Good News From School

Image via WikipediaWhen my son was home from school for the Thanksgiving break, I was deeply concerned because he has still been losing weight.  All told since he started at the school 13 months ago, he has lost over 40 pounds.  He probably would have benefited from losing some of the weight, but he had lost a little too much.

When my wife took him back to school last week, she had a conversation with his teacher and the school nurse. There have been a couple of things going on. After breakfast each morning he would often lie down and go back to sleep until about 11 am.  He would also have a lot of undesirable behaviors such as dropping to the ground, hitting others, and throwing things like his glasses.

My son has never swallowed pills, so we have always had to crush his pills and mix them with his drink or food. One of his medications is supposed to be an extended release formulation.  Since we had to crush the pills, he was not getting the benefit of the extended release.  The nurse was concerned that getting all of the medication at once, combined with the weight loss was possibly causing some of his problems.

We contacted our son's psychiatrist, and he faxed a new medication order over to the school cancelling that one particular medication.  The plan is to see how he does without the medication.  If he does well, then we will keep him off of the medication.  If he continues to have issues, then we will look into putting him on another medication that is not extended release.

On Friday, they stopped giving him that medication.  On Monday, we received an email from the school nurse  that he had been better behaved and been eating more, as long as the food was covered in BBQ sauce.  She also informed us that he was using his spare pair of glasses because a lens had popped out of his primary pair of glasses and they could not find it.

Today, my wife drove out to school to take a new spare pair of glasses out to them.  She talked with everybody involved with our son at school, and they say he has been doing a lot better.  He has not dropped to the ground once, he has been focused and doing his lessons, and he has even eaten fish sticks (with BBQ sauce.)  He has never eaten fish before.

When my wife saw him in his classroom, he was not laying down like he usually does but was actively working on his lesson.  He even asked his aide for assistance.  The other good piece of news is that since he has been off the medication, he has actually gained a pound.  It has only been one week off of the medication, but so far so good.  I love the fact that he is eating a bit more and behaving himself. Hopefully this is the start of something good.  

Another Weekend Home

Image via WikipediaAnother long weekend home from school has come and gone.  We picked up our son from school last Wednesday.  During the long weekend home, we had a lot of things that we wanted to try to get accomplished while he was home.  Thankfully, our son was cooperative enough to get them all accomplished.

On the drive home Wednesday, we stopped for a scheduled eye glass appointment for new glasses.  I was worried that he wouldn't cooperate for the eye exam so when I made the appointment, I had told them of his special needs.  We have had other eye doctors who have been able to get a reading for a prescription.  He didn't do well for the exam, but they were able to get enough of a reading to get a new prescription. 

Normally, when he is home, our son doesn't like to leave the house.  Thursday, we were able to take him to the MVA to get a new photo ID made.  Then we were able to get him a bank account so he can cash his paychecks at the bank. Friday, we had an appointment with the Developmental Disabilities Association to discuss transition plans for when he ages out of the school system.  He did very well on both of these days.

The rest of the weekend, we really did not have any plans to go anywhere.  It turns out that was probably a good thing, as early Saturday morning he came down with a bad case of diarrhea.  I will spare you all of the gory details, but suffice to say I had to throw one love seat out and do a few extra loads of laundry.  It seems, however that when he comes home, he has had these bouts of diarrhea.

Monday we were scheduled to try to get him back to school.   I stayed home from work on a mini-vacation in the hopes that if I was home the whole time he was home that he would not be suspicious when I stayed home on Monday to take him back to school.  We wanted to take him to the barber for a haircut and then head off to school.  He was too smart for us and we could not get him to leave the house.

Yesterday,  I had to go back to work, and my wife was going to try to get him to school on her own.  She was able to get him in the car and back to school.  He was not happy with her until she gave him a Toy Story DVD that he had been asking for.  Unfortunately, in her haste to get him to school, she had to drive back out there today because she forgot the charger to his portable DVD player. 

Just about the time she was nearly to the school today, she received an email from the school nurse.  It turns out that our pharmacy had dispensed the wrong form of one of his medications.  His doctor had prescribed an extended release version of the medication, but the pharmacy dispensed the regular version.  So tomorrow, my wife has to make the long trek across the bay bridge for the third day in a row to take the correct medication out to the nurse.

The trips back to school get harder each time.  As soon as he gets home for one of these long weekends, he starts with telling us he does not want to go to school.  We are running out of ideas on how to convince him to get in the car on those days he is supposed to return to school.  Once he get back to school, he is fine.  It's just getting him there that is the problem.

You Gotta See This

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Incendia Health. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have worn glasses now since about the 4th grade.  Since I am in my late 40's, that has been close to 40 years.  Without my specs, I can see about 6 inches in front of my face.  Growing up and being active in sports, I could not tell you the number of times I broke my glasses while playing sports.  I tried contacts for a couple of years, but they did not work for me.  Let's face it.  If you have poor vision, you are always going to have some difficulties. 

The folks at Abbott Medical Optics, Inc (AMO) sponsored their iLASIK Video Contest at GottaSeeThisNow.com.  Contestants submitted videos in three different categories:

1. My contacts are getting in the way of a my good time
2. My favorite sport or activity would be so much cooler with better vision
3. You Should See Life After The iLASIK® Procedure

The videos explain some of the problems of poor vision and the benefits of corrective surgery.  I have included one of the winners below, but you can check out all of the videos at iLASIK Video Contest.  You can also register to win eye care products.

A few years ago, I looked into the possibility of getting laser correction surgery.  At the time, I was told that they could probably correct my distance vision but that I would probably need reading glasses for reading and using the computer.  AMO is a leader in leader in vision correction surgery, and a sponsor of this post.  Visit them to learn more about vision correction.

Submit entry

Contest details