They did a number of evaluations on him when he was a little
over a year old. He had delays. It was beginning to confirm my fears, but he
was still so young and we were going to participate in this experimental
intervention, so I had hopes. He would do the intervention, which was someone
coming to the house once a week to work with him, and we would do that for one
year and then he would be evaluated again at two-years old. He began walking
finally at nineteen months. Now, fast forward through the year of therapy and
we come to the summer of 2013 it's one we will never forget.
The summer of 2013 I decided I really wanted to visit my
family in Arizona. Not just a short visit, I wanted to stay for at least three
weeks or more, so I planned to drive across the country with the kids (cheaper
than flying) and stay for the duration of Braden's summer break. We would be
there for a little over three weeks. Jeremy was going to drive out there with
me and stay for a week, but then fly back for work and I would have help from
my sister, Sarah on the drive home (I'm not crazy enough to attempt the drive
by myself). We planned to leave on June 28th and return on July 22nd or 23rd
depending on how long the drive took, so I would be there for most of July. Trust
me, I have learned my lesson and will NEVER visit during the summertime again!
After being gone for almost three years you actually forget how dang HOT 120*
is; it made me appreciate the beauty, and even the humid summer heat when I got
back.
Jackson was scheduled for his second set of evaluations,
which would include a psychologist and the ADOS (the test they do to test
specifically for autism symptoms), at my request, because by this time, I was
fairly sure he was somewhere on the
autism spectrum. I was still holding onto a kernel of hope that he only had
developmental delays, and we would be able to get him some help and he would
"catch up". His evaluations were scheduled for Friday, June 14th, but
he suddenly began running an unexpected fever that week and they didn't want to
do the evaluations when he wasn't "at his best" so they were
cancelled. (This was intervention on God's part. You'll find out why in a
minute.) That same Friday, I got up and my stomach wasn't feeling very well so
I was grateful I didn't have to sit through four hours of evaluations that day.
I had some pain in my upper abdomen. I dropped Braden off at school and by the
time I got home, the pain had doubled, and I was not feeling well at all. Jeremy came home from work and I
was lying on the couch because by then I was feeling nauseous. He had me eat a
little something to see if it would help the nausea, but I immediately threw
up, it made the pain triple and I couldn't get off the bathroom floor. I threw
up a few more times and at that point, I was crying and lying on the bathroom
floor. Jeremy packed Jackson in the car and practically carried me to the car
and we went to the local urgent care. By the time we got to the urgent care, I
was in so much pain that I couldn't walk. The doctor came in to see me and I
was literally shaking from the pain and could barely talk to him. He
immediately told Jeremy that they were not able to give morphine to patients
and there was obviously something very wrong, so they called an ambulance to
take me to the hospital. Anyway, after several hours in the ER, and a CT scan,
they discovered that I had appendicitis, which made no sense to me because most
of my pain was in my UPPER abdomen. I had my gallbladder removed years ago
because of gallstones. They discovered the gallstones when I went in thinking I
had appendicitis because of pain in my LOWER abdomen. My body is just all
messed up like that. So, by ten o'clock on Friday night, my appendix had been
removed and I was in recovery, but I was really worried.
We were supposed to leave for Arizona in two weeks! Jeremy couldn't take the time
off to help me recover. We would need help from someone, but who? Then we had an idea. The kids in Arizona were off
for the summer and we had a niece who was seventeen and would be more than
capable of helping out. We called to see if she would be willing to fly out and
stay with us and then drive back to Arizona with us in two weeks. Thankfully,
she happened to have nothing to do for those two weeks and was willing to come.
We flew her out here to help and thank Heaven
for her! She will be blessed for her service, because there is NO WAY I would
have been able to get ready for the trip, take care of the kids, and all the other
crazy things I end up doing all day without her. She was a champ! I think she
got a little taste of what my life is like, and I think it opened her eyes a
little and she learned a lot about autism and about all the little things our
mom's do for us. She is an amazing young woman and I am so proud to be her
aunt. Her parents have done an amazing job with her, and ALL their kids. I was
grateful to get to see her so much and get to know the young woman she's grown
into. (We had never spent this much time with each other before)
I have many people
to be thankful for during that time. My neighbor, who I called and woke up at
five o'clock in the morning the Sunday after my surgery because I had begun
throwing up uncontrollably, and had to go back to the hospital (my niece
wouldn't be in until Monday). She came over and stayed with the kids while
Jeremy took me back to the hospital. I ended up having to spend another night in the hospital because
they wouldn't let me leave until I could keep something down. (Throwing up
after surgery is the worst…thing…EVER!) I had people from my church
bringing in dinners and taking care of the kids. The mom of one of Braden's
school friends, offered to pick up and drop off Braden from school for the rest
of the year. That was SO awesome of her because I knew Jeremy wouldn't be able
to and I think my niece, though she could drive, wasn't that experienced and I
would be on pain killers so there's no way I would be able to drive him. I was very thankful for her willingness to do
that for me. My point is this, my last post was about compassion and service.
Without the compassionate acts of these wonderful people, I honestly don't know
what we would have done, and it would have put a burden on our shoulders that I
can't imagine trying to bear alone, especially Jeremy. He does so much to help
out already, that I'm sure it would have been more than even he could handle.
June 28th rolled around and we packed three adults, two
children, and all of our luggage into our highlander, and headed for Arizona.
Let me tell you a little bit about traveling with children who have autism. You
MUST HAVE: movies, snacks, little surprise toys as rewards for good behavior, earplugs
and a whole lot of patience. Normally, the drive from Raleigh, NC to Phoenix,
AZ would take a minimum of three days. Mine and Jeremy's philosophy on this
was, do it fast and furious, like ripping off a Band-Aid. We made it in two
days. Yes, the drive sucked, but at least it was comparatively short and my
kids don't do well at hotels. My niece and I gave Jackson the nickname of
"butt-face" because he "slept" between the two of us and
one of us always woke up with his butt in our face. Anyway, it was a great
visit, aside from all the sunburns. The Drive back was about the same. My
sister quickly realized that it was best to…just keep driving…just keep driving
(you get the point, right?).
Braden started school about four days after I got back so I
had to get him ready to start school, meet his new teacher, buy school clothes
and work out transportation. They switched him to yet another school and it was
about eight miles away, so, I bit the bullet and decided to try the
transportation one more time. We also had rescheduled Jackson's evaluations for
the second week in August (about two weeks after we got back). We went through
the four hours of evaluations, and endless questions and testing. At the end of
it the psychologist, speech pathologist, occupational therapist and someone
else, sat us down and gave us the run-down of what they learned. SPEECH: He's
severely delayed and may have apraxia (we'll discuss that later) OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPIST: He has definite sensory processing disorder (SPD) (we already knew
that though.) PSYCHOLOGIST: He qualifies for a diagnosis of Autism. THUD! That
was the sound of my heart dropping. It has become the craziest summer I think
I've EVER had. (below are a few pictures from our visit)
Braden LOVES dogs and cats and especially Grandma's dog Rusty, but Rusty is getting a little old to tolerate so much love anymore.
Stabbed myself in the hand accidentally (I'm a very accident prone person in general). Couldn't feel the tip of my middle finger for at least two months.
The Lone Braden on the drive back from Arizona
Jackson being cute with Grandma's Glasses
Jackson is such a sweet boy, I don't know what we would do without him. He truly completes our family.
No comments:
Post a Comment