Ahren's Accidents

  It had crossed my mind that maybe Ahren was using Seth's most notorious method for getting attention and pushing people away, but only briefly. First, Ahren has ALWAYS had huge issues with constipation. He has been on meds fro three years to help him go on a regular basis. I am not talking the run of the mill episode of constipation, I am talking bloody tears even WITH the medication. His muscles are weak, even those in his intestinal tract, and they just do not move waste efficiently. We have fought hard to keep him regular and not let him get a blockage or develop encopresis*.
  I had noticed that during the first week of school we did not see one single BM from him at home or school. Each day I added more fiber and other 'moving' foods and that weekend he went 9 or 10 times, each one very large. Then it was labor Day then we had the rest of the week off for the fires. He had no problem at home.
  Back to school and again he was getting backed up. I implemented the same measures but this time, by Thursday, he was pretty blocked up and after lunch, recess and then PE, the liquid waste from higher up in his intestines made an end-run around the hard part and he was blind-sided. Accident #1. I thought that maybe I had given him too much assistance and that resulted in his stools becoming too loose. I backed off some and he seemed OK.
  Next week the exact same thing happened, same scenario. Only this time the poor guy went to the bathroom in time, but someone was in the stall. He tried to go to the girls bathroom but didn't make it to the potty. Accident #2. Mommy schedules a doctors appointment and prays he is OK for now.
  The doctor is concerned he has crossed over into *encopresis, a situation where chronic constipation dilates the bowel and reduces the nerve sensations in that area. He is losing the sensation of needing to go. We worked over the weekend to get him cleaned out with little success. This week we are continuing meds, plus probiotics and fiber, and adding prescribed potty times. The school nurse gets him every day after lunch and takes him to her office and he sits on her potty. Seems like a good plan, right?
  Accident #3 happened yesterday at the end of the day. Luckily I was home and could immediately go get him. I also took the super nursing staff a case of baby wipes and a bunch of clorox wipe packs. Bless their hearts they were all hugging me and telling me it was OK. I just HATE this! Is he losing function because of his muscular dystrophy? Will it get better or not? Is he going to be the kid in diapers at school, soon to be in a walker or wheel chair?

  Oh, and the frosting on the cake? My little intentional pooper told me last Thursday that he just might have an 'accident' at school, too. I told him how sad I would be since he has done such a super job, and also told him it is awful for this to happen to Ahren. It's embarrassing and the other kids might make fun of him which would really hurt his feelings. Sure enough on Friday he came home with dirty pants in his backpack and a note from the teacher. Now get this, he managed to get the tiniest smear of poop in his underwear. Then went to the teacher and whispered to her that he had had an accident. She helped him get his back-up clothes and he went back to the restroom, cleaned himself up and changed clothes. Then quietly placed the dirty clothes in the bag in his backpack and returned to class. Not one kid ever realized what he did. Of course, the first thing he announced to us that night was, 'I had an accident at school', all the while wearing a big smile.

I'm sure the school is loving us.......