Orange Peels and ABA Therapy

Last night at supper time Isaac asked me to blow his nose, then cried when I did.  So I did the obvious thing and look up there to see what he’s shoved inside this time.  He always does this.  I plugged the opposite nostril and had him blow but it didn’t come out this time like it always does.  So after consulting a few moms and my facebook friends, trying suction and tweezers and being bled on, calling the BC nurse line…off to the ER we went.

Isaac was delighted to be out at such a late hour on an adventure.  I was not so much.  We were triaged, and asked to sit in the main room.  I had brought change for the vending machine hoping to share some delectable chocolatey delight that we wouldn’t have necessarily been able to eat around Silas (because of those damn peanut traces) and all they had were lame nutrigrain rubbish (not rubbish but rubbish compared to chocolate) and sun chips.  So we got Sun Chips.  He lounged happily in his chair and consumed the bag of chips while I chatted with the poor lady who had been sitting there for three hours.  I braced myself for a long wait.

Not even 30 minutes of waiting and we were being seen by a doctor.  I guess this thing up the nose thing is more of a concern than I thought.  The kind nurse checked his lungs and his oxygen and after a few moments of observing his cave-man like behavior said “yup, we’ll be seeing this boy a lot”…I agreed.

While we waiting for the doctor we were able to play “goodnight…goodMORNING” a few times, had a rousing session of jump off the bed to mommy, explored as much as he was allowed to and got into the garbage.

The dr came, he was handsome and young-looking but rather serious with not so good bed-side manner.  Well, he was ok with Ikey, he kind of looked at me like I was odd.  I’m used to it.  He brought in this lonnnng thin tube with some inflatable plastic over one end and a syringe over the other end.  The nurse swaddled up Isaac and we got to business.  Isaac wailed while the dr led the tube past the obstruction and inflated the balloon to try and force it out.  It took many tries and he began questioning weather something was actually in there.  With my assurance that there was indeed an object up there, he went in further with that evil tube.  Isaac coughed and gagged and within seconds it was over and out popped a rather large bit of orange peel.

“Orange peel” I exclaimed as the dr picked it up and observed it.  “Lets get this boy a popsicle” he said as he walked away, me calling “THANK YOU” after him.  The nurse returned with a popsicle in hand.  Isaac was back to giggling and babbling and looking for trouble and happily accepted and consumed the icy treat within moments.

Home we went.  He woke and cried every 15 minutes until 2am.

I have photos of the event but I seem to have misplaced my card…grrr.  Oh well.

Anyway, Robyn our behavior consultant came today and spent time with our family.  I adore her.  I think we’re going to get along with her SO well.  I’m so glad this is all starting.

She’s gone above and beyond already.  She doesn’t just assess Silas, she’s gotten to know our whole family, she even knows how much older than me all my siblings are, she knows how Brent and I work as a unit, she knows all these crazy things about us which will help her help us.  I love that about her.  She seems to REALLY get what’s best in these situations.  I have no clue.

The thing I like most about her is she doesn’t look at Silas in a clinical way, he’s not something she wants to fix ya know?  She tickles him and points out all the great things she’s doing already.  Plus she’s a big Barbara Colloroso fan which makes me tingle in all SORTS of places.

I’m…just…stoked.  I’m also glad there’s no more orange peel up caveman’s nose.

9 comments

  1. Oh dear Ikee…wonder if he’ll remember and think next time he’s tempted to fit something in his nose. Happy to hear about Robyn and how you like her, I alreadylike her too, and I’m glad that Silas is now getting his autisim needs met.

  2. oh ikey! okay leah, get a tennis ball and cut a slit about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long in it, then, show ikey how to squeeze the ball to open the slit like a mouth…or nostril, then, scatter pennies (or orange peels) everywhere and have him find them and “feed” the ball…you could even put a face on it. maybe this will satisfy his putting little things in little things obsession as well as tucker that boy out, as the ball is quite hard to squeeze. and, i’m fairly certain pennies and tennis balls will not fit up his nose! 🙂
    this is also great for fine motor skills and right to left brain thinking…obviously.

  3. OK, first off, let’s discuss “got into the garbage”. That is something you do NOT do at a hospital. Gross gross and double gross.

    I think the hospital adventure was WAY too fun to be a deterrent for future nostril shoving naughtiness.

    The tennis ball sounds fun. He loved putting little pennies in the slot I made him when he came to visit me at work. I doubt it will divert him from his nostril obsession though.

    I can’t wait to meet Robyn. I just pulled a “Silas” in my head and called her R. O. B. Y. N. Why would I do that? I think because I was trying to remember the spelling, but now I can’t get it out of my head. Arrrgh.

  4. Oo you need to film some of his therapy for us interwebs lurkers. I cant wait to hear how Mr. Silas does. The good the bad and the counting.

    I believe we’ve had chicken, carrot, cheerios and several misc other items up the nose. It hasn’t been that serious yet altho the chicken took forever to get out and we were on the highway in Boston bar. Not a nose snorker in sight.

    1. Ohh Emily and Ikey would be two peas in a pod I believe. Yes sessions will be filmed and I’ll ask if she doesn’t mind me putting them on the interweb, but that’s up to them I guess…silly privacy act.

  5. We really musn’t mention “peas” around Cave Boys.

    I like how the nurse figured out so quickly that Ikey would be a regular ER visitor.

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