(HBOT 64 & 65) Our First Double Dive

Since we missed 3 HBOT sessions due to technical problems, we need to make them up by double diving in one day 3 different days. We need to space them out approximately 4 hours. Today we went at 11am and then back at 6pm. Nothing out of the ordinary to notate.

After the second dive, we went to visit friends and we brought chicken and rice for Jonathan to eat there. About 1 hour after he ate, he played really well with the other kids. They played hide and seek, throwing balls, and other games. I gave him his supplements before we left the house in case he fell asleep on the way home.

(HBOT 63) Great Dentist Visit

Kids had their regular dentist visit today. I was so proud of Jonathan. He did really well. He listened carefully, followed directions, answered questions, payed attention and had no sensory problems. He reacted to the sound of one machine because he got scared but not because the sound bothered him. Vanessa had the same reaction.

In the afternoon, we had his Open House at his public school so we could see where his classroom will be and meet his kindergarden teacher. He played with a couple of boys and really liked his new classroom. His teacher seemed very nice. We met with her afterwards to go over some of my concerns (which are basically now gone since Jonathan has improved 200% over the summer in terms of sensory problems and getting overwhelmed easily. She was very nice, and welcomed communication via email. The Special Ed teacher was there and they both made a comment that Jonathan seemed really smart, that one of the best things they noticed is that he is not aggressive and that he was very sweet. I have a good feeling about her. I hope everything goes well. First day is Sept 4.

In the afternoon, he played for a while with his grandfather before we went to the HBOT. He was in a pretty good mood. We had a pretty good dive. No ear problems again. We watched a movie he wanted. He was hungry though. Most kids that go in at 6pm already had their dinners. Most Moms don't work. Big difference.

(HBOT 62) Ears no Longer Hurt

Jonathan was very tired this morning. We woke him up 10 minutes before leaving the house. We were running late and I didn't have his supplements ready, so he skipped the morning supplements today except the RNAs and the CLO.

In the afternoon, when he arrived at the church with my dad, he was asleep. He could not wake up. I wonder why he is so tired.

He did great during the dive down. He is now able to pop his ears without having me put my hands on this ears or cover his face. He is not in pain.

The other thing that I noticed was he has learned to read non-verbal expressions. He was trying to talk to me while I was on the phone. I wasn't answering. He kept saying "excuse mommy", and since I was driving, I put out my hand trying to tell him to wait, and he said "oh no!, wait? ok". That was very good. Then, as we were getting close to the house he said "mommy, we are almost home and you are still talking too much on the phone". That was really cute. When we got home, and I hung up the phone, he came and said "now, can I tell you now?"

He wanted scrambled eggs tonight. He and Vanessa got all excited and wanted to break the eggs and beat them. Really cute. Jonathan had a hard time breaking the egg. I helped him. Vanessa did it all by herself and she was really proud of herself.

(HBOT 61) Craving Carbs

Jonathan is craving carbs, particularly spaghetti. I have been giving him gluten free pasta. I found one at Trader's Joe that is really tasty and he likes it very much. I am trying to slowly go back to GF/CF so I can keep his odd behaviors down as much as possible when he starts kindergarden next week. I have not found a good alternative for Parmesan cheese. And he eats exaggerated amounts of it with his pasta.

He had a meltdown because we ran out of Parmesan cheese. And he did not calm down until I told him that I would call daddy and tell him to get Parmesan cheese.

(HBOT 60) Less Intense Today

Yesterday I decided to have a completely gluten-free day for Jonathan. Both gluten free and casein free. I cooked for him all day. This morning, I made an infraction because we were running late for the HBOT. However, on the way to the HBOT I noticed how calmed he was. He was watching the same video that he did the night before, but he was singing softly and he was talking to me and telling me what was going on. No screaming or strange sounds came out of his mouth. During the dive, he did great. Did not make strange sounds. Spoke well and overall had a good behavior. When we left the HBOT I noticed that he started to get a bit anxious and figity. I stopped by Trader's Joe and got gluten free pasta for him. The rest of the day was all gluten free. He did had Parmesan cheese, so some casein. In the afternoon he was a bit more intense than in the morning, but overall it was much less intense than the past few weeks.

This week will be impossible to be GF/CF because at daycare they rather feed him their food. But he starts full-day kindergarden next week and I have to pack his lunch and snack. So I will give him just GF/CF foods and that should help him concentrate and behave better in class.

I know he still has intolerance to gluten and casein. I don't know how bad it might be because his immunoscience's lab shows no IgG reaction. And his reactions are not as marked as 2 years ago. But I know he still has it. So I emailed his DAN! Dr. and requested an IgG Food panel test.

We stayed home again as Daddy was not completely recovered from his strep throat. Jonathan spent a large portion playing with Abuita. Reading books, playing games. Later, he and I went on a bike ride. I am concerned that his posture is not very good. He no longer has an OT therapist because insurance stopped covering it. I am not a very good teacher. I tried to show him how to balance, but I couldn't. I need to find a different OT therapist. This need to be corrected. He is leaning on his left side and letting his training wheels balance him. He is afraid of riding on just the front and back wheels.

After that, we came home and he helped me do laundry

Great helper!

In the evening, we all had dinner and he and Vanessa started playing. They are terrible. They make a horrible mess with the toys and when I tell them to put them away, they ignore me. I need to really work on that. Jonathan comes and tells me "mommy, this is a mess. We have to clean it up" but then he starts playing with other things and stops. Shame on him :)

I took this video right before we went to bed of them playing very nicely with the scooter.

(HBOT 59) Fun Inside the House

Today we stayed home all day. It was very hot (107 degrees and humid) and Daddy got sick (strep throat). So we did all kinds of fun activities.

Today's HBOT dive was good. He has gotten much better are popping his ears and I don't have to cover them anymore. Jonathan was really silly in the chamber today. I don't know if it has something to do with diving deeper this past week.

At home, I didn't let Jonathan play with any electronic toys all day. He got to play with playstation for less than 30 minutes before he went to bed. Other than that, I got him involved in many house activities: baking, cleaning, bathing the dog. We later attempted to do some finger paint that turned into body pain. Very cute but messy.

Enjoy the pictures.

We were baking gluten free cupcakes. Jonathan and I were still wearing our HBOT uniforms. The kids were standing on a 2-step ladder. Vanessa helped me mix all the ingredients. Jonathan and Vanessa both held the electronic beater (they were very proud of themselves) and then Jonathan helped me put the mix into the cupcake baking tray. They ate 2 each after they were done. We had a really fun time mixing the ingredients.

We were getting ready to bathe the dog (Kaiser). Jonathan and Vanessa were avoiding Daddy because he was spraying water all over them. Later Jonathan took the hose and started going after Kaiser and Vanessa. I bathed the dog and they helped me. We didn't get pictures of them bathing Kaiser but it was very entertaining.

Jonathan and Vanessa started painting on the paper with their brushes and soon after they decided to paint their arms. Then Jonathan painted his chest and belly. It was fun but messy. Didn't get a picture of the kids after they had painted their arms and Jonathan's belly. Next time.

(HBOT 58) Spanish vs. English

This morning poor Jonathan had a really hard time waking up. But once he did, he was in a pretty good mood. He and Vanessa played a little bit.

When we got in the car to go to the daycare, Jonathan asked me for a movie DVD. Then he turned around and told Vanessa "When you are in the car Vanessa, I turn your DVD on. When you are not in the car, I leave it off". What impressed me about this sentence is that even though his tone of voice is still robotic, he is using language very appropriately. His language is not as "Tarzan" like anymore. Again, small observations but remember that just 5 months ago his school evaluation rated him at 3 in word sentence structure compared to the average which is 10. Now he is using lots of words (more than 5), so I would expect that this evaluation will change dramatically very soon.

He was really cute. Vanessa was holding a big start that had his name. And she pretended to read his name "Jonathan". But she for some reason cannot pronounce the "th". It sounds like a "t". Jonathan corrected her and said "Vanessa, that is my name in Spanish". I asked him to say his name in English and he used the right intonation and pronunciation and said his name (including the "th" sound). Then I asked him to say it in Spanish and he said "Yonatan" with the correct Spanish intonation. I found that really cute. Then, on the way to the daycare I asked him to translate a few words: "apple", "cereal", "milk" and he asked me to translate a few words for him. Then this afternoon, on the way back from the HBOT, he put the Rescuers' Disney movie in Spanish all the way. Cute that he is able to separate the two languages so well. I am not sure at what age they are supposed to be able to intuitively do this; but Jonathan has gradually gotten better at this.

Today's dive was uneventful. He dove again at 1.75 ATA. He was silly but not as bad. During the first 20 minutes or so, he did a lot pretend with a few rubber animals inside the chamber.

We later went to visit our friends and I made the mistake of not feeding him. An hour after we had arrived, he came over to tell me that he was really hungry and wanted to eat something. So we ordered pizza for him because he does not eat what we all like: chips, shrimp, sausages, etc. But he was so hungry that he had no interest in playing with the other kids. When he gained the interest (about 1 hour after he finished), it was time for us to leave.

(HBOT 57) Silly Silly

Jonathan is being very silly today. His laughter is exaggerated. He has been in a good mood, simply very silly.

He had dinner before we went to the chamber and that made a huge difference. We dove at 1.75 ATA again and he did great. We watched a couple of movies and he laughed. Again, his laughter was not appropriate.

At home I gave him a turkey hotdog (very good gluten free, from Trader's Joe) and he had a hard time eating it. He has gotten back to only eating 3 items. At least during kindergarden I can pack his lunch and snack. So I will work on adding different foods on the weekends so I can make his lunch more varied.

Before going to bed, he read a couple of books to Vanessa. He even called me up and told me that he was doing that. Very cute.

Because of the HBOT, we are all going to be really late. The Kindergarden instructions say that the child must sleep at least 11 hours every day. He is only getting about 8.

(HBOT 56) Excellent Self-Sensory Regulation

I felt very proud of Jonathan today. All his interventions were put to test today. His daycare/preschool had a yearly act called "Academy Awards". Each room was to perform an act. There are 5 groups (classrooms). I have to be honest and confess that I was very concerned about it since I received the notification. I had even thought about picking him up early to avoid putting him through an uncomfortable situation. But when I talked to his teacher this morning, she reassured me that Jonathan was doing great and not to worry.

I decided to leave work early to attend the ceremony. Few parents showed up. There are about 100 kids in this school and about 40 parents showed up. But I didn't want my kids to feel that their mom was not there. It was important for me to know that my parents were around when I had special/important things at school and I figured it would be the same for my kids. Vanessa is in one group and Jonathan is in another. But both participated today.

When we arrived (my dad and Abuita also came), we sat down and saw the kids come in. Jonathan looked radiant, happy. As soon as he entered, he looked around for me. And the expression in his face when he saw me was priceless. He gave me a kiss and joined the rest of his group. They all sat down on the floor.

Vanessa when she entered the room

As everyone started to enter the small room, I could see Jonathan come and go out of his world. It is his way of regulating the extra stimulation (kids screaming, loud voices, etc.) He did great. He sucked his thumb then let go and paid attention. Then again he would sit quietly, suck his thumb for another minute or 2 and lift his head again and watch the event. I am proud of him for learning how to deal with that particular disability. That tells me that he will be able to absorb more at Kindergarden than what I originally imagined. He will still need prompting when he zones out, but he knows he needs to come back and he is now doing it on his own more frequently.

Jonathan was very curious and paid attention to all the acts

Each room did their act. Vanessa's room sang "Old McDonald Had a Farm". Vanessa was very shy. She is always shy when she is in the spotlight. Jonathan is not shy at all.


Jonathan's group sang and danced "I like to move it move it". Jonathan was great. He was looking at the teacher to imitate and follow her; he looked happy and he enjoyed singing and dancing. I could just see it in his face.

It is hard to tell, but Jonathan was paying close attention to what the teacher was saying

Look as his hands. He is dancing :) He and Vanessa love to dance, since they were babies

The event only lasted an hour. We left, went home, changed and went to the HBOT. We had a good dive. Again at 1.75 ATA. We have been doing 1.75 for the past 4 or so dives.

(HBOT 55) CDSA Results are Back

Jonathan did not have HBOT on Sunday (out of oxygen) or Monday (day off). He had 2 pretty good days with respect to language. I am concerned that he is not as interested in playing with other kids as he once was, but I am excited that his reasoning is becoming more complex. He is now paraphrasing my comments rather well. I need to start writing these types of comments down in a notebook so I can blog them. For instance, this morning I told him to turn off his machine (his uncle gave him a laptop). He asked him which function to select "shutdown, log off or standby". I told him to put in standby and he said "but mommy, standby is going to use all the battery. It is better if I do shutdown". That was hard to argue with. :)

We started reading to Jonathan and Vanessa at bedtime again last week. We had stopped when I changed jobs. It was almost impossible time-wise. But they have both become very interested in reading. Jonathan likes it very much. He always did, but he is now more into it because he understands what we are reading better. He also can tell us what is going on in the pictures. He understands some of the drama (a car almost hitting a kid that disobeyed her dad, etc). Last January and February, we had to point everything out to him and he was more interested in the words than the pictures. That is somehow changing.

In the mornings, he and Vanessa read a couple of books while I get them ready for daycare. It is really cute to watch them.

Today, when I got to the HBOT, I saw Jonathan and my dad in my dad's car reading a book. My dad told me that Jonathan read "A cat in the Hat" and a couple more books on the way there. He was not interested in his Leapster at all. That was great.

When we got to the trailer, Jenn asked Jonathan what movie he wanted to watch. I thought Jonathan would not understand or hear her because she did not call out his name first and she speaks fast - she was helping another child and she had her back to Jonathan, I was taking Jonathan's shoes off and Jonathan was paying attention to me, and she said "what do you want to watch today Jonathan" very fast; I heard it but I noticed that he didn't raise his head up so I thought I had to prompt him, but he answered immediately that he wanted to pick it. Then he came back down and looked around and asked what each kids' names were. That was curious. We got in and he did pretty well on our way down. His ears bothered a bit, but he was able to pop them today with little trouble. We watched the magic schoolbus. He paid close attention to the themes and we talked about each of them. That was great. That cartoon is very educational. He liked the one about the ants and pointed out the babies and the mommy. His receptive language is getting better every week.

On the chamber, he told me that he wanted to eat pizza. I asked "did you already eat pizza?" and he said "no mommy, I want to eat pizza when we get out". When we got into the car, he asked me if we were going to get pizza and I told him that Daddy was going to cook one that we had at home in the oven. He asked why. I told him that we already had one and it was raining so it was better if we ate the one that we had at home. And he was happy with that answer.

When we got home he asked daddy to show him were the pizza was. It was really cute to see. When I cut it in pieces, he told me that he wanted 3 pieces. I gave them to him and then he asked for a 4th one so he could complete a circle with the edges. That was cute.


He played "I Spy" with Vanessa for a while. Then they played with other toys, pretend food, etc. As they were playing, Scooby-Doo came up and he asked Vanessa which one was the bad witch. I wish I had taped that. He asked a couple of times. Then the witch showed up and Vanessa pointed out to Jonathan which one was the witch. That was really cool.


His expressive language is having trouble. He is trying to speak fast at times and I cannot understand sometimes when he talks. He also has a lot in his mind that he is trying to convey and he cannot put all the sentences in the correct structure. So unless you know what he is trying to say, it is hard to follow. This is happening when he speaks in long sentences (over 10 words or so). When he uses less words, his structure is pretty good, the tense is correct and it is easy to understand. I have called 2 speech therapists because I feel that this is the time to work on speech corrections.

I got his Stool Analysis results today and they show LOTS of yeast. That I saw coming. But then it showed Strep. 2+ only (it used to be 4+), but still it is there again. That explains the obsessive compulsive behaviors that returned, the lack of social interactions with other kids, the mood swings, etc. It also showed a very high IgA marker. His IgA had always been less than 10 and it showed it over 400. I don't know what that means. His gut PH is 6.4, and Yasko likes it over 7.0. So all along I knew his gut problems had returned and this confirms it. I'll wait to finish HBOT to start attacking that. It is hard to do it while oxygen is also working. I collected the stools 3 weeks ago and his stools are much better now. They do not stink half as much and he is becoming more social. So I'll ride it until Sept. 20 and then work on the gut.

(HBOT 54) Biplanes & Hot Air Balloons

Jonathan is getting really smart verbally. This morning he wanted to play playstation and daddy told him that they were leaving very soon to the HBOT and he could play after they returned. That he was changing. Then daddy got distracted with the TV, and Jonathan came to the bathroom and said "mommy, can I play playstation for a little bit because daddy is not changing anymore." I laughed and daddy heard and laughed too. Then he came and said "I'm done Jonathan, let's go" and Jonathan looked at me and smiled. That was really cute. He is starting to draw more complex assumptions verbally based on observations. I know that he could do that before in his non-verbal world. But now that he can articulate better, he knows that this is the best way to negotiate his way into what he wants and he is taking good advantage of it.

We had a pretty cool day today. After the HBOT, we went to an airplane and hot air balloon show. It was a new experience for all of us. When we arrived, Jonathan did not seem very interested. He liked the airplane show but the interest didn't last. Until Daddy asked him if he wanted to get in one and fly and he jumped and said yes. It was a great experience. Daddy said it was amazing. Jonathan covered his ears the majority of the time, but he really liked it. He didn't have any sensory problems. It was just too loud (they were sitting right behind the propellant). Daddy said that Jonathan would yell out loud how much fun he was having. And when they landed, he got out of the airplane, really excited and said "wow, it was just like the Rescuers" (he watched that movie last night and this morning). I am excited that he was able to tolerated the noise, the movement, everything.

One thing to point out is that although he was very engaged today, he did not play with the other kids (other than Vanessa - they played for a bit). Nico and Christian did not interest him at all today. His only distraction were mommy and daddy's phones, his Leapster for a little bit and playing with gravel. At the end of the day, he wanted a toy airplane and he did play with that for a little bit.

It was something new, and his reaction was extremely positive, accepting, he did great with transitions, when he felt overwhelmed, he coped well (either playing with our phones or asking questions). It think it might have been a bit too sunny for his taste. Sometimes I blame Jonathan's behaviors on the wrong situation.

Airplane Show - kids loved it

Jonathan was curious about the speaker but it was too loud for him

Vanessa joined his curiosity

They had a great time together today

BIPLANE RIDE

Jonathan and Daddy went on an airplane ride

Vanessa was scared of the real airplanes, so she got on the small "pretend" one

Hot air balloons were spectaculars. The kids loved to see the balloons take off