HBOT and a little holiday fun!

A fun day! We took Matthew to the Irvine Railroad park to ride the Christmas train and see Santa.

The weather was very nice and the lines were not bad.

We love our little guy!

After the train we went to Ladera Ranch to walk Candy Cane Lane and see the pretty lights.

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Today we started HBOT, or Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Here is a link that explain it's use in ways I never could.
http://www.hbotreatment.com/Autism.htm
I know many people would think this is drastic and does not have enough data to prove it's worth, but we have found some great gains with unconventional and alternative medicines. We have friends whose children have benefited greatly from this so we felt we needed to give this a try.
So......today was rough. The chamber is small and we are in for 70 minutes. In addition, Matthew wears a hood that he cannot remove that delivers pure oxygen to him in addition to the pressure from the chamber which is at 1.3 ATA. As the pressure was turned on he creid a lot because his ears hurt. Mine did too. The hood prevented him from rubbing his ears and even wiping away his tears. He did adjust after about 15 minutes or so but did not find it a pleasant experience at all. Needless to say it was a LONG 70 minutes. He was exhausted from crying and and took a nap on the way home. Typically it takes about 20+ dives before any changes are seen so we will see how it goes.

Matthew was all smiles when we got there. He said he was going in the space ship and wearing a helmet like Buzz Lightyear.

You can bring in toys, DVDs and computers. Anything to pass the time but no food or water and the helmet stays on until he exits the chamber.

He was a trooper and it made me so sad that I could not even kiss away his tears. He is such a brave boy and made it through. 1 session down, 39 to go!
His ears were hurting as he had not adjusted to the pressure yet.

Once his ears adjusted he was a little calmer but could not wait to get out!
Mom and Dad are so proud of you Matthew! You did a great job!

Matthew and Santa

This year is fun as now Matthew gets Santa. He is not particularly fond of sitting in his lap but will in order to tell him that he wants a toy dog (took some prompting to slip the word "toy" in). At least we got him off the kick on answering "brother and sister"!

The smile that makes my day!

This child is pure joy! The love of my life!

December Days

This weekend was our kickoff to December. Saturday we got together with Keiko's family to celebrate her 40 th birthday at our favorite place....Shabu! We all love it and have a great time there.

Still fab at 40! Ridiculous that she looks so good.
Happy Birthday Keiko!

All of us with the owner, Hot Mama!
After dinner we took the boys ice skating. It was a beautiful night for it and they had a blast.


My precious nephews....they are growing so fast.
I love you Andrew and Zach!

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Sunday we went to get our Christmas tree. Matthew had fun just running around and hiding behind the trees. Does he have an impish face or what? I loved these photos!

He was all smiles and so sweet.

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Last night I had a chance to get out with friend and see Roger's Gardens for their Christmas display. It was beautiful, really quite amazing.

Such a nice relaxing evening, perfect way to start a week.

Thanks for a great night!

Thanksgiving week

Last Saturday our very dear friends, the Derelioglus left for Costa Rica for stem cell replacement therapy for their precious son Riley. You are all in our thoughts and prayers every day and we look forward to your safe return. Please take a moment to look at Riley's blog.
http://healingriley.blogspot.com/
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Sunday we enjoyed a delicious Pre-Thanksgiving at Gillian's. Yum!

Great friends and great food....lots to be thankful for!

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Tuesday we met up with a few friends at Disneyland for a day of fun.

Matthew was so excited and of course, bee-lined it for the Matterhorn and then Thunder Mountain to start the day.

I think that he rode the Matterhorn 3 times that day and Thunder Mountain 3 times. Did not get that from me!

We have all been sick so we planned on staying half day..... Matthew was not in agreement!

Matthew and his cousin Avery

Some of my favorite people

Don't you wish you could leave them behind bars sometimes? Lots of times?

Waiting for the parade with such anticipation :)

Trying to catch the snow on Main Street

The end to a great day!

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This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house.

It was really good and Mark was the turkey master.

The grandmas and grandma Sumida, flanked by all the Sumida men

The kids all had a good time and Matthew was excited to see his cousins. It was nice to see him so interested and friendly....he was inviting Justin and Avery into his room to play and shut the door to keep the adults out!
We have had our ups and downs this year, as I am sure any parent of a special needs child experiences....you have incredible highs and desperate lows. Overall, we have so much to be thankful for this year. We have the most wonderful son ever and what he gives us back everyday is worth more than money. Happy Thanksgiving to our sweet boy.