so much for going back to school. nick woke up with one of his bad headaches this morning, i gave him meds right away to try to stave it off so he could go to school. when it was time to leave, he was shaky and dizzy and miserable, so i called the doctor and they got him in this morning...so i missed school the first day back. took him in, upped a prescription, had brunch, dropped him off at the house, dropped off his notebook that needed to be turned in to his teacher, and picked up elisabeth for her neuro appointment...
car needs gas, tire's low, she needs lunch. we pull into the gas station and take care of all of that and now are running late. i fly there, slide in 2 minutes late, and sit for 2 hours in the waiting room! it was crowded and annoyingly noisy during different spurts, depending on who was in there...i hate when people are super noisy and let their kids run like animals in doctor's waiting rooms, come on people, not everyone wants to hear your loud conversation (especially if it's obnoxiously loud and in spanish) and watch your kids wrestling with each other all over the place!
we finally get called in and the neuro asks if elisabeth is "still taking her strattera"....no. "why not?" well, i learned about this antioxidant that has over 200 studies on it and has proven to be effective with a.d.d. (note the "h" isn't there, she just has trouble staying focused, not the bounce-around-the-room kid). insert questioning look here... "what is it?" opc3, with pycnogenol "how do you spell that?" (i ended up spelling it at least 4 times, it's tricky when you're not looking at it!) "okay, so when did you start giving it to her? when did you stop the strattera? did she go to school without the strattera at all? was it just during the parties before christmas?" in november, mid-december, yes a week, no they had tests and book reports to give then i went into an explanation about how elisabeth sat down with her new sewing machine and wanted me to teach her how to use it....and stayed there working with it for at least 2 straight hours (i didn't mention that it was also through the frustration of it needing threaded multiple times and she still persisted). i mentioned how she's had fewer meltdowns, better overall behavior (didn't get on my last nerve much at all over the break which is unusual because they're both on my nerves within 2 minutes of leaving school most days), stays on a task longer than she had, and doesn't fight me in taking the opc3 like she did the strattera. i also mentioned how she faked taking strattera for a week, and the teacher could tell she was "off" the whole time and how that didn't happen at all during one of the most hectic weeks of the school year when she was taken off the strattera but taking the opc3. by this time, the neuro was convinced that it was working and had a look of satisfaction on her face..."well, you don't seem to need us any longer" i didn't think so, but just wanted to touch base "if a natural antioxidant is working, that's good, natural is much better than taking 'drugs', and it seems to be working" (and she said drugs in an almost disdainful way)...so we parted ways and no longer need to go to the neuro unless it's not effective long-term. i'm so excited that's behind us!
a stop at wal-mart, get a snack, drive through horrendous traffic, supper at sonny's bbq with the fam...
home and hanging out,meds to nick, kids to bed at a decent time.
two hours later, nick's still awake, shaky, dizzy, hyper, limbs feeling heavy like bricks, crying, angry, spaced out, mood swings... we figure out it's the midrin, he took 2 as per the directions. it's obviously too much for him. called the on-call ped, told to call poison control center to double check their info, and told to let him "ride it out" but check on him throughout the night to make sure he's responsive...
fun, waking up every hour to rouse a kid, that's how i like to spend my sleepy time! well, of course i'll do it, i'm the mommy, i do whatever is necessary to take care of my kids and make sure they're healthy and well. (not that i've been able to control much of this headache business lately....at least we got his neuro appointment moved up 2 weeks and go in this thursday....pushy mom that i am!) yep, just call me...
supermom!!! (at least today, please!)
