Monday, May 9, 2011
What's with the name?
What's with the name of this blog you may be asking yourself. Well I will tell you. As I sat there today in my first parents support group meeting (while my oldest child .. my 9 year old son was attending group therapy), I listened as we all went around the room each of us saying our names and then discussed who we came with and what issues they each bring to the table. There were alphas flying all over the place. ADD, ADHD, ODD, OCD, Aspergers, Anxiety, Depression, the list goes on. It was like an AA meeting for the parents of kids with pervasive mental disorders (see how I throw out my new lingo that I am quickly picking up?). I realized in that moment of clarity that all of our precious children belonged to this alphabet soup of disorders/syndromes. For the first time since we started having issues with my son, I didn't feel so alone. I realized that each of us there is struggling to fight the good fight, to do the best we can to assist our children through this neverending maze of mental health. I realized that we were a ragtag club of sorts. The Alphabet Soup Club. Today's lesson was on ways to dealing with stress. We had a long list of things that were meant that either we as parents could do, or that we could encourage our children to do. The one that stood out to me the most was to write in a journal or diary. I've never been much for writing (I have my own written learning expression disorder that I've dealt with since I was a kid that makes it less than appetizing for me), but I thought about Blogging. I figured what if there are other parents out there in the Alphabet Soup Club either just starting out like us .. or else seasoned pros that might could share beneficial information with me. That or just commiserate on the struggle that we each go through daily just to make it by. It was so nice today to spend time with parents who are in the same place, dealing with the same day in and day out struggle. For the first time I felt like maybe we are going to make it through this, that we aren't alone on this bumpy road of twists and turns.
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You definitely aren't alone...but I know that feeling going through all this with Matthew. BIG HUGS!!! I wish I knew you were going through this sooner...but know I'm always here to share my experiences with you. Of course I'm no expert, but am an ear that can understand a lot of what you are going through.
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of you...you knew there was something and you now have your answers!!! YOU AND CHIP will get through this!!!
Thanks Kathy. I knew when I was pregnant with him that that he was going to have ADHD. When I was 12 weeks pregnant they couldn't find the heart beat and scared me to death and rushed me in for an ultrasound and the Dr. informed me that in his 23 years of practicing that he'd never seen a fetus so young so active. Both myself and my ex are ADHD so no real surprise there. The Aspergers I didn't start suspecting until he was about 3. My friend's oldest son had been diagnosed with Aspergers a few years before and I had spent time around him when he was 4 and Chip had some very similar behaviors. I started mentioning it to Drs and no one ever took me seriously. They just "pooh poohed" it off. He's fine .. he's so smart ..blah blah blah. Even when he was hospitalized and I talked to no less than 3 psychiatrists during the 2 stays he had no one listened. Finally we got Dr. Turner the psychologist and he's amazing. I hadn't even had the opportunity to bring it up to him yet, before he brought it up to me. He said to me "I don't want to worry you, but I think it might be a good thing for us to evaluate him for something called Aspergers." I could have hugged his neck.
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