The Hard Part - Deciding When to Worry

We create all kinds of visuals and cues to help our kids know what to expect and answer the question “what’s next”. If only, there was some system by which our kids could let us know what is coming next, especially with their health. For me the hardest part of being Billy Ray’s Mom is the “what’s next?” question that I have when it is clear his behavior is about some physical problem not his schedule or environment.

We have dealt with health issues since the day of his adoptive placement at 15 months old. However, it has been mostly things like ear infections and viral things. He has been blessed with reasonably good health until the last few years.

The documentation system in Parenting Your Complex Child was created mostly to help adapt to Billy Ray’s needs for schedules, environment, and advocating for his needs. It is becoming more important to his medical needs than expressed in my book. We had not experienced this many medical issues at the time I wrote it.

This weekend we had things occurring that could just be the flu. On the other hand, the medical folks have been sort of watching gallbladder since this summer when Billy Ray had surgery for appenditius. I am always left wondering if this is something routine (cold, flu) or should I call the clinic.

I am so thankful that we have Brice Stanley, PA-C, as Billy Ray’s medical provider, because he doesn’t treat me as a worry wart. I know that he will explain things to me and that he will be very thorough with checking things out.

My husband keeps saying what we need is a computer system to hook Billy Ray up to – like they do cars. Then the computer would tell us when Billy Ray can’t what is going on with him. Any inventors out there?

Until next time,
Peggy Lou Morgan
Parenting Your Complex Child YahooGroups List
www.parentingyourcomplexchild.com
www.lighthouseparents.com