Posts Tagged ‘parenting special needs kids’

E-Niner has been having some very rough, violent psychological breakdowns again. They’ve been happening now for the past month, and we aren’t seeing much relief.
After tonight’s hour and a half special, Joe and I talked with E-Niner’s psychiatrist about admitting E-Niner to inpatient hospitalization (24 hours a day). Over the summer E-Niner was in outpatient [...]


…found out that my bad cholesterol is bad,
endured with E-Niner one of his psychological breakdowns,
been bitten by E-Niner during said breakdown,
have contemplated again his need for attending a residential treatment facility,
worked myself into a panic attack about the potential severity of a human bite (I was warned by the psychiatrist again today that it is [...]


The past 48 hours have included such elements as a lazy old dog, a broken down car, an emergency call to the psychiatrist, a second round of IEP tests for E-Niner, and dinner with a dear friend — not necessarily in that order.
E-Niner has yet a new prescription medication. Clonidine. To be taken when he’s [...]


Joe told me that as we drove on Sheridan Road, rounding the corner past Loyola University, where the road meets Devon Avenue.
It was before E-Niner had any type of diagnosis. It was before I wanted to believe that there was anything remotely the matter with my beautiful baby.
The words came out of Joe’s mouth, and [...]


It’s not often that I feel absolutely awesome about E-Niner. It’s not often I feel like the world is his oyster, so I’m going to let every last little bit of my pride for him today creep deep within my bones and let it marinate…and then let it explode!
He did his first round of IEP [...]


Boredom took me to the bargain book table in the children’s section of Barnes & Noble today, but destiny led me to her: an Irish woman who was old enough to be my mother, also named 8741, who married outside her race (Arab) and works in a therapeutic school and who raised (and still is [...]


On the heels of nearly completely forgetting that yesterday was New Year’s Eve, I decided that New Year’s is a crock. A new day in a string of days that make up a lifetime. We don’t get all giddy about it turning a new month every month or even a new week or new day [...]


Today Babysitter8741 and I took the kids to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Haven’t been there in years — since E-Niner was two and I realized it was way overstimulating for him. Figured we had nothing going on — at the worst, we’d leave — and I’d give it a whirl.
Plus, for Christmas E-Niner [...]


I often wonder if all my worry for E-Niner will one day kill me? I have a string of worries that tie up in a tight, knotted ball that I have nothing else to do but keep winding up all the worry. Will it one day do me in?
(It won’t, by the way — even [...]