What could have been.

We went to see Dr. Centers today for a weekly treatment for Aidan. Every time I sit in the waiting room I see an array of children that the Osteopathic Center is treating. It is always heartbreaking to see these children who suffer from many different illnesses and many of them are much worse than Aidan. But today really affected me. I saw a little boy who was autistic. I'm guessing he was about 7 years old. As I sat there and watched him pacing the waiting room, opening and closing the door, clicking his mouth, and flapping his hands, I could not help but think to myself "could this be Aidan in 5 years?". Then I have to remind myself that this will not be Aidan in five years because we are doing something right now. So many parents wait. Waiting is the worst thing we could do because time is precious! We didn't listen to all those who told us "he is fine", "I'm not worried" or just flat out "he doesn't have autism".

To all those parents out there like me, I am sure you would agree that that is the worst thing people can tell you. Especially when you know there is something wrong with your child. It is like a slap in the face. It completely invalidates all we are doing to help Aidan. Did the parents of the boy in the waiting room listen to all the fools that told them "he is fine"? It just makes me so angry. My message to all the moms like me out there is to always listen to your motherly instinct and not what any one else tells you. Sure I wanted to think my son was fine, but deep inside I knew he was not. The sooner we can acknowledge there is something not right going on with our children the sooner we can help them. To ignore this is truly doing them an injustice. Every time I go to the Osteopathic center I see a reminder of what Aidan could have been and it breaks my heart. But pushes me to never give up.