Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Trusting your child's caregivers

Some days, being "normal" feels harder than the crazy special needs life we lead.

Today I put Acorn and our brand new nurse (she oriented with our primary nurse last week, today was her first actual day of work) on the bus, less than an hour after she arrived.

It's the first time we've ever left a new nurse with Acorn for any length of time on their first day.

If he were a kid without medical complications, he'd've been in a daycare center. We'd've interviewed them, visited, investigated....and left him with them, probably without another thought.

It's hard to trust caregivers though, when you've got a kid like Acorn. It's been a year since the last time he quit breathing and turned blue....but if it happens, will the person with him know what to do? What if his trach comes out? His g-tube button? What if he vomits and gets it in his trach?

It's not like we have that many people we can trust with his care either - we've never left him with grandparents or anyone else in the family; they are unwilling to learn his care. We have, at this point, 3 day shift nurses and 3 night shift nurses - and this new day shift nurse is still up for discussion. We have one family friend who's watched Acorn a few times.

One of these days, the trach won't be an issue.

But leaving him at preschool? Putting him on the school bus all by himself?

I'm thinking I'll never get the hang of that.

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