Denver Diary Part Two: We have arrived!

We are officially back in Denver for round two of Cade's therapy at the STAR Center.  After the last week we have had I was very concerned about this one...Cade has had a very hard time regaining any impulse control.  After speaking with his doctor and finally determining the problem was an interaction of the two meds Cade was on, we have removed both of them in hopes of bringing him down from his "manic high" permanently.  She also gave us another medication specifically for meltdowns in hopes of getting us through the airports and helping Cade on the plane.

Cade was pretty unsettled from the start of our trip from Greenville, SC this time...he was pretty wild in the airport.  He quickly made friends with one of the airport security guards, never a good thing, after making a strong showing of trying to go unaccompanied up the escalator while we were attempting to get through security.  We made it to our gate and dispensed his "emergency meltdown meds," and sat back and waited for them to work.  Fortunately Eric had made arrangements with the airlines ahead of time so that they would allow us to board early, and we were able to get on the plane in Greenville before anyone else.

Well...we are still waiting for those "emergency meds" to work...they basically had no reaction and both plane trips were pretty tough.  Cade was completely resistant to the seat belt and sitting down in the seat was even a problem.  The poor lady who sat in front of him on the first flight, who thankfully was a very sweet grandmother, had to endure his feet randomly pushing on the back of her seat before I could grab them and redirect him.  The second flight was a bit better, but only after the first hour which he spent trying to get under the seat and sitting on the armrest against the window.  We discovered that even on a 3 1/2 hour flight they do not serve a snack (another pathetic attempt of the airlines to "save" money...), so we bought him an $8 snack box consisting of goldfish crackers, salami, pretzels, and a few other things and paid the $7 for him to watch DirecTV on the flight (ok, so I'm admitting that I let him watch "Spongebob" -- I was desperate, ok?!).  After consuming the food and watching for a while he fell sound asleep and continued to sleep until we were almost all of the way to Baggage Claim in the Denver airport.

It was almost 11:00 pm before we made it to get our rental car...another ridiculous event thanks to AVIS car rental and their two attendants with 25 people in line...but I am thrilled to report that we are in the Ron McD House again!!  Our friends met us when we arrived -- there is something to be said about being welcomed!  We were exhausted but just glad to finally be settled!


Cade is checking out the sites from the window of our rental car bus.



Today was our first day back at the STAR Center.  I was extremely wary...Cade has been so "off" for the last week I wasn't sure what to expect.  I met with Julianna prior to Cade seeing her for our first Parent Meeting and filled her in on all of the craziness that had occurred.  After our meeting Eric brought Cade to see Julianna for his therapy...and he was sound asleep from an apparent meltdown.  Cade is still having potty issues and there were problems at the park which ultimately led to them leaving to change Cade's clothes...hence the meltdown that led to complete shutdown and sleep.  Of course that added to our worry about how he would do with Julianna today.  This was how we started...

I left Cade, Eric, and Julianna to meet with our psychotherapist, fully expecting that we would be rescheduling his OT for another time.  I was so surprised and thrilled when Julianna met me in the hallway to let me know just how well Cade had done...what?! 

In case you missed it...Cade wakes up, looks up at Julianna, and says, "Did you miss me?"  So my heart melted just watching this! 

And in case there was ever any question about whether Cade loved his "J"...

An unsolicited hug is HUGE from Cade!!  I was so excited to see that he truly was so happy to see Julianna and had enough regulation at this point that he was able to relate to her, must less actually show her some affection. 

So tonight we are thanking God that whatever craziness that Cade has endured over the last many days that He chose today, on the day that we truly needed it, to begin to reverse the effects the meds have had on Cade.  And yet again God has shown Himself and given us a complete miracle. 

When we walked in to the Ron McD House room last night this is what we saw on our wall:

ENOUGH SAID!!