Chris Update and a Great Sunday Run

First, some of you have asked me offline about how my son Chris has been doing lately. I really appreciate the positive thoughts and I am humbly touched by your concern.

Chris has been doing great~ I almost hesitate to say it 'out loud', but it has been almost one month since his last seizure. By the end of this month, Chris will be up to his maintenance dose of his new med, Lamictal. By that time he will be taking 24 pills a day and 4teaspoons of a liquid drug. Hopefully we will soon be able to start reducing one of the other drugs as we prefer to get his seizures controlled with two meds if possible.
He survived the recent screwy weather patterns seizure free - a week or two of me basically holding my breath just waiting for him to go down. But he didn't, and that is a very, very good sign! The new drug is finally starting to work for him.

We have some meetings coming up at school with his team, to discuss future planning and goals for Chris' future. Even though Chris is a senior next year, he will still remain in the school system until he is 22, doing mostly vocational type training to prepare him for the 'real world'. To be honest, these meetings always make me uncomfortable and I'm not sure we're ready to envision where Chris' life will be 5 years from now. Chris wants to be a history teacher. He wants to go to college. Realistically, I don't see that happening - he is not even close to that, if ever will he be....But, who am I to tell my kid he 'can't' do something, but the hard reality is...Chris is not always aware of his own limitations - that's the autistic side of him. He is the most amazing individual I know in this life ~ and my wish for him is that he is able to find his purpose in this world and be fulfilled in his life. Unfortunately, for the sake of 'business', I'm expected to come up with something to put on paper, like, um....this week?

And that's pretty much the way it goes as a 'special needs parent' - always a mountain to climb it seems. I just thank God every day that Chris takes it like a champ!

As it turns out, Chris' future was what was tumbling around my thoughts during my 6 mile run yesterday. My mind was sort of all over the place on the subject, but I have to say, it feels really good to have that TIME (an hour and eleven minutes to be exact) to really think things through, mull over thoughts, talk to myself...a working mom of three kids does not often get the luxury of time to sit and truly think. This is yet another aspect of running that I love. I have the TIME to think and organize my thoughts. I don't always get a conclusion, or an answer - but I am paying attention to ME for that period of time. Guilt free. I love it.

So yes, 6 miles, 71 minutes. I was pretty pleased with that! I ran early in the morning yesterday, so it was dark when I left, but I heard the birds waking, so I did not even turn on the tunes until about the 4th mile. And the sun was coming up when I got back. It was a perfect morning run! I think I am going to be converting to a morning runner pretty soon!

Have a good week! I'm still catching up with most of you (still no home PC), basically I'm stalking but have not had a lot of opportunity to comment.!