Back from Denver, again

It seems like we're in Denver once a week lately.  Probably because we ARE in Denver once a week lately. It's not going to be changing in the next few weeks either as next week we head down to see a dog show and the following week is psych appts.  Maybe the week AFTER that we'll stick to nearby towns.  Maybe.

So today we headed down to Denver for Sandis' psych appt.  She and I had filled out the checklists and surveys about depression and anxiety in advance.  Why? Because I was thinking ahead last week when I took Stella in and had asked for them.  So the PA looked over those documents and we chatted about Sandis' issues.  Basically Sandis has been classically depressed lately - no desire to do things, even fun things, touchy, crying, sad, withdrawn, etc.  I could give specific examples, but hey, I've already done that today.  And I don't feel like typing out a long involved diatribe about how she over-reacted to something and clung to me for 1/2 a day or cried on the bed for a hour over nothing at all.  In any case, the PA agreed that Sandis sounds depressed.  No surprise that this coincided with Stella's getting better either (pretty classic pattern for a variety of reasons.)  The PA prescribed prozac, a lower dosage that Stella but the same med.

So I'll have two kids 10 & under on anti-depressants. Not ideal, but then again, my adolescent life would have been much, much better if I had had anti-depressants.  And if I had had some other things different as well, but anti-depressants would have helped, for sure.  And why should I deny my children being happy and being themselves, who they are meant to be, because of a social stigma, because of a fear of "pill pushing?"  I'm not going to.  This is alternative parenting too, just like attachment parenting or free range parenting or homeschooling.  I am going against the norm and the idea that kids are just kids and everything will be fine.  I am actively making things better for them no matter what it takes.

Easy path, no.  But what path is easy? None that I've ever found.