Update on the other SacTown family

Hey all,

Since I've enjoyed reading all the posts on this happenin' site, I thought it high time I contribute as well. Life here in EDH (that's how we locals abbreviate El Dorado Hills) is good. First, I had knee surgery yesterday (Feb. 19th), and it was the first time I had ever been "put under" in my life, so I was a bit nervous--didn't want to be seeing the Big Guy prematurely. :) At any rate, the surgery went fine and I'm at home just rehabbing. I want to thank everyone for the flowers and well wishes (oh, that's right, I didn't get any.) I'm just teasing--I guess in order to receive those wonderful things I'd have to actually communicate to the family.

Ethan has had some good weeks and some bad ones. We work with a doctor in Florida who is probably one of the top 5 autism docs in the country. He has a son with autism, so he can relate well. Over the past month or so, we had to draw Ethan's blood three times (yep, my fun meter's broken) and send in stool/urine samples to run a combined 20 tests or so to figure out what Ethan has. So, after getting most of the results back, it basically boils down to Ethan having Inflamed Bowel Disease, which is pretty severe. So, we are constantly trying to tweak his medication to deal with yeast and bacteria in his gut. When things are good, he poops normally and doesn't have self-injurious behaviors (known as 'SIBs' in the autism community). When his system is out of whack, he's either constipated or has diarrhea and he beats on himself. This week he's actually doing well. So, we talked to his doctor today who is recommending we try a procedure called TSO. In a nutshell, it's having Ethan ingest parasites into his gut so that the microorganisms can clean him out. We'll be getting the stuff from Thailand (and they say nothing good comes from Thailand), so that should be fun. Go to www.ovamed.org should you want to know more. I'll include a piece of the doc's email to us at the end of this post. Lisa's mom has Crohn's disease, so some of Ethan's stuff is probably hereditary as well. All in all, we sure appreciate the prayers on our behalf.

Love, Grant

Here's the snipet from our doctor:

Trichuris suis ova therapy: (TSO) Over the last decade several research teams have uncovered a possible explanation for the dramatic rise in autoimmune disease and allergy that has occurred in industrialized countries. Many diseases such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, insulin-dependent (Type 1) diabetes and asthma became much more prevalent during the last half of the twentieth century (1). The increase in prevalence for these diseases occurred in conjunction with increases in standard of living and hygienic conditions. These types of immune-mediated diseases remain rare in less developed tropical countries. It is clear that a change in our environment has promoted development of immune-mediated disease. Many changes in our environment have occurred. One of the most significant, from an immunologic standpoint, is the eradication of exposure to helminthic parasites (2). These complex organisms have far-reaching effects on the immune system that could prevent development or inhibit expression of autoimmune disease (3).

So, even though we've got MonaVie cranking, I think I'm going to start peddling "helminthic parasites." Join me in the revolution!!! :)