[twitter]Underwear accidents are something you just have to deal with as a parent. There’s always a Ziploc bag in our boys’ school bags with spare underwear and socks, just in case.
Our boys listen to their bodies, but even 99 times out of a hundred still leaves that one time where, well, they don’t make it. So the baggie with the backup is always on hand.
For Charlie, the issue is a little different: he doesn’t go. There was a period of time last year where going the bathroom for Charlie became such a chore, so painful, that he developed fissures. He complained his tummy hurt, and we were worried about a relapse of his hernia developing.
A visit to the pediatrician and we discovered Charlie was constipated. Very constipated. He had backed up well into his descending and transverse colon. There was a lot of material there, and it was hard to move. Things were solid, so no wonder it hurt when he went to the bathroom, he was passing solid matter. The doc prescribed a lower dose of laxative usually used by adults, and we cleared him out over a weekend.
We were warned things could be sudden, we watched over him carefully and the evacuation never happened en masse, but going to the bathroom became easier for Charlie. He became less afraid as what he was passing became softer.
14 months later, and Charlie still gets a small dose of laxative at dinner every day. The idea to make things soft enough that Charlie isn’t afraid to go to the bathroom. We have to put distance between the painful fissures and the ease of, simply, going to the bathroom.
The doctor thinks it might be a side-effect from Charlie’s inguinal hernia. That pain, right when he was potty training, he might have associated with going to the bathroom. He’s afraid to push, and so, he holds it in. The idea with the laxative is to make it as easy as possible to get things done.
We had our 6 month followup last week, and the doc thinks it could still be another year of meds before he’s convinced Charlie can do things on his own. Our health issues with the boys have been routine and minor, but still, it makes my heart ache.
Image via Quinn Dombrowski on Flickr