We Wish You A Merry....Sickness

We figured out the perfect way to spend Christmas Eve day....a trip to the WVU Urgent Care.  Yeah, let the holiday fun begin!!  Bobby woke up Saturday morning with a very high fever, vomiting, lethargy, congestion and a horrible cough.  He slept all day, didn't eat or drink.  Since I had been reading about all of these same symptoms from other parents on facebook, I knew that he had the flu.  After 36 hours of no food, drink and a lot of vomiting, I started forcing him to take some sips of fluid using his least favorite behavioral techniques.  One of the perks of a 4 day a week behavioral therapy program...he is used to doing things that he doesn't want to do.  He finally took a few bites of food Sunday evening and had about 30 oz of electrolyte fluids.  But the cough was horrible.  Christmas Eve morning when he got out of bed, we decided to take him to urgent care because I was sure that he had pneumonia or bronchitis because his cough was sooooo bad.  Taking Bobby to the doctor, especially one that is not his normal doctor, is on the lowest rung of my favorite things to do with Bobby.  We only go when it is absolutely necessary.

 I was hoping that when we drove in front of the Urgent Care building that I would see an empty waiting room inside, but that definitely was not the case.  Bobby and Daddy stayed in the car while I went inside, checked him in and waited for him to be called back.  During the 20 minute wait every mom in Mon Co. brought her brood of sick children to the urgent care so that they could get their medicine before Santa arrived later that night.  It was a full house.

They finally called  Bobby back.  I went up to the nurse and explained that he is in the car with his Dad, he has autism and that his cooperation level isn't the greatest and that we are going to get through this together!!  I went and got Bob and Bobby and we lead him right back to the exam room area.  I'm not sure if it was because he felt HORRIBLE, but this ended up being his best medical visit ever.  When we got into the exam room Bobby walked over to the big window and opened the blinds.  Instead of fighting with this blind throughout the entire visit, I left it opened and tucked the cords up high so that he couldn't reach them.  He pulled the doctor's spinning stool over to the window and put his iPad in the window seal, sat down and played with his iPad.  He got up and ran around the room multiple times, but overall he did a great job.

One of the reasons for the success is that the nurse let me give Bobby his tests instead of a stranger trying to do them on him.  Mommy took his temp, etc.  The most fun test that Mommy got to administer was the actual flu swabbing.  She demonstrated on herself and then handed me two swabs, one for each nostril.  I came towards Bobby he kept backing up, luckily right into his Daddy's arms.  Bob held him and I swabbed away.  Here's a little too much info coming your way, but it was funny in the moment.  Me:  "Oh no Bobby, Mommy caught a boogie," as I pulled a big ol boogie from his nose.     Nurse:  "Perfect.  There are more than enough cells for both swabs."  Off she went with the swabs.

The doctor came back in minutes later..."He has the flu."  He listened to his lungs earlier and reported that they were clear.  We had also already discussed Bobby's seizure history.  One of the successes from this flu bug....Bobby made it through an extremely high fever with no seizures!!  Yeah Bobby.  However, since Bobby has had the flu for more than 48 hours, there is no medicine available for him. The doctor went on to say that Bobby is not a good candidate for tamiflu anyway because of his seizure history.  Don't want to open that can of worms again, it is just better for him to let it run its course and use OTC cough/cold/flu meds to help lessen his symptoms.  I was happy that his lungs were clear.

He felt much better through the day and ate and drank well on his own.  But the cough is still horrible, and all of the time!!  We flip flopped on the decision all day...should Santa come tonight or wait a couple of days (since Bobby doesn't really know about Santa anyway.  He definitely wouldn't be upset if there were no presents in the morning).  Mommy decided that Christmas will happen tonight!!  I called Grandma Carolyn and she is coming to spend the night when she gets off of work.  Time to go make Christmas dinner....

I brought out the first gift...a family gift to help make Christmas dinner just a little more fun.  Bobby got right in and opened up the gift.

Daddy took Bobby for a nice long "ride in car" that Bobby had been asking for while I worked on dinner.

When they came back from their ride, Bobby noticed a present under the tree, sat down and started opening (Yeah, he finally gets this present thing!!).

Daddy got to work building the train set but Bobby couldn't wait and started eating.  Since he hadn't eaten much in days, it was more important that he actually eat than it was to work on meal time appropriate behavior.  So iPad at the table and eating Christmas dinner in your underwear it is!!!

Dinner is ready:  prime rib, au jus, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls and the most important fresh cut french fries for Bobby.

After everyone's bellies were full it was time to play train.  Bobby played very well with his new train set.

He even puts the train back on the track when it falls off.

He was grouchy from not feeling well and kept saying "car" over and over and over.  Buddy, Daddy just drove you around for well over an hour, we are not going back out in the car.  At least Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune were on to occupy him for another hour.  He was still being much more grouchy than normal so his stocking made an early appearance to give him something new to do...

 Zoi is just like a sibling!!  Why does he get his stocking and I don't????!!!!!?????

She is not going to leave this alone!!!

 Fine Zoi, you can have your stocking too...

 Ahhhh, all is right with the world...at least for the next 5 minutes!

Alright kids, time for bed, Santa can't come until you are both sleeping.

Santa came!!!  Bobby sat down and checked out the new scenery for a while.

Finally, someone handed him a present.  He immediately started opening...

New road signs...Santa knows what Bobby likes!!

He opened the box and started lining them up!!  He was happy, he only really needed one gift.

Bobby is having fun now!!

A little later, he sat down (with a little prompting) and started opening the rest of the gifts.  He didn't stop until they were all opened.  A Bobby first.  In the past it has taken days to get his presents open.

A flip remote control car.  He wanted it out of the box now, so Daddy to the rescue.

He opened a Grandma present...the homemade star blanket in the background.  Then some musical instruments.  Hope Santa doesn't regret this decision too much.

He had to have this out of the box ASAP too.  After all he has always been a "Little Drummer Boy."

Even more musical instruments.  Santa must have been drinking when he got Bobby's toys together.

Another Grandma Carolyn present...

 A car from Santa...

 He actually has a smile on his face while opening presents....

 More cars...

 A Hot Wheels race track...

 I just love finally having pictures of Bobby sitting in a mess of wrapping paper and presents...

 Last but not least tubes of cars and trucks...

 Had to throw in one picture where he is coughing, since the coughing was happening every other minute...

 Alright cars, line up....

 Even though it really is not depicted in any of these pictures, Bobby still felt yucky.  Much more grouchy than normal.  All he wanted over and over all day long was to go for a car ride.  I drove him around for over an hour, but he would have stayed in the car all day.  He laid down on the couch and fell asleep Christmas evening at 7:30.  I woke him up to go to bed around 10:30 and he fell right back to sleep.  Was up for an hour through the night with a major coughing fit, but fell back asleep and didn't wake up until 8:30 am.  Not typical Bobby behavior at all.  He's been up for a few hours now and still has a very limited appetite, congestion and nasty cough.  Looks like we have a few more days to go before the flu leaves Bobby alone.

If you are wondering what Bobby got me for Christmas this year, well I have been coughing too.  So thank you Bobby for giving Mommy the flu.  The gift that keeps on giving!!!!  Bobby was being very quiet, so I went to check on him.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BOBBY'S WORLD!!!