Poor plumbing

Warning: don't bother reading this post if you are not interested in detailed accounts of bowel issues...

I think things are finally settled down with Malcolm. Two weeks ago I took him to the pediatrician for another synthroid prescription. I told her at the visit that Malcolm had been having a lot of trouble with his bowel movements - straining a lot even though everything seemed nice and soft. She ordered an x-ray and early the following week called to say that the x-ray showed that he was extremely constipated so needed to start taking a laxative right away. This made a lot of sense to us as his condition had worsened over the weekend and he had two nights where he hardly slept at all due to his discomfort (at least during the day he seemed ok). So we started him on the laxative but things did not get better - they got worse! Two more sleepless nights and over two days with absolutely no BM (following a couple of days with very little movement) and to top it off he had bad cold with a barky cough and on-again off-again fever.

So last Thursday after yet another sleepless night I'd had enough and called to get another doctor's appointment. His pediatrician agreed to see him that day (she's pretty good about stuff like that). He finally had a BM a few hours before his appointment so he was feeling better in that department when she saw him. She listened carefully to his chest and pronounced it able to clear whatever was rattling around so no worries there.

So one would think his weekend would be better than the last but it was not to be. His fever returned late Friday afternoon and again Saturday. Despite his initial BM he continued to have a lot of trouble in that department. Sunday the fever and much of the congestion was gone and he didn't seem obviously uncomfortable but he was incredibly fussy all day long - crying at the drop of a hat, which is unusual for him. But he seemed to get over that (probably just way overtired) and the past couple of days have been better.

Except that he is still have trouble with his BMs - straining a lot and generally seeming uncomfortable. If it continues to disrupt his sleep I will have to speak to the doctor about it again - she wants to keep him on the laxative for a few months and then gradually wean him off. However, if the laxative does not solve his symptoms, it is possible it is something called Hirschprung's disease, which means that some of the nerves are missing from his colon making the muscles less effective and BMs more difficult. This condition can only be diagnosed with a biopsy which is fairly invasive so I think it will only be explored if nothing else works. Fingers crossed that things improve and the poor kid can soon go without Olympic-grade exertion required.

Presenting to the Class

The presentation was great. My friend Alice came over Wednesday morning and we went through what we would talk about a couple of times. We settled on a few activities and they were all well received by the kids. For example, first we talked about how people are the same and how they are different - we had the kids stand up if they were wearing pink, had hair, etc. Then we asked them to look at the two of us and tell us how we were different. Later in the presentation when we were talking about communication the kids were split into two groups - one group was given a word that they had to convey to the other group without any sounds and the other group had to guess the word - all great fun for the kids. It took a lot of pressure off me that Alice gave a big half of the presentation as she did such a great job. Donovan helped demonstrate some signs to the kids and he loved it - so proud to share about his little brother.

I went back in the afternoon to read a book about a little boy who has a friend who has Ds (My Friend Isabelle). This actually turned out to be somewhat nerve-wracking as the Vice-Principal was in the classroom for the afternoon to evaluate the teacher but it felt like she was evaluating me as I read to the kids! Then I stayed and kids took turns reading to me individually - I have gone into the classroom several times to do this while Jan's parents watch Malcolm and it is so great to see what goes on in the classroom - so much fun...

Mary Ellen