Tag: Travel

It was just over a year ago that we started seeing a new doctor for Max, Dr. Michael Goldberg in Tarzana CA. In just a short 12-13 months we have seen amazing progress with Max and I think we both agree that it was a great decision to start him on the NIDS treatment.

The big improvements have been with Max being much happier and happier more often. He smiles and interacts with us and his siblings more and in the last 6 weeks or so has had a language explosion that seems to get better daily. His personality seems to shine though more now than ever before. He has improved greatly in both cognitive and non-cognitive skills. When I look back at what he as like a year ago when we took him to CA what sticks out the most is that he was much more inside of himself. It was as if you really had to “go to him” to pull any real interaction out of him. Even when I look back at the photos from last year, he looks sad or sick in many of them.

Now, he is much more likely to come to you, ask questions, show you something he did, ask for help or just want to sit with you. Those all sound so basic, but it’s all new ground for Max. Even as I type this he’s playing with his brother Andrew in ways that he wouldn’t have a year ago. He now engages Andrew instead of it only being the other way around. It’s really amazing.

The down side would be the mood swings he has from time to time. When he gets angry or frustrated it can take a long time to get him out of it. And when he’s in one of those moods it causes the whole house to be tense. In that area he has been a puzzle because we make changes that seem to help, only to see him have a bad day for no obvious reason a few days later.

Some of the changes that we have made in the last year that made a noticeable difference (and are still hard to believe) include having him drink only purified water (non-tap), and eating only organic foods. I wouldn’t have believed it without seeing it, but he has a pretty extreme reaction to drinking tap water or eating some non-organic vegetables. But while making those changes helped, it’s obvious there’s still more that effects him – so we continue to look for more pieces to the puzzle.

One note on our tap water – we actually tested it and found that it’s high in some chemicals that are bad for anybody, even adults. And it started to make sense why I was having some bad reactions to drinking our tap water as well.

But overall, Max is doing a lot better than one short year ago – so later this week we continue our journey by returning to CA for a annual visit. And this time, Andrew is coming as well. He’s excited about his first trip on a airplane. I’m excited because it’s my first flight on Virgin America. While we do 4-6 week follow ups with the doctor over the phone or via video, we need to see him in person once a year.

While it is only a 3 day trip (only 2 nights) we’re looking forward to having a good time with the boys. Sydney and her broken arm will be staying with Grandma and Poohpa in Michigan and having fun of her own with her cousins.

Last year when we went we visited Santa Monica Beach and really liked the area. This year we have a hotel located walking distance from the Santa Monica Pier so that should be fun for the boys.

The fun starts at 5am tomorrow!