Wednesday, January 9, 2008

My Little Guy

I'm home sick today although I'm actually not sick. I just happened to wake up in the middle of the night with a splitting headache so I took my temperature and sure enough I had a fever of 101. The weird thing is that is the only problem... just a fever. I have spent my day on the couch resting so this fever won't progress to something that will knock me down for quite some time. I am guilty for enjoying the day off, but I haven't taken a sick day in years. The only problem with me not being there today is that one of my students, M., was returning to school today for an hour or so after being in and out of the hospital.

I am in love with M. He is about the best little guy to ever enter my life. M. was adopted from Korea. His adoptive parents have divorced and both have since remarried. M's older brother has Aspergers Syndrome and was in my class 3 years ago. I'm saying all of this because despite his background story, M. has it all together. There is something about him that is wise beyond his years. He has an understanding of things that most children don't even pick up on. M. is a special kid. He is so creative. You could give him a paper clip, some wax paper, a toilet paper roll, and some bubble gum and he would design a spaceship out of it all. He just has that vision. He is also a writer and takes great pride in his stories. He loves to share his stories, especially the ones he writes about the great white shark! M. makes up songs all day long and sings them quietly as he works. I've suggested getting him involved in some type of music class so he could have an outlet for all his creativity.

Sadly, my classroom has been lacking with songs and stories of the great white shark recently. Before winter break, M. was playing basketball and told his mom or dad that he felt like he had been shocked. They didn't really think much of it until later when M. was talking to his mom and seemed to day dream in the middle of his sentence. This continued happening frequently throughout the rest of the weekend. His family decided to keep him home for the last three days before break and took him to the doctor. They diagnosed him with having seizures, but they were uncertain why. M.'s seizures continued and the intensity and frequency of them were rising. He went from having absence seizures to full blown tonic clonic seizures. The doctors have put M. on medicine but he is still seizing at least 7 times a day. He has missed almost 2 weeks of school. His parents are taking him to the best of the best doctors this week to have a higher resolution MRI done and attempt to learn more about the cause of his sudden onset of epilepsy.

I've never had something happen like this to one of my students. Its really upset me. I am constantly thinking of M. and his family. So, if you're reading this, please keep my little guy in your thoughts. I'll update as I learn more.

2 comments:

Ashley said...

Oh no! I think I know which little boy you're talking about, and if so, he certainly is a sweet, sweet kid. I'll be thinking about him and his family.

MadMad said...

Oh, how awful! I'm so sorry! I hope he is doing better by now.

(I seem to be having a problem getting newer posts on blogger - I could have sworn I visited recently and didn't see a new post, let alone all these...? I'm confused. Oh well. In any case, I hope they've figured out the problem with the little boy!