April is coming...

Last year I set a goal to get to 5000 page views during April, because it was Autism Awareness month and managed to post almost every day.  I'm not sure that i'll have the time to post every single day this coming month, but i'm going to try.  And this year, its not about awareness, its about action.


In other news, we are going to do the Alpine walk again this year.  I am pleased to let all my other autism moms know that it is not on a high school track going round and round in circles.  It is actually outdoors, along a creek, up one side and then back down the other.  So there's not as much irony to this walk as there is to many others

You'll find a link to the walk fundraiser over in the sidebar.   They do good things.  If you can, we really appreciate you supporting Team Dominic.  Better yet, if you are local, come down and walk with us.   Its fun!

I love our Doctor.

We made a "well child" appointment for Dominic today, mostly so that our fam prac could see Dominic in a healthy state and so we could have a conversation about whats going on nationally with Autistic kids when they get sick enough to need hospitals.

Dominic's growing like a weed. He's 51 inches tall and 61lbs.  She was thrilled as that means he's absorbing his nutrients again.  She commented on overall how healthy he looks (shiny hair, soft skin), how well he was behaving (and oh he did SOOO well. They were running behind and we waiting quite a while for this office. He sat in a chair and played with his ipad the ENTIRE time we were in the waiting room, and then again in the exam room with minimal messing around).

Then we had The Conversation.   The gist is this - she will back us on medical requirements if there is ever any need for Dominic to be hospitalized.  We will call her if there are ANY issues getting him any required treatments.  She has in her hands a copy of the National Autism Associations document on medical comorbidities with Autism.  She has committed to share it with her colleagues (she's part of a physicians group in town affiliated with one of the major hospitals).  She was very nearly in tears as I told her about Alex's treatment by Loyola.  And I told her about Elizabeth Wray in Boston Childrens as well - where the hospital succeeded in removing custody from the parents so they could treat her PANS with psych meds instead of antibiotics.  Last fall. And shes still there.  And there are others...

But the tide will turn, because of doc's like ours.

I shouldnt' laugh...

But this is really funny - watching Dominic's personality emerge is so cool

Backstory bits -

Dominic always has a handful of small toys in his backpack that school can let him fidgit on / put in his pocket / etc.  No big deal.

Dominic has been obsession lately over this stupid rooster thing that when you slap against something hard, it crows.  Loudly.  Its much larger than the fidgets.

~~~

I got an email to call Dominic's teacher today, so I did.  At the end of our conversation about something else, she mentioned that we needed to talk about his toys.  Specifically the rooster.  I was thinking it was a little tiny handsized one.  And then she talked about the noise.  I'm mortified, but somehow he managed to put it in his pocket and take it to school.  Twice this week.

On Tuesday apparently he realized he could get it to crow just by pushing his pocket.  The entire classroom apparently was doing the whole swivel head thing trying to figure out what was randomly crowing.  Dominic was also looking for the source of the crowing with his class. Eventually someone saw him push on his pocket and asked him if he was making that noise.  And he said "yep".  I should not find this hysterical, but i do.

Anyway, the chicken has met an early demise. (and i'm not sad about it, its been driving me nuts for a week at home). And now we will be pocket checking for noisy toys before he gets on the bus.

1 in 50

There is absolutely NOTHING to worry about. How many times do we have to tell you?
Signed, the authors of the autism epidemic.
(Who might they be you ask? Well...who is telling you not to worry? There's your answer.)

I hope Dominic never needs to be hospitalized

Not just because I hope he’s never sick enough to require it…  

 But because of http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/03/day-19-loyola-chicago-hospital-locks-down-autistic-patient.html

 And http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/03/alex-spourdalakis-loyola-medical-center-ineptitude.html

 And http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/03/day-22-autism-agony-at-loyola-u-medical-center-.html

 

This poor woman has done everything by the rules.  And her boy has been hospitalized now 22 days, in excruciating pain.  Pain that he reacts to like all our kids – with behaviors, -  self injurious, self stimulatory, and lashing out.    He was in 4 point restraints for  the first19 days.   It took Fox News doing a story on it to get the restraints lifted.   22 days of pain, and the hospital still has not done any sort of  diagnostic testing.  Because, you know, he has autism.  And autism is a “mental illness”.  So they are giving him psych meds.  Because if they “heal the brain” then his body will be fine.   And today, his mother was told to either agree to all points of the hospital’s care plan or she will lose custody of her child to DCFS.

 Great comment over on Age of Autism about this very issue.

 “Here we see the catastrophic future of our children - created by modern medicine, and well beyond its capacity to deal with. If it hasn't happened to us or them yet it, it assuredly will. This is the future a greedy industry and sycophantic crony government officials have created for us and our children - the complete failure of human institutions.”

 

If anyone had any doubts left about why I don’t trust Medical Doctors, you can stop wondering now.

 Here’s a list of known medical comorbidities with ASD.  Those things that when treated medically… improve behaviors:

http://nationalautismassociation.org/pdf/MedicalComorbiditiesinASD2013.pdf

Choppers!

Or lack thereof.

The Dental surgery went really well on Wednesday. No negative reactions to propofol / sevoflourine combo. The anesthesiologist was fabulous.

Here's his new grin.  Odds are it will be a long time before the new teeth drop in.

yes, yes he did.

He got the peacock at the zoo to eat the chicken food.  (another beautiful warm day, so we hit the Zoo nice and early)