Where do I begin?

It's been a long time since writing in my journal. If I go too far back I will never finish.

Last year, I consulted a psychologist to give a formal evaluation of my younger daughter. The results were that she has autism - level 2. Even though we had this diagnosis, I could not afford to get any treatment for her. Last summer, her school offered a summer camp with a behaviour therapist for a fairly reasonable price, so we took advantage of that, but then stopped again. Toward the end of her first term this school year, I started looking again for help. Being in school was getting too difficult without the proper interventions.

While trying to get some money together, so that I could get her some occupational and behaviour therapy, we had another financial setback. My husband had an infection on his foot and being diabetic he needed to have surgery to remove the infection. The surgery was followed by wound care every couple of days. Insurance covered the surgery, but not any of the wound care.

In January, I started therapy for my younger daughter where the therapists could come to the school. I didn't need my parents to find out and stop it. I kept my fingers crossed that she would learn quickly.

I thought, "there can't be more after this!". But alas, another problem occurred. I checked my older daughter in the bathroom one day and realized her periods were far from normal. The first clinic I took her to would not see her but did recommend a clinic that had a paediatrician on at all times. The test for Von Willibrand was negative, but she was anemic. She was referred to a gyne, who put her on medication.

Surely there is an up by now, right? Nooooooooo! At the end of January, my youngest daughter teacher died. She taught at school the whole day. I even saw her when I went to drop something by the school. By 10 pm she was gone. My daughter, being autistic, still does not understand what happened. She talks very little about school anyway.

My 6 yr old autistic daughter has continued therapies until the end of May. They steadily became less frequent. I have to re-assess my finances again. In the meantime, I realized that ACE curriculum was not working for her, and sought to find her another school. She currently attends summer school at the school we hope she will attend in September.

Then, last week, I came down with a UTI. I ended up at the clinic. It seems the combination of antibiotics and D-Mannose is working. Thank goodness. I hate the lingering symptoms.

On the bright side, my husband's foot wound has almost closed up. Just a few more visits and we should be done with that expense.

Sorry, this was so long. I just had to get it all out.

Hope some of my friends are still out there.

HUGS to all,

Rosa