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Monday I decided to give my male cat to my brother. He wanted another cat and I am tired of Lucky so I was happy to let him go. Here’s the thing my brother is currently staying with me so he can save up enough money to move down south. So, he agreed to take Lucky with him being that Lucky gets along with his cat Cleo… Yes I have 3 cats in my house and I’m not happy about it 🙄. One is enough.  I only got Lucky because Justin guilt tripped me into getting him.

I had to either produce a sibling or a playmate for our female cat Isis (We named her way before we knew about the terriost group).  I’m not ready to produce another child just yet so I went with the cat. He reminds me every so often that I’m the reason why he’s lonely. 😒😂

Justin is too cute when he’s reasoning.

The following morning I decided to tell Justin that I’m giving Lucky to his uncle… He bursts out into tears. I knew I messed up when he started crying. So he decided not to talk to me and went straight to his room. I was going to go talk to him but I knew when he’s ready he’ll come and talk to me. 

I have to go now.. I’ll finish the story in a few.

The Saga of Lucky 

Part II / Two for One

I know I’m a few tomorrow’s far from when I originally said I would continue part two. So here is goes. Dr. Levitt thought it be a good idea if he did one big surgery rather than two separate one because of the risk of him losing his hearing again once the tubes fell out. They say after the age of five ear infections shouldn’t occur as much as you get older. Well that hasn’t been the case for Justin. Somehow he still kept getting them. Well know we know why he kept getting them. His adenoids were so large they were covering the hole that drains your ear fluid. Which is why he had fluid build up in his ears. 
I wasn’t happy about the surgery because I was more concerned with how Justin will react. However, I know that it was a must because he needs his hearing. As soon as we left the doctor’s office I notified his father. He father was worried just as I was. This would be the first time Justin’s been in the hospital for something serious. He’s never really been or had to go to the hospital. Except for the one time when he was little and he needed stitches. Justin tripped over something and fell onto a broken chair. My mom was the one who took him to the hospital that time. I was at work. From what I recall from my mom’s version of things he put up a fight with the doctors. Justin was a strong little boy. He didn’t know he strength.
 After recalling that incident now I’m remembering another incident. When Justin was 4 he was bitten by another student who had the HIV virus. Yup! You read right. I don’t know how I forgot that day. I remember when I got that phone call from the school asking me to come in. I’m saying to myself why did they need me to come in for a bite mark they could have just applied first aide and wrote me an incident report. It wasn’t until I got there and they sat me down I understood. All I remember was grabbing Justin and flying straight to the hospital. The reason I had to take him to the hospital was because the other student broke skin. As soon as I arrived at the emergency room they took him straight in. I explained what happened. The number one question that I did not have the answer to was ” Did the other student have cuts or his blood in his mouth as he bit your son?”. Like I said I didn’t know the answer. The school didn’t provide me with that information. The hospital called the school and no one answered. For precautions and safety reasons they took blood for blood work and they started Justin on HIV meds. He would have to take those meds for a week or two. I was not a happy mother. He would also have to get tested again in six months to make sure he doesn’t have the virus. All I could think of is what else are we gonna have to go through. 
Justin is HIV free and he didn’t attend that school that long after the incident. 

Dr. ‘s Appointment

So, now I’ll continue the story. We get to the doctors appt and we go inside to explain to Dr. Levitt everything that’s going on. In addition to his hearing loss I was concerned about Justin snoring while awake. So, Dr. Levitt checks Justin and says his Adenoids and Tonsils are extremely large which is causing fluid to build up in his ears. I didn’t realize that our Ears, Nose, and Throat was that much connected. He said before he can make a decision on the type of treatment needed he wanted to check Justin’s hearing first. I’m thinking I had to scheduled another appointment to get his hearing check. Nope, everything was set up right in his office. 
Justin is looking at me nervously. He’s asking me what do I think is going to happen. I explain to him like before. The most serious thing that can happen is that he has to have surgery. He didn’t like the sound of that. I mean who does. I reminded him to remain calm and trust that the doctor will make sure he’s taken care of. So we go inside a small room to have his hearing check. As soon as the lady hook Justin up to the machine to do a fluid check she said ” Oh wow he has a lot of fluid build up in his ears”. She then takes in the hearing booth and checks his hearing. She’s asking me questions while doing the hearing test such as “is the TV louder than normal, does he talks lower, does he turns to one side so that he can hear you, and is he having a hard time hearing the teacher in school”. I answered yes to all of her questions. She then says “he’s going to need an IEP or a 504 plan because he’s lost a significant amount of hearing in his ears and his teachers need to make the appropriate accommodations so that it won’t impact his school work.” I took a deep breath and said well he has an IEP but I’ll see if we can get a 504 plan implemented. She also informed me to make sure he remains healthy as possible because any sign of a cold or sickness can reduce his hearing further to the point he becomes deaf. I took about ten deep breaths after hearing that. 
For the first marking period Justin received 4 A’s, 3 B’s, and 1 C. I think he did a really great job for someone who loss their hearing. He didn’t like having the C but I reminded him he did his best no matter what. So, we’re now back with Dr. Levitt and he reads over the hearing test. He said “well I have good news and bad news”. We can fix the problem but he has to have surgery”. So I’m thinking okay he just needs tubes in his ears. Dr. Levitt said “I can place just the tubes in his ears but because his adenoids and tonsils are so large we need to remove them so there is no more fluid build up”. Once again I said okay. I asked if we can just do the tubes to see how that works. He explained to me “we can but because of the size of his adenoids he’s for certain that once the tubes fall out his adenoids will continue to cover the hole that drains the fluid out of your ears”. As a result we will be back to where we are today. So he says “instead of doing two separate surgeries let’s just do one.”
That’s Part 1! I’ll continue the rest tomorrow. I have to get Justin up and ready for school. See you tomorrow. Have a good day everyone!!! 

Good Morning!

I have so much to share. I feel like I will be doing a flashback for the whole month of January to tell you guys about our December. In November we found out that Justin lost hearing in both his ears due to fluid build up. He lost 30% of his hearing in his right ear and 50% of his hearing in his left ear. He kept complaining that he couldn’t hear us that much and was having trouble hearing the teachers. I didn’t take what he said lightly. I first took him to his pediatrician to see his take on things. He thought maybe it could be an ear infection and allergies. But after checking his ears it wasn’t an ear infection. 
So he placed him on Flonase for a month and then recommended after that month on the Flonase if it does not work contact an ENT. I was praying the Flonase worked. Everyday at bedtime I made sure Justin did what he was suppose to. I would say “Justin did you inhale the Flonase” and his response as usual would be ” Yes, mom I did”. To make sure the Flonase worked I even cleaned out his ears every couple of days hoping that would help with his hearing. It would be the first day in November that I would receive a phone call from the school nurse. She informed me that Justin failed his in school hearing test. I informed her I was already on it and I’m just waiting to see the ENT specialist. I scheduled an appt with an ENT specialist but we weren’t scheduled to be seen until the third week in November. 
That seemed like a really long time being that he failed his hearing test. So I searched my desk for the ENT specialist list his pediatrician gave me and decided to call another specialist on the list. I called the specialist office and explained everything to his receptionist and she said we can see him tomorrow. I was so happy! Yes, we can finally find out what is going on with his hearing. 
Because I have to get ready for my day I will share what happen at the doctor’s appt. tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy your day! 

Merry Christmas!!!

We’re wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!!! 

We celebrated Christmas a little early due to Justin’s surgery. I’ll be sure to share the details of his surgery with you all soon.  

Merry Christmas!!! 

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This weekend has been a Wii filled weekend. Somehow Justin convinced me to place the Wii in the livingroom. I thought to myself maybe it’s not so bad having the Wii in the living room because I can catch up on my shows like Law and Order and Criminal Minds. I know I can watch them on regular tv, but there’s nothing like watching your favorite television shows back to back without waiting a whole week to see it again. I don’t care if I am a season behind, it’s certainly worth the wait.  
Back to the story. So Justin pretty much took over my living room now. Everyday, he says to me “Mom, can I play the Wii?” I sigh and say, ” Yes Justin.” So in the process of him playing the Wii in the living room he’s got my boyfriend and I playing the Wii with him. He’s truly enjoying his family moments. The smile on his face is priceless. Anything to make him smile makes me smile. Because of our Wii Moments we’re now having Wii challenges. So far he’s kicking our butts in bowling but I rock in Archery! Lol

Bring your Child to Work Day

So, last month in April it was bring your child to work day. Did I bring Justin with me? Why, of course I did. He was so excited to miss school for the day and to see what its like being a teacher. Within two hours he understood why, when I come home, I like for it to be silent for at least twenty minutes. He said to me “ Wow, mom you do a lot of talking and the kids really don’t listen to you that much”. I laughed and said to him “ you’re right, I do, and they don’t”. What can I expect from  four and five year olds. I appreciate that he understands why I may come home frustrated sometimes. I think its a great thing when your child can understand you, not only as a parent, but as the other roles you play in life.

While working with me, Justin was asked to explain and talk about autism to a group of students. He was nervous and very hesitant about talking. He started out as “ So, what do you want to know”. I smiled, stood up and decided to help him explain what autism is. After I spoke to the children explaining autism, Justin spoke about what it is like having it. I remember him saying “ I’m just like you guys, you know, but I’m just a little different. I like things a certain way and I learned how to like new things”. After we finished his talk, some of the students and teachers asked questions. Justin answered them to the best of his ability. Speaking about our life felt so rewarding. We both enjoyed sharing our experience with autism.

So, as we’re walking to my classroom, Justin says to me, “You know Mom, a lot of my classmates do not believe I have autism, so can we talk to them like we talked to the people today?” Uh oh, what did I start? Because he was such a trooper today, I told him yes we can. So we are scheduled to talk to his classmates next week. Wish us luck!

He laughs I laugh

When Justin laughs, I laugh. Have you ever met or known a person who has a laugh that is so funny all you can go is laugh at it? Justin has that type of laugh. The laugh comes when he finds something to be very comical. Tom and Jerry, America’s Funniest Videos, and Madtv are some of the shows that have him cracking up. I had a rough day at work last week. As I was sitting in the living room, getting ready to meditate to clear my head from the day, Justin burst out of nowhere with a laugh. As soon as I heard him laugh, I smiled and laughed with him. His laugh makes my day.

In addition to laughing at shows. He laughs to himself. When I hear and see him laughing I always ask, “why are you laughing?” He says, I have a movie in my brain and I’m just watching what’s funny. Sometimes I wish I could be in his brain with him so that I can see what he is laughing at. I enjoy how he knows what makes him smile and laugh. All it takes is just a memory to play and there he goes laughing away.

Light It Up Blue

On March 31st I went out to the Dollar Store and bought some paint. I bought finger paint because I decided to decorate my window in honor of Autism Awareness Day and Month. I was impressed with myself. I wrote backwards and I did pretty good I’d say. In addition to buying paint I also bought blue vases and decide I would put candles inside of them to light daily. However, fire safety got the best of my thoughts and I decided against using it.

I guess battery operated candles it is. I decided to use the candles I normally put in the window during Christmas time. I was sure I would have to replace the batteries after a week of use.Well, to my surprise, I didn’t have to replace the batteries at all. For the entire month of April the battery operated candles remained lit.

I realize I forgot to turn the candles off about halfway into the month. When I went to see if the battery had died the candle was still shining it’s light. As I write this both candles are still lit and shining Blue for Autism.

I don’t know why the candles survived so long but it served as a reminder that no matter how weak you may think you are, you can conquer any doubts that are present. 

One of the Candles that remained lit for Autism Awareness Month.