No sooner had I returned from my business trip to Arizona and Missy fell sick. It began with a fever and early wake-up call on Monday night, seemed to dissipate, and then resurged on Wednesday when the school called to tell us she had a 101 temperature again. By the time Thursday morning rolled around, Daisy had a cough, continued fever, and was more lethargic and unhappy than I have ever seen her. :( As Thursday progressed, it was pretty obvious that the cough was nothing like anything we had ever heard before. Diagnosis: Croup.
A liquid steroid came to the rescue by Thursday night and, by Friday, she was 75% better. But it sure was hard to see her like this...
Thursday morning early: movies on her DVD player, pillows, and blankets...
The barking and the wheezing made it hard for her to sleep laying flat. She couldn't really eat either, since the mucus just caused her to vomit. To the rescue: Nan.
Daddy was also a favorite for comfort. He shared his favorite "sick food" with Missy: cheerios and milk.
Today (Saturday) she is a ton better already and was back out on her trike this morning, pedaling around the neighborhood.
In other news, I have been a little freaked out this week by a leaflet I saw in my Physical Therapist's office about Sensory Processing Disorder in children.
I was waiting to pay my co-pay at the last appointment for my injured knee and, right beside the counter, was a poster about symptoms of SPD. There were stick figure drawings of two kids and, next to them, a list of symptoms. What pulled me in initially was the "Overly sensitive to sun and bright light"; Daisy screams her head off like she is being poked with a hot rod when we're in the car and the sun is on her. Once I was pulled in, to my horror, I began to recognize a number of the symptoms on the leaflet:
- Doesn't like having her hair brushed/touched
- Sits in a "w" position
- Picky eater / doesn't like to try new foods
- Selective hearing
- Highly sensitive to everyday loud noises like the vacuum or hair dryer
- Complains about tags in clothing
- Walks on tip-toes a lot
- Poor coordination gross motor skills (things like running etc..)
This was about 50-60% of the items on the list, so obviously, for a few days, I was convinced Daisy had SPD.
After further research, however, I realize that this leaflet was grossly misleading and overly general in nature. The symptoms of SPD are much more complex, varied and yet specific than those on the leaflet, which mixed many different types of dysfunction. If you're interested, you can read more by clicking on this link.
Although, I have to say, Daisy has a few of the characteristics on the website checklist in multiple categories, I'm going to guess many children do? I'm not sure this means she has a problem but then I'm not sure it means she doesn't either. I mean, she's 2! She's still learning to "be", right? I'd love to hear other moms' perspectives.
2 comments:
She gets the picky eater thing from joss, she came from a nice quiet womb so she doesn't like loud noise, shes clumsy :), all children up to the age of 18 have selective hearing :) (i sometimes would even put my mom into the category) and kids in general don't like their hair brushed because its "in style" to look messy. lol. no seriously if your worried about it of course ask, but if your kid has it, then about 90 percent of SOCIETY has it. :)
Great photo essay! :-)
Let me know if you ever want to talk more about SPD. As you may know, our son James has finally been diagnosed as Asperger. It is very mild, but we do have an IEP at school for him which has helped *tremendously*.
Before that final diagnosis, we ran through the whole gamut. ADD/ADHD, SPD, and the Autism spectrum. The one issue with SPD is, lots of researchers believe it is real, but it unfortunately is hard to tease out from from ADD and the autism spectrum, and thus it is not officially recognized in the current DSM (DSM-IVr).
Like a lot of things, symptoms tend to overlap a lot. while one aspect of SPD is, say, picky eater and sensitive to stimuli, another is "sensory seeker" where you are always looking for more and more. In James' case, he can eat a raw onion like an apple and loves it, and is constantly jumping, spinning, tumbling.
The biggest thing is, if you are at all concerned, talk to parents who have gone through it. I would even check out UC Davis Mind Center - they are amazing, and while an in-home analysis is not covered by insurance, it gives you amazing piece of mind.
Also, it isn't something to actually "worry" about. there still is unfortunately this idea that you are either "normal", or, like "Rain Man", and of course that isn't true. It is a spectrum, and we are all on it to some degree. For you ladies married to engineers, chances are your husband is probably on it :-)
Anyway, enough ranting. This photo essay is great. I'm glad she is feeling better. Croup is just a horrible thing to have to witness, because it just sounds so awful.
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