Day THIRTY: At least two more weeks of this...

I began Katie's new Lithium level last night (the new order of the Psychiatrist) and she tolerated it well. He explained to me that since we are making a change to her level of medication, they need to observe her for the next two weeks to be sure she tolerates it well over the long haul. So the 405 freeway is going to remain my morning monster for the next two weeks. Sigh... oh well... whatever it takes....

This morning daddy woke Katie and took her to her Pediatrician's office at 7:45 for a quick physical exam which will give her clearance for next week's MRI sedation (anesthesia). Everything went well there... and then they swung by the house and got Bea and I so we could all go to the clinic for another "Marathon Thursday" with the Parental Trainer, Psychologist and Social Worker.

The teaching was good this morning, addressing many of the SPECIFIC challenges we have in parenting Katie. We talked about many parenting 'procedures...Natural and Logical consequences... penalties... about Quiet Times... vs... Cool Out Times... vs... Time Outs... all which have their place in different settings., and Which behaviors to ignore, comment on... and which to move in quickly. We have finally come to understand that you cannot parent Katie like other kids... doing so would defeat us and Katie (as it has in the past). But as we have implemented the 'scripts', steps, and procedures they have taught us, we have seen a wonderful turnaround in many of Katie's responses to us. My only regret about this ABC Clinic is that we didn't do it sooner... but praise God, neither did we do it later either.

The tree of us just finished a big lunch and are ready for our next meeting at 1:00 PM with the Psychologist and Social Worker. This session tends to be more emotional for us than the first... so I have checked to see that I have our box of tissues close by, and we're ready to walk to the elevators now.

Will finish up this blog once we get home this evening.

Chow 4 Now,
Susan