Where there's a will, there's a way.

For most of my life, now, I've been struggling with eating. Complicated by GERD (that's gastroesophageal reflux disease), food has not been my most favorite thing in the world. My diet still consists of liquid supplements and high-calorie pediatric formulas, a milkshake of sorts like the one I described in an earlier post.

Every afternoon, I munch a Cheeto after my bottle. I like Cheetos. They hardly ever make me gag. But that is the closest I've gotten to eating food.

As some of you know, my life has been somewhat complicated of late as various doctors attempt to determine if I have Autism. It seems pretty clear to my pediatrician as well as Mom and Dad, but we must have a professional diagnosis before I can start any kind of treatment. Autism is a scary thing. It seems there is no clear-cut reason for its onset, nor any surefire cure, just a lot of different theories that seem to help a lot of different kids suffering from this same disease that disables a lot of normal kids like me. But I have hope.

My Mom spends hours every day researching and reading and finding the best ways to battle the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, and my Dad is always there with her supporting and reading as well. I know it has been hard on both of them. Life pretty much revolved around me before. Now, there is little time for anything else.

Autism in children is best treated if it is diagnosed early. The earlier the better. I'm almost two, and thanks to my parents being diligent and aware, I have a very good chance at overcoming this. My Mom is the miracle worker, always on the phone, getting me appointments, making sure I'm not forgotten by the medical professionals who seem to need sticky notes on the their foreheads to remember they have people they need to help who can't help themselves. Mom's the one that makes sure that sticky note is always front and center on their forehead.

So what are my symptoms:

1. (And this is the big one) I don't talk. Not one word, and although I used to do a little babbling, I stopped that some time ago. Most of my communication is done by leading. When there's something I want, I go to my Mom (or Dad but only if Mom's not available), grab her hand, and lead her to what I want. I don't point or communicate my desires, needs, likes or dislikes in any other way.

2. Tip-toe walking and hand-flapping are two things my parents noticed at a relatively young age; of course, then they thought these self-stimulatory acts were just me being cute. The truth was much harder to swallow as these two things are commonly seen in children with autism.

3. I'm a Grouper. While my parents have filled my home with all sorts of toys, I rarely play with them appropriately. I mostly find balls, Easter eggs, and cars and put them in large groups throughout the house or line them up along the windowledge.

4. The mundane fascinates me. The park near our home has a water fountain that leaks constantly. This is why I like to go to the park. I could care less about the other kids playing or even the toys, its the water that I want, and if Mom would let me, I would spend hours and hours there touching it, looking at it, watching it without any care for the things going on around me. Some of my other fixations include elevators, sprinklers, the flower pot outside the front door (also filled with water), well, those are probably the big ones.

Those are the things that have gotten me a lot of attention recently and I'm scheduled for several evaluations in the next couple of weeks to determine just how to get me back on track with other kids my age. It's been a rough few weeks for us all.

So, as I said before, there's not really any one thing that experts say is "the cause" of autism. What it looks like, is any number of things happening at the right (or wrong) time which seem to trigger autism in children mostly between the ages of 18 months and 3 years. 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism. What triggered my symptoms? Well, after much discussion and research, the following seem to be high on that list:

1. My reflux. It seems about 70% of children diagnosed with autism have a severly impaired gastrointestinal tract from disorders like GERD. Between the medications and my limited diet, it's very likely my body wasn't able to absorb and digest the nutrients I needed (Calicium, Protein, Iron, and Zinc to name a few).

2. My vacinations. In 2001 vaccine makers have been taking toxic levels of mercury out of childrens vaccines. I've had the same injections every kid is suppose to have with the addition of Hepatitis A and a Flu shot. The Flu shot was probably the worse of them all because manufacturers are still allowed to use mercury as a preservative in this vaccine. My Mom was also given Rohgam before getting pregnant with me because of a miscarriage, and instead of listening to my Dad and what his blood type was, they gave it to her anyway, saying "It can't hurt anything if she gets it." Mercury is also used in Rohgam as a preservative.

Those are two big red flags when looking at what might cause autism, but again, no one can say this causes autism or that causes autism, which kind of sucks for parents of children with autism. With all that, the last question is "What are we doing about it?"

1. A new diet. Mom and Dad are working to get me on a gluten free/casein free diet, which has been something of a headache since there is so little I will actually eat. I don't eat food. My entire diet consists of liquid and vitamin supplements, and getting me to eat something different that fits into this special diet is not only difficult but expensive, really expensive.

2. All new play. Mom has joined a Mother's playgroup that not only has playdates for me but mother gatherings for her. Don't know what Dad's gonna do. We also spend a lot of time at our local parks trying to get me to interact with or at least notice other little kids and what they do. And there's a lot more one on one face time with Mom and Dad.

3. Doctor's appointements. Oh yes, over the next six months we have appointments with the Regional Center of the East Bay which will help diagnose my condition and determine what therapies are needed to help me develop the areas that have been affected, as well as appointments with the Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinic and a DAN Doctor, for pretty much the same reason, although the DAN Doctor will look a lot more closely at what's going on internally.

Once the doctor's appointments get going, I'll have a lot more to talk about. Looks like the next year or so is going to be pretty busy for me, Mom, and Dad. We appreciate all the love and support we've gotten and will try to post updates as often as we can. Enjoy the video.

Hunter out.