Ryan, on the other hand........

is doing amazing.  The day after we had our meeting with the post adoption specialist, he had an appointment with his psychiatrist -- where he was quite OK with moving away from "these people" (his family).   At that appointment, we reviewed the result of some blood work we had recently had done on Ryan, since the medicine he takes can affect your liver and such.  Because of that, we do blood work as a matter of routine every 3 months.   His blood work came back showing some problems with his red blood cells, so he was taken off of his Depakote medicine.  His risperidone was then doubled.

Not sure if that has anything at all to do with his mood and attitude, but since he was taken off that medicine he's like a different child.  A couple of nights ago Bill mentioned, "Ryan is like the child we always wanted."  Ryan now says he CAN be good and IS going to be good because he doesn't want to be removed.  Quite different from the rantings of just a few weeks ago. 

I got a call from the caseworker assigned to him today.  Her report is done and we will be meeting Tuesday morning to review it and then she will go to his therapist with Ryan and me.  So we are in that place called Limboland.  Obviously, I don't want to send my child away for no reason. IF he could act like he is now, not only would he not be sent away, but life could be wonderful for us all!   I told the caseworker that for now I would like to try the in home services they offer, while we see if Ryan can hold it together or not.

When I went for my family session with Carly today, I spoke with the staff therapist at Crosspoint about Ryan - he remembers him well. He did not offer much hope that Ryan could do that.  I'm praying he's wrong.