Cygnus The God Of Balance

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Feb 3 2008, 03:20 PM)QUOTE (nettiesaur @ Feb 3 2008, 03:04 PM)QUOTE (owlswing @ Feb 3 2008, 02:19 PM) So last night I'm at my monthly Bunco game and this topic of conversation came up again for the second month in a row. It turns out of the 12 regular players plus 2 subs we've recently had make up 15 families. The groups is made up of families from 5 different towns with in 5 miles of each other. just follow a minute more please... ...of the 15 families we have a total of 39 kids, three are still under a year old. Now of these 39 kids 4 are diagnosed with in the ASD. This to me is a staggering statistic They claim nothing is going on, but something just isn't right here. Autism used to be rare, and all of the sudden, it's not? Something is causing this, we need to figure out what. Owlswing, that stat you gave us is indicative of what's going on around the U.S. now. 4 out of 39 kids in your group have an ASD. That IS staggering. In the U.S., 1 out of 150 kids have an ASD. In your home state of New Jersey, it's something like 1 in 78. Yet, as we've seen in several posts in this thread, all these families are not receiving the aid they need. This sudden epidemic (yes, that word is accurate here) is overwhelming the entire system, but so many people and agencies are dropping the ball as far as getting help to these families. Sundog just posted a link to one of the two best videos that illustrate how autism can forever alter a family. The other is "Autism Every Day." GG has links to both of these in her sig. If you haven't seen these two videos and would like to know what life with an autistic child is like, please watch. Autism Every Day Five For Fighting video If anyone wants to know what it's like to have an Autistic child, I'd strongly suggest watching the Autism Everyday video. It's pretty true to form and doesn't candy coat life with an Autistic child. Autism needs to be treated the same way Polio was treated back in the 40's and 50's. If the same kind of attention, research and funding went into finding a cure for Autism like it was for Polio, we'd have a cure already. We're finally getting close it seems. I got an email from Autism Speaks listing the Top 10 Autism Research Events of 2007. Here's a link: Top 10 Autism Research Events of 2007 It sounds encouraging, but until there's a definate cure for Tony and Stephen to take....

suck ass

I'm wide awake and ready to conquer the world!

For those of you wanting to quit smoking but are having a tough time, might I suggest Chantix. I started smoking at 18, and quit at 33, then started again at 38. Last year I wanted to quit again, but had a tough time. Friends suggested Chantix, and it really worked, and still does to this day. I do remote broadcasts on the radio in smokey bars and have no cravings and no desire to have a smoke. Listen, the first step is you have to want to quit. Once you decide that, if you are a heavier smoker like I was, try Chantix, because it really works! And no, I'm not a paid endorser of it. You can do it!

Please don't think my comment indicated that I do not consider my son a blessing, because I most certainly do. I just had him later in life, and have two step children who are great, so that was why I made the comment about no more children. I completely love my son, and always will. However, I don't know of any parent of an autistic child who does not wish their child did not have Autism. I pray for my son every day, and pray for a cure every day too.

QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Jan 10 2008, 03:55 PM) New article on CNN.com Genetic glitch raises autism risk That's great news. Hopefully as the research continues to target in on the cause, we'll get a treatment or a cure. I have no desire to have anymore kids. I just want my one kid to not be Autistic.

That's right. They never seem to conform to our schedule, do they GG. Eat when they want to eat, go to the store when they want to, sleep when they want to. Tony will usually sleep all night now, but can't sleep by himself. He has to have someone sleeping with him. Tony was over this weekend, and he and I actually took a nap together.

Literally some AMAZING news on TV this morning. Researchers at MIT may have found a cure (that's right GG) a CURE for Autism. Here is a link to the article regarding the research. MIT Corrects Inherited Retardation, Autism in Mice I am trying not to get my hopes up, just to have them dashed. But, this could potentially be big. Not only does it potentially cure Autism, but it could actually reverse the effects of Autism. WOW. I can't even imagine a world where Tony is not Autistic. That just blows my mind. I pray that this is the magic bullet that myself and Ghost Girl have dreamed about.

I remember when Tony said his first words. It's an awesome feeling. We have to keep pushing and challenging our children.

It's heartbreaking when your child can communicate what's wrong with him. Tony had a chickpox vaccine when he was young, so we never dealt with those, but every once in a while he will just start to cry and rub his eyes, and put my hand on his head. I sometimes think he's got a headache, but since he can't tell me verbally, I just don't know. On another front. Tony has started to do 100 piece puzzles. He used to do the wooden puzzles when he was younger, but then he'd chew on the pieces so we took them away for fear of getting splinters in his mouth. Then he had some foam 3 foot puzzles of Barney and Big Bird. Again, he chewed on them so we got rid of those. One day recently we were at my brother's house. His kids have a cupboard of games that Tony likes to get in to. Well he found a 100 piece NASCAR puzzle, opened it up on his own and sat there for nearly an hour while he put it together all by himself. Sharon and I bought him a 100 piece puzzle of a clown fish at WalMart the other day, and he sat there at the kitchen table for about 90 minutes, no fussing, concentrating and doing that puzzle. It was wonderful to watch him look at the picture on the box and you could see him trying to figure out where each piece went. Honestly, I only helped him with about 3 pieces. He did the rest. I have a picture of him with his puzzle I'll post later. We left it out on the table all day until dinner. The next day we were wondering if he'd do the same puzzle twice. I took it out and he started doing it again, but didn't seem as interested in it the second time. I think we'll probably get a few 100 piece puzzles for him to rotate. I have never seen Tony so focused on one thing like that before. He usually will sift the stuff he has in "Green Box" for a while, watch a show, and jump from one thing to the next. Also, and sorry for the rambling here, but he's also started to take an interest in a Playstation game our son Brandon has. It's an ATV game and he likes to play that with other people. He hasn't mastered steering yet, so he keeps slamming his guy into trees and other obstacles, so he likes to switch with me and let me get him unstuck. Brandon and I have been trying to teach him how to steer, but he's left handed, and the controller is really set up for a right handed person, so instead of steering, he's always changing the camera angles on his controller. In closing, and again sorry for the long rambling here, I just wanted to say how cool it is to have my 9 year old Autistic son taking interest in non-Autistic behavior. I keep trying to push him and constantly challenge him. He's shown that he can do these things, even when he protests a bit. Never give up hope.

QUOTE (makehaste2112 @ Nov 1 2007, 06:44 PM) Do Canadians pronounce z's "zed"? If they do, I will also! Yes they do. I work at a US radio station in a border town. It was hard to get used to Canadians saying 'zed' but most of them do. It's YYZed, but I'm so used to calling it YYZee, that I can't force myself to call it Zed. Interestingly, Canadians do say ZeeZee Top, not ZedZed Top.

My fantasy football team is undefeated this year.

I've never heard of this guy, but rapper Sean Delaney has written a rap song called "Open Your Eyes". Here's a link to it on youtube. I guess any exposure we can get to this is a benefit to all of our Autistic Children. I still feel in my heart of hearts that there will be a cure and GG's Stephen and my Tony, and everyone with Autism will be cured.

I knew John Travolta's son was Autistic, however I didn't know that Jenny McCarthy's son was. I agree with GG, that for someone like Johnny T to deny his son's autism, with the wealth and clout he has, hurts the autism cause in general. If I had the resources he had, there's nothing I couldn't do for Tony. At least there are plenty of celebrities out there who don't deny their kids Autism and do whatever they can to bring the spotlight on it.

Tony is here this weekend. He's going to stay an extra night because of Labor Day . I'm having a tough time with his tantrums lately. He's starting to bite his wrist really hard when he gets upset and doesn't get his way. This morning he wanted to "go for a ride", which means he wants McDonalds. Tony is 9 years old and already weighs 100 pounds. He's terribly overweight, which isn't uncommon for kids with disabilities. I've been trying (really hard) to cut down on the "prench pries" trips, because I worry about his weight, and the possibility that he might develop diabetes or high blood pressure. I can't even imagine an Autistic kid with a diabetic diet. So, I have to suffer through the tantrums.

QUOTE Not going to cinci Me either, even though Sundog & Digi offered me their extra ticket for the show, but it's my weekend with my son, plus I just spent a lot down in Detroit for the DTE show on Tuesday. I'm still pretty high from all the fun down there, so it's cool that I'm home chillin' tonight.

QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Aug 23 2007, 03:46 PM) I'll bet Tony and Stephen would have fun together. Stephen loves Blues Clues, too. He sort of gets in a cycle, and right now he's stuck on Thomas. But I see him sometimes in front of a mirror doing the "Blues Clues" song...with his hands spread out, and then pretending to "put it in your notebook..." Except he says, "Goos Cooos." Well, maybe someday they will get to meet. Tony loves other kids.

QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Aug 23 2007, 03:08 PM) QUOTE (Cygnus The God Of Balance @ Aug 23 2007, 03:01 PM) QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Aug 23 2007, 02:43 PM) QUOTE (Rush! @ Aug 23 2007, 01:03 PM) Wow...never saw this thread. My brother Matthew, 11, turning 12 in October, is autistic. He is diagnosed with a mild case of PDD. He's very difficult to deal with at times, and other times he's not. He has a very hard time making eye contact with strangers, and he usually hides behind my Mom whenever we meet with someone new. He's fine with our close family and relatives, though. He has no friends, nor does he want to make any friends. He mostly enjoys eating, watching TV, and playing video games. His obsession is fans... he loves all electrical appliances as well as garage doors. I don't want to think about what it will be like for him as he gets older... when puberty comes along... and he has to go out and get a job. I fear for him. If he's mildly PDD, he'll do okay with a job. Your parents will make sure he has the right kind of vocational services, and he can get set up with a career that focuses on his strengths. Everything's relative, you know? I'd give anything if Stephen was mildly PDD instead of moderately autistic. I wish your family all the best, Rush! I don't know how many times I've said "I'd give anything if Tony were...." So GG, how severe is Stephen? Is he verbal at all? Tony is verbal, but a lot of his is echolalia. We've worked hard on "I want..." And he knows his colors, animals, and can do eyes, ears, nose, etc. It's a constant struggle. I never would have dreamed two, three years ago that Tony would be where he is today. He's made some great strides, so we keep pushing him further to try to do more. He really gets pissed when we push, but I've learned that he just automatically gets mad so I'll back off. So I try to push him a little further each time, before he completely melts down. I firmly believe with all my heart & soul that there will be a cure for Autism. I think the key is stem cell research. I think that's where the answer will come. They've cured so many other things, that I just know this is coming. I know it. Stephen is becoming verbal...but yes, a LOT of echolalia and what we call "Stephenese." He knows his colors, and can count up to 20, knows the alphabet (upper and lowercase), etc. Still working on writing his name, but we're starting to move him to the computer...maybe typing will be his strength, we're not sure. He loves Thomas the Tank Engine, so a lot of the vocalizations we hear are verbatim quotes from books or videos...and you have to KNOW Stephen well to be able to understand what he's saying, because his pronunciation isn't good. The communication center of his brain stopped developing at around 15 months, so his speech is very much like a toddler. He doesn't stay "Stev-un," for his name...he says, "Steeee-yun." Stuff like that. Some of his favorite foods he says pretty clearly, "Cheese puffs," "Pingles,"(Pringles chips) and "affles" (waffles). At the end of the day sometimes he wants to put his shoes on and go somewhere, and when I say, "No, we're all done with shoes today," he'll walk around for five minutes singing, "Shoes? All done...shoes...all done..." That made me smile real big. Tony is the same way. Tony can write and spell his name (it's not real legible). He can actually now count to 100. Tony's favorite shows are Barney, Veggie Tales and Blues Clues. Tony likes to have me draw clues that he's memorized from Blues Clues. ("Bricks, I want bricks; wolf, I want wolf; pig, I want pig"). It's funny too, because if you don't draw it close to the way Steve does, Tony will reject it, and you have to re-draw it. Tony will recite Barney episodes out of the blue. The words he doesn't remember he "bid-a-bid-a-bid-a"s by those. And as far as food is concerned, Tony can be quite adament about getting what he wants. "Drink, I WANT DRINK". He doesn't quite get his "s"es. They come out sounding more like 'f's. I've had little kids come up on the playground and ask if Tony's speaking Spanish, and I say no, he's speaking German.

QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Aug 23 2007, 02:43 PM) QUOTE (Rush! @ Aug 23 2007, 01:03 PM) Wow...never saw this thread. My brother Matthew, 11, turning 12 in October, is autistic. He is diagnosed with a mild case of PDD. He's very difficult to deal with at times, and other times he's not. He has a very hard time making eye contact with strangers, and he usually hides behind my Mom whenever we meet with someone new. He's fine with our close family and relatives, though. He has no friends, nor does he want to make any friends. He mostly enjoys eating, watching TV, and playing video games. His obsession is fans... he loves all electrical appliances as well as garage doors. I don't want to think about what it will be like for him as he gets older... when puberty comes along... and he has to go out and get a job. I fear for him. If he's mildly PDD, he'll do okay with a job. Your parents will make sure he has the right kind of vocational services, and he can get set up with a career that focuses on his strengths. Everything's relative, you know? I'd give anything if Stephen was mildly PDD instead of moderately autistic. I wish your family all the best, Rush! I don't know how many times I've said "I'd give anything if Tony were...." So GG, how severe is Stephen? Is he verbal at all? Tony is verbal, but a lot of his is echolalia. We've worked hard on "I want..." And he knows his colors, animals, and can do eyes, ears, nose, etc. It's a constant struggle. I never would have dreamed two, three years ago that Tony would be where he is today. He's made some great strides, so we keep pushing him further to try to do more. He really gets pissed when we push, but I've learned that he just automatically gets mad so I'll back off. So I try to push him a little further each time, before he completely melts down. I firmly believe with all my heart & soul that there will be a cure for Autism. I think the key is stem cell research. I think that's where the answer will come. They've cured so many other things, that I just know this is coming. I know it.

QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Aug 23 2007, 11:15 AM) We have other stuff like that too...sometimes it can be funny, sometimes it's just frustrating and heartbreaking, isn't it Cygnus? We used to buy the bigger bags of chips (the family size) and Stephen would eat the ENTIRE bag. We had to stop buying them and even now I have to avoid that part of the store. I should have the "Mission: Impossible" music going as my grocery shopping theme song. Avoid the big bags of chips...try not to go past the doughnuts... ARGH...a surprise display of powdered sugar mini-doughnuts and Stephen has already opened a bag of them... That's funny. It's comforting knowing that I'm not the only one who has these problems. Next time I'm in the store with Tony, I'm going to think about the Mission Impossible theme. But you're right, it can be funny and many times heartbreaking.

QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Aug 23 2007, 08:54 AM) QUOTE (Prime Mover and Shaker @ Aug 23 2007, 04:58 AM) I just made it through all of this.... I had no idea that autism was linked to mercury (and in vaccines - horrible). My wife and I talked about this for a while this evening. Our boy had many of his vaccines in 2000 & 2001. The risk level is alarming. You're right, GG - where is the general outcry? I wish I had something constructive to say other than "this has really affected me". It was really something to read 2+ years worth of posts and progress. I jut can't imagine the emotional roller coaster as a parent. Good for you for staying so informed and dedicated! My thoughts & prayers are with you guys. Thank you so much for reading the thread. Pass on any information you can to people around you who have kids...it may not seem like much, but believe me, it is. I'm still waiting for the day when I don't have to deal with situations like this: I take Stephen with me to Publix to get groceries. He knows that he gets to buy one small bag of Lays potato chips in the checkout aisle. I always grab a few more bags to take home for "treats" for him, but I tell the cashier to quickly bag them up so he doesn't see them, or else he'll want to eat them all at once. Meanwhile Stephen sits in the grocery cart, clutching his chips and usually flapping his hands. When she looks baffled I say, with a smile, "He has autism, so we have to do some special things with him." And then...here it comes... "Oh....yeah....umm...what IS autism, exactly?" So she gets the 20 second mini-explanation and we move on. One day I hope people will understand. With Tony it's Little Debbie snacks. He always has to get them. Either the individual ones or a box. It also used to include a box (usually the big one) of Crayola Crayons. Not that he colors so much, as he likes to take the wrappers off each and every one, and then never use them. We would have BOXES of what I called "naked crayons" around the house. I've FINALLY got him off that kick. Except he'll still strip the crayons the kids get at a restaurant.

QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Aug 16 2007, 09:52 AM) Cygnus....he is adorable. Please send me some info about the trust...I don't know enough about them. You can PM me, if you have time. It's SO awful that so many kids are affected, but it gives me peace to know that as parents we're not alone. Big hugs to Tony. GG, I think he's a cutie too. Thanks. I will definately get some stuff together for you. It's a pretty easy process, and we had to hire a special lawyer who does these kinds of trusts. The worse part is trying to plan for your death, but you never know when it's going to happen. I'll PM you when I pull the stuff together.

I hadn't seen this thread before. I knew that GG has a son with Autism. So do I. Tony is 9 now. And what GG has in her signature is true. I've always said I would love to be in Tony's head for 5 minutes, to see how he sees the world and what everything means to him. http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb299/rock101dotnet/100_0135.jpg Tony & Papa on Christmas 2005 The movie Autism Everyday is powerful and very true. Not all Autistic kids are exactly the same, but there are many similarities. People can't even imagine the stress and anxiety a parent of an Autistic child feels. I worry everyday about Tony, and what his life will be like in 10, 20, 30 years, when I'm dead and gone. GG, if you have not, you should set up a "Special Needs Trust" for your son. It gives me great peace of mind that he'll be taken care of financially after I'm gone, without adversely affecting his Medicare/Medicaid and SSI. If you need info on it, let me know. I get sickened by parents who seem to take for granted their "regular" children. I'd give anything, and I mean anything, to have my son not be Autistic. Please, pray for a miracle, not for me, not for GG, but for the millions of little minds that are caged by Autism.

QUOTE (Cavorticus @ Jul 23 2007, 11:26 AM) I was working backstage on Saturday (7/21/07) and after the show ended, Neil Peart actually sprinted from the stadium. Not ran; sprinted. What the heck is up with that? A. Diarrhea B. Had to pee C. Family emergency D. Total dick Don't you just love these drive by shootings???? Anyway, it couldn't have been A. Have you ever tried sprinting with diarrhea creeping up on you? It's impossible. It's more like a quick clenched waddle.

81F/27C with SW winds 11mph, gusting to 21...in other words.... NICE