Knowledge is POWER!

Yesterday July 25, 2011 we received the best and worst news of our lives. Daniel has been diagnosed with Autism

Now I say this is great news, because we now have something to work with. We now can set a treatment plan, and focus our attention where is needs to be focused right now. I also said its bad news because the reality of it is, he has Autism. No one ever wants to hear something like that about there child. I always knew something was off with Daniel Developmentally and Socially. But we have seen a few different Neurologist, that always told us no, no, don't worry, its not Autism. But these fears and concerns kept eating at me, so I decided to get a second opinion. So we got our referral and headed to Phoenix Children's Hospital, the doctor walked in, watched Daniel interact with me, Jason, and his sister and also his cousin who was there with us, then continued to perform a few tests with Daniel, then after quite a few questions with us, we were told..... its Autism. He wasn't hesitant at all, actually very confident to tell us this news. Which I'm okay with, I'm glad he was'nt second guessing his diagnosis, I'm glad he was straight forward with us (in 5 1/2 years we have yet to have had a doctor who has been like that with us), we talked for quite awhile and he let us know that they are many different forms of Autism, and that Daniel obviously doesn't fit into the Most Severe cases, but he doesn't fit in the mild cases either, he said he was right about in the middle. Daniel can interact with people, he does make eye contact, which I believe it why many doctor's steered away from this diagnosis, but those doctors also only saw Daniel in a doctors office, not in social setting, not at home, but one on one with me, Daniel and the doctor. So maybe it was blessing that we all decided to go to this visit, because the doctor was able to see how Daniel is socially, and he saw that it was off. But Knowledge is Power and I'm ready to face this with Daniel, and we will do everything we possibly can to help him and give him the best life possible!! So now its time to research and educate myself!

Daniel....

I have been questioning doing this post for months, but considering this is my journal, and although I don't post nearly as much as I would like, I still want to document this.

 When we have our doctors appointments in Phoenix we typically go up the night before, we stay in a hotel, we relax, we spoil Daniel and that way the next day goes a lot smoother. Otherwise we would be driving 3 hrs up there,  have our appointment and then drive 3 hrs home, not fun with a 5 year old and a 2 year old. On this particular visit i'm so grateful we did this, because The night before Daniel got his casts off, he was in a lot of pain, we couldn't move his right foot without him crying and he just wasnt being himself. So when Daniel wasn't being his happy go lucky self, I knew it was serious. No matter what we did to try to make him happy, he just wasn't having it,  So we decided to take him to the ER at Phoenix Childrens Hospital. Well, I'm glad I followed my motherly instinct and took him in, turns out the pin in his right foot had come out early and was jabbing his foot in the cast, which was causing all the pain, plus because of the pin coming out early, his foot had become infected. So they decided we would not wait until the next day and they took the casts off that night, But once the casts were off and the pin was out all the way, he was back to his happy self. After waiting for what seemed like forever the orhopedic surgeon on call that night they wrapped his foot up,and sent us back to our hotel for the night, we were told to keep our appointment with our Doctor for the next day. The next morning we met with Daniels surgeon, all of the bandages came off, x-rays were taken of each foot, and after a long talk, and instuctions for the next few months we were sent home. Once we got to the car I thought phew...the surgery is over with, the casts are off, the hard part is over! Boy was I wrong! The next two months were some of the most trying and stressful months of my life. Daniel was very hesitant to start walking again, he wouldn't stand, he wouldn't even attempt it, but each day we continued to urge him to put some weight on his feet, then finally after weeks of trying and lots of Physical Therapy, he finally gained the confidence and slowly started to bear weight on his feet then each day he would do a little more, and by the end of the 2nd month he was up and walking and ready to take on the world!  Now here we are 6 months post op, and he is running, starting to jump and even attempting stairs!! Needless to say I'm a very proud mom!!

as Daniel sat there the pin just pushed itself out

The left foot was perfect!

this is how they were wrapped after our ER visit

ready to go home....now is the hard part. Learning to walking again!!