This blog is my place to vent and share resources with other parents of children of trauma. I try to be open and honest about my feelings in order to help others know they are not alone. Therapeutic parenting of adopted teenagers with RAD and other severe mental illnesses and issues (plus "neurotypical" teens) , is not easy, and there are time when I say what I feel... at the moment. We're all human!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Items of Note

Things I've dealt with in between all the pool table tournaments being played by Ponito and most of the neighborhood kids. Apparently in addition to playing pool, they must drink soda, be super loud and eat tons of candy and chips.

Today Bear decided to bring home his own "crew" so they alternated with the tons of little boys playing pool and PS2. Bear had gotten off work early and started playing with the little boys, but he wandered off (not sure if it was because they were better at pool than him, were teasing him, or if they was just too many of them - Bear's uncomfortable in crowds). Next thing I know he's got 2 friends over and they're taking over the pool table (the littles had all moved upstairs to the PS2).

Kitty giggled, teased and got triggered by the teens. Bob hid in her room talking to her friends on Facebook to invite them all to her birthday party this weekend (she's going to have a Harry Potter Movie Marathon... she's hoping Kitty will want to stay with Grandma instead). Bear is having his own b-day party (which so far he's struggling to get even one person to attend) at the lake with Ponito and Hubby.

Items of Note for Kitty's "team":



  1. Neuropsychological testing - We did get Medicaid to approve neuropsych testing for both kids – thank you all for your help. My apologies for getting so frustrated. Of course after all that work, the neuropsychologist we’d chosen decided Medicaid was not reliable enough about payment and passed. I’ve got a call in to _______________and they will put Kitty on the waiting list for neuropsychological testing, but are still considering whether or not to take Bear since he’ll be 18 next week. Testing wouldn’t start until next month at the earliest.

  2. Sleep Study approved - Kitty has not been sleeping well at night. (On the other hand, there’s been some concern expressed that she’s getting “too much” sleep.) Removing the Clon*dine helped a lot with the daytime sleepiness, but she is still sleepy (possibly an escape mechanism). We mentioned night terrors to the pediatrician who snapped that she’s “too old” for night terrors. I think she’s just not familiar with PTSD (actually I think she's a witchy idiot), but maybe you guys would know. Kitty snores, is extremely restless – sheets are usually twisted off the bed, often talks in her sleep, screams loud enough to wake others, wet the bed until age 14, wakes frequently and claims to be unable to go back to sleep for ½ an hour – she often gets up and uses the restroom and eats.

  3. After the last two days of meltdowns, the pdoc increased her Traz*done (sleep med) another ½ to 1 tab (from 200 to 250 or 300mg), but last night she slept “fine” on her old dose of 200. She claims that it was because she had a shot (she had blood drawn)?! I’m guessing she was tired after two days of meltdowns. We’ll see how she does tonight. FYI, she missed her morning meds yesterday morning. *sigh*

  4. Kitty’s emotional eating is getting worse. Every time I turn around she’s getting a “snack” (a large sandwich, full size serving of leftovers, big bowl of cereal, bag of popcorn, ¼ cup of peanut butter, tortilla pizzas, carrot sticks drowning in ranch…) The food is healthy, but moderation is not in her vocabulary. She’s gained 13 lbs since her last appointment in April.

  5. Celiac testing. Kitty is finally willing to get on board with changing her diet to see if we can get rid of the stomach aches. Removing citric acid helped, but at her EMDR’s suggestion we tried gluten free and her stomach aches are gone. She was tested yesterday for Celiac. She’s enjoying feeling special and getting food that no one else gets so is very compliant… for now.

  6. {Useless CaseManager}, could you please check Kitty’s FIE {school evaluation} on file and see if it has all the pages? The copy I have is missing about half (they double-sided it and only got every other page) and had lots of duplicates. It seems like when we did intake that you guys were going to request the original FIE from the school district (which of course I can’t do until school starts again). We’ll need the full FIE for the neuropsych testing.

Thanks,
Mary

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