Jenny on Larry King Live

Wow! Just wow.
(Here's a transcript of the show if you didn't see it.) That was wonderful to watch, though I felt my anger rising whenever two out of three pediatricians did any talking. Maybe you can pick out which ones I didn't like.

As I was watching, Harrison was talking loudly, and I had to rewind several times to listen again. At one point, I had to rewind to hear the amazing, "Bullshit!" one more time. You said it, Jenny! How many times have I yelled that at the doctors on TV shows like this? Thanks for taking the words out of my mouth (at home where they can't be heard) and giving me and other parents like me a voice!

As the show was ending, and I was reveling in my feelings of excitement about the truth finally getting heard, Hubby came in and said something snide, along the lines of, "Those poor doctors, they spend years in school, only to appear on a show alongside a former centerfold." He was attempting to be funny, but I immediately whipped my head around in a Jenny-inspired tirade. "At least she's doing something! She's getting the word out about Autism! No one listens to regular parents! Jenny knows more about Autism and vaccines than those stupid doctors do, and they chose to be on the show with her. If they can't handle the truth, they shouldn't be on the show!" I don't remember what exactly I said, but it was something like that, and there was steam coming out of my ears when I said it. Hubby was smart enough to not say anything else.

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Now, Hubby has his good qualities (I mean, I did choose to marry him and bear his children! I'd hope I could see his good qualities!) but on the Autism front, he's been less than supportive of late. Back when Hutton was diagnosed, four long years ago, Hubby was actually reading about Autism. He bought the books on it, and handed them along to me after he read them. I was glad he was doing the research, since he double majored in computer science and CHEMISTRY in college, and might actually make sense of the science involved. But then, it stopped. Hubby stopped reading the books, and seemed to give up on finding ways to help Hutton cope with Autism. Instead of perhaps, getting his younger sister, who happens to be a pediatrician, involved in the study for causes and therapies that might help, he gave up, and I became the parent who read everything I could on Autism, even when I don't understand the science most of the time. I don't want to be responsible for causing any family rifts, so I don't even bring up Autism with his sister. I'm weird that way. I also have never discussed it with my MD-PhD friend from college. I don't want to have a falling out with her, as I don't know which side of the issue she'd fall on.

Anyway...Hubby doesn't help on the biomedical front. He doesn't really help with anything Autism-related. He's a great dad, but I suppose he doesn't want to get his hopes up that Hutton will recover and have his hopes dashed if Hutton doesn't recover. I don't know. I'm OK with being the "Warrior Mom" who does all the work with Autism. With taking the poop samples (which, by the way I got FedExed yesterday! Yay Me! See Tuesday's post if you don't know what I'm talking about!). With getting Hutton to take all the supplements (this is almost, dare I say, easy now that Hutton can swallow pills! Yay Hutton!) And giving the B-12 shots every three days.

However, I do have issues when Hubby attempts to belittle my efforts or those of other Warrior Moms like Jenny. A month or so ago, Hubby said something about the many supplements Hutton takes, along the lines of saying to Hutton, "I don't know why your mother tries to get you to take all those vitamins. They don't do anything!" Steam shot out of my ears, but I simply did the "ignore Hubby for a long time" rather than yell at him in front of the kids. That sort of thing really pisses me off. Hubby may have lost his hope, but I have not. I will do everything in my power to help Hutton. If giving him B-12 shots in the middle of the night when he's asleep helps his verbal skills (and they appear to do just that) I will give them. If I have to sit beside him, holding a cardboard box under his bottom while he poops so I can take stool samples to check for yeast problems, I will do it. I'm not giving up, and that won't change.