Diagnosis

Today was a big day. A day I will never forget. The day I learned that Fox has autism. I went for his follow-up appointment today and heard the words that I didn't want to hear. I thought I had prepared myself, but as I sat there listening to them tell me about the results of his evaluation, all I could think was "I can't believe it's really true". I tried so hard to listen to everything they were saying, but as soon as they got past the diagnosis I had a hard time concentrating. I kept asking questions and they assured me they were going to give me papers with everything written down to go over later - thank goodness. They went over the different kinds of disorders on the autism spectrum...  PDD-NOS & Aspergers (which are on the mild side of the spectrum)...  Classic Autism, Rett's Disorder & Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (which are on the more severe end of the spectrum). They officially diagnosed him with mild to moderate classic autism. My mind is spinning with everything that happens from here... blood tests, more evaluations, increased services, etc. They want to add speech therapy 3-4 times a week and ABA once or twice a week, which would put us up to 9-10 hours a week of services. It's going to be difficult to have so many therapies every week for him... someone at the house every morning and every afternoon gets a bit exhausting at times... but I'm just so thankful that all of this help is available to him. And as upset as I am to have heard the news today, I am relieved to finally have a diagnosis and not have to wonder any more. It's going to be a challenging road ahead, no question, but I have some wonderful people in my life and I know that is what is going to carry me (& Fox) through.

xo Betsy