Saturday, February 07, 2009

After 2.5 years of Chelation




(Photo is Michael
at the beach
in Virginia
December 2008)


After 2.5 years of chelation, Michael is on grade level academically, playing the violin, got a part in the drama club musical and can pretty much go anywhere without a problem. I'm so proud of him and so grateful for Dr. Imam and Nick- and everyone else at the office (Center for Advanced Medicine in Center Moriches).

There is so much LESS stress in my life right now. I don't worry about him running into the street anymore. I don't have to remind him to do his homework. We can eat in restaurants. I can go to a party and relax. Car rides are a breeze. He gets out of the bath, dries off and gets dressed all by himself. He can get his own food and drink now too. I get comments from people like "he's the best behaved kid here". MY KID? My kid with autism?

If you didn't know Michael when he was little- check out the videos on You Tube. But, just know that he was anti-social, non-verbal, very stimmy, and lower functioning then he is today.

Right now he's practicing violin in the other room. I didn't even have to ask or remind him. He just does it because he likes to. Yesterday, he was doing math problems on the computer and saying "math is fun". Goodness- I know that didn't come from ME. He has learned so much at school. Next month is the state Math exam and then the Science test. Unfortunately it takes MONTHS to get the results back. But, I know he'll do well. The best part is how is enjoys taking the tests. He even pretends he is a teacher and sets up a classroom at home- preparing the "pretend kids" for the big tests.

What's next? I don't know. He goes to Middle School next year- which is going to be a huge change, but he's excited to go. I'm not going to worry about it.

We're going to keep going with the chelation. We met with Dr. Imam last week and he thinks everything is going great and we should just continue.

As for the summer- who knows? We can't really afford camp, but I hope to spend a lot of time at the beach. When I was a kid, my mom took me to the beach a lot. We live 10 minutes from the North Shore (Long Island Sound) and 20 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean. There are beaches everywhere. Finally, we'll be able to enjoy them together. Michael went thru a long period, from about 3 years old to 7 years old, where he hated the beach. He didn't like the sand. He was scared of the ocean. Now, you can't keep him out of the water.

I love how adventurous he has become. He wants to visit Washington DC and the White House. He gets books from the library about all sorts of things and asks questions. I could probably take him to more concerts and finally a Broadway play-- and he would love that. I get frustrated that we have to stay here in NY and can't move back to Virginia. But, at least there are a lot of things to experience here.