Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Oops, I keep forgetting to blog!

Wow, It's been awhile since I've posted.  I did warn in my first post A Start Of A Journey, I'm not too good at keeping up with this blogging thing. I'm going to try to get better at it, I promise. So, lets start with an update. First, Bryce managed to get through the entire 4th grade year without getting suspended!!!  Yay!  He also managed to somehow make all A's and B's this past year and got 4 Silver Honor Roll awards along with an award for being Silver Honor Roll all year long.  He is very proud of this.  He started running Track with YMCA, though we did not make it to any meets (long story) it was good practice for him.  He placed 2nd place in the Soft Ball Throw and 50 Meter Dash at the Regional Special Olympics meet, then went on to the State games and placed 5th in Soft Ball Throw and won a GOLD medal in the 50 M dash!!!!  He was so excited and thrilled to pieces with his Gold Medal. The whole family went to the games, then the next day, we drove up north to see my niece graduate from high school. It was a bitter sweet moment to see her walk across the stage (I saw it in pictures, as there was no way I was taking Bryce to a graduation ceremony, we stayed at the hotel and swam), knowing her sister wasn't here to see her walk, but I couldn't be prouder of her. She has suffered so much in her young life, and has over come it, and she is one of my heroes. So, the school year ended with a bang, short and sweet. Now, Dylan has had a lot of trouble this year. Honestly, I am not going to lay the blame of this horrid year all on him. His teacher was the worst we have had at this school and I'm thankful he is out of her class.  He will be repeating the 1st grade, but NOT with her. I made sure to stress that with the assistant principal. NOT WITH HER.  I will not lay all the blame at her feet, Dylan is having some attention problems and he can be a day dreamer and a bit immature, however, he never had trouble with homework, in fact, use to beg for more homework, until this past year.  He started to hate it, and it took hours to do. Even Bryce never had homework like that. So, we will see what his new teacher says next year. I swear, if I hear the words "why in the world was he held back?", I will go postal.

Anyway, school is over, and now comes the time of year where we mess with Bryce's meds. We will be attempting to take him off of Respiradone, again this year (did not work out last year), because this particular drug has nasty side effects.  First, we have to get his sleep patterns and his ADHD medications adjusted, so we can attempt the wean. We feel that his lack of sleep (up till 11pm-12am at night, waking at least once in the middle of the night to scourge for food, and then up at 6-7 am does not make for a restful nights sleep.) adds to his behavior issues, plus, I was beginning to feel like the amount of ADHD medications he was taking was too much, and that, in itself, can cause behavioral issues.  So, we have switched his ADHD med to a longer acting one (hahahahahaha....  I laugh because, there is no such thing as a "long acting" medication for Bryce.  His metabolism is so fast, he will metabolism an Extended Release medication in less then 4 hours, so that, a medication designed to last 8 hours, is completely out of his system in 4.), supposedly, this new medication is suppose to last 12-18 hours.  His psychiatrist stated that for him, it should last 6-8. Jury is still out on this one. I haven't quite decided yet if it's working.  He has periods of uncontrollable activity, but it's just bursts, nothing I can't handle. Now, whether or this will work for school, we won't know till August on that. The other thing we have done, this one was hard for me, we have added a sleeping medication.  It's very low dose, like 0.1mg, but still... I do not want him to rely on medication for sleeping. I have to, I have chronic insomnia (maybe it is genetic??), and I rely on sleeping medication every single night, and have for a number of years. But, his psychiatrist felt that if we can get his sleep pattern to even out, get him used to going to sleep at a certain time, sleeping through the night, and not getting up at the butt crack of dawn, then maybe, just maybe, it will stay that way when we wean him off the medication (which will be in a few months). So far, this drug has been my favorite. LOL!  He is asleep by 9 (and it's summer!) and sleeps all night till about 5-6 am.  Today, he got up at 8!  He is less cranky in the mornings.  His argumentative nature has improved.  He even goes to the bathroom, brushes his teeth, and goes straight to bed without the break out of WWIII, and trust me, this is news.  I am thinking this psychiatrist was right. With his sleeping patterns improving, and the switch from a lesser dosage, but longer acting medication, things are, in fact, improving.  We are, at least, having some hopeful optimism. July, we will attempt to wean him off the Respiradone, and August, we will try and take him off Prozac (a less dangerous medication, but I'm not sure it's needed, but she wants to do one thing at a time...).  Maybe, by school, he will only be on 1 medication for his ADHD and 1 medication for his allergies/asthma, and that's it.  Before this visit, he was taking 2 pills in the morning, 1 pill in the afternoon, and 4 pills at night.  It's already been cut to 2 in AM and 3 at night, so, I'm really feeling better about it.  I never wanted him on medication, and I hate that he is on so much of it now. so I'm looking forward to cutting it down to just 2 medications total!

We have had a rough summer so far.  Trying to balance illnesses with weather to do fun things.  Hopefully, that will improve by next week cause the boys have been dying to go to the water park and the pool, and really, so am I.  We need to get out of the house and have some fun.  I'm ready!  Hopefully soon.

Now that I have written a book of an update, I will try to do at least a weekly post from now on, even if it's a short "funny" from one of the boys.  They do have a lot of those, believe it or not.  It seems like, all I ever write about is the negative, maybe it's because, getting the negative out, helps me cope with the bad times.  I need an outlet, that's just the long and short of it.  But, I also need to remember to put out the good.  I want to show that Autism is not all bad.  In fact, sometimes, it's awesome.  Like, when he jumped up on that medal stand, at the State Special Olympic Games, with a huge smile on his face, pumping his arms, jumping up and down, it was one of the best moments of my life.  Ranks right up there with my wedding day and the day that both my boys were born.  I will never forget that smile. That smile is why I have it all.


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