Gavin's infusion took almost 6 hours today. Apparently, they are having to do something different now and it's taking significantly more time.  Gavin's heart rate has been elevated all day long.  This is not a result of the infusion because this is not typical for when he's being infused.  While we're on that topic, I spoken with the Cleveland Clinic about Gavin's erratic heart rate as of late. His main doctor was out of town and no one wants to stick their fingers in the pie because he is far to complicated. We have to watch him like a hawk this weekend and document anything that happens and then I should hear from the next week. I suppose I would have liked more definitive answers but I'm comfortable with this…

Emmett has been screaming for most of the morning.  I don't know what's going on with him. This is an ear piercing, blood curdling scream that could literally be used to break people being interrogated at Guantanamo Bay.  If the screaming didn't do it than Emmett could just simply employ his penchant for repeating the exact same question, over and over and over and over again. I don't think it's his diet as this trend began prior to reintroducing milk, egg and lactose. I do think, in fact I know, that his screaming and repeated questions are going to have me driving off a short bridge with a fast car.  I'm trying to preserve my sanity so that I don't spend it all in one place. Having said that,  I…

Something that I struggle with on a daily basis has to do with knowing the difference between their special needs and normal, age appropriate behavior. In my family, this is one of those blurry lined,  very grey areas. This is especially frustrating, when it comes to Gavin and Emmett. They both have behaviors that blur the lines between normal,  age appropriate behavior and behavior that is inherent to there unique special needs.  I thought for today's #Autism Discussion,  we could talk about how to determine the difference between these behavioral types. How do you determine what behavior is what? This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsung’s Galaxy S III. Please forgive any typos. I do know how to spell but auto-correct hate me. Please join our Autism…

Life would be so much easier if Gavin would listen instead of challenging everything we tell him. Much of this is related to reactive attachment disorder.  Having said that, there is also a part of this that is probably normal, almost teenage defiance. The problem is that it's really hard to know where one ends and the other begins.  This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsung’s Galaxy S III. Please forgive any typos. I do know how to spell but auto-correct hate me. Please join our Autism Help Forums Look for "Autism Help" app at the Google Play Store

Gavin had a huge tantrum, shortly after arriving home from school today.  He lost his choice for dinner tonight because we caught him lying to us again. The tantrum began in the dining room and eventually was moved upstairs and into his bedroom.. This was probably the most aggressive to date however, it was short lived. I flat out told him that I knew he was doing this on purpose and that was evident by the many times he stopped to check the time or his heart rate. I told him that if he makes contact with anything other than his mattress or screamed into anything other than his pillow,  he would be having oatmeal for breakfast in the morning. No sooner did I say that,  he stopped, dead in…

I wanted to share something with all of you.  Some of you are already aware but many of my new readers may not be.  My wife suffers from something called Fibromyalgia.  Fibromyalgia is a chronic, invisible but very, very real and debilitating pain disorder.  I'm by no means an expert but I have learned a great deal from having to watch my wife suffer through this, with little or no help. One of the biggest obstacles in treatment, in my opinion, is that many doctors don't believe that Fibromyalgia is real.  In the case of my wife,  when things get so bad that I have to take her to the hospital, she is often times treated as though she is a drug seeker.  The problem is that there are no…