Charlie

Charlie

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Officaly Us

Since July 22nd 2009 we have been working with Early Intervention for Charlies developmental delays. We have been having different therapists coming into our home and doing observations on Charlie to see if he met the criteria for ASD- Autism Spectrum Disorder. His therapist- Mary comes out twice a month (every other week) to "work" with Charlie. In reality it's just play. Trying to teach him to go from one object to the next.

On January 19th 2010 the ESD officially Diagnosed Charlie with ASD. We are now in pursuit of a medical diagnosis from OHSU.

Through out these months none of our questions are getting answers, just more questions. I know that some questions will never be met with an official answer though the ESD, So we are venturing into the medical side, which scares me to no end.

I do not trust most Dr's. and for good reason too. I believe that Charlie is the way he is today because of a Dr. Not making the correct decision. In the end Charlie was the one who paid dearly. For those who are reading this, that know Charlie- you already know this part of the story so you can skip it. For those new to our life, read on!

A little back ground info.

Through out my pregnancy with Charlie I was really ill. Could hardly keep anything down, constantly throwing up. When I had Charlie, we solely relied on Dr's. and Nurses to tell us what is best for our son. Charlie did get the HepB vaccine at birth, and every vaccine until the age of 4 months. I had feelings of not wanting to give him so many at one time, but because the Dr. charlie saw and the nurses reassured me that nothing would happen, I threw caution to the wind, and believed them.

When Charlie was 4 months old he got his scheduled Vaccinations. I asked if it was safe, since he was just getting over a cold, and was reassured that he would be fine, and just give him Tylenol for any discomfort. This was the point in time where I should have grabbed my baby and ran. But I didn't. I stayed. They injected the poison into his body. That night charlie was extremely ill. He got Vaccinated on a Friday and that weekend was hell. I remember calling and talking to the on call Dr. and they said to bring him in on Monday. From Friday to Monday his head grew 2 cm. We found this out at the check up apt. on Monday morning. Our ped. was concerned and we went to the hospital to get a CAT scan done because there was concern of hydrocephalus. Nothing was found. After that pivotal moment in time Charlie battled for his health. Every week he had a different illness. He either had Pneumonia, or double ear infections. The kids was always on some sort of Antibiotic. From 4 months to 9 months we had a standing weekly apt with his Dr. because there was always something wrong. Every Wednesday we went in. Every time I went in, I asked about vaccine reactions. During his well child visits I declined all Vaccines and would question reactions and tell them I felt the Vaccine did this to Charlie. The Dr. Assured me it wasn't the Vaccines. "The Risks are low" she would tell me. My answer? "Just because they are low doesn't mean it can't happen."

At around 9 months Charlie's Dr. left the practice, and we weren't able to follow. This was a blessing. We got a new Dr. for Charlie, and things started to improve. The Dr. agreed that it was a Vaccine Reaction and Charlie's healing began. In January of 2009 Charlie's Dr. -Dr. Mooney, led on that Charlie should get evaluated through the local Early Intervention Program for his delays. At that time I was 6 months pregnant with our second child- a girl- and going through school. I promised her once I had the baby and was out of school (Baby was due in April, School was done in June) I would have him Evaluated. Each Visit she would ask if he had been evaluated yet, the answer was always no. My husband Brian Finally called in June and got Charlie in for Evaluations.


It wasn't until after we had our daughter did we realize how much we missed out on Charlie's baby days. There are moments when we look at our Daughter now- who is 9 months old and is saying Mama- and we are so incredibly happy that she is growing and functioning, but also sad because we never got to go through these things with Charlie. It puts his life into perspective. Our baby days with charlie were full of fear, anger, sadness, and confusion. Don't get me wrong there were defiantly happy and joyful moments, but the majority of his babyhood was spent sick, and fighting off illnesses, that he shouldn't have gotten....

Through out this ordeal I have been able to grow stronger, and stand up for what I believe happened to our son Charlie, and will continue until the day he is able to stand up for himself.

This is a blog about Charlie. About his life, his struggles, his accomplishments and our struggles and accomplishments as a family.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Tessa I really enjoyed reading what you went threw with Charlie. You both are amazing parents. And its good to see that you stand up for and what you believe. I been threw the up and downs with Ryan too and its still challenging with his anger and fusteration even tho its better we still have our daily battles. But its a blessing everyday to wake up to a hug and kiss and know he will always be my son. This was such a touching story and I will look forward to seeing more.

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