My husband's Grandpa

Jason called me from work this morning to tell me some sad news. His grandfather, who lives in Missouri with an aunt and a cousin, passed away very early this morning.

I was blessed with the opportunity to visit with him and Grandma a few times over the years that Jason and I have been married, mostly at my in-laws home around the holidays. However, they had stopped coming up several years ago. In fact, I think Ethan may have been only a couple of years old at the time. We did make a trip out their way when E was about 5 and Alex about 2. That was just a year or two before Grandma passed away, I believe. Sadly that was the last time we actually saw Grandpa as a family, and the last time Jason saw him was at his grandmother's funeral, when his dad, brother and he drove to MO.

Of course, we talked to him over the years on the phone, but no where near often enough. Time and family life always seems to get in the way, doesn't it?

I may not have known him very well, or had the chance to really spend a lot of time with him, but he was always kind to our boys and me, and Jason has always spoken highly of him. In fact, Jason tells stories of summers spent at their grandparents with his brother and cousin, and all the fun times they had.

Our boys and I won't be going with Jason as he travels to MO but our hearts, thoughts and prayers will be with him, and the rest of our family as they lay Grandpa to rest.

In honor of Grandpa and Grandma:

Grandpa and Grandma, Jas and his brother Jeff

Looking for advice...

I've got a post sitting in draft right now that's been there over a week. But this seems a bit more urgent, more important to share.

We've been trying to work with Ethan over the years in regards to his anxiety, frustrations, meltdowns, and behaviors. At 11, certain things have gotten better, and some have stayed the same or gotten a little worse. Jason and I decided a long time ago that we wanted to avoid medicating him unless absolutely necessary.

Today, we took him to see a neurologist, who asked a bunch of questions - most of which we've answered many times before, either to a school or another doctor - and then gave us some good insight.

He recommended one of two things.

1.) Put him on a low-dose of an SSRI - Prozac, to be exact - to help with his anxiety and to cope with changes to routine easier.

2.) See a psychologist for cognitive behavior therapy to learn coping skills.

Prozac, apparently, has very few side effects, and the side effects they see in some older kids (suicidal thoughts, etc) doesn't seem to happen with ASD kids. Also it's a very low dose that he would be given, only 10 mg.

The cognitive behavior therapy can take a long time to help, especially in younger kids and teens, but is a great tool!

Jason and I are currently discussing our options, though we have the prescription sitting here if we want to start it.

We are thinking the following:

Contact a psychologist and sign him up for the therapy, and get him learning coping skills. Meanwhile, to help alleviate the day-to-day anxiety on a more immediate time frame, start him on the Prozac, temporarily, and wean him off of it in a few months time.

Anybody out there have any suggestions or thoughts? Seriously, now is the time. I am all ears. I hate to see any of my boys struggle and this is the hardest decision we've had to make to date.