Well it's been over a month since my son went back to school and he's not missed a single day. He's had a couple of minor wobbles but he's still gone to school. To say he's achieved 100% attendance is remarkable considering he hadn't been for 6 months and he's changed schools. The feedback from school has been great and he's made new friends. I even found him doing some extra homework the other night....I almost cried with the way he was so calm and showing me the extra work he'd been doing to catch up. Something so basic that most people take for granted means so much to us as a family.
In the back of my mind however I dread this coming back. Is it a case of an incident bringing him crashing back down, exam stress, coming off meds, etc etc. I'm not sure I'll be able to relax about that for a long time and I do worry about his future. Maybe I'm over thinking it.
My other worry is that his ambition is to join the army and I wonder how this year will affect his chances. On their website it says no more than two episodes of anxiety/depression and CAMHS have said this would be classed as one episode. He might change his mind over time but it's something he's been adamant about for a while.
A while ago CAMHS recommended family therapy for us. After being on a 6 month waiting list we've finally got an appointment. We are still going to go although my eldest son doesn't want to go. We aren't going to force him but we are going to take our youngest son whose ten. Over the last three years he's seen/heard a lot of things that he shouldn't have. Seeing his older brother having panic attacks, crying on the floor, saying he wants to kill himself etc etc could have influenced him. He seems fine but I'm conscious that much have this is associated with high school and he goes to high school next year. He may also think we've given the eldest much more attention given his situation which we probably did at times but not by choice. We'll see how it goes.
Once again, thanks for the support and for "listening". I always feel a little better after posting in this thread so I encourage others to do so too. People may not see the support that goes on beyond this thread either. I've had numerous members contact me via private message to offer support and I'll always be grateful for that.
