New Day School & New Braces Make for a Spookily Tough Week

Nothing has been easy these last few days.

Within just a few days the Autism Center has told us so much of what we already know concerning Maizie. This is a relief. We had our first meeting where they explained areas they want to help Maizie with. That was a first. Normally, I would go to the public school IEP meetings with a prepared list of what Maizie needed help with. The school would rarely back me up on the plan. I would then take her for assessments with neurologists, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists and give their written recommendations to the school. After that, they were willing to provide needed services. If you can call it that? Not much was provided in our recent community. As many of you know the process is exhausting and was a major reason for choosing homeschooling. It has only been a few days but right now I am very impressed with the center.

The transition from homeschooling to the center has been exhausting for Maizie and me. She loves the place and is excited to attend. However, she comes home exhausted. Once home she begins to cry and yell at me for up to an hour or two. She moves the kitchen chairs around and is pretty much incoherent. We have seen this before which makes it easier to deal with. And yet, it seems to be causing me to spiral into post traumatic stress disorder since it has been so long that she has had cried and yelled like this. Not to mention it brings up my fears of the program not working for her. I remind myself this is expected the first week or even the first month.

This happens due to exhaustion and the total newness of everything involved. To top it all off this was the week she was scheduled to get the braces and expander on. That alone has been very difficult for her.

Yesterday she held very still while the nurse put on the braces. It took an hour and a half. Maizie did great. She holds a little too still. I watch as she holds her hands in the air or keeps then just above the chair she is on, floating in the air. Relaxing even just a bit is very difficult for her. Once they moved on to put in the expander she melted. Tears streaming down her cheeks. It was tough. The nurse decided it was best to do the expander today and I agreed with that. On the way to school after the braces were put on yesterday a bottom bracket just popped off. We had to turn around and have the bottom row taken off and fixed today. What a mess. I thought that was going to send Maizie over the edge but she took it all in stride.

Maizie's anxiety has been severe. She is not sleeping much...waking up at about three and proceeding to play, eat and make a real mess of her room and the living room. I check on her every so often and encourage sleep but time has taught me that fighting with her will not help matters. If she can not sleep, she won't. So today she went to school with sleepy eyes, a sore mouth and difficulty talking from the expander. With lack of sleep comes CVS bouts so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Maizie said, "Mom. I can't talk anymore. I sound bad." Suddenly, Maizie went from fluent speech to sounding like she has a major lisp. She continued by crying, "Mom! I think I am going to be a different person now." Sigh.

Explaining all of this to her is exhausting. Just when I think she is understanding why she needs the expander she will say something like, "I will never be able to eat food again. I can't take this!" Learning to eat with the expander has been harder than I anticipated. She is having difficulty using a straw for ice cream shakes and managed to mush about a tablespoon of soft turkey up into the expander. I used the little tool they provided to dig it out as she cried and gagged. It was not pretty. While I was doing that I kept thinking, "Why did we agree to these braces?" But then I remembered we really don't have an alternative. Those teeth have to come down.

After each orthodontic session Maizie hugs me and sobs into my shoulder for the longest time. I am pleased with how kind and patient everyone at the office is with Maizie. The office is totally decked out for Halloween and she loves that. Notice the skeleton wearing braces above found in their yard outside. Very cute.

Tonight there has been no melt down. She is too exhausted. We had to go back to the orthodontist again this evening because she was pushing with her fingers on one of the end wires and cutting into her lip badly. Pushing on her teeth has been a habit of hers for a few months now. I think after our visit tonight she will be moving on to a new habit that does not involve her braces. Or at least I am praying she does.

Thanks again for all of your positive and encouraging comments. You all keep me going on those days when I just wanna curl up and go back to bed.