Thursday afternoon, we will be making our way to the Cleveland Clinic, once again.  This is a very, very important appointment. At least I think it is. We will meet with her new endocrinologist and hopefully begin the process of safely addressing what she has going on.  Bye the way, at the time I spoke about this last, I couldn't remember what they were calling this whole thing with her.  Turns out it's called premature ovarian failure. Basically, it's when her ovaries begin to fail.  They will stop working, as though she's in menopause but can start right back up again and work just fine.   The reason this is a big deal is because when they stop working, as they have currently and for who knows how long now,…

Tuesday's teacher note reflects that Gavin had a pretty good day.  He apparently didn't fall asleep during class today and that's a great accomplishment for him.  Behaviorally there was nothing noted and that's a largely positive thing as well.  :-) Good job Gavin.  This site is managed via WordPress for Android, courtesy of the @SamsungMobileUS Galaxy Note 2 by @Tmobile. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Check out my #Autism Awareness Store to find really cool and unique #Autism Awareness Clothing and Accessories, designed by me. ;-) For more ways to help the Lost and Tired family, please visit Help the Lost and Tired Family.

I mentioned earlier that I met with Gavin's immunologic,  Dr. Wasserbauer (Akron Children's Hospital) while at Gavin's IVIG infusion. As the title states, this was a good news/bad news/scary news type conversation.  Two and a half years ago, when Gavin's immunological problems came to light, the very first concern was that Gavin had something called Ataxia-telangiectasia. This explained the immunological and neurological dysfunction.  It's the only thing that has ever tied just about everything together, in a nice, neat, scarier than all hell little bow. At the time, initial tests indicated that thankfully, we weren't dealing with that terminal condition.  However, over the last two and a half years, Gavin's condition, whatever it is, has continued to progress.  His immune system is more and more compromised, with additional immunoglobulins being…

Welcome once again to the #Autism Blogroll for 2013 I've brought back my #Autism Blogroll for 2013 and we are starting fresh. If you added your link in the past, you should do so again. Every year I have to purge the database because there are simply too many links. So it's time to add your link back. Read below for more information.  Remember, this is open to any person, organization or business that has anything to do with #Autism, Special Needs Parenting in general or someone just wanting to help me spread Autism Awareness and my family's story.. If you are a resource or company that provides products that benefit the special needs community, you're encouraged to add your link as well. I like helping people, especially those touched…

Thanks to the amazing work of Akron Children's Hospital, Gavin's made it through another IVIG infusion, successfully.  Things got a bit dicey a few times but nothing came of it.  He actually fell asleep, which is unheard of for him. Our nurse said that he fell asleep once before but I wasn't there that time. Overall, Gavin tolerated the infusion and increased dosage pretty well.  He is experiencing side effects for the first time is as long as I can remember.  He has a headache and the chills but these are pretty typical for kids on IVIG.  Perhaps it was the increased dose that lead to the return of these side effects but they aren't anything to be concerned about. At one point, Garvin began sweating and the back of…

Gavin is currently being infused with IVIG as I write this.  Today's dosage increase takes us to 25mg and a slightly longer infusion time then previously. Gavin's doing really well and seems to be tolerating things also.  The only problem we've encountered, aside from traffic this morning on the way up, is video games.  Gavin, on a few occasions, got so worked up over the game he was playing, that his heart rate shot up to almost 180/bpm. He began shaking and then his heart rate dropped to 70/bpm. We put the games down and laid very still and relaxed.  Thankfully, he balanced out and nothing happened.  It could have easily gone another direction, as it has before.  Gavin didn't resist taking a break and I think that made a…

For starters, yes, I know vital'd isn't a word but I like it anyway and it fit the title.  :-) The process of getting here today was not without its bumps. For starters, Gavin had fast food for breakfast and that combined with the stop and go traffic on the way to the Hospital is not a good thing.  Lizze suggested using a red light, yellow light and green light for Gavin to convey how he's feeling.  Great idea because Gavin struggles with expressing or articulating things like that normally.  If I ask Gavin how he's feeling, he says green light  if he's feel fine, yellow light  if he's starting to feel sick and red light if he's feeling really bad.  Keeping it simple like this really makes communication much…

In a little while, I'll be taking Gavin to Akron Children's Hospital for his monthly IVIG infusion. This month, his dose is going to be bumped to 25mg (I believe).  It's actually going higher than that but we have to do it slowly over the next couple of infusions due to the strain it will put in his body.  I suspect that today's infusion will also take more time and we will exceed the 4 to 5 hour mark.  It's going to be long day for all involved.  If we can get through this without an autonomic crisis, we will be putting a check mark in the win column for the day. This site is managed via WordPress for Android, courtesy of the @SamsungMobileUS Galaxy Note 2 by @Tmobile. Please…