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Thursday, August 22, 2013

First day of school, med changes, etc.

Sunday after church, we went to Wendy's for lunch with my sister Kelly, her husband Tony and their son Kyle.   We went there because that's where Drew wanted to go.  He got to ride in Uncle Tony's Van like he wanted, too.  You might think this would ensure good behavior, right?  Well, not if you know Fragile X.  When we got there, I took him to the bathroom.  He was fine, happy, whatever.  Next thing I know, he is upset, slamming Wendy's door, knocking Kelly's cup on the ground, knocking over chairs, trying to push her tray of food on the ground.  I honestly do not know what caused it.  I don't.  I told him to sit in timeout in a booth by himself.  He was biting his hand and vocalizing.  I waited a couple minutes and tried to bring him his chicken nuggets.  I hadn't even put them down yet and he was pushing them away. 

Blake was already set up at the table with Kelly and Tony.  Eric was still waiting for fries at the register.  He brought them to the table and Drew was still having a meltdown. We decided that we needed to take our food home and eat it there.  Kelly offered to bring Blake home after lunch.  I told Drew we were leaving and he was out the door.  Once he got in the van he started throwing things at us.  Eric reminded me of our pastor's message that there is blessing even in suffering, and that even if we didn't see it at that moment, there was some blessing coming from the situation. 

We got home and he settled down.  The afternoon was uneventful.  Bless my husband for letting me take a nice long nap while he kept and eye on the kids. 

Sunday evening, we went to Eric's sister Annette's house for a visit.  Drew's behavior was great while were there, but he had a very rough transition into the house.  He pushed me and bit Eric. 

After we got Drew to bed, I checked my email.  I had emailed Dr. Berry-Kravis about our acamprosate titration schedule earlier in the evening and mentioned that the meds didn't seem to be helping.  She emailed back asking if his behavior was just no better or actually worse on the acamprosate.  I replied that it was worse.  She emailed me back on Sunday night to take him off the acamprosate.  She also said to increase one of the other meds he is on.

Monday morning, I didn't give him the acamprosate.  His behavior was noticeably better.  That night he had an increased dose of Risperdal.  Tuesday night, we met with Mr. Burgbacher, Drew's special ed. teacher.  See my blog post titled Tired for the debacle that was our first attempt at visiting the school.  Mr. Burgbacher was able to get Drew to come into the school and brought him to his classroom.  Drew stopped just outside the doors, but was happy and pretty comfortable with his new teacher.  It didn't hurt that Mrs. Hoehne was there and had brought some of his favorite things, specifically books about snakes.  I called it a success and we headed home, hopeful that the next day, the dreaded first day of school would go okay. 

Wednesday morning, Drew woke up happy.  Blake woke up happy.  What a blessing.  Both boys ate their breakfast nicely, got dressed without incident. The only mild hiccup we had was when Mrs. Hoehne got to our house to pick up the boys.  Blake went right out and got in the car.  Drew said, "I'm not going to school!"  Eric and I just said, "Yes, you are.  You can do it!"  He ran out to the car and slammed the car door shut.  Then he opened it back up and got in.  I heard him tell Mrs. Hoehne, "I have a haircut tonight" and he was smiling, so I took that as a good sign. 

I prayed for my boys often throughout the day.  I saw Blake's special ed. teacher when I got to school for work and she said Blake seemed to be having a great day.  I was relieved about that.  I saw him at lunch time and I said hi to him.  He said, "Hi Mom!" in his happy, usual manner, which also put my mind at ease.

When I got off work, I checked my phone and there was a text from Drew's aide saying he was having a very good day.  Also, when I got home, Mr. Burgbacher had left a message on our answering machine that Drew was having a great day.  He went in the school without any issues, and went into Mr. Burgbacher's room after only a couple minutes standing in the hall.

We had a small transition issue when the boys got home.  Blake ran ahead and locked the front door.    Drew got upset, but I ran in through the garage and opened the door.  He went in okay.  I went back out to talk to Mrs. Hoehne about the day for a couple minutes.  When I went back in, both boys were doing their own thing and were both happy.  I talked to each one separately and they both said they had a good day. 

Blake spent a good portion of his day in the regular ed. classroom with his classmates and will continue to do so as long as he is able.  They also got some giant beanbag chairs to use for deep pressure sensory input, which he loves. 

Here are a couple pics I took in the morning before they left for school.








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