An Unexpected Diagnosis

We returned late the night of July 11 from Cancun, Mexico where we had vacationed for a week at the Riviera Maya. It had been an exhausting full day journey from the resort to our city of Denver, CO.  The following day, we had an appointment to get feedback from our daughter Maya’s evaluation for autism, which we had just before leaving.

Maya had been seeing a speech and OT therapist the past year for some delays, but we had been getting very encouraging signs about her progress.  We were being regularly told by friends that she did not appear to have the disorder.  Her OT therapist was also doubtful, particularly as we got close to the evaluation on June 24.  She was concerned about our time and energy being wasted with the lengthy evaluation.

As a result, we were also assuming that we would get a clean bill of health regarding our daughter, particularly me.  We discussed how we would handle it if we received the diagnosis of autism and we decided that there was no way to fully prepare.  We would just have to take the blow and begin the process of dealing with it; if that is where we would be.  And that is how it went.  The two psychologists met with us for two hours on the afternoon of the 12th in a small room and gave us the news upfront.  Then they patiently waited as we absorbed the hit and placed some tissue between us, which I soon required.  Then I tried to ask every question I could think of and to understand what I could, while being in the mental haze of  jet lag.

On the way home, after leaving a message with the OT therapist on the result, I bawled all the way home.  She called back and we chatted while I was parked in my garage.