8iRWeiXjcKj9kUz5Tebo4_k_FtY Life with Two Special Needs Children: I really need to stop saying, "Everything's going well."

Friday, August 5, 2011

I really need to stop saying, "Everything's going well."

Yesterday afternoon I had to take Caleb for his scheduled med check appointment, which we generally do every two months.  We went in Dr. Jenkins, who has been seeing Caleb regularly for over 6 years and she has been seeing Cassidy for four years, asked how things are going.  And I said, "Everything's going well with him."  So she said, "You don't want to change a thing."  I told her that no we didn't want to change anything.  That adding back in the 5mg of Abilify that we did the first part of June was a huge help and things were going well.

In fact, things have been going so well since we came back from camp, that Caleb can spend time in the basement by himself.  (We really should have sent him to sleep-away camp much sooner!!!)  Caleb's anxiety has usually been so bad that there have been numerous times that he couldn't even spend time in his bedroom alone because he was "scared."

However, today he's had more difficulty with not listening and being more disrespectful and a little less easily redirecatble than he has been in the last couple of months since we added back the Abilify.  Now, I know things are not always going to be perfect and I also know that the behavior today is not because I told his doctor, "Everything's going well."  But, gosh darn, it seems like every time I say that the next day is much more difficult!

I so appreciate his doctor in that she respects how I feel things are going and listens to me and doesn't have her own agenda when it comes to the kids' medications.  I also know that if I call her and tell her that things have gotten bad, she is willing to do some tweaking to help us prior to our next appointment so that we're not in constant crisis mode waiting for our next appointment.

On a good note, though, our attorney has the signed Adoption Petition for our Little Guy and was going to get it filed today so that there would be no problems keeping our finalization date of September 8th!!!!!!!!!

4 comments:

Stephanie said...

Hi there!
reading about your life, sounds like a extra full time job! but great benefits ;)
curious if you have tried the casein,gluten free diet for the kids?
are they vaccinated?
thanks for all your blog entries, very informative- and your kids are cute as buttons.
kind regards
steph

Unknown said...

Hi Stephanie. Thank you for your comment. No, we have not tried GF/CF. My oldest is so picky and I'm afraid that we'd never get him to eat anything!

Yes, they have all been vaccinated.

I think they're pretty cute, too!!

Cassandra

Stephanie said...

thanks for the response!
Just an informal poll I am taking as I am working through the special needs/autism lifestyle...
do your kids crave certain foods only? Like milk/milk products and chicken nuggets or bread and crackers etc?
Is there something that they love and eat every day?
trying to figure out this whole diet thing...
thanks
Steph

Unknown said...

Steph,

With my oldest, who is the only one with an Autism diagnosis, he craves a lot of carbs - mostly chicken nuggets and french fries (from McDonald's, of course). He's been eating a lot of cereal lately because we won't get him McDonald's on a daily basis. He used to eat a lot of rice, but not so much any more. Also, he loves sweet and sour chicken, crab ragoon and coconut shrimp from Chinese buffets, which we can't do on a daily basis either! I've found a recipe for coconut shrimp that I'm going try making Friday and hope that it'll be good enough for him!

My oldest used to love pastas, but that has seemed to go to the wayside.

Let me know if you have any other questions. If you'd rather e-mail me off the blog, just send me an e-mail to cassandra dot sines at gmail dot com.

Cassandra