Elliott – Page 15 – The Autism Dad

Gavin’s brain is getting worse

Gavin has been having serious mental and physical health problems for almost his entire life. As far as Elliott and Emmett are concerned, they've never known any different. To them, Gavin has always been like this and they never knew him before he began to change. Something that we have probably not done enough of, is sitting the two youngest down and explaining to them what Gavin is going through. There are times that they tease Gavin because they don't realize that Gavin has zero control over his inability to do or not do certain things. As an example, Gavin can't tell the difference between two of our ferrets. Tiny and Lemme do look very much alike but their faces are different. The rest of us can see the difference…

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November 4, 2017

Elliott / Emmett John / Meltdowns / My thoughts

The black and white, very literal world of #Autism

It seems that the boys had a decent day at school today, although Elliott said it was terrible because of all his makeup work. The moment Emmett got into the car though, he just screamed and screamed. He screamed the entire way home, because communication is a challenge. Yesterday I told Emmett that I would try to swing by my parents house and pick up their candy, because they were unable to go trick or treating. As it turns out, I took Gavin to get his bloodwork done and I realized that we were very low on gas. I don't get paid until Wednesday, assuming everything comes in on time. The bottom line is that I didn't get their candy bags and he had been counting the minutes until school…

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October 30, 2017

Elliott / Emmett John / My thoughts

It seems they made it through the school day

Elliott made it through the entire school day and that's definitely a step in the right direction. That doesn't mean that he had a good day though. All it means is that he wasn't sent home because of a fever. Emmett has lasted as well and the reason I even mention that is because he wore pants to school for the first time this year. That's definitely a few steps forward. Like with Elliott, I don't know if Emmett had a good day. I can very easily see Emmett crashing when he gets home because his pants have been driving him crazy all day. It's very common for kids on the Autism Spectrum to have awesome days at school but completely fall apart when they get home. They spend all…

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October 30, 2017

Elliott / My thoughts

Elliott’s still running a fever and I don’t know what to do

I don't know what we're going to do this morning as far as school and Elliott are concerned. Within the last ten hours of so, he was running a fever of 101.2°F. The school policy is that anyone with a temperature of 99.5°F or above, must be kept or sent home. I'm going to have to call the school in the morning and talk to them about this. We don't know for sure what's going on with Elliott aside from not having Strep or Pneumonia. My next call is going to be to our immunologist because she manages Emmett's fever disorder and it's looking like Elliott might be looking at the same thing. This is so fucking stressful and I wish this were a less murky situation because knowing what…

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October 30, 2017

Elliott / Emmett John / Fever Cycle / Figuring Shit Out / My thoughts

I’m totally lost and don’t know what to do

As of early this morning, it seems that Emmett is either sick or entering a fever cycle. There's absolutely no way to know the difference.. If you're wondering about Elliott, he's still running a fever as well. WTF are we supposed to do about trick or treating today? The forecast is cold and rainy. Should we just pretend like they aren't running fevers? Should we just take the kids trick or treating anyway? Forget for a moment that today is trick or treating because tomorrow they're supposed to return to school. I haven't even begun to figure that out. I'm at a total loss. I don't know what to do and there isn't anyone out there that can tell us anything we don't already know. That doesn't mean we know…

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October 29, 2017

Elliott / Major Update / My thoughts

Elliott needed a chest x-ray this morning

Elliott's appointment took about two hours and he did about as well as he does at any doctors appointment. Elliott has never been comfortable at the doctors, any doctor for that matter. He gets extremely anxious and that using leads to a meltdown, or at the very least, tears. In a nutshell, his appointment when well. We're waiting for the results of the chest x-ray that is ruling out walking pneumonia and that's about it. He doesn't have strep and shows zero signs of being sick other than running the fever. The only reason they did the chest x-ray is because he's had walking pneumonia on a few occasions in the past. It's looking like we are moving in the direction of what Emmett's dealing with, a rare fever disorder.…

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October 27, 2017

Elliott / My thoughts

We have to make sure everything is okay

Emmett had a great morning and it currently at school. Elliott is still home sick and is currently sitting next to me at the pediatrician's office, waiting to be scene. I don't know what's going on with him but we just want to make sure everything is okay. I'm absolutely exhausted and ready to crash.

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October 27, 2017

Elliott / My thoughts / School Related Issues

Looks like we’re tempting fate once again

Unfortunately, Elliott is still running a fever tonight and that means he won't be in school again. He doesn't appear sick in any way, shape or form, but a fever is a fever. I am contemplating getting him into the pediatrician, just to make sure all is well. Elliott's not going to like that because he's absolutely terrified of all doctors, but at the end of the day, we need to make sure he's okay and that we have a doctors note. I'm not sure that's going to matter but it's not going to hurt to ensure we have as much documentation as possible. I'm hoping that Elliott's fever runs its course and he can return to school. I put the wellbeing of my kids before any ridiculously blanketed, State…

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October 23, 2017