Warriors...

My original post read that I was going to be "MIA until tomorrow... Too much going on, too much to figure out, too much to plan for...

(on a related and unrelated note, boys and I will be working on Halloween decorations this afternoon.... and yes, the activities WILL involve a certain swim suit....).

Oh, do pop over to CharlieinWonderland (Jeanne's blog) for the Cinco de Linco/Birthday bash Lend4Health fund raiser..."

But then I popped over to AoA, and found this from that same Jeanne.
Jeanne, you ROCK!! And I am proud to be your blogger friend and I am proud to be your fellow Warrior Mom. And my boys are proud to call Charlie their Brother-In-Arms... (I just discovered the longer, much more RAW version of what was posted on AoA on Jeanne's site. Warning, it's not for the faint of heart. I'll be honest, I haven't been able to make it through the whole piece yet.. .hits too close to home... Know though that at the end of that piece, at the end of Charlie's journey so far, is HOPE)

To all those amazing warrior moms and dads out there. Keep fighting to get your children out of that prison that they are trapped in. And while not all kids can articulate as well as Charlie, or my Salamander, what is going on for them and how things used to be BEFORE they received the treatments they so desperately needed, don't ever loose sight of the fact that our kids fight as hard, no HARDER, to break out of their prisons as we all fight to pull them out.

And remember this by Sir Winston Churchill on the bad days, when you all think you cannot go on for one more hour, let alone one more day; you are in the fight of your life: "You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs - Victory in spite of all terrors - Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival."

And to all of those that dismiss our stories that somehow something happened to our babies, and who say that we are all a bunch of anti-vaccine nazis and that we should *trust the doctors and the real scientists, and not worry so much but to just love our kids*, read this exchange of parent stories. We all DID trust the doctors and scientists, we all WERE good and responsible citizens and did what the doctors told us... and watched our kids deteriorate before our very eyes and nobody seem(ed)(s) to give a rodent's behind... So forgive us for never EVER trusting those same doctors (and the poorly designed inconclusive studies they rely on) or their ill conceived advice again.

And to the next person who dares to imply that I don't love my kids because of my audacity to treat their various challenges using alternative approaches, F#CK you. Come life in my house for a while before condemning me or what I do, sight unseen.

I fully accept that there are kids that improve significantly *on their own* (and implied here is, *without the voodoo interventions* ...), and if you are a parent of one of those kids, count your lucky stars.

However, I know in every fiber of my soul that what you are about to see would not have happened *on its own*, but is a direct result of all the various interventions, treatments and therapies Salamander has received and will continue to receive (I vividly remember the various ways in Salamander USED to interact with Potatey, and none of those ways ever involved a gentle or loving touch, let alone interactive play and belly laughter).

And Salamander most certainly would not have been able to pose for these ....

OMG, I see myself looking back at me....

And here is that same boy, 4.5 years ago and "freshly diagnosed"....



One of these days I'll write the whole story of where we were 4.5 years and what it has taken so far to help him break out of his prison...