Staying Home

N is home sick today. He is having problems with intermittent diarrhea and cramps. They started last night so I know it's not just him resisting school.

He begs to stay home often. He always promises he'll get his work done better if he is home. However, he isn't getting too much done here either. I don't think I should send him back to school -- there wouldn't be a bathroom close enough. But he isn't sick enough to just lay around here. So, I'm trying to help him get caught up.

N has made enough progress with his anorexia over the past month, that I've started pushing his studies a little more. Pushing is the wrong word -- really I'm just having him stay after school (if he is late) to try and catch up what he missed that morning. I'm also asking about homework at home now. I'm not making him do it, but I'm asking about it. I haven't been asking about it at all over the past few months. I've known that he was behind, but I also knew that the stress would bring out all the worst of the anorexia. I asked N's therapist about my pushing his studies again. Dr. R's response was that N was probably more fragile than I realized and to proceed slowly and carefully.

I had previously shared my concerns with Dr. R. about getting N's calories up. He brought this topic up again last night. He talked again about making sure that N was progressing to his goal weight adequately, as assessed by a medical practitioner. Which reminded me again that N's medical care is really inadequate. So, this morning I put in a call to our local children's hospital (which is 45 minutes -- or more -- away) hoping to track down a pediatrician that specializes in eating disorders. It's too bad that our regular pediatrician doesn't have the knowledge that we need.