“I wanted to let you know how well Brantley has been doing! He is so happy! He is working so hard! He is keeping his shoes on! And doing amazing transitioning around the building!”
“This guy did amazing in PT today! In the past 2 weeks he has made a ton of gains/strengths!”
Two messages arrived in a single day, both bearing glowing reviews of my lively, blonde-haired wild child.
These messages of praise over Brantley’s successes hold a special significance for me. It was only one year ago when professionals started bringing up the necessity for residential treatment. Life with Brantley was a real challenge. He displayed unruly behavior and aggression, and I often found myself shedding tears and healing scratches and bite wounds. I couldn’t bare the thought of putting my child in a facility, especially at such a young age. So many thoughts raced through my mind, and I couldn’t fathom how he would survive without me, I am his person. And despite the fact I was struggling to care for him and could no longer change his diaper by myself, I couldn’t imagine how I would survive without him.
We didn’t heed the advice of his providers. We continued to take one step at a time, forging ahead, and somehow we have found ourselves in a much better place for the time being. No, we are not just in a better place, we are on top of the world right now. I don’t know how we got here and the likelihood of falling is always on my mind but I hope we can stay a while because the view sure is beautiful.
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