Matthew Sumida: A Day To Remember

Sunday, December 14, 2008

A Day To Remember

OK, so I have to officially go on record and apologize to Keiko for all of the times when we were kids that I charged her a quarter to sleep on my floor because she was afraid of the dark, and all of the times I would con her into picking up the dog poop (my chore) and for stealing her clothes and sunglasses when we got older. She and Rob gave me a birthday that I will always remember. Since I was a kid I have loved the opera Carmen. The tragic story, beautiful costumes and sets and the exquisite music…… Today they sent Mark and I to see Carmen….what an afternoon! It was incredible and we loved just getting lost in the excitement of it all.
It was a phenomenal performance!

We ended this special day with Rob and Keiko taking us for a delicious dinner where we indulged in decadent desserts!

Of course I politely declined such calorie packed confections (uh-huh!)

You are HOW old?

On a serious note, many thanks to Rob and Keiko not just for today but for everything. You guys have given us so much love and support, especially during the past 2 years. You guys have made us feel that our burdens were yours and that we are all in this together.

We love you guys.

It was a beautiful day and one of the best birthdays I have ever had (and I have had a lot).

Thank you!

5 comments:

Ms. to u said...: Happy Birthday Old Lady! 44, wow. You are a fine wine and have just gotten better with age. Hope your day is as beautiful as you.; December 15, 2008 at 7:51 AM
Anonymous said...: Happy Birthday Old Timer. Glad you had fun.
Kimmy; December 15, 2008 at 9:40 AM
Trojan Fan said...: Happy, Happy Birthday! Hope your day is perfect!; December 15, 2008 at 4:16 PM
Anonymous said...: That is hilarious. I remember the bartering you two used to do over clothes and make-up and everything else.
Happy Birthday to both of you.
XOXO
T; December 16, 2008 at 1:32 PM
Anonymous said...: The look on Mark's face is hysterical!
Can't believe you are such an old bitty now!
Happy Birthday!; December 18, 2008 at 3:14 PM

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Matthew Dean

We started this blog because we wanted to be able to keep our loved ones up to date on Matthew and the wonderful progress he is making. It has been a crazy time since receiving Matthew's diagnosis of moderate to severe Autism in February 2007.
Autism is classified by the World Health Organization and American Psychological Association as a developmental disability resulting from a disorder of the human central nervous system. It is considered to be a neurodevelopmental disorder. It typically begins before 3 and is lifelong. It is characterized by varying degrees of impairment in verbal & non verbal communication skills, social interactions, and restricted, repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior. Children w/autism often fail to respond to their name, are unable to speak or have delayed speech and often avoid eye contact. They tend to engage in repetitive movements like rocking, spinning, hand flapping and in self-abusive behavior such as biting or head-banging. All behaviors that Matthew was exhibiting regularly. At the time we sent letters to our loved ones, we described what autism was and that there was no cure for autism. Well...... that is not the case. You can recover from autism and to that end we are pursuing a combination of therapies. Matthew is in an intense intervention program consisting of ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis), Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy. He is in this program for between 6-8 hours daily. He is also on a gluten-free and casein-free diet which he has been on since February 2007. We began biomedical intervention in June 2007 as well and homeopathy in April 2008. We read stories all of the time about these parents who start the diet, biomed or other modalities and see a miracle before their eyes. We have not had that experience but with each added intervention we see improvement..... 10% here, 8% there. We know that we will reach that 100% mark and that day will be the second best day of our lives, the first being when our little angel was born! We will update this as often as possible to that you can celebrate Matthew's success with us.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

A Day To Remember

5 comments:

Matthew Dean

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