Update…really, really long!!!

Lot’s of things have been going on lately, and I just haven’t had time to update or write.  That always seems to be the case, though.  But, honestly, things have been even more busy and stressful than usual.

Let’s see…first of all, Matt started his training for instructor school this week.  He checked in on Monday.  He’s gone M-F, but will get to come home most weekends during this training.  After that, he’ll start the really long hours (as in 20 hour days for 3 weeks then maybe a week of fewer hours before he starts it all over again).  So far having him gone hasn’t been too bad, and the boys have been handling it well.  Hopefully that continues.  Also, he reenlisted on October 2, so he’s in for another 4 years.  But, he’s planning on doing at least 20 anyhow, so no big deal.  He gets a reenlistment bonus out of it, also, so we are waiting on that to get deposited so we can pay off a few bills and stuff.

Once we get all our credit cards paid off (hopefully by next spring between the bonus and tax refund) we are going to start looking into possibly buying a house.  He’ll be here for the 3 years as an instructor, and then he gets duty station preference after that, so as long as everything goes ok, we’ll still be in the area for a long time.

Logan is still having speech therapy, but we found out last week that his speech therapist is quitting and going to work for the school system, so as of the end of the month we have to start over again.  I’m trying to go through Early Intervention now that he’s almost old enough for therapy through them and I won’t have to drive so far for services.  It’ll probably be a few months before all of that gets straightened out and started, though.  He’s doing ok.  Still no words, but we have a few new sounds and signs.

Derek seems to be doing well in school.  He gets good reports everyday and he doesn’t complain.  However, we are having some other issues with him.  First of all, he was having problems with his feet and ankles again, so he is back to going to a phyiscal therapist twice a week and he had to get new braces made.  He’d been out of them for almost a year, and his ankles started going back to being badly pronated, thus causing foot pain, etc.  Hopefully this time it will work and he won’t need them for a long time.  We’ve also been having a lot of problems with getting his ADHD meds regulated.  He’s on his third kind in less than a year, and this one works ok, but is causing problems when it starts to wear off in the afternoons.  His doctor decided to send him to a psychiatrist that deals more with ADHD to try to get things worked out.  We went to one a few weeks ago, and this guy was a quack.  First of all, he was really old and scary.  His office was very unprofessional, and I didn’t feel comfortable from the start.  Then, after meeting with Derek and I for only an hour, he decided that Derek was Bipolar and wanted to start him on meds that are known to cause liver and pancreatic problems and all sorts of things.  I just took the prescription and left, and then called our insurance when I got home to find out what I needed to do to get a second opinion and find a new doctor.  We don’t see him until the end of November, though, so we are in a holding pattern right now.  I talked to his Pediatrician about the first psychiatrist and found out from her that I’m not the first person to have problems with the guy.  I guess he’s been diagnosing every child they send to him as Bipolar!!  If I’d known that from the start, I would have requested a different doctor when I got the initial authorization to see him.  His counselor confirmed that the guy is a quack, so she recommended the new doctor to me.  He’s in Greenville, which is over an hour away, but that’s ok.  I’d rather go to someone that has a good reputation.  We’ve also been having behavioral issues with Derek, which I think is related to when his meds wear off, so that’s been fun.  If it keeps up, I think they are going to kick him out of Taekwondo, and if they don’t, I’m about ready to pull him out because of how he’s been lately.  He’s also having issues with his weight, so we are trying to find new things to get him to gain some.  He’s been losing about a pound a month, and he is already really skinny to begin with.  He has to go in for weight checks every month, and he keeps refusing to eat.

As for me….I’m really frustrated and worn out from what is going on with everyone else.  I feel like I’m being run ragged from all these appointments and everything else.  It doesn’t help that we were still trying to figure out what my sleeping disorder problems are.  But, the good news is, after a THIRD sleep study in September, they finally have a diagnosis for me.  I have Idopathic Hypersomnia/Borderline Narcolepsy.  The doc didn’t want to/couldn’t diagnose it as true Narcolepsy because I don’t have a few of the symptoms, but it doesn’t really matter because treatment for both things is the same, anyhow.  So, now I take meds every morning that help me to stay awake.  I’ve only been on them a little over a week, but I’ve noticed a huge improvement so far.  I’m just glad to finally have an answer to what has been wrong with me for the past 2 years (well, longer, but that’s when it got really bad).  As an added benefit, the meds I’m on are known to cause weight loss, so maybe I can lose some weight while I’m at it.  I’ve lost 4 lbs already without adding in any exercise or eating better.  Other than that, I’m doing ok, though.

Oh, and a few more things, we’ve had some added stress around here the past few weeks from things happening with family members in Indiana.  I’m not sure what I’ve written about before, so a little background:  My BIL moved back to IN when his wife got sent to Korea for a year back in April.  A few weeks later, she send him an IM on yahoo messenger telling him she was filing for divorce when she got back and that he could have custody fo their two boys because she didn’t want them.  He’s been doing pretty good and seemed to finally be growing up and taking responsibility.  However, 2 weeks ago, we got a phone call that he had been in a car accident and had been aire lifted to a hospital an hour away.  He is ok, now, they had to wire his mouth shut cuz he broke his jaw in a few places and he had lots of brusing.  But, it turns out that he had been drunk (his BAC was .22) and running from the cops at the time of the accident.  Oh, and he doesn’t have a driver’s license, either.  He’d lost it a few years ago and just never taken care of things to get it back.  So, he’s more than likely going to be arrested soon when they finish all the investigation, etc.  We figure he’ll lose custody of the boys when it’s all said and done.  Although, when he finally got ahold of soon-to-be-ex-SIL last weekend she didn’t seem concerned about anything except that he had wrecked her vehicle.  So, who knows what is going to happen.  MIL has been the one dealing with most of this stuff up there.

But, then last weekend, MIL called us and was on her way to the hospital an hour away because SFIL

was having a stroke.  He’s been in ICU all this week, but is being released today, I think.  Luckily, she got him to the hospital in time and he is expected to have a full recovery.  But, it’s been a scary few weekends with lots of added stress.

For anyone who’s made it through my novel, I appreciate it.  I just haven’t had much time lately to post and update on all of this stuff.  I’m really hoping that things start to calm down soon.  I need a vacation.