A Week, Briefly (7/8/19)
The week started hard.
But it got better.
Monday
I spent the whole day taking care of medical and psychiatric issues:
1. Dr appt for me-- a depression screening revealed severe depression--as in "Are you sure you don't need to be hospitalized? What support do you have to convince me to let you walk out of here?" I showed him that I did have enough of a support network to go safely home. I have started a med regimen and will continue seeing a therapist.
2. Psychiatric appt for Ladybug--she's got a new supervising psychiatrist who believes Ladybug's ADHD symptoms might be PTSD in disguise, and that's why we're at 4 trials and 4 fails for medications. Ladybug is now on an anti-depressant, but the ineffective (IMO) ADHD med is not to be stopped because the attending psychiatrist feels that both meds are going to be required to make a difference. That makes 3 meds every day (counting the melatonin she takes for sleep). In addition, she is to begin Trauma Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy--a 25 week course of treatment administered by her current therapist. Both psychiatrists told me to hunker down and accept that Ladybug's behaviors are not going to get better any time soon. They recommend that we keep our 24/7 watch in place indefinitely.
3. Ladybug's therapy--I met with the therapist to go over the psychiatrist recommendations, and then Ladybug had her session.
4. Pharmacies--I am so grateful that neither insurance company balked at the new meds, and both pharmacies had the meds in stock. Our prescriptions were ready by late afternoon. I am so very thankful for that!
Sir Walter Scott kept the majority of the kids all day:
1. He took them with him to pick up the 4th of July holiday flags that are part of our youth group camp fundraising project.
2. He took them to a magic show at the library that I signed them up for a month or so ago.
3. He and Belle made and served lunch.
4. He took the kids up to the soccer field with all kinds of sports equipment and spent hours playing them.
Brother has had 3 meltdowns in 3 evenings, and he's had several rough mornings as well. This is an increase from where we were just a week or two ago. It is as if a switch is flipped, and he goes from happy kid to raging machine in a single second. The triggers are behavior corrections--just simple, light reminders not to run in the house or treat a book gently. Each episode has taken an hour or longer to resolve, and he's occasionally violent--pinching, hitting, head-butting, spitting, kicking, threatening--though for some of them he just stomps his foot rhythmically for the whole hour while refusing to speak or move any other part of his body.
I've found that leaving him alone is the best thing to do, but when he's violent and trying to run away, we have to restrain him until he calms.
Tuesday
It was Sir Walter Scott's turn to spend the day at medical appointments--or at least 1/2 a day. Super Star hurt herself working out at home then exacerbated the injury at work until she was nearly immobile. Sir Walter Scott took her to urgent care where they ruled out any injuries they could treat and said she was "all out of alignment." The doc gave her a note for 2 days off work.
They headed directly to the chiropractor who confirmed that her right shoulder, hip, and 3 vertebrae are out of alignment. The first adjustment is already helping her.
Pixie worked.
The rest of us spent a quiet summer day at home--biking, tree climbing, and swinging for the young ones, chores for me, math for Ladybug in the morning; Myself and Others during lunch; quiet time, popsicles, and water/sand play in the afternoon.
Nature Angel and Little Princess spent almost the entire day in the basement working on Nature Angel's doll house.
And for no reason that we can understand, my direction to pick up and put away his book at bedtime precipitated another meltdown for Brother. This one lasted 2 hours. I thought Sir Walter Scott was making it last longer, so I offered a suggestion, and Sir Walter Scott acquiesced. I was wrong. My suggestion tipped the standoff into violence.
Wednesday
Sir Walter Scott requested 3 weeks of vacation time this month because of tentative Scout trip dates and a possible homeschool conference for me. Neither are happening after all, so he's home with us, and I'm grateful for his support right now.
He and I worked on clearing a few things out of the garage and basement for donation and he reserved another large-item trash pick up with the city. He drove teens to various volunteer and errand locations, and he taught Super Star how to parallel park in preparation for her drivers license exam that must be taken this month.
He also did all of the evening driving for church youth night activities--that took place at 3 different locations!!
.
Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to rest between appointments they had that brought them to our part of town. Grandpa napped, but Grandma visited a bit. They're like rock stars to our kids.
It was Pixie's day off work and her 5 hour dance day. She comes home so glowingly happy from these lessons.
Brother did not have a bedtime tantrum.
Thursday
Such a sweet blessing of a day! Ladybug went to the hospital with Sir Walter Scott for a couple of hours while he worked on payroll.
With Ladybug taken care of, I was free to join another mom who has a neighborhood pool, and we just swam and visited all morning long under a blue sky studded with puffy white clouds. I packed a picnic lunch; we listened to the third book in Edith Nesbit's Psammead Trilogy on the way to and from, and the kids had a gentle afternoon with quiet time and some coloring.
Brother did not throw a tantrum again.
Friday
Park day. We met friends at the park and picnicked.
Nature Angel got to go home with one of the friends, and she's spening a happy afternoon crafting, movie-watching, and swimming.
My therapist was out of the office, but that freed me to meet with Brother's therapist and have a good meeting between the two of us. She had an unusually clear day, so she actually let Brother have a full session after our meeting.
Right now the kids are outside with Sir Walter Scott--cleaning out the garage and sucking on popsicles.
It's almost time to pick up Super Star from work. Her chiropractic adjustments have just about healed her all the way up already.
Pixie will be at work until the amusement park is closed.
Belle has an interview tomorrow for a job at the amusement park.
We completed another week of study in Myself and Others; we had a good week of Morning Meetings; the younger ones and I are enjoying our evening read alouds--The Collected Tales of Beatrix Potter and Swallows and Amazons.
I think my meds are working.
But it got better.
Monday
I spent the whole day taking care of medical and psychiatric issues:
1. Dr appt for me-- a depression screening revealed severe depression--as in "Are you sure you don't need to be hospitalized? What support do you have to convince me to let you walk out of here?" I showed him that I did have enough of a support network to go safely home. I have started a med regimen and will continue seeing a therapist.
2. Psychiatric appt for Ladybug--she's got a new supervising psychiatrist who believes Ladybug's ADHD symptoms might be PTSD in disguise, and that's why we're at 4 trials and 4 fails for medications. Ladybug is now on an anti-depressant, but the ineffective (IMO) ADHD med is not to be stopped because the attending psychiatrist feels that both meds are going to be required to make a difference. That makes 3 meds every day (counting the melatonin she takes for sleep). In addition, she is to begin Trauma Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy--a 25 week course of treatment administered by her current therapist. Both psychiatrists told me to hunker down and accept that Ladybug's behaviors are not going to get better any time soon. They recommend that we keep our 24/7 watch in place indefinitely.
3. Ladybug's therapy--I met with the therapist to go over the psychiatrist recommendations, and then Ladybug had her session.
4. Pharmacies--I am so grateful that neither insurance company balked at the new meds, and both pharmacies had the meds in stock. Our prescriptions were ready by late afternoon. I am so very thankful for that!
Sir Walter Scott kept the majority of the kids all day:
1. He took them with him to pick up the 4th of July holiday flags that are part of our youth group camp fundraising project.
2. He took them to a magic show at the library that I signed them up for a month or so ago.
3. He and Belle made and served lunch.
4. He took the kids up to the soccer field with all kinds of sports equipment and spent hours playing them.
Brother has had 3 meltdowns in 3 evenings, and he's had several rough mornings as well. This is an increase from where we were just a week or two ago. It is as if a switch is flipped, and he goes from happy kid to raging machine in a single second. The triggers are behavior corrections--just simple, light reminders not to run in the house or treat a book gently. Each episode has taken an hour or longer to resolve, and he's occasionally violent--pinching, hitting, head-butting, spitting, kicking, threatening--though for some of them he just stomps his foot rhythmically for the whole hour while refusing to speak or move any other part of his body.
I've found that leaving him alone is the best thing to do, but when he's violent and trying to run away, we have to restrain him until he calms.
Tuesday
It was Sir Walter Scott's turn to spend the day at medical appointments--or at least 1/2 a day. Super Star hurt herself working out at home then exacerbated the injury at work until she was nearly immobile. Sir Walter Scott took her to urgent care where they ruled out any injuries they could treat and said she was "all out of alignment." The doc gave her a note for 2 days off work.
They headed directly to the chiropractor who confirmed that her right shoulder, hip, and 3 vertebrae are out of alignment. The first adjustment is already helping her.
Pixie worked.
The rest of us spent a quiet summer day at home--biking, tree climbing, and swinging for the young ones, chores for me, math for Ladybug in the morning; Myself and Others during lunch; quiet time, popsicles, and water/sand play in the afternoon.
Nature Angel and Little Princess spent almost the entire day in the basement working on Nature Angel's doll house.
And for no reason that we can understand, my direction to pick up and put away his book at bedtime precipitated another meltdown for Brother. This one lasted 2 hours. I thought Sir Walter Scott was making it last longer, so I offered a suggestion, and Sir Walter Scott acquiesced. I was wrong. My suggestion tipped the standoff into violence.
Wednesday
Sir Walter Scott requested 3 weeks of vacation time this month because of tentative Scout trip dates and a possible homeschool conference for me. Neither are happening after all, so he's home with us, and I'm grateful for his support right now.
He and I worked on clearing a few things out of the garage and basement for donation and he reserved another large-item trash pick up with the city. He drove teens to various volunteer and errand locations, and he taught Super Star how to parallel park in preparation for her drivers license exam that must be taken this month.
He also did all of the evening driving for church youth night activities--that took place at 3 different locations!!
.
Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to rest between appointments they had that brought them to our part of town. Grandpa napped, but Grandma visited a bit. They're like rock stars to our kids.
It was Pixie's day off work and her 5 hour dance day. She comes home so glowingly happy from these lessons.
Brother did not have a bedtime tantrum.
Thursday
Such a sweet blessing of a day! Ladybug went to the hospital with Sir Walter Scott for a couple of hours while he worked on payroll.
 |
| Look who finished math!!!! |
With Ladybug taken care of, I was free to join another mom who has a neighborhood pool, and we just swam and visited all morning long under a blue sky studded with puffy white clouds. I packed a picnic lunch; we listened to the third book in Edith Nesbit's Psammead Trilogy on the way to and from, and the kids had a gentle afternoon with quiet time and some coloring.
Brother did not throw a tantrum again.
Friday
Park day. We met friends at the park and picnicked.
 |
| After we saved our lunch from the hungry geese, the kids wanted to see if the geese were friendly. :) |
 |
| One mom brought puzzle books, and these two settled happily to work! |
 |
| Playing "Johnny May We Cross Your Red, Red River?" |
Nature Angel got to go home with one of the friends, and she's spening a happy afternoon crafting, movie-watching, and swimming.
My therapist was out of the office, but that freed me to meet with Brother's therapist and have a good meeting between the two of us. She had an unusually clear day, so she actually let Brother have a full session after our meeting.
Right now the kids are outside with Sir Walter Scott--cleaning out the garage and sucking on popsicles.
It's almost time to pick up Super Star from work. Her chiropractic adjustments have just about healed her all the way up already.
Pixie will be at work until the amusement park is closed.
Belle has an interview tomorrow for a job at the amusement park.
We completed another week of study in Myself and Others; we had a good week of Morning Meetings; the younger ones and I are enjoying our evening read alouds--The Collected Tales of Beatrix Potter and Swallows and Amazons.
I think my meds are working.
I have so much respect for modern medicine. It's good to feel some heaviness lifting.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you were able to take some steps to take care of you! I am always amazed at how much stuff you have going on and how many people need you. It is a lot of responsibility and balls to juggle. Tantrums are huge energy drainers when they happen even just a few times a week, let alone daily. I hope you have an easier week ahead.
ReplyDeleteOh, I am so glad the meds are helping you. I am so glad you are doing some things that are helping you and the your husband is off for awhile. That is a wonderful help. I hope the trauma therapy helps. I am impressed with the services you are finding. HUGS!
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
I am so glad you were able to find some help for you and that you were able to get medicines with no problems! How wonderful to have your husband home with you even though the reasons for him being off didn't work out. Mine was home half a day and today unexpectedly (severe flooding in our area from Hurricane Barry has left several roads impassable) and I'm thankful for the help with the outside animal chores since all the animal owners have gone to camp for a few days. I hope the tantrums are better this week I so wish there was an easy solution to fix those.
ReplyDelete