More Bad News

Today was rough. I'm not even going to sugarcoat it. I don't know what happened, but I've never seen this side of my son's personality before.

I thought the day started fine. Since I was having some people over for lunch, my dad took Jared to Dr. C's for his therapy. Dad told me he did really well and Dr. C. gave him some information regarding Jared's learning. After that, he hung out with my parents and I had to call around 4:45pm to see where they were and to let them know he needs to come home. We had not worked on any school work today, and I want to keep up with his phonics program.

When they brought him home, he was in the worst mood... ever. It was like he wasn't even my son. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to be with them. He ran upstairs, packed a bag and said he was moving in with them. He also told me how much he didn't like me while he was packing. I was staying level-headed, because I clearly missed something. He hadn't even been around me since 10:30am and I definitely didn't do or say anything to make him this upset. But, boy, he was upset! I couldn't even reason with him. I wanted to do one phonics lesson and he nearly flew through the roof. Where was my son? I did not know this kid. I couldn't understand it. Yes, he was tired, but he's never acted like that!

Here's the back story: When my dad went to pick him up, Dr. C. told dad that Jared could not learn how to read. He cannot differentiate between letters. She gave him a bunch of worksheets and told him that if he doesn't work on them, daily, he'll never learn to read. She also told him that he's completely right brained and she cannot even get his left brain to function. It won't even communicate with his right brain. I have heard similar bad news like this before (granted, today's news REALLY stinks!), but dad hadn't. He went home and told mom. Even though I had shared these things with them, I guess my parents didn't understand the severity of Jared's disability until Dr. C. said something. They (obviously) feel horrible and how do they make themselves feel better? They buy him anything he wants and promise him great new toys for future days. Little did I know that they were on their way to Toys R Us when I called and asked if they could bring him back so we could work on phonics. Mom = "bad guy" Grandparents = "magic genie/Santa Claus"

As I was trying to reason with him, all he kept saying was that I didn't let him get his Star Wars toy and that I don't love him but his grandparents do. He was inconsolable. Believe me, I tried everything. He ran to his bed and I attempted to calm him down. I guess it worked because he was asleep at 5:45pm tonight. Yes, he was tired. And, yes, my parents need to figure out a better way to deal with the pain of having someone you love given a disturbing diagnosis. Unfortunately, I don't believe I'm the best person to give advice on coping with this.

Remind me each morning of your constant love, for I put my trust in you. My prayers go up to you; show me the way I should go. Psalm 143:8 (GNT)