Schools In Session!

Summer is over and my feet are firmly planted in the WF/GF diet. I am not going back to feeding Zakkery gluten & wheat. I have seen the difference that it has made in him. I'm a believer in this diet, for my kid!

Mid August Zakkery had a check up with Dr. B. Zakkery didn't test for an allergy for wheat. Which from my understanding, the wheat is out of his system. It took 10 weeks for the wheat and toxins to be fully removed from his system. He also didn't test for PTSD. That meant everything he is eating is good for him! Dr. B. asked how his focus is. I told him I wouldn't have a clear reading on that until school starts back up. His next appointment is the end of September which is perfect timing. He's been a few weeks into school and Dr. B. will test him again to see how he is handling the stress of 4th grade. If he is handling the stress okay then Zakkery can have wheat product a week. That would be like 1 slice of pizza, or 1 cupcake etc. In the mean time I have been allowing that already because he is doing good, but I carefully observe how he reacts too it. For example, we were at a gluten fill restaurant, Bob Evans, and Zak wanted pancakes. He ate one pancake and then he was done. When he was gluten filled he could haul down 3 in no time. But he also had hot chocolate, so I'm not sure which made is stomach hurt.

4th grade is off to a great start. Having a child with an allergy is no walk in the park. I had a lot of prep work to do in order to get the staff & teachers on the same page with Zakkery. I sent in notes to the principal, and all the 4th grade teachers. They switch classes for different subjects so I wanted them to be aware of it too. Thankfully I found a website on line with a checklist and letters to send if your child has an allergy. I took that letter and just copied and pasted it and took some stuff out that was a little bit over the top! I also sent in the snack box. Zakkery can't have cupcakes. So for birthday's he has a box where he can choose a snack that he can eat. The teacher was kind enough to send it home and then I make the decision on if he can have it or not. It all depends on if he has had a wheat product that week.

In a previous post I wrote about how I wrote a letter to Zakkery's teachers from 3rd grade. I just wanted to make them aware of what we found out. During the first week of school, Mr. P., Zak's 3rd grade teacher made a comment about how he could see a difference in Zakkery. Keep in mind that this was the first week of school and he had only passed Zakkery in the hall on a few occasions. He said that Zakkery talked to him with energy and said "Hi!". I had a similar situation with a parent that is at the school all the time. She stopped talking and interacting with Zak because he was moody etc. Once I told her what was going on, she said, "I can't wait to meet the new Zak!" A few days later, she told me how she's been watching him interact and how she talked to him etc. Totally different kid.

Allow me to make it very clear that he isn't "perfect" just because he's clear of wheat. He still has his moments. I can handle the moments. The positive side of all this far outweighs the negatives.

I do know that my children will have some issue with me when they are older. Something will make them enter therapy, not sure what that will be. But what I don't want to hear from either of my child is, "Mom, you knew I was allergic to something but you didn't do anything about it." "Mom, you knew I was struggling in school, why didn't you help me?" "Mom, you had so many resources, why didn't you use them?"

All of those thoughts haunt me. I never want to hear those from the lips of my babes!

I want Zakkery to know that I fought for his well being and that I educated myself the best I knew how so that he could be healthy!