Nightmare on McDonald Avenue

You've heard of Nightmare on Elm Street right?  Well taking the Doodle trick-or-treating turned out to be a weird, twisted sequel I'd like to call "Nightmare on McDonald Avenue".

No patience.
No parking.
Too many people.
A forgotten cell phone.
And a crabby Doodle dressed as a Fireman.

So after getting dropped off by a frustrated husband because he couldn't find a place to park--for a night of pure terror and chaos in the streets of the McDonald area with thousands of people pushing their way around the neighborhood, standing in line after line at house after house to get the token piece of candy, I was ready for a Xanex. 

Oh but the Candy.  The Doodle doesn't even eat candy and could care less about it.  Had they been passing out chips and salsa the night may have taken a turn for the better but he did not understand the concept of walking door to door to get something he doesn't care two craps about dropped into his Thomas the Train bucket.

He liked walking to the door, but he expected to stay awhile - maybe get invited in for a snack of Doritos and a turn at their universal remote.  He didn't like walking up to the door and then having to leave. He cried at each house. He was very disapointed.

So we left after 5 houses.  But now Jim was gone with the car since he couldn't find parking and the plan was I was supposed to call him to come back and pick us up.  But, with no cell phone--it became a true nightmare.  Did you know they don't have pay phones anymore?  Not like they used to anyway.  We walked a few blocks over to the Market and they almost laughed at me when I asked where the pay phone was....By now the Doodle was ready to go home.  And I can't let go of his hand for one second because he would bolt.  So they felt sorry for me and let me use their phone to call Jim. 

We waited for what seemed like an eternity for Jim to pick us up in front of the market.  And we chalked this Halloween night up to a huge learning experience as I binged on the candy from the Thomas bucket on the way home and thought about how the Jehovah Witness people are on to something with regard to not celebrating Halloween.  Sometimes I kick myself for even trying...then I look over at my giant 12 year old and think about how this must really suck for him.  He could have been trick or treating with his friends in his weird Coach Frank tennis suit costume that no one could figure out.

Autism is lonely. But any holiday or special occasion really reminds me of how lonely and cruel it truly is.

Canine Companion

There's been a lot of talk about dogs and their ability to detect seizures in our world of Eplilepsy...they say it's possible but not always guaranteed.  Either the dog can be trained to recognize a convulsion or grand mal seizure and bark to get help--or some dogs are so in-tune with their person that they can detect the seizure as it is coming on or before it has actually occurred from their sixth sense and ability to sense the chemical/electromagnetic reaction in the brain of the person having the seizure.  Either way, we have been on a list to receive a special Canine Companion, but since there are no guarantees on what the dog can or can't do, I didn't want the huge expense of buying a Canine Companion, so we were on a list for a "release" dog--a former Canine Companion dog who has been trained who may have been released for various reasons.

We got really lucky--and were give the opportunity to adopt Jaba, an 8 year old black lab/golden retriever mix.  He is the absolute sweetest dog I have ever been around and is super gentle with the Doodle.  He is well behaved, knows almost 100 commands, potty trained, etc.  He loves to cuddle and is already a huge part of our family.  The Doodle actually is engaged by him and loves to throw his toy. The Doodle also likes Jaba's dog bed for some reason and likes to hang out and watch tv in there....

Jimmy loves him too and has been taking really good care of him.  Even big Jim is a fan....as skeptical as he was at first to try another dog.

Jaba was released and retired because his disabled owner that he had for years thought she was feeding him and giving him water but was not...and he got really sick and lost over 20 pounds.  The Canine Companion people took him back, nursed him back to health and retired him from service.

Jaba is the perfect dog for us....almost too good to be true.