I'm sorry.....

I'm sorry I haven't been here, I'm sorry I haven't posted.

Things have just been SO hectic!

I'm still furiously knitting away on the A-Z Sock Chellenge - I'm currently working on my R socks and I've also managed to knit Claire a pair of plain socks and last week I knit Kai-Mei socks for myself!

It's becoming an obsession! Even when I've finished the socks we're supposed to be knitting, I just want to knit another pair of socks! I have 42 sock patterns saved on my iPad, several sock knitting books and some queued on Ravelry that I haven't bought or downloaded yet!

I haven't considered a shawl all year!

Things have been quite hectic here lately. I can't remember if I've ever posted about Alex and his mood swings, they're something he's fought with most of his life. They're a way of life for us and when something is a way of ife; you assume everyone knows about it!

Alex has always suffered from mood swings, this has affected many things - most noticeably his education and his ability to retain friends (kids just aren't emotionally or psychologically equipped to deal with a friend who goes bananas every couple of months!) He's seen doctors, paediatricians and counsellors. None of it helped and one 'expert' wrote a letter to our family GP stating that Alex did not suffer from depression!

Well, we decided at that point to just try and cope on our own and to the most part, we have. But as he's gotten older, it's gotten harder and several months ago it got a whole lot worse.

To cut a long story short; his latest crash didn't just last a week or so as it normally would - it started about a couple of months or so ago and didn't go away. He has had suicidal thoughts and fought with (and lost) the majority of his friends.

He's had an emotional breakdown.

I took him to our GP's office and they immediately referred him to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services), as it was Friday evening and there isn't an under 18 crisis team here, the adult team was on alert for him all weekend until we could see our GP again and push the referral through on the Monday morning.

CAMHS saw him within two weeks. They have referred him for 'talk therapy', have confirmed that Alex is bi-polar and are debating what medication to put him on.

He has good days and bad days, on good days I can leave him, go out and life is relatively normal.

On bad days, I don't leave his side!