Where My Son Lives

Written by Cass Hope


I watch as my son’s eyes glaze over and I know that for a little while at least I have lost him torepparttar splendor of his world. My son suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome and it has taken us as parents a long time to accept that there are certain things that my son does that we will never really understand. When he travels aroundrepparttar 141596 house doing whatrepparttar 141597 doctors call “stiming” he looks at us like we arerepparttar 141598 strange ones that don’t do this that we don not require such activities in order to survive. “Stiming” is self-stimulation, which can be opening and closingrepparttar 141599 window blinds for extended periods of time, watchingrepparttar 141600 tap drip or carrying around a shoe. In my son’s case it is flicking a soft cloth right in front of his eyes, which is visual stimulation. Sometimes it calms him and other times it gets him all excited but it is as necessary to his existence as air is. When he is stiming he leaves our world and goes into his. I’ve asked him what makes his different and he says in his world he is popular, understood and feels happy. It saddens me that this world cannot offer that to him. I knew that there was something wrong at a very early age but it took me years to convincerepparttar 141601 doctors. I was just another mother over reacting to what was perfectly normal. As an infant he was colic and it wasn’t only at certain times it was 24hrs a day. The first time I slept throughrepparttar 141602 night was when I purchased a jolly jumper for him and he basically jumped himself to sleep. I curled up aroundrepparttar 141603 bottom of him and we stayed there for 5 hrs. To this day sleeping is still a big problem for him. As my son grew there was more and more strange behavior. He never played with toys or with other children for that matter. He walked on his tiptoe never flat foot. He was always flapping his hands and would spend long hours playing with a pen that made a clicking noise. If he became overly agitated I would put on high-heeled shoes andrepparttar 141604 clicking sound ofrepparttar 141605 heels onrepparttar 141606 floor would calm him. As long as he was awake he was either rocking or bouncing. We had to put his high chair up against a wall so he wouldn’t tip it over he rocked so hard. Once my son reachedrepparttar 141607 age of 4 his behavior turned aggressive and out of control. It was a nightmare of hospitals and doctors and he became a guinea pig for various medications. Overrepparttar 141608 course of a few years he was diagnosed with various disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), tourette syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder and Non Verbal Learning Disability (NLD). Finally atrepparttar 141609 age of 9 he was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s Syndrome is part of a sub group which is part of a much larger category called Autistic Spectrum Disorders or Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). Asperger’s Syndrome (or Asperger’s Disorder) is a developmental, neurological disorder characterized by severe impairment in social development, obsessive traits causing repetitive patterns of behavior and very narrow and focused interests. They are usually very clumsy and have awkward movements. Unlike with Autism, children with Asperger’s show no delays inrepparttar 141610 development of language skills. Once we actually knew what was wrong with my son a whole new avenue of opportunity opened up for us. As a motherrepparttar 141611 first thing I did was research. I spent hours with my nose in a book or staring atrepparttar 141612 computer screen. The one piece of hope that I found in almost all of my research was that with treatment children with Asperger’s can grow up to have fulfilling lives as adults. Of courserepparttar 141613 earlier they receive treatmentrepparttar 141614 higherrepparttar 141615 rate of success but my son only started receiving real treatment when he was 11 and we have still seen great improvement.

Easy Steps to Prevent Mesothelioma

Written by Amie Perlowski


Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that attacksrepparttar body's mesothelial cells aroundrepparttar 141557 organs. The mesothelium provides a protective membranous lining forrepparttar 141558 internal organs and allows moving organs (i.e.repparttar 141559 heart andrepparttar 141560 lungs) to glide easily against adjacent structures. The names ofrepparttar 141561 three regions of mesothelial cells that provide protective coating are 1) pleura,repparttar 141562 sac which surroundsrepparttar 141563 lungs; 2) peritoneum,repparttar 141564 lining which protectsrepparttar 141565 abdominal cavity; and 3) pericardium,repparttar 141566 sac which surroundsrepparttar 141567 heart. Three different types of mesothelioma cancer attack these three different regions. Pleural mesothelioma: A type of lung cancer which attacksrepparttar 141568 pleura surroundingrepparttar 141569 lungs, this isrepparttar 141570 most common type of mesothelioma, affecting approximately two-thirds of all mesothelioma patients. Symptoms include horseness, fever, blood in sputum, swollen arms and face, coughing, loss of weight, difficulty breathing, chest pain, weak muscles, and reduced tactile sensitivity. Peritoneal mesothelioma: A cancer ofrepparttar 141571 abdomen which attacksrepparttar 141572 peritoneum liningrepparttar 141573 abdominal cavity. This affects approximately one-third of all mesothelioma patients. Symptoms include abdominal bloating, impaired bowl function, fever, swollen feet, and nausea. Pericardial mesothelioma: This form of mesothelioma which attacksrepparttar 141574 pericardium surroundingrepparttar 141575 heart is extremely rare. Symptoms include chest pain, dyspnea, cough, and palpitations. Mesothelioma has been linked to asbestos exposure. Asbestos is a type of building material used in thermal insulation products and ceiling tiles. Inrepparttar 141576 United States, asbestos usage peaked duringrepparttar 141577 1950s - 1970s. Duringrepparttar 141578 late 1960s, concerns overrepparttar 141579 health consequences of asbestos exposure began to arise, thereby decreasingrepparttar 141580 amount of asbestos manufactured in next two decades. Byrepparttar 141581 1980s, a new industry of asbestos abatement began to flourish. But according torepparttar 141582 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as many as 733,000 schools and public buildings still contain asbestos.

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