Samantha's trip to the chiropractor

Well, we got Sam's xrays back today.  I looked at this first one and went, "Hmm..  She's as crooked as her mom!"  The chirpractor said that her bones haven't fused so she's going to get more heighth to her.  He said that it's typical for kids who are growing to be lopsided so he isn't super worried about that right now.  She is, however, 28 mm to the left.  I was 16 mm to the left the first time I went about 6 yrs ago.

Here's the side view of her neck.  This one doesn't have the purple marks on it to show where she should be.  Suffice it to say that although this doesn't look super bad, it's not great.  The GOOD thing I did notice is that the spacing between her discs is even and there is no brain stem smashing!

This is a side view of her torso.  The pencil line there should actually go through the pelvic bone.  It's marked as being 7 mm off.

 This is the best view of her neck.  The purple line that's a little more straight shows the curvature now.  The purple one that arcs back shows where the arc of her neck should be!  He's rather concerned about this.  He wants her coming once a week (her brothers are 3 times a week) and he wants her doing neck stretches each night.

I can say that I'm happy I had all three xrayed when I did.  There were multiple issues going on that need to be fixed and since they've been spotted this early we should be able to get them fixed without too much trauma.  I was talking to Dr. Fullmer today because Sam jokingly told him we forgot to mention Nash is pregnant before he had his xrays (he had an ultrasound on his bladder & kidneys recently).  It was after this comment from Sam that I was telling him about how Nash still pees the bed nightly if he doesn't take his medication.  I told him which medication he's on and how much and how long he's been taking it.  He said that today he adjusted the L1, which is where he would need adjusted for that exact problem.  He said that it moved a lot.  I told him we should make a note to be sure and adjust that each time I'm bringing him in seeing how we are going to be there so often for awhile.  Dr. Fullmer said he would make a note of it in his chart.  He said that the adjustment should help to send the signal to his brain that his bladder is full so HOPEFULLY he'll recognize it and we can avert the bed wetting and PERHAPS cut out the medication.  I would be thrilled.  Not nearly as thrilled Nash, but thrilled none the less!

Nash's Chiropractor X Rays

Well, this kid has a gap too, but it isn't nearly as bad as his brother's.  There is however, something more ooncerning here.

The angle at which Nash's neck sits is way too steep.  His neck also curves opposite of the way it's suppose to.  If you look at the photo carefully you can see two lines that are drawn on the xray.  The first line (the steep one) indicates the angle at which his neck is now.  The second line is where the angle of his neck should be.  Even this isn't the most important thing we learned today though.

Nash's C1 is not being smooshed into his brain stem like Caleb's (good news).  However, because of the angle at which his neck sits, his C2 is pushed into the back of C3.  AND since his C2 is oversized it sits on top of C3 quite a bit.  If this is not treated it will cause degenerative bone issues in the C2 and C3 later on.  

GOOD TIMES AT THE BOWN HOUSE TODAY!

Considering what we've learned by having xrays of the boys done I went ahead and took Sam back in this afternoon (Nash's appointment was this morning) in order to have new xrays done on her.  She has had xrays before (the boys haven't) and we've never been alerted to a problem like either of the boys have had show up.  (That's good news.)  But, just to be on the safe side, I wanted to have her looked at again knowing that her brothers have issues with their C1-C3 area.  We will get her xrays back on Tuesday.  Until further notice the boys will be visiting the chiropractor 2-3 times a week.  Here's to many visits with our friend, the chiropractor!

The chiropractor

We went to the chiropractor on Monday, Oct. 12th.  We have been seeing this particular chiropractor for years (like 6).  He has treated all six of us at one point or another.  When we got there I explained what was worrying me about Caleb and all the things we had already done/been through & the results.  I reminded him that Caleb has never had x rays at the office before and all of this was why I wanted him to have a full work up.

Dr. Fullmer proceeded to do a set of x rays and then do a brief physical exam.  Upon his physical exam he discovered that Caleb's C1 was turned.  I asked what could have caused this and he explained that it could be left over from birth, from a fall, from anything really.  He assured me he would go over the x rays with a fine toothed comb & look at all the systemic stuff,

We went back today to look at x rays and see what Dr. Fullmer had to say.

His biggest concern is this xray:

You can see a large gap between his skull and his spine.  That gap is not suppose to be there.  Essentially, his brain stem is being squished into the base of his brain.  This is your behavior center and could possibly be what's telling him he doesn't want to eat.  It could ALSO be what's affecting/causing his ADD.  Interesting....

 Here is his second xray.  This one shows that the spots in his spine that correlate to his stomach are off.  His intestines had a bunch of air in them as well.

This is his final xray and it's just a side view of his stomach/spine.

The recommended course of action?  Get him in there a lot more regularly to work on that spot in the first xray.  Dr. Fullmer said that fortunately it doesn't look like it has fused that way - yet.  I told him I wonder what Nash's looks like right there.  The difference between the boys is that Nash was diagnosed with ADHD and Caleb was diagnosed with ADD.  When Nash's meds wear off it isn't as drastically noticable.  When Caleb's meds wear off it's like Jekyl & Hyde.  I asked Dr. Fullmer that if that could be what's causing the ADD then how do the meds they give him help control his behavior?  He explained that the ADD meds are siimply treating the symptoms of the problem and not the problem.  The ADD meds are muting the neurosynapsis that are happening so it controls the behavior but it doesn't really fix the problem - which is obvious given his behavior when his meds wear off.  Dr. Fullmer took some xrays of Nash (like that first one of Caleb) so that we can see if the same thing is going on with Nash.  We go back tomorrow to take a look at those.  So, perhaps we can fix two things with one??  I'll hope but not get too excited yet (don't want to jinx it).

Baby steps for Caleb

Here's where we currently stand since our last post:

1-Parasite results came back....NEGATIVE
2-Turned in food/glucose monitoring journal.  Appointment with dietitican on Monday, Oct. 26 @ 3.
3-Visited the chiropractor yesterday & got a full work up (x rays, brief physical exam).  X ray results will be ready on Thursday.  Appointment at 9:30 am.  Upon physical exam it was found that his C1 is turned.  Dr. Fullmer said it could have been caused by anything - a fall, left over trauma from birth, etc.  He will be going over the xrays with a fine toothed comb looking specifically from C1 down at all systemic possibilities.
4-Called Peterson Wellness Clinic.  Appointment is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 29 @ 4 pm.

And if all that isn't enough, the poor kid has to have his top four front teeth pulled on Thursday, Oct. 22nd as well!  We are having the same problem he had with the other two teeth he had pulled.  He for sure got the weird teeth gene.  He's in 2nd grade and has only lost 2 teeth - both of which were pulled in January 2015 because the permanent ones were growing in way behind the baby ones.  When he went in for his check up in May they told us that he had a cavity between the two top front teeth but that he'd likely be losing those any day so they wouldn't worry about fixing them.  In July we visited the orthodontist.  I asked if he was going to have the same issue with all his teeth as he had had with the bottom ones.  Dr. Guymon decided to do an x ray to see what was going on.  He told me that all his permanent teeth are right there and that they are very crowded because the permanent ones are BIG (big surprise, everyone jokes about the "big Bown teeth").  He said that if he hadn't lost them in 3 months that he would put in an extraction order.  We went back to the orthodontist in September and I told him that not one of those top teeth were even a smidgen loose.  He took a look and sure enough, not even a wiggle.  So, he put the extraction order in.  That was about the third week of September and the 22nd of October was the soonest I could get him into the dentist.  They told me they'd put us on the list so that if anyone canceled we'd get a call so we could get in sooner.  So far no call.  So now the poor kid has to have four teeth that are no where near loose pulled in addition to everything else!  I told Travis the Tooth Fairy better pay really well this time around!

A Caleb Update

Well, things have been....interesting.

Putting Caleb on an appetite stimulant still doesn't sit well with me.  I did speak with my pediatrician about the appetite stimulant having depression as a side effect.  He assured me that the one he prescribed is a histimine (or anti histimine, I can't remember!).  He said that anti dpression meds are out of the scope of a pediatrician so they don't every use/prescribe medications in that area if they don't have to.  That takes some of the worry out of this possibility for me.  However, I really and truly do not believe that an appetite stimulant is the answer.  The kid is hungry.  He TELLS me he IS hungry.  He just WON'T eat!  It's mind boggling for me.

I went back into the pediatrician's office last week to disucss all the options with the pediatrician.  At this meeting we went over all Caleb's labs.  His liver & kidney function are normal.  His mono check was negative.  His iron is good.  His thyroid is good.  His white blood cell count is normal.  The only thing out of the ordinary was his glucose level (217).  Dr. Clarke said that he really just thinks/hopes that something went wrong with that lab since everything else was normal.  He did say that it is possible that it's super early diabetes.  I did tell him that there is diabetes in both of our families - but, it's always been onset in much later years, not childhood.  I also mentioned that my sister was hypo glycemic.  I asked if we needed to be checking his blood sugar regularly to rule out diabetes.  He ended up sending me home with a glucose monitoring kit.  It only has 10 strips to check with and to get more we need a presciption, but it gives us a start and an idea.  He explained that we need to check his blood 1-2 hours after a high carb meal.  I explained that I had started a food journal for him.  He seemed happy that I had done that and said that when I had at least a week's worth of entries that he wanted me to bring it in for the dietician to look at.  At this point I did already have a week's worth of entries, but since we are now checking blood sugar, I'd like an additional week's worth of entries with the blood sugar checks noted by meals to get a better view of things.  I asked if the appetitite stimulant would effect the blood sugar readings and he told me that he wanted me to wait to start the appetite stimulant (good).  So, for now, we are just continuing on as normal and checking his blood sugar 1-2 hours after a high carb meal.  So far his numbers have ranged from 81-129.  A "normal" range is 80-120.

I have been speaking with just about everyone about what's going on.  I'm all for any input.  I know I don't know everything out there and people on the outside of the situation may have some ideas that I don't and haven't thought about.  One of the guys at work asked if he had been tested for a parasite.  I hadn't even considered that.  I called the dr.'s office back today and asked about whether that was a possibility.  I have never had to deal with a nurse as rude and snotty as the one I did today.   I was not happy by the time I got off the phone.  I had originally explained what was going on with Caleb, labs, etc.  I asked if his white blood cell count had originally been checked.  She told me that it usually is in one of the main labs that's run.  I told her I realize that but it was never mentioned so I wasn't sure.  She told me, "Well, they won't tell you if it's normal, they just say everything's normal."  I proceeded to explain to her that I had sat with Dr. Clarke and went over all of his lab results and white blood cell count was never mentioned so I wasn't sure if it had been checked.  I then asked her if it was possible that he could have a tape worm or some other parasite.  She told me, "Well a tape worm will usually make you eat a lot more, not lose your appetite."  I had to be patient at this point.  My friend that I had spoken with at work said his mom was a nurse for 15 yrs of his life.  That sometimes if the parasite doesn't like what you're eating it can make you sick so you don't want to eat even though you are hungry.  My line of thought is this, "Let's rule out all the really easy obvious stuff before we send him off to PCMC Failure to Thrive Clinic, k?"  So, I explained again that I understand but I'd still like to know what Dr. Clarke thinks.  She told me that she'd leave him the msg and that when he responded to it they would get back to me.  A few hours later she called me back to tell me that yes, his white blood cell count had been checked and yes it was normal.  Then she tells me that in order to check for a parasite, a stool sample would need to be taken, etc.  I proceeded to ask her where I needed to pick up the stuff for the stool sample.  Apparently, this caught her off guard because she goes, "Oh.  Well I'll have to let Dr. Clarke know that you want to test for that so he can put the order in."  At this point I decided I didn't care too much if I was nice and polite any more or not.  I told her, "Yes.  I want to test for that.  I'd hate to get to the Failure to Thrive Clinic at Primary Children's and have them tell me that it's just a parasite."  That pretty much shut her up.  I got a call earlier tonight to tell me that I could pick up the stuff for the stool sample so I went and picked it up.

So, as of right now we are
1-Keeping a food journal
2-Checking glucose levels after high carb meals
3-Waiting to do a stool sample to rule out parasites

I still need to
1-Call the Petersen Wellness Clinic
2-Call a foot zoner
3-Set up a meeting with the chiropractor to discuss the issue with him & get his input

So, we are making slow progress, but progress none the less.