Every parent wants to think the best of their child. I'm no different. I always hope that my son will make the right choices and do the right thing. I try not to preach and lead by example knowing that I learned that way from my family. Jake isn't going to remember to hold the door open every time we go somewhere and he's always had difficulty waiting his turn. But these things are something you learn over time.
My son's capacity for love never ceases to amaze me. He's always been very affectionate; more so than myself and his first instinct is to share it! He's all about the hugs. When I talk to adults from school I get nothing but glowing reports about him. He's a people-pleaser and he thrives in a school environment.
Which leads me to the purpose of today's post.
A few weeks ago I received an email from his teacher. We normally email each other if he's had a bad day on either end so I'm usually not surprised to get a communication from her. The one I received on this particular day though made me extremely proud.
I had mentioned before that Jacob's teacher wanted the entire 5th grade to see the Hallmark movie Front of the Class. I had gone out and purchased the movie when I had first found out about it and was more than happy to let her borrow the copy. Ultimately, I ended up buying another copy for myself and telling her to keep the one she had. Jake isn't the first and probably won't be the last student to go through those halls affected by Tourette's.
So I start reading the email and I literally can't keep the smile off of my face!
One of the kindergarten teachers (Jake's in fact) had her class watch the movie. It's a perfect opportunity to enforce the Character Education curriculum that the school participates in so I was excited when his teacher said that other teachers were interested in the movie.
I’m going to assume the kindergarten teacher mentioned to the students at some point that there was a fellow classmate that was affected by the same disability as the man in the movie. They told her that they wanted to meet him so when Jacob was asked he, of course, said yes. He never passes up an opportunity to talk!!!
His teacher accompanied him and said he talked for a good 15-20 minutes non-stop. For any of you that know Jake this is not a surprise at all. He proceeded to tell them everything! How he felt, various statistics, how others treated him and about the movie. I know he’s eager to talk to other classes about it as well. In fact, when I went to his third quarter conference and we were talking about the possibilities of who would be teaching him next year I saw a ripple effect. One of the teachers that is being considered approached his current teacher for information. She wanted to know about the movie and the corresponding book in case she got Jacob next year. Again I feel completely blessed with the faculty at his school for rising above what they have to do.
It pleases me so much that he is embracing his disability and using it as a tool to teach others. I tried to point out to him in the beginning that this is an opportunity for him to teach others. To educate them on something that they might not normally run across in their lifetime again. In helping to teach others how to accept someone with a disability, no matter how severe, he is helping himself to grow in ways you just can’t teach with words.
He makes me very proud to be his mother.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
The next step....
A couple of weeks ago we went back to the neurologist. The Tenex wasn't making a difference and the anxiety was through the roof! Something had to change or both of us were going to break and soon.
Thankfully, he had an answer for us. Or one we hoped would work. It was time to move to the nasty meds. Maybe I should back up a little. The normal doctor had upped Jake's medicine back in December but we didn't start using it until we went to see the neurologist. So now Jake was taking 50mg of Vyvanse. Unfortunately it would take me almost three weeks to realize that this was not a good dose for him. I could not figure out why he was having so many health problems all of a sudden. We even made a trip to Urgent Care and they couldn't tell me why his stomach had hurt for three days straight.
I, of course, am thinking worst case scenario as always. But it wasn't until one Monday after I got a call from the school nurse that it clicked. His legs were bothering him and he said it was difficult to even walk down the hall. I was a nervous wreck trying to figure out what the heck was wrong. Then it hit me. He was experiencing severe side effects from the Vyvanse because it was too high. We have never had to experience any side effects from any of his medicine so I was spoiled. The more I thought about it the more it made sense. So the next step was to call the doctor.
Unfortunately he didn't have any openings, but I talked to the nurse and gave her the info and what I thought was wrong and she promised that someone would call me back. That day they contacted me and told me the doctor was writing him a script for the 40mg. He agreed with my thoughts. After a few days things seemed to go back to normal. He wasn't as anxious and or having speed crashes and his appetite was even being suppressed a little.
This leads me to the neurologist appointment. I was at my wit's end and didn't really care about the tics at this point. I just wanted Jake's anxiety gone because it was starting to affect me! He recommended Risperdal and told me it should help with the anxiety. And guess what? It did! So far, and it's only been a couple of weeks, everything is going great! He's been a little moody but I attribute that more to being an 11 year old than anything else.
When we went back to the normal doctor about a week ago, he was happy to hear that everything was working out well. We hadn't seen him since December when he recommended the neurologist so we had a lot to talk about. Nothing was changed and he told me what major things to look out for and said 'see you in 6 months'.
I'm so relieved that things are finally starting to even out. I wasn't sure how much more either one of us was going to be able to take! But we managed to get through it somehow.
The tics are much tamer now that the Risperdal is starting to build up in his system and we even went to a movie today! Though the movie was three weeks old and there was no one in the theater with us. They were minimal and tame enough that I didn't even notice them for the most part.
I'm keeping my thoughts positive that this medicine will work for us. He hasn't had the urge to gorge on food so far. The doctor and I theorized that maybe the two medicines will cancel each other out for the most part and there won't be any major gain. Coupled with his increased activity I have a positive outlook for our future!
Thankfully, he had an answer for us. Or one we hoped would work. It was time to move to the nasty meds. Maybe I should back up a little. The normal doctor had upped Jake's medicine back in December but we didn't start using it until we went to see the neurologist. So now Jake was taking 50mg of Vyvanse. Unfortunately it would take me almost three weeks to realize that this was not a good dose for him. I could not figure out why he was having so many health problems all of a sudden. We even made a trip to Urgent Care and they couldn't tell me why his stomach had hurt for three days straight.
I, of course, am thinking worst case scenario as always. But it wasn't until one Monday after I got a call from the school nurse that it clicked. His legs were bothering him and he said it was difficult to even walk down the hall. I was a nervous wreck trying to figure out what the heck was wrong. Then it hit me. He was experiencing severe side effects from the Vyvanse because it was too high. We have never had to experience any side effects from any of his medicine so I was spoiled. The more I thought about it the more it made sense. So the next step was to call the doctor.
Unfortunately he didn't have any openings, but I talked to the nurse and gave her the info and what I thought was wrong and she promised that someone would call me back. That day they contacted me and told me the doctor was writing him a script for the 40mg. He agreed with my thoughts. After a few days things seemed to go back to normal. He wasn't as anxious and or having speed crashes and his appetite was even being suppressed a little.
This leads me to the neurologist appointment. I was at my wit's end and didn't really care about the tics at this point. I just wanted Jake's anxiety gone because it was starting to affect me! He recommended Risperdal and told me it should help with the anxiety. And guess what? It did! So far, and it's only been a couple of weeks, everything is going great! He's been a little moody but I attribute that more to being an 11 year old than anything else.
When we went back to the normal doctor about a week ago, he was happy to hear that everything was working out well. We hadn't seen him since December when he recommended the neurologist so we had a lot to talk about. Nothing was changed and he told me what major things to look out for and said 'see you in 6 months'.
I'm so relieved that things are finally starting to even out. I wasn't sure how much more either one of us was going to be able to take! But we managed to get through it somehow.
The tics are much tamer now that the Risperdal is starting to build up in his system and we even went to a movie today! Though the movie was three weeks old and there was no one in the theater with us. They were minimal and tame enough that I didn't even notice them for the most part.
I'm keeping my thoughts positive that this medicine will work for us. He hasn't had the urge to gorge on food so far. The doctor and I theorized that maybe the two medicines will cancel each other out for the most part and there won't be any major gain. Coupled with his increased activity I have a positive outlook for our future!
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