Schizoaffective Disorder

Schizoaffective disorder may be the best diagnosis we have to date. We believe this is a temporary problem but when people say schizophrenia or paranoid schizophrenia it seems like a life long thing.

This year, there's been two incidents. Before the haldol injection there was an incident at school of rocking and crying believing that a friend had committed suicide (they hadn't). Later in the day we had the typical yelling at us, misunderstanding simple statements, talking incoherently really fast, and pacing (an inability to stay still.)

The haldol just wasn't a match for us. He slept 19 hours a day and on the day for a new injection there was a major breakdown. He could not sleep running into the night, returning, leaving, returning...until running in school traffic and laying down in the school parking lot. At this point he was very excited, seeing things that were not there, etc... I took him straight to the hospital where he was given an injection of invega. This episode took about 5 days to run its course.

Invega brought speech problems, involuntary movements, and cotton mouth. Cogentin was given to counteract the side effects. It's 3 weeks later and he's still taking the cogentin 3 times a day as well as buspirone for anxiety.

We don't have a good plan for anti-psychotic medicine. I would love to hear from anyone that can relate, or has encouraging words.

The days ahead-transition and wildflowers

It is so pretty this time of year. We've had weather in the 70's and 80's in the last week and enough rain that the wildflowers are abundant. I haven't seen many indian paintbrushes but the variety of yellow, and purple flowers along with the bluebonnets are georgeous.

We are in transition now and feel our feet are more on the ground than in past years. Jacob is in the hospital but should be discharged in the next couple of days. He will transition back to school, I will transition back to work and Paul will transition to a different work opportunity. It is transition time.

While this has me anxious, I now have a list of scriptures that have me grounded.

Psalm 139:13-18: You took care of me.

II Chronicles 16:9: For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.

Psalm 32:5: You forgave the guilt.

Psalm 20: May the Lord answer you when you are in distress.

Psalm 34:4: I sought the Lord and He answered me.

I Corinthians 8:6: One God through whom all things come.

Phil. 4:7: The peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Craft time

I have three more weeks before I go back to work full time and have been filling my time with Pinterest projects. This is a picture I modge podged onto a tile. Out of the three that I did, I only liked one. Now I remember how much I hate to modge podge. I can never get it to be smooth and not gluey or have smudged glue.

I am all caught up on the scrapbooking! I even took Jacob to get new photos taken at JC Penney. I feel really good about that!

This is a container I painted. I can't seem to turn the picture, but you get the point.

This picture was copied straight from Pinterest. I'm thinking it would look beautiful with different color flowers and green stems but on the blue wall it worked just fine in black.

Here is an example of catching up on the photos. I've worked some on genealogy. The Obenhaus family in particular.

I made these two pillows out of dad's ties. I really liked the one that I weaved the ties. The other pillow was made by taking the ties apart.

These are picture of my siblings and I as our kids were growing up. I made them into their own bulletin board for the guest room.

Justin took some of the ties for memory's sake and the rest I made into the wreath.

I have spent time with Scott in Corpus, Mom and Larry in San Antonio and plan to go to Georgetown. Now I will organize my school stuff. I am excited to get it organized in a way that when I start back to work, I can find what I need. Yay!

Vegan "diet"

It has been atleast a year since Jacob moved from being a vegetarian to becoming vegan. He has noodles, rice or cereal at every meal, lots of fruits and vegetables, protein smoothies, peanut butter, fried tofu, stir fry, pot stickers, veggie hamburgers, bean burritos, cheese-free pizza, and many other things. I am still surprised when I hear people argue that he should be eating meat. It's his ethical choice and I think for him, it would be wrong to do anything else.

He loves his kale smoothies. He's getting tired of strawberries so I have been using kiwi and mangos instead.

Green Mango Smoothie

1/2 cup kale
1 cup orange juice
1 cup mango
1 kiwi
1-2 tablespoons flaxseed

Blend in blender.

Life is calm and the waters are still

The waters are still. It's a good feeling when you aren't in the midst of a storm. We started our son on Haloperidol Decanoate Injections on Feb. 8th. Three days after the injection, he started having muscle spasms that made normal activities difficult. His answer was to remain completely still and ended up sleeping for almost 3 days. The doctor recommended benodryl and said the spasms were the result of the injection being administered into muscle not a reaction to the medication. We will see what happens after the next injection (next month).

He has returned to school for half days and we hope to increase the time at school in the next week. Life is calm. He is functioning well at home, school and church. I like to see my babies okay.

Lemon Pasta

6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 oz. frozen mixed vegetables
pasta
Boil pasta and vegetables together. In small bowl mix olive oil, lemon, garlic, salt, and pepper. When pasta and vegetables are ready, drain and coat in oil mixture, stirring well. Serve.

Pass the beans

I've got a good recipe called Calico beans (bbq beans and hamburger meat casserole) that was passed to me by Frances Allesandro in Atwater, California years ago. Since then, we've made some fun varieties of chili with beans-no meat. Most recently I found a great recipe for crock pot roast and beans. Here are the vegan chili and crock pot roast and bean recipes, both of which I modified from other recipes I have seen.

Vegan Chili

1-19 ounce can tomato
2 T ground chili powder
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups cooked beans
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

Simmer for 1 hour.

Crock pot roast and beans

1 can northern white beans
3 lb roast dredged in flour
1 can roasted tomato
1 can tomato paste
1 cup water
1 pkg. Lipton onio soup mix

Add to crock pot covering roast with liquids. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.