Night of the living Autism....

Most autistic children have times where they don't sleep well. This is very true in our house as well. However, Phoebe has this incredible ability to scare me to death. Although she is the loudest person I know, not knowing social boundaries, and when to stop...she is like a STEALTH bomber at night.

The scene is not unlike the scene from the movie.."SIGNS." I am standing in the kitchen getting things all cleaned up when I turn to face my five foot, four inch daughter, who is slightly slumped over with her head to the side. When I say I turn to face her, I mean she is about 5 inches from my face (it's that social boundaries thing again) I usually scream, and jump to which she says..."can I have a glass of water?" I didn't hear her open her door, or walk down the hall (my house is small), or come and breathe right next to me. She gets her drink and heads back to her room. This process then takes me another 2 hours to get my heart to settle down.

Tonight was not much different. This time it was after dinner...and I was cleaning my room while the kids played outside with the neighbors. I was doing my usual talking to myself, rationalizing the world, and getting my schedule figured out...when I turned towards my doorway to the words..."MOM, THE NEIGHBORS GOT A CAT." I think I must have jumped back 2 feet, and screamed. I didn't hear the front door open, nor did she yell out for me, as usual.

I laughed and told Phoebe she should dress like a Ghost, or a ZOMBIE for Halloween, to which she responded..."What's a Zombie?" I just laughed and she went back outside.

:)

Autism and divorce aside

Phoebe had oral surgery on Monday. SURGERY. I was a nervous wreck, but I buried that way down deep, so that my little girl wouldn't panic. She looks to me for all her information on how to react, how to act, etc. I am her world. So, I put on a happy face and drove her down to the hospital at 5:30 am. I hid every morsel of food in this house the night before and turned off the water, locked cabinets and slept in the living room- so that she wouldn't eat or drink anything after midnight.

We arrived at Hurley Hospital at 6:10 am. Phoebe's dad drove in right behind us. On this day, her dad and I put autism aside. We put divorce aside. We were Phoebe's parents and we were there for her. I kept my game face on through the IV placement (even though I looked away), and I even kept it together when she was in pre-op. Once the nurse came to get her and she turned the corner for the operating room - I let loose. I sobbed. My ex-husband put an arm around my shoulder and comforted me. We put autism and divorce aside, and sat together for 3 hours while they worked on Phoebe's mouth. We talked, and laughed, played games on the smart phones, and tried to keep each other occupied. At one point, he said if I didn't stop tapping my foot he was going to sit on the other side of the room. That got a smile.

Finally, Phoebe was awake and in recovery. When they came out- they said she was asking for....MOM. I smiled and he chuckled. I got to her, and she was sleepy and grumpy, but doing well. Her first words were..."can we go home now?" I said..."pretty soon." Then she said. "I want dad now." Then I chuckled.

Once in the recovery room- Phoebe did great and got to leave pretty quickly. She was ready to go. I got the car, and her dad brought her in a wheelchair. She got in, and with a few short good-byes we left. Before we headed out, her dad and I just looked at each other and nodded. We put divorce aside. (For once)