Starting A New Chapter

Superman just wrapped up his sessions with the new Developmental Pediatrician. We loved him! He was so intuitive, gentle, funny, and easy to talk to. I knew the moment I found out he brings his dog to work that I would love him. ;) We both felt comfortable with him and it made the trust factor come very easily.

Our first appt was medical history. The second appt was an educational assessment. The third appt was a physical and to go over the results from all of the appts.

Our end decision was to take the Doctor's advice and try Superman on Zoloft. He said to start him on 12.5 mg to allow his brain some time to adjust to the hormonal changes and since the dose would be so low, we should be able to avoid the common side effect of aggitation that can happen when people start the drug.

So he's had 7 doses so far and it's been an amazing transformation to see. He's calm, regulated, transistions well. All the things that used to cause him so much angst seem to be under his control. He's still his happy chatty self but on a less anxious level.

I talked to him about the medication. Told him what it was, what it was for and how he felt about it. I figure even though HB and I have the final say on whether or not he needs it, it's his body and we need to respect the fact that he should be able to give his input and ask questions. He says it feels good that his body isn't pitching fits when he's trying to figure things out. What a joy it is to hear that!

We've been able to do so much with him that we couldn't do before. He can transistion from his favourite activity to a less desirable one without a meltdown. We took him shopping to 4 furniture stores without an issue (stores are very overstimulating to him). It's just been incredible! I keep thinking...wow...so this is what it's like to have a regulated 8 year old! We love it!

Tonight we put Katie to bed and played Ant Bully on his GameCube for half an hour. Then we turned it off. Went to the kitchen and baked cookies. Sat on the couch drinking apple cider, eating cookies and watching the Discovery Channel, all snuggled up under a blanket. It was such a great moment!

Today his EA was absent so he was with someone different. He's had her before but they're chemistry isn't as close so his energy is usually high when he's with her. This is the first time he's been with her since starting the med and she said it was a perfect day. No issues whatsoever.

Tomorrow is our meeting at the school to discuss a gameplan to get him back in school for longer hours. He's still only attending from 1-3:30pm but now that he's regulated we can move forward.

Finally.

Everything has been so worth it to get to this point.