My wife is visiting the @clevelandclinic today, desperate for relief from her constant migraines

It's a huge day for Lizze. She's finally getting in to see her new headache specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. Lizze has had the same migraine for roughly the last 6 plus years and it never stops or goes away. She's never responded to medication and they've tried everything, including Botox injections in her forehead, face and back of the neck. It's been years since there's been any new options for the her to try but there are currently new treatments that hold promise for relief. Part of the issue that makes Lizze's case so complicated is that she has Ehlers-Danlos and mild autonomic disfunction. Ehlers-Danlos is a connective tissue disorder and can also effect the cardiovascular system as well. It's believed that her migraines may be related to a…

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It’s been an okay-ish day

It's been a relatively okay afternoon. The boys had a good day at school and that's awesome because we don't have a good start to the day. When they got home, I had them put their things away and grab a snack. There wasn't too much fighting or bickering and it was actually kinda quiet. That's almoat never a bad thing. ☺ The boys have therapy again tonight and we'll have to see how that goes. Lizze is sleeping and I'll explain that later..

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Gavin had a massive emotional breakdown last night

Gavin had a complete emotional breakdown while at therapy last night, it came out of nowhere and it a big one. He was playing basketball with Emmett and while he wasn't doing anything wrong, he also wasn't recognizing that he was playing with someone half his size. I pulled him aside so Dr. Pattie and I could talk to him about it. All we wanted to do was help him understand why Emmett was getting frustrated. That seemed to be the catalyst that broke the flood gates and had him on the floor in the fetal position, borderline hysterical. It appears that Gavin's been carrying a great deal of pain and regret around with him. For whatever reason, he never told us about this and we only learned about it…

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The current estimate arrived and it’s not good at all

I heard from our adjuster last night and also received the current estimate via email. I say current estimate because until the tree is gone, he can't tally the rest of the damage. Basically, at this point we're not looking good at all, not even a little. At this point in time, I'm dealing with a total payout of about $1,000, and plus I get the chance to bless a random contractor and whoever did the marketing for construction companies near me. It's important to understand that this is supposed to cover everything that has been currently inspected. That $1,000 has to cover the cut up and removal of the enormous branch in the yard, damaged siding, about 80 feet of gutter and broken cedar fence. The damage to the…

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I don’t think this is going to work out well for us

Yesterday I met with the claims adjuster, in regards to the storm damage to our house and yard. The guy was really nice but some of the information that he provided, contradicted what I had been told over the phone by desk adjuster (I think that's what the person was called). There is one enormous area of concern for me, that falls smack dab in the middle of this contradiction and that's the damaged tree that still remains standing. Before I get to that, let me explain where we stand with everything else. First of all, if you're unfamiliar with that happened during the freak storm, you can catch up here. There's tons of pictures and background. The damage to the house should be covered without a problem. We can't…

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Lighting the way for parents facing similar struggles

I'm really trying to keep up with writing. When I first started, almost 10 years ago, you could literally follow us along our journey because I wrote constantly. I don't do that so much anymore but I'm trying to find a middle ground between exhaustion, helping others, my need to write and my readers desire to follow our journey.. Yesterday, I published an article about what my family experienced during the seperation, why it happened and what we learned along the way. That got me thinking about a lot of things. Perhaps I don't need to provide a play by play anymore. Instead, I can help just as many people by sharing stories and/or experiences on a regular basis, in a somewhat coherent manner. 😉 At the end of the…

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Secure Your Family’s Finances With a Job For the Future

This is a contributed post and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of this blog or its author.    It’s not easy to manage your family’s finances. There are always bills to pay, it seems like there’s always a surprise expense just waiting around the corner, and while the costs add up, the inward flow of cash never seems to quite happen. However, so long as you have a job, things will be OK. The issue is that this might not be true for everyone. In the coming decades, a significant portion of jobs is to be lost to automation, which will leave many people on the scrapheap. To prevent this from happening to you, you’ll need to have a job you can be sure will exist in…

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The heartbreaking reality of how trauma has seriously impacted one of my kids with #Autism

I've been meaning to write this but the idea of doing so has been too overwhelming. There are a number of reasons for that but the main one is that I'm struggling with my own depression at this point and many things have me overwhelmed. I'm going to try and keep this super quick so I can actually finish it. Elliott finally got into psychiatry at Akron Children's Hospital this past week. We'd been waiting for a very long time for an opening because child psychiatrists are nearly impossible to find in our area, especially good ones. We ended up meeting with a nurse practitioner. Turns out we already knew him because he used to work with Dr. Reynolds, Gavin's longtime psychiatrist. That was very comforting, although we'd never spoken…

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