As some may know, I am having issues with DS and his lack of eating and drinking.

Well, months ago, between a few of us, we decided that it'd be best for DSs health, that he be tubed. I was ok with the decision and we thought that maybe, if we could get his weight up and clear his system out, that he may feel like eating again. THEN he see a specialist that deals with children's aversions to textures and tastes and work on building up his facial muscles.

This is where the story begins...


We get the local hospital on side by getting an appointment with the dietician here and by me having correspondence daily, with the one from Brisbane. I take DS to his appointment and it's agreed that a Nasogastric tube is an excellent idea. He sends me off to the GP to get that organised. I call up our GP and he tells me that it has to be done through the local hospital and that they don't have the equiptment there to be able to insert a tube or control how much, when, where and the rest.

I call the dietician and let him know that the GP won't be able to do anything about it... He calls the GP and then calls me back to say that yes, the message I relayed was right.. DER! :wink:

He then calls the doctor at the hospital who tells him that we will have to start from scratch. Get DS to have an X-ray to see how bad the constipation is (Or if he in fact is at all.. because apparently, what a mum says and what's actually happening are 2 different things)

The dietician says he'll leave the Xray request form at medical imaging and that I could take him up for that, then speak to the doctor after to discuss what happens next.

I call up xray the next day, the form is no where to be found. He says that he'll check his chart and a few other places to see if he could find it. This was a Friday. He calls back to say that no, he can't find it and that I would have to get another one made up.

That's fine, I call him up on the Monday, leave a message. He doesn't call back.

I call back Tuesday and leave another message, this time, the receptionist calls back to say that one is up at xray for us and that we can go up and get that done.

I ring xray to make sure that they actually have it and I take him up. We wait for a while, then he goes in for it.

I talk to the receptionist at outpatients and she says that she will take his chart in and the note about the xray to the doctor and could we sit and wait....

We wait 2 hours.. still nothing. People that came in after us were going in and had gone. I figured I should ask someone what's going on when a doctor comes over and asks why we were there.. SO I explain and he says that he cant do anything about it as he would have to start from the beginning and could I make an appointment for in a weeks time. I ask him what Im supposed to do about the constipation until then, and explain that DS will never take the medicine and that it's just going to get worse. He was dehydrated, although not quite badly enough to need an IV for fluids.

He kicks us out! So by now, I'm even more fuming than I was months ago when this all began and the ignorant public health system sent us on a wild journey .

I call back the Brisbane mob (Haha) and she tells me that I should ring up the Paediatrician and see what he wants us to do.

I call him and he says to get DS to the next biggest hospital ASAP.

Oh dear.. I have run out of energy to write the rest of this right now.. I will get back to it later. I have to go and make more phone calls.. Bloody kids! :011:

I don't like it! Not one bit. I swear It's Swine Flu. Or whooping cough.. Either way, I would just like to have a good night sleep instead of sleeping for maybe an hour a night for the past 2 weeks! :011:

Why am I laughing? Because, I've been taking Codeine and my mummy tells me that it can constipate you and that I should be drinking more water. Of course, I just went 'Yeh mum, whatever'. Oh dear, I've been farting so much and it's worse when I cough because it all comes, literally, flying out! No, Not poo you disgusting minded people pmsl! Just gas. I have gas.. Just like Flo on the movie 'Cars'.

I had an alright ish, day! I dragged myself out of bed at whatever time it was and had a quick shower. I did the usual head count before getting in.

1 - Getting her own breakfast.. Check
2 - Rolling off the side of her bed and dropping onto the floor.. Check
3 - Still fast asleep, I choose not to disturb him! Check
4 - Uh oh!!! Where is she? Being the youngest, and smallest, she seems to find herself in the weirdest places. I was expecting to find her in the bottom of my bed under mountains of blankets and pillows. Nope.. Not there..
On the lounge? Nope
In her own bed? Oh hell no!
Out in the back yard? Nope
Anywhere else that I've looked? Nope..

So of course, I start to panic! I'm running around, yelling out to the kids to help me look for her. I figure 3 of us has got to be better than just me.

L comes in and she has a weird look on her face. I'm thinking the worst has happened and am almost in tears. L starts giggling.. Ok I think.. It can't be to bad! She tells me to come into my bathroom. The one place I hadn't looked. A is sitting on the toilet, nappy off, toilet roll in hand. :011: She's completely nude.. And has rolled up pieces of toilet paper in her nose, ears, mouth, between her toes, all nicely placed. Pure relief sets in and I ask her what she's doing. She comes out with.. 'I'm just filling in the holes mummy..' I reply with, 'Ok Abs, Off the toilet and we'll get these bits of toilet paper out of here.. and here... and here .. and WHAT THE HELL do you have toilet paper in your bum for?' Her reply? 'Their's a hole in there too.. and here' as she points to her gine.

As I'm removing all the piece of toilet paper, I have the discussion with her as to why she shouldn't fill all holes and crevices with toilet paper. She looks completely shocked and horrified ! She then explains to me that she is a big girl and doesn't wear nappies anymore. BUT she keeps doing wee's in her undies so she has to close up the holes to stop them from leaking. :011: She's beautiful. We now understand that you must not clog up these very important holes.

So all cleaned up and dressed for the day, I figure I might as well get out of the house and try to socialise a little. We head over to my mums. I end up spending the entire day there, watching movies and laughing and coughing and laughing and coughing and eating chocolate. My aunt took the kids back to my place and left me there with my mum, and T. It was bliss!

Except my sister and her friend were there. To know what they're like, you would have to meet them. I have no words to describe just how funny they are. Legends.. I never laugh as much as I do when I spend a day at my mums place. Conversations about bodily fluids and sounds. Moobs... (Man boobs) and so many other amusing and wonderful words!


Now I am home, tired, still coughing and wishing I was asleep rather than writing up yet another blog post! I bet no one bloody reads it anyway!

Tomorrow is Sunday, and Sunday is washing bedding day. I doubt I will have any interesting stories for the day. But then again.. In the life of a single mum with 4 kids, You never know what the next day will bring..

You wake up during the night and it's silent.. You suddenly think to yourself, 'What happened?' .. Suddenly your a mother to 4 kids, living in a nice house, opposed to a flat with a bunch of drunks, and life is good!

It was at that point last night that I realised just how good life is! Aside from the dirty nappies, mountains of washing, spilt milk, smelly farting children who like to compete with each other and the abundance of appointments when you have children with disabilities.

What did I do in this lifetime to deserve such beautiful, smart, talented children who find even the simplest of things in life, fun, and what happened to me that I seem to of forgotten that these fun things exist?

This is why, from now on, I am going to rediscover these 'simple' 'fun' 'things'..

I started off by asking my 5 year old what she thinks would be something fun for us to do together. She suggested MUD PIES. Far out. Now that's going to the extremes of simple fun.

I immediately thought of the mountains of washing that I still have sitting in my laundry, the carpet that is far from a dark colour and really could do without having mud spots and the amount of cleaning up required after all of this!!

Is it really worth it? :011:

I'm not thinking so! So here I am again, back to my ignorant adult ways.

I'll continue to ask my children idea's of things that I could do. Let's just hope that tomorrow's task is a little less messy!!!!