Since my optimistic post about med changes for Race Car Man a lot of things have happened. Things I couldn't write about while they were happening not because they needed to be private but because I was too mental to be able to talk about them. All is better now, but I needed a few days of perspective in order to move beyond being completely inchoate and albe to construct full sentences.
Race Car Man had to be escorted home on the bus for a seoncd time, had to be picked up before the end of the day twice, got suspended for a day and had to have his meds tweaked. We had one emergency IEP meeting and one bitch-autism-mom discussion with the school district's transportation office. (Parents, know your rights and what's in your IEP. Bus drivers are NOT allowed to independently suspend services specified in the plan.)
Probably the worst day was the day the kids missed the bus because it was early, the bus driver told SG when he dropped them off at school that she wouldn't transport my kid, then the school called me to tell me he had to go home and couldn't come back without a full IEP team meeting and behavioral plan, and when I called SG to go get him kind of lost my temper when I found out somebody (not mentioning any names but it wasn't me) forgot to give him his meds and then we kind of had some ugly words and by the time I got off the phone with him I was on the phone to my EAP for a behavior therapist referral AND a marriage therapist referral. The following day of the new dosages, my ex gave all but one medication in the morning and asked me when I was dropping off the meds at school to give it to him then. Except a change in routine was too much for Race Car Man with everything else that was going on, and I had words with his teacher when she insisted I continue standing there and trying to get him to take the medicine even though I'd been trying for a half an hour and I could tell that we weren't going to be successful and he was starting to get really upset which was not the best way to start his day. Not to mention I was already two hours late for work.
Not a good week. No.
By Friday, though, he managed to make it through a full day successfully and ride the bus home and get all his rewards. That was followed by a decent weekend for all of us. SG and I made up, the kids mostly didn't kill one another and we even made it to church AND over to my parents for an afternoon to make Gingerbread houses.
This week he has done pretty well -- not spectacular, but pretty well. Work was insanely busy with our annual inventory and so many meetings that I haven't had time to be worried about waiting for the other shoe to drop. I guaran-damn-tee you that by next Tuesday I'll be all settled in, convinced that this time we've hit the right combination for sure and Mr. Race Car Man will never have another bad day at school ever. Except of course at some point, he will and once again I will tumble down the slope into a pit of abject despair.
I am astounded by how often I am caught flat-footed when life throws a monkey wrench into the engine that I feel I have finally gotten to run smoothly. Its a constant thing, why does it always seem to upend me so? I should be used to it by now.
Tonight is the company Christmas party, and SG and I are going to go eat some good food, drink some great wine, dance our asses off and enjoy adult conversation with our friends. I will gratefully put the past two weeks behind me for a few hours and I can predict with modest assurance that tomorrow's breakfast will require at least two mimosas before my head feels right again.
