To feel this thankful, and to be this ever grateful, is a feeling I hope to capture and hold on to even when it doesn't seem like there is anything at all to be thankful for.
We have been praying and searching for/about something so dear to our hearts for many years. Seven to be exact. It is this:
To have a doctor who understands our situation, and to respect our decisions.
Now, we had a pretty good doctor, but the practice and staff she had were not impressive.
I will state this now. Having a son with autism has caused me to be extremely involved in the health and care for our children. (I know that may sound weird, like shouldn't that be the case without having a son with autism?) Surprisingly, most people I know, including us 7 years ago did whatever the doctor said, how they said to do it, and when.
Now, I have much respect for doctor's and what they do, but let me show you the difference in what I have wanted for our family all along.
OLD appt: Call to set up appt. Leave message. They call back, set appt. We go in, wait. Nurse calls us back, weighs. We wait. See nurse pract. They vaccinate (note: no questions, no choice really) They send home some Tylenol, say he will feel awful, but it's okay, it's normal. Leave after 10 min of actually "seeing" anyone.
Years go by, we do a ton of research, pray, decide not to vaccinate (that was the best decision for US). We have a baby, discuss our decision with dr., she totally "gets" our decision. Her nurses do not. They will not help me when I call for therapy prescription, they won't help me when I call and ask about a tetanus shot when our 1 yr old gets stitches. The only thing they care about is why they're not vaccinated and 'don't you know that vaccinations have not been proven to cause autism?"
Yes, I know. There are many many factors to our decision. Being obedient to God is the main one, and they have not been proven otherwise.
This leads me to now: Last month I call a highly respected office, who are only accepting special needs patients. They answer the phone, take my info, set an appt.
We go in today. Sign in, wait, get called back, where they check his vitals. We wait. Walks in the dr. and his wife. They sit down, meet us, want to know all about him. His past, any illness, his vaccinations, his brothers, his diet, any medication, therapy, what he enjoys. They absolutely 100% respect our decisions, applaud how healthy he is, are so thankful to us for not having him on any medication...ever, set up a scholarship for him to have horse therapy since he enjoys it so much, give me some of their favorite books to borrow, start him on a natural path to help his digestive system, give me their email address if I need anything at all, AND even though they only accept special needs, they invite us to bring our other boys since they understand how hard it is to find a doctor to work with!
Now, this is bringing me to the last thing, and the thing I am most thankful for! Yes, there is more!
They, stayed in there for almost 2 hours (her mostly while he met with other patients) getting to know us and our needs! They said they were so impressed with how much I knew about autism and health and how well we took care of him.(He hadn't even been to a doctor in 7 yrs) and They also said they have never had anyone come in and know as much as I did about their own children and autism. Then they asked why I was even looking for a doctor HaHa. There are many reasons of course, and they really did know why, and helped me make professional decisions regarding our next steps with Jaiden.
This is where I say. We truly have prayed about our decisions regarding parenting in every aspect of our boys' lives. Especially, school, health, friends, and church. GOD, himself lead us these ways, and I can see why! Today, through these highly respected medical doctors, He let me see that we were listening to Him (even though our so called friends thought we were awful), and that it is paying off.
He spoke to me through them today. On a piece of paper with the header: Medical Instructions.
You have done a great job with Jaiden. Keep up your good work.
He loves us. He shows us in so many ways, and some days we close our eyes to miss them. Then, some days, he shows us in a way that we can't miss it, and may even send us a little note. I encourage you, if you haven't, to GIVE your children to HIM. Pray about every single aspect of their lives, He will show you the best way to take care of them. Pray about it, even if it's something you think you already have your mind set on, because if His will is different then your own, you can through obedience change your child's life.
If you would like to know more of our medical story and Jaiden please read here.
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