When somethings broke, I wanna put a bit of fixin on it
When somethings bored, I wanna put a little exciting on it
If somethings low, I wanna put a little high on it
When somethings lost, I wanna fight to get it back again
When somethings bored, I wanna put a little exciting on it
If somethings low, I wanna put a little high on it
When somethings lost, I wanna fight to get it back again
Pearl Jam, The Fixer
That's me. I'm the Fixer. I always want to make things right. And now, I've been given two boys who will (and have) tested my abilities in that respect.
I've learned that you can't fix NF. Tycen will always have NF. It's not going away. So, we fix what we can. Tycen can now walk so much better with his surgeries and new braces. He'll have another surgery soon to slow the growth in his long leg. We're doing the best we can to fix it.
Tycen's Asperger's was another hurdle placed right in the middle of our run of parenting a child with NF. I was fortunate that the main fix for that was to send his to preschool. We lucked out.
His tumor is growing. There's a fix for that too. Someday, we'll have it removed.
Now that my insatiable need to fix is being tested by Roman. When he was almost two, I decided to call Early On, which is an early intervention program for developmental delays. he wasn't talking at all. I was sure that was the extent of his problems. It was an easy fix. He just needed help to start talking.
The evaluation was thorough. I was being hit by questions that I didn't think had anything to do with him talking.
Does he flap his arms like that a lot?
Does he avoid eye contact like that most of the time?
Does he always put things in his mouth like that?
Does he walk on his tiptoes like that sometimes?
Yeah, sure, uh-huh and yup. I headed to the computer to research what seemed like odd questions to me. One word jumped off that screen and into my brain: AUTISM.
My child have autism? At first, I was in denial. There was no way my sweet little man could have autism. He met his big milestones in the first year right on time. Searching deeper into the recesses of my brain, I realized, while that first year was normal, everything that came later was delayed. It wasn't just his speech. He lost his ability to talk. He use to say words, now he's limited to "mamamamamama" and "dadadadadadada". He never had interest in toys beyond those designed for babies. And of course, he did flap his arms, he did avoid eye contact, he did put everything in his mouth and he did walk on his tiptoes a lot.
Autism. You can't fix that. Or can you? I started reading a few books that told me you could. We've started with a special diet and soon we'll start a fish oil supplement that's supposed to increase speech and communication. We'll go see every specialist out there until I find a way to break Roman out of the cage of autism. We're going to fix this. I know we are.
I've learned that you can't fix NF. Tycen will always have NF. It's not going away. So, we fix what we can. Tycen can now walk so much better with his surgeries and new braces. He'll have another surgery soon to slow the growth in his long leg. We're doing the best we can to fix it.
Tycen's Asperger's was another hurdle placed right in the middle of our run of parenting a child with NF. I was fortunate that the main fix for that was to send his to preschool. We lucked out.
His tumor is growing. There's a fix for that too. Someday, we'll have it removed.
Now that my insatiable need to fix is being tested by Roman. When he was almost two, I decided to call Early On, which is an early intervention program for developmental delays. he wasn't talking at all. I was sure that was the extent of his problems. It was an easy fix. He just needed help to start talking.
The evaluation was thorough. I was being hit by questions that I didn't think had anything to do with him talking.
Does he flap his arms like that a lot?
Does he avoid eye contact like that most of the time?
Does he always put things in his mouth like that?
Does he walk on his tiptoes like that sometimes?
Yeah, sure, uh-huh and yup. I headed to the computer to research what seemed like odd questions to me. One word jumped off that screen and into my brain: AUTISM.
My child have autism? At first, I was in denial. There was no way my sweet little man could have autism. He met his big milestones in the first year right on time. Searching deeper into the recesses of my brain, I realized, while that first year was normal, everything that came later was delayed. It wasn't just his speech. He lost his ability to talk. He use to say words, now he's limited to "mamamamamama" and "dadadadadadada". He never had interest in toys beyond those designed for babies. And of course, he did flap his arms, he did avoid eye contact, he did put everything in his mouth and he did walk on his tiptoes a lot.
Autism. You can't fix that. Or can you? I started reading a few books that told me you could. We've started with a special diet and soon we'll start a fish oil supplement that's supposed to increase speech and communication. We'll go see every specialist out there until I find a way to break Roman out of the cage of autism. We're going to fix this. I know we are.
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