I honestly never thought there would be a day that this blog wouldn’t be the only blog I’d ever want and need. I’ve always poured my heart and our life and days into it along with my business. I’ve never regretted that, not once. I am who I am and I’ve been blessed immensely by blogging. I’ve met wonderful people, made lifelong friends, laughed, cried, documented, shared, and carved out my little space of the web for the sake of my children, my husband and myself. Why? So that we can remember.
And then Teagan got sick. And our days were painful and long and we were in crisis mode. And I couldn’t blog about it. I hated that I couldn’t, but I couldn’t. I refused to share him then, I wanted to protect him. I wanted to protect myself from saying he was doing a little better only to have to explain it and say he wasn’t again. It was a matter of self preservation. After almost 4 months, we are finally able to breath again. We’ve thought a lot about what we would share or even if we would, how to share it, what to say, the legal aspects we needed to consider. And it came down to this: our son was saved by a blog reader. Her name is Marti and she not only set us on a path to healing, she traveled that journey with us. She held our hands, she helped heal him. She made him physically stronger than he’s ever been, she’s an OT and worked with him for months. Many times late at night, trying to find a way to squeeze in one more OT session, one more hour with him because just maybe it would help. But she didn’t stop there, she hunted with us for the right doctors, she showed up to appointments to stomp her feet along side with us, she helped us with supplements and natural healing, I like to call her his personal advocate. Her husband calls her the bulldog because she doesn’t give up. Thank God for that. Without her, without blogging, we’d be in a dark place. How do you thank someone for saving your child? Saying it certainly isn’t enough. We do say it. A lot. But what else can we do? We pay it forward and use our voice.
Jason and I put a lot of thought into how to share and what to share. We have decided to start another blog and blog together. Whoa, I know right, blogging with my husband, it makes me a little nervous and excited to drag him into the blogging world because it’s always been *my* thing around here. But he’s totally into it and I can’t wait. It may not make a lot of sense as to why we need another blog and why we can’t just tell the story of what happened here and then move on and go back to our normal lives. Or why we even need to tell the story at all. And that’s the thing, we have a new normal, our lives are forever changed in many ways. We have already written about what happened to him and his diagnosis. We’ve been thrust, somewhat unwillingly, into drastic changes in finding a healthier, less toxic, way of life from everything to the food we eat, how we cook it, supplements we take, how we clean our home, reducing environmental toxins around us like VOC’s and pesticides. It is overwhelming every single day. But we are making improvements, we are tackling them one by one. Again, why not just do that here? Because there are other moms and dads out there who are going through what we went through with Teagan. They are desperately searching for answers, yet nothing fits. They are googling symptoms and nothing fits. I don’t want that lost here in stories of how Taryn fell asleep in a shopping cart, a 10 on Tuesday and the latest cutie I’ve photographed. It needs a home of its own. Will Teagan’s old pediatricians read it? Yes, I’m sure they will. I hope they do. I hope they read every last word and visualize what Teagan went through. While we do not write specifically about them and what they did, they know his history. I hope they take it and educate themselves on what they missed so it never happens to another child in their practice again. I hope they look themselves in the mirror and know they had a hand in his suffering and I hope they ask God for forgiveness for the mistakes they made over the last 2.5 years to enable them to experience personal and professional growth. Will we be judged by others, family, friends, clients, for our choices? Sure. Will people decide not to hire me as their photographer because we combine natural and traditional medicine choices into our lives? I don’t know, maybe, probably. I’m ok with that, I am who I am and I won’t apologize for that. I earned this place where I’m standing right now and I’m proud of it, it wasn’t an easy road to get to. Will people judge us that we can no longer vaccinate Teagan? I’m sure of it. Those things are bound to happen. They hurt, we’ve experienced it already, but this is where we are, this is the path God has chosen for us. I’ve asked God many times over the last four months, what do you want us to do with this?
This is where we landed, Jason and I blogging together, coming out from the other side of healing our son, finding our new normal.
Awesome! People who judge need to remember…no one walks in “Your” shoes, to know the pain you are dealing with and answers you are struggling to find. Traditional medicine has failed many people and helped many as well…but it is NOT the end all be all. Good luck on this journey to finding your new normal:)
Your stories and experiences will undoubtedly help others. Be certain of that! This is a great gift to other families and children suffering and looking for answers. If there is one thing I’ve learned as a parent it’s that you have to leave others opinions behind you and do what is best for your child. Each child/person in this world is different. Not all can be treated in one way. As a parent, you do what you feel is best, and give with your whole self to protect and raise your child. Kudos to you both for being incredible parents and saving your child!
I love you guys. That is all. 🙂
I am so proud of you guys for asking God “what can we do with this”. So many times we miss the point of what is happening to us. We ask God WHY, not WHAT!! We forget to praise God in all we do. We forget that God allows these things to happen so we can DO something with that. Good for you for sharing something so painful, hard to accept as it may be, but you were chosen for this task. God is with you. You are not alone. We will be praying for you.
You are AMAZING!
I’m with MMT. Love you guys- all of you. You are amazing. Inspiring. Strong, thoughtful, and determined. I have such respect for you and the way you have handled this situation. The new blog is a wonderful thing- thank you for sharing your story.
You are such an inspiration and I just have to thank you for being so open. No one could expect you to share the way you do, but your heart is in the absolute best of places. Praying for you guys.
I am so glad to read that Teagan is on the road to wellness. I have such respect and admiration for you and your husband in taking this horrific experience and sharing your story and essentially giving other parents who are seeing the same symptoms in their child an option. Information, questions, options. As parents we must always seek answers, ask uncomfortable questions and demand options. Thank you.
You are amazing! And this new blog is also amazing. Maxim also suffered such a problem as T. and we were also lucky he receovered and we found him back. He’s 9 now and still have a gew “physical” issues (= tics) but these are so mild that no one would ever really notice. He has a normal life and that’s all that counts.
I will be reading avidly all your posts.. Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing your story. It takes courage and I agree with all of your reasons for putting yourselves out there. Best wishes for continuing recovery for your little guy. I look forward to reading about his progress.
I am so glad to hear that Teagan is doing better. I totally understand why you would start a separate blog, it will be helpful to other parents who may be going trough the same thing and if not it will help us learn something so that if those symptoms ever arise we can do like Marti and refer them to your blog and to the right information and hopefully help someone as she has your family. I will be reading and educating myself, as someone who works in the medical field of children I am always reading to learn for myself as I work in the Peds Cardiac department, but you never know who you can help. I would never judge a parent as they know their child best and every situation is different. As a parent I would do whatever it took to get my child better without caring at what others may say or think family or friends. You go Lyndsay and be the best advocate for your little one in my book you are an awesome Mom!
Your entire story has helped more people than you know! You’ve opened my eyes to many things that have made me reevaluate what’s truly important in my own life and the way that I parent. I believe and hope that those who follow and read your blog do so becuase they love the “individual” that you are.
Thank you so much for putting yourself out there and sharing what’s going on. I’m so thrilled for the progress that Teagan is making and so thankful you are finding answers.
I’m also thankful that you are shedding some light on the vaccination thing. There have been times over the years that people have figured out we don’t use vaccines either (and for medical reasons) and we are judged so strongly for that. I really don’t understand, but it hurts. I’m making the best decisions that I know to keep my children safe and I certainly do not judge others for their decision to use vaccines. Everyone needs to make the choice that is correct for their family.
Anyway, sorry to ramble, but just want you to know how thankful that you are willing to share your story.
I’m just so happy and relieved for Teagan, you and your family.
I love your candor and honesty. Wishing you so many blessings and healing power.