Singapore #1

The whole clan made a short trip to Singapore last Monday for our Tuesday early morning 9am appointment with Dr Erwin Kay. It was good that it was a short trip because the 2.4 conversion rate sure was a pain in the ass.

We stayed at Joo Chiat Fragrance hotel as it was deemed one of the nearest place to Bedok North where the medical centre was at. I wanted to book Le Peranakan hotel in the first place as it was located not near where the night life is at but after researching much, I came across a photo by a tourist who stayed there and the room was sure very very very tiny looking to fit all three of us in, so Fragrance Hotel it is for us. Not to say Fragrance Hotel was spacious too but a decent clean place for us to rest a night will do.

There were other decent hotels around too but the prices were just too high and not worth it as we were only reaching at about 730pm and ciaoing off at 830am the next day.

Dr Erwin asked us a few questions regarding our family background, my pregnancy journey if I had any complications, places that I stayed at that might gave had affected the fetus inside me, Jaden's vaccinations and then on to Jaden's behavior. He then told us that Jaden does have ASD. 

Dr Erwin then recommend us to start the GFCF diet and observe if there is any improvement in Jaden's behavior. For a start, since 4 days after we took him off dairy completely, and trying our best for gluten too, we noticed that there is a tiny weeny bit of improvement in his focus. He looks at Mr more and also, when he was younger, he used to imitate Mr playing aeroplane and then he regressed that action. When we were at the LCCT airport waiting to board our plane to Sg, and both of the boys were playing, he started to initiate play and imitate the action again. I am really praying that it was the off-casein diet that did the job.

We were asked to do 4 tests first.

1) Heavy Metal Testing -Hair Analysis
2) IGG Asian Food panel for 96 food items
3) Comprehensive Stool Analysis
4) Urine Organic Acid Test

We only manage to conduct the first two tests at the clinic, whereas the other two had to be done back at home since Jaden did not poo the day before or poo-ed when we were at the clinic. The boy has yet to be toilet-trained so he can't pee on demand too.

For the hair test, Dr Erwin did the  prick blood test. When he pricked Jaden's finger, all Jaden did was turn and look at him in the manner "Why did you do that for?". It is in one of the many traits that might be found in children with autism / ASD that they have high threshold to pain. Jaden only cried murder because he did not like the idea of us holding him down while Dr Erwin tried to squeeze enough trickles of blood for the lab test.

Next, he cut quite a few chunks of Jaden's hair near the back / just an inch or two above the neck area for the hair test.  That too, Jaden struggled because he simply just did not like anyone to touch his head or hair.

We also took back a few supplements for Jaden to kickstart his biomed journey.

We got four types of supplements to start off first.

1) Klaire Lab Ther-Biotic Detoxification Support
2) Houston Nutraceuticals Peptizyde Multiple Protese
3) Metabolic Maintenance Spectrum Awakening
4) Mollers Tran Fish Oil

In total, everything came up to SGD2300 for this first consultation. Come to think of it, the tests were so much cheaper compared to the Malaysian Psychology Centre that wanted to charge me for the test and consultation. Parents with child consultation can come up to a sum of RM1200. Thats freaking expensive compared to a mere SGD200 consultation fee done in Singapore. 

We have yet to start the supplements with Jaden because I have not  collected his pee samples yet. I am going to start experimenting my luck on Friday onwards so hopefully by Sunday night, I will get to collect the right specimen and ship it off early Monday morning to US.

For the stool test, Jaden gave me one good sample that filled the two tubes to the rim and I had some leftovers too. Awesome experience I tell you. Each time I think about it, I just want to puke myself silly with tears coming out from my eyes. :) I shipped it out this morning, expected to reach Friday our Malaysian time, so I am thinking they will reach US Thursday. Shipping for a 0.5kg box with the stool and ice pack came up to the sum of RM225.35 with Fedex. The people at Fedex were actually very friendly and helpful. I drove to the main office at Uptown Tower B and by doing so, they actually give a RM10 discount.

So far so good with the GFCF diet. Jaden does not have any cravings or requests for the food he used to have IF he does not see it so we try our very best not to eat the 'forbidden' food in front of him. 

He is still jumping, having the weird looking out from the corner of his eyes symptom. as for eye contact, sometimes he looks at us in the eye, sometimes he chooses not to. He has been rather affectionate lately, going on a kissing spree with Mr and I. He babbles more now but his tantrum is still rather unstable. One minute he can be babbling, smiling to himself, the next minute he might run charging towards me and cry. He still spins but when we ask him to stop, he will / or might stop unless he really feels that he needs to spin and spin.

So there you go with my first visit to Singapore to get Jaden treated. I hope with the next visit, I might be able to present more good news on Jaden's behavior development. The next step now I am going to take is to enrol him for intensive 1:1 ABA therapy.