Friday, September 28, 2007

Loving the Autism Diva

This woman is SO on my blog roll! (Some of you may know that my oldest son is on the autistic spectrum - so this is always something we're looking to learn more about.)

Anyway, here's a bit of the Diva's take on the recent hullaballoo over Jenny McCarthy's possibly "cured" autistic son:

Evan went from being a 2-year old (diagnosed) autistic boy (with seizures)to a 5 year old autistic boy apparently still on meds to prevent seizures, in 3 years. This is supposed to be an amazing thing. It's not. Not unless we are to believe that all autistic children stagnate at their two year old level and can never learn anything or develop skills beyond that. Jenny doesn't attribute his
development to, uh, development, but to her magical mystery cures that she got by way of quack dox and quackery promoting autism websites which of course, she discovered by doing "Google research." Oh, but she's a heroine for saving her son, from... what? From being a 2-year old, low functioning, psychic with a few too many autistic traits? Jenny seems to have a hard time keeping her story straight.


This woman is FIERCE and FEARLESS. I love it!!

All of us asthma/autism moms have tried something crazy at some point - the smartest women I know give their kids fish oils, have them on gluten-free diets, have given chelation a shot...I have hand the Autism Diva the feather boa for being the voice of reason in this clearly insane world of parenting special-needs kids.



Stay tuned for a rant on RSV awareness...!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Oz - a little better

Oz is a little better today -- just doesn't seem as...sick. Still whiney, still *definitely* has a cold, but seems improved overall.

Called the PP's office and spoke to the nurse-practioner, who I love. But sometimes I feel like they believe I'm such an "old pro" that it's just not helpful. "There's a virus, low-grade fever, dry cough or really chesty, congested cough. Some kids it lasts 2-3 days, other kids are sick for up to 10 days. You know what you're doing though...just keep up the Xopenex. If he's not coughing a lot, you can drop it down to 1-3 times a day. You'll be fine"

Is that REALLY helpful? And TEN DAYS? Are you freaking kidding me? Ugh.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Up with Oz

I've got a feverish, wheezing little Oz at my side as I type. Poor guy. We'll be at the peds tomorrow morning for sure. :-(

Some quick updates -- if I haven't posted in a while, there are two good reasons. First, we were on vacation the last week in August. Second, B's started Kindergarten at the elementary school, and I am/we are all adjusting to the new routine.

By new routine, I'm referring to getting up at 5:45 AM, getting myself ready for work, getting B ready for school, Oz and Ig ready for daycare and getting everyone out the door by 7:40 every day. Then it's two drop-offs before work, a full day of marketing for four companies, two pickups, dinner (at the table, with everyone) baths, making lunch, and then maybe, if I'm lucky, 30 minutes on the treadmill before washing or folding laundry and going to bed.

Aren't you SO jealous of me???

As for that vacation, let's just say it was everyone ELSE'S vacation, because for me, it was just like every other day, only touger. We rented a cottage on a lake in northern Ontario. My husband found it online, and failed to notice that a) it had steps (and we had no gate) and b) the walk down to the lake was pretty steep!

Ig was a bear....I was carrying him around every second, pretty much. Between the steps everywhere and his seemingly unthwartable desire to walk into the *middle* of the lake, it didn't seem safe to put him down! He didn't sleep well, and when he finally went down for a nap every day, I took a well-needed break by running 2 miles down a secluded dirt road. Believe me, it was my only alternative to running into the woods and screaming!!! I love that baby, but MAN was he tough.

In his defense, it turned out he had Fifth Disease (Parvo virus) but honestly, I still think I had it rougher than he did!

One more thing about that cottage -- every square inch was either carpeted or upholstered. EVERYONE was coughing. B develped a phlegm-y, resonant cough before we left for vacation, and it only got worse while we were there. It didn't go away for weeks, and we finally had to put him on Singular again. :-( Anyway, at least he's still off the Flovent, right?

Anyway, enough feeling sorry for myself -- back to poor Ozzy. He needs some snuggles, and isn't that what moms are for?