Psycho Psycho Child

It’s embarrassing to admit, but when Big J was a baby and I was completely out of it and not entirely myself – suffering from postpartum depression – I used to sing her the most horrible lullaby ever. I wish you could hear the tune, because at least that is somewhat soothing. The initial lyrics go like this, “Psycho, psycho child; why am I your mother?” Once I “came to” that song seemed to dissipate along with it – thank goodness! Every once in a while I will begin singing this song (just the “psycho, psycho child” part) when my kids are doing something extremely goofy and it has basically become a family joke.

In attempting to diagnose Mr. T’s cyclic fevers (he gets them on the dot every 28 days, they get as high as 106-107 degrees and last up to a week, week and a half), we have been consulting with a specialist at a Children’s Hospital. On Thursday we went and spent the afternoon with the boys – as the doctor insisted that both Mr. Man and I be there to hear the diagnosis and suggested treatments. Thankfully the most serious outcomes had been cast aside, and even Lyme disease had finally been ruled out. We are now left with two syndromes, both which are treatable and he will outgrow by the time he reaches adolescents (which is when we will have to really deal with his Trevor’s disease). Both syndromes have different treatments, and so in order for us to figure out which one he has, we have to have his blood drawn twice a week for the next three months, and then we are trying a treatment for the one syndrome which it seems more likely is the one he has. This involves giving him a steroid treatment at the onset of his fever – a double dose the first day and a single dose the second. Mr. T’s fever had started on Wednesday and so we decided (with the Doctor) to attempt the steroid treatment at once. It worked. What should have lasted days, ended after only a day and a half – that night Mr. T soaked through all his bedding and pillow and clothing… his fever broke! It truly seems like a miracle. No amount of ibuprofen or tylenol (we go through bottles monthly) or even antibiotics could keep this little guy’s fever down, let alone break it. We are hoping this will help in making a final diagnosis and help conclude the long-term treatment he will need. We are also hoping he won’t have to be on steroids for long… for when he is, he is truly a PSYCHO PSYCHO CHILD!!!

For two days this boy has not been able to sit still. My usually quiet and non-troublesome preschooler has been into everything and basically jumping off the walls! He has been flying like a bird, climbing anything he can, and even in the car when he is buckled in he will remove any item of clothing he can and throw it. He has been much more aggressive, but mostly just very high strung. Basically he is acting like a child who needs to be on a different kind of medication! If I didn’t know this was a side affect of the medication I would be going crazy myself, but since I know it’s not his fault and won’t last forever I have been laughing a lot at his antics. The boy cannot stop long enough to eat, nor can he fall asleep. His body itches and he talks non-stop about absolute jibberish. He is my psycho psycho child… and yet I am still grateful that he isn’t sick. He is more than happy about that too!