dad – Page 252 – The Autism Dad

Lizze isn’t doing so well right now

Lizze is having a really rough time right now. If you follow our story, you might recall that Lizze has migraines almost every single day. They range from I can breathe through this to someone fucking kill me. The last day or so, it's been really bad and while she's pushed though most of the day, it's heartbreaking to see her in so much pain. She's never really responded to any conventional treatment and even underwent botox, in a desperate attempt to find some relief. Unfortunately, she's in the minority who react badly to botox. By badly, I'm referring to the side effect that can make her migraines significantly worse. While we were with Gavin's neurologist last week, he could see how much pain Lizze was in and was asking…

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September 17, 2017

My thoughts / Wishes Can Happen

One small but important hiccup with our trip

We received a phone call from Give Kids the World this morning. They were calling to make sure we didn't have any questions and to help calm any nervousness we may be feeling about the trip. I learned a bit more about how everything works and gained some further insight in how to prepare for our trip. We have to go through and pick the parks we want to visit. Three days in Disney, two days in Universal and one day at SeaWorld, is already included. Legoland is our priority and we will build our week around that. I figured any off time can be spent relaxing in the Give Kids the World Village. Apparently, there's a lot to see. There's one small hiccup that needs to be corrected. When…

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September 16, 2017

My thoughts / Wishes Can Happen

Attacking the huge pile of unsorted laundry

We are going through the monumental task of figuring out what clothes we need to try and get before we leave for Florida. Laundry is something that is almost always a back burner type chore for us because there's usually more pressing issues. Washing the laundry isn't usually a problem but folding, sorting and putting said laundry away proves to be more challenging for us. At the moment, we're catching up on all the laundry backlog and making some progress. Gavin and I matched a shit-ton of socks, while the boys went through their room and pulled out every last piece of dirty clothing. I'd be happy if we get through all the laundry today, even if we don't do anything else. This is a big step towards being ready…

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September 16, 2017

Gavin / My thoughts

Is Gavin experiencing paranoid?

Gavin just informed me that he had a hard time falling asleep last night. He never came to us for help, or even brought it to our attention until now. That's a bit surprising because he typically gets me when he can't sleep for some reason. More concerning than the problems falling asleep, are the reasons he couldn't fall asleep. Actually it's reason not reasons. Apparently, Gavin couldn't sleep because he was terrified that someone was going to set our house in fire, with us inside. There are two possibilities that come to mind in regards to this. The first and most likely being that two houses in our neighborhood were recently burnt down by an arsonist. One of the houses was across the street from us. Gavin's never expressed…

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September 16, 2017

Clozapine / Gavin / My thoughts

Heartbreaking: We’re seeing changes in Gavin’s behavior

I wanted to give a general update on how Gavin's doing with the changes to his antipsychotic medication, Clozapine. It's been a couple weeks since the dosage was reduced and I think it's a fair time to evaluate how he's doing since those changes. One of the biggest changes I think we're seeing, was very subtle at first and hard to notice. It's been a couple of weeks now and it's become much more obvious that there are changes taking place. The biggest at this point is that Gavin's spending much more time in his room. What this tells us is that he's spending more time in fantasy, then he is in reality. By fantasy, I'm referring to the Schizophrenic hallucinations he interacts with. Gavin's spending much, much more time…

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September 16, 2017

Fit4Autism / My thoughts / Weigh-in Wednesday

Weigh-in Wednesday and a few other things

I had a rough time sleeping last night. I think I have too much on my mind lately, plus Emmett woke up after a really bad dream. All things considered, I'm feeling pretty good. The boys got off to school in good form and on time. Unfortunately, I haven't accomplished much today because I'm so tired but I'm feeling good and eating well. I think we are having a movie marathon tonight with the Transformers movies, ending with The Last Knight. The boys are pretty excited about this and frankly, so am I. On an unrelated note, readers have been trying to hold me accountable by reminding me about Weigh-in Wednesday's. I'm sorry that I didn't get around to it. Part of the problem was that I weighed myself wrong.…

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September 15, 2017

Autism Parenting Woes / Meltdowns / My thoughts

I got my ass kicked today

We had a few massive meltdowns today. One was courtesy of Emmett, one thanks to Elliott and a third by none other than Gavin himself. Emmett's meltdown was easily the most difficult. He was freaking out because the caramel apple he was going to eat, wasn't perfect after he peeled the paper off. Some of the caramel stuck to the paper. He completely lost it. To make things worse, he soon realized that he had forgotten his tablet at school. Lizze called the school to make sure there was time for me to head back and retrieve his tablet. By the time I made it back home with his tablet, he was in a much better place. Unfortunately, I no sooner walk into the door than I faced with another…

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September 14, 2017

My thoughts / Vivint Gives Back

@VivintHome is helping us prepare for my son’s Wish Trip

With my family scheduled to leave at the end of the month in order to have Gavin's wish of seeing Legoland granted, there are many things we must to do to prepare. There's the planning for the physical trip, the drive time, stops for food and bathroom breaks. We have to plan snacks and activities to keep the kids occupied for the fifteen hour drive. Something that might not be the first thing that comes to mind when making preparations, is making sure we secure our house before leaving. In order to do that, Vivint Home is coming out next Friday to go through the house and make sure all of our equipment is functioning properly. They will be installing the new panel I've had for a few weeks now…

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September 14, 2017