Once we were all dressed and ready I took Mrs LMS and Princess Lollipop to OUR shop and dropped them off there. Princess Lollipop started to sob once she realised that I wasn't getting out of the car, I hate leaving her in such a state, but also realise that Princess Lollipop has to learn that Daddy and Biggest Sister can look after her too - it doesn't always have to be Mummy!
After filling up the car we set off for the hospital, the last time we were there I allowed an hour for the journey and to get parked, and we were late! This time I again allowed an hour and we were over half an hour early!! I can't win!! Me and Little Prince went and got a drink from the hospital cafe, Little Prince chose sparkling mineral water, and pulled some very amusing faces when the bubbles hit his mouth lol. He isn't used to having fizzy or sparkling drinks and said he liked it, but it made his mouth and tongue feel all funny. After we'd sat in the cafe for ages enjoying our drinks and playing Harry Potter themed 20 questions with each other, it was time to go to Little Prince's appointment. Little Prince was quite worried we'd get lost, but I pointed out the same artwork on the hospital corridor walls that we'd looked at on the way to the cafe and he stopped fretting so much. I also pointed out that was a good way to make sure you were going back the way you came - if you notice things on your route, and he took this very seriously, constantly pointing things out we had seen when walking to the cafe. As he has a phenomenal memory he noticed a lot more things than I had!!
While we were at the cafe I had quite a sad conversation with Little Prince, he was wishing that he wasn't different from all his friends. He said he's the only one in school with Dyspraxia or ADHD and it makes him feel different and the odd one out. He also said he wished he didn't have his "crazies" (how he describes his hyperactive behaviour) and that all his friends can have "crazies" and then calm themselves down, but he can't do that and keeps having the "crazies." He kept repeating that he just wants to be normal and like everyone else and not have any problems. He also said that his friend D had told him that people with Dyspraxia or Dyslexia are cleverer than other people, which I had to tell him wasn't true. I explained that his intelligence is one of the parts (or jigsaw pieces) that makes him, himself and that his Dyspraxia, ADHD and ASD were just more parts/jigsaw pieces that all came together to make one wonderful boy. He still wasn't that happy, but seemed slightly happier than he had been. Its a lot for a little boy to face, and he will have to contend with for the rest of his life. I wish he could have a smooth, easy. problem free life but I also love him exactly the way he is and wouldn't want to change him! I wish there was a way I could make life easier for him, but I'll just have to accept that I can't and just support him as he learns to navigate life with his challenges and hopefully help him reach his full potential.
We only had enough time for one game of Table Football before the nurse called us in to check Little Prince's height, weight and blood pressure. This time he knew that there were no injections involved and didn't try to hide under the examining bed, and the whole process went a lot more smoothly :-) We were given a "mood chart" for Little Prince to fill in, to give the Paediatrician an idea of how he was coping throughout the day, and after that we played some more Table Football. It was a 1-1 draw when the Paediatrician called us into his office, so Little Prince was happy he wasn't losing.
The Paediatrician asked me how Little Prince had coped on the medication, and I explained that the medication was very effective for the first 6 hours, but much less so for the next 2 hours (it is supposed to last for 8 hours). And also that Little Prince is very very irritable when the medicine is wearing off, his appetite has dropped considerably and that he is having great difficulty getting to sleep. The Paediatrician said that Little Prince had lost 3lbs and was concerned about that, he asked us to try and give Little Prince high fat foods (ie junk foods!!) and to attempt to have at least one medication free day per week, and more if possible during the school holidays. He then prescribed Little Prince more medication to help him get off to sleep at night, but said it had a 50/50% chance of working - but as it doesn't have side affects he recommends trying it. Getting more sleep could also help Little Prince stop losing weight as the metabolism slows down during sleep and so he wouldn't be burning up as much of his calorie intake. The Paediatrician also noted that Little Prince is still quite hyperactive despite the medication, but due to the weight loss he wants to keep Little Prince on the same dose if at all possible. The normal interval for the next check up is 6 months, but the Paediatrician has requested to see Little Prince in 3 months to keep a closer eye on his weight. The Paediatrician said he would be happy for Little Prince to have maintained his weight, he doesn't have to put on weight, but he wants to keep a close eye on it.
After the appointment we went to the hospital shop so that Little Prince could chose a sandwich, the one he wanted had salad on it, so he refused to have that and after a lot of "umming" and "ahhhhing" he eventually settled on a sausage roll and packet of Mini Cheddars - high fat junk food, just what the Doctor ordered!! We then had to walk all the way to the other side of the hospital to get the new medication dispensed at the Hospital Pharmacy. We had to wait for over an hour at the Pharmacy and Little Prince was getting more and more upset that he had missed lunchtime break, although otherwise he coped very well. When they called his name he marched over to the dispensing window and told the Pharmacist "That took a LONG time!!" She apologised to him and said they were very busy at the moment, and that calmed him down :-) We then trekked back to the original side of the Hospital, noticing familiar artwork all the way :-) And hit our next delay - the parking ticket machine! It wouldn't accept my £2 coin, it kept timing out before I could get any notes in and I was getting more and more frustrated, and Little Prince was getting more and more impatient!! We had to go back to the Hospital Shop to change the £2 coin to two £1 coins, which finally worked :-) Little Prince had finished his Mini Cheddars while waiting for his medication and ate half of his sausage roll on the drive back to school, although I would have preferred he'd managed to finish it!
I signed him back into school and apologised for his lengthy absence and explained how long everything, especially the Pharmacy, had taken. Little Prince was very happy to be at school and dived off to his classroom with barely a goodbye to me :-) I am so glad that despite his challenges that he enjoys school so much :-) As there was so little of the school day left, I came home and rang Mr Messy at OUR shop to check how Princess Lollipop was doing. He said she was whingy, but agreed that it would be better for me to stay at home until I needed to pick up Little Prince. If I did go over to OUR shop I'd only be there an hour before having to leave Princess Lollipop again (and upset her all over again) as Little Prince has his swimming lesson straight after school tonight. It has been nice to have an hour or so to myself, eat my lunch in peace and quiet and have chance to update my blog without someone trying to "help" :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment