Day Twenty-Eight: Open yer mouth and say, "Ahhhhh...."

Morning.

I bombed last night. So hard, in fact, that I didn't move all night... stayed in one position... and didn't even stir till 6:00 am. Oops... I was to get up at 5:00 am as usual... and have been doing so on my own without an alarm up to now. But I hit that"wall" last night (the same one you hit on occasion I'm sure) and I overslept a little bit. Katie was a trooper and got up quickly without complaint (actually cheery) and was ready to go lickity-split. We threw breakfast and lunch together in a flash and were on the road by 6:30. Can you believe it... we actually got here at 7:38... only 8 minutes late. Thank you God.

This afternoon Katie sees Dr. Cha, her orthodontist. She is in line to get braces on her teeth... but Dr. Cha wants some of her baby teeth to come out first so we don't brace teeth that will be coming out anyway. Katie has a few teeth to go... so my guess is that this will be a simple check up to be sure we are on course.

And then, of course, there's the issue of keeping her awake tonight... all night... till her test tomorrow. I think ALL NIGHT is unrealistic... but it has to be less than 3 hours of sleep... so I'm going to spend my day today thinking up ways to keep her occupied and busy in the wee hours of the night... like going to a 24 hr Denny's restaurant and let her eat everything she wants.... ALL NIGHT.

HA HA HA HA.... anyone want to join us???

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SUPRISE!!! The test for tomorrow morning was cancelled... so we get to sleep tonight!! Woohoohoo! I had to reschedule it for April 1st.

The evening was so-so. Katie had another emotional meltdown but was able to recover herself within a few minutes... so that was good. She continues to show fleeting moments of volatility and loss of self control when angry... but is able to redirect her anger and calm herself in a short period of time. That is definitely an improvement. The clinic told me that in the afternoon she became angry and teary because another child was acting out in class and they had to close the session. The instructor told Katie to put her head down and "breathe slowly"... and after many minutes she was able to re-direct herself to calm again. This has been ongoing at the clinic I found out... but has been showing signs of lessening since the Lithium upgrade. They are contemplating raising her Lithium a few grams more to see if that brings her more stability. Unfortunately that will mean a few more weeks of blood tests to check the stability of the level. The 15 member clinical team will meet tomorrow morning and discuss her case. They don't make any decisions unless it is agreed upon unanimously. I like that. So we'll see....

Before bed time, we sat as a family and searched for a dog on the Internet. We have told Katie that when she graduates from the program we will buy the family a dog. We saw two verrrry smallllll dogs that were great possibilities... and Katie went to bed with "puppies" on her mind. It's so nice to see her fall asleep in a happy state. That's how kids should always fall asleep.

Peacefully.

Now it's my turn. Nightie Night.

Chow 4 now.
Susan