Confession of a special needs father: Guilt and a plethora of emotions

The boys are in rare form this morning. Lizze is miserable and I've lost a great deal of motivation. I have to make a phone call this morning that I never thought I would have to make.  I have to call a residential treatment facility and make arrangements for Gavin to be admitted. Just writing this makes me sick to my stomach.  The place he would be going is by Lake Erie,  north of the Cleveland Clinic.  I haven't seen it on a map but I'm pretty sure I'm at least close. They come highly recommended and we've checked them out before. I don't want to make this call.  I don't want to have anything to do with this. No parent should ever have to do this to their child,…

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Behavioral Crisis: Update 07/23/2012 (1am)

I wanted to let you all know that at some point Monday morning,  the doctors and staff at Akron Children's Hospital are going to be meeting to discuss Gavin and what needs to be done to help him. Something that I forgot to mention earlier was that they are going to do another EEG. This a stress EEG which is basically where they deprive Gavin of sleep and monitor for seizures. It sounds cruel but it's not really.  When he is tired,  he's more susceptible to seizures and they can find more information that was missed during the last EEG.  The last one was basically a wash because of the autonomic crisis.  This could prove very beneficial in helping to control Gavin's seizure activity. We expect to hear from the…

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Attacking a special needs family

The police showed up at my house a few minutes ago.  Someone,  decided that we weren't going through enough already. They decided to create more drama and turmoil in our lives. A few years ago,  one of my neighbors from a few doors down was drunk and driving his car all over the neighborhood.  Up and down the allies and through people's yards.  One of those yards,  happened to be mine.  He drove through my yard with such speed that he literally sheered the Do Not Enter sign off, flush with the ground. He barely missed my car as well. I wrote about it at the time but can't find the post to link back to.  :-( The sign has set in my back yard since then. No one ever…

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The desperately needed distraction

Lizze and the boys are extremely stressed out over this whole thing with Gavin. I have decided to try and give them a distraction from this recent trauma.  Trauma is an accurate word to describe what we experienced in Friday with Gavin. I'm taking the family out for the afternoon.  I don't know what we are going to do,  but I have to try and do damage control and give these guys a break from the stress. Hopefully,  I can pull us out of this rut. This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsung's Galaxy S III. Please forgive any typos. I do know how to spell but auto-correct is working against me.  

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Brothers reunited

Elliott and Emmett have been reunited this morning after a day or so apart.  Emmett was already sleeping last night when Elliott arrived home. Lizze is not doing well this morning so she is still sleeping.  Emmett came downstairs and and his little face lit up when he saw his big brother Elliott. They were both excited to see each other. We have to figure out a way to distract the boys from worrying about Gavin and when he's coming home. Hopefully,  we will figure out a way for all of us to regroup and recoup. This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsung's Galaxy S III. Please forgive any typos. I do know how to spell but auto-correct is working against me. -Lost and Tired Please join…

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End of our rope

The impact of Gavin's behaviors are far reaching and long lasting.  Lizze is simply incredibly stressed out. I don't ever remember seeing her this bad. She's really struggling with this because she loves Gavin so much but in truth,  she's afraid of him. This is in many ways,  her worst nightmare come true.  She had done everything superhumanly possible to provide Gavin with love,  compassion and acceptance.  She doesn't want Gavin to turn out the way his biological father did,  none of us do.. There is this ever present fear that nothing is going to change his course.  The future isn't predetermined and Gavin is still very young,  so he hold tightly to hope.  Having said that, his behaviors are scary,  for all of us,  and they continue to escalate.…

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Explaining to a 6 year old why his brother can’t come home

Elliott just came home from Cleveland tonight and wanted to know why Gavin isn't coming home. We never told Elliott that Gavin was going to the hospital.  Elliott was surprised to find out that Gavin wasn't home. How do you explain to a 6 year old little boy with autism,  that his big brother is locked up in the psych unit? I've never had to do that before and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say. I aways dislike moments like this because no matter what I say,  Elliott is going to be upset. This was my explanation to him.  I wanted to make it something that he would understand and relate to. I told him that Gavin is sometimes like the Hulk. I explained that when Gavin…

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Behavioral Crisis: Update 07/21/2012 (8pm)

We just received a call from the staff at Akron Children's Hospital.  Gavin is due for a booster shot prior to this coming school year. They wanted to know if we wanted them to give him the booster. We were like,  "heck yeah,  that would be awesome." It awesome because it won't go well and we don't have to struggle through that one our own now. On the other hand,  not that I want Gavin to experience pain,  but maybe he'll associate the shot with the psych unit.  That in itself may be a deterrent. Either way,  it needs to be done and honestly,  I'm glad we aren't the ones to have to do it.  This will also give them some more insight into his behavior. On the other,  other…

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