Hospital stay

As I type this on my small phone my son, his daddy and I are spending the night at the hospital. Logan did not take to the surgery so well with some minor complications. We got here about 8 he had his goofy juice around 9:00 was in surgery at 9:36 and back with me at 11:06. Yes I watched the clock closely. Here it is, 10:00 at night. He still will not drink willingly. Forcing him is not the way to go about this either. The more upset he gets the worse it hurts his throat. Good news his oxygen levels are finally good. He just got his dose of hydrocodone and hopefully he will drift off to sleep soon. But he's happily playing angry birds at the moment. We shall see what the wee hours of the night will bring.

Just Tired But Still Smiling!

I am so tired today! My son did not go to school today and I forgot to turn off my alarm. I still woke up at 6:30 and just could not get myself back into a sleep mode. Logan ended up waking up around 8 or so. Lucky me I got to have a few text exchanges between Logans birth father and myself. I hope one day he will understand autism. Until then I will just have to keep preaching to him it seems. Logan goes for his surgery on Tuesday and his birth father has decided he wants to be present. This is fine and all but why after he has not been to see Logan since December? Why now? Logan needs routine and someone in his life regular and not to have a man that shows up whenever he can which is not often and at the worse of times. This is not only stressful for Logan but for everyone who participates in his care. His doctors, therapists, school teachers ets..I have no idea how much more I can explain this to his birth father. He just doesnt seem to understand. There is more to it but I spare you all the details. Unless I am asked of course. 

Anyways on to the happy part of the day! It so feels like it is the start of the weekend on my part. I do not know why I am hurrying it along. Logan has surgery Tuesday and he had a pre-op today. My son will have his tonsils and adenoids removed and another set of tubes put in. Needless to say I double checked with the ENT today to make sure he really needs this surgery and he told me it was very reasonable to be doing it so onward we go to slice and dice :-) I am trying to be humorous. I am really scared to death. I do not think I would be so nervous about it if he was "normal" but being autistic I think it may be more rough than anticipated or he could just surprise us all. 

We also stopped and got Logans new shoes with the build up and the new orthotics (the ones his physical therapist said he did not need) and after that we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings! I have never been there and it was my first time eating there. I have to say it was pretty good and will write a better post just about that in the future. 

I have thought I would give it a go and participate in the Family Photo Friday hop over at Thursdays Child
It is difficult for everyone to get into photos at once considering someone has to be holding the camera. I have decided to post pictures of what smiles we got today! We may not all be in ONE photo but we are in numerous, separately. 

 Yes our furbabies are family as well. Loki, Missy and Zuri

 Hey at least his finger was NOT in his nose

This was us today! The oldest was gone at a band concert for highschool graduation. WTF?? A graduation on a weekday?? Who knew?

Mid Week Re-Cap

This week has been eventful to say the least. More eventful than usual... Of course all of the events revolve around Logan. 

He had an appointment with his Ear Nose Throat doctor on Tuesday. At least I think it was Tuesday. 

My days just seem to run together. Anyway the conclusion is my son has to have his tonsils, adenoids removed and another set of tubes put in. Logan's ears were clear at this appointment but since the tubes have fallen out Logan has had chronic ear infections. That is why the decision for the adenoids was made. Then the doctor looked at his tonsils. Logan has not had any issues with strep throat but his tonsils are big! His are a 3+

Since Logan has disturbed sleep and snores often we have made the decision to remove his tonsils as well. 

I am terrified of this. I know it is a simple and routine procedure that doctors do everyday. But my son is not a "normal" kid. He will not eat the recommended foods after the surgery. His better part of the day is spent yelling. That is the way he communicates or shows his emotions. Last time he was put under for his MRI his blood pressure dropped. I am just scared. I know it will be best for him in the future but I hate to see him suffer. I have a bad feeling he will be in pain. 

A new line therapist(for ABA) started this week. Logans regular therapists last day is today. I have a good feeling about the new therapist but I know it will take Logan a bit to get used to her. She has only been here twice with the other therapist here as well. I guess we will find out Sunday how it goes. It will be the first day she is on her own with Mr. Logan. 

Since the storms moved through on Sunday it has been pretty cool outside. Not so hot and not so cold. It has made perfect weather for my two huskies. They have been enjoying the temps and the sunshine. 

One thing, since our yard gets flooded when it rains we get tons of mud bugs or crawdads in our yard. These two love to dig them up and eat them and roll around on them. They smell to high heaven! Bath time and tooth brushing in the future!! (Zuri has been done, it will be Lokis turn soon)

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and the upcoming weekend. 

Choosy, Picky Eater. How do I Get Past This Hurdle?

I am seeking some help and some advice. 

My road so far on the Autism journey with my preliminary diagnosed son has not been to rough or nightmarish as I sometimes read on other blogs. Logan has been pretty well behaved. He is developmentally delayed (severe) but that can be handled. He does have a meltdown or two here and there and that is handled. The one thing that has me worried at the moment is his nutrition and eating habits. I know it is common in autistic children to be choosy eaters but how far should I let this go. 

Logan once enjoyed many different types of foods when he was an infant. He would eat all the fruits, vegetables and even the baby cereal (the first of my three children). As he got older the pickier he got. Just a few months ago he would eat rice chex soaked in milk, bananas, vanilla wafers, scrambled eggs, chicken nuggets, french fries, carrots and one of his most favorites was grilled cheese. Not to bad for an autistic child right? I did not have many worries about his diet at this time. 

Logan started school and became sick ALOT!! I addressed the issue of his eating habits to his doctor because they had gotten worse and less foods. He advised us to put him on pediasure to try to make sure he got some of the nutrients he needed. It got to where he could not hold any of this down and started throwing up almost every day or night. 

We took him to the doctor and I requested allergy test for milk. His doctor tried to do a whole food panel test. Unfortunately they could not get enough blood to test for everything but did get enough to test for cows milk allergy. Sure enough my poor son is allergic so there goes even more things from his diet that he can not have. My son now only eats bread which I have to get a special white wheat kind with no milk, crackers, shortbread cookies because he can no longer have his beloved vanilla wafers. Everything else I seem to try he refuses. 

His therapists at school they will try to do it some during his lunch time to try to work on eating habits. My son is one month away from two and hardly eats a thing. He is not losing weight yet but the thought is in the back of my mind and scares me. He no longer sleeps through the night. Ever! I want to put the blame on him possibly being hungry. How am I to know though? As I have mentioned before Logan is non-verbal. Sign language is being worked on at school as well as in the home but he has yet to really utilize any of them. 

Since finding out his milk allergy his eczema has improved enormously!! The downside, his diet is more limited and soy milk seems to go right through him and he does not get as full so it means for a more restless night. Something has got to give, there has to be something out there that he will like. I am yearning for a full nights sleep because my sons belly is finally full. I want my son to be healthy and the threat of gastrostomy tube to be out of the picture all together. If anyone out there has some advice I welcome it!!!

Logan enjoying a hash brown after having tubes put in his ears. He did eat 3/4 of it :-)