A MRI could have cured this guy
-
Similar but on a smaller scale.... my sister (among other disabilities) has pica, which is an urge to consume non-edible things. On the more innocent side, she'll take/drink your coffee or soda when you aren't looking, or will drink a bottle of mouthwash if she can find it. Unfortunately the last few years her choice has been to swallow batteries. Usually AA batteries she finds in a remote control or something. She's probably been to the hospital at least a dozen times now, it's very bizarre. Some folks are just dealt a bad hand in life just like Iron Man in this article.
-
@89th said in A MRI could have cured this guy:
Similar but on a smaller scale.... my sister (among other disabilities) has pica, which is an urge to consume non-edible things. On the more innocent side, she'll take/drink your coffee or soda when you aren't looking, or will drink a bottle of mouthwash if she can find it. Unfortunately the last few years her choice has been to swallow batteries. Usually AA batteries she finds in a remote control or something. She's probably been to the hospital at least a dozen times now, it's very bizarre. Some folks are just dealt a bad hand in life just like Iron Man in this article.
One can hope they lack the awareness to be unhappy.
-
Not really sure. She lived with my parents until she in her early 30s but has since moved into a local home (with 3-4 special needs adults, supervised by employees of the group home/service). The move was good for her to "be independent" a little bit, and an unspoken relief for my parents I'm sure who changed urine bedsheets most mornings for 30 years, rare restaurant meals, didn't take vacations (except one in 1993, I remember), and had to keep a padlock on the fridge.
Anyway, in these homes the employees aren't paid very well so I'd have to imagine they're on their cellphone while my sister sneaks a battery snack. I believe she just tells the home worker what she did. 90% of the time the hospital visit involves monitored care and/or medications to help "pass" the battery before they erode.
And to further tangent, when my wife wanted a 3rd child and we had 2 healthy kids already, I was scared of having a child with special needs... completely and purely based on the almost unimaginable burden I saw it put on my parents (which continues to this day...). My heart has a special place for parents of kids with special needs... for some, it is like having a toddler in their terrible twos, but stays in that phase forever.
-
@89th said in A MRI could have cured this guy:
Not really sure. She lived with my parents until she in her early 30s but has since moved into a local home (with 3-4 special needs adults, supervised by employees of the group home/service). The move was good for her to "be independent" a little bit, and an unspoken relief for my parents I'm sure who changed urine bedsheets most mornings for 30 years, rare restaurant meals, didn't take vacations (except one in 1993, I remember), and had to keep a padlock on the fridge.
Anyway, in these homes the employees aren't paid very well so I'd have to imagine they're on their cellphone while my sister sneaks a battery snack. I believe she just tells the home worker what she did. 90% of the time the hospital visit involves monitored care and/or medications to help "pass" the battery before they erode.
And to further tangent, when my wife wanted a 3rd child and we had 2 healthy kids already, I was scared of having a child with special needs... completely and purely based on the almost unimaginable burden I saw it put on my parents (which continues to this day...). My heart has a special place for parents of kids with special needs... for some, it is like having a toddler in their terrible twos, but stays in that phase forever.
I think there's a special room in Heaven for your parents.
And they get lots of Jesus points for taking care of your sister, too.
-
This morning on my local police facebook account, I saw they were searching all last night for a 12 year old girl who'd wandered from home. This morning was the final update, that she'd drowned in one of the local ponds, not unlike the one behind my home. She was autistic and not easily controllable. I slightly wondered about whether her passing might have been just slightly less traumatic for the parents than it would have been if she'd been full of promise.
-
@89th said in A MRI could have cured this guy:
And to further tangent, when my wife wanted a 3rd child and we had 2 healthy kids already, I was scared of having a child with special needs... completely and purely based on the almost unimaginable burden I saw it put on my parents (which continues to this day...). My heart has a special place for parents of kids with special needs... for some, it is like having a toddler in their terrible twos, but stays in that phase forever.
What a tough situation for your parents and family as a whole.
When my daughter was a couple of months old, she spent a week in Boston Children's hospital with RSV. She shared a room with a kid who was in for respite care to help his parents. It really opened my eyes to how lucky we were and what people can go through.
-
You see all kinds of syndromes working at Childrens Hospital in LA. Many of those babies would not likely survive to adulthood, or if they did would need A LOT of special care for the rest of their lives. I once had this 9 month old baby whose parents were barely 19 years old. I forget what syndrome this kid had, but he was never going to walk, talk, or think. His mother, like most of the mothers there was so full of love and concern. She wasn't worried about the time and care she needed to put in to keep her baby alive. She just wanted him to be alive.
-
Ever remember those kids who’d eat erasers? The weirdest thing I saw was a kid was one who had eaten glass Christmas tree ornaments. No one would’ve guessed because he’d chomped the glass so well. What we saw on X-ray was that distinct metal ornament hanger thingie with the spreading prong legs, one leg embedded sideways in his esophagus.
-
@Jolly said in A MRI could have cured this guy:
I think there's a special room in Heaven for your parents.
And they get lots of Jesus points for taking care of your sister, too.
LOL!
Their faith is incredibly strong and certainly has been the glue that has helped them navigate the stress on their life and marriage that comes with a special needs child. It's very easy to see and understand why a couple might split over such a situation, it's just logistically and emotionally a very hard life to live.
@Horace Hard to say about relief, but you're not wrong. For my sister... as brother and as a stupid kid, there were many times I resented my sister for "ruining" what I saw other friends doing... going on trips, eating at restaurants, going into stores not worrying about a sibling having a "trip ending" tantrum (even harder when the sibling is almost the size of an adult, you can't just pick up them and throw them over your shoulder as you leave). I'd go to a friends house and be in awe with how quite the house is, how nothing is locked away...... But as a parent, I think it's just different. I had a good buddy who had a child with severe medical issues (way worse than my sister... low muscle tone, feeding tube, unable to even control her own wheel chair) who passed away a few months ago when she was five. They have 2 younger boys, so from the outside it's easy to think "wow this will make their life so much easier and also so much better for the boys", but I can't describe how much her passing hurt (and continues) to hurt them. Of course this is all made so much harder because these are fluke chromosome abnormalities during gestation, it's easier for me not to think about how mad I should be at the unlucky hand she drew in life.
@Doctor-Phibes Agreed, I am very lucky with the 3 kids I have. I try to remember each day how much more difficult it could be. Honestly, sometimes when one of our kids is having a tantrum that makes me want to pull my hair (or ears) out, my wife and I will make a comment about how... for some parents, the tantrum doesn't end after 20 minutes.