Can I have some?
I’m sitting in a meeting. There are a few of us, everyone knows that I do not shut my phone, and they know why, no problem.
Half way into it, I get that wonderful vibration in my pocket. Ah, the combination of a good feeling, and somehow knowing that the shit is about to hit the fan.
I take out my phone, look at the caller ID, and upon seeing “school nurse” I turn my chair around and in an effort to get this done quickly I just bend over in my seat and start talking quietly. The meeting was an informal one of some people who work for me, so it was no big deal.
Hi, this is Mary and no, I am not sending her home. She is not happy and crying a bit, can I give her some Advil?
No. Give her 3 cc’s of Valium.
Silence. “Did you hear me?”
Yes, why Valium?
Because that’s what she needs. There is a doctor’s order on file, please give it to her.
Okay, but why?
Yes, at that point I should have left the room, but they all know my daughter and what goes on, I was getting aggravated, so … (although the Keeper would have told me the proper response, I went with …)
Because it is mittelshmerz pain and cramping and that is what she needs.
How do you know?
I lost it. Raising my voice a bit (and yes, these are the words I used) …
Look at her face. Did you notice it is a bit broken out? Hormones. They are surging. Also, it was about 10 days ago she was bleeding like a stuck pig, remember? And two months since the last time this happened. And, if I did not give her Alieve this morning, you would have sent her home because her temperature rises at ovulation. Now will you please give her the damn Valium so she will stop crying?
Yes, I will right now.
I hang up and turn around. The only woman at the conference table looks me in the eye and says …
Can I have some?
I meet the school van at the house about two hours later. Her one-on-one aide is with her, as always. She just looks at me and says …
That worked great. Can I have some?
In the past, I have always enjoyed being questioned by nurses. Always gave me an opportunity to put them in their place…out of my house.
Oh, by the way, you are an awesome caregiver to keep up on these details. Good on you.
On current poll: what is a ‘partial’ diagnosis?
Claire: It took me a while to realize that the “random” bad nights were not random and I started charting her period. Now my smart phone has an alarm for a week before her bleeding should begin … whatever it takes to survive!
Barbara: I will talk about diagnosis’s shortly. I have no idea who picked that choice, but it could include epilepsy or CP which, in real effect, are not a hard diagnosis. Or Erika and Izzy, where Izzy has Angelman’s but an error on chromosome 18 in addition that is not manifesting itself typically for that error, hence potentially a “partial” diagnosis. More in a post soon.
You always amaze me. Seriously.
I love the responsed from those women: “Can I have some”.
btw, I’ve got this blog linked to me by a friend about a week ago, you’ll see me commenting here and there, so I guess I should introduce me at some point.
I’m a somewhat normal mom with a somewhat normal daughter and a somewhat normal boyfriend. We live in a two generation house with my parents somewhere in Holland.
I say somewhat normal, cause in relation to your life with your daughter we’re as normal as could be, though in relation two the general population we’re not. My bf might or might not have a light version of asperger, I’m in the proces of getting an ADD diagnosis and my daughter is 2,5 and in my humble opinion rather smart. As non-communitive as your daughter is, so communicative is mine.
I love reading your blog. I can’t relate to a lot of the stuff you blog about, but it does give me a better understanding.