Eli's Spring Break 2010

Just to recap: Last year at this time (Spring) we went to a friends house for a cookout. The older three kids were so excited because that meant it was POOL time!!! Eli was just a little guy and we were excited to give him his first experience swimming.

My husband and I got into the pool and held Eli and watched him splash and play....but within a few minutes we had to get Eli out of the pool. He started to wheeze and cough. We didn't think much of it because he would tend to have asthma issues surface if he got anxious or overly excited but what came next was far from normal.

I got Eli out of the pool and dried him off and got his medication routine ready to go....before I could get his nebulizer set up I noticed Eli's skin was red and he was covered head to toe with hives (literally the size of marbles and getting bigger). His lips, eyes, and ears were swollen and he was having great difficulty breathing. I started his nebulizer but couldn't even finish it because Eli was crying that his skin hurt and was itching terribly. His eyes were almost swollen shut and his lips were almost blistered. I had to give him a shower and he cried because the water hurt just to touch his skin. He looked like someone had poured hot candle wax on him...I was so sad for him that even the everyday pleasure of swimming was going to be an impossible thing for him as well.

Eli's reaction was severe and it took his skin weeks to recover from just a 5-10min exposure to the pool chemicals. He had to be given oral steroids, inhaled steroids, several breathing treatments and to aid in his recovery which took almost 2wks.

Fast forward a year and here we are at Spring Break 2010 and we had planned a weekend trip with the kids to Pigeon Forge, TN. There was a pool and an indoor water park at the hotel where we stayed and we thought we would "test the water" if you will for Eli and see if there had been any change for him. So many things had changed for him over the last six months since starting the shakes and we were hopeful to see a change for him with his reaction to the pool water as well.

We walked into the pool area when we first arrived to the hotel to let the kids see what it looked like and to see if Eli had any breathing issues just from being in the room with all of the chemicals (the strong smell of chlorine used to set him off right away) He seemed to do fine but the real test would be when he took a dip.

The kids were so excited to get in so we went up to our room to change and headed down to the pool for Eli's try at the pool thing again. Eli could hardly wait...as soon as he got the green light he was off into the kiddie pool playing and laughing and splashing!!! We were so hopeful he that he would not have a reaction but were so cautious and I was checking his skin constantly. The other parents probably thought we were freaks because looking at Eli no one would ever know all the health issues he had endured.
We looked like a family of monkeys picking lice off of him. Hahahaha!!
We swam and played in the pool for over THREE hours that first night and ALL Eli got was tired!!!
We couldn't believe that this was the same kid that was so ill after swimming just a year prior.
The only difference....yep, these products. So how can this produt change the outcome and reactions that Eli experienced all of his life???
Well,
Here is how the chiropractor, consultants and doctors have been able to explain it to me anyway.
The products do not treat, cure or prevent any disease or for that matter reactions but what it DOES do is provide the body the nutrition it needs to allow the body to do the work and be the miracle. Our body can do amazing things when it's systems are properly nourished. WOW!!

Eli was so reactive to anything and everything that he ingested, inhaled or touched because his immune system and digestive system was so terribly compromised that he OVER reacted to ever single thing his body didn't know how to handle.
We have high hopes that as the months and years go by that Eli will continue to improve and just keep adding to his list of "new experiences" and this is just yet another reason that we will always be on these products!