It was another week of mixed emotions. The little man and I spent two days at the Children’s Hospital, so that he could undergo a re-evaluation with his psychologist. Day one he was completely co-operative. Day two he wasn’t difficult, per se, but extremely distracted. Which was a good thing, actually, as it helped give his doc a more complete picture. In a few weeks the husband and I will go back to meet with her, to discuss her findings, but she did give me a heads up. She’s planning to change his diagnosis from PDD-NOS to PDD. You’d think that losing three characters of the acronym would be a good thing, but it actually means his condition has been upgraded (or downgraded?) to place him more squarely on the autism spectrum. When I broke the news to the husband he paused and simply said “that makes me sad.” Yeah, me too. It only makes me worry more about the little man’s vulnerability, and about his future. But I need to focus on the now. The upside? This change in diagnosis means we have a better shot at getting our health insurance provider to pay for the help the little man so desperately needs - like one-on-one occupational and speech therapy. Keep your fingers crossed.
Also depressing…Jasmine’s condition is steadily deteriorating. Not that I expected anything else, but it’s been awful bearing witness to her decline. At this point she is only able to eat baby food (and yes, it gives me pause, as a vegan, to be purchasing pureed turkey, but it’s no worse than the cat food I’ve been buying for years) and she is no longer going up or downstairs. Instead she is living out the last of her days on the main floor. So I bought another litter box, placing it where she could easily access it. Instead she is relieving herself wherever she happens to be. Thankfully we have hard wood floors. Sigh.
And another thing…I’ve been torturing myself by looking at real estate listings in Minneapolis, though we’re nearly a year away from any sort of move being realistic. We’ve still got a long To Do list of repairs to make to our current house, and we have to straighten out some financial/credit issues. But commuting back and forth daily is driving me crazy. And it’ll only get worse come winter.
Thankfully there have been good moments this week as well. The three of us had a good visit to the Children’s Museum. And the little man and I had a lovely walk to our neighborhood library one day, and went on a riverboat ride down the Mississippi another. And yesterday the husband joined us, for the first time, for the little man’s weekly swimming lesson. It was fantastic. I wish he could come along every week.
6 Comments
Sorry about your kitty. Mine are only 1.5 years old, and I dread the day that I have to say goodbye. I’m sure you’ll love her up as much as possible while she’s still here with you. I’ll be thinking of you.
Thanks Megan. Sadly her condition took a turn for the worse over the weekend. We said goodbye to her today. I am going to miss her like crazy, but I know that I made the right decision.
Hi
So sad about your cat. Something about a furry creature in the house when things are tough. We dread Joker going - we nearly lost him a couple of years ago when he was run over but he bounced back.
Interesting about your son’s diagnosis. PDD as a diagnosis seems much more common in the US - over here they seem to go for ASD more easily (probably because it doesn’t cost them anything extra). My friend’s daughter has a diagnosis of ADHD, hyper-kinetic disoirder, oppositional defiance disorder and ASD. I wanted to make her a T shirt but she will have to grow before I can fit all the words on…
Love the pic of him with the water in the museum - my son loves these sort of places. I thought this pic summed up autism quite well:
http://static.flickr.com/19/22577223_c57646f683.jpg
keep your chin up gal.
Thanks Angharad! Yeah, I’m sure my son would have gottten a diagnosis of ASD right off the bat if we lived elsewhere. But in the U.S. docs seem more into using the most mild diagnosis possible when children are young, then waiting to see if it still fits as they develop. Seems a bit backwards to me, especially as it has severely hindered our ability to get the little man the help he needs. Grrr.
Fabulous pic of your son, btw.
Just between you and me and everyone else, were ASD (or as we call it around here, ass-burgers) a recognized syndrome at the time, I’m quite certain my boyfriend would have been similarly diagnosed. As it was, be was just called a *very* weird kid. And you know what, he’s the only one in his rather large family that turned out worth a damn. All that time he spent in his bedroom drawing turned into a bonna-fide career in art. True story.
On a related note, I’m pretty sure he’s happy, too.
It was months after we’d been dating that I realized almost his entire dialogue was made up of cheezy sci-fi movie quotes and entire passages from the thousands of sci-fi books he inhaled as a rather small child. Watch enouch MST3K, and you can build quite a vocabulary.
I’m just saying that this “disorder” made him the success he is today (with a poster he drew of the new Superman movie about to be seen by 55 million people this Sunday in the USA Today). A “normal” kid would have abandonned the goal of being a comic book artist that he set for himself when he was 5. Thankfully, his Dad never told him be couldn’t be one.
It’s just possible he’ll grow up to be the raging success of your family, too.
If you haven’t read it already, I’d highly recommend “Animals in Translation” by Temple Grandin. It confirmed ideas I’d had for years and gave me alot to think about w/ regards to autism as well as animal behaviour.
You know, Marie, that’s been on my reading list (but I have a bad habit of putting off the non-fiction and going with the escapism instead).
I’m not the only one who already appreciates the little man’s unique perspective, and his creativity (our family and friends, his teachers and classmates, etc.). Like your boyfriend, the key to the little man’s future may very well be tied to his artistic endeavors. It’s just that I worry. One of my first cousins, who lives out of state, is also autistic. He’s in his early forties now and still living at home. My aunt isn’t getting any younger. My cousin is unable to care for himself, and will most likely move into a group home when she passes. I don’t see that in my son’s future, but it gives me pause. I just want what any parent wants - to ensure he has the tools to help him get the most out of life, while also protecting him as much as I am able to.
Awesome about the Superman poster. I’ll be looking out for it tomorrow.
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