Wow - I can't believe that it's been two weeks since the 4th of July already. As you saw in our previous posts, we had a nice weekend but back to reality now. The last two weeks have been pretty crazy. Last Friday, we had Carson's monthly appointment with the DAN doctor. It was a horrible visit. It's never fun because it's an hour and a half drive there plus an hour visit and sometimes two hours home based on rush hour traffic so it's never a trip that we look forward to. However, this visit was particularly bad because Carson's behavior was out of control. He took every toy out in the room and then decided he wanted a lollipop and a sticker from the doctor. The doctor tried to reason with him and let him know that if he did not pick up the toys, he could not have the lollipop or sticker. So the yelling began....then he decided he was going to flick the light switch on and off while we're trying to explain the last month to the doctor. He then hit Emily, me and the doctor...fun stuff! So the doctor suggested we use the bear hug timeout technique....so I did and then the yelling and screaming got louder....and then the sweat came dripping down my back because I'm just wanting to stop holding him 1. because I can't stand him being upset, 2. because this appointment just took five more hours out of our week plus about $200 and 3. because I'm hot and sweaty and don't feel like struggling with him.
The doctor's view was that Carson plays us and that we need to get stricter. The doctor sees a little bit of Autism, a little ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder) and of course some ADHD characteristics. Em and I are in definite agreement that we need to get stricter and consistent in our discipline tactics. Not that I'm the greatest disciplinarian in the first place but it is so hard to discipline him when I don't know exactly what he is getting and what he isn't. I am getting to the point where I think that he is getting more than we think he is but we're still missing that full communication piece so I can't be certain.
Finally the appointment was over. As I was checking out and buying the many supplements/vitamins, I hear Emily yelling "What are you doing?" as Carson is drinking out of the fish aquarium...NICE!....maybe it was because we had run out of his Fish Oil for a few days and he thought he could get a fix out the tank...haha!
The doctor suggested we stop at a local park before the long drive home to let Carson blow off some steam and try to make it somewhat of a positive experience for him. So we did....we were at the park for about 10 minutes when my phone rang...it was Papa Dennis telling me that they had dinner for us when we got home...as I'm talking, I see Carson fly off the swing that Emily is pushing him on...thankfully it was on a bunch of woodchips and he only cut his hand open...so we left....sound like a positive experience for him at the park??? haha
As we're leaving, both Emily and I as well as Carson are totally spent! It was one of those laugh or cry moments...but I chose to laugh because Emily (in her most frazzled voice) said "I need a drink...and a cigarette....and a COOKIE! Quite a combo! I was laughing so hard that I was crying!
Monday was off to OT and then Wednesday, we had a appointment at another therapy center where we plan on doing a three week intensive Sensory Integration Therapy Program at the end of August. We looked into this last year but couldn't afford it because it is $5000 but I recently did some digging and found that I can pull money from my 401K for this because of course, it's not covered by insurance...go figure! Oh well, it sounds promising and there is no way that we are going pass up anything that can help bring Carson out of this. Emily said maybe Carson will be a doctor some day and be able to take care of us when we get old and our retirement fund is drained, I replied "I'm not sure that I'll live that long...this stress may kill me before retirement!" hahaha
Yes, we had a crappy couple of weeks....blah, blah, blah...who doesn't, right? It just gets old when everyone we know is doing all of these fun things with their kids...going to amusement parks, going to water parks, going boating, etc. and all of our time and money is sucked up into going to therapy, going to doctor's appointments and then more doctor's appointments. I think that both Emily and I are pretty positive about this whole thing Carson is going through considering how it breaks both of our hearts everyday and that there's not a minute in any day when it is not on our mind. So..we had a little pity party last weekend and now we have our chins up, put on our "big boy" pants and are back on track. We WILL beat this!
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