He was diagnosed with Autism 3 years ago today. A day that changed our lives forever. I still remember everything that happened that day like it was yesterday. I didn't cry, I didn't sleep that night. I cried 3 days later. I was in such shock. But we have come a long way. And he will continue to improve. I know it!
He always sort of withdrew into his own world after each vaccine. But somehow, he made it back out. But those vaccines always left him a bit handicapped and by they time he had the second flu vaccine when he was 27 months, he could not recover from that last one. He developed normally although a bit slow but always reached his milestones. The first Hep B 24 hours after birth made him lose some motor planning and muscle tone (e.g., lost ability to latch onto the breast to eat) and developed thrush (yeast in his mouth), but he caught up. With the DPT, he was delayed in rolling over and started to develop ear infections. The pneumonia at 9 months gave him tons of yeast (candida) and made him anxious and he developed sensory integration problems (could not be touched, sensitive to sounds and some textures, etc.) and severe anxieties. The first flu shot at 11 months made him lose the ability to play appropriately with other toys. The MMR at 13 months sent him into a world of numbers, letters, shapes and colors. Major obsessions. The 18 months vaccination delayed his speech. He had said a couple of words and lost those words. He also lost some eye contact and had a really high threshold to his surroundings so he would sometimes not respond to his name and would zone out. We checked with the pediatrician and he said it was not autism. He was in his universal world but would come out at 3 years. He started saying words again at 23 months. He became obsessed with the VCR (pushing videos in and out) flushing toilets, turning lights on and off, closing doors (doors were a big one), etc. But he was still adorable and playful. At 27 months he received his second flu shot and at 28 months he stopped talking. He developed terrible tantrums. He lost eye contact. He would not respond to his name. He was not interested in playing with toys. Walked in tip toes. And he lost the ability to understand language. We got scared and requested an appointment with a neurologist. Today 3 years ago such neurologist gave us the bad news and told us that he would most likely need to be institutionalized.
Today I am glad to say that I disagree with such neurologist. Although he is not fully recovered yet, he is mainstreamed and is a beautiful happy boy.
He always sort of withdrew into his own world after each vaccine. But somehow, he made it back out. But those vaccines always left him a bit handicapped and by they time he had the second flu vaccine when he was 27 months, he could not recover from that last one. He developed normally although a bit slow but always reached his milestones. The first Hep B 24 hours after birth made him lose some motor planning and muscle tone (e.g., lost ability to latch onto the breast to eat) and developed thrush (yeast in his mouth), but he caught up. With the DPT, he was delayed in rolling over and started to develop ear infections. The pneumonia at 9 months gave him tons of yeast (candida) and made him anxious and he developed sensory integration problems (could not be touched, sensitive to sounds and some textures, etc.) and severe anxieties. The first flu shot at 11 months made him lose the ability to play appropriately with other toys. The MMR at 13 months sent him into a world of numbers, letters, shapes and colors. Major obsessions. The 18 months vaccination delayed his speech. He had said a couple of words and lost those words. He also lost some eye contact and had a really high threshold to his surroundings so he would sometimes not respond to his name and would zone out. We checked with the pediatrician and he said it was not autism. He was in his universal world but would come out at 3 years. He started saying words again at 23 months. He became obsessed with the VCR (pushing videos in and out) flushing toilets, turning lights on and off, closing doors (doors were a big one), etc. But he was still adorable and playful. At 27 months he received his second flu shot and at 28 months he stopped talking. He developed terrible tantrums. He lost eye contact. He would not respond to his name. He was not interested in playing with toys. Walked in tip toes. And he lost the ability to understand language. We got scared and requested an appointment with a neurologist. Today 3 years ago such neurologist gave us the bad news and told us that he would most likely need to be institutionalized.
Today I am glad to say that I disagree with such neurologist. Although he is not fully recovered yet, he is mainstreamed and is a beautiful happy boy.
Jonathan - very happy / engaging baby
.jpg)
Jonathan - after the MMR
.JPG)
.jpg)
Jonathan - after the second flu shot
.jpg)
Jonathan - Today!
+cropped.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment