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| exploring the doctor's stool while we wait for blood tests to come back. |
i try to maintain a pretty positive and, some might say, even pollyannaish perspective on our lives. nothing is gained by dwelling and festering, right?
but i can say without equivocation that last week sucked.
charlie came home monday afternoon with a high fever. he's my fever baby - if he's going to bother getting one, it's going to hit 103+ - so i wasn't too alarmed. rest and fever reducer and he'd be fine. but then tuesday he broke out in crazy hives. so my husband and his mom (who happened to be visiting) brought him to the doctor just in case. viral fever with rash was the diagnosis. ok, treat the symptoms, care for the cranky babe, he'll be fine.
wednesday morning the hives were much worse - covering probably 60% of his body. i called the nurse. we discussed, and agreed that as long as there was no swelling around the mouth and no breathing issues we'd just keep up the same treatment.
and then thursday, he woke up looking like he'd been beaten. his inner thighs and the area around all his joints were purple and angry. walk-in clinic hours here we come. the np affirmed that we were right to bring him in - in his words, in the medical world, anything purple is bad. and apparently there are some serious conditions that can manifest like that. (dr. google had already told me that, at which point i promptly stopped reading.) fortunately, charlie's platelet counts came back normal and a regimen of antihistamines and steroids was prescribed. within a few hours he was on the mend, but with a fine case of roid rage that we're still getting over.
meantime, john had a very tough week behaviorally. i picked him up early tuesday because he had pulled down his pants and peed in the classroom (?!?!). thursday he hit a parent and a younger sibling who were picking up a friend. friday he threw chairs and blocks and was sent home again.
we were at a complete loss. in between these incidents, john was his normal well-behaved and sweet self. but the demons were coming out in force.
with a phone consult to his therapist, we came up with a gameplan. she would talk with his teachers so she could get some more insight into what triggers him. we would start a star chart to reward such good behavior as "control your body and yourself at school" and "accept no" and "ask for help when needed." i would create a sorting bag for him - he finds sorting to be cathartic and if he could intervene when he feels overwhelmed, he might cut off the outbursts before they happen. and i would bring some "special snacks" with plenty of protein in case blood sugar had anything to do with the timing of his issues.
on top of that, john and i would talk a lot about his toolbox - the things he can use when he starts to feel not so good. he has his breathing technique his auntie lizzy taught him, his yoga poses he can do, his sorting bag, his snacks, asking a teacher for help, reading a book. all ways he can cope, and we keep talking about them and adding more.
i know that, like charlie's horrible bruise-y rash, this will pass and john will be fine. but all of that piled into one week - on top of the visit of my mother in law, which while a blessing is still just different than routine - was a lot for this little family.
want pollyanna back? yesterday was an amazing day for john. he used his sorting back and ate his snacks and had no even minor issues at school. he came home and was a dear. he got all five stars on his star chart. it was only one day, but it was a good one, and we'll happily mark a check in the w column for monday.
we'll get there, boys.
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