Very sincere apologies, again, for the lack of "updatiness," recently. Truth is, I've just gotten lazy, lately. Hard to get back into the routine off of a vacation like that.

I know that several people have kind of gotten interested in following our "tale," and that is much appreciated. I'm kind of picking up where I left off, and also trying to get a mental image of where I want to go from here, as well. There is so much information out there, but it's hard to organize it into something readable, while trying to make it somewhat interesting.

Stephanie had one session with the psychologist who was supposed to give her some help with social skills. We aren't going back. I've only met the lady once, and didn't like her. My wife felt uneasy after the first visit where she was the only one there.

The doctor had some adverse reactions to the news that we had put Stephanie on a GFCF diet. That concerned her. I'm really beginning to believe that this doctor hasn't a clue about autistic kids at all. My wife said that the doctor even went so far as to say that she thought that Steph might not be autistic, but just ADHD. Now that gets me on a whole different soap box, because I am a firm believer that "ADHD" is not a true condition. I realize some of you may disagree with me, and that's fine. I can deal with that. Truth is, though, that the diagnosis has been thrown around willy-nilly, as much as it's "cure," which is, allegedly, Ritalin. And if you've read my journal much, you know how I feel about Ritalin. Anyway...

On the second visit with this doctor, which included Stephanie, the doctor wanted Stephanie to start keeping a journal, trying to identify events that made her feel "yucky." ??? Ok...we're dealing with autism, here, remember? Admittedly, it is "high functioning," but still...if you had ever seen Stephanie try to write a complete sentence, you would be amused at any doctor who would suggest that she keep a journal. And Stephanie couldn't think of anything that made her feel "yucky." Oh, yes. There was one. When her Great Grandmama died just over a year ago. That made her feel "yucky." And how is a journal of events that make you feel "yucky" going to help with social skills? Who knows? I'm no psychologist, but this didn't seem to be going in a direction that we needed, so we cancelled the next appointment with this one. We're not giving up on this idea, though.

In the meantime, Stephanie has had one more session of PK Therapy with Dr. Hamel. I think...(not sure) this makes 5 or 6. This one doesn't seem to have made her nearly as tired, and this whole week (the session was Friday morning) has been pretty good. There have been no "episodes" at all. Now, mind you, school is out, summer is in, and she pretty much gets to do whatever she wants all day. But it still seems different. So we are encouraged. I guess, after we've been doing this therapy for ten weeks, we will do some kind of test to see if she is excreting some metals.

We've added Zinc to the regimen of pills that she has to take daily, now, on the recommendation of the nurse that heads up our support group. Incidentally, I'm thinking seriously about taking probiotics myself.

I still haven't finished reading Evidence of Harm. I had to put it down and read some light fiction for a few days. This included a delightful book of "grown up" fairy tales, and I'm about halfway through The Rule of Four. Pretty good book, too. But I'll get back to Harm, and give some highlights of the book in my diary, here.

Stephanie and I were priveleged to take part in a Q&A session with Mark Teixeira of the Texas Rangers last Saturday. It was part of the events for the Dr. Pepper Jr. Rangers club, of which Steph is a member. It was a lot of fun, and "Tex" is a remarkable guy. He spoke briefly of his faith in God during this session and commented on the importance of the fact that he tries to play for the glory of God, but also remarking that there are more important things in life than baseball. (What??) After that session, I got a picture of Stephanie with Chuck Morgan, the Rangers' home field announcer (I'll post that on flickr during the next day or two), and we also were fortunate to get an autograph from Vicente Padilla, one of the Rangers' starting pitchers. That was a bonus.

I guess that's it for now. I have to get back to work. Thanks for reading.

TTFN, y'all

Missed anything?
The Beatles--Abbey Road/Alice Cooper--Killer - July 04, 2012
The Beatles Eponymous Album - June 26, 2012
Autism's False Prophets - February 12, 2011
Santana--Guitar God? - November 11, 2010
Tribute To the Red Sox - September 29, 2010