Read more about the article Is Gavin losing his vision or is something else wrong?
Cleveland Clinic / Gavin / My thoughts / Optometry / Pediatric Neurology

Is Gavin losing his vision or is something else wrong?

We have a super long day ahead of us. It begins with early morning bloodwork and getting the kids ready to spend the day at my parents house. While the boys are at my parents house, the rest of us will spending the day at the Cleveland Clinic. Gavin has a long day of testing at the afore mentioned Cleveland Clinic. The purpose of this testing is to rule out and or discover the cause of Gavin's vision problems. For awhile now, Gavin's been experiencing periods of time where his vision goes completely black, like someone turned out the lights. We have been unable to determine the cause of these episodes and our goal for today is to at least rule a few things out. There are two areas of…

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January 2, 2018
Read more about the article Spice Up Your Life With These 3 Easy Tips
My thoughts / Sponsored Post

Spice Up Your Life With These 3 Easy Tips

This is a contributed post. Treat yourself There’s never a bad time to treat yourself, even though it’s good to make sure you’re saving money for emergencies. While doing so, don’t forget to live in the moment and give your current self the satisfaction you deserve. It can be pretty hard to continue with your daily plans when you don’t feel as if you’re getting anything from them, so you need to make sure you constantly feel refreshed and rewarded, as it helps to give you a sense of purpose. Plan a holiday Every now and then, it’s good for you to get away from the same day to day routine, as it can help to relieve stress. It’s bad for your mental health to let everything just build up,…

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January 2, 2018
Read more about the article What it’s like to take 3 kids with #Autism grocery shopping
Autism Parenting Insight / Gallery / My thoughts

What it’s like to take 3 kids with #Autism grocery shopping

You may or may not be aware of this little tidbit of information but taking three kids with Autism to the grocery store is one hell of a challenging task. I try to avoid taking all three kids with me whenever it's possible because I'm trying to preserve what little sanity I have left. LOL As far as this challenge goes, it could be much more difficult and I'm lucky in that department. For the most part, my kids are pretty well behaved in public. There are of course, situations that are outside of their control and the dreaded meltdown will make a very public appearance. The boys all have their quirks and things that can present challenges but it's just part of who they are. Here are a few…

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January 2, 2018
Read more about the article A major milestone and why it’s so important
Common Variable Immunodeficiency / Gavin / Immunology / Medication Management / My thoughts

A major milestone and why it’s so important

We began the new year with yet another IVIG Infusion for Gavin. He needs these twice a week because his immune system is severely compromised. These infusions literally keep him from succumbing to things that most people's bodies will fighting off without them even knowing. This is a very serious, life threatening condition and there is no cure. In all the years we have been doing these infusions for Gavin, this is the first time that we're going into a new year with Gavin performing this procedure completely independently. This is such a major milestone for a kid who's terrified of needles because this process requires him to stick two needles directly into his belly. He's come such a long way and I'm so proud of him for learning to…

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January 1, 2018
Read more about the article Gavin now needs weekly blood work
Clozapine / Gavin / My thoughts

Gavin now needs weekly blood work

As we begin the new year, our Monday plans are already being adjusted because of the holiday. Gavin was supposed to get his labs drawn today but I'm not sure if they'll be open because of the holiday. If they aren't, we'll simply have to move things to Tuesday morning. It must happen Monday or Tuesday because he's out of Clozapine for Wednesday. As long as his labs are good by Wednesday, we'll have the script by the end of the day. This makes Gavin a bit nervous but it will all work out.

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January 1, 2018
Read more about the article A special New Years message
Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

A special New Years message

I wanted to take a minute and wish all of my readers, wherever they may be, a safe and happy New Year. I hope that we all find peace and happiness in the New Year. My wish for 2018 is that we can all come together, despite our differences and see one another for the truly amazing human beings we are. Allowing things like race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity and even political beliefs to divide us must stop. As individuals, we need to make a decision about what we want our lives to mean. We must decide what kind of world we want our kids going up in. Let's make 2018 a year where hate and bigotry are outweighed by love and acceptance. Let's teach our kids to…

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January 1, 2018
Read more about the article I like to focus on what he CAN do and less on the things he can’t
Gavin / Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

I like to focus on what he CAN do and less on the things he can’t

For all Gavin's struggles, and they are many, he still does some pretty amazing things. While he'll never be independent, that doesn't mean he's not gaining some independence. ☺ Every single morning, Gavin begins his day with a bowl of oatmeal. He makes it all by himself and when he doesn't have chocolate chips to mix in, he simply cuts up an apple instead. He used a special tool we have that let's him safely cut up and remove the core of an apple. He doesn't use a knife, especially unsupervised. My whole point here is that it's important that I focus on things like this because it's so easy to get wrapped up in the things he can't do. The reality is, there are a great many things he…

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December 31, 2017
Read more about the article A good start to New Years Eve
My thoughts

A good start to New Years Eve

The boys will be home soon and our time alone will be coming to an end. Lizze is still sleeping, so I'm not sure how she's feeling today. It's New Years Eve and I don't think we have any plans. I did mentioned to the boys that we could have a family game night with some of the boardgames they received for Christmas. Emmett was the only one excited by that idea. I want to keep things as calm as possible tonight. The kids need to sleep and I don't want to be up all night. In fact, I don't remember the last time Lizze and I stayed up to watch the ball drop. The boys are hopefully going to be in a good place when they get home from…

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December 31, 2017