Good week

We've had another good but busy week. There was no Girl Scouts on Thurs and we were secretly glad cause we LOVED a night when we could just vege out. What I've noticed about Jade is how happy she is. She isn't the angry girl she is sometimes. I just pray it will last after she does go back home. Here she is in a hat my cousin made for her. How darling is it?

Met with Therapist 2

Took DJP to meet with therapist Tues. The sessions last about 45 to 50 mins. She had me to watch a funny parenting video while they were in their session.

Jade really liked her and their session seemed to go well. They will meet once a week and I'll go have a short visit with Auntie while she is in her session. Then may take Jade back so she can have a short visit with Auntie afterward if time allows since they love each other so much!!!!

She gave me names of some other doctors should we need to get Jade on meds. We're working with her teacher to determine that.

Met with therapist

Gary and I met with therapist last night. We both really like her and pray that she will work well with DJP. DJ stayed with my aunt while we met with therapist and had a ball!!! Wants to come back to visit every week after therapy!! Therapist wants to meet with DJP weekly for 5 weeks and then meet with us again by ourselves. So far so good. She is going to give us the name of a psychiatrist so we can get DJP's meds regulated.

A bit of a run around

You remember I posted about ordering those expensive herbs for DJP to try and they came and the pills were so big she couldn't swallow them. Then when she finally did swallow them one got stuck in her esophogas and she gagged off and on for two hours til it finally dissolved. I gave her crackers and water to help "push" it down but it wouldn't go.

I called the Co that afternoon and told them there was no way I'd be able to get her to take 9 of these a day (which is what they were working her up to).

They said they had a powder form. I sent back all the bottles and asked them to switch for the powder. I was a little ticked that they wouldn't go ahead and send the powder since they had my debit card # from the order. If the others never arrived they could charge my debit card, but they wouldn't. So it took two weeks for the pills to get back to them.

Then they tell me they can't trade out the first bottle cause it's been opened...Helloooooooooo, I told them we had opened the bottle and tried to get her to take the first three pills when I called the very first time.

So a supervisor is looking into it and will get back tome Monday...grrrrrrrrr. These were expensive...grrrrrrrrrr.

In the meantime Amber sent me her meds that we'd forgotten to get. I will put her back on her ADHD meds Monday since her teacher said she does get quite antsy and unable to focus after lunch.

She also has sleeping pills but I HATE the thoughts of giving a kids sleeping pills you know. So for a while I'm going to keep her exercising outside, getting lots of fresh air and drinking hot milk everynight for a few more weeks and see how that goes.

Update

There hasn't been a lot to update this week. We go see new counselor Monday (Gary and I) and then Tuesday DJP starts.

She's had a good week. A visit with her cousin and a school friend MLK weekend then all her activities.

Gary's been in FL all week at a workshop thingy. He comes home today!!!

As soon as we get Amber's paperwork we'll go start the legal paperwork for guardianship. We have til Feb. 6. It's only supposed to take a few days to get once they have all their paperwork.

Thanks for all the prayers.

Decision made

I've thought of it all day and asked family and friends for input and the majority has said for me to follow my heart.

Soooooo, I've called back the therapist who wanted to see us in two weeks and asked her to let us know if she could still see us that day.

Had a fun day, DJP's cousin from SC is here visiting for the long weekend and we're having fun.

Went and got about DJP 4 church outfits and some church shoes so we're good until spring!!!

Thanks for all ya'll's input and prayers!!

New delimna

Went to the new behavioral place for an assessment yesterday.

DJP qualifies for this afternoon program, where they will pick her up and she'll have group and individual and art and play therapy. It will be every afternoon for 6 to 8 weeks.

The dilemma,

and it might sound silly,

but if DJP goes to the afternoon she'll have to give up all her dance, chorus, and photography classes which she is so loving. I tried to explain that going would help her get well sooner and she started crying and asked if she could get well going somewhere else and stay in her clubs?

I had imagined her going to a therapist once a week or I would've never gotten her involved in the clubs.

So now I'm trying to get input. When I called A to get her input she understood the dilemma and said that DJP hasn't loved anything or seemed as happy in a long time.

It's like my mind is saying "She needs this intensive therapy." but my heart is saying, "She loves her clubs and is thriving."

What to do, what to do? Input please. and please pray that we make the right decision.

themcwhorters4@yahoo.com

new dr (hopefully)

My oh my. The "new" therapist recommended by the "old" therapist can't see us for two weeks and then wants to just see Gary and me to learn about djp's situation. So that would now make it at least three more weeks til djp saw a therapist.

Soooooo, I called the therapist my friend recommended and wouldn't you know it, she isn't accepting any new patients.

djp's teacher told me about a behavioral hospital in carolton with therapists even closer that was real good. So I emailed them and they immediately called me back and said she could come for an eval tomorrow night.

So please pray this one will work out!!!

djp started girl scouts tonight. She is in a jr. troop at our church. They are planning Thinking Day right now and already have a camping trip planned for March so Jade is very fired up!! I went to Bible Study at the church while she was there. It is a Bible Study on hard sayings in the Bible and is so interesting and fun. The people in the class are very funny.

Changes

The therapist called today and suggested another therapist since djp had more problems than just trich. A friend had also suggested one she said was the very best. Sooooooo we are going feel both out and see which one is the best "fit" for djp.

Her teacher told me today how sweet and polite she was!! We are loving this honeymoon period!!!

Schedule

In my mind I feel like we are going to have her for six months. Gary keeps telling me that we really have no earthly idea how long she will be here but that is what I'm thinking in my mind. So it's like I'm trying to cram a wonderful childhood into those six months. Fortunately most of her activities are at school. Here is her schedule:

Sunday, Church, Awana on Sun Nights
Monday, dance then we go visit elderly relatives
Tuesday, photography club
Wed. Dance
Thurs. Chorus (and we're going to try her going to our Bible Study with us this week, she liked UMW so well we thought we'd give Bible Study a try.
Friday. (sees therapist this week)
Sat. Fun day, work at animal shelter, skating, errands, etc.

I know it may sound way too busy but she is loving it and I figure the busier we can keep her the better.

Houston we have a problem

DJP's homeopathic meds came this week. We were to start with 3 one day, then 6 the next and then 9 from then on. Welllllll, they were horse pills and she just could not get them to go down. She finally got three down but one got stuck between her throat and stomach and it took hours for her to not be nauseous (spel?). She ate peanuts and crackers (some hard stuff) and drank lots of water to try to "push" it down but it wouldn't go.

When I called the Co. they said they had it in powder form so I had to ship her meds back and now am waiting for the powder.

A lady who works at the church daycare's daughter has trich and she gave Gary a book about it. It is sooooooo interesting. There are so many different forms of it. So far it hasn't mentioned anything about it going with rage issues so that may be a total other problem.

We went this weekend and got tap shoes and ballet shoes and a leotard for dance. She is soooooooo excited about taking dance.

I got her some boots at Claire's when we were in Commerce and they were too small. We took them back to a Claire's in Douglasville and got her a new pair Tuesday. She wore them to school Wed - Friday and now the bottom of them is coming apart...after 3 days!!! Grrrrrrrr. Last night we went to four different Claire's looking for some just like them to exchange...but all the Claire's have sold out...so Grandpa is going to try to glue them back together...grrrrrrrrrr. Regular priced they would've been $28 boots...and they lasted three days...grrrrrrrrr.

Some neat things about her: She is loving (so far) being on a strict schedule. She LOVES reading her devotional book and manners book and asking Grandpa questions about God. She went to UMW with me yesterday and LOVED it, and the old women loved having her there. She is a neat kid...especially during this honeymoon period.

She issssssssss however very much a knowitall and I have to pray for God to hold my tongue and not say anything many many times a day. I know to choose battles and goodness knows I had lots of practice with Greg. But just like I did with Greg, I think, "How can you be 10 and know every single thing????"

Please keep the prayers coming, so far so good.

First Thursday

DJP went to chorus after school today and had a great time. Then we had to go get a chicken pox shot...not so great a time. We had hoped to sign her up for Girl Scouts tonight but the troop we thought met at church was not a junior troop so I've emailed the council and asked about a troop in this area.

Her "herbs" came in and we plan to start them tomorrow.

First Day of School

DJP had her first day of school at her new school. She did very well and her teacher spoke of how smart she was!! Then after school she went to science club and the dance team. Now we have to go and look for ballet and tap shoes and a leotard. She also wants to join the chorus.

Today we have to go get another chicken pox shot. They require two in GA and only one in SC. She is dreading it terribly.

She gets very antsy about 5 each evening (Gary calls it her hyper time) and cries for her dad every night for about 20 minutes, and then stops and is fine. So interesting. I told her to pretend it was the summer and she was staying with us...she never cried them. She said that her dad told her the same thing but this just feels different.

Thanks for the prayers.

Sunday

She still has friends she made when we moved last summer so she immediately rekindled those friendships at church today.

We had a funeral today and she was the only child at the dinner afterwards so she seems to be the church grandchild and everyone was making over her.

I took her to a Baptist church tonight to join AWANA (Children's Bible club thingy). Greg went to one when he was a boy and loved it. She went right in and made some friends right away so we feel that will be real good for her.

I read on the rage website how important exercise is for her so she and I went and played in the church gym for about an hour this afternoon.

The website also talked about how important a good diet is...so we will have to work on that...for all of us!!!

Tomorrow I will go and register her for school during my lunch break.

We met with her therapist Wed. She is very nice and we really liked her. J will see her next Friday.

Please pray that they can schedule afternoon appts for her. The therapist's schedule is pretty full. If I have to take off work I certainly will but it would sure help if we could get as many after school as we can.

She's here!!!

I picked her up yesterday at 2. We made a quick trip to visit family in SC who I had not seen enough of over the holidays. Visit was too short but fun!!

I've done a ton of research on kids with rage and how sad that there are so many and so many parents aren't getting much help.

I did read that several parents did get good results from this intensive vitamin, herb combo thingy so we are going to try that route right here at the beginning during the honeymoon phase. mytruehope.net

The way I see it, she has been on meds for two years and they really haven't helped a bit so we'll try this for a few months and give it a try. We can always go back to meds if we need to.

Since she is on psychiatric drugs we will have to wean her off and onto the vit/min thingy gradually which the folks there will help me with.

It's something we're going to try. Will keep you posted.

Prayer

Dear Lord, Please touch DJP and heal her. Please help her to know that You are always with her. Be with her counselor and guide her as she works with DJP and help DJP respond to her counseling and learn the skills she needs to be a happy successful person. Be with her teachers and help them try to understand her and teach her. Please guide us as her caretakers and help us to help her. Help us remember to turn to You first in all situations.

Life with Meme and Grandpa

Our darling granddaughter, 10, is coming Saturday to stay for a while with us. She needs treatment that she cannot get in rural SC.

We are nervous but happy. Happy that we can give her the life we gave to her mom and think all kids deserve but nervous because she does have so many problems.

Most of you who know me know that I LOVE a computer and thought blogging might help me organize my feelings and thoughts while she is here.Please feel free to send any comments and advice and especially prayers!!! We'll need all we can get!!!