What Gavin said that just about made my head explode

My goal with this entry is to help provide insight into one particular kind of challenge faced by parents of kids with significant cognitive impairment.  As someone with a background in emergency medicine, I find it particularly frustrating when I need to gather medically relevant information from Gavin.  This is a very difficult situation because Gavin is significantly cognitively impaired and is unable to provide information about how he's feeling or doing.  Today was a perfect example of this and it was unbelievably frustrating for me.  Shortly after dinner, I told Gavin that we've made it past the 72 hr mark and that he should be okay. It was about 72 hours ago that he'd eaten raw chicken and we were watching him carefully for signs of Salmonella poisoning.  After…

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Can anyone relate to this? 

People ask me all the time to describe what it's like to be an Autism parent. That's a tough question and I often struggle to come up with the words to help people better understand.  It occurred to me yesterday that being an Autism parent is very my like trying to catch water in a sieve. In my experience, I'm raising kids who's needs are like constantly moving targets.  What works now, likely won't work later and there's absolutely no catch all that would cover my three kids with Autism at the same time..  Trying to meet their, unique and ever changing needs is like trying to catch water in sieve. It's a seemingly impossible task, even on the best of days. No matter how devoted I am as a…

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I give up

After pushing myself to accomplish most of what I needed to get done, I finally gave in and laid down for about two hours.  I feel better having just woken up but I'm still getting sick.  On the positive side of things, Gavin just woke up from his nap and is still feeling great. It's probably safe to say that either there was no Salmonella in the raw chicken he ate or his body was able to fight it off.  Either way, that's a good thing. 

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I’m not feeling good

The boys are off to school and I'm debating on what to have for breakfast. I'm not feeling well and I didn't fit much sleep last night as a result. The only thing I want to do is go to sleep.  Unfortunately, I have too much to do today to succumb to exhaustion and illness.  The world doesn't slow down just because I'm not feeling well and I'm going to do my best to push through the day. 

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Dammit.. I can’t sleep when I’m stuffy

I'm not feeling well tonight. I mentioned earlier that I thought I was getting sick. I'm laying on the couch, propped up and slathered with Vicks because I'm so stuffy. The cough is sneaking up on me also and I'm pretty sure I've caught what's been going around.  I'm one of those people who can't sleep when they're stuffy. It's something I can't seem to ignore.  For some reason, I tend to do better when I'm downstairs as apposed to being upstairs. I think the second floor is too dusty or maybe it's the really old carpet.  Either way, I'm not super excited about beginning the week like this.. 

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UPDATE on how Gavin is doing after eating raw chicken 

You may recall that a couple of days ago, Gavin accidently ate raw chicken. Click here if you have no idea what I'm talking about.  Anyway, we've been keeping a close eye on him for any sign of possible illness associated with eating that raw chicken. The concern is obviously Salmonella poisoning and it can take up to 72 hours to show any signs.  So far so good. Gavin's feeling just fine and dinner tomorrow will mark the 72nd hour.  Thankfully, it seems as though we dodged a bullet and he's gonna be just fine.  This was just one of those freak accidents that happen and teach a valuable lesson. Whenever buying frozen chicken tenders, be sure that they are already cooked and ready to eat. If you find they are not…

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I accomplished 3 relatively major tasks today

While I'm really tired and absolutely not feeling well, the boys and I managed to get a few things done this afternoon.  The first thing checked off the list was doing laundry so the boys have clothes for school tomorrow. The second thing was fixing the passenger side rear window that had been stuck a few inches down and duct taped shut to keep the weather out.  The biggest thing we did was remove the old indoor/outdoor carpet from our front porch.  It's been peeling up and was frankly, in horrible shape. We didn't want anyone tripping when coming up the steps or snagging their foot in the huge hole by the front door.  It was a fairly easy task but an extremely messy one as well.  We did manage…

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