Motherhood = going crazy one day at a time!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Today's Menu

Today's menu is for all you carnivores out there, particularly if you are partial to cannabalism. The special is a piece of upper arm, not the fatty tricep part though, we're serving the sinewy piece to the side of the bicep. It may be tough, but if you have had a frustrating day it may be especially satisfying.

A couple of days ago I was eaten alive. Well, not literally, but not for lack of trying. You see, as a part of my pediatric rotation I was spending two days in a program based special education school for children with multiple disabilities. It was a great school. I was assigned to a class of boys aged 12 to 16. Most had some physical disabilities, but all were mobile. The biggest challenge was the mental deficits and behavior problems. Some in the class included a runner (he would literally take off to Walmart or whatever at any given opportunity), a two hundred pound boy with Down's Syndrome and a history of violent episodes, a sweet sixteen year old that occasionally had HUGE temper tantrums and frequently had seizures, and a SMART silent twelve year old with Autism that tried to make a meal out of me. He wasn't happy when I took away a board book that he was ripping to shreds. I saw him coming at me with his hands outstretched, his typical MO is to pinch (very hard) underneath the top of your upper arm or under your chin, but when I held his arms so that he couldn't, he leaned over and tried to take a bite out of my arm. I know he knew what he was doing, he is very smart, but I also can't imagine how frustrating it must be to have things so jumbled up in your head and not be able to communicate. This was a very sad boy. Still overall it was a good class and really the boys were good boys. I wouldn't be honest however if I didn't say that as I drove home "Count your many blessings" wasn't running through my head...
I count these as four of my greatest blessings.

4 comments:

Claremont First Ward said...

Ouch. I'm glad it was only 2 days. Your boys look like the greatest blessing! All are so handsome and just seem so sweet!

Melissa said...

Wow. What an experience!! Your boys really are great.

Kristin said...

That is scary. We have a 12 yr. old girl in our ward with severe autism. When she gets upset, she self mutilates. It's horrible. Bangs her head on tile till she gets knocked out, digs in her arms till she's a bloody mess, I don't know how her parents deal with it. I don't think I could. It does make you so grateful for your own perfect children. Love the new photo by the way.

Brooke said...

Oh, how very sad for those families of some really hard to control boys. Not yours however, they are really great boys. I really would like to have a copy of this picture.