Additional Needs

Special Needs Parenting: The Newness of Things

Posted by Carolyn Voisey on 10th March 2017 Additional Needs, Advice & Support, Disabilities

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It is now a bit grim and grey out there… but from my window I can see the signs that nature is indeed waking up after the long winter months.

Snowdrops are all over the place, crocuses are popping up giving a dash of brilliant colour to the otherwise fairly bare landscape of our garden (currently a muddy marshland).

The animals can feel it too, the chickens are laying again, the dog is desperate to sniff *everything* (in fairness that’s nothing new) and the cats are starting to gear up for rodent hunting season - we have a small stream running through the garden, so voles are a common ‘present’ from our beloved felines from now till autumn.

But the big news in the household is that the VNS is now switched ooooon.

The little Dude was immensely brave having his stitches removed (even the last one that was a swine to get out), and he finally got to have a bath after 2 weeks of not being allowed.

Waking up this morning things felt exciting, the VNS is only on its initial settings currently so we have a way to go before it’s at a therapeutic level but there’s an optimism that we haven’t had for many years.

After trying medication after medication without success, its refreshing to be trying something different.

Of course, we all want it to work brilliantly but only time will tell… but knowing that we have something that could potentially allow us to stop a seizure starting or to shorten its duration/severity is a huge thing.

I promise in March I’ll talk about something other than the VNS and its associated stuff (ok, maybe there will be a little VNS stuff…) but February has been all about this one little device.

On a different note, Merlin has been incredible with Sam while he was healing after surgery – the poor pup missed his best friend terribly while Sam was in hospital and I suspect the feeling was mutual.

Knowing that he shouldn’t lick Sams neck/face he’s resorted to licking his hands as a way of letting Sam know that he’s with him, although I’m not so sure Sam appreciates having Merlins favourite toy dropped onto him while he’s napping on the floor.