Here we go again

I took Kiki to the surgeon at UCLA yesterday, and once again my baby girl (I not a baby, I a big girl mama is ringing in my head) will undergo another surgery. She has a hernia under her belly button that must be fixed and her gall bladder will need to be removed as well. It's supposed to be a simple procedure, however, so was the tonsillectomy that went sour the next day! She aspirated and ended up with pneumonia and was airlifted to UCLA where she was on a ventilator for 4 days...needless to say, I'm not looking forward to this at all.

When we heard from other parents that kids with autism don't just have autism...I thought what else could happen? It's just her learning abilities, right? OMG so much more goes along with this. They typically have gastrointestinal problems ( the poo poo tells stories...it's gross, but true!) Some, like our daughter have major food allergies that affect EVERYTHING about them, their mood, their attention span, their skin, their speech, their cognitive understanding...oh gosh! and my most insane issue...their sleep patterns!!! (this is where my issues come in....every mom waits for the moment that all her 8 kids are sound asleep so she can have a moment to herself, or get something done she couldn't do during the day....doesn't hardly ever happen here!!!) It is amazing to me how much diet can affect these little ones.

Though I must say with diet change, additional supplements, and some time, she has improved vastly! Her speech has cleared up a bit. Her attention span is improving, slowly. Her hyperactivity is controllable. Her tantrums are less (though lately with her pain and things, she's having tantrums more than I'd like to see, but mostly out of frustration). She pretends now with more than one toy together. She attempts to play games with her siblings like hide and seek or matching cards. She doesn't play long, but the interaction itself is a wonderful accomplishment. She was never non-verbal just not clearly understood, and rarely comprehended what others would say. Now we've found that a simple broken down sentence, such as "kiki no eating play dough", when asked to repeat what she heard mama say comes back, "Kiki no put play dough in mouth". So we are now trying to find a way to keep this pattern going. If she can get all of that out of 4 words.....she CAN be taught!!!

I'm sure to some of you out there in "mommy land" this is all kind of trivial, but to those of us who live in this world, where autism is a major roll player in our homes....these little mile stones are actually viewed as boulders of progress! I am no expert in this, I'm just a mom who's learning day by day, and with 7 other children in my life you can imagine how much this puts on a person each day. I just pray that I can learn enough, be helpful enough, and that my entire family can grow from all of this.

SO there you have it...my thoughts for today.