Wow, I didn't realize it has been so long since we posted an update.. no wonder so many people are calling to see how Princess Arianna and the rest of the family is doing. Arianna is doing spectacular! I'm not sure if there is any way to express to you how well she is doing, and how much hope we are inspired with. Several weeks ago Arianna was in agony, as were we trying to comfort her and figure out what was going on. Her problems with food and constipation, gas, extreme sweating and seizures was draining her. Now she is calm and relaxed for the most part of the day. She gets upset when her diaper is dirty... but wouldn't we all? She is eating a couple jars of food a day, or portions equivalent to a jar. She is very alert, or aware, of her surroundings, hears everything, and looks toward sounds. Her tone and spasticity are almost nothing, and we can get full range on all of her limbs when she is relaxed or sleeping, and most times when she is awake. She turns her head to follow her eyes in whichever direction she is looking in, and will periodically follow commands if we are aggressive enough. She sleeps and wakes on a regular schedule. The real culprit seemed to be her GI issues before. Now, she is going to the bathroom without any medicine, whereas before she needed Milk of Mag twice a day to do anything. She doesn't cry or scream when she goes like she was before, and doesn't seem to be in any pain trying to do so. She hasn't vomited since... I don't remember, and seems to process everything very well. So what have we been doing differently? Arianna was getting therapy with IMT 4 days a week up until 2 weeks ago when we realized we just weren't gonna be able to travel back and forth like that all week. But those sessions are when we started having these breakthroughs. Linda and Laurie at CenterIMT have worked on Arianna as if she was their own daughter, often keeping her an hour more than the scheduled two hours each day. We learned on day one that Ari's body was still in shock, and so her GI system was still shut down, or in protective mode I think they said. Her pain from the GI issues wasn't allowing her brain to do much of anything, and her adrenal glands were kinda running her body. We learned in the following days, along with the help of Dr John, that she was allergic to Gluten, and especially the formula's that she was on at the time. So Ari is now getting all organic foods, including baby food, and we make her formula from a recipe everyday that includes many nutrients like Vitamin A, Fish oils, Lecithin, Multi Vitamin, Vitamin E, and Protein. She does so very well with this new diet! She actually likes to eat by mouth, but most specifically she loves the organic Apple and Blueberry mixture. We haven't been able to do the chamber since back in July since it is still down. Arianna is still getting the herbal remedies from Dr John, and she still gets her Pt, Ot, and speech. But she is getting those at home now, where Sarah is taking her in Lake Placid. She still keeps her follow ups with GI specialist, Neurologist, and ENT. But the chambers are on hold for now while we figure out what to do about those. What we aren't willing to postpone right now is what CenterIMT is doing for her. Laurie and Linda were gracious enough to offer to cramb all the weeks treatments into one day if we needed, so Friday Ari and I came up to Jax, and Ari was with IMT all day Saturday... 9 hrs. They are still trying to get everything to work like it is supposed in Ari's body, but we had some breakthroughs yesterday. Before we left, Linda was telling Ari to give me her hand and then take it away. She did this for probably five min's, and Ari did it consistently. Then she asked Ari to make a sound when she did it. It took a few min's, but Ari finally made a sound.. a vocalization. It was a purposeful sound made on command... makes my eyes water now typing this.