Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Pain and Behavior

So David has been doing pretty well during his suspension. Unfortunately he had to spend the day with me at the hospital because they decided to my surgery immediately because I was having a lot more pain than last week. Dave came up from work and while we waited David did really well doing his homework.

When we got home David was really spun up and running all over the place. He really needed to unwind from a hectic day. The storm was heading in fast so he didn't have much time to play outside. Today he got to play outside more and got the rest of his homework done (which he did not want to do and was really defiant about it). Also while he was outside he started hitting the chickens with a stick so we had to bring him back inside. I know that he really needs to be outside but we couldn't let him with his behavior. He is doing a lot better tonight and starting to fall asleep on my leg as I am typing this. I really hope he behaves at school tomorrow because he really needs to be at school and not suspended again.

As for my surgery it went well. They found that I had a 2.5cm swollen lymph node that they removed. So I didn't have a hernia after all so I should have a faster recovery from this. No more pain going down my leg which is great! Now there is just pain at the incision site and that should be gone in a week hopefully.

I am just praying that the rest of the week goes well.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

The Roller Coaster Effect

Wow, it's been a while since I've written last. So many changes, ups and downs. For starter I got Gracie, our aussie-lab mix ( I call her an aussiedor...maybe it will catch on). Things did not go well the night I brought her home from the horse and tack auction (she was free). Dave was really mad about me bringing home another dog because we already had Gus who was a little over a year old at the time and still only partially housebroken. Later in the week we received some news from Sierra, that she was pregnant, and this caused Dave to completely forget about how mad he was at me for bringing Gracie home.

Let me digress some. So I went to the auction with my friend who wanted to sell her extra saddles, the little man (David) and I went with her and her kids (her son has aspergers as well and they get along fabulously). I used the few dollars that I had to get some french fries and some water for the kids to share while their mom talked to the saddle people. Then we went upstairs for to the seating area for the auction.

Wow a real farm-style auction! I have never been to one and was pretty excited. Animal holding stalls that lead right into the "auction arena", and a farm lookin' guy with a mallet (yes mallet, not mullet) sitting up high like in the biggest judge's throne I'd ever seen. As I was soaking in all the wonderful sights, so was David. Until he turned around and saw a giant pen of puppies! He really wanted to go and see them so all the kids went. I reluctantly walked the steps towards the pen myself seeing what looked like someone's artistic painting of black, brown, and cream blobs with some faint streaks of white. As I got closer there were a bunch of noses and wide bright eyes looking up at me. The kids were all giggling with glee and chants of "mommy can we get one" was coming from our own little pack. The gentleman said that there were 20 in all due to an "accidental" breeding; 10 were pure lab and 10 were aussie lab mixes.

My eyes searched the pen and I knew I was in trouble because I locked on to a black aussie mix with a white stripe on her chest. Her eyes were a soulful as Duncan's were his whole life before he passed away. I picked her up and had to hold back tears, it was like picking up Duncan, as a pup, all over again! I texted Dave, at least doing the polite thing by asking. There were several texts back and forth until he said do what you want.

I held her close to me feeling her breath on my chest and I felt like she was the one who was going to help me through the next several years, like my saving grace! Grace was a perfect name for her, but we call her Gracie. She is now 6 months old, fully housebroken and obeys several commands, just like Duncan.

Ok so back to October...Sierra was pregnant! She told Dave while I was taking David to his Den Meeting. Dave called to tell me while I was driving and I broke into tears immediately. Needless to say I didn't make it into the Den meeting until I calmed down which was about 20 minutes later. David ran into the Den meeting and yelled " guess what, my sister is pregnant!" I didn't know that until one mom came out to see if I was okay. After the meeting a glass of wine was in order, short order.

When I woke in the morning I was really level headed and called the pediatrician. She had a morning appointment and the doctor was really surprised at how calm I was. After that I got her prenatal vitamins and tylenol and then we headed to WIC to see if she qualified.

Christmas was interesting to say the least. We traveled to PA and MI with the SUV loaded with the kids + boyfriend + hunting gear and Christmas presents. We stopped at my Mom's house and dropped off the presents we would be opening on our return trip. Sierra's boyfriend proposed to her while we were in MI and David got to go sled riding. We also visited the Coopersville Farm Museum which was really nice to see again and it was a bonus that they had their HO gauge train up and running. David had a great time. The worst part of the trip was when I slipped on my inlaws front cement steps and busted my butt. The bruise was so horrible it was hard to sleep and walk.

Snow storms hit on the drive home making a short stay for Dave, Sierra and boyfriend when we arrived in PA. Little man and I were staying in Pittsburgh for the week and flying home on New Years Day. When we arrived home David was sick and didn't make it to school for the first part of the week. Then I had surgery to remove the lump in my breast and then had complications with the incision. David was well for about a week and then we got sick again. This went on all the way into February.

David started getting in trouble at school for not doing his work and started having minor meltdowns. I got to observe the autism program at another school in the county that I would like to move David to. A few weeks went by and then some kids egged him on to grab at 2 girls' chests and he did. So I had to go up to the school for a meeting. Thankfully they only did a parent conference for that because I know how strict they are about "sexual harassment" even though We all know kids David's age have no idea what it is.

We decided to try a medicine called Intuniv that is suppose to help with behavioral issues for kids with ADHD that can't take the meds with stimulant. After day 3 we started to notice David becoming more verbally violent yelling about us lying and saying I hate you. So we took him off of it. Which led into a week that was probably the worst yet funniest so far.

First of all my hernia pain has gotten worse and there is no room in the schedule to have my surgery moved up from April 4th. Then for some unknown reason David punched 2 kids in the stomach while in the bathroom and then decided to share a toilet with another kid (which I didn't think that was an issue because he shares the toilet to pee with Daddy all the time, so I had to laugh). This is the phone call I got while at the surgery clinic.

Dave starting having migraine issues this past week and ended up in the emergency room the day before David's punching incident. Dave had a CT done and they told him that he needs to see a neurologist.

So David has been suspended for 3 days (which I think is ridiculous because he sees it more as a vacation. I am required to rest and keep my leg elevated until my surgery day. My therapist told me that I needed to start blogging again because we both know it helps me emotionally process things better. Even though I've known that all along I've just put it off.

That is my update since October and I will be writing more often since I am mostly on the couch for now.