(Dad) I tried to go into work yesterday. It was familiar, and I was able to knock out some problems, but come lunchtime I felt like a train wreck with a headache. I decided it was time to go home with half a day accomplished.
Today was more of the same. I felt fuzzy and disconnected toward lunchtime. Jackie had a rough time with the staff, and with Isaac this morning. Apparently he had too much of a drug that is supposed to level out his mood swings, and it took an hour to wake a child that normally takes 5-10 minutes.
Then he was a bear, which means he is still fighting through the fog.
Jackie posted:
Yesterday we had to give him a pill with applesauce, which didn't fool him for a second, but he ended up taking it. Today, according to Jackie, he was grasping the pill and taking it. Funny, he never liked taking pills at home!
By noon she was running out of patience, both with the sudden absence of a sitter (we were documented to have one because of his aggression and impulsiveness) and due to Isaac's behavior. I was running logistics at home with a college student who had a flat tire and needed to get to class. This was not helping my fuzziness at all, and Jesse asked me what was wrong on the way to the class.I told him I was just focusing really, really hard. That was about as close to it as I could verbalize.
I dropped him off and headed to the hospital to rescue my wife. Little did I know that lunchtime traffic was not conducive to rushing anywhere, regardless of your reasoning, so I called ahead to a favorite place for takeout so I could at least give her something she would like for lunch. Fighting both "in town" and highway traffic, I made good time. Isaac smelled the family sandwiches we like for lunch and ate two of them.
Our representative from Baylor Children's Our House came to talk with me. She told me we were approved for a week of inpatient from our insurance. In her words, "they approved it on the spot without paperwork." That, at least, has not been a burden we have to bear....yet.
Jackie met with work friends and we were able to get her out of the room for awhile for a break. I stayed in the room with the sitter for most of it, then joined her when Isaac seemed to calm down a little.
PT worked with him. They have documented that his muse is soccer, so they were having him "head" and "chest" the beach ball as if he was playing soccer with them. They were impressed with his movements.
One of the soccer team moms came by with a great present for Isaac. She gave him a soccer ball with all the signatures from the teammates on it, as well as a few comments from parents. He held on to that like it was gold! It was immediately a hit, and he continued to make sure nothing happened to it the rest of the day.
At one point, he and I were tossing the ball to one another. I held on to it a little too long, looking at the signatures. He got up, came over, and started reading the comments the team mom had made. He was saying the words correctly, although still a bit hard to understand. When he sat down I found another comment on the ball and showed it to him. This one was larger and clearer than the other, with just a few words. I asked, but he could not identify the words. Seems it only works when he is casually thinking about it, not on command.
Mom, and the sitter, decided 5 days without a good bath was enough. They corralled him into taking a shower and got him moving in the right direction. The puberty embarrassment hit him, and he yelled at them to leave him alone in the bathroom, with the door closed, and he would take a shower. (yeah, right, Dad to the rescue!) I moved into the bathroom, and within about 5 minutes we were taking our first shower since the accident, with a bit of help from dad. (We closed the door and kept the ladies outside) That accomplished, we brushed our hair. Somehow, a fascination with the brush made us drag it pretty much everywhere the rest of the day. He never tried to use it properly again, but he didn't want to leave it behind.
A favorite aunt and uncle came to see him, on their way back from a daughter's graduation from ATC school in Denison. He really responded, and it was not a challenge to have 7 people in the room because he was familiar with all of them.
He became very belligerent when I had to leave to coordinate with the other two teenagers. We finally settled on his behavior being good would prompt me to get to the hospital early tomorrow morning. We still had to talk him down from the door, and mom said they redirected and talked him out of several attempts at it after I left.
All in all, this was not a good day for Isaac. A change of meds because of his aggression, and now we know that the aggression was most likely caused by a drug he was taking that was not needed, and has severe side effects. (although its primary function is spot on) It may take a week or more for the first drug to get out of his system, and some of the aggression we are seeing may also be just him fighting back.
He is getting better at standing without help, bending and standing back up, moving sideways, and getting up/sitting down. His dexterity is increasing, as witnessed by taking his medicine. We have reduced his night time medicine in the hopes it will allow him to wake up easier.
Tomorrow we overload him with new things. Pray for him to be patient and enjoy the new place.
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