My daughter had her two week follow-up with the pediatrician today. The pediatrician said she was able to get the x-ray film from the Children’s Hospital and said she definitely wants to follow-up with another x-ray today. Evidently the pneumonia was in the right lower lobe (I thought it was left) and that the x-ray showed a pleural effusion. The doctor said it was basically a big pus-filled sac in her lung and she wanted to do a follow-up x-ray to determine the status of the effusion. When the doctor listened to Ava’s lungs with the stethoscope she said that she heard a lot of crackling, popping, and some other noise (I forget how she described it). Basically the crackling is directly related to pneumonia. Two weeks ago yesterday while at the children’s hospital the doctor said she *thought* she heard some crackling and ordered the x-ray to confirm or rule out pneumonia. Two weeks ago today the doctor said she might have heard a little bit of crackling and wanted to know if the children’s hospital said she definitely had pneumonia or just that they thought she might have it (they said she definitely has it). Fast forward to today - the doctor said she heard crackling all over. So based on her office visit the pneumonia has worsened.
She should be doing much better by now but she isn’t. Granted she hasn’t had a fever but she’s still a bit listless and has a horrific cough from the evening through to the morning. She will have 8 - 10 coughing fits an hour - the kind of coughing fit that is scary to listen to. She hasn’t left my bed this entire time as I’ve been concerned so neither of us are getting much sleep. None of these signs look good to the doctor so off she sent us for another x-ray. We probably won’t have the results today but on Monday when she gets them she will call me and decide the course of action from there. Depending on what the film looks like she will have us get a blood test to check for coccidioidomycosis aka Valley Fever and/or tuberculosis. In the meantime the doctor has prescribed her Zithromax. She said she looks stable for the weekend as her oxygen saturation was at 97% which is good; anything under 90% is considered hypoxic.
“I love being alone.”
This is what my son told me as we were walking into the house after school today. When we get home from school we eat lunch, Ava usually naps, and Alexander goes to ‘quiet time.’ Quiet time is self-imposed, he immediately goes to his playroom after lunch to do one of many things - read, color, play with his toys, do a puzzle, etc. If Ava doesn’t nap and wants to play with him he gets irritated. If it is a therapy day and his quiet time is delayed by several hours he gets irritated. Heaven help us if it is a long day and he doesn’t get any quiet time at all. This is part of his routine that he will not change, evidently it is because he loves being alone.
When speaking to the psychiatrist about this she said it is very common among children with Asperger’s Syndrome. For whatever reason the child just needs to get away. After Alexander’s comment today I decided to poke around the good ole www and see what I could find on the subject; especially in light of the VA Tech shooter being described as a loner with autistic or Asperger-like tendencies (which no one professional can agree on.)
From aspergia.com:
Nevertheless, throughout history, those who were born with a strong Aspergian persona, mostly knew that something was different. The sound of the ocean would calm them down, and they needed a great deal of solitude.
One of Alexander’s CDs - Indigo Ocean Dreams - is completely ocean-themed and he absolutely loves it. It helps calm him down when he’s made and relax him when he’s irritated. He will also listen to it just for the sake of listening to it - it has been a tremendous help in assisting Alexander in identifying his moods and how to get back to a calm state.
Tony Attwood describes Asperger’s Syndrome on the Canadian Parents site and included this description:
The person may actively seek and enjoy solitude.
I can completely relate to my son’s desire for solitude as I am the same way. With Ava napping and Alexander in his self-imposed quiet time I also get to benefit from some quiet time of my own. I use this time for myself - I avoid chores, laundry, cleaning, etc during this time and instead do something I enjoy. Sometimes I’m on my laptop, sometimes I’m reading, and other times I’m watching a movie. I see a lot of myself in Alexander - evidently the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.
