My family

The Family United
My name is Carmen and I am married to a wonderful husband named Miguel and we have 4 beautiful children, Marcus-7, Elisabeth-4, Melqui-2 and Isabella-11mths. We love doing everything as a family- going shopping, having family night, watching kid movies, and especially praying and seeking God. So when we got the diagnosis of our lil' boy Melqui we all knew that we had to go in as a family and be there for him.

About Melquisedec (Melqui)
Melqui was born on September 9, 2005. He was a beautiful little boy (I know all parents say that, but really he was so beautiful) his first year was very calm and he hardly gave me any trouble. We took him every where and we would always hear from people how good he was and how you didnt even notice he was there. Melqui reached ALL his milestones on time (actually before time). He started walking at 10 mths old and smiled all day long from the moment he woke up in the morning. The only concern I had was that he never spoke, he never called me mommy and that was hard for me because he would gert hurt and not come crying to me... so when he was 1 y.o. I took him to the pediatrician where they told me that he was still young and that he was a boy and boys tend to start late, the doctor told me to give it time and that he didnt believe it was any type of "disorder". So I waited... and I prayed asking for God to lead my way and to confirm to me that everything is going to be okay, and He did just that so I stayed calm. That was all until Melqui turned 2 y.o. and he began to hit..and hit...and bang everything! He still didnt call me mommy and hardly said anything at all. So I decided to go get him evaluated again... but before I did, I prayed and ask for God to lead the way for me.. and on May 6, 2008 was the day my journey would begin....

The Diagnosis
On May 6, 2008 Melqui was diagnosed with Pervasive Developemental Disorder (PDD/NOS) with Autistic features. With all the research I did prior to the diagnosis I already had an idea that this was going to be what the doctor was going to tell me. The only problem I have is when the doctor says "There is no cure"... because I know God is the only one who has the last say on that, we believe that God can make the miracle.. but in the mean time we keep praying and doing our best to make Melqui has comfortable as possible and with the gfcf diet it can improve the inside of his body greatly!

The Treatment
As soon as I heard about the GFCF diet we instantly knew this was it, your motherly instincts light up and says You've Got it! now I know this is not for everyone but when you know its for you, you know its right. I quickly took Melqui and removed dairy because he was such a HUGE milk drinker I knew this would benefit him.. and I added Cod Liver Oil and with in a couple of weeks up to this day his eye contact has improved, when before there was hardly none, he started saying more words and best of all he wasnt sitting off by himself while his siblings were playing, now he wants to play with them and he is always looking for them to play with him, he might try to get there attention in the wrong way (by hitting) but he does mean well. He is only trying to get them to play but doesnt know how to say it but we are working on it. He is now going to speech therapy for 30 min. a day for 2 days a week. And by the beginning of next month he will be in physical and occupational therapy. I am still working on the behaverol therapy. And next week we have our DAN doctor appt. which is very exciting because we get to take test to see what foods he is allergic to so maybe the diet can be a little easier knowing what foods to really avoid... So the journey begins.. one day at a time... always moving forward.