Thursday, July 17, 2008

A New Adventure

It has been a while since I posted anything on this blog. I think I find it hard to write when there seems to be nothing super exciting going on. However, if I was to just wait for big stuff, I would be missing out on all the little tiny minutiae that makes up a life with Alexandra. She has so many fabulous little moments during the course of a day.

That being said, I do have some major news to write of and it has been some time in the making! A little backdrop:- more than 3 years ago, Alex went to have a hearing test at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia. They wanted to ensure that her hearing was ruled out before they gave a complete diagnosis of autism. They also needed to do this under sedation as they could gather a more accurate test that way. After repeated attempts of putting an IV into her failed, they asked permission to use ketamine which would calm her enough to allow the IV to be put in. We agreed, the test was done and after an hour or so, we got to take her home. The strangest thing happened the rest of that day. Alexandra was not autistic! For the rest of that day, the she was social, happy and talking like she had never done before. The fog of autism slowly returned but for 24 hours, we had a daughter that was not autistic. I reported this to her Developmental Pediatrician who was excited and told me she would research this and let me know any findings within her community! Years go by and we are now on the West coast. 6 weeks ago, this Doctor tracked us down and called me. It was more than 2 years since she had seen Alexandra but she had never forgotten. She called to tell me that she had finally found a study that matched the experience we had had with the ketamine. She sent me all the research findings, the medicine information and told me that I would have to get our new Developmental Pediatrician on board. This would be no mean feat as she errs on the side of caution when it comes to medications.

Long story short (or shorter than it could be) after much research of her own, our Doctor prescribed Alexandra with a drug called Namenda and she took her first pill yesterday. The study on this is amazing and it is so hard to not let myself get caught up in the possibilities. This has so much potential but I know I have to stay on an even keel and not get too ahead of myself. So that is where we are at right now. I am going to use this blog as a diary and a way to report anything that happens while she starts off on this adventure! I will post a link to the initial study later today but I need to go get the lovely lady ready for school - god bless summer school!

Stay tuned!

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