When my son was five weeks old he had meningitis.  He had a high fever, so I took him to the hospital for a check up and wound up with him in a private room for the following 5 days.  During that time the doctor informed me that I had two choices, give him a round of 30 antibiotics which may render him deaf, blind, handicapped in many other ways, or we could wait to hope that it was viral meningitis and it would run it's course.  If it was bacterial meningitis, and we did nothing he could die. (They find out which kind of meningitis it is by doing a lab test where they allow the bacteria to grow for three days, I think.  If it doesn't grow it was "viral" the nicer kind)

It turned out to be the viral kind.  By the time Lance was 2 years old, I knew he was different.  For the next three years I took him to doctors, therapists and any body who could check and tell me what was wrong with him.

At about 4 years old he stopped being aggressive, after that, the closest diagnosis I could come up with was that he had ADHD, maybe asperberg syndrome, but we were very lucky that we had doctors and psychologists who didn't make opinions lightly. 

He was very uncoordinated, had a very hard time learning how to read, and was socially delayed.  If you have had or know any one who has had a kid with disabilities you probably know it is a very long journey. 

Forward to an almost 12 year old.  He still has some issues but they are very minor.  He reads incredibly fast, and understands and remembers detail in a very uncommon manner.  He is in the gifted program has a kind heart and loves to laugh.  At the same time, he has a very hard time remembering faces and names.  I used to think that he was just looking for attention when he would ask people after the 10^th time - who are you?, what is your name? ( Grandma, aunts, uncles, teachers etc...)  Now I know that is just the way his brain works. 

When I look back I realize how well he is doing.  I can give credit to following our instincts as parents, great doctors, a very supportive school system and the fact that I stopped using harsh chemicals in my house, MSG's and nitrites in the food and he gets one soda per week at the most.  Lance was on ADHD medication for about 4 years and the side effects were severe.  I took him off the medication while putting him on a vitamin schedule.  He has been doing great since.  It took years to figure this out, but I will be sharing an article that a friend of mine wrote regarding chemicals in the home. ( This blog turned out longer than expected, so I will post his article in the next blog.)

To buy or sale real estate in the Chesapeake, Norfolk, Virginia Beacha, Portsmouth or Suffolk, Virginia visit my website at  www.TereRottink.com