A Side of Autism: Needles

I don't mind needles but I can't say the same for V-Man.
He has never enjoyed a single blood test or vaccine and I don't blame him.
His first big blood test around the time he was being diagnosed and tested for autism (when he was 2) was something straight out of a horror movie.
First of all, he was fighting and screaming without any needles near him. It was just the strap on his arm to help make his vein pop out a bit more.
Then it took three nurses plus me to hold him down and a fourth to get the blood.
He was 2.
It was a really crappy situation because the nurse wasn't quite experienced with super strong autistic children and the blood went everywhere (this is the horror story bit) - I mean spraying down his arm, into his lap, out and forward.
In the meantime, V-Man was thrashing about and tried biting me, clawing at my face and giving a nurse a few good kicks too.  We both left sobbing and I threatened SH that he better be doing these blood tests from now on.
He was 2.

Today I finally decided to suck it up and bring him in for some blood tests to see if he has lactose-intolerance or Celiac.
His regular doctor (she's a real twit-honestly!) doesn't seem to understand our frustration of having to change 8-12 crappy diapers a day. So every time V-Man had a doctor appointment with her, for the past 2 years- she continued to not take us seriously and kept recommending laxatives.  Which we tried but it didn't seem to make a difference.
Finally and recently, V-Man had his yearly assessment at the disability clinic and the doctor there suggested he gets these blood tests done.
Seeing as V-Man magically stopped drinking milk (dairy, soy, rice and oats-pretty much anything white) and doesn't like dairy products-she's leaning towards lactose intolerance.  And also a blood sample for Celiac too just in case.

So today I brought him downtown with his half a bagel and a fully charged cell phone and we went to the blood clinic downtown to only find out that it had moved.
After going up and down the wrong street - we finally found it and we didn't have to wait long.
We walked in and I immediately handed over his Kela card and advised the nurse that V-Man is autistic in Finnish and that we need another person to help me hold him down (in English).
She immediately went off and got someone - which was awesome she believed me (we've had situations before where it got messy - like the first test) - and we went to it.
I had V-Man in my lap and while I appreciate him flattening my thighs a little - after awhile we decided that it wasn't working.  I had Teletubbies on Youtube playing on my phone and to the side and out of his reach and still it wasn't distracting enough.
He was twisting and moving his shoulders and we had him sit in the chair himself and I held him back and into the seat from behind.  Then the other nurse held down his hands and arms.  The second nurse got into his vein and the blood flow wasn't as fast and he needed 3(!) vials of blood for these tests.
He started to wiggle (along with screaming and crying) and the needle was close to breaking - because it was bending at such a disgusting angle.
So they removed that, wiped up the blood and taped up his arm.
Onto arm 2!  We finally managed to get it all sorted and even though the first vial wasn't very full - I'm assuming it was just enough.

After what felt like the longest 15 minutes ever - he was done and we left.
After every appointment with him, we go for lunch and try to put the horror of a bad appointment behind us.
I just honestly don't know what we'll do when he's older!  He'll just get bigger and stronger - I'm predicting he'll be bigger and stronger than me and SH...
I guess I just need to be happy that his lactose test only involved 1 vial of blood - where mine involved several samples over a span of a few hours!

Oh well - at least it's done and over with!
Perhaps next time I should bring some wine and cheese for the nurses...I know I could've used a drink after!
BIMU

Night Terrors

I hate to admit this - but our 2-year old has been having night terrors for a long time and at the beginning we totally thought it was lactose-intolerance pains.
Now that I have the "wow she's a dummy" part out of the way...

It all started quite randomly and I couldn't tell you exactly when either.  Especially since I thought it was LI at first!
I thought it was lactose-intolerance stomach pains because I've had them and they're awful...I was diagnosed with LI prior to our move to Europe and prior to pregnancy but reflecting back, after experiencing contractions and three births - it was like a mildly strong contraction.  The cramps, the rush to the bathroom and the after pains because my stomach was so sore - ouch.

A-Man would wake up in the middle of the night screaming and we'd come rushing into the bedroom to discover that he was sitting up, eyes shut (or nearly) and kicking himself.  Scratching his own feet and thrashing, clutching his stomach sometimes (hence why we thought lactose issues) and nothing made him happy.
So we stopped buying regular milk and only went with lactose-free stuff and things calmed down for about a week.
Then BOOM!  He'd have another one and we were at a loss of what to do.
I decided to ask the mighty fine "Google-saurus" and I believe I typed in: "my kid scratches himself and screams at night"  and instantly it tossed in front of me: "My kid has night terrors - please help!"
I didn't know a single thing about night terrors and that frightened me.
SH didn't believe me at first and figured the scraped and cuts all over his feet and legs was from dropping toys on his feet or heavier objects outside...with winter or rubber boots on.

From what I've read on multiple sites (and from what I remember as this was all found during my 3rd pregnancy):

• Typically between the ages of 4-6 but sometimes as young as 9 months...great - my 2-year old is an eager learner.
• Don't touch the child when they're screaming and thrashing about.
• Don't cover them with extra blankets or try to give them their favourite toys as they may feel more scared and threatened because they're not quite awake.
• Don't talk to them either.
• Wait it out.
• It's okay - they're not going to remember it in the morning - but you the parent sure will!  (I may need to start learning how to use the coffee machine!)
• Night terrors can be caused by: 
• Lack of sleep in the day-time.
• Stress or change in environment/routine. 
• Anxiety
• It can last between 2-minutes to 30-minutes.  Well, we've had 45-minutes of nearly solid screeching...so I suppose it depends what site you get your info from.
• They tend to occur within 2-3 hours of your child falling asleep.

GREAT.

Well, we're now on night 2-in-a-row of night terrors and A-Man has had more than one per night - maximum three I think (I tried to block that night....it was horrible)...
It's frustrating, it's exhausting, it occurs during your only chance of sleep or spouse time to catch up on an episode (currently The Shield - season 5) of your favourite show - or when you're about to catch a killer in that thriller novel you borrowed from the library ("Thankless in Death" by JD Robb)...
I just don't have the energy - hence why my blog has been quiet too! 
The Shield is just getting better every episode - so I've been trying to crochet while watching it!

When I called up the city psychologist to see if she could come assess A-Man at day-care in the fall - she asked why and what concerns we had.
I apologize if this is repetitive!!

• Not eating a lot - no meat or protein....sometimes cheese but not a lot or often.
• Doesn't listen and has been nearly knocked over by people (he is a 2-year old - not a tall gangly teenager yet!), bicycles and a truck...
• Doesn't listen in the sense that we tell him "no don't do that!" repeatedly and it's a saucy smirk and completely ignores us...(I've been advised this is a common thing called the "Terrible 2's").
• Doesn't speak a lot but that could be the mix up of two totally different languages.
• Routine is ridiculously important - to the point I've ruined his day last winter by putting tights on him and he couldn't take his socks off at day-care...then made it extra worse by putting overalls on top of that.
• Day-care is holding him back in the youngest group because he doesn't listen and wants to do things on his own clock...so the older kids' group means older children that can and do listen to the teachers - so it makes things like getting dressed to go out much easier.  And if the day-care group is much larger - it's harder to get things running smoothly when one child goes at their own pace.

 I'm sure there are other things but I think it's a start anyway for the psychologist to  be interested in visiting him there after a few weeks of his regular routine.

Tomorrow we're going to get our (SH, V-Man and I) blood work done - to see if there's anything funky in our blood and to research V-Man's a bit more.
That means I should probably think about buying some yarn to soothe myself from what will be a wild wrestling/screaming match...I hate blood work for him!
First time we had to take him there - it was by myself (so SH could watch A-Man at home) and I got elbowed in the face, nearly bitten, pinched all over and my hands covered in blood because V-Man flailed that much that the sample tubes weren't connected yet and it looked like some sort of horror story.
And it took 3 other nurses to hold him down and they got attacked too...he was about 3 years old.

Yay.  Keep your fingers crossed!
BIMU

PS:  Just finished season 5 of The Shield... ack!