Last week we all flew out to my parents for a holiday.  We flew home with one less.  In the past few days he’s been fishing, roasted marshmallows on a bonfire, been go-karting, seen buffalo, a beaver and countless other creatures and activities that he doesn’t get to do at home in the city.

He’s having the time of his life!

I’m just trying not to freak out.

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6 years ago today we were blessed with you.  You challenge us daily and we have learned so much from you.

We love you more than you can ever know.

For your birthday we are sending you on the trip of a lifetime.  You will be flying across the country to join your Aunt, Uncle and cousins for an adventure you will never forget.  You will dig for real Dinosaur bones in Drumheller Alberta, visit West Edmonton Mall, Camp, go to many Go Kart races and have a lot of time on the lake.

Happy Birthday Baby!

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We did opt to put him on stimulants and still hope we find other ways to help.  We started off with 5mg, then 10mg of Adderall but quickly found that the side effects were too great for him.  He had restless legs, never slept and when it wore off things became out of control.  We switched him to 18mg of Concerta.  Things aren’t perfect but manageable.

We have all of us in therapy.  We opted someone to come into our home a la Nanny 911.  I was so worried about this for fear of judgement but it turned out to be the best decision we could have made.  She has taught us to understand the way he processes information and how we can change certain behaviours in a way that he can understand.  We organize things more visually now.

We want to have him entirely gluten and casein free.  We’ve made some progress but breaks down at the idea of losing his favourite foods.  He gets locked in on what he doesn’t like about it and any change is difficult.  Since my Celiac requires that I be gluten free it won’t be a major lifestyle change to do this.

We’ve been supplementing him with zinc, magnesium and DHA/EPA (Omegas).  We’ve noticed the Omegas the most.  We didn’t think it made much difference at first until it became obvious when we missed a few days.

We have been honest with him about what is going on and why.  He is become much less impulsive, he no longer gets easily frustrated and is much less obsessive.  His happiness is shining through.

We’re getting there.

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• Why? Or Does it Even Matter? (March 9, 2010)
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What we know for sure is that he has damage within his brain.  The technical term is Metabolic Encephalopathy between the Caudal Cortex and Frontal Lobe.  That’s just a fancy way of saying some of the connections are missing and part of his brain is overactive and the rest is underactive.  It presents itself as hyperactive ADHD.

There are a few possible causes to why this has happened.  The most probable reason is my pregnancy and his birth.  My Celiac was undiagnosed at the time and since I wasn’t absorbing nutrients I was starving him as well.  We both survived only by the toxins leaking through the perforations in my bowel.  We made it to 38 weeks but he was very small.  While he was in the birth canal his heart stopped beating.  Using a vacuum we got him out.  He had gone without oxygen for nearly a minute.  We were warned then it may have caused brain damage but developmentally we appeared to be in the clear.  Perhaps not?

Next is genetics.  The Hubby has also received an ADHD diagnosis except the he and Thing 1 are in completely different ballparks.  On a scale of 1 to 10, the Hubby is a 3 and Thing 1 an 8.

Celiac can also cause this kind of Damage.  I do not have this type of damage but every Celiac presents differently.  Thing 1 shows no other symptoms but we can’t rule it out.  Blood tests will not yield answers since we are IgA deficient  and he is not emotionally in any state to handle having a biopsy.

The only theory we can prove (eventually) is the Celiac.   He will soon be completely Gluten & Casein free and we’ll see how it goes.

©2010 - Erin for The Mom Chronicles | Permalink
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Ignore the goofy expression he has.

©2010 - Erin for The Mom Chronicles | Permalink
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The subject has a stigma attached to it so I’ve been avoiding telling anyone at all costs.  I don’t want anyone to be shunned by ignorance.  Unfortunately in this mess my own stress has (and will continue to be) been pushed aside and I need some sort of outlet.

Here goes.

The Hubby and Thing 1 have both been diagnosed with Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).   Thing 2 does not have it and Thing 3 is too young to know for sure.

There, I said it.

Now I’ve pave the way for a lot more posts on the subject.

*NOTE* Those of you whom I also know in real life or on Twitter/Facebook etc., please let the elephant be.

©2009 - Erin for The Mom Chronicles | Permalink
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Tomorrow I will lose my buddy.  Our Dalmatian Thunder is 12 years old and has been slowly but progressively losing his mind.  He becomes obsessive about everything, especially licking but has also become aggressive.  We’ve tried to keep an eye out to prevent anything but he has now bitten Thing 1 twice.  I’m talking full puncture bite and one of those times he pinned down Thing 1.  That was the moment we knew what we had to do.

It’s killing me.  We can’t risk this happening again but I feel like a murderer.

I’m really going to miss my buddy.

*Update* – Thunder passed away on Saturday October 24^th at 12 noon EST. He died cuddling on my lap.

©2009 - Erin for The Mom Chronicles | Permalink
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NO HELP!  The boy can write too.  He gets it!

I’m a proud Mommy.

©2009 - Erin for The Mom Chronicles | Permalink
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HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY BABY!

©2009 - Erin for The Mom Chronicles | Permalink
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• Yet Another Appointment with Dr. Useless (July 1, 2006)
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Thing 1: “Can I go play outside with A*****?“

Me: “Don’t you think you should have supper first?“

He grabs a cup, gets pop (soda for you American folk), pours in a dribble, drinks it.

Thing 1: “Look Mom, I put something in my belly.  I’m going out now.“

(...)
Read the rest of isms

©2009 - Erin for The Mom Chronicles | Permalink
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