It doesn’t matter that he has challenges or that he’s cognitively regressed. He has very serious health issues. These infusions are extremely important and they must to come first. He has to learn that.
Gavin is paranoid of falling asleep during his infusions because he’s afraid the needles will start leaking. One has nothing to do with the other. These fears are absolutely unwarranted and it’s an irrational fear. If the needles aren’t leaking immediately, they aren’t likely to leak later on. He’s stuck in a way of thinking that’s dictating his behaviors and it’s problematic.
Anyway, I told him that he will immediately do his infusion and reminded him that it must come first.
He already took his meds and they make him tired. I told him he would have to deal with that this time because he didn’t do what he was supposed to. I know he didn’t like this but he has to learn. Absolutely none of this will cause him any harm. He might be upset but he must learn a lesson and even if he doesn’t learn, I have to continue guiding him in the right direction.
He needs to make sure that his infusions are done before playing his games. I hope this will help him to remember and if it doesn’t, we’ll travel this road again if need be.
My job is to make sure he’s safe and receives the care he needs.
I know he’s not likely to remember this lesson but at least I know I tried. We’ll just have to keep practicing.
It’s been a frustrating morning and not the way I wanted to kick the week off.
I read something interesting about the human memory. There are chemicals that build up on people’s brain nerve receptors that inhibit learning. This was a science article and it concerned older people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The good news: learning new things actually helped fight this problem. More than anything else, learning new things did the trick. Because new chemicals built up on the nerve receptors and made a pathway for thinking.
I don’t know if this could ever help Gavin at all. But it does seem like helping him to keep doing certain things and relearning them if necessary, is only a good thing.
Maybe it is just me, but you really seem to be coming down hard on Gavin recently. And maybe that is just a combination of events happening at the same time. But do you think your frustrations are coming out in your interactions with him?
It may seem like that on the outside but the reality is that he’s struggling more and more. It’s frustrating for sure. Of course it comes out in my interactions with him from time to time. It comes out when I specifically tell him that I’m frustrated and why I’m frustrated. Gavin is a constant source of challenge and it’s exhausting.
It’s an impossible situation and I have lore patience with him than anyone else. That said, he’s become much more challenging as he gets older. Some of the challenges are related to decisions he makes that create problems and others are simply the result of all he’s going through.
If you’re asking if he recieves the brunt of my frustrations, the answer is no. A large part of why Lizze and I are so exhausted and stressed out is because we go to great lengths in order to not take things out on him or the boys.
Get a nurse in to help him out. It’s easier and it will stop the stress.