Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Let's start at the very begining...


A very good place to start. (how many of you are going to be singing The Sound of Music now?)

How did we get where we are now. I'm speaking health wise, allergy wise. What I'm about to share with you, some of you may not agree with. You may have very strong feelings against. And that's ok. Because that means that I don't agree with you, and that's ok too. I still like you :)

So, what got us started down this road? Vaccinations. Or in our case, choosing not to do them. You read it right. We do not vaccinate. Evie is vaccinated up to three years old. And then Lolly was born and the vaccines stopped. Some of you already know this. Some are not surprised to learn this. Some are shocked. Well, let me tell you how this came about.

I'm going to start by saying that this post is not going to be about trying to get you to see things our way. Neither is this blog. But if I'm going to share the things we've learned, I need to be honest about how we got here.

Lolly was two months old, and ready for her first round of vaccines.Evie, baby Lolly and I were in the car on the way to her doctor appointment. We didn't get to the end of the street and I was overwhelmed with a feeling of distress. In my usual fashion, I tried to figure out what the heck was wrong with me!

"Is it because I'm nervous about Lolly getting her shots? No, I'm not nervous. This is my second baby, I've done this before. Is it b/c we're running late? No, I'm always late. What IS it? The feeling is getting stronger. What is it God? What is wrong with me? (Because, after all, He does know.) What is this about? IS it because of vaccines? Should she not get them today? She does have a lot eczema, I know she has some sort of allergy to dairy for sure. Maybe her little system just isn't ready for this. Is that it God?"

As soon as I asked that I had overwhelming peace. But, being me, I had to go back..

"I can't not vaccinate her! It's dangerous! She could get sick and DIE."

That horrible feeling was back. Stronger. More desperate.

"I can't vaccinate her today. I don't know why, but I can't."

Feeling of peace.

"It's decided, today we are not vaccinating. She can go one time with out vaccinating."

We went to our appointment. Our doctor was fine with that. Said that we could hold off. I went home and started to research. I didn't like at all what I read. At that point choosing not to vaccinate was scary, but morally, I just could not do it. I never knew that some of the vaccines were harvested from aborted fetal tissue. I'm just not "cool" with that. But our decision to not vaccinate actually saved Lolly's little life. You see, she is deathly allergic to MANY of the ingredients in vaccines. Eggs being one of them. I can say, without a doubt, that she would not be here today had I vaccinated her. IF she did survive the shots, she would not be our little Lolly that we know. We've gone on to learn much more about vaccinations and we stand strongly by our choices, morally and medically. That's all I will say about them. I may pass on info that I find as I blog. But I will not try to make you see it "my" way.

When Lolly was about 10 months old, Evie gave her a peanut butter lid. Her fingers swelled up to the size of little hot dogs. We knew then that she had a nut allergy. Next was eggs and dairy. She would get sick immediately. Then came fish and many more. We knew all of her allergies by personal experience. We still hadn't had her tested at that point. But when she was two years old, she got a hold of a nut. She threw up instantly, turned all red. She was slobbering and coughing. You couldn't see a white spot on her eye. We didn't know what to do. Never even thought about 911. She was barely speaking then, she said a few words at most. Through all of her coughing and choking she said "Pink medicine mommy." She had never had an antihistamine, she was too young. But I said to Shawn, should we give her Benedyrl? What color was that Benedryl? Oh, pink.

God has saved her life many times, and that was one of them. She has an epi pen now for her allergies. And do you know what, I wouldn't change a thing about her. Not one single allergy. I don't like that she is in danger, but if it weren't for Lolly's allergies, we wouldn't know the things we now know. God has used her to add years to our lives and other peoples lives. We have food allergies that left unchecked would have ended in disease. I thank my God for her life, and for her firecracker spirit! With out Lolly Sherman, we wouldn't
be on this mission....

7 comments:

  1. Love it! I stand behind you 110% I can't imagine life without Lolly in it!

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  2. my sweet sweet lolly :-) And thank God for people like Barb (Beverly!) that are there to help moms on their journey :-)

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  3. This is great!!! (Well Lolly being allergic isn't great, but the blog is a fantastic idea!) You are not alone with the touch choice to vaccinate or not. Thanks for sharing Lisa!!

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  4. Very well done, Lisa. You have told me Lolly's story before but it is still touching to read and remember the way God saved little Lolly. Good mommy for listening! If you were not so in tune with Him, you would not have cought that but you were and you placed your faith in Him and he has rewarded you very obviously with your beautiful daughter and now, son and as you said health and knowledge for your whole family and others. Thank you for being so open and sharing so that others may choose to read up and make their own educated choices about their children's health. It is still considered a "new" way of thinking, regarding vaccines but, so important to research. We have also recently chosen to back off of vaccines for Addison, despite having vaccinated our other children. We're doing our own research as well before she gets even one.

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  5. thanks for sharing this. i had no idea the extent of her food allergies. you are a great mom! lolly is so cute and i love all the cute sayings that you post too.

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  6. Just wanted to say how amazing you are, and what a truly incredible story God has given Lolly! And you!

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  7. Love your blog so far! We also have FA's & I really struggle with the vaccine issue.

    Looking forward to following your mission!

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