Stem cells...one month later

As I said in my previous post, Austin has been considered a nonverbal child. He might have said one word a month, if that. We have improvements in the last month. He says go, go, go consistently. He says mama fairly often. He has said other words one time; mine, touch, yummy, vacuum, ha ha, get ya!, no, puh for pull. There's usually a good story when he does say something.

One of the best stories is when he said touch. My sister was watching him at her house and he was in a bad mood so she took him outside to play in the rocks because he loooooves that. He was playing with them and then tried to sit on the step in the deep end of the pool. She didn't let him because he was in his clothes and didn't have his floatie on. He took of running to the steps of the shallow end and went into the pool! Kristi went in after him to get him, but his head went under for a second before she got to him. She showed him how he can touch in each step and then where he can't touch anymore. After this he said....t-u-ch, touch.

Yummy story - My friend Mandy was babysitting him and gave him some cheesy bread. He asked him if it was yummy. He said u-m-y, ummy.

I am sooo thrilled with his progress in speech. I am excited to see it continue. One of the other major changes we see is his interaction with his brother. Austin has paid very little attention to Bryant up until now. Now he wants to interact/play with Bryant but just isn't sure how to yet, so he goes and rolls on him. We have to watch this pretty closely, but Bryant isn't a little guy anymore so that helps. Sometimes when Bryant is crying Austin will go and get him a toy and lay it beside him. He has even taken a toy and put it to Bryant's mouth. Bryant is teething and chewing in everything right now. Pretty impressive Austin even noticed that! Austin is also very aware now of when Bryant is playing and has a toy. Austin gets jealous and likes to go take it away from him and then just lay it down. Not one of the improvements Im as excited about, but at least he's noticing more!

Before school started I met with the director of his preschool to see about him going more hours. She was so great and helped us a lot. Austin now receives an hour of one on one therapy before his regular school day starts. He used to go at 11:15 and now he gets to go at 10:15 for more theraoy. He gets out at 1:30. I am working on getting him an aba therapist that will do approximately 20 hours of therapy with him a week. Hopefully this works out soon. The company I am working with is interviewing an applicant this week!

Those are the main highlights of our last (just over) a month since stem cells. I can't wait to see what the next month holds. Such an exciting time!

Here's the first picture I have taken with both my boys in the same picture and smiling.

 

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The road less traveled...

Back in November Austin was diagnosed with autism. It was when Bryant was still in the Nicu. I came back to Hobbs to take Austin to his appointment and Andrew stayed in Lubbock with Bryant. The group told me that day he was autistic and I later received the report of his evaluation. In the evaluation they included something his father had said during the evaluation, but Andrew wasn't there. There several other things that I just didn't think were accurate. We decided wait and watch him and have him tested again later during the summer. I did lots of researching and learning and late this spring I started to believe that he is autistic. We had his next evaluation in early June and she confirmed the diagnosis.

Austin is nonverbal. He might say one word a month. You just never know when he might say something. He's not as aware of his surroundings as he should be. I saw this very clearly at his Easter party. The kids were anxiously awaiting their turn to sit on the Easter bunny's lap, but Austin had no idea there was anything to be excited about. He got his turn, but if they would have skipped him he wouldn't have known. Typically autistic children aren't loving, but Austin is very loving. I get an abundance of hugs, kisses, and cuddles each day that he initiates his fair share of. He has no seizures, gastrointestinal problems, or sleep issues.

Andrew and I were both unsure of what we needed to do. No one can stand the idea of watching their child struggle. We considered moving, we talked to some therapists we respect, and did lots of research. My sister learned of The Stem Cell Institute in Panama City, Panama. They have amazing results using stem cells to treat autism. She stayed up night one night researching and then told me about it and I did the same. I submitted Austin's application at 4:00 am one morning and by lunch time that same day a lady from the institute called me. Everything moved pretty quickly from there. They gave me names and phone numbers of moms I could contact to discuss their experiences. I contacted these moms and was astounded with their results.

I just couldn't find a reason to not try it. We made all of the arrangements: booked his week at the clinic, hotel, flights, and expedited our passports. Our week in Panama was July 19-26th. We got to go tour Panama City the Sunday before we started at the clinic. On Monday they drew Austin's blood and answered my questions. On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday he received 1 injection each day of 9 million stem cells. We were very impressed with the entire staff and clinic. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. The clinic was incredibly clean.

Important facts about his treatments: The stem cells come from donated umbilical cords from live births. Only about 1 in 10 donated umbilical cords pass the strenuous screening process. The cells he received came from 1 umbilical cord. One umbilical cord can have up to 1 billion stem cells. There is no chance of rejection. These stem cells are so so successful because they go into his body as a blank slate. They attach to his cells that are damaged and start growing. He needs as much therapy as possible to train and stretch his new cells. Many people come back for more treatments. We can go back again in 6 months.

We decided the trip would be too hard in Bryant, so he stayed in Hobbs with my parents. In panama everyone we dealt with outside of the clinic only spoke Spanish. We had a few funny situations when ordering at restaurants. We were able to get a condo that was within walking distance to 2 malls and many restaurants. From our balcony we could see the line of ships that were waiting to pass through the Panama Canal. I was fascinated by that. It was nice being able to walk to so many places since we were nervous to take cabs too much with the language barrier. Panama scenery is beautiful. It was a little weird though because there would be a beautiful area of town and then right next door be really rundown.

We are already seeing positive signs in Austin that the stem cells are working. I'll go into more detail on that later, but he is saying at least a word a day and more aware of his surroundings. It's very exciting to see!

Our view from our balcony in Panama...

A walk we made several times to ken of the malls....

Austin needed a nap after his treatments. Being tired is a positive sign.

 

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Spring Break 2014

It's still the middle of our spring break, but most of the exciting stuff is over. Now it's time for some rest after all this excitement. We started spring break with ha tripe to the carnival. Austin is finally at the age where he's a lot of fun to do these types of things with! Andrew and I had so much fun taking turns riding with him.

 

Afterward Dad watched the boys and Andrew and I got to go back to the carnival by ourselves. It was fun!

We also got to go for a walk. Bryant is getting a little older now where I am finally letting him out of the house more. We got to try out our double stroller. They both loved it!

Next we took our first overnight trip out of town as a family of 4! It was just to Lubbock, but we had a good time! Surprisingly I didn't take many pictures but here's a few...

Also, we had Bryant and Austin's Easter pictures taken right before we went to Lubbock. They turned out pretty cute! They also sat on the Easter bunny's lap in Lubbock. They weren't scared at all!

We've had lots of pictures done recently. While we were in Lubbock we did Bryant's 6 months pictures a little before he turned 6 months old so I'm going to wait to post those. The funny thing is Bryant FINALLY rolled over for the first time DURING the pictures!

 

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Valentine's Day

This week has been incredibly busy! One of the most fun parts is that Bryant chuckled for the first time while he was awake. He's full of smiles most of the time and LOVES to be talked to. He's chuckled in his sleep a couple of times, but this time he was wide awake. I was kissing his cheeks and he let out the chuckle. He looooves that. Hopefully I can get a video of him chuckling soon.

Bryant really enjoys sitting up on the couch and watching tv! Funny boy..

 

We've been waiting (fighting with insurance) since November to get the synagis shot. It's an antibody for rsv and he finally got it this week. Poor baby...it was a painful shot. He was so sweet at the doctors office, even full of smiles with Dr. Murillo.

He was sooo sleepy after the shot. This one is funny....

 

I got to go to Austin's Valentine party at preschool...

 

Austin also got to come to my 4th grade Valentine party. It was a skating party and he had such a great time! No skating for this crazy boy though...

 

And of course Bryant needed some Valentine loves, but he wasn't overly cooperative...

It got a little better though...

So sleepy today...

 

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Fun days

We've been having fun days, but busy days since I've gone back to work. It seems like our nights are super busy with getting two boys bathed and ready for bed, diaper bag packed for the next day, Austin's backpack ready to go, and clothes laid out. Bryant's made major progress sleeping lately. One night he even made it 9 1/2 hours. Earlier I predicted him to be my eater, but for Austin to be the sleeper. I might be wrong on that! Maybe they'll both be good sleepers. Please oh please!

This is what Austin looks like when I put him to bed. He's so happy! Never cries to go to bed for the night. (Now naps in the other hand...)

And here he is just a little later. So sweet...

And here's Bryant in Austin's shopping cart. Ha ha!

Of course Austin needed a turn!

Bryant got a new play gym. He really likes it! He gets to kick the piano keys to make music. He's definitely a future musician! Ha!

I think Austin has accepted we are keeping Bryant. He's started paying a little more attention to him. I think he wonders why Bryant just lays around all of the time!

 

The other night after my bath I walked out into the living room to find Andrew asleep with Bryant on the couch and here's what Austin was doing...

 

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Bryant Andrew

On October 20th my sweet Bryant was born. He was a tiny 3 lbs 14 oz. he spent his first 17 days in the Nicu.

This is right after he was born.

Fortunately, those tubes and wires didn't last long. All he needed help with was regulating his body temp.

Our Nicu nurse was so sweet and gave Bryant his pumpkin shirt and hat. So cute!

Melt my heart...brotherly love. This is Bryant's first day home.

Bryant's first bath at home.

 

Bryant is such a sweet baby. He adjusted to home very quickly! This baby loves to be held at ALL times! He's definitely an eater. During the day he usually goes about 2 hours, but during the night he makes it between 4 and 6 hours. He has already gained and weighs 11 lbs 9 oz! He doesn't mess around!

 

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