Received this text the other day from Courtney’s Papa…

Courtney came home in meltdown mode. Driver said only started as she was stopping at your house. Nothing on school note to suggest anything wrong. Held crotch area during crying – not wet and no poop. Quieting down a little now, but starts crying off and on for no apparent reason. Sending this text since it is Friday afternoon!

Those who have followed our journey may understand why my first thought when receiving this text was a very anxious, NO, NOT AGAIN!

Rewind almost exactly a year ago. Almost to the exact weekend! Ironic, right?! Courtney started having horrible meltdowns that consisted of inconsolable screaming, self injurious behaviors, and grabbing herself in the crotch area. Literally nothing worked to calm her down. We saw these episodes on and off for months. She missed lots of school, I missed lots of work, we all cried lots of tears. After several tests including multiple urinalysis, abdominal X-rays, and blood work it was concluded she was severely backed up. Those 4 months were traumatizing.

Recently I was listening to a podcast (@adventuresinautismpod) where an autism mom talked about the tough summer they had because of behaviors that her son started to exhibit. She commented that it felt like she was recovering from a trauma. I took a moment to respond to the podcast that as someone who has survived a near death experience, I can easily say there are events with Courtney that are just as hard to emotionally recover from. The feeling I felt Friday when I received the text from my father-in-law proved that.

The end of the text said “texting this because it’s Friday afternoon”. Meaning, just in case you want to call the dr before the weekend. That’s exactly what I did. This time around we are going to stop it before it gets as bad. This time will be different. We will not relive last fall.

Well…as suspected, it’s a combination of constipation and a UTI. We will not let this get us down though. It is only making me more determined to find ways to help her chronic issue with constipation.

On a positive note…kindergarten is off to a great start! Let’s just hope this doesn’t change that.