so proud of my aspie husbing

by rachel
(nashville, tn)

I met Joel in the winter of 2005. He was in the army and he and I connected right away. An unplanned pregnancy and a deployment to Iraq helped us to turn to marriage a little quicker than some usually would.

He left for ramadi iraq in november of 2005. I was 8 months pregnant.

Our son, CJ was born in jan 2006. Joel met him for the first time in april while he was on mid-tour leave. We got two weeks together.

Then back to war.

Joel came home for good in november of 2006.

He brought with him, PTSD, TBI, and a purple heart.

The next several years were VERY hard.

Around CJ's third birthday I could no longer ignore that his development was off. His pediatrician agreed. After meeting with a doctor to see if she thought maybe he was on the spectrum I got five minutes of her time and a lecture about "moms like you" that she sees all the time: Who see their child do something funny and jump to autism.

So we turned to private therapy and daycare (for social integration)

After another year. We finally got a diagnoses. aspergers. With ADHD and OCD.

As we began to learn more about Aspergers, it became impossible to ignore that Joel fit the description as well.

So he contacted the autism society near us and was put in touch with a doctor who diagnosed him as well.

I can't imagine war through the eyes of a person living with Aspergers but he did it! And despite the challenges we faced, the fires we walked through, he got help and even reversed his PTSD diagnosis.

I love him so much.