2.24.2004

My Genes Have Been Spliced

But I don't think I'm going to take over the world today. Foiled yet again, this time by a stupid fucking broken labelmaker ribbon cassette. How could such a inoffensive, non-critical item derail my march toward global hegemony? Well, here's the thing. If I can't label my files legibly, then they'll be unusable. I will not be able to organize the five-year backlog of critical documents hiding in various piles throughout the office. Said office will remain a morass. I will remain depressed, demoralized, disorganized, and dis-, uh, useful. My plans will remain sketchy and unfocused, and Bushwad will remain on the throne. All because of a broken ribbon.

Anyhow, here's what's been going on lately.

First of all, thanks to Wampum for the daily critical reminders. The last two oh yeah, duh! zingers are 1) Thimerasol's continuing inclusion in Rhogam (I'm Rh negative), and 2) that there's never been any Thimerasol in the MMR vaccine since it contains live bugs. I can't always keep the details sorted, and am very grateful to those who can.

Last week's therapist hiring process was a cuthroat circus. We lost two candidates to other families before we'd even finished our week of interviews. One of them cancelled right before the interview, via email--rude! We were upstairs wondering why she was late. But we got a lot of intriguing information from her very kind and chatty reference so her candidacy was not a total wash.

This woman, Betty, has her five-year-old autistic son following Dr. Michael Goldberg's NIDS protocol. Dr. Goldberg believes that the autism epidemic is largely caused by virally-induced autoimmune disorders. From what I gathered, he has a three-pronged attack of anti-fungals, anti-virals, and low-dose anti-depressants. He is DAN- and chelation-skeptical. It merits further research. I'd heard little about it before.

Of course, Betty's son has been on a strict ABA program since just before he turned three.

Betty said they had tried the DAN route and weren't convinced, plus their DAN doctor was a disorganized fuckwad who charged several hundred dollars per hour for consultations. Betty remains uneasy about the anti-depressants, but her son's brain scan revealed multiple areas with no blood flow, and Dr. Goldberg told her the anti-depressants would help, so they put the boy on them. She said subsequent scans showed the areas disappearing due to increased blood flow. She also reports that previous to anti-depressants, her boy had no sense of self-preservation (typical autism trait) and now has a very strong one. I don't think this can be entirely explained by ABA.

She recommended the book Children With Starving Brains (which we have, in our stack of to-read materials), as Dr. Goldberg is cited in there. Rah, more reading!

Speaking of which, I got a double-kick out of a "reading party" that Iz and I had during Leelo's occupational therapy session this afternoon. Iz read Little Red Riding Hood out loud, at a volume that was not disturbing but which certainly caught the ear of an also-waiting proven snob mom with a same-aged non-reading child. (Take that and shove it up the asses of the parents at your sooo-wonderful school, bitch!) I was slyly reading some really excellent fantasy smut--made even more titillating given the shiny happy dancing bunnies and ducks gaping at me from all four walls.

My folks were kind enough to sit on the kids while Seymour and I stole out to a late movie Saturday night. The only thing not totally offensive was Cold Mountain, which was loooooong but okay. I liked the idea of a stupid useless decorative chick becoming a wily useful skilled woman, but two things made my teeth grind all night: 1) Horrific mass and individual battle scenes coupled with the complete devaluation of humanity (I cherish and am grateful for my suburban bubble and never pretend I'm not), and 2) for fuck's sake, it IS possible to tell a tale about a long harrowing journey without bellowing out references to the Odyssey. Jeez. People, make up your own damn stories!

This is getting long and rambly. I'll start a new entry.

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