Cloudy Thursday...

Yep, it's a cloudy Thursday here. I'm home with Katie today because she is supposed to have a picnic with her class this afternoon. I hope it clears up because I'm a wimp when it comes to having picnics in the rain!

On some brighter notes, Katie is adjusting to her new meds fabulously! We are so thrilled. Hopefully once she is completely off the risperdal we will see the weight she has gained from the meds start to slip away! We have already noticed a decrease in her appetite and I personally am really excited to see the cool gestures she is making and new sounds she is saying on this new med (abilify).

Also, Mary had her awards ceremony for girl scouts this week. Due to another commitment I was not able to attend :(, but my awesome parents filled in for us and my Dad took some great pics.

Oh, and by the way, gas is back up to 2.66 here. Bummer!

Holiday Weekend Update

Well, the weekend is already flying by - as holiday weekends often do. I wish we had more than just tomorrow left :) I wanted to update that Katie is doing really well on her new meds and I am hopeful that this will be a great transition for her and one that will help her shed some of the pounds she gained while on risperdal.

This pic is of Katie and her fabulous teacher, Heather. Notice the chocolate ice cream on Katie's shirt. This was their field trip/walk to the local ice cream store. Yummy, yummy!

This, on the other hand, is the result of Katie's new meds (which are making her tired as she is not yet used to them) and swimming for 2 hours at our neighbor's pool party. Thus, falling asleep in the sandbox. You can laugh, I think I'm still laughing ! Don't worry. I brought her into the house so that her legs wouldn't get sunburned. What a precious one she is! Hope you are having a fabulous Memorial Day Weekend. YEAH SUMMER!

Just a quick note..

I don't have much time this morning, but I wanted to update that we are still working on regulating Katie's meds and life has been a little crazy. We had a horrible weekend of tantrums when she was off of the meds - but we have gone back to the "old" routine of meds and she is doing much better. We are going to try a different new med that seems to work well for a lot of children with autism. It's called "Abilify" - but we wanted to once again wait until the weekend to try the meds so that we have her at home in case of any weird side-effects - and so that her teacher doesn't have to deal with her if she freaks out or reacts to the meds.

She did really well on her field trip to the nature center earlier this week - and we are headed out on the annual "ice-cream walk" in just a few minutes - so hopefully later today I will have great pics to share... But, if I don't make it back to the blog world before then, have a great Holiday Weekend. YEAH SUMMER!!!

P.S. - Yes, I was disappointed that Adam did not win American Idol - but that is a whole different post!

Katie Update

I am happy to report that our ENT must know what he is doing (we know he does, and actually he is great)....the antibiotics seem to be working for Katie. Her nose and sinuses seem clearer than they have been in months. She has been on the "mega-dose" for one week now - 5 to go. That seems amazing to have her on antibiotics that long - but if means not having to put her under anesthesia to "flush her sinuses" (doesn't that sound like a great time) I will continue to (slightly) battle her to get the antibiotics down. :)

We are also changing around some of her other meds - so we are are having some good days and some not so good. I have talked about risperdal before on this blog -- Katie has been on it for probably 18 months now -- and as a result has gained about 25 pounds - not a great side effect of the med. We are trying to reduce her to nighttime only on the risperdal and are going to try an ADHD med for her during the day. I wasn't sure how I felt about this -- especially after I read a few of the possible side-effects (and let me just tell you they make weight gain seem like a walk in the park) -- but after a good talk with Katie's neurologist, and realizing that this new med is in and out of her system in 10 hours - and if we don't like how she reacts to it, we can just choose to stop giving it to her. Risperdal is different in that it builds up in their system over time and it isn't really safe to just take them off of it cold turkey.

We are still in the process at looking to change Katie to the new school for their start of the year in July. We have 2 visits and an IEP to try to squeeze into the next 4 weeks - so I'm not sure how all of that will unfold, but we would like to get Katie's meds regulated before the switch .. so basically, we have our hands full for awhile... I'll keep you posted.

Finally some pictures, and a Happy Mothers Day

Here, as promised are the blue eyed Mary's from the Nature Center.

Now to Mother's Day. It was very good. Katie got to ride on a wagon with Bill's cousins' son Brandon's horse.


So did Mary ...they both loved it..can you tell?

A great day for Katie - it's hard to ask for anything more than that....

Happy Mother's Day.

Crazy Week

Well, what a week. That's all I can say. I have oodles of pictures that I need to upload...I'll try to get to that later today. Mary has a soccer game this morning, but it looks as though we are in for a major storm...so I'm not sure the game will happen. A bunch of 7 & 8 year olds running around in a rain-storm is not my idea of a splendid Saturday morning :)

Mary had a field trip to the Nature Center on Monday. We did the Spring wildflower tour which was actually very cool. I got some great pics. One flower we saw was called the blue-eyed Mary..and everyone in her class thought it was very cool that Mary has blue eyes - so it was kind of "her" flower. That was the highlight of the field trip for her.

I also toured a new classroom for Katie this week. If all goes as planned she will be starting at a new school mid-July. They are on a year-round modified schedule where the kids never have more than 2 weeks off during the school-year. It helps for autistic kids not to have long gaps in their routine, so this schedule will be very nice for Katie. It will be kids who are her age, and no-longer in a preschool type setting. They also have a pool in their building which will be great for her to have access to each week. They also have a great sensory room that she will love. I'm praying for a smooth transition, but expecting a few bumps along the way. New things are always difficult for her, so we will do everything we can to help ease her into it. We also finally had our visit to the ENT for Katie's ongoing sinus infections, and for now, no surgery. We are going to a mega-dose (literally -- 6 tsp a day) of an antibiotic for 6 weeks.. He feels confident that this will clear her up. The next step if that doesn't work would be taking her to the OR to have her sinuses flushed. That doesn't sound too exciting, so we will pray that the antibiotics do the trick!

My foot pain is also back which had added to my crazy week. My last cortizone shot didn't seem to provide any relief at all, and actually the pain is worse than it has been in the past 6 months. We feel kind of lost on how to proceed. I really don't want to have surgery, but unfortunately if they can't find a way to help with the pain, I may have to consider it. The pain has gotten to the point where it interferes with my ability to work, walk, and even take care of the girls - especially Katie. You should have seen my trying to "run" after her as she tried to escape the hospital yesterday. Running in birkenstocks (which my Dr. says are the best things I can wear for my feet) after a 6 year old with athletic speed while wanting to scream with each footstep - yep, hilarious for spectators, I'm sure :)

Well -- I'll try to get those pictures up as soon as I can - maybe this morning if we don't have soccer. :) Happy weekend!

Sickos...but no, not the swine flu :)

Yes, I live with sickos. Bill has come down with this icky Spring cold thanks to his friends at work that like to share their germs with each other. He took Nyquil 30 minutes ago and is completely crashed out.

Down the hall I can hear Katie hacking away. Her story of sickness is one that may truly be the end of me...I'm serious. Her ENT appointment is still a full week away. I called our pediatrician today (and thankfully, because he is our friend) and talked to him for about 15 minutes about if we have any other treatment options for her until she sees the ENT. Basically, the answer is NO...unless she starts running a really high fever or something of that nature. I'm pretty sure both of her ears are infected..one moreso than the other as she is tugging it constantly. Her nose is disgusting, as it basically has been for the past 3 months. We get a brief reprieve each time she starts antibiotics (which, yes, she is on as I type this) but after awhile they stop working. She has a lovely "allergy" cough as I call it ...as a result of all the post-nasal drip that she is suffering from. There is truly nothing I can do for her. She is already taking so much medication. (risperdal for the autism, claritin/xyrtec/singular for allergies, omnicef -antibiotic and ibuprofen for pain. It's getting a little ridiculous at this point. I'm definitely pro-medication if it works, but now nothing is working. I am bracing myself for the fact that Katie is most likely going to need surgery. I'm guessing tubes/tonsils and probably some kind of sinus surgery as we are probably looking at some sort of sinus blockage. I can't really worry about it until it happens, but as I said, I'm tring to brace myself.
We also are considering some different options for Katie's schooling next year, even though 2 months ago I would have told you that we were locked in for next year. I'll give more details on that as it develops. Here's praying for a healthy Saturday.