Open Floodgates

A deluge of knowledge, information, and spiritual insight has been swirling through my brain and soul these last two weeks. It's difficult to know how to even communicate just the highlights. Most importantly, Abbie is doing well, as you can see in this recent photo taken by her nurse, Dayna.

The last update I wrote described the emotionally-taxing decision to postpone her surgery. As we came to that conclusion, I knew deep down that we would see blessings in the waiting time. They have already begun to arrive. I apologize in advance for some parts below that may seem too verbose, but I am truly writing this update for other brain injury families.

I have been communicating very regularly with Dr. Tennant regarding a plethora of new things he has learned in the past few months. If I've been flooded of late, he is covered under epic depths of new information! I've written somewhat about getting aggressive in dealing with the fungus in Abbie's body, and am working madly to get an update to the "Abbie's Healing" portion of her site completed. However, we have added several more new things since mid-September.

At the beginning of our journey into energetic medicine I read a terrific book call "The Body Electric" by Robert O. Becker, MD. His book outlines the electrical systems in the body and the critical role they play in healing and regeneration. Unfortunately, Dr. Becker is now declining into Alzeihmer's. When he was having a lucid day last year he and Dr. Tennant had a long phone conversation about Dr. Becker's current research, what Dr. Tennant is pursuing, and their mutual interests. Some time after that conversation, Dr. Becker's wife sent Dr. Tennant all of Dr. Becker's unfinished research, most of which revolves around the use of true colloidal silver as a means to dramatically increase stem cell production.

I say "true" colloidal silver, because what is usually available in health food stores as colloidal silver is actually in ionic form. We have found a source that produces high quality true colloidal silver, Deseret Biologicals, (www.desbio.com), however they only sell their product, "Smart Silver", to licensed medical practitioners, so most people can't buy directly from them. Abbie is getting 2 teaspoons of 10ppm solution each day. This is not a "quick fix" type thing, but I am curious to see what it can do for her not only in terms of healing her initial injury but also in keeping her healthy in the meantime. There is some very interesting congressional testimony at the above website regarding what Smart Silver was able to do for malaria patients in Africa.

As interesting as the silver was, a breakthrough of much larger proportions was quick on its heels. Dr. Tennant recently met a physician, Dr. Mark Starr, who has written a book describing his hypothesis that like diabetes, there are two types of hypothyroidism. The first type shows up on blood tests, but the second type does not. In the last hormone panel we did, Abbie's TSH was very elevated, while her T4 was normal, which was an indicator that something was not right. Additional clues are her consistently low basal body temp. (96.0-97.0), cold intolerance, "myxedema", which is non-pitting swelling that is very apparent on her hands, feet, and even her cute, chubby face now that I know what I am looking at.

Please go to www.type2hypothyroidism.com to see some stunning before and after pictures of patients who were treated for this condition. These pictures are old because mainstream medicine stopped treating Type 2 once lab tests for TSH became available. You can give Type 2 sufferers all the thyroid hormone you want and it won't fix the problem because it's not the absence of T4 that's the problem, it's actually an iodine deficiency that is often at the root.

So, we have started Abbie on an iodine supplement called "Iodoral", and early this week we will be starting her on a natural thyroid supplement called Armour Thyroid, which is made of dried pigs' thyroids. (Gross, I know...but I will do whatever makes Abbie better!) This approach could yield results in a very quick fashion if Abbie follows the path Dr. Tennant is observing in his other patients. I am THRILLED to think about this possibility, because many of the complications of Type 2 seem like a portrait of a brain injury survivor. In addition to the ones mentioned above, they include: anemia, dysarthria (difficulty moving jaw, tongue), thickened tongue, mental fog, slow relaxation phase for muscles, gait abnormalities, and altered Achilles tendon reflexes. While these challenges for Abbie were caused by the initial insult to her brain, I don't think we can expect her to recover if she has another condition producing the same symptoms!

Additionally, the thyroid is becoming more apparent as the voltage regulator in the body. This may explain why Abbie experiences such dramatic swings in her voltage, from very high healing range, to much below normal. Her regulator is faulty right now, so her body is acting just like any other electrical device with an inefficient regulator, and is just about as functional. We have had Abbie on DHEA cream since her hormone panel came back, but Dr. Tennant is finding that he cannot fix hormone levels with bio-identical hormones if he does not fix the thyroid. So, we will simply keep her on pregnenolone, since it is the precursor, and proceed with her thyroid therapy. I am hopeful that if we can get her thyroid fixed, many good things will follow. Just an aside, back when mainstream medicine used to treat Type 2, high cholesterol was one of the key indicators...if your interest is piqued, order Dr. Starr's book (around $15 at his site).

The day we were in the midst of the surgery drama, I was a basket case. Dr. Tennant called with news that gave me a boost out of the pit. He was on his way back from the office of a Dr. Danhoff, an MD/PhD who had been his physiology professor in medical school. They had not seen each other in years, and in the interim, Dr. Danhoff had begun working with a very concentrated form of Aloe. He treated hospice patients in Florida with it intravenously, and cured 90 out of 100 of them. Yep -- 90% of hospice patients got better. Perhaps because there was a none-too-happy chemotherapy research site just up the road, the FDA raided Dr. Danhoff's clinic, and effectively shut him down. Two years later the court ruled that the FDA was way out of bounds, and Dr. Danhoff had done nothing wrong, but you can't just start a clinic back up after two years. So, he found his way back to Dallas, and thankfully, back into Dr. Tennant's orbit. Recently a man who was experiencing 1000 tics per day was treated with an oral form, and in 6 days the tics ceased. A Parkinsonian patient treated intravenously had temors that had persisted for 15 years stop on the third day of treatment. They think that the product, which is called "Tremal" on the bottles we have, does something in the way of remyelination. But, honestly, I'm a mom, and I don't care so much about the mechanics as the outcomes!

The second day we had Abbie on Tremal she turned her head quickly to the right to look at her nurse and I. This particular movement will often throw her into a seizure/muscle spasm motion for a few seconds where her head will pulse repetitively to the right. This time there was none of that. I just stood in surprised silence, while her nurse, who didn't know about the Tremal, said, "Hey --- no extra moving!! That's great!!" Great, indeed!

So, we have much to keep track of and much reason for heightened observance and anticipation. We also have a couple more new things in the pipeline, but I'll wait until I know more before I write about them.

To get me ready for all of this, God took me away to be alone with Him, and alone together with some wonderful women. 14-16 September my dear sister, Katie Cheshire, (it's official -- we adopted each other) and I, along with sweet baby Iliana flew to the Big Island to attend a women's conference centered around a video series by my best girl, Beth Moore.


We stayed at Kalopa State Park, at 2000 feet elevation this rainy, lush spot reminded me of the Northwest, only warmer. I was blessed to have time alone, running on trails in the woods, and wandering around the grounds with my camera. I met a woman who is twice the mother I am, literally. Jessica is the mother of 11, including two sets of twins!! And, walking in to this remote place on the Big Island, I didn't expect to know any of the other 32 women besides Katie. Then, Lisa and Ellie Thatcher came up and told me they have been praying for Abbie for three years. I was stunned at how God weaves us together long before we know it!


The theme of the conference was "Loving Well", with the bottom line being that in and of ourselves we cannot do this. As always, Beth taught with a passion and clarity that ignited my spirit, and reassured me that just as I cannot love well on my own, neither am I Abbie's healer. There is only One with that job description, and I only have to follow His lead.


At the conference we were broken into small groups of 6 women each. Honestly, as we got our group assignments I was a little disappointed because there were women in other groups who I really wanted to get to know better. But, I realized God must have a purpose for placing me in a particular group. Boy! Did He ever! Out of the other 5 women, 2 had lost daughters in car accidents. One was part of a set of triplets, and died at 13, while the other was an only child who died at 8. What are the chances of that?? No other mother at the conference had lost a child besides the two in my group...what a privelege for me to harvest the wisdom they have gained from walking a narrow, difficult path. And, honestly, to remember how blessed I am that we still have Abbie...just to brush her hair, see her smile, and think about still having future with her in it!



I was relieved to be able to enjoy the weekend without Abbie's surgery looming so near. We have rescheduled it for November 21st -- the day before Thanksgiving. I am assuming it is because we will have so very much to be thankful for this year after she sails through the surgery.



Thank you for your patience during the lapses in updates. Don't ever worry that something is wrong. No news is good news, it just means that I am too busy actually being Abbie's and the boys' mom to write about it.


I hope that all the new things we've added recently will require more frequent updates as I share exciting news. Please pray for wisdom as we put these new things into place. Please also pray for Abbie's health. She is at the tail end of a cold that her Daddy and brothers graciously shared with her, but she just can't quite kick it completely. My heart is full, and I end this with a big smile on my face!