Category: Alex

New 4×10 schedule, and the baby

I’ve recently gotten approval at my job to work four ten-hour days rather than five eight-hour days. This allows me to visit Alex once on the weekend, and another time mid-week. It’s really nice to not have to feel like I need to get a minimum of 2-3 hours in any visit or else “waste” a week. It’s also nice not to have to feel like missing a visit is the end of the world. If we get sick or something, we can still see Alex once during the week rather than having a two-week span with him wondering where his family is. Continue reading “New 4×10 schedule, and the baby”

No videos, but a decent visit

We saw Alex this weekend for over three hours, and it was a pretty good visit overall. He had quite a few moments of rage, but none that lasted longer than a few minutes, and none that got as intense as the episodes he had before the group homes. It was nothing in comparison to two weeks ago, but that was, as I mentioned before, an incredible and very unique occurrence.

Sadly, we got no videos this time, because things were a bit too hectic. At the time, videos seemed like a big tradeoff – spend time with him or get videos of him. Unfortunately, when he’s a little bit volatile, we will always opt to just be with him instead of trying to break out the camera, catch a minute of happy, put it down when he gets made, try to grab it for another few minutes of happy, etc. Oh, well.

September updates – some amazing visits

I was hoping to make a real effort to get updates with video, but I’m finding this is a lot more pain than I expected. The amount of video we have is enormous just from the past month, so I’ve had to just throw together a quick “best of” video. But first, some general updates. Continue reading “September updates – some amazing visits”

Alex’s sibbing is still a major problem

It’s been about a year and a half since we made the decision to have Alex placed outside the home, and still he has these horrible periods of sibbing (to “sib” means to engage in self-injurious behaviors).

We took some video during a recent home visit (about a week ago) demonstrating just how much rage and anxiety Alex still has. He appears to be “stuck” in a behavior of hitting his chin into his shoulder, and even his bath time doesn’t fully calm him down. Continue reading “Alex’s sibbing is still a major problem”

Does Alex know us anymore?

As we were camping over the weekend, we visited Alex on Monday this week, and it was a pretty awful visit. Within about two hours we had to leave due to how much Alex was hurting himself. Though sad, this wasn’t terribly surprising given how Alex has been lately… until we read the report the next day and realized Alex was only unhappy around us. Continue reading “Does Alex know us anymore?”

Alex got the recommendation again

This isn’t really a surprise, but it was an interesting visit all the same.

We were there for about 30-45 minutes, and the doctor was 100% in agreement about medical marijuana for Alex. With his seizure disorder, rage, and huge list of medications, there’s absolutely no reason not to make the recommendation. Of course, we found there was a lot more to talk about than just the quick recommendation we got. Continue reading “Alex got the recommendation again”

Wish us luck for renewing Alex’s OMMP card!

Tomorrow is the appointment with Alex’s doctor. If we don’t get a renewal there, we’ll probably wait until Alex has moved (in a few weeks) to try with another doctor, but we’re really hoping that we can get him back on the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program right away. Continue reading “Wish us luck for renewing Alex’s OMMP card!”