Crisis Averted

I don't always get things recorded (or blogged) when I should as life gets in my way sometimes.  (The nerve!)  However, I want to always make an attempt to get each detail of our story out there as I know that a) I won't remember them for long and b) you may be struggling in the same area.

So, my "update" of sorts for you today is actually about a month old.  However, it may be better that I'm telling you now as it squelches all chances of simply coincidence (and lack of evidence).

We started school this year without a bang.  I know, that's supposed to be "with a bang".  But see, we've banged every other year, so it was nice to have a year with no bang.  Actually though - our bang just came late.  Dang it.

Remember when I wrote this about how awesome the first week of school had been?  It was the first year EVER that I hadn't had to have a teacher-parent conference the first week of school to "develop a plan" for "how we were going to deal" with Craig.  It was GLORIOUS!  When I arrived to pick him up from school each afternoon that first week, the teacher didn't look at me with that look that says "TAKE HIM NOW PLEASE!!".  It was a first for us ... and it was really awesome.

However, the other shoe dropped.  (It always does, right?)  And the second week of school, Craig started acting a fool.  We were having trouble at home, so I knew something was up but I couldn't pin-point it.  We were following (rigidly) our diet plan and he was getting all of his supplements, but he was seriously struggling.  We had back-talk and emotional drama and just a general bad attitude.  (I realize some of that may sound normal, but when I talk about it with Craig I'm talking about an escalated scene.)

Then, things went from bad to worse and we began to see actual aggression.  He grabbed hold of some kid's neck on the playground in a friendly (ha) game of football.  He turned over some desks in his classroom in a moment of rage.  He ran away from his teacher over a sports sticker.

Things hit rock bottom when, after spending 2 days in ISS, the school called and told us they were getting ready to revoke his transfer.  (My children go to a school on the other side of town as transfers.  We chose it for them because it has excellent test scores and the staff is incredible.  Great school.)  We panicked knowing that the school our kids are technically "zoned" for is not muy bueno and that we would be in a pickle if he wasn't allowed to attend this stellar school.  (A pickle meaning "home school".)  ;)

Our chiro had discovered two weeks into Craig's fool behavior episode that he could eat the mayonnaise on his sandwich everyday and he could eat the Pirate's Booty "popcorn" that I was sending him in his lunchbox everyday.  However, he could not do both.  When you combined the two of these, his body reacted to them.  (behavior issues)  We thought that this was the answer to what was going on and we were HEARTBROKEN when we removed both the mayo and the Booty and he only improved mildly.  :(

So, after the threat from the school, we got uber serious.  We made a visit to the chiro with an ultimatum:  Fix it or die.  Ok - that may be slightly exaggerated.  (Or then again, I've been known to make serious threats when it comes to my children's health and safety.)  We spent a good long while with Mr. Chiro that day and finally (FINALLY) were able to figure out that none of Craig's meds were working.

Now, let me stop for a moment and just try and explain the amount of panic that engulfed my heart when I heard those words.  The chiropractor kind of chuckled (which means he's figured it out) ... but there was no chuckling in my world.  Absolute panic.  If these meds don't work - WHAT are we going to do?

We learned that day that Craig is highly allergic to "something" right now.  However, that's the not-so-beautiful part: we have no idea what.  The doc said it could be something in the air, something in his school, or another food that has popped up out of nowhere.  He guessed it was something blowing in the air because of how dry this year has been and the horrible cases of allergies that he is seeing in his office.  However, my momma instincts tell me different.  I know that he is allergic to something in his school.  It may be the pesticides or one of the commercial cleaners or something that has accumulated in the air vents over the summer.  However, whatever it is - it's in that school.

Here's my reasoning:  We had an absolutely GLORIOUS summer with the child.  We have never enjoyed him more.  He was a complete and total joy to be around.  Then, he went back to school and his first week went fine, but then that second week started a downward spiral that just went out of control.  I don't think that's merely coincidence.  (Plus, I was noticing that on the weekends, he was better.)

So - if you're still with me, then I would imagine you have two questions.  I would if I were reading this for the first time:

#1)  So what now?  What do you do?  If the meds aren't working do you just put him (and yourself) out of misery?

#2)  Why don't you just take him out of that school/building?  If you're so sure that's it, just remove him.

Well - the chiropractor was able to add two new things into Craig's mix that "fixed" the problem.  He described it as a smoldering fire.  Craig's current meds were able to squelch the flames and the overall heat, but they couldn't completely douse it.  So, we were getting flare ups in the form of aggression.  Sure enough, within six hours of adding the two new supplements to Craig's mix of pills, he was back to normal.  (And he's been "normal" ever since.)  (And we're liking him again.)  (That's always nice - ya know - to like your own kid.) 

Removing Craig from that school building is the obvious choice.  However, I just don't feel like I have that option right now.  I don't have another school for him to go to and with me having to work right now, I don't have the option of homeschooling him.  Believe me, we made phone calls and discussed ideas til we were blue in the face.  I just don't see any way around it.  So, for now - he stays and we use the extra supplements to control whatever it is he's allergic to in that school.  Not ideal - but, it'll have to do for right now.

What does that mean for you?

Well, maybe this was just a great story for you today (your welcome).  Or - maybe you take away a few new things:

1)  Who would've known that two foods - separately - could be fine, but when COMBINED could cause a reaction?  (!!!)

2)  Sometimes our current meds/supps need some additional help to fight the good fight.

3)  Right about the time you think you have this all figured out ... you realize that life is full of curve balls.  (sigh)

However, if you gotta have curve balls - then I like what Casey Affleck had to say about them:

"For people who have... had curve balls thrown at them, it is easier to digest change and digest change in other people. Change only scares the small-minded. The small-minded and me."