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02/02/10 |
                              
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Happy Birthday
Cameron turned 7 this month. Honestly, I had planned on a nice quiet family celebration (my Lyme treatments, travel, kids treatments & school, building a home, selling a home and volunteer work just has gotten the best of me). However, Cam had very different plans. One of Cam's friends was at our house last month and Cam wrote a birthday party invitation and gave it to him while they were playing. Seeing two little boys so happy and eager for a party, I was talked into it. We went to a local bounce house place for the party. It was the same place we had celebrated Cameron's 5th birthday. At that time Cameron had begun biomedical treatment 6 months prior and had begun transdermal chelation 6 weeks prior. He was doing well. He had finally learned to jump and to speak again but had a very long way to go. This year was quite a contrast. He was playing with the other kids and not just parallel play. He was speaking, laughing, racing and enjoying the other children who had come to his party. The only "autism" moment we had was when everyone began to sing "Happy Birthday!" Groups singing has always been a problem for Cam. He often covers his ears and sometimes cries and screams. We assume that it's just certain pitches that bother him since he doesn't mind some individuals singing or music on the radio, but only seems to have problems with some live groups of people singing. This year he covered his ears and screamed stop singing. We all did. Then Cameron whispered, "quiet like this." Everyone began again by whisper/singing Happy Birthday and Cameron was very happy. When it was time to open presents, Cam opened them one at a time and then went to find the person the gift was from, kissed them on the shoulder and said "thank you!" The Not-so Happy Birthday Present As of Cameron's 7th birthday, he became ineligible for insurance benefits covering any of his therapies. As far as the insurance company is concerned, Cameron's condition is no longer treatable after the age of six (for developmental delays and autism spectrum disorders). Cam's Occupational and Speech Therapists' rates are $200 for a 45 minute session. We have decided to consult his OT on a less frequent basis for evaluations, recommendations and reality checks every 6 months. His OT is the only current therapist or doctor who has been seeing Cameron since age 3, thus she remains a very consistent measuring stick for us. We are shopping for a qualified speech therapist with reasonable rates. I've also scheduled an appointment with our family physician to request Cam's referring diagnosis for speech therapy to be changed to a neuropathy diagnosis, which may be payable by insurance and also more appropriately fits Cameron's current medical issues affecting speech.
This site was last updated 01/09/09
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