I mentioned earlier that we were supposed to go to Cleveland and visit my Mom's side of the family. It's been a really long time since we have been there and we were excited at the prospect of going.  Enter life....... Unfortunately, our plans have changed once again. Elliott is unwilling to leave the house.  The idea of leaving the house is what actually triggered the massive meltdown he had earlier. Normally, he loves going to visit relatives but lately he just can't seem to handle it.  Lizze and I have learned to follow their cues, even if we don't necessarily like what those cues are telling us.  I even tried to get Elliott to go to the store and pick out decorations for the Christmas tree. I thought it…

I've mentioned that Elliott was really moody lately.  This morning he had a meltdown. A really, really big one.  I classify this as a meltdown as apposed to a tantrum because he is very clearly completely overwhelmed and almost beside himself. In his meltdown, he hurled his remote control and nearly hit Lizze.  Was he aiming for her?  I don't think so.  However, that doesn't really matter because the fact is, he threw the remote. Elliott has never, never done anything like this before.  I'm really getting concerned because it's like he's beginning to act like Gavin. Maybe he's used to the chaos and so in Gavin's absence he's not sure what to do. All I know is that I'm very worried about him. We were going to try to…

I got a call from my Dad this morning.  He was letting me know that he thinks my old dog had a stroke last night. I got Rogue back in 2000 right before I started paramedic school. When I met Lizze and moved out, Rogue stayed behind because they didn't want to part with her.  Sadly, I suspect that she will be put to rest on Monday. She's in really bad shape and has lost control over the right side of her body over night. She basically falls over when she trys to walk and is drooling uncontrollably.  She seems completely disoriented and has stopped eating as well. She's 13 years old and at this point, her quality of life is not very high. Honestly, I would suspect that she's…

Sadly, Lizze was not feeling well enough to attend her family’s annual Christmas party. She spent all she had taking the kids to see Santa. The kids actually slept until 7am this morning, which is unheard of. Lizze is in a great deal of pain already today.  However, she's in good spirits, which I can't imagine is easy to accomplish when one is in that much pain. I so admire her courage and fortitude.  She just keeps pushing on, no matter what. Hopefully, she'll feel better as the day goes on, Lord knows she deserves it.

I wanted to update you on how Elliott's doing now that he's off the anti-anxiety medications. It's been about a week since Elliott had his last dose of Tenex. He had not been on it for too long, but long enough to know that it wasn't the right medication for him. It's really hard to tell if he's doing better or not but stopping was the right thing to do. Currently, Elliott is very moody and still anxious but he's got a great deal on his plate. I don't know how well any 6 year old would deal with it all. I will say that he does seem to be a bit less stressed at times. For right now, Elliott's life is medication free and we are working on other…