Autism Helping Hands

Hey Autism Self Readers

So, there has been a lot of things going on in our Autism family these past few weeks that have made our lives a bit interesting to say the least.  

Over the past few months, my wife has had problems with an enlarged thyroid that has been giving her are hard time with swallowing, breathing and sleeping. We have taken her to the specialist a few times to verify absolutely everything else in order to satisfy the insurance company, such as running swallow studies, allergy testing, the works.  Everything pointed to one thing that had to be done - the thyroid had to be removed.

This presented a bit of a logistics issue here. My wife's parents passed away and that leaves most of the supporting role to me.  We did get some help from some people as well including my own mother who came over from Nashville to spend the night while I went to the hospital and waited.

One of our autism friends, +Leslie Lee  came by the hospital and waited with us and prayed with us as well.

Leslie has 2 children on the spectrum of her own named Matthew and Joshua.   We have spent time with her and them and her husband, Michael from time to time.  

She stayed there at the hospital while I went back home to make sure that my Josh had his dinner and was able to get to bed on time and help my mother navigate the cellphone.  

Again, logistics logistics logistics.

Well, the doctor came out around 3 pm and told us that everything went fine.  It seems that my wife's thyroid has been growing like that for some time now and it was squeezing her windpipe.  He had to proceed very carefully since the thyroid had roots that were tangles with some nerve fibers which control the larynx.  This is probably why a lot of surgeons want to hold off on a thyroidectomy because it is delicate and invasive work.

This is the thyroid itself after it was removed. As you can see, the left side has some huge nodules on it and it can cause a lot of pain on the person when it gets this big.  Fortunately, for my wife, this organ is now removed and she is at home recovering.

For myself, I have taken off the next week from the office to take care of things and make sure she rests during this recovery process.

We have had some other autism friends come by and bring us food during this time, include Kathy Gross(I don't have a pic for her) and one other friend as well.

We are very grateful for the help that we have received from them and appreciate the help and concern and the prayers for us. Believe me, it does help.

So far, our lives remain normal and Josh seems to be doing fine in spite of all the changes that we have been through so far.  He went to school just he always does.  When he came home, my mother +Catherine Hill   was there waiting for him and he was fine with that.

Mom

So in short, our Autism Friends came and helped when we needed some assistance, even when we didn't expect anything.

The Lord is good to us and this experience is a good reminder of that.

I am signing off for the moment, to keep an eye on the wife.

Thank you all for coming by!