{"id":4245,"date":"2012-09-18T14:12:30","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T19:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/?p=4245"},"modified":"2012-09-19T14:11:34","modified_gmt":"2012-09-19T19:11:34","slug":"returning-to-ca-and-dr-goldberg-one-year-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/18\/returning-to-ca-and-dr-goldberg-one-year-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning to CA and Dr. Goldberg – One Year Later"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"wpid-ScreenShot2012-09-19at8.35.25AM-2012-09-18-14-12.png\"<\/a>

Photo by red.dahlia on Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

It was just over a year ago<\/a> that we started seeing a new doctor for Max, Dr. Michael Goldberg<\/a> 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<\/a> treatment.<\/p>\n

\"wpid-6053111673_e5c1fc5522_b-2012-09-18-14-12.jpg\"<\/a>

Max from our 2011 trip to see Dr. Goldberg.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"wpid-6053104867_308e7cb747_b-2012-09-18-14-12.jpg\"<\/a>

Max from our 2011 trip to see Dr. Goldberg.<\/p><\/div>\n

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 \u201cgo to him\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\"wpid-IMG_3286-2012-09-18-14-12.jpg\"<\/a>

Max trying on new frames for his 2012 fall look.<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2019s all new ground for Max. Even as I type this he\u2019s playing with his brother Andrew in ways that he wouldn\u2019t have a year ago. He now engages Andrew instead of it only being the other way around. It\u2019s really amazing.<\/p>\n

\"wpid-7812659994_c4e273facf_b-2012-09-18-14-12.jpg\"<\/a>

Max and Andrew having a debate on Global Warming.<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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\u2019s obvious there\u2019s still more that effects him – so we continue to look for more pieces to the puzzle.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"wpid-6053691518_ca8cb0b312_b-2012-09-18-14-12.jpg\"

Max at Santa Monica Beach, Augist 2011<\/p><\/div>\n

But overall, Max is doing a lot better than one short year ago – so later this week we continue our journey<\/a> by returning to CA for a annual visit. And this time, Andrew is coming as well. He\u2019s excited about his first trip on a airplane. I\u2019m excited because it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"wpid-Virgin-America-Airlines-and-CW-Team-for-Fly-Girls-Reality-Show-2-2012-09-18-14-12.jpg\"<\/p>\n

While it is only a 3 day trip (only 2 nights) we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

\"wpid-337264_10151102564299121_1005284160_o-2012-09-18-14-12.jpg\"<\/a>

Sydney heading to MI for the rest of the week. Mulling over the menu.<\/p><\/div>\n

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<\/a> so that should be fun for the boys.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The fun starts at 5am tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,3,4],"tags":[13,221,244,21,246,170,387],"class_list":["post-4245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iphone","category-photo","category-text","tag-andrew","tag-autism","tag-dr-goldberg","tag-max","tag-nids","tag-sydney","tag-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p47XZT-16t","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3663,"url":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/01\/max-meet-dr-goldberg\/","url_meta":{"origin":4245,"position":0},"title":"Max, Meet Dr. Goldberg","author":"Thomas Tomchak","date":"August 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Since Max and Andrew entered early intervention just after their first birthday, \u00a0Brenda has always looked for any and all solutions that might help the boys. As time moved forward the focus would change, and of course now the focus is on his diagnoses of being on the spectrum of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Post"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Post","link":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/category\/photo\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/5937128027_95e6d6fd75_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/5937128027_95e6d6fd75_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/5937128027_95e6d6fd75_b.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3684,"url":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/17\/the-goldberg-visit\/","url_meta":{"origin":4245,"position":1},"title":"The Goldberg Visit","author":"Thomas Tomchak","date":"August 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been just over a week since we returned from CA, and I finally have time to take a breath and add more details about our trip to California. As I mentioned previously, we feel it went very well. Preamble Skip this if you just want to know about Dr.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book"","block_context":{"text":"Book","link":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/category\/book\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/2011-0801_Max_DrGoldberg_CA_Trip_114.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/2011-0801_Max_DrGoldberg_CA_Trip_114.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/2011-0801_Max_DrGoldberg_CA_Trip_114.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4804,"url":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/08\/rosetta-meet-maximus\/","url_meta":{"origin":4245,"position":2},"title":"Rosetta, Meet Maximus","author":"Thomas Tomchak","date":"November 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We are always trying new things to help Max progress and catch up what's considered age appropriate. One of the areas I personally feel he needs the most help is with his speech. It's pretty clear when you talk to him that he doesn't master the English language at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Text Post"","block_context":{"text":"Text Post","link":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/category\/text\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2013-1107_RosettaStone_Maximus_FeatureImage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2013-1107_RosettaStone_Maximus_FeatureImage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2013-1107_RosettaStone_Maximus_FeatureImage.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2013-1107_RosettaStone_Maximus_FeatureImage.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3780,"url":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/18\/maximus-week-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":4245,"position":3},"title":"Maximus – Week 7","author":"Thomas Tomchak","date":"September 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It hit me in a unexpected moment. While watching Max and Andrew interact at the eye doctors office this past weekend (we were there to get new glasses for Max), it became clear as day the distance Max still needs to go just to catch up to his own age.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Post"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Post","link":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/category\/photo\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/2011-0903_WeekendPhotos_031-600x417.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/2011-0903_WeekendPhotos_031-600x417.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/2011-0903_WeekendPhotos_031-600x417.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5973,"url":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/2017\/10\/26\/dr-goldberg-visit-fall-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":4245,"position":4},"title":"Dr. Goldberg Visit, Fall 2017","author":"Thomas Tomchak","date":"October 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been awhile, but we finally made our trip out to CA to see Dr. Michael Goldberg. While we go on a regular basis regardless of what's going on, this time we were motivated\u00a0to go because Maximus has been having issues staying on his clean diet. While it's true that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "iPhone"","block_context":{"text":"iPhone","link":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/category\/iphone\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-1026_GoldbergTrip2017_14.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-1026_GoldbergTrip2017_14.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-1026_GoldbergTrip2017_14.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-1026_GoldbergTrip2017_14.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-1026_GoldbergTrip2017_14.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-1026_GoldbergTrip2017_14.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3680,"url":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/04\/worth-the-trip\/","url_meta":{"origin":4245,"position":5},"title":"Worth The Trip?","author":"Thomas Tomchak","date":"August 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Time will tell where this part of our journey leads us, but the short answer is we are very pleased that we were able to make this trip happen and add Dr. Goldberg to the team of people that are helping Max get healthier. It's safe to say that we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Text Post"","block_context":{"text":"Text Post","link":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/category\/text\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/F87C427C-3349-44B4-A6ED-942BA6ACE62A0.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4245"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4256,"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4245\/revisions\/4256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomchak.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}