My New Normal

Nathan has been seeing a counselor for the past few weeks due to very inappropriate behavior he did a number of times. It has been a difficult road we have been on and has turned our lives upside down.

However, the Lord has worked in this situation and we finally have a diagnosis for him. We have dealt with so many different speech, learning, delay, and medical issues his whole life and never really had any concrete answers. Nothing seemed to fit and I've always wondered how one child can deal with so many different independent issues. We have found that all of these separate things actually are part and parcel of the same problem: Fragile X Syndrome. He has to take a blood test to confirm this.

Here are some of the symptoms:

1. Elongated face; large, bulging ears; prominent chin and forehead; high arched palate, flat feet, and other issues.

2. Unusually flexible joints, seizures and mitral valve prolapse, etc.

3. Cognitive and intellectual problems, including mental retardation, learning disabilities and abnormal speech.

4. Behavioral problems, including hyperactivity, attention difficulties, avoidance of eye contact and other autistic like behaviors, violent outbursts (especially in teenage boys), and an unusual sensitivity to environmental stimuli such as sights, sounds, smells and touch.

He will need life long supervision, given his mental capabilities, but at least we know what we are dealing with. He is at about the mental level of a 7-8 year old.

Please keep us all in your prayers because our world is turned upside down. We still have church situations we are dealing with too which are causing a tremendous amount of stress. Yet, we are thanking God that even in the midst of this storm, He is faithful and is giving us the help we need.