When Did I Know?

When did I know? This is one of the most common questions I have been asked about Logan and his autism diagnosis. I am sure I’m not the only one who has been asked this. Right from pregnancy things were different than the first one. I was on home/bed rest for almost half of the pregnancy – with a 2-1/2 year old toddler that was fun!!

When Logan was born, he had issues from the beginning. The first week of his life I may have slept 4 hours a night because every 2 hours I was trying to get some nutrition into him as he did not want to feed. That was the start of our journey.

As a side note, while sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office for Logan’s one week checkup a lady approached (as often happens when you have a newborn with you) and said, “what a lovely boy, you will have a bond with him like no other”. We still have the same doctor and I have never seen her again, but that comment has stayed with me since because we do have an incredibly special bond.

At his one-week checkup it was decided to try a lactose free formula. This did help – initially. At 6 weeks Logan developed Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and after a couple of trips to the emergency room he was admitted to the hospital for a couple of nights for oxygen and monitoring. He rebounded well. This would not be the last of his health issues. Shortly after, he began throwing up after feedings and it was found he had Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). He was put on medication to control the issue, and this worked. He began to gain weight, and slowly but surely, sit and crawl. At his 1-year checkup we knew something was not right because his development was lagging, but checking for some developmental issues was not standard until closer to the age of 2.

By the time Logan turned 2 we were well on our way to appointment after appointment and specialist after specialist. It was time consuming and tiring, but you just do it.

At first it was thought because of Logan’s disposition and lack of muscle tone – he did not walk until he was 3 – that it might be Angelman syndrome. After many tests it was found that this was not the case, and was initially diagnosed with neurological and developmental delays. More testing was required. One of the tests was an MRI. The MRI revealed a cerebellar lesion/tumour. This was unexpected, although at this point not surprising. (more on the lesion in the future)

So, back to the question – When did I know? In my heart I knew it was autism well before the age of 2, and long before the appointments and testing. I was on the internet constantly looking up Logan’s symptoms, and everything kept leading back to autism. The whole process took over one year and ended with a final 3-day assessment at the autism clinic where the “official” results came back with a diagnosis of autism.