Hey Hey, Boo Boo

So the big (HUGE!) news in our house is that we are in the process of bringing home a Service Dog for Collin.  Specifically this handsome German Shepard:

His name is Bru, but goes by Boo or Boo Boo.

A service dog will provide a calming effect for those moments of high anxiety that exacerbate his tics.  We try to help, but nothing we say connects in those moments and dogs just have a natural way of calming when nothing else can.  Boo will be trained to be with Collin at all times and place his head on his lap when his tics start escalating. He can provide companionship for those moments where he feels depressed and no one understands. It is lonely and frustrating to be living with a constant, visible disorder that he cannot control. I am SO excited about this for him and am convinced it will be a wonderful, needed experience for him.

So back to Boo… it is funny how we found him. I asked my mom to call a couple of service/therapy dog companies who I had seen online. I was so drained after a night of trying to help him cope with everything but really wanted to get the ball rolling because the process can take over a year. At this point I was just wanting to gather information – Kind of research mode. My mom was happy to help so she called right away, then got a callback from one of the local companies. She had a long conversation with one of the managers then called me back and said, “Um, Josie.  I think I have a dog for you!” I was not expecting that so I was like, “Whaaaaa?!” in my head, but said, “Tell me more information, Mother.”

It turns out they had a dog with a personality who would be perfect for this type of work. (a calm dog in order to be a calming presence.) They had raised him from a puppy to be a show dog, but he grew a bit to big for the AKC requirements, so his hopes of being a show-dog were dashed.  But, hey that works for us!  He has his “Canine Good Citizen Certificate” so he is already very well behaved, but they would train him as a Service Dog in ways that would help Collin specifically . Being a Service Dog would mean Collin could take him anywhere — which is great because anxiety/tics aren’t just a home thing. It is costly, but the price we would pay would be significantly less than other places I’ve looked into and it is a much better, personal situation because of these trainers.

They suggested that we meet this weekend so we could see how Boo and Collin would click and so far so good.  After meeting the dog and the awesome team who would be training him, we were very excited to make it official. He will be Collin’s and will eventually come home with us!  I’m not sure when that will be, it all depends on how long it takes the dog to learn what we’d need him to learn.

It’s all happened so fast that I’m a little shocked, but sometimes most of the time God’s timing is different than ours so you just have to roll with it. I’m mostly just excited to provide Collin with such a positive “tool” that can help him learn to manage something he very well may have to deal with for the rest of his life. He deals with such a barrage of negative throughout the day, I think it will be awesome to have a dog to counteract it and start loading up on the positive for him.

So… that’s the scoop! We are very excited and grateful that God opened the doors for this opportunity for him!

A Rough Week

It all started with an incredibly hard few weeks with Collin’s Tourette Syndrome… We’ve already encountered some really difficult times with his tics, but this period of time was the worst yet and to a whole other level. It wasn’t that he was ticcing; It’s that he was debilitated because of his ticcing.

I posted this on my Aspie Road FB Page. It might give you an idea of the situation at the beginning.

click to read

I’m not sure if you know much about Tourette’s, but there’s no cure and not many areas of treatment – a lot of ideas, but nothing definitive. Most of what needs to be done is learn how to cope. The more stress you have, the more tics you have. Collin struggles with anxiety so the cycle becomes something like this: Lots of anxiety –> Lots of tics –> Feelings of hopelessness –> Depression –>Lots of anxiety –> Lots of tics, etc.  It just keeps going and becomes more and more overwhelming.

I had read that some people peak with their tics around age 11 and then can go down, but after this episode I realized I couldn’t wait in hope for that anymore.  I needed to be proactive in helping him learn to cope NOW… because unfortunately for MOST with TS, it is a life-long struggle. So we set up a neurologist appointment, but also started looking into bigger ways to help ease anxiety and thus, easing tics. We had to do something.

I was researching and was onto something really exciting, when we found out our sweet 12 year old Basset Hound, Lucy… who essentially grew up with Collin… would need to be put to sleep in just a few days. The timing couldn’t have been worse.

We did our best to give Lucy a happy, spoiled, loved weekend. Then Monday morning, we put her down.  It was heartbreaking.  The little kids didn’t quite get it, but Dave and I were in tears all day.  Collin was sad, but said he was surprised he wasn’t sobbing.  Well, later that evening it all caught up with him.  Not in tears, but with tics. They were just as bad as the other night, but mixed with more sadness and anxiety.  It was horrible for him to go through and horrible for us to witness.  I love my son so much and to see him struggle so wholeheartedly and not be able to do a thing — well, it’s brutal.  With some prayers from family and friends we got through it and continued to focus on ways to help him cope.

We set up an appointment to meet with someone who we believe will help him tremendously… who we believe is an answer to prayer and fits Collin to a T.

And on that note, I will fill you in on who that is tomorrow….

Drew the Singer

Rainbow

I can’t help but gaze and smile and tell everyone around me when I see a rainbow.

I’ve been known to carry on a bit too long when I’ve seen a double rainbow, all the way.  Yes, that was me.  My voice is abnormally low for a woman. (side note:  omg, I just watched that video again and forgot how awesome it was.)

So when I was driving with Violet to pick up Drew from therapy the other day my voice was probably a little too loud and excited when I said, “Look, Violet!  A Rainbow!”  You’d think it’d be old now that I’m 30-(mumble) years old. How many have I seen by now!? But no. It’s still a fun expected little joy. I like that God has made those for us.

And I do think this simple phenomenon is for us.

Violet’s Response: In Awe

“Oh, Mommy,” In her best princess voice, “It soo bootifuh.”

Drew’s Response: Relating

“Look Drew, that rainbow is getting bigger!”

“Just like ME!” said Drew. The spunky little boy.

Collin’s Response: Comfort

“You know Mom, I had a really hard time at school today. When I got home and saw that I thought it was probably God letting me know it will be okay.”

I thought so too.

Only God can step into our lives with one simple act and connect with us individually and completely. Nobody sees a rainbow and says, “Aww man. Not again.”  It always uplifts.

I think it’s a little bit of God showing off – and I like it.

I look up to my Dad.

Dave discovered this in Collin’s backpack….unearthed under dirt and sand and smells and crumpled papers.  It is an unassuming sheet of paper, but became a sweet surprise tonight.

In case it’s too hard for you to make out, here is the transcription of Collin’s Essay:

I look up to my dad. He is really cool and is very good at computers. This essay will let you get to know him a little bit better.

To begin, my Dad is very smart. He knows almost every question you ask him. He even knows almost every possible thing about computers.

He is also into soccer. He’ll turn on N.B.C. every morning, (especially on the week-end).

My Dad likes ‘RUSH’, and ‘Jars of Clay (with drawing)’. He likes most other music to, like; sometimes ‘Deadmau5′ (with drawing) and sometimes ‘Lead-Zeplen’ (with drawing).

(He also likes Infinite Blade on his iPhone. (with drawings) )