the story on sammi's ears

Many people have asked me about Sammi's ears--did we get the tubes? Has she had ear infections? I've been meaning to post this story for quite some time, and finally have some photos to go with it, so here it goes!

Two different things were going on in the Brand family last winter and they came together this summer. Dan has had bad back problems over the last 5-6 years, so started seeing a chiropractor. The chiropractor that was referred to us has a very holistic approach to health and wellness. Doesn't believe in drugs, immunizations, surgery, hospitals, or doctors except for accidental emergencies (eg a car wreck cut an arm off, etc.). Although this is not how we feel about medicine, Dan needed to get his back fixed, so we went to get a consultation.

The team at the chiropractor's office explained to us, in detail, how the body works. Based on their theory, if your spine is aligned, then your nerves are aligned, then your body reads illness properly, and fixes itself without medicine. It made sense. But not enough sense to us to put all three of us (me, Dan, Sam) on a program with them to come in 3 X a week over the following few months, for thousands of dollars. It didn't seem like a scam, it just seemed like more than we needed. We just wanted Dan's back to get fixed. Here's what happened:

Dan joined the program and Sam and I declined. Over the next few months, while Dan made his visits to the chiropractor over and over, Sammi got the flu twice, two viral infections, multiple sinus infections, pnemonia, strep throat three times, and 7 ear infections over three months. I got at least half of those too, in addition to mono. Dan never got sick. Not once. Not even a cold.

About this time we, along with our pediatrician (who we love!), decided it was time to see the ear specialist and talk tubes for Sammi. While I tried to get answers from our insurance company on the cost of doing this (which was amounting to about $3,000 because remember--we are self-employed and pay an arm and leg for mediocre insurance), Dan mentioned to Dr. Brean (the chiro) that we were scheduling Sam's surgery. Dr. Brean was adamant that if Samantha came in to have her spine aligned on a regular basis, she would not have all of these infections. She was so passionate about it that she offered to treat Samantha for free for 6 weeks, just to test her theory. We decided to save the $3,000 for a few weeks and try it. Why not?!?! We could always reschedule the surgery.

Since Samantha started her chiropractor treatments, she has not had a single ear infection. She had one sinus infection this summer and no other illness, at all. We've continued her treatments past the initial free six weeks and I have started going too! It's expensive for us (of course, our insurance will not cover any of it), but there is NOTHING more important than our health and it's worth it!

Samantha doesn't mind being at the office, but she hates, and I mean HATES having her neck whipped around and back adjusted. We don't have any photos of her getting adjusted because we have to both hold her down!!!!! We are all down to maintenance of going once every 2 weeks. I do have a fear that part of the reason she's been healthy is because it's also been summer, so I'm sort of dreading what this winter might bring, but we'll just see what happens!!!! We are so thankful that she has been healthy, Dan's back has been great, and my treatments have helped my pain through my pregnancy too!!!

Sammi climbing up onto her fishy table!

It makes Sam nervous to see mommy and daddy get worked on.

She always watches closely. This is me sitting on the pregnancy table. It has a part that opens under my belly so that I can "hang" through it. They have a HUGE pregnancy pillow thing that I can use as soon as the table is not comfortable anymore! How funny!

The saving grace of Sammi's tears after each adjustment...the toy box! She always finds a bracelet to take home when she comes in.

After this trip we stopped at Bub's Burgers in Carmel for some dinner. If you haven't been, you should go!!! They serve "Big Ugly Burgers", which are 1 pound of meat after cooked with a 1 pound homemade bun! (They also have other sizes and healthier choices too!) :)

Dan taught Sammi some games like thumb wrestling while we waited on our food.

Sammi enjoyed her first lemonade.

And of course, some fries...her favorite!