Progress Report.

I'm warning everyone that I didn't sleep at all last night. Please forgive me for any misspellings, gross grammatical errors or long-winded ramblings. I hope to be in bed very soon but I wanted to update everyone while it's all still fresh.

So, today was T's first day back at school on the new medication. He woke up and was great about getting ready without fussing and I started out very hopeful. Then he just crashed. On the bed while getting his shoes on. On the couch waiting for the bus. He would just sit down and his eyes would glaze over, then his eyelids would slowly sink down and he'd be dozing off. I took a deep breath and decided not to give up just yet, so I rustled him awake and shuffled him onto his bus. I did let the bus driver know he was on a new medication (is it just me or does that imply that he was on something else before this? not unless Zyrtec and Pulmacort count!), so I was confident that they wouldn't be caught unaware if T decided to act oddly.

I spent the morning making roughly a dozen phone calls, answering the same questions over and over and butting up against tons of voicemail brick walls when transferred to the people who were supposed to help me. It's frustrating, to put it mildly. However, I dutifully left my name, my son's name, his diagnosis, age and our return phone number. Tomorrow I will follow up with the one who is supposed to get the ball rolling.

I also called my son's Assistant Principal, who is the most wonderful woman I have enountered throughout this entire process. She was the Autism Program Coordinator last year and acting Administrative Assistat Principal (which just means she did all of the work without the cool office, title and payscale). She was promoted and I couldn't be happier for her and the school. She has an amazing open door policy and even lists her direct number if a parent needs to get in touch with her. I was shocked when she actually picked up her own line and more than a little relieved to hear a friendly, familiar human voice on the other end. I rambled at her for probably 20 minutes before getting to the point of my call... T's absences.

Between his asthma, allergies and behavior issues, he's missed a bit of school this year which is a problem in this state. Well, thank heavens it's up to the school administrators because all the AP needed was a note from me stating that his absences are related to those three things (which they have documentation of and she is very familiar with). Ta-da - done! She was also familiar with T's new medication and is very hopeful about the potential progress we could see. Yay!

Now, cut to the kids getting home from school. T bounded in the door, happy as a clam, bellowing "I had a GOOD day!". So, I read his daily planner/communication folder and... he did! No tantrums, no aggressive behaviors, no meltdowns! The teacher said that you could see him getting upset and struggling to handle it himself, and he was successful. I'm sure he wasn't a picnic today (refusing to comply, no matter how nicely he refuses, is still hard on the whole classroom dynamic) but this is still progress. I'm thrilled!

All of this gives me hope. Hope for a bit of desperately needed peace for us all and hope for T's future. I really want this to be the beginning of having him lead a wonderfully fulfilling life.

So, dear friends, I'm off to take some medicine and drink a cozy mug of Sleepytime Extra tea in a semi-dark room. I really need the sleep and I think that my body and brain will cooperate now that some tension has been alleviated.