I have been trying to get on and update for the past week, but it has been all about catching up, adjusting, and, honestly, sleeping (lack of sleep from the week and bad toothache/root canal for me).
Princess JF was discharged from the hospital last Monday, March 14. Princess JL and I picked her up from the hospital and brought her home. She was quiet the entire ride home and even slept half the way {naps are always a rarity with her}. Monday afternoon and evening went off without a hitch and we were all good until Tuesday morning. As the three youngest princesses got back into the groove of being home together (we were on Spring Break), Princess JF became a bit wired and I asked her several times to calm down a bit. I used the "1-2-3 Magic" method the hospital had advised us on and it had no affect on her. Finally, after the third attempt at a peaceful time out, Princess JF went into "meltdown mode." She once again began kicking, scratching, biting, cussing, and hitting me. I handled it as well as I could for about 20 minutes before having the older kids call SuperDad. He came home and it took us another 40 minutes or so to calm her down. So much for the new medicine and higher dose of Lexapro... things were still the same. The following day we went to the psychiatrist and were given the go ahead to begin weaning her off the Lexapro. Last Saturday she took her last dose! One more medicine to go!
I would love to say that was our last meltdown, but there have been more. We have been able to catch several before they got started, but there have been at least three more since then. The aggression is not as bad, and I take that as a step in the right direction, yet the episodes seem to last longer. Most of what Princess JF does now is cry... continuously! And it is not a quiet sob, but more of an all out wail. It wouldn't be so bad if crying wasn't just one of those things that I just can not handle well. Plus, it can be completely unprovoked or over dramatized. Alas, it is better than the demonic features we were seeing before. We are trying to continue to patiently wait for the weaning of the second medicine and are prayerful we will get our "old daughter" back.
I have been told over and over by various people that Princess JF looks different and is not the same child she was even back in January. I must agree and have told the doctors this. SuperDad and I are grateful that both our psychiatrist and play therapist agree that there must have been some "fluke" in the way our princess had a neurophysiological reaction to the medicine. Although neither has ever seen this type of reaction in a child, they are in complete agreement with us that she needs to come completely off all medications so that we can see the true child within. After another 45 minute battle with my princess yesterday, leaving me bruised, scratched sore, I am more than ready to find Princess JF's inner core... the one SuperDad and I raised to love God and to love people.
And, before I sign off, as I continue to pray for my own children, my heart has more than ever been with some dear friends, the family of Caleb Huffines. Please continue to lift this precious family up in prayer as they transition into a difficult walk of their journey.
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the lord will raise him up.If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. ~James 5:14-15
