#120 Saturday 18 December 2010

SHD 2/47 The day started at 7am with "... kool..."(school) and by 8am it was the usual negotiating tactic - 'car ..... playground ...... shop .... car!' (Such finesse at an early age!) We struck on a good diversion .... play shop! This she enjoyed and it kept her occupied for till it was time to get ready for swimming class.

Unfortunately, the swimming class was messed up by the anxiety and had to be aborted. Then it was the hot bubbly bath (wonderful thing!) ..... after that we tried shopping. The crowds were horrible so that turned into Kaylia staying in the car with Zoe while I did a 'power-shop' at Bunnings and at Officeworks. The Christmas shopping crowds are really bad but you can't explain that to a highly anxious Kaylia!

Nando's was a sort of bribe .... but we all enjoyed it so ... hey!

Kaylee's anxiety is really making life hard at present. I'm so glad we didn't persist with trying to look after K without an aupair. I think I'd be going around the twist (even more!) if it weren't for the help brought by an extra pair of hands. I realized that this (help that an extra 'presence' gives) is just what people find hard to understand ..... the extra person doesn't have to be specially skilled ..... or able to take over ..... just having a sympathetic friend sharing the hard times is great. Just for them to be there is so good. And not understanding this is probably why people don't feel that they can help ... or that they have anything to offer.

Later: The day recovered! From about 2pm, she made "downtime" for herself by shutting herself in our bedroom (where she sings and rolls around on the bed.) She eventually emerged as her usual enjoyable self. She OK for the rest of the day. Plans are now in place to better manage her transition anxiety.
Naomi pointed out the a new moon is coming and this will be influencing her anxiety behaviors. Task: check back for the dates of previous moon phases and match these to the sleep data. There should be a clear correlation.
- Posted by the Kaylee Blogger

#120 Friday 17 December 2010

SHD1/47
Its now 3:45pm at we've just started therapy. The afternoon has been bad with Kaylia in very high anxiety mode. When I got home from work at midday Kaylia had been very anxious all day ... this shows as wanting 'car' .... 'shop' ..... 'slee-poo-poo' .... 'spa' ..... the litany is repeated constantly and only driving in the car can be counted on as a reliable calming tactic. After trying to calm her for an hour without success, I decided to try a top up dose of the medications. An extra dose (20mg) of Lovan didn't have any immediate effect ..... 25mg extra of Risperdal with Painstop too ...she began to calm down. By 3:30pm she was calm enough that she could start therapy.
Later: Therapy went well and she was fine.
After tea, Naomi was to take Zoe shopping in the city ... so it was a good excuse to allow Kaylia another car drive. By mid-drive, she was pretty 'dopey' and she was ready to crash by the time we got home.

Looking back over the past few days, maybe the behaviour we saw today was what school had been coping with recently. Maybe it is time for an overall increase in medication.

Tomorrow I will try an increase in the Lovan and Risperdal.


- Posted by the Kaylee Blogger

#119 Thursday 16 December 2010

The Saga of the Morning!! For the past two nights, we've been trying Kaylia without 'Painstop' (a sedative) at night .... this morning she was up at 4:30am .... at 6:30am I heard sounds downstairs and went to investigate .... she'd got a new litre bottle of lemonade from the pantry, taken the lid off (no mean feat!) and emptied it into her drink bottle .... finished the lot! Then she proceeded to get the jar of jelly-beans (rewards) down from the shelf ..... and polished them off too!!!

At 8:00am she is rapidly pacing the room on a serious sugar rush! Just as well that its the last day of school!

By the way .... all households without school age children .... have you forgotten the disruption to life that the dreaded school holidays bring? ..... and now we're faced with 6 or 7 weeks of it! Ah ..... woe is us!


- Posted by the Kaylee Blogger

#118 Wednesday 15 December 2010

Amazing ... we're actually getting used to sleeping all night again! What a difference it makes. Kaylia has been sleeping well for about a week now. We actually have to wake her up in the morning! (Touch wood!!)

She is still having mysterious anxiety attacks at school .... thrashing around and scratching herself ... I went to school yesterday to try and observe - to try and work out why ... by the time I got to school it was all over and she was working in 'happy mode'! (This means singing to herself as she works.)

Today she has a large bruise on the top of her right foot .... what ever happened, she would hardly have noticed ... but for a normal person, it would've really hurt. Once again, it shows the need to look out for her. She just doesn't notice things that hurt.

Last night I booked some accommodation in Bali for February ..... near Ubud above a deep river gorge. Hopefully it will be one of the places that look out onto the coastal plains. Some quiet time on the balcony will be "just the ticket".



- Posted by the Kaylee Blogger

#117 Monday 13 December 2010

Our theory about Kaylia being tired yesterday was correct ...... she slept from 7pm to 7am last night.

Today Kaylia was handing out Christmas cards to her classmates .... she was rather bemused by it all. It was a case of ..... "They're giving me strange things .... I've got strange things too .... what do I do with them? What do I say?"

Therapy was really good today. She is doing interesting things .... little sideways, unexpected actions and reactions


- Posted by the Kaylee Blogger

#116 Sunday 12 December 2010

Happy Birthday Anni!

It's Anni's birthday today ... Happy Birthday from all of us here Anni. (Kaylia, Naomi, Ian, Tina, Zoe ..... and Teddy!) Woof, woof!

I think we may have a night owl type person developing .... and since this is very much Mummy's nature, it is not surprising! Last night Kaylia was up & bouncing till 10pm and didn't sleep till 10:30! Then she was awake and running around at 5am. She hasn't been well today ... just out of sorts and very 'sound sensitive'. We think it may be just over tiredness from the end-of-term.

I've been feeling odd today too ... I think it may be from too much Vit-D. I had increased the dose today because I've been having an increase in the muscle aches & pains .... so I tested a theory that more Vit-D may be needed ..... sho nuff, it did the trick for the pains .... but I have some strange nerve sensations which may be from too much Vit-D. I'll split the dose into AM/PM tomorrow.

The day in general was 'tiredness' ...... Kaylia is clearly tired and lost it a couple of times. When we're tired as well, it's good that we can operate as a team (Team-Kaylee!) .... it would be much harder for one person.

At bed time she went out like the proverbial light bulb!

The "little spa" had its first use this morning ... I think Kaylee likes it. She is so 'routine bound' though .... she was wanting to follow the same routine of activities as when she is at Kym's.

- Posted by the Kaylee Blogger