It's a PITA!

I have not posted in awhile and I think part of it has to do with I am not sure what to say. Its not that I don't have a lot I could say but I feel like most of it is not good news.

On a personal note my marriage is hanging by a thread. I mean it literally. I am expecting John to file for divorce at any moment. If he does I am not sure what I will do. I am close to finishing my MS degree. I am in my last class now and then I have a two month break (June and July) before I can start my capstone project. I should finish that class at the end of December and should graduate then. I have been looking for a job but so far I have not been able to find anything.

John did say he would stick around longer if I went to therapy so I have tried calling a few therapists. So far I have called seven of them over the last two weeks. I have been doing research on the internet of the therapists in the area and no one yet had called me back. A couple of the instances were funny because I would call and one said, the therapist had a six week waiting list and the second one said they were closed for the next three weeks. Just today did one of them call back. I will have to cancel another appointment to make it but I plan to go. John thinks I have a lot of problems. I think I have some problems and the problems I think I have I am pretty sure is different than what he thinks I have.

This past week the homebound teacher for the school has been here. I got a bit upset with her because she was getting pretty cross with James. At one point she told him, "Do we need to get your mom in here?" What kind of threat is that to an autistic four-year-old and all I could think is what would she have done if she know I was not going to be there to witness what was going on. It scares me for my children.

We went to two appointments last week around all the homebound stuff. One day for me as to get the children up, clean the house some, have the homebound teacher arrive, have the OT person arrive, have them both leave, feed the kids lunch, put stuff away and gather what I need to leave, get shoes on everyone, pick up Joseph and herd the other two out the door and into the car, buckle everyone in and head out. I get to my destination and take everyone out. Joseph goes in a stroller while I keep and eye on Margaret and James making sure they do not run off, we go to the appointment and wait. We see the doctor and then get to leave. I take everyone out and make sure they do not wander off as we head to the car. I get everyone into the car and buckle them all back in and then collapse down the stroller and put it into the car. We drive back home and typically 3 to 4 hours have passed since we first left the house. So I arrive home about 4pm to 4:30pm. I have to feed the children again and get them settled. Then I have a bit of time, maybe, to make some phone calls before 5pm.

Alternate scenario is homebound teacher leaves at 11:30am. Then I feed the children lunch and we have maybe 90 minutes before the speech therapist arrives to work with the children. She works with the children for the next hour. She packs up and leaves and I take the children outside for about 30 minutes. By then it is 4pm-ish. I bring them inside and give them a bath. Then it is time for me to start dinner. I fix food for them and feed them again. By then it is about 6pm. That gives them 2 hours before bedtime to do as they wish. Overall we have pretty packed days.

My days often fly by. Lately I have been struggling with keeping up with school. I am towards the end of my last class. I will then be on a two month break and in August I will be starting my capstone project. Once that is completed in December then I will graduate. I will be SO excited!

Right now my life is a PITA (Pain In The Ass) but I think things will be getting better soon. I hope...lol.

Bloodwork...the bane of my existance! GAH!!!

Thwarted yet again by Quest. The DNA test for Joseph has a 15 day turn around time. This means 15 days is the LONGEST it should take for me to get the test back. That day was today. When I went to Quest though the test results had not been reported. I will have to try again tomorrow and hope they will be there.

In the meantime I have been trying to get everything ready for the IEP meeting tomorrow. I spent the afternoon running around and looking and trying to get Homebound paperwork completed. I have also been working on finding a wheelchair for Joseph. I can't continue to carry him around everywhere. This is especially true when we get around to starting growth hormone treatment for him. I am also looking at getting him some sort of helmet. In the past three weeks he has fallen several times. In three weeks he has busted his lip 6 times, pushed his front right tooth forward to the point he looks bucktoothed and he chipped the bottom of both teeth. Joseph has been trying to get braver and let go (something PT has been teaching him) but he is having really BAD falls. The PT said if we get him a helmet it will throw off his sense of balance and make make some regression in learning to walk. I told her when it comes to possibly loosing his teeth because of the damage he is doing to them when he falls then he NEEDS the helmet.

I won that argument...lol. Now we just need to see what we can find him what will protect his mouth and be lightweight.

On a sadder note I have been working on raising money to send Joseph to the Hypotonia Center at Johns Hopkins and it seems like my fundraiser has stalled out. I am not sure what to do besides pray that things will work out. I have to find some time to brainstorm some ideas. Any input would be welcome. :D

On, what I think is an even sadder note, I sent my parents Joseph's fundraiser website information two weeks ago. They still have not even LOOKED at the site much less make any effort to help. This is after my mother pays $1200 to get her drug addict sister out of jail and into a rehab program because her sister was looking at the "third-strike" offense and would be jailed for at least 15 years. Keep in mind she is 50 and has a VERY extensive rap sheet. Makes me sad that my mother thought it was more important to help her sister who has thrown her life away on drugs and alcohol than to help Joseph. The poor boy has done nothing wrong and he deserves help.