Woodstone Prairie

Well… yesterday’s big storm blew itself out shortly after the sun came up.  We only ended up with a tiny bit of snow (hard to tell how much because it blew around so much) and the sun was out by mid-morning.

It’s still bitter cold though, and I’m not looking forward to my trip to the barn this morning. Maybe I should sit and blog first…

Things are still uncertain with M, but each day that goes by makes it less likely that he’ll be going into the hospital before our trip on the 30th. The pdoc is supposed to call today or tomorrow to talk about what to do… (She called yesterday but just talked to M, she’ll call again in the evening so we can talk uninterrupted.)

M is actually doing pretty well right now with the med changes. I’ve managed to lower the haldol another .25 mg without any adverse effects, so that’s good. I still have month’s worth of decreases left (at .25 mg a week) but if things don’t get any worse this might just be do-able.

We’re replacing the haldol with seroquel. Yes, that’s the medication I threw fits about R taking, the one I stopped without the pdoc’s approval, and refuse to ever give R again.

But M is not R. And she can manage without the seroquel, but M can’t manage without something to replace the haldol, and seroquel was the only thing we could safely add (because of the meds he’s already on), we know he can tolerate, and might even work. It carries a high risk of metabolic problems, unfortunately… like diabetes. It’s a risk I wasn’t willing to take with R… but it looks like I can’t avoid with M.

So we’re trading the tardive dyskinesia worsening for a high risk of diabetes.

You know… sometimes this whole schizophrenia thing feels a little like a lose/lose situation.

My friend from the hospital (who used to be a phlebotomist) taught me how to draw blood to check M’s blood sugar and insulin level, so I can draw for that at home now.  I’ve told the pdoc I’d like to check those labs every other month, just to keep on top of any metabolic changes from the seroquel. M’s blood sugar is already a little high, but still within normal limits, his insulin is fine, but his triglycerides are very high. It looks like I’m going to have to make some changes to his (our) diet to try to bring them down.

Ok… enough medical stuff.

We’re still trying to get our routine back after the holidays. The past couple of weeks we’ve been following Theresa’s Term at Hogwarts unit study (Thank you Theresa for sharing it, you’re awesome!) and the kids are loving it. They are dressing in “uniforms” for school, and I’m trying to be very school marm-ish… making them sit up straight and mind their manners in school. It’s been fun, but I’m feeling ready to get back to our regular school day… It feels like it’s been ages since we just sat down and did our regular math, spelling, etc. I think we’ll be done with Hogwarts by the early part of next week, and we’ll sneak in a week of regular school before we leave on our trip.

 Here are a few pics from Hogwarts:

M working in one of his (Theresa inspired) notebooks!

 R in the middle of the “muggle or magic” experiment… (she’s holding her magic wand)

The goblin slobber was a huge hit!

M learning about tectonic plates…

Thanks Theresa for sharing this incredible unit study!

R is doing well. She still misses Grant terribly, but has reached the point of having more good days than bad. She and Sweet Pea are getting along wonderfully, and she says that it’s easier to sleep with Sweet Pea sleeping right next to her bed. Since we got Sweet Pea, R has only has two bad nights… It’s been wonderful to have her sleeping again!

Sweet Pea seems to have made her peace with Emma and Quin. Every once in a while she’ll still get snappy with them, but for the most part peace reigns once again in the Woodstone canine kingdom.

Unfortunately, she’s discovered M’s rats. She’s so funny when she watches them. It’s total concentration (not even moving to get her dinner!). She seems fascinated by the little moving creatures behind the glass…

I think it’s probably time to move them to a higher shelf!