Well we’re officially well into
2018 now, Christmas seems like it was ages ago (even though we’ve STILL got our
Christmas decorations up as Daddy P is in charge of putting them up and taking
them down, and he hasn’t managed to get round to taking them down yet!)
Fortunately for us, Sunshineface
got over his bought of chickenpox a couple of weeks before Christmas. While he
was suffering with that, Daddy P, Picklepot and myself all had a horrible cold,
but we were all feeling much better by the time 25th December rolled
round.
Picklepot had fun at Beavers
Christmas camp – the night they stayed over it snowed, so they got to have a
run around in the snow on the Sunday morning before coming home, which added to
the festive feeling: We arranged a Helping Hands Christmas party with a very
special guest who came along to give the kids a little early present: I
attended a work Christmas party at a hotel in Borehamwood with a movie
character theme which was brilliant fun: There were meals out with friends,
present buying and wrapping, not to mention Daddy P decorating the front room
(yes, I know, epic timing lol and it still isn’t quite finished!)
While Picklepot has been, shall
we say, much more challenging over the Christmas holidays, he made me very proud
on Boxing Day as we spent the day over at Grandparents P home, with my SIL, BIL,
nephew and niece. It makes for a crowded living room with all of us squeezed in
there, plus presents as well, but Picklepot handled it brilliantly. He excused
himself a few times to go off elsewhere to have some quiet time and play on his
pad, he ate most of his Christmas dinner (encouragement from Grandma goes a
long way!) and he managed to keep himself from becoming too overwhelmed. I was
very proud of him – especially considering that after some of his meltdowns before
that during Christmas break had me concerned that Boxing Day was going to be awful!
Both boys are very fortunate to
have got so many lovely gifts, from Father Christmas and from us and our family
and friends. We had a lovely time, it really was brilliant.
Unfortunately at some point during
the Christmas fun my right hand became incredibly painful. I totally lost grip,
I couldn’t move my thumb without it being excruciatingly painful and it made
everything so awkward and difficult to do. I waited it out thinking that I’d
sprained it or something silly, but instead of getting better it just got
worse. Before I knew it the thumb was swollen around the base on my palm and
the back of my hand and I was really struggling to do anything.
I had a call back from the GP
surgery who had me in for an appointment that morning – they took some bloods,
and the doctor examined me. She was concerned by the pain I had and I was sent for
an X ray immediately as she was worried I had fractured my scaphoid bone.
The following Tuesday I spoke to
the surgery again who confirmed my X ray had come back normal, but my blood
tests showed that my red cells were enlarged. The marker for arthritis had
shown up, so they wanted to take more blood for further tests. I went back and
had more blood taken that morning; I then spoke to the doctor again on Friday.
She advised that the second tests came back normal – if they’d shown another
marker, alongside the arthritis marker, this would indicate lupus, but as they
didn’t show this other marker we now go down the line of arthritis. She says
this would cause the pain if I’m having a flare-up at the moment and the lack
of mobility to my thumb. She has done an urgent referral to the rheumatology
department at the local hospital, so currently I’m waiting to hear from them
with an appointment. If their assistance doesn’t help within 10 weeks and I’m
still in as much pain, I will have an MRI to double check that it is not a
fractured scaphoid – sometimes the X ray doesn’t pick it up since it’s such a
small bone – if it does turn out to be a fractured scaphoid I will either need
a cast or surgery, depending if it’s aligned or not, to resolve it.
We also got a letter from the
ADHD team in December, to tell us that they’re very busy and we’ll get an
appointment as soon as possible. Considering we’ve been waiting since February
2017 I’m not holding my breath. I’ll get another appointment with the same GP
we saw before and ask him to push for us. Picklepot is finding it harder and
harder to focus and he’s beginning to really struggle. I don’t want him to get
too far behind in school before it is looked into more. I would rather we get
this in hand sooner than later. He’s going to be 8 this year – another 3 years
and he’ll be off to high school, and we need his focus and concentration vastly
improved before then.
Picklepot has been having further
issues with the horrible child in his class that has been a bully since day 1 …
I was furious over the Christmas holidays when I found a card from this child
who had written “I hate you” on the back. I was so upset I emailed school
immediately even though it was Christmas holidays, expressing my absolute horror at finding this message
and demanding that something is done about this child, who has had countless
tellings off regarding their behaviour, particularly toward Picklepot, and yet
continues to be just as nasty. The SENCO (currently acting Deputy Head) called
me the day they went back to school and we discussed at length exactly who it
was, what had happened, whether the child had been any better since their last
telling off over their behaviour toward Picklepot, and going over what the school
would be doing. This child has spat at Picklepot, tripped him over, pulled his
hair, called him names, pushed him, taken food from him (his apple / packet of
crisps mysteriously goes missing after the child has been nearby the lunch
bags) he has had his coat removed from his locker and found on the floor in the
boys toilets with the other child in the toilet at the time (coincidence?) The
child has lied to get Picklepot in trouble, he has deliberately shut his hand
in a classroom door, he makes up stories to tell other children and is generally
making Picklepot very unhappy. I am giving it til the half term holidays then I
will be in contact with the SENCO again to discuss improvements / issues.
Hope you all had a very Happy
Christmas too, and that your 2018 brings you plenty of love, laughter and
happiness.
- Mummy P
