Still clicking my heels...

Update? Sure.....

Haven't written much for a variety of reasons- nothing much to write, not much time to write, and just plain ol' don't feel like it lately. Meh.

Anyway, the house is still not done.
Our landlord flipped out and booted us, so now we're staying for 2-3 weeks in a hotel. It's actually not that bad. They're suites, so there's a kitchenette and two bedrooms. It's small, but there's places to "escape" when necessary. Also? There's a pool. So Jaysen is happy.

Speaking of Happy-Jaysen, he is doing great with the help of the Abilify. He seems more able to process things, is more reasonable, and just seems...happier. More at-ease.

Hand?
Still sucks. Seems the suckage is getting more and more. I really need to see a pain doctor to get a handle on this, because "toughing it out" is making me a mega-bitch. And this hyper-sensitivity? Oh yes, I now know (on a smaller scale) what some of our kids are going through- and it's no joke. This can be some painful stuff.

Jaysen is not participating in ESY this year, which is fine with me as it really didn't do much for him anyway. Instead, he is attending a camp through the YMCA, and has only complained a few times about going. He has basically gone the whole summer at this camp! Huge.

Still looking forward to our Charlevoix trip in a couple weeks! :)
Whoot.

P.S. I am totally NOT freaking out that summer is almost over and there's back-to-school stuff stalking me everywhere I go. See? Thisismetotallynotfreakingout....

Things you would have heard this morning if you were a fly on my wall...

Rylan: (two fingers intently pointed on the sides of his head) Mommy! These are my nipples!
Me: Um...no, sweetie. Those are your temples.


Jaysen: Mom......where's my Abilify?!?
'Bout knocked me to the ground...never thought I'd ever hear something like that in a million years...

Skillz with pillz

Against my better judgement, I am totally going to post some superfantabulous news, about a superfantabulous gain we have made.

Hold onto your stickybuns, because this is HUGE.

So, you know my son...the one with sensory issues, who only eats things that he deems non-vomit-inducing? Okay, and we also know his sensory issues cross over into medications. No oral medications (makes him all barf-o-rama), has resulted in M-tabs and suppositories.

Jaysen was off meds for about a month. He started to get tweaky, so we revisited the med route. Upon familial suggestion (don't you just lurve that?!?), we tried Intuniv. Don't try this at home folks...my kid was berzerker. Like not a funny hyper berzerker... mean joe green berzerker. After only 4 days, we switched him to Abilify. Muuuuch better.

Huh?
What's that? Abilify comes in pill form?
Yes..... I know.

I had been prepping him for the meds... up until now, I had been able to successfully sneak him the Risperdal, but I wanted him to be informed as to what was going on and why he was taking these medications. Of course he bucked, but when I explained that the med was to help him not be so angry, and he might like how it makes him feel balanced, he said he would try it.

We spent the night before practicing swallowing pills using Skittles.
He thought it was funny and was really proud he could do it.

When it came time to "go live"....
Went without a hitch.
Perfect.
He even made a big production out of it.

If that's not awesome in its own right, here's what he said to me at bedtime-
"Mom...thank you for practicing me the Skittles...it helped awesome."

And now... he has taken it every day, on his own (with parental supervision).

The Unveiling...

Ladies and Gentlemen...
I take great pride and pleasure in being able to introduce to you, for the first time in....
well... a superlong time...

*drumroll*

My Left Hand!

Totally exciting, I know. But there is no cast, no splint, and I can go commando with my hando.
It still hurts like a.... well, yeah. And I still can't feel anything, so my fine motor is shot. I can't even sense hot or cold as of yet. The rest of my hand, however, is hypersensitive. And let me tell you that is bizarre!

So...still healing, there are ROM exercises to be done and desensitizing to accomplish, all in time.

But for now... I can totally almost hold a beer bottle.
My goal for the summer.
And we all need goals.

Snot fun.

Seriously...
Allergies are killin' me.
I've never had seasonal allergies, ever- until a couple of years ago.
I don't know how people actually live like this.
I want to gouge my eyeballs out and slough my nose off with sandpaper.
Ugh.
This sucks.
It's 3:30 am, and I can't sleep because the suckage in my face is so bad.
Because seasonal allergies are so new to me, I have no idea what the eff I'm even allergic to, or even how to treat it.
Yes, I'm taking medication...no it's obviously not working.
Meh.

*still holding*

Just a quick blurb here...more like a rant really...

I have to say that it irritates me to no end when people know Jaysen is med-free, and any little behavioral glitch (or big one), the first thing out of their mouths is, "time to go back on meds?"

Really?
Because had you not known he was off meds, you would have thought he was just having a "rough day". But when he's off meds, we almost look for things to go wrong. We want to find them and blame them on something. If it's worse off meds, then it can be fixed by meds, and if meds can fix him....
If you really paid attention to him closely, and not just when he is off of the meds- you would notice that the behaviors and attitudes that are so glaringly obvious to you now? He was doing 2-3 weeks ago. A month ago. Last year. On meds.
So, no.

I will, however, be revisiting the issue with his psychiatrist- who by the way, isn't you... to discuss his medication situation.

Thank you, Detroit.

*holding my breath*

Because we all know I just miss the Mom of the Year award by thismuch every year...

I was noticing Jaysen was running low on his meds. And by running low, I mean holy shit-potatoes Batman, I should have refilled this 3 days ago. So I jet on over to the pharmacy. As I was entering the store, something made me look down. Know what I saw???

-NO REFILLS-

Oh my effing Buddha burrito.
You've GOT to be shitting me.
Nope. Not shitting me.

Okay. I can handle this. Let's think. Yeah, wake up other half of brain...
Rational Me: Ohai! I'm here.
Me: Kay. I totally need you. Jaysen's outta meds. His behavior has been really tweaky lately- which means possibly, there needs to be a med re-eval. Possibly a different med? Maybe we should just see how he does off of them?
RM: Are. You. Kidding. Me? Don't you remember the last time you did this, and he was bonkers? Hyper like a spider monkey washing down crack with a Mountain Dew? Hyper like stayed up all night? Hyper like pulling couch cushions off constantly, and nobody had anywhere to sit?
Me: Yeah, but he's got one pill left... I could split it and get one day out of it...
RM: Or... you could call the doctor to call in a week's worth until you can get him in.
Me: But the weight gain and blood draws...
RM: The physical aggression... he's big now. That punch would hurt. For real.
Me: ...yeah... Okay, I'll give it a few days and really watch him.
RM: Oy...

So... we're on day 4 of no meds.
I can report that there is little to no difference.
I can also report that there have been some instances where he would usually "go off", and he has started to, but then walked away, and returned calmer.

Example: He was playing a video game that was frustrating him. He did some self harming, hitting and biting (keep in mind he was doing these sib's prior to no meds), but then he got up from the game, went outside and got the mail from the mailbox, came back in the house, and turned off the game, and watched TV instead.

*blink blink* I know.

Another example? I received word from Jaysen's camp counselor that while at the park... "Jaysen was threatened by another (non-camper) boy. Jaysen handled the situation wonderfully."

*huge proud cheesy grin*

Keep him in your thoughts as we fare through this interesting trial!