Tuesday, 24 April 2012

A very unwell J.

J has been really ill these last few days.
He has slept for nearly all of the weekend and most of yesterday.
He seems to have contracted a stomach bug, but he has been bringing up even the small amount of water he was drinking, within minutes. This is the fourth day of it now.
He seems better in himself today, sitting up, and more interested in his simple pleasures such as watching the Teletubbies, but he is still in pain, as he is making little noises that I recognise as pain.
He has avoided major dehydration thankfully, but even last night from around 2am - 5am he was retching every 30 minutes or so.

It is hard enough having an ill child, but harder when that child can not communicate at all, either verbally, through sigh language or by PECS (picture exchange communication system), and can not tell me where it hurts. He will not allow anyone to touch him. And even taking a temperature is a no go when he is awake. He panics if you come near him with any kind of equipment, and will scream blue murder and fight you off like a rugby tackler would.

One major positive though has been the location of his vomitting and retching. The bath.
He has been using the bath to wee in for some time, despite my requests to use the toilet.
Well his refusal has actually swung in my favour, as he was also leaning over it and containing his content in there.
Before it would have been everywhere and anywhere. I have lost count of the number of times I have been cleaning sick off of floors as he would not get up and do it in the toilet, or even the bowls I gave him.
So the bath has been good for me. Easy to clean and no worries about little toddler feet stepping in it.

He will still be off school for at least another day, even if the vomitting ceased early this morning, as he is wiped out. He needs a normal day of eating to gain strength back. He has lost about 10lbs as well, which is not detrimental to him really as he is a bigger boy.

It has been a rather rough and scary few days for him and for me, and I am hoping he will continue to improve quickly. My poor boy.

Saturday, 21 April 2012

Trying to interact

J has a new word he says whenever he is distressed. "Pants". He says it in a drawn out kind of "paaannts"way.
If the Wifi connection is messing about when he is on his I Pod Touch and he can't watch the video he has chosen on YouTube is usually the cause for the pants remark.

Another little annoyance he has started doing when in public, never at home, is opening his mouth wide and then sticking three fingers in. It looks quite scary to be honest. If that does'nt get a reaction from me he will then stick two fingers up his nose and move them down into his mouth. Again and again. And only in public.

He has also started to try to interact with other children. When on a walk recently, there was another family walking with three children aged around 8 - 11.
J started up his pace a bit and began catching up with them. One child was behind his family, and J tried to follow him. I called him back several times, which he did, but his legs were propelling him faster and faster and he would catch back up again in no time.
At one point he was almost walking in the boys shadow and it was unsettling for the boy. His family had already clocked J's t shirt with the slogan I talked about in a recent blog entry (with photo) and so were not being overly worried by J. They could see and hear I was in control, and when J was almost on top of this boy I made him stop again and would'nt let him leave my side, depsite many yelled protests of "goodbye mummy" (what he says when he does'nt enjoy a situation.

I feel this interaction J has with other children now, are not harrassment, but rather his way of trying to be friendly and perhaps initiate play. As he has no social skills or awareness, it is an awkward method he employs, and it can be intimidating for those not aware. This is why he always has someone with him when out in public, as strangers who look for the sinister in everyone are more likely to attack him verbally (even physically as has been talked about by others), whereas those with an ounce of humanity can guess he has special needs and will be more gentle.