In sickness and in health..

One day last week Leni woke me up at 230 in the morning feeling sick. In a matter of minutes he was doubled over in the bathroom throwing up like Linda Blair in the Exorcist. Nothing insights panic for a parent like a middle of the night vomit or one that completely misses its target, the toilet bowl was right there!!!

Anyway its not so much the vomit that gets to me but rather the anxiety that comes with it. He starts crying and demanding to be taken to a doctor, something that he will often do if he feels unwell or if he hurts himself. It takes time and lots of reassurance to calm him down but his mind will stay focused on that one thing for hours, sometimes days to come.

The morning after the night before I decided not to give him his medication and to keep him home from school for obvious reasons. Surprisingly, he did really well without his medication but truthfully he had no energy from the night before anyway so he spent most of the day just lying down watching TV or playing games on his switch.

There were moments when he wanted to go outside and play but he just didn’t have the energy to follow through on the thought so he just stayed inside resting.

It makes me feel guilty to admit this but truth be known it was actually quite nice that he was so chill and didn’t have the energy to run around like he normally does. It was reminiscent of the times before he even started school when we would just chill and hang out together, content to just watch TV or colour in.

Whilst I wasn’t happy that he was sick, I did like having chill Leni around even if it was for just a day because not only was his mind calm but it allowed mine to be still for the day also. Those moments are so rare now because even though he is calm when medicated he isn’t as affectionate.

At one point he came over to the lounge where I was sitting, leaned over for a cuddle and a kiss, and it melted my heart. To be able to just hold him and have him reciprocate that was awesome. Normally we will reach out to hug him and whilst we do it anyway he won’t always hug you back.

Then just as quickly as his tummy bug made an appearance it was gone and things were back to the way they were. Albeit brief it was nice to just have a day without medication and without excessive energy.

We will try a med free day or two in the upcoming school holidays which we haven’t done for a while so I’ll be sure to share that with you too although I’m sure it won’t be nearly as peaceful as this one was!