Jared's progress (Warning: long post)

As most of you know, Jared has really struggled lately. He has always had problems keeping his anger under control. About 3 weeks ago, we had a terrible weekend. It started on Friday at school. He was hitting other kids, his teachers, throwing chairs and his desk. I was in an eye appointment and the school couldn't get a hold of me so they sent home a letter. The next day, he had a couple of outbursts during the day. That evening we went to the church for the Blue and Gold banquet for scouts. He had a really good time and also got a bead. When it was over, he wanted to go to his friends house and play. It was after 7:00 so I told him no. He blew up and started yelling and swearing at me. I made him get in the car and took him home where the verbal abuse continued along with him trying to throw anything he could get his hands on. After a while he finally calmed down. On Sunday, something set him off during primary and he came running into Relief Society really upset. I took him out and talked to him. I told him if he could calm down, he could come and sit with me. He finally did. That afternoon he was playing on my computer. The game he was playing wasn't going the way he wanted so he started slamming the keyboard and hitting the computer screen. I took the computer away from him and he started on his rampage again, kicking, hitting and yelling. When Chad tried to talk to him, he yelled at Chad and told him he was going to get a knife and kill him. I finally decided that we needed to take him to the ER and have a crisis evaluation done on him. I told Chad to stay home with the other kids and I called LillieAnn and asked her to go to the hospital with me. As I was driving to her house (about a mile away), he kicked me several times. When we got to Lill's, he jumped out of the car and ran. I called the non emergency police number and explained the situation and asked if an officer could come. My sister lives around the corner from the Harrisville police station. They sent an officer over and he helped us find Jared. By this time, he had shredded the shirt he was wearing. The officer talked to him and us but there really wasn't much he could do. By the time he left, Jared had calmed down. I figured if I tried to take him to the ER, they would just laugh at me so we took him home. Later that night, he had another blow up. I took him to his room and made him stay there till he fell asleep. The next day I called the school to let the principal know how the weekend had gone. She was out for the day so I asked for his teacher. She was also out for the day so I asked to talk to on of the aids. She reported to me that he had already had a hard morning (he had only been there 45 minutes). In that time, he had dumped his desk, thrown his chair, thrown toys at other children, hit a couple of the aids and hit another child. When I got off the phone with them, I called his psych doctor. I couldn't get a hold of her and in the meantime, the behavioral specialist for Weber County called me. I told her I was trying to get a hold of his doctor and that I would call her back. I finally got a hold of the doctors nurse and told her what was going on. She talked to the doctor and told me to take him the the ER and that the doctor would call up there to let them know we were coming and even if he was calm, he needed to be evaluated. Chad came home from work and we went and picked Jared up from school. I called my dad and asked him to meet us there. When we got there, they immediately took us back to an exam room but ended up making us sit there for 5 hours. The decision was made that he needed to be transferred to the Behavioral Health Institute (BHI). We followed the worker up there and signed the paperwork to admit him. Leaving him there has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my whole life. I cried all night. While he has been there, they have tried him on a couple of different medications. The first one they tried him on ended up sending him into a manic state. He had to be sedated with a shot because he was harming himself. He had scratched himself in the face, hit his arms on the walls so hard that it caused bruises on them and kicked things hard enough that he now has a hairline fracture in his foot below his little toe. He was in a boot for a week but they ended up having to take it from him because he kept taking it off and hitting people with it. That was on a  Saturday and the next Monday's visit was horrible. He was mean and told us to leave, that he didn't want us there. We finally left and that was so hard on me. Again, I cried all night. That week was hard but then Thursday and Friday he did really good. I met with the doctor and he told me that if he continued to do good, he would recommend on Monday for him to go home. I was so exited. Then on Sunday he started acting out again and by Monday he was having to be sedated again. I was crushed.  On Tuesday they started him on some new medication and by Thursday he was doing better. Also on Thursday he got a cast put on that will need to stay for three weeks. Kaleigh got to go with me to his appointment. They were so excited to see each other. He has had many roller coaster days. He'll do good for a couple of days and then crash. The doctor is 99.9% sure he is bipolar and what is happening now is that he is cycling. As of today he is still having a good day. The staff told me he is being more cooperative and re directional. My biggest worry now is that we will plan to bring him home and he will crash again. I miss him so much. I know he needs to be there to be able to be stabilized on medication but it doesn't make it any easier. It's hard to find babysitters every night for the other two so we can go see Jared. I had a really hard time at church today also. As I sat there in sacrament meeting, I couldn't contain my emotions. During the sacrament was the hardest. Jared loves to take the bread and water from the deacon and pass it to each of us. I really missed that today. He always does it with the biggest grin on his face. My dad came down today and gave him a blessing. We meet with the doctor again tomorrow. I pray he is still doing good.

Good News!!!!!!!

Very exciting news today. My Dr. sent me a text and told me that my blood test I did yesterday came back almost normal. I'm still a little high (1.38) and still a little anemic but considering where I was, it's much, much better. My blood pressure is also normal and I've been off my meds for a week now. Hopefully it will stay normal and I won't have to go back on them.

Health Scare

The last couple of weeks I haven't been feeling very good. I've been getting really light headed when I bend down and stand up or stand up from sitting. I just figured it was my blood pressure medication so I lowered the dose. That didn't work. I was still getting dizzy. On Thursday I was picking up some of the kids toys and when I stood back up, I got so light headed that I almost passed out. I took my blood pressure and it was extremely low. I called my doctor and he told me to go into the insta care. The doctor ordered a blood test to be done. When it came back it showed that my createin levels were very high. Normal is .7-1 and mine were 4.3. He scheduled me an appointment with a nephrologist  the next day. This doctor typically doesn't work in his office on Fridays but came in to see me. After looking at my charts, he feels that it is an accute condition caused by my blood pressure meds combined with ibuprofen and antibiotics. I had a root canal a couple of weeks ago that keeps getting infected. All things combined was causing my blood pressure to drop to low. Also with loosing weight, my blood pressure was coming down naturally. Apparently the blood flow wasn't getting to my kidneys very well and they were starting to shut down. If I had been at a 5, the doctor would have put me in the hospital and started dialysis. I've been taken off all of my medication for now and have to go back every week for the next month and get a blood test done. Then after the month, I'll go back to the nephrologist and we'll see where we are. I'll keep you updated.

I've come a long way

I had my gastric bypass surgery 6 years ago on February 13th. Since that day my total weight loss is 153.8 lbs. I was carrying Jared to bed last night and he weigh's about 60 lbs. I though to myself, how did I ever carry this much weight around. Then I really thought about it. How did I EVER carry around an extra 150 lbs. That's a grown man. My nephew Kurtis that weighs that much.

I need motivation

I've found out that my high school reunion is in July. I really want to be at my goal weight by then. I'm at my high school weight now. I've been working really hard since January and have already lost 13 lbs. I have finally reached my goal of 50 lbs. Now for my next 25. I'm going to keep track and do weekly updates. I figure if I have to account for my weight maybe I'll do it. I put an app on my phone that helps me track my calories and exercise.

Update

Jared is having so many struggles in school. The doctor keeps changing his meds and I hate the one he is on now. I causes him to have severe aggression and he is destructive when this happens. Yesterday he beat up the mail box because Chad wouldn't take him to get a treat after picking Kaleigh up from school. Today he attacked another student at school because the kid wanted to play with him and Jared didn't want him to. If things don't go his way at school he dumps his desk and throws his chair. I've tried to call his doctor all day and she won't call me back. I honestly think he is bi polar but the doctor won't diagnose him because he's only 7. We had to take him off the concerta because it was causing really bad facial ticks. He did so well for the first couple weeks of school and then he started having night terrors. They started right after they changed his meds. The doctor keeps telling me that this med shouldn't do that but I really think it is. Anthony is now doing well in school. We did end up having to put him on ADHD medication. We chose the one that only last's 8 hours so it will last while he's in school. He is still very "chatty" though. He is loving first grade. Kaleigh is back in Head Start this year. She loves going to pre school. As for me, I've been working really hard on loosing the weight I gained back. I have lost almost 50 lbs since the first of the year. I feel a lot better both physically and emotionally. I feel better about myself. I'm still working at the daycare but would like to get on with the school district if possible.

Finally a new post

It's been a while since I posted. We have kept very busy with family reunions, school starting, family party's and Halloween. There are a lot of missing pictures since they are on my other camera. Jared started 1st grade. He is going to Farr West Elementary and is in an alternative first grade class. There are only 12 students in his class. He really struggled at the first of the year but once the doctor changed his medication, he has done great. He has been the best kid. He really helps me around the house. He loves to vacuum. He also likes to do yard work so I have put him to work raking the leaves outside. Anthony started Kindergarten. He is absolutely loving it. In talking to his teacher, he is a joy to have in her class although he is very "chatty". This doesn't surprise me. He already has a best friend. He is also a lady's man. Except for Braxton, all of his other friends are girls. Kaleigh started preschool at headstart. She loves it. We had parent teacher conference for her last week and the teachers love her. She told me that Kaleigh wants to be friends with everyone. I get about 2 hours to myself every afternoon except for Wednesday. During this time I usually get my shopping done or my house cleaned. Work is going good. I did have an incident the other day. I had used a food processor and put the blade in the sink. When I went to wash some dishes I hit that blade and ended up getting a couple of stitches in my hand. The kids had a great Halloween. On Saturday we went to LillieAnn's for pizza. Kristanne's family came out and the kids all went trick or treating. After we got home Jared and Kaleigh still wanted to go around our neighborhood. Anthony wanted to stay home and when I got back home I found out why. He had already eaten half of his candy. He knew if he was home with his dad, he could get away with it. We are now getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The kids are finally at an age where they are very excited for Christmas. It should be fun this year.

This picture was taken at the family reunion.





















We had a wienie roast at out house and Aunt Marge and Uncle Don came. Kaleigh just loves Aunt Marge.











We went up to Charlene's house on General Conference Sunday. Meagan and her family had come for a couple of weeks. Brett took the boys for a ride on his 4 wheeler. They had a blast.










This is Brock's little boy, my great nephew, Olin. Isn't he just so stinking cute? :)











This was taken a couple of days before Halloween. We had a party at the church that the Young Women/Men put on for the primary children. Kaleigh was a fairy this year. She is such a girl.













These are the kids pumpkins. This is the one Kaleigh chose.













This was Jared's. It wasn't really hard, just time consuming. Jared actually cleaned out his own pumpkin this year.













This is the one Anthony picked.













This is Darin. He loves Halloween. He has so much fun dressing up and scaring the kids that come trick or treating. He has a fog machine that he sets outside and then just sits there waiting.














Ethan the zombie.













Kris loves to dress up with the kids.













Jace was Mario from Super Mario Brothers.













Kurtis dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite. He even had the way he talked down.













Cade was Edward Scizzorhands.













Makae was an evil fairy and Kaleigh was a good fairy.













ARRRRRRGGG!!!! It took Lill forever to find a modest pirate costume for Courtney.













Jared actually took this picture. He loves taking pictures and is really good at it.










On Halloween day, we went up to Granny and Gramps so the kids could show off their costumes. Granny always has a treat for them.










Anthony dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and Jared was a fireman. He keeps telling me that's what he wants to be when he grows up.