A cockatoo called Horse

It’s been a hot week. We’ve had a big weekend.

On Saturday The Boy played cricket all morning, we had visitors and he stressed himself out over a few things. During the afternoon he developed a headache (as did I), then had a restless night (read: periodic screaming/whimpering and sporadic sleep with some sort of distressing dreams going on). He even accepted paracetamol when we all became desperate enough for some sleep. Anybody who knows him or his story knows that this is A Big Deal. Miraculously, it worked instantaneously, which implied that it was not really needed. I’d say that the stress of taking the paracetamol was contributing to that particular pain, and after the job was done, he relaxed. At least something helped, and he finally had a good sleep.

On Sunday morning The Boy played cricket for an hour at a cricket “fun day”, then we hung around for said fun day. The Boy’s Brother started the day upset, but ended up enjoying himself and getting some autographs. The Boy developed another headache while we were there, and we left early (but not much - the “day” finished at midday). During the afternoon, he tried to rest, accepted more paracetamol, and somehow I was the one that fell asleep. I had another mild headache too, and woke up a few hours later (at which time The Man decided he needed to rest). The Boy was still having trouble, and it seemed that lying down didn’t help much. The Man insisted that he should be upright and moving, with mixed success. Another dose of paracetamol didn’t seem to do much, nor did massage or propped up pillows, but eventually The Boy fell asleep on his normal pillow. We’re hoping that he sleeps for the rest of the night and wakes up much better.

The dilemma is this: after a hot weekend, much of it spent in the sun, The Boy suddenly gets headaches. However, there is still doubt over the functioning of his shunt (yes, I know I said it seemed to be working, but it’s still not guaranteed). The Man thinks the shunt is to blame. I argued that he wasn’t feeling like this until this weekend (he’s also had a couple of milder headaches on the hotter days). Add to this that The Boy is very good at getting stressed and tense, and he could probably do with a good back/shoulder massage. At this stage, we’re waiting until morning to decide whether or not to call the hospital.

On the plus side of all of this, we now know (and more importantly, he now knows) that he is capable of swallowing a tablet/capsule. He was quite capable of this when he was three, but after a bad experience during one of his shunt malfunctions, has refused ever since. Not that we want him to be taking tablets/capsules all the time, but he can do it if necessary.

Thank you everybody who has read and/or responded lately. I’m sorry I haven’t answered everybody; I’ve felt a bit overwhelmed with things in general, but I still intend to get back to you. We really appreciate your support.