Saturday, January 12, 2013

Holidays and more.....

This semester of school started out quite a bit rocky. Nick ended up getting sick during like my second week of classes, causing me to miss a day because he had to stay home. Then, the very next week I was late to a class because as I was getting ready to walk out the door, the phone rang and it was the neurologist. They were calling to get some information from me regarding Nicks 'episode' at school on the 5th of December.

On the 5th of December, I was all set doing my homework and then the phone rang. It was the school nurse stating that she had seen what looked like seizure activity in Nick. He started having a meltdown, and it escalated from there. He had to be taken out of his classroom and restrained by three people in a chair. One of them was his aide, one of them was the school nurse, and one of them I think was his OT. They had another person capture it on video, and it was pretty disturbing. Once he was in a meltdown, his self injury started taking place and he bit up the inside of his mouth so much that blood was dripping out of it. He was screaming, shaking, and biting. It was horrible to watch, as they gave me the video. We were seeing the same things at home, and finally, now someone was seeing them at school. His next team meeting was shortly after that, and another neuro consult was put in.

Literally the following week Nick caught the damn flu, once again, on my school day, and Mike had to work that day. So, once again, I missed another class. Well, of course Nick was kind enough to share his flu bug with the rest of us, and we proceeded to drop like flies. It went through three of us....I am still not sure how Michael managed to escape the puke fest, but he got lucky. It was awful! I have never felt like such crapola in my life. Of course, now I ended up missing another class because I was sick. REALLY?? So, on the 21st of December, we went to the neurologist for another EEG done on Nick. This one was sleep deprived. So, we had to keep Nick up most of the night Thursday night-he was only allowed four hours of sleep. I don't think the kid ever wanted to sleep so badly in his life. At 8 am we were on our way to the neuro. He actually let them hook all the leads up and we got through the entire 45 min test with no meltdowns!! He did have a couple of his little episodes, but no seizure activity....of course. We get back to the house around 10am, and get some glorious sleep in. We needed it. Why? Because we also had a hockey game to go to that night in Jamestown-in the middle of a snow storm. This is what the road looked like on our way back.....

What is normally about a 45 minute drive took us 2 hours. Saw a few cars in the ditch, glad we were not one of them! Anyway, Christmas was good. The boys got a lot of good stuff. Nick's favorite toy is a toy microwave :) He must have played with that thing for three straight days. I believe he even slept with it a couple times. Now, it sits atop his dresser awaiting for the next obsessive moments! We had a decent break, although we all got one hell of a cold. Nick is still dealing with it. It is always awful when he gets a cold....it takes him forever to get over it, and then it has usually morphed into some sort of sinus condition....like it did this time. The last couple of months we were also dealing with some major self injury/aggression issues with Nick. His psychologist increased his dose of risperidal to 2.5mg a day. We are on the first week of the increase and so far, so good. I have e-mailed his teacher to make sure they are aware of any possible side effects from it. So far, his tics seem to have diminished, and no aggressive or self injurious behaviors for the past few days. I have caught up on my school work from both being absent, and the holiday break. Just have a few more weeks to go in this semester and then it is on to the next.

Temperatures today were unreal! It was 61 degrees here today! I think Nick was happy to see the snow and ice had melted! He wanted to spend the day outside. So when I got home from my class today, I took him for a trip to Wal-mart :) He was soooo good during our trip, I got him a toy. He had the biggest smile on his face. That is what makes it all worth it. When he is happy, it is like the best thing in the world for me. I love to see him smile! :) Monday we go back to winter reality with temperatures in the 30's and more snow by the end of the week. So, we are enjoying this little taste of spring for the next 24 hours. Here are some pictures taken over the holidays.
Nick in his hoodie from his Nana!

Both my boys playing with their Christmas presents!

Stuffing his face with cake..LOL

And making a marvelous mess! :)

A short walk in the snow. Literally. As in it took longer to get him dressed for this.

The babysitter! He loves watching the rotisserie spin!