The Horrible Month of May!

Once again it has been about six weeks since I've come and put anything on this blog.  There's a good reason for that.  The month of May was really bad! 

God has always been very gracious to us and has blessed us in the fact that we never had difficulty with Caleb and Cassidy at the same time.  However, May was not that way.  Both kids had a lot of difficulty and it was very stressful!!!!

The last part of April we started taking Caleb off of his Abilify because things were very difficult with him and it didn't appear that the Abilify was working any more. However, last week, we ended up putting him back on it, not at the same dosage, but still he is back on it.  Putting him back on this medication raises the number to five psychotropic medications and two seizures medications that he takes on a daily basis.  I really hate that he has to be on so many meds, but they are obviously very necessary for him to be able to live at home safely.

Caleb is attending a camp for children with developmental disabilities through our local ARC center this summer for five weeks.  He went for the first time last week and will go back in three weeks.  Normally when Caleb is in a new environment he is pretty good behavior-wise until he gets comfortable.  But last week was a totally different story.  He had a very difficult time the first three days.  The last day he did much better and I was very proud of him. 

Wednesday, I thought we were going to end up having to try and find a hospital that would admit him.  I arrived at the center to pick him up and his group had not arrived yet.  I was in the back where the vehicles would bring the kids and as his van was pulling in I could hear a child screaming and I was certain it was Caleb.  His leader got out and I asked if that was Caleb.  She said it was and that he had been like that pretty much all day.  She said he'd be fine and then the next minute he'd be screaming, would hit, pinch and scratch.  One of the male leaders had to carry him to the van for me because he was refusing to go with me.  He calmed down enough for me to drive, but he'd start hitting the window from time to time.  I debated in my mind whether to go to our crisis center or not.  I ended up not going and got home, but Caleb refused to go inside.

I got everyone else in the house and Caleb still refused to come in.  I ended up restraining him on the front lawn until he calmed down.  He had a good evening after that.  The next morning after I dropped him off at camp and was driving home, it was like I got hit in the face, realizing that we had taken him off of the Abilify and wondered if that could be the cause of all of this.

I called Tony and talked to him and he thought it was quite possible.  I called Caleb's psychiatrist's nurse (soooo thankful for his doctor and her nurse!!!!) and left a very long and desperate message.  She called me back within an hour and told me that Caleb's doctor was on vacation.  She told me she'd talk to one of the other doctors, but didn't think it would be a problem to put him back on it, especially seeing as how we had a med check appointment already scheduled for the next Thursday.  A while later she called me back and said the other doctor said it would be fine.

Within a couple of days we were already started seeing a difference in Caleb - so thankful!!!!!!  We went to Caleb's psychiatrist this morning and she agreed that he obviously needs that medication and we'll just leave it at the lower dose since it seems to be working.

On to Cassidy.  She's been much more difficult lately with lying, being totally defiant and disrespectful.  This even carried over into school and she made it very difficult for her teacher.  Her teacher and her para were beside themselves, as was I whenever I got a phone call or an e-mail about her behavior.  No type of punishment and/or removal of privilege seems to work with her.  We have started with a new therapist and I'm hoping that we will be able to turn things around with her in the near future!