A Not-So-Happy Birthday for My Boy

Caiden's 14th birthday was today. He began feeling better yesterday, but was still weak, so I thought it best for him to stay home today. Besides, today his grade was going ice skating (something Caiden loves to do) and I knew there was no way on earth that he could skate.

As it turned out, he spent most of the day sleeping. We had a little party tonight with just our immediate family and Grandma and Grandpa. He requested a particular pizza from a local pizza parlor and cheesecake for his birthday cake. When it was time to eat, he got up from the table and went downstairs to lie on the couch without touching any of it. After dinner, I found him sitting on the floor in the bathroom. He had a bad headache and didn't want to finish celebrating his birthday. We convinced him to open one present after which he just wanted to have family prayer and go to bed. This is sooooooo unlike Caiden.

Later tonight, his best friend came over with a present. When he and his brother woke Caiden up, he looked much better. He got up and even followed them out to their car. After they left, he ate some dinner and went back to bed.

I think Caiden was just too exhausted for his birthday festivities. After a little rest, he had strength for awhile (long enough to get some food in his body) before he crashed again. We hope to have some sort of little celebration this coming weekend, if he feels up to it.

I'm not sure how he is going to handle going back to school. His hospital discharge papers indicated that he should be able to return to school today. Of course, that was before he came down with some sort of stomach flu, but I really can't see him being in any shape to return to school this week. He is weak, lethargic, and constantly complains of a headache which ibuprofen and tylenol only seem to take the edge off. He doesn't even have the energy to tackle any homework and we have no idea how long this is going to last. Most people are back to normal within six months, but some people take even longer. His case seems to be much milder than many, as there is no visible paralysis, so hopefully that indicates that he will have a quick recovery. I'm not even sure how the school handles these kinds of things. That is something I need to find out tomorrow.