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Showing posts from November, 2019

Special needs siblings - the real superheroes

Sometimes it's a bit hard to post, especially when you don't have something positive to post about. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I've decided to try to post something positive so here goes... Special needs siblings - the real superheroes: Here is a list of the most amazing qualities of a sibling of a child with special needs: 1. They just "get" their sibling - in a way no-one else does. They pick up on their siblings moods and know exactly how to handle it. If their sibling is sad, they know how to cheer him up. If he is angry, they know how to calm him down, or how to dodge the hits and kicks. 2. They have a wicked sense of humor. Any sibling has to have a sense of humor to survive living with a special needs brother/sister. They see the comedy in situations that may not seem funny to any "normal" human being. When your autistic child claps his hands very loudly in the restaurant and his brother joins in to spite the people givin

Update on ketogenic diet...

The keto diet is going well. I have lost about 4kg already, although this is not my aim with the diet, it's still an added bonus. I am in light ketosis at this stage (my blood ketone level is 0.9 mmol). It took a while to get used to the carb restrictions but I am quite adapted now and I can honestly say I dont miss the carbs nearly as much as I thought I would. Also, because of the high fat intake I do not get hungry, also bonus. I'm not sure if it's all in the mind, but my thoughts feel more coordinated and clear. Hopefully this is an indication that my brain is starting to use ketones for energy. All in all I feel good and very hopeful for results towards fighting early onset alzheimers disease.

2 years later

I was reminded today how challenging our lives were two years ago when we took care of our mom with alzheimers. My facebook memories for today showed a post I placed exactly two years ago. I place an excerpt from the facebook post below. I look back on the memories from that time with some sadness but also with a feeling of peace, I know we did our best for mom and I'm sure she is looking at us with pride. Facebook post from 2 years ago: Alzheimers. It's when old people forget things, right? It's when an old granny with gray hair and a walker can't remember anymore. But sometimes alzheimers is your mom who at 57 years old start to forget things, and you think no, it's normal, people start to forget as they age. And as the years pass you can't stay in denial. At 61 years old you get the dreaded diagnosis. It's early onset alzheimers disease. Alzheimers. In some cases, it's feeding your mom for 2 hours, all the while ducking the hand trying to

Creative destruction...

We've had a bit of a rough week, that's why I haven't posted in a while. Jacques has had some aggressive episodes the last week and we've been in survival mode. He got hold of a cd holder full of dvd's and broke most of them into pieces. He also tore up some books, he loves ripping papers into shreds. He then broke our BIG bathroom mirror while I was bathing him, he broke it with one slap🙈. His guardian angels worked overtime keeping him and myself safe. The mirror didn't fall on us, it came to land on the edge of the bath. I did however get about another thousand grey hairs in the process. Ruben and myself made a collage out of some of the pieces of material I kept after Jacques' destructive streak. I told Ruben we can make something beautiful out of the broken pieces. We had a blast embracing our inner creative muse and spent some quality time just the two of us. I took some of the pieces when Jacques first broke the dvd's and I ke