Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The crystal ball is a tad fuzzy today

Aspie teen wants to become a paleontologist and archaeologist, the path on which he was well set when the brain fartage became so bad he snapped and had to withdraw from his 6th university unit.
One of his many heroes is Dr Zahi Hawass, the legendary Egyptian archaeologist.
So Aspie teen was most impressed to see the new doco series following him around in his work Chasing Mummies.
The kid is a walking, talking encyclopedia on a myriad of subjects but dinosaurs, archaeology, cultures and old stuff are his specialty.
I just wish there was a way for him to achieve his dream without any further stress but at this moment we don't know if the meltdowns trigger the partial seizures (which doesn't involve dropping to the ground or losing consciousness but is more a blanked out moment like staring off into the distance) or if the partial seizures trigger the meltdowns.
The fact we can go for days on end asking him to do the very things that appear to cause meltdowns at other times tells me there's something more going on and the complex partial seizures is a good candidate.
We've changed his homeschooling schedule and have learned to make it flexible so that we can duck and dodge on the days he wakes up dopey and hungover when it's possible he's had partial seizures in his sleep; these are the days his temper is on an uber-short fuse and the meltdowns are on a have-one-and-get-another-30-for-free offer.
It's an offer we'd love to refuse, really!
He may be returning to cricket but not riding his push-bike there, he might like Halloween but he won't be trick or treating (I don't have an issue with it being "too American" as some parts of Australia were celebrating it before some parts of America but it's the whole fact that he looks like he's 18 and too old) and we've had the big discussion of him never driving a car.
Yeah, we've dropped the big one.
I brought it up carefully over several months and have had opportunities to point out how his reactions are too slow for him to safely drive a car and react in time in situations where he'd need to suddenly brake, swerve, etc.
I think he's accepted the idea of public transport for the rest of his life but it's even more underscored by the possibility of these partial seziures and how he can be unreliable taking medication.
Or he may take to riding a broomstick around archaeology digs like his mother!

4 comments:

Cheryl D. said...

That must be tough for a kid to hear, but it with the partial seizures happening, it doesn't sound like driving could be a viable option for him. I hope the public transportation is good where you live. Where I live, it sucks!

River said...

Would the broomstick have a GPS unit, so he can always find his way home?

Archaeology used to fascinate me, but in school we only learned about how the Pharoahs were buried, I wanted to know how the common people lived their days. My youngest son shared the fascination for a time, loving everything to do with Egypt at one time.

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

Never driving a car. Poor guy!! We are at the point with our teen that we've told him he has to have his moods way under control before we'll ever think about it. He said that will probably be never. (He might be right, but what can you say?) I just told him that would have to be up to him when he's an adult, but when he's here and I'm paying blah blah blah.

These discussions are no fun!

JahTeh said...

I'm a bit late but I hope he didn't miss the Egyptian animal mummies on SBS for the last two Sundays.