It's been a rough morning for Gavin. I didn't see too much of him until after I got home from taking the boys to school and getting my morning walk done on the way home.
When I arrived home, Lizze was watching him get his IVIG infusion ready.
I could see from the moment I walked in that he was not in a good place. Sure he was pleasant and polite as always but I could see he was struggling to stay on the road.
He got his infusion going and returned to his bedroom sanctuary to wait the process out.
Before long, he was back downstairs because one of the infusion sites was leaking a tiny bit. Gavin has historically not done well with problems arising during one of his infusions. The reason is likely due to the fact that he's afraid he will have to re-stick himself with the needle. Who can blame him for that?
I certainly can't..
At the same time however, it's so important that he remain calm and think through what's going on. More often than not, he gets so worked up and ends up making things worse for himself.
I'm trying to teach him that by remaining calm, he can better problem solve and is more likely to find a way to fix whatever is wrong..
He was clearly beginning to panic as he tried to fix the leaky infusion site.
The infusion site can leak for many reasons but most likely it's simply an issue of placement and the solution is to re-seat the needle.
Unfortunately, that was the solution required to address today's problems. I was worried that Gavin was going to end up melting down over this but he surprised me.
Rather than escalating, he said to himself (outloud because he talks to himself outloud all the time) *I don't care if I have to restick myself. I just want to get this done*. That's exactly what he did. There was some drama but at the end of the day, he totally rose to the occasion and did a solid job of fixing the issue without losing his cool.
I made sure to tell him how well he did and that I was both impressed and proud by the way he handled himself.
It's just as important that he hear about the good things he does as it is that he be corrected when things don't go so well.
His infusion is still underway and his stomach is upset but he's laying down, trying to relax.
