Joey and Her Lolo

We have only one grandchild and her name is Joey. She is special not only because she’s the only one but also because she has autism. She was diagnosed seven years ago when she was two, and we were all devastated. It took me more than a month before I could tell my family and close friends because it was so painful. However, through the years and with timely interventions – special schools; speech, physical and occupational therapy; and lately a gluten-free, casein-free diet together with B-12 injections – she has shown much improvement. Where before she lived in her own silent world, now she is slowly learning to communicate and to relate with others.

Joey lives with her Mom in Loyola Heights and visits us every Saturday. So our Saturdays are sacred and, as much as we can, we try not to go out on Saturday to spend the day with her. The driver picks her up around noon from her morning therapy and she stays with us until after dinner. Joey was born one day before my 44th birthday. Like a true Piscean, she also loves the water. So Saturday afternoons are usually spent in the pool where, in between playing, swimming and shampooing her hair, she eats her favorite corn.

Joey normally does not initiate anything. She will kiss you and hug you only if you ask her. She will talk to you only if you ask her a question. Or she will repeat what you say. But last Saturday was special. First, while her Daddy Jog was lying on the couch and Joey was seated on another couch in the recreation room with me while I watched TV, she went to her Dad, took his arms and put them around her neck and rested his head on her chest for several minutes. Then she went to my desk, took out a sheet of paper and started to draw. She drew an apple on the right bottom corner, and said “apple.” So I asked her to draw a leaf and I meant a leaf on the apple stem. Instead, she drew a leaf on top of the apple and said “leaf”. Then I asked her to draw a tree, and she did. And successively she drew and repeated the things I said: boat, house, flower, car, ball and swimming pool (with ladder and lanes!). She drew them with a blue sign pen, then colored them with a yellow-green marker and a fuschia marker, and then drew again with a red sign pen. Please see below.




And then around 4, after I put on my swimsuit, she got hers and put it on too. This made us so happy because on the two previous Saturdays, she didn’t want to go swimming for some reason despite all our cajoling. And while in the pool, she kept calling “Lolo” when Manny was watering the garden. For Manny has trained her well. Whenever Joey wants something, like corn or hotdog or shampoo, he will ask her to say the whole sentence, so Joey now says “Lolo, I want corn (or hotdog or mango, etc.).”

I have read that autistic children do not get cured. But they do get better every day. And this is true with Joey. She has certainly come a long way, and we have been cheering her and been cheered by her with each little step that she takes.

Many have been asking me how Manny is after his kidney surgery. As you may have seen from his pictures, he is looking well. He lost a few pounds after his surgery and has managed to keep them off. His strength is fully recovered and we have been playing badminton, and have again picked up golf. We practise our driving with plastic golf balls and our pitching in the garden. But there is still one thing that has not normalized – his creatinine which is the measure of his kidney function. This is a concern since he now has only one kidney. After his surgery in mid-March, his creatinine shot up, and then in early April, it went down though still above normal. Then it went up again twice - late April and late May. So in our last visit to his nephrologist, she advised Manny to diet some more. Apart from giving up processed food (because of the preservatives), she asked him to limit his pork/beef intake to 3 meals a week, and to bulk up on fruits and vegetables. And Manny has been following this diet. How well, we will know tomorrow when he will have his blood test and his consultation with his nephrologist.

Last March when Manny had his kidney surgery, I asked you to pray for him and you did. God answered our collective prayer. I haven’t asked you to pray for Manny since then. But I do ask you now to pray for him again. We have had three blood tests that were not good. I shudder to think what the nephrologist will say if tomorrow’s blood test will not be good.

I usually pray for Joey and her lolo in the same breath. And this is my prayer: for Joey to get better everyday and for Manny to be healed completely. I hope you will join me in this prayer. Thank you and may God bless you.