Kate Warren

Here it is Sunday again.  How does that keep happening?  I'd like to thank everyone who drops by and everyone who comments.  Your words are like sunshine on a gray day.

Let's get right to our Six Sentence Sunday, shall we?  This week we're in Chapter Thirty Three.  Ellen, Doug and Stephanie have staged an intervention about DJ's drinking.  DJ has just left in a nasty temper after promising to see a couselor.  



          Ellen sat down and buried her head in her hands.  Doug stood and put a hand on her shoulder.  She looked up.  Their eyes met for a second.  Both were remembering the day he was born, his first bicycle, his little leauge games.
          Other less pleasant recollections were there too: the night Doug had told her about the way his father had destroyed his mother's spirit with his constant verbal and physical abuse; his fears of turning into the same kind of man; the night his mother lay dying in the hospital, pleading with him to forgive his long-dead father, still loving the bastard after everything he'd done to her.


Not a happy six this week.  I hope to find some funny while I'm visiting my fellow Sixers today.  Come along with me, we can laugh together.

Kate

Hello fellow Sixers.  It's been fifteen days since my last post and about a month since my last Six Sentence Sunday post.  What can I say?  Time flies when life is turned upside down.  I've been struggling to find balance and a sense of normalcy.  So far it's not working.  But I figure getting back to work will help.

I'm going to employ the random scrolling method again, though this time I'm using the proof of the paperback of Bridging The Gaps so it might be called random page-flipping.  Here I go and this week's Six will be from... Chapter Nineteen.

Stephanie is getting ready to move into her first apartment.  DJ stops by to help, bringing his girlfriend along.  Stephanie comments that he hasn't done that in a while.  She speaks first.


          "Hey, why did you stop bringing girls around?"
          "Because I got tired of watching Dad flirt with them."
          Stephanie froze. "I didn't know about that."
          "It wasn't something I wanted to share." DJ walked out into the hall and his sister followed.


That's my six for the week.  I'll be around--might take me a while, but I'll be there--checking out the scores of talented authors participating in Six Sentence Sunday.  Hope I see you on their blogs too.

Kate

Discharge was Tuesday and what a day it was.  Ben started drinking, which is why we were able to come home.  Our chauffeurs (and by that I mean my Dad and my sister) arrived early and the paperwork wasn't done.  Ben got very upset about having to wait to go.  He threw a massive tantrum.  It took the three of us, plus his nurse (who thankfully had worked with autistic children before) to deal with him.  Poor Ben.  Also poor me.  Got some new scratches and bruises as a result of the meltdown.

The ride home was largely uneventful.  And the homecoming was great.  Everyone was happy to see us.  A neighbor brought over dinner so we wouldn't have to cook.  Things went well until the next day.

We've all been through a lot.  I'm still very worn out and Ben is not liking the changes in his access to food.  In addition, his medication is not up to its previous level.  He had one tantrum that first day, but the real problem was me.  I'm so anxious about making a mistake.  I really need to chill out but that will take me a while.  My husband pointed out that I'm not nearly as concerned about his diabetes and what he eats.  Of course he's not eight years old, or autistic.  Husband can take care of himself to a point.  Ben can't even begin to do that.

The last few days have been pretty good.  He did get into a food we had left out because he'd never shown any interest in it.  That did not help his blood sugars, but we knew they would go high as soon as his appetite returned and he started following his meal plan.  He came home with a conservative dosing schedule for his insulin because he still wasn't eating normally yet.  Tomorrow I will make the first adjustment to his dosage.  Not a big one.  We're only changing by one unit up or down at a time.  And only one dose of one insulin.  Given that all of his numbers have been higher than goal lately that means at least four days of adjusting before we see better numbers, because he's getting two shots, each with short-acting and long-acting insulin.  Don't worry, they educated me about this.  I passed with flying colors.  The doctor's were calling me teacher's pet.

Had a meeting with some of the school staff to explain the basics about the (very few) changes.  His snack will have to be limited and the time can't change based on the day's schedule.  He starts back on Monday, after his first appointment with the new doctor.

The other kids are having their own issues.  The oldest is fine.  He understood what was going on better than the others.  Next one down is having his reactions to my being gone now that I'm home.  Refusing to do his homework, not wanting to get out the door for school in the mornings, acting up a bit.  Pretty normal reaction under the circumstances.  And the little one is just plain clingy.  That will last for a while yet.  She asks to be picked up a lot, and follows me around more than usual.  The dog is very happy to have us home and gets nervous whenever someone goes out the door.

I'll post again sometime next week.  Not doing Six Sentence Sunday this weekend.  Not sure when I'll be back to it, but this first weekend back it's more important to spend the time with my family.

Kate