Moments that Mattered

Following quite a negative post, I feel it's important to highlight the moments of 2013 that mattered to us. I am posting this also to enter a competition to win an iPad Mini. If I won this, obviously this would help my little man who struggles with communication. The competition is supported by http://www.lloydsbank.com/. 

2013 has been a turbulent year, but here are some of the highlights.

A trip to Legoland Windsor, my son's obsession with Lego was well and truly satisfied when we surprised him and his sisters with this trip! It was by far the best day we have had all year and therefore it needs to be first mentioned! Here is one of the funniest pictures I have of the day!

As you can see, my smallest little lady at the front pulled this cracking face in terror as we shot down the log flume! Priceless.

The other moment that stands out for 2013 is that my son for the first time in his 7 years of living, has said the words " Love you, mum". I don't even care if he doesn't mean it, or understand what love feels like!

Another amazing moment for me personally, was that my application to begin a Degree in an extremely competitive field was successful. I have a place at my local university, I got the news in December, just in time for Christmas and I begin in February 2014. Exciting news, even if I will be very poor for the next 3 years, the long term outlook is better! 

A heart warming moment for the family was watching 8 new lives enter the world! Our lovely family Labrador gave birth in April 2013 to 8 beautiful puppies! My husband and I were all hands on deck as she pushed her first puppy out and I was quickly able to stimulate a little squeak off of him. He was such a big puppy! He weighed in at 508g which was over 100g more than his litter mates! I fell in love with him, we nicknamed him Chunk and my Dad fell for him too, so I gave him to my Dad and told him to enjoy him! Here are a few pics of the tiny puppies :) We all love puppies, right?

"Chunk" about 2 minutes old!

Our lovely Lab, smiling with her eyes!

So there we go, those were the highlights of our 2013! With 2014 promising to bring more positive changes :)

Medication, Moans, and Malnourishment

Last time I wrote, things were going ok, my son has been through the mill since and we are just trying to ride the waves without getting sucked into the chaos that has become life. 

Getting prescribed Dexamphetamine for ADHD symptoms initially seemed great, the impulsive and explosive behaviours my son displays when anxious seemed to have lessened. Sadly, so did his appetite. My son was on the low end of normal before hand, but his weight loss was severe and he looked ill, his teachers reported him becoming more withdrawn, "zombie like", and unhappy. They even used the terms "depressed" and that he was saying "dark" things. This was a shock to myself and my husband because at home he never said anything that would cause alarm. 

After a multiprofessional meeting it was decided with the paediatrician that we would stop the medication and give him 4 weeks to clear the system to see if this dark and disturbing behaviour would continue. The paediatrician thinks the medication may just have highlighted traits of the personality he had before, and that he really needs a full assessment for further difficulties. I am inclined to agree with her, I know my son has profound issues, having been told he was certainly on the Autistic Spectrum years ago I have accepted this. 

Stopping the medication threw the family into turmoil, to be honest, it was a nightmare. My son's behaviour was extreme, his violent outbursts caused bruises, tears and emotional trauma to us all. We were literally house bound with him because we couldn't take him anywhere and it be safe. I felt like a poor excuse of a mother because I didn't know how my son was feeling, I couldn't help him or comfort him and he didn't understand how his behaviour was impacting us and how he made us feel. This is the struggle, cause and effect means nothing to him but his sister who is just over 2 years younger has better concept of it. 

Getting help for my son's weight was difficult, his GP didn't really want to help, and with the school increasing the pressure on us, implying we didn't offer him food did not help. I hated being accused, and belittled about it, I offered all of his usual favourites but he simply wasn't interested, and didn't seem to be hungry. I wasn't prepared to force feed him, that would have made issues more tense and who knows what that would have done to him psychologically. I suggested fortijuice to several GP's but all were reluctant to prescribe them, and said that eating was the best way to gain weight. How ironic. 

I've watched my little boy transform in such a little amount of time, it's frightening. He commenced Strattera in December 2013, it has had no impact on his behaviour at all. We remain unable to take him out in public because of his behaviour, and people's ignorance. My son has no social filter, he says what he thinks, it's almost like having verbal diarrhoea I suppose. 

We are just waiting for the next paediatrician appointment at the end of the month, I hope she will do the blood tests this time to test for the Fragile X syndrome that she mentioned. 

In the meantime, I remain hopeful that Autism awareness is enhanced, and for people not to make rude remarks about my parenting. I have always said, I cannot be that bad...the other 2 are not like this! Perhaps I should remind myself of this more often.