Taking the Scenic Route

Busy here.  Today we had parent teacher conferences and two doctor’s appointments.    Zach also had to call and get new pain meds because the Ibuprophen isn’t enough, but the percocet is too much.  He was feeling pretty miserable waiting for the new meds.  He is pretty bruised looking, but still healing well.  He is past being sick of this whole thing and ready to feel better already.  I don’t blame him.  It is hard to see him feeling so icky.

With everything going on, my mind keeps drifting to the victims of the F5 tornado in western Kansas and the flooding in other parts of the state.  (local news ABC, NBC, CBS)  The devastation is just awesome and total.  I feel so helpless.  I want to load the car up with supplies, throw on a tool belt and go help with the clean up.  It is hard, nasty work but it is so very, very needed.  I am not sure if I have the physical stamina to really help like I want to, and I can’t take the kids with me because it is not safe for kids on a tornado site.  It is too far away to just go there for a day and come back for the night, so here I sit, just thinking about it and praying.  I wish there was more I could do.  I know when the kids are older, we will be able to help again, but it just isn’t reasonable right now.

It also feels sort of weird that while their lives lay in devastation, our life just trods on as usual.  It isn’t fair. 

But, back to our little world…

The parent-teacher conference went well.  It is pretty cool to see the progression he has made this year.  He hit his goals pretty well and actually is doing better than they were expecting him to. His last individual ST there is tomorrow, and his last class is on Thursday.  I talked to the teacher about whether or not to start him at the preschool again next fall or move on to Kindergarten.  (other students have done that).  She really felt like he was ready for a Kindy classroom as long as he had good visual supports.  It is good to hear, but now I have to make a serious pest of myself to light a fire under the public school system’s butts.  I will begin the obnoxiousness tomorrow.  He has two more weeks of his literacy playgroup, then we wait for the social skills group to start up in June.  She is trying to start a pilot program and it is still isn’t totally nailed down yet, so I although we are planning on it, it isn’t a ‘done deal’ yet. 

In other summer plans, there is a group forming for a game called “Blastball Baseball” for autism spectrum kids preschool-grade school age.  It meets twice a week and starts in the middle of May.  It is a highly modified version of baseball.  We really aren’t a sports family, and probably wouldn’t have him in any league sports if he was NT because it just seems so BORING and IMO, pointless, at this age, but options are limited and it will be good for him, so I will suck it up and be a sports mom.  Ugh.  Now if it were dance or gymnastics or music (or anything taking place on a stage-like setting), I would not have to fake enthusiasm.  lol.  I do not make a good redneck Kansan I guess.

Unlike last summer, he does not have the option of the Autism Day Camp that he went to last year that had such a huge impact on our lives.  The person who ran the daycamp went to another state.  I really wish that was still available because it was so good for him.  It was also the turning point for me to begin moving from ‘denial’ to ‘acceptance’ in this whole journey. 

On the job front, Zach called the headhunter service that he worked through previously.  He saw some direct hire jobs that he was interested in, but they said he didn’t fit exactly what that job wanted.  Disappointing, but it is only the first try at a job.  As he continues to heal, he will also continue to apply at more places.  He wants to feel less sluggish and not be in pain when he is on the phone, so we are having to have patience.  It is really hard on him to not be able to just aggressively go after what he wants right now, but in as short as a few days, he should be in a much better place. 

The doctor appointments went well.  We are going to start Zane on some allergy meds for his hayfever.  We have suspected hayfever since his first spring, but this year it is pretty undeniable.  He has been sniffling, sneezing and rubbing his nose and eyes ever since Zach and I started having allergy symptoms.  We will see how this goes.  He also got his MMR today.  Yuck.  He handled it really well.  He declared “Owie” after the shot, but didn’t cry.  He seems ok right now too.  I will probably not be able to stop worrying about it until a week or two has passed and he seems to be doing fine, but that is the nature of it all. 

My doctor appointment also went smoothly.  I’ll get the pap results in a few weeks, but everything else seems ok.  I did learn something today though…he wouldn’t order a cholesterol test for me today because I am nursing.  Apparently, when you are nursing, your cholesterol numbers are naturally higher, but it is perfectly healthy under those circumstances.  You NEED higher cholesterol to make milk.  However, since the numbers go in your medical records and insurance companies don’t take into consideration you are nursing at the time, he doesn’t want that as a part of my record.  I am still a few years away from mammograms and colonoscopies, barring any symptoms that warrant them.  My blood pressure is good.  (yeah…I was a bit worried about that since it was a major complication in my pregnancy).  It was sort of odd to go and see him with no actual ‘concerns’.  No endo, no pregnancy, no infertility, just a normal check-up.  Yeah me.

I’ll end on a cute note:  This afternoon as Zach strapped Zane into his carseat after school, he asked him what he did today in preschool.  Zane quickly replied “Paint flower pot for Mama!”  Woah…no prompts and a novel sentence.  Very cool!  (and sweet..I guess I am getting a flower pot for Mother’s Day..makes my heart smile)