We went down to Nephi yesterday and stayed at the Best Western. Then today we went to Gunnison for the blessing of Mandi and Burke's new baby. The highlight of the weekend for me was not having to get one single special food out for Michael. Before leaving for Nephi, we were at a family activity in Huntsville, and he ate soup there. We ate at Golden Corral for dinner last night (he gobbled up enormous amounts of spaghetti), and we let him eat sugary cereal from the continental breakfast at the hotel. For lunch, we went to Wendy's, where he ate chili before we headed to Gunnison. After the blessing, he ate spaghetti again at the family dinner.

When I realized we had gone an entire weekend without having to get a special meal for Michael, I started to cry. I know he can do this. I know it's hard for him sometimes, but I know we'll get there.

We met Burke in Draper today to have Michael tested again. Good news! He tested negative for bacteria, chlamydia, and sensitivity to oats. So we're stopping all the supplements, and just working on getting new foods into his diet. If he starts to have food-related meltdowns, or if his eczema flares up again, we might have to start over and see if he tests sensitive to other foods, but for now, things are looking good.

We went to Golden Corral for dinner last night. Michael is willing to eat there because they always have spaghetti, but we told him he also had to try a new food. So after his first plate of spaghetti, mandarin oranges, and peaches, he and I went searching for something else he could eat.

After looking at the entire buffet, he chose barbecue beans. I told him I'd like him to eat six bites. He said, "How about eight?" Yes, Michael, eight would be fine. We did have to help him with some, but then he ate the rest by himself. And best of all, he said that he would eat them at home if I made them. He also decided to eat jello. A lot of it. The jello was cut into squares, and when he asked for some, I put three squares on his plate. He then took the scoop from me and put two more on there. He's had jello before, but it's been a while.

Anyway, so tonight I opened a can of pork and beans and heated them, and he ate quite a bit. I'm really happy about this, because even though pork and beans might not be that good for you, beans are. Lots of protein, which he gets very little of.

Michael has done really well taking all of his supplements. The takesumi powder was kind of hard at first, but now he's a pro. He's so good to remind me after each meal that he needs to take his medicine. He has been doing great.

The last couple of weeks, Michael has seemed a lot more moody. He did really well for the first couple of weeks, but lately it seems like he's having multiple breakdowns each day, over trivial, trivial things. Burke says it could be die-off, which means that as some issues are dealt with and disappear, other issues may surface.

Burke was up in Ogden for our yard sale today, so we had him test Michael again on the food sensitivities and for the presence of the fungus, parasites, chlamydia, and bacteria.

He tested negative for fungus and parasites, which is great, but he also is still testing positive for bacteria and chlamydia. All of the food sensitivities are gone except for oats. Which I think is a weird thing to be sensitive to, but there it is.

We're going to continue on the isatis and berbercap, but stop the TheraSupreme. We'll also keep doing the takesumi, but just for a few more days. Hopefully whatever is causing his meltdowns will resolve itself.

Michael is really excited to have some treats again. He's been really good about not eating sugar during this month. We made a paper chain so he could cut a link off each day and see how many days he has left. He's been a trooper. Even though he can have treats again, we are really going to limit them to one or two a day. We're going to keep him on carob milk instead of chocolate milk, and use stevia a lot more instead of sugar.

I know that Michael's eating issues have an emotional component. We have had some knock-down fights over it, and I know I haven't always handled things like I should (okay, not really "knock-down fights," just power/control fights that often resulted in screaming).

One thing that really interests me is something called NET (Neuro-Emotional Technique, I think). We went back to Burke the next day, and this is what he did. He basically followed the same procedure as the day before, using me as a proxy to test for weakness. Except this time, instead of testing by holding different substances above his head, he would push on various organs or pressure points of Michael's body. As he did, he had Michael repeat a phrase about eating (I can't remember now if it was "I like to eat texture" or what - it was something like that). When he reached an organ that tested weak, he referred to a chart.

His chart told him which organs correspond with which emotions. In Michael's case, he tested weak in the spleen, which corresponds to the emotion "frightfully overjoyed." I know, right? What the heck does that mean? Basically, it means that at some point, he was so happy that he lost control, and that frightened him. The next step is to try to pinpoint when that occurred. This is done by the same process, except instead of touching various pressure points, Burke would ask questions. Was it between conception and birth? No. Between birth and five? Yes. (Obviously, since Michael is only four). Birth to one? And so on to narrow it down. Turns out, something that happened when Michael was about six months old caused him to feel this emotion, and it has affected his eating.

So then Burke did a particular adjustment to "clear" the emotion. He just kind of tapped at a certain vertebrae a couple of times.

Then he tested him again, going through the process from the beginning and testing the organs again. This time, Michael showed weakness in the heart, which corresponds to the emotion of "sorry." That just about made me cry. Something that happened at about two years old, make Michael feel sorry, and that has affected his eating.

I can tell you that while I don't know the particular event that made him feel sorry, I do know that at about two years is when we were having our biggest, fiercest power struggles. At the time, I think I was so frustrated that I wasn't even thinking straight. I tried everything I could think of to make him eat - I bribed, I got angry, I stuck food in his mouth, I screamed, and I even hit him.

It takes a lot for me to admit that. I'm crying right now as I think of it. I cried when I did it, too. It wasn't a slap across the face or anything. It was more of a glancing pop on the top of his head with my open hand. But I still feel terrible. And of course, it didn't help him eat. It only made him cry, me feel like a bad mom, and Jeff get angry. As it should.

And really, how could I think that it would make him eat? Take a bite or I'm going to hit you. It doesn't deal with the problem of WHY he was having a hard time taking bites.

Anyway, back to the story of NET. So Burke went through the process of "clearing" that emotion also, and then tested again. No weakness came up the third time, so we were finished. Burke then did a full adjustment on Michael, and we were done.

We went to see Burke at his new office. Burke is a chiropractor, but he doesn't just deal with whiplash and sore backs. He practices something called Applied Kinesiology (AK). Basically, he can test the body for strong or weak reactions to various substances. Because Michael is so young and would likely lose patience or get tired of the testing, he used me as a proxy. Michael sits close to me and I am touching him, with my arm around him or holding his hand. I extend my other arm out. Burke holds a small vial with a substance in it above Michael's head, and tries to push my arm down. If I am able to resist the pressure, then that is a strong reaction, meaning that Michael is able to handle that substance. If Burke is able to push my arm down, then that is a weak reaction, and Michael is sensitive to that substance. Burke has a large pile of vials, each with a different substance in it, and he doesn't know which ones he is holding up during the testing. When he is finished, he looks at the little labels and makes a list.

Okay, so my description sounds hokey. I mean honestly, you touch a vial to someone's head and then try to push their arm down? Believe me, I know it sounds weird. But I can also tell you that it works. I can't explain it, but it works. There were times that I physically felt strength go from Michael, through my body and into my arm. We did this routine probably over 100 times, and I can tell you that it works.

So what did we learn from this? Michael tested positive for parasites, fungus, bacteria, and chlamydia. Yes, chlamydia. But there are a lot of strains of chlamydia, and I'm 100% certain that he doesn't have the STD strain. Just to clear that up.

Anyway, besides testing positive for those things, he also showed sensitivity to the following foods: lobster; salmon; white wine vinegar; red radishes; cashews; bakers yeast; grapefruit; and oats. And to the chemicals theobromine and paraxanthaine, which are chemicals found in chocolate. Yes, my little boy, who LOVES chocolate, can't eat it anymore.

What, you may be thinking, does all of this have to do with his eating problem? Maybe nothing. But one of Michael's problems is that he also has dreadful eczema. Dreadful. I am not satisfied with the doctor's solution to prescribe steroid creams for the rest of his life. I mean really, something must be causing it, right? Why not figure out what's causing it, and prevent it from happening in the first place? Makes more sense to me. It is quite likely that the eczema is caused by the parasites and/or fungus. Those things obviously feed off of substances in the body. And it is probably the thing Michael craves the most (chocolate) that the fungus and parasites also crave the most. So if we can starve them, they will die, and theoretically, the eczema will disappear.

Burke gave us some supplements to help kill the parasites and fungus (and bacteria and chlamydia - I'm not forgetting those) and cleanse Michael's body. For the next three weeks, he has to take his supplements and avoid any of the foods that he is sensitive to. The supplements Burke gave us are berbercap, isatis, takesumi supreme, and thera supreme. In addition, Michael is still to take his zinc, protein powder, and cod liver oil. We are stopping the multi-vitamin and the quercetin-bromelain complex for the time being. The multi-vitamin has grapefruit extracts in it (which he is sensitive to), and the other complex is redundant with the new supplements. We also are stopping use of Aveeno lotion, since it is made from oatmeal, and oats are one of the things Michael is sensitive to.

As an interesting side-note, Burke can use AK to choose the best supplement for each person as well. He can hold up a supplement along with the vial of whatever it is the supplement should counteract. If the person (who tested weak when it was just the vial) tests strong when the supplement is added, then that supplement is good for that person. Sometimes more than one supplement can be used for the same problem, but AK can detect which one will actually be the most effective. Amazing, huh?

Michael also has to avoid anything that parasites and fungus like, such as any sugar, honey, syrup, fermented foods, etc. Since his diet is so limited anyway, I was concerned about having his choices even more limited, but I think now that it will be okay. The big issue is sugar, but most of his regular foods don't have sugar anyway. It's just treats and chocolate milk that will be a problem. Today we went to Good Earth and bought some carob powder and stevia, which together make a good enough substitute for chocolate milk mix, and some 100% apricot fruit leather, which I'm hoping will work as a "treat" for him. We also made a paper chain (at his request) so he can see how many more days it will be before he can have treats again.

I was surprised to learn that Michael is not sensitive to milk/dairy products, or wheat. I was sure that these were the things that had caused his eczema. Thank goodness, though, because I don't think I'd have the heart to also take spaghetti away from him. It's his favorite food. Just ask him.

Anyway, after three weeks or so of using the supplements and not eating the specified foods, Burke will re-test him. If he no longer shows the sensitivity, we will re-introduce the food to him. Ideally, the parasites, fungus, etc., will be gone, and therefore eating these foods will no longer be feeding them, and won't affect Michael adversely anymore.

Some progress!

I need to document the "real" foods that Michael is eating. His favorite food is spaghetti. He would eat spaghetti for every meal, every day, if I would let him. But I'm not entirely sure that the wheat pasta doesn't exacerbate his eczema, so I try not to go overboard.

Tonight he ate strawberry ice cream and vanilla ice cream. I had to help him (in other words, feed it to him), but he ate it without complaint. And he agreed that next time he would eat it by himself.

He eats canned peaches just fine. I don't have to cut them up or anything. He can do that. We have agreed that this week we will try to do the same with bananas. Actually, I'll cut them into chunks for him (I've been mashing them with a fork) and we'll see how he does eating them the same way he does peaches.

He has started eating enchilada casserole. This is HUGE. Enchilada casserole is basically enchiladas, but instead of filling the tortillas, I layer everything in a casserole dish. Much easier. Anyway, it has corn, black beans, kidney beans, tomatoes, corn tortillas, cheese, and hamburger. The various textures haven't even been hard for him. I did have to help him the first couple of times he ate it, but tonight he ate half a bowl all by himself. I don't smash it. I just cut it into small chunks, but it still has whole beans, which I was initially worried about. He does so well. He has even informed me that he doesn't need a drink with enchilada casserole anymore. (He usually has a drink after each bite of a difficult food.)

We are having Spanish rice for dinner tomorrow, which he does eat well, and without help. He requested Spanish rice when we were making our weekly menu.

He can eat chicken, and we are teaching him to cut it up into pieces small enough for him to eat. I think that this will be key. He needs his food in small pieces in order to feel comfortable eating it. Since we won't always be around to do that for him, we are trying to teach him to use a knife and fork and cut his own food up.

Today while he was getting ready for bed, he asked me if we could eat fish for his snack tomorrow. Huh?!? I was VERY surprised. He has never asked for anything like that before. So of course, I said yes. We'll cook some of the salmon up tomorrow and see how he does. He's eaten a bite or two before, and said he liked it, but to request it is a really big deal.

He also requested that we have peas with the Spanish rice tomorrow, and green beans at either lunch time or snack time tomorrow. And he says he will eat both of those by himself. It's beginning to look like we might have an entire day of no pureed food!

Let me just say, I am SO proud of him, and I feel that I need to acknowledge the Lord's help in getting him to this point. It's like all of a sudden a switch has been flipped. We're still a long way from being able to put a peanut butter sandwich down in front of him and having him eat it, but I know that eventually we'll get there.