medical debulking therapies — chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to reduce the bulk of the tumor mass — to catch up to the disease. Controlling one’s blood-glucose levels through diet, supplements, exercise, meditation and prescription drugs when necessary can be one of the most crucial components to a cancer recovery program. The sound bite — sugar feeds cancer — is simple. The explanation is a little more complex”.
http://www.mercola.com/article/sugar/sugar_cancer.htm[/url]
“I believe many cancer patients would have a major improvement in their outcome if they controlled the supply of cancer’s preferred fuel, glucose”- Dr. Mercola

“Growing tumor cells can crowd out other cells and cut them off from oxygen-carrying blood vessels, necessary for their survival. When this happens, some cancer cells have developed the ability to bypass the need for oxygen and instead switch to the glycolytic pathway, which they use even when oxygen is restored”.
http://www.mercola.com/2006/jul/18/more … cancer.htm

“Here we have it, published in the official journal of the Cancer Institute. They are finally recognizing what the Nobel Prize did over 70 years ago, by awarding the prize to Dr. Warburg in Germany for discovering that sugar caused cancer. http://www.mercola.com/2004/feb/18/sugar_cancer.htm

“The quest is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates from the diet but rather to control blood glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer and bolster immune function”.
http://www.mercola.com/2000/oct/8/sugar_cancer.htm

Uuuuuhhhh- Have a happy Valentines Day!? And remember it’s diamonds, not candy, that we really want!

I guess my biggest fear at this point was that Adelaine’s sinus culture was going to come back negative today, and we would only have a best guess on how to properly treat her infection. I was really hoping that the test would come back with the exact identity of that nasty little germ that has invaded our sweet girl! Well we have good news…

Adelaine has Streptococcus Pneumoniae. It’s hard to believe that I just said this is good news, it’s only good in that now that we know what it is, we will know how to treat it! Along with the culture, they preformed a sensitivity test to see which antibiotics the infection does not have immunities against. Apparently this infection can have resistance to most any antibiotic. In Adelaine’s case it is not resistant to the antibiotic Augmentin- which is really good news! She has started her antibiotics today, and the CT scan is scheduled for Monday, March 3rd.

When Mason turned four he began having major sinus problems as well. We had a doctor of natural medicine, who happened to be Mason’s Pre K teacher’s husband, tell us how to make a home remedy that would CURE his infection! The doctor said to put a few pinches of natural sea salt and a few drops of liquid Echinacea into a bottle of saline nasal mist, like Ocean brand. (For those of you who may try this, the solution should have a slight burn from adding the correct amount of sea salt). Mason was facing sinus surgery as a result of chronic infection. He said that the trace minerals in the sea salt would kill of any bacteria, that they simply wouldn’t survive, and the Echinacea was known for it’s healing properties. I used the solution every night for about 30 days before having his second CT scan done. Guess what? The infection was completely cleared.

I have regularly used this solution on all three of the children, every single night to be exact, for years. So why has it failed me now? Well, after doing some further investigation, I discovered something! The brand of sea salt that I have recently been using was not natural sea salt at all. It had been bleached, kiln dried, heated, and altered with chemicals and pollutants. I just thought sea salt was sea salt, but I was wrong! Today we changed over to an ancient all natural sea salt that is unrefined and mined from ancient sea bed, and contains 50+ trace minerals including iodine. Also the Echinacea we were using had expired, oops!

Adelaine has been on three different antibotics for her ears already, including two weeks of Augmentin, just a month ago. Still she has this infection. Why? The deep tissues in the sinus cavity are very hard to reach with antibiotics via the blood stream. That’s why sinus infections are hard to treat and hard to cure. By doing the saline concoction, you are sending the remedy straight to the source. It all makes perfect sense to me. If I were using the correct all natural sea salt, would Adelaine still have this infection? Well, with her being so immune suppressed, one could argue, “Yes”. I’m not sure, but I think we will have a good guess at the end of the 21 days. I plan to give her the sinus rinse at least once a day, hopefully twice, for the next 21 days, along with her antibiotics. I know of several children who are in chemotherapy treatment who have constant chronic sinus infections. They go from antibiotic to antibiotic trying to get rid of it, but with no prevail. We have one little friend who is in the hospital with Streptococcus Pneumoniae right now! I’m hoping that at the end of the 21 days, the infection will be completely cleared, totally and completely gone!

My mom just recently got over a massive sinus infection and ear infection herself. She had a friend tell her about “Neil Med” sinus rinse. It looks like a water bottle and comes with little packets you pour in and mix with warm water. I suggested that she add the natural sea salt and Echinacea to it as well as. She couldn’t believe how well it worked! She said that before then her ears had hurt for months. She still used the rinse, along with the sea salt and echinacea and has not had any more sinus and ear issues! I wanted to share this with you all incase you too are battling a sinus/ear infection! I can’t wait to see if the Natural Doctor’s remedy works as well for Adelaine now that I have the ingredients exactly right. I will definitely let you know!

P.S. Doug’s cousin, Lisa, contacted me about the “hot honey” cough remedy that I had tried and didn’t work so well on Adelaine. She said to use a teaspoon of honey and add a little lemon juice so that it isn’t quite so thick. Don’t heat it up and try not to drink anything right after taking it! She says it works great! I will definately try it this way next time we need it. Thanks Lisa!

* PSS This was my reply to JK’s inquiry:
I use about 15 drops of Echinacea, but 5 to 10 is probably enough! The sea salt I’ve found is called Ancient Natural Sea Salt, by Redmond. The bag is blue and has a clear window so you can see the natural color of the salt granules. Just go to your nearest health food store and they should have it, or something similar. I probably use about ¼ teaspoon of salt in a small bottle of saline. Use as much as you can without causing it to have too much burn!

Thursday was a big day for us! I was up and dressed and out the door before the sun came up, which is a very rare occurrence for me! I’ve only seen the sun come up a handful of times in my entire life! We all know by now that I’m not exactly a morning person. Doug was responsible for getting the children fed, dressed and to their destinations. The boys said that they had to run to the gate, but at least they made it, right? I had to be in Tampa by 7:30 am for The Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s annual “Breakfast of Hope”. It was to help raise money to find a cure for pediatric cancers. They are very active in cancer research, it is a wonderful organization. You can visit them at www.fastcure.org. They are truly making some headway with this disease. Our family would incurage you to donate to them on Adealine’s behalf or any other child who has suffered from this tragic disease. Unlike the American Cancer Society uh.. maybe I won’t go down that road today!Just know that your donation will be wisely spent and will directly go towards finding a cure.

Since Doug has a new job working in Tampa, he was able to drop Adelaine off at the Marriott where the breakfast was being held. Because Adelaine’s surgery was at 1:00 that afternoon I thought it would be far too cruel to bring her to a breakfast where she would not be allowed to eat anything! Plus at 7:30 she is still sleeping! Luckily for us the children aren’t early birds either!

Oops, did I just steal Doug’s thunder? I’m not sure we’ve posted about his new job yet! Let me just say that now he is doing what he loves, and is so happy. Being on our knees before God for so long has paid off, He was listening and He is answering! I have prayed so hard that He would make it so that we can afford to live a healthy lifestyle. Going organic is a bit more expensive, but since we don’t shop the isles at the grocery store any more, really it equals out. Maybe it’s even a little cheaper. Can I just tell you what we were spending on cleaning products ever month? Now that it’s all Hydrogen Peroxide and Vinegar, we are saving a ton of money! It’s the MonaVie, Bud wig, and the Juice Plus that has the punch, but God knew our heart and has made a way!!!! We will continue our same health insurance through Cobra for the next 18 months, then we will get on the insurance plan at Doug’s office. I will let Doug post the details of his new work life!

After dropping Adelaine off at the Hotel, we went upstairs to see Miss Kay, Miss Dana, Peyton, and a lot of other people that cause Adelaine’s eyes to twinkle with delight. Then we headed off to All Children’s to have her procedure done.

We were welcomed back to the Short Stay Unit where we got to see more of Adelaine’s favorite people! Miss Pepper was there to get Adelaine in recovery which was wonderful. This time we got a different Anesthesiologist, one we’ve never had before. When I asked to go back with Adelaine, he made me promise not to pass out or freak out on him. I promised so he agreed. Because simply putting tubes in is such a minor procedure, the Oncologist did not order any blood work to be done before surgery. Therefore the plan was to not access her port, but to just put her to sleep via mask. Since receiving a few breathing treatments for asthma at home, she has warmed up a little to having a mask over her face and agreed, especially since that meant she did not have to have a usual stabbing!

After the Anesthesiologist listened to her chest he was not pleased with all the wheezing going on in there. He said that if it were her usual procedure we wouldn’t go through with it, but since she would only be out a few minutes via the gas, he felt that it would be alright. He said they would give her a breathing treatment while she was out, and watch her closely when she was waking up to make sure she was getting enough oxygen. Then he asked how I felt about it. Yes, it’s always good when the doctor asks what you would do if YOU were the doctor!!! Well who knows when she will ever stop coughing and I knew it needed to be done…

Soon after, I find myself waiting in that little room where you wait so the doctor can come and tell you how everything went during surgery. They predicted the surgery to be very short and advised me not to leave the room. So there I sat waiting… and waiting…and waiting. I thought about all the what ifs and tried to focus my mind on God.. I prayed that everything was going alright. Because they said how short and simple this was supposed to be, it made me a little nervous.

Finally the ENT came in. He assured me that Adelaine was fine, but then he sat down and said we needed to talk. I DON”T LIKE IT WHEN A DOCTOR COMES IN AND SITS DOWN AND SAYS, “WE NEED TO TALK”! Don’t get me wrong the doctor was as nice as he could be, and he exhibited a wonderful bedside mannor. I guess I’m just shy of all this type of stuff! Then it all came. Definitely not the worst news I’ve ever heard, but certainly not the best either…

“How long has it been since Adelaine has been able to hear?”

He said that her ears were so filled with fluid which over time had turned into paste. And that as he cleaned it out, it kept coming and coming and coming, more and more paste. The situation was the same in her sinuses, he said. I explained to him that she hadn’t had any difficulties hearing at all that I’ve noticed.

“Her tubes were still there in her ears, one was lying in the canal, but neither have been working for a very long time.” “Her ears were not draining from the tubes, but from a perforated ear drum.”

I explained that she had never cried about her ear hurting. That she will say they hurt when they are draining, but she didn’t act like they much bothered her. He said he put super tubes in that are guaranteed to stay in for at least 18 months, and more like 2 years”. Then I said, “Why don’t you all do that in the first place?” Ok, I didn’t say it, but I thought it!

He proceeded to tell me how glad he was that I had brought her in. That he felt like he had her ears under control now, but his big issue was with her sinuses.

“There is so much infection that it is completely out of control!” “We have got to get a handle on this right away.”

I asked why she doesn’t run fevers if she has such a bad infection. His only guess was that her being so immune suppressed, her body doesn’t respond in a normal way. She has never complained of a head ache and her nose doesn’t run. It seemed so hard to believe that she was in such bad condition.

I explained that many of our other little friends have lots of sinus infections too because of the chemo. He said, “Not like this one”. He’s telling me how serious this is and I am so blown away by it. The girl never misses a beat, she seems to feel fine. The only reason I took her to him was because of the draining which everyone had told me was normal! It’s such a miracle that I took her in. I am so glad I did. There is really nothing that has prevented this from becoming a blood infection except God and hopefully good nutrition!

He said her hearing should improve and I should see a tremendous difference immediately. I‘ve asked her if everything seems louder now, and she says no. Seriously, I was with her all day everyday. She was never in any pain and could always hear us just fine. Remember when Bowen went deaf last year before his surgery? I noticed that, even with all that was going on with Adelaine. I’d know if she couldn’t hear. Other people would have noticed it too!

Back to her sinuses… the doctor said that Adelaine will begin antibiotics on Monday after the culture comes back. I asked, “What if the culture comes back negative and he said, “If it comes back negative, I’ll know better!” He wanted to start her on antibiotics on that Thursday, but agreed to wait until they know which ones to use because she get thrush so badly from taking them. The culture should be in on Monday, please pray that it will show what type of bacteria she has so they can properly treat it.

“I’m not trying to scare you, but I want you to know how serious this is”.

Not what you want to hear about your daughter, who is already in treatment for Leukemia. After she is on the antibiotics for 21 days they will do a CT scan of her sinuses. I explained how I don’t like her being exposed to radiation, and that last year the scan was clear! He said, “Well the cat is out of the bag now”. He did, however, seem to understand my concerns about the scan.

Throughout all of that I remained calm. I try really hard to not get all emotional and worked up. I understood EXACTLY what he was saying, but at that moment Adelaine was alright, so I did not FREAK OUT, as much as I wanted too!!! But then, oh yes, I had to ask. I already knew the terrible risk of a blood infection. That can be what ends it all for a child in treatment. But oh no, I still had to ask,” What can happen if this sinus infection just keeps on?” Why did I ask that. Why… oh why… oh why? After all, it could have just as easily been that we never went up to his office lthat day and saw the nurse, who happened to still be ther during lunch when the office was closed!

Bet you didn’t know that you can die of a sinus infection because of spreading and pressure on the brain, or something to that effect, or in fact, go blind in one or both eyes! He was unable to confirm if she had a bone infection in her ear, or if she had any permanent damage. Apparently extreme sinus infections can dissolve the bones in the nasal cavities. He is wondering if her sinuses had deformities in development. I would think this would have been evident in the scan they did last year, but what do I know!

I still think he had a hard time believing that she hasn’t been in any real discomfort. If your eardrum ruptures wouldn’t you think that it would hurt. If you have major infection in your body, wouldn’t you think you’d have some real symptoms? If your ears were completely impacted all the way up and through your sinuses, wouldn’t you think you’d have trouble hearing? It seemed like he was just talking about somebody else’s child! Please don’t think that I take what he was saying at all lightly. I am freaked out about her having a sever infection in her body. This is a very gave issue, but it does seem so hard to believe.

Before surgery they asked if she could take Tylenol for pain. Normally she shouldn’t take it because it could mask a fever, but one time to prevent pain from surgery seems sensible to me. They also wanted to give her Motrin when she woke up. But she woke up hungry and active. In fact when we got home she wanted to ride her bike, so I let her. She never acted like she had just had surgery. She continued with her day and never missed a beat!

For now, I will keep a very close eye on her for fever. I know the Lord has protected her little body from experiencing any pain. He has equipped her with an extraordinary high pain tolerance for sure. I feel bad that I didn’t know she was even really sick. I strongly believe that it is yours and our prayers that has protected her and prompted me to take her upstairs to the ENT. I did it without really thinking about it, and had certainly not planned on it that day! It’s so amazing. Looking back,it’s like the Holy Spirit guided me up there with her. I love God so much for taking care of her when I cannot. I know that He will ALWAYS take care of her no matter what. Thank you for loving our daughter with us. For us to do it alone would not have been enough. It has taken many prayers to get this far!

God bless.

Angela