Robots Start Over

The last time I tried my hand at blogging, I was doing it because we were getting ready to travel across the country. I kept it up for a few months, but eventually I became caught up in the every day and let this hobby slip away from me. We are about to begin a second trip across the United States, this time we will be on our way home to give civilian life a try.

This effort finds us in a very different starting place than the last. Lilly is 14 now and on more psychiatric medication than ever before. A severely autistic teen can be a handful, add in severe cognitive impairment, OCD, epilepsy, a mood disorder and possible hallucinations and you've got an explosive package! Oh, and for an extra added bonus, Lilly's left leg started turning purple a year ago and it's now spread over a significant portion of the rest of her body. None of the more than a dozen doctors who have seen it have any idea what is causing it. Lilly is an enigma, but she's our enigma. She is difficult to handle sometimes, but when Lilly's happy, everyone's happy. She's contagious.

Ria is 12, and while she is still her amazingly smart and artistic self, her body has continued to betray her.  Last year Ria was diagnosed with an autonomic disorder called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Basically it means her heart races when she's standing so she gets dizzy and faints or just gets so exhausted she needs to lay down. Ria uses a wheel chair to help avoid this fatigue and fainting, but she has many days when just getting up and getting dressed maxes her out for the day.  Ria is also having seizures now, but hopefully we'll soon have those figured out and under control.

Hana has had a wonderful few years of overcoming fears and growing up. She is about to turn 11 and continues to earn the Good Citizenship award at school every year. This past spring she went on a field trip to camp for three days and developed an interest in botany. Hana has been great about helping out both of her sisters.

We will miss our Navy family here in Washington. We will  miss our respite care provider, Brandy, who has become part of the family. But, John is ready to start a civilian career and I am ready to go home and live near our family. It's time to start another Robot Adventure.