I’m a freshwater fish in a saltwater tank

I found myself really frustrated today and I'm not entirely sure why. Most of the time, I'm the odd man out in our house filled with Autism and truthfully, that can be difficult for me at times. It's like everyone around me is operating on the same operating system and I'm simply incompatible. That probably sounds harsher than I intend it to but this does create problems for me on an almost daily basis. Everyone else in the house struggles with sensory issues. Things like smells, sounds, lights, textures, tastes and even temperature are things that constantly influence behaviors. No one in my family aside from me, does well with any type of change. It doesn't matter if it's a change for the better or for the worse, because it…

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As a general rule, I don’t apologize for any of my kids with #Autism but this is one exception

I mentioned in a previous post that something happened yesterday while at Gavin's hematology appointment. Akron Children's Hospital was great, they always are. You have to understand something before we go any further. This appointment took place where Gavin used to receive his IVIG infusions. We're very familiar with this place after years of visits. Gavin is a sweet kids and doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He would never intentionally try to hurt someone or say something that caused someone pain. Unfortunately, along with missing mean bones, he's also missing a filter. It's not uncommon for kids on the Autism spectrum to lack a verbal filter. They basically say it how it is, and are unburdened by things like inhibition. Typically, kids with Autism don't lie. They…

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You may have noticed some changes around here

You may have noticed some changes to the site over the last couple of days. I'm pretty excited about these changes because some of them hold special meaning to me. The most obvious is the theme I'm using. I've been using the same theme for most of The Autism Dad's existence. Contrary to everyone in my house and a large portion of my readers, I like change. Sometimes I just need a change to help me keep moving forward. I know that change can upset some of you and I know this because I receive strongly worded emails, from very nice people with Autism, telling me that you're upset about the changes I make from time to time. I'm sorry if these recent changes have caused you any distress and…

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I’m confused but ultimately relieved after our visit to @AkronChildrens Hospital today

Let me start out by saying that this was a very good appointment and I expect nothing less from Akron Children's Hospital. They've never let us down. ☺ It's not too often that we go to an appointment for Gavin and walk out with what amounts to good news. Today was very clearly the exception to that rule. I'll bottom line it for you and then talk about something that happened while we were there. We met the doctor and he was very soft spoken. He took a lore than reasonable amount of time, answering my questions. He looked over Gavin's labs and said that truthfully, his numbers look pretty good, even when we had thought they were pretty bad. That caught me off guard at first because we've believed…

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We’re back in #Hematology at @AkronChildrens Hospital

I'm in a really bad mood but that doesn't matter because I have things that must get done. The most important of those things today involves Gavin getting to Hematology at Akron Children's Hospital. I've been talking about this recently because we are finally getting in to see the hematologist in regards to Gavin's unknown blood disorder. Nothing has really gone as planned thus far but we swung by to pick up copies of Gavin's labs so we can take them with us to show the doctor. I ended up taking Lizze home before heading out because she wasn't feeling well. I can totally handle this and I need her to get some rest and feel better. I always say we have to adapt and that's the truth. It's not…

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It’s really stressful when my son’s medications don’t arrive on time

Gavin is officially out of his IVIG medication and he's not been able to do his IVIG infusion today as a result. I've spoken with the home care pharmacy that's responsible for delivering these life saving medications and they're out for delivery today. That's good to hear, it really is.. That being said, why do we have to cut things so close? Why not provide an overlap because things happen and an overlap would prevent him from missing his infusions as the result of a shipping delay. That makes sense to me.. At the very least, it would alleviate the anxiety sorrounding this time of month when his supplies are depleted, he needs his infusion and the delivery hasn't arrived.. Life is stressful enough and this would make it a…

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We have a very, very important appointment with hematology at @AkronChildrens Hospital today

We have a huge doctor appointment today. Actually, Gavin has a huge doctor appointment today. The bottom line is that's it's a huge appointment. We are finally getting into hematology, after trying for what seems like forever but in reality, it was about a year or so. This is a big deal because it's really the first new specialist we've seen in a long time. Gavin for the last couple of years has been dealing with an unknown blood disorder that causes his Absolute Neutrophil count to drop to dangerous levels and his platelets get very low as well. We have no explanation for this aside from it's a side effect of the Clozapine. That's a possibility but we aren't convinced that's the case. It's also possible that it can…

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I’m grateful for how well the day has gone thus far

We've had a pretty decent day thus far. The boys got off to school without much effort. Lizze got to her first appointment this morning and Gavin both took his meds and slept them off most of the side effects. Lizze got to her second appointment this morning and we got back in time for me to go walking before having to pick the boys up from school. It was a rough walk cause it was very humid but I finished without an issue. There isn't anywhere else we have to be today and I'm okay with that. I'm exhausted and my stomach is a bit upset. I'm grateful in regards to how well the day has gone thus far and I pray that the rest of the day can…

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