No fun being sick

 Tis the season of getting sick. In the month of September our family took turns getting sick. Cole started us off. One lovely Saturday morning I was awoken to the sound of vomiting. Which if you're a parent this is a normal occurrence in your household. After Cole, one by one we all dropped like flys. Whatever that sickness was can go back to the depths of hell in which it came. Unfortunately, Cash got it the worst. He was sick off and on for the next three weeks. He missed a total of ten days of school. He had a temperature every other day. We took him to the doctors twice. Was met by one doctor with an attitude as if we were interrupting his coffee break. And the second doctor almost a week later just saying it was all viral and it will pass soon. Cash has not been sick since he was three. Which means this was new territory for us. In the sense of the communication breakdown that can happen.  I can remember in the first month of his diagnosis, he got sick. Just a quick 24-hour fever. That was easy to figure out. And he bounced back really quick. This was long and scary.

As I write this Cash is fine and healthy. There was no hospitalization or anything like that. However, I use the word scary because when there is that breakdown of communication and you can't figure out how to help your child it is scary. As well as him refusing medicine when he had a fever of 102. In these particular weeks I was working a lot, so my husband is the real MVP in all of this by giving him cold showers and baths when his fever spiked. There was the off and on vomiting. Somedays he would rally and be fever free, so we had sent him to school. Only to get the call all parents feel awful about. Cash had vomited on one of his aides that day. If you're reading this, so sorry. Our takeaway from that was if Cash ever says, "I don't want to eat", it means "My tummy hurts".  As this time was difficult, it was also a learning experience. Lord willing, he won't be sick any time soon, however I think Cash and Brook and I might be able to navigate it with a little more grace next time around. The big win was one evening he was really burning up we finally got him to take a grape children's Tylenol, which broke his fever. As a child who does not venture out of his comfort zone with different foods or textures this was a huge win.

What we didn't expect out of all of this was Cash to regress into some old behaviors. When our other two sons have ever been sick, they just get better, go back to school, and business as usual. Not that easy for Cash. During his sickness he started pointing to things he wanted and not verbalizing his needs. His scripting was more apparent than usual. Between him being sick and missing all that school you see how fast all of this progress that has been made in three years can slowly start to slip away. This blog is not a place for me to tell people what to do. However, with this example in mind and you have a child with special needs or considering having an evaluation please trust your gut and do it. Services for your child are out there.  Cash has been blessed with the best team year after year. 

Cash was able to return to school after those ten missed school days. However, the road has been slow. The first couple weeks his teacher would say "Hes still not the old Cash yet". He was having to rest off and on all day at school. Still very lethargic. We noticed it at home as well. Whatever he had, it took him a better part of a month to get back to "The old Cash." When he did it was full force at home and then his teacher told me that "Cash was back" and he was back to signing to the class during calendar time and dancing. You never want to see your child sick however were thankful for lessons learned and Gods healing and grace in all of this.