Everyday miracles (long-sorry)

[Guest guest]

When we came to the realization that our beautiful two year old daughter

was autistic, we were engulfed in fear, anger, sadness, and a

overwhelming sense of hopelessness and helplessness. We read every blog,

every article and every message board in search of a miracle, a miracle

that we knew we just had to find. We didn't know if it would take a day,

a week, a month, or a year, but we knew miraculously we would one day

wake up and everything would be fine. Its now ten months from that

realization.

We have chosen a path that has taken us through the biomedical

treatments, therapies of all kinds, and even traditional medicine. One

of the finest pediatric hospitals in the world evaluated our daughter

and gave us the diagnosis we suspected, full classic autism. We held out

hope that there would be some glimmer of optism from the evaluation.

There was none.

We continued our regimine of supplements and therapy still believing

that one day there would be a miracle. Our DAN doctor reminded us that

we were in a marathon, not a sprint (good advice). We still knew a

miracle had to come our way.

At two years old, our daughter had none of the language skills she had

gained prior eighteen months. She avoided eye contact and interaction

with family and caregivers, and her sleep pattern included a period of

three to four hours of crying/tantrums/playing every night. Her bowel

movements were terrible and gave her pain due to the acidic burning they

caused her skin. Each day she had more and more difficulty in playing

and tantrums became a regular occurence. We needed a miracle.

When we made diet changes and added supplements we hoped that one

morning all would be fine. Over time, things began to change. She

stopped lining up her toys when we put her on a casein free diet. B12

injections gave us back the eye contact that we thought we lost forever.

B6 made the tantrums disappear. Some combination of the probiotics,

cranberry extract, grapefruit seed extract helped her control the yeast

that gave her terrible bowel trouble. Glutithione lotion and 5HTP

provided sleep filled nights. So far we still have not had the overnight

miracle, instead everyday has become a miracle. Our daughter is happy.

She plays, sometimes even interacting with her peers, she is trying to

sing words to songs, she gives hugs, waves hello/goodbye (sometimes),

sleeps through the night most every night, and is astonishing her

therapists on a daily basis. Her language constantly improves (but is

still below average). Everyday is a miracle.

We sometimes think what would have happened to her without the

intervention. Most likely she would be in some full time care facility,

probably on narcotics to keep her calm. Today she is a happy child,

learning to explore and interact with a world that opens up to her a

little each and every day. Everyday is a miracle.

All of you who contribute your experiences and ideas are part of the

miracle that we and many others are witnessing on a daily basis. You

have decided that things can be better for your kids and you will make

it happen. We all struggle with how to best care for those we love,

unsure, looking for answers that should be there but continue to escape

us. We are making progress though. Our shared experiences don't make it

into the medical journals or the pharmaceutical reps presentations but

they are helping us to overcome the challenges that we face on a daily

basis. The ability for people from all backgrounds to join together to

fight a common battle the way that we do is a miracle in its own right.

Our daughter is not " cured " and she has a long way to go, but each day

brings more and more hope that she will live a happy and fulfilling

life. The challenges have just begun, we're only ten months into what

may be a never-ending process, but we see the miracles everyday. Its not

only the changes in our daughter, its the changes to our family that

have made us appreciate what we have. We're not religous, but we are

spiritual, and we feel truely blessed.

Thank all of you for your advice and comments. Keep fighting the good

fight. Miracles happen everyday!