11.18.2008

Riding the Rosenberg Rollercoaster for One Week

**I am publishing this draft as-is, to record a truly overwhelming week that nevertheless was peppered with gifts of kindness from my wonderful friends.**

The benefit of weeks like the past one is that I rarely have a big reaction to anything anymore. "Hmmm, okay" is now about as far as I go.

Please note that Leelo had the sniffles and has been getting up at 5 - 5:30 during and since a few days before this week began.

Sunday
Leelo's birthday party. Fantastic. Yay! Thanks everyone.

Monday
Leelo in school, girls out. Went with Jennyalice to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Iz made me proud by recogizing the pug as Marc. Leelo came home and did some kick-butt puzzling.

Tuesday
Veterans' Day. Friends over. Made homemade carrot cake to have something to put under wonderful frosting from Leelo's birthday cupcakes. Had a good afternoon even on a day without Leelo help.

That night Seymour had the worst work crisis ever in his personal history of work crises. Wasn't his fault, but it was his responsibility. He spent the evening evaluating the extent of the crisis.

Wednesday
By early AM, Seymour had determined that it was a very bad work crisis indeed and that he not only couldn't come to the parent interview portion of the behavioral psychiatrist intake appointment re: Leelo's meds -- an appointment for which we had waited over two months -- but he had to be at work ASAP and couldn't wait with Leelo to meet the bus, either (initial plan: one of us was to go ahead to the appointment, the other was to wait with the bus; if the bus was on time, then the person who waited with Leelo wouldn't be late for the appointment). This was an anxiety crisis not unlike Mali's fractured collarbone, but with fewer options. Actually, with only one option. I called Ep and asked if she could wait with Leelo for the bus, and thank the gods of trench-based friendship, she said okay. ("He only hit me three times!" she chirpily declared, afterwards.) THANK YOU EP.

Thursday
I had had Leelo's in-person intake evaluation at PAMF wherein their top behavioral psychiatrist very kindly told me that Leelo's "very low functioning" and "extreme violence" merited putting him on the anti-psychotic drug Abilify;

Intake appointment only took five out of scheduled 60 minutes; for some reason the doctor thought he was going to have a discussion with Leelo. So we got to go have breakfast at the cafe, which was nice because I had to miss Bad Moms' Coffee.

After Leelo went to school, I ran over to the grocery store to buy cupcakes for Mali's birthday party at her school, which I had agreed to hellp host. The parents might not have been impressed by purchased fare, but the kids were and that's all that matters. Fairy was so great that I hired her for Mali's real birthday party (which is not on her real brithday; she will be on a plane with her dad and sister on her actual birthday).

Stumbled through the party and left early to have lunch with my dear Jen. I felt like I was coming down with something so I had veg pho. We hammered out CISWY stuff and surprised several members of the local Special Ed department (they are nice people, but I think that they get nervous whenever they see one or more of us parents together). Talked about ourselves and our friends and family. Why are all our lives so hard hard hard?

Picked up Iz and her friend Fifi from school. Took them to Jamba Juice (blech) as that was the very most important place in the world at that particular moment.

the very big interview that Jen and I were doing for Can I Sit With You (and which we'd cited on the book cover, which is ready to publish) was cancelled;

Therapist R called to say she didn't want to do ABA therapy with Leelo any more, but said she'd stay on until we found replacements.

Therapist Y called to cancel his afternoon session.

I still managed to make Seymour a homemade dinner with pan-fried pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes, and fresh applesauce, though his serving was cold because his work kept exploding and kept him late in the office.

and I was so sick with a sinus infection/cold that I ended up prostrate in bed wishing that someone would poke my eyeballs out with a stick and was in so much pain I didn't get to sleep until the fourth or fifth treatment worked at 1 AM.

Friday
Spent the whole day frantically packing Leelo for camp. Had to put his name on everything, everything, even his socks. Took fricking forever. Still very sick, but at least was under the "please, kill me now" sinus pain threshold.

Picked Mali up from school, picked Iz up from school, drove 20 miles north and picked Leelo up from school, then turned around and drove 40 miles south to deliver Leelo to camp. The camp intake was chaotic but fluid and before I knew it Leelo was in the hands of a cheerful perky teenage girl who was unfazed by my description of his needs and quirks. Leelo said "Bye, Mom," and never looked back.

Saturday
We had grand plans to go out and do family things with the girls, but we were honestly so exhausted from our week and I was still so sick that we all laid around watching videos, and then had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that Leelo would likely not tolerate. The girls seemed okay with our lazy lazy day. How nice to have a lazy lazy family day once every eight or so years.

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