Finally Spring

Two weeks and counting! We have just two weeks left of school before we take our “Spring” break and we are all looking forward to celebrating our break with a camping trip with Grammy and Gramps.

Our butterflies emerged from their chrysalides over the course of a few days this past week, with the final butterfly emerging on Easter Sunday. We were all there to witness this ‘re-birth’ and it was amazing to see! Later in the afternoon we released the butterflies in our yard and watched them fly away. This was an incredible experience for the kids and the timing, with an Easter Release, couldn’t have been more perfect!

We are facing medication issues with Ben yet again. The stimulant medications that are commonly used to treat ADHD can cause tics, much like someone with Tourette’s Syndrome. They can even CAUSE Tourette’s Syndrome if the meds are continued and the tics are allowed to continue. Ben’s current medication, Adderall, had begun causing a pretty severe tic in Ben’s eyes. He was blinking almost all day and it had become quite bothersome to him. We have stopped the medication, and thankfully, the tic stopped immediately as well. But this leaves us at a crossroads. Two of the three stimulant meds we have tried have caused a tic and the third was only given for a short time. The doctor doesn’t want to give him any more stimulants so the other option is to use Strattera, which comes with a pretty unnerving list of side effects, the first of which is a risk of suicidal thoughts. This risk is increased in children who have bipolar disorder or who have a family history of bipolar disorder or suicide attempts. After reading and researching I just do not feel at peace about giving Ben this medicine without spending more time researching and praying about it. At this point, it seems our options are pretty limited...we either go with this medication or we go with none and we have to weigh whether the benefits of taking the medication outweigh the risks.

I will keep you up to date on what decisions we make. In the meantime, if any of you have some insight or words of wisdom that might help please feel free to share. We know that ultimately it is up to us what to do, but we value your input.

I put up a few Easter Photos in the photo album. Our Easter was great! We had family from California share the holiday with us--my cousin Karen and her husband and beautiful daughter, Lacie. It’s been almost 11 years since I last saw Karen, so it was a sweet holiday for me! Be sure and check out our photos! I did not get to take many, I was simply too busy! Also, be sure to look over on Gavin’s pages. He has posted at least once recently and he plans to do so again this week.