Hope Comes in Pieces Draws Major Endorsement

Dr. Jerry Kertzinel, MD
Co-Author, Healing and Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide

Just finished the book!
I found the book a very compelling read and enjoyed the way you overlapped your personal struggles, struggles with your relationships, struggles with Mia from the get go.  More struggles followed with her health and with the medical profession. Throughout the book, you intertwined your victories in regaining your health, your relationship with your husband, and of course major victories in Mia’s health and recovery!  I found the book very uplifting and will be a gem for other moms with similar struggles! 

Thank you very much for sharing your very personal journey with me!

Dr. J

Dr. Jerry Kartzinel:
- Appeared with both Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live
- Co-wrote Healing and Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide with Jenny McCarthy, a New York Times Best-Seller
- Appeared on CBS This Morning which has 2-3 million viewers within the same target audience

Coming to Amazon in Kindle Format

First Meeting at the Autism Education Conference

A moment just to reflect on what’s coming, to understand and appreciate instead of just prepare…, it hit me this morning, right when I was making another checklist.  Helping Craig, Terra, and Mia Smith bring their family story to print has been eye-opening, encouraging, and emotionally rewarding.  But, I haven’t met any of the people I helped write about.  The upcoming book, Hope Comes in Pieces, came about by referral through someone else I have never met.

Left Frame: Al Hardy - Right Frame: in order from left to right: Craig, Mia, and Terra Smith 

I receive most of my business through Linkedin; only once before has a business relationship that started virtually resulted in a physical meeting and that was incidental.  In 2010, a CEO, based in Chennai, India, had permitted me to use his company’s video to introduce a technology application to hospital personnel.  In Feb 2011, I recognized the CEO from his linkedin photo as he took a front row seat during my presentation an Information Management Conference.

So what’s coming?  First, Terra Smith and her mother will be at the Autism Education Conference, September 25, 2015.  We will meet for the first time after what must be over a hundred hours of phone, text, skype, and email conversations.  This will not be a meet and greet just to say great working with you.  I will be there to documents and support Terra as she:

• finds and talks to experts to help with Mia’s allergen-limited diet
• joins in question and answer sessions with noted and experienced physicians 
• advocates and collaborates through social media
• connects with exhibitors and publishers
• finds Entrepreneurial ways to help pay for Mia’s care

Secondly, the release of a major endorsement for Hope Comes in Pieces is forthcoming.  This is the largest potential exposure I have ever had.  It may be the largest exposure for Terra since her TV commercial for the sitcom Major Dad and pageant ranking when she was a kid.  The endorsement is most significant in the way it is written.  We didn’t tell the endorser anything about the expected feel or reader experience though we were very aware of what we sat out to do.  Honestly, despite having some very good pre-publication reader feedback, despite that the endorsement comes from one of Terra’s existing medical relationships,  I understood what a negative or so-so reply would mean for the project.  Either was absolutely possible.  Thankfully, when we read the endorsement, it reflected our original intent.

Lastly, observing how Terra navigates through the conference will give me valuable insights that I can’t get over the phone, no matter how well I ask questions or listen to inflections or research the subject.  I look forward to it because there are more business initiatives in the works.

Yummy… But I Can’t Have That Either

January 2012, I stood in my kitchen.  I opened my cabinets and refrigerator.  Anything that read gluten in the ingredients list or I thought had gluten in it had to go.  That was cold-turkey with not much planning on what was to follow.

As it turned out, that wasn’t just for Mia’s sake but for mine as well.  My own food allergy panel brought to light dietary limitation.  For example, some traditionally made Italian foods were snatched right off the table… like pasta and bread.

It’s getting close to four years since that decision and, recently, a definite lack of variety settled into my kitchen.  I searched the internet for gluten-free and dairy-free pasta dishes.  The only thing that seemed to come up was pesto.  Basil… yummy…. I can’t have that either. Nor can I have oregano.  I kept searching and found three different recipes that sounded good, but I could not have all of any of them. So, I turned the three into one dish.

For the pesto, I used two bunches of kale, grapeseed oil, three small lemons, frozen garlic with salt and pepper to taste.  That all went into the food processor.  I oven-roasted the chicken with pepper, salt, and garlic.  The pasta was a gluten-free, store-bought mix of quinoa, brown-rice, corn, and white rice.

This meal was for Craig and me.  Mia is not quite there yet.  The look of green “spaghetti sauce” doesn’t go over well with her.  But, as far as Craig was concerned, he liked it.  Good thing too.  Food variety has its limits in this household.  The meal will come around again.

Please be sure to check out Mia’s GoFundMe page,  http://www.gofundme.com/sc29p7xc.  This is no time to breathe a sigh of relief. That will result in Mia's regression, back into sickness and lengthy, high-volume, self-harming tantrums. We have to keep searching, find more pieces to help Mia reach for and aspire to her dreams.

Look Mom, No Stitches

It's Bowling. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? told about how Mia injured her finger.  In her treatment, doctors listened to our concerns and I made key information available to them.  There could be no needles and no stitches based on her documented allergies and conditions.  They were also limited with pain medications as well.  One may think that this would not have made for a good outcome for Mia's healing process.  But, as the picture shows, she is healing well.  Scarring may be barely noticeable.

It's Bowling. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

It’s bowling.  That should be safe.    The bowling alley was ten to fifteen minutes away from our house.   What could possibly happen with bowling?  It’s bowling.

This was Mia’s very first time on a field trip without me.  She had bowled before though she really didn’t show much interest.  This trip was different.  It was therapy for Mia to develop more social skills with other kids.  One therapist accompanied each kid.  I thought that she would actually enjoy bowling this time. 

A friend drove Mia and me to the bowling alley.  We dropped Mia off with the therapist who waited for her.  That went smoothly.  My friend and I came back to the house to work with our Essential Oils businesses.  We were just getting started, laying out inventory when the phone rang.  The therapist told me that Mia fell and cut her finger and that I should come back to the alley.  I grabbed some Band-Aids, Coban self-adhesive wrap, my computer, and few other things Mia likes when she gets hurt.

My friend drove me back.  I heard Mia screaming bloody murder as soon as I walked into the building.  She sat on the therapist’s lap with her middle finger wrapped in big wad of paper towels.  The therapist told me what happened.  Mia picked up a six pound bowling ball.  They asked her to put it back.  She tried but fell while doing so.

Mia's After Initial Treatment

I took off the paper towel, one glance; I knew she needed to go to the hospital.  The ball had landed on of her finger.  The impact of the ball ruptured the flesh on the side of her finger, splitting the side of it into a deep gash.

A trip to the emergency room requires some necessary preparation from us.  I called Craig.  He got the ice pack made with rice from the freezer and compounded medications. He gathered her comfort items as well: her stuffed bear holding his wubby and her own blanket that served as her own wubby.  He met us at the ER.

As soon as we pulled into the hospital’s parking lot, Mia said,  “No”.  She didn’t want anything to do with it.  I got her calmed down.  We went through the normal check-in procedure.  They asked about her allergies.  Upon hearing about them, they changed her location from triage to a treatment room.  I pulled out my computer and emailed Mia’s documents to the charting staff, who added them to Mia’s record.  That made to process simpler.

A couple of residents and a nurse entered the treatment room, but hesitated when confronted with Mia’s many allergies.  They placed a call for the guidance of a more experienced physician and sent Mia to Imaging, which showed no broken or fractured bones.  Then, they addressed how to properly treat Mia without creating other conditions that were much worse than her split finger.  The treatment team considered having a cosmetic surgeon  treat her because it tended to have better options.  By the end of the discussion about her possible reaction to the stitches, Novocain, and metals, the physician decided to let the wound close on its own.  The question became how to best protect it from infection, pain, and more damage.  The staff wrapped her finger with gauze, bandaged it, put a splint on top of that, then wrapped it with more bandages.

At home, we took great care in changing her dressing and replacing the splint.  We are limited with what Mia can use to soothe her pain and itching but she finds relief with the Essential Oils.  She asked for them to be put on her skin or she will go and try to get them herself if went aren’t fast enough.  As you can see in the picture, despite all the limitation and allergies, her wound is healing well.

Mia's Finger Healing
No Stitches, No Novacain 

Dressed and Splinted