I just wanted to highlight the resilience of kids, I know all parents will be looking at this thinking my kids resilient, they hurt themselves or are hurt by someone else and they cry for a little bit, suck it up and then carry on with their innocent ways!
My recent experience is slightly different, my son has Williams Syndrome, its a genetic deformity that affects 1 in 25000 births so doesn't get much exposure - its not too dissimilar from Downs Syndrome in that all sufferers have similar facial features and mannerisms.
Compared to a Downs Syndrome sufferer they were both asked to name animals
Down Syndrome person said dog, cat, horse, sheep, pig, horse, sheep etc...
Williams Syndrome person said Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pterodactyl (sp?), Rhino, Elephant, Crocodile - you get the idea - the language skills are massively different.
My son wasn't diagnosed until he was two and a half - this in itself has caused problems which are still evident.
Anyway back to the resilient side - Williams Syndrome sufferers generally have heart defects - my son was originally diagnosed with a heart murmur, not overly serious but it always had to be mentioned when we visited the docs. The diagnosis of WS wasn't properly made and I don't think would have been so soon if the cardiologist of all people hadn't suggested it - luckily he did cos we then had a label for all his problems - doesn't sound nice but it at least gave some kind of explanation of what we had been experiencing!
Last week my son was operated on for an Aortic Stenosis - a narrowing of the main valve coming from his heart, it was essentially too thin so they opened him up, cracked his rib cage, stopped his heart and sliced open his Aortic valve and stitched in a long triangular piece of gortex.
They use this as it is water proof and non stick so it doesn't cause blood clots.
This was open heart surgery however he was up and walking about within 48 hours under stipulation from the physio, 5 days after the op he was on the trampoline with his friends as if nothing had happened.
We went through 5 days of complete stress however I reckon he barely remembers anything bad happening as it was over so quick, me or you and we would have been bed bound for a week at least.
Just nice to get that off my chest - thanks for reading!
Apologies if this is a bit garbled - a bottle of vodka will do that to you!!
My recent experience is slightly different, my son has Williams Syndrome, its a genetic deformity that affects 1 in 25000 births so doesn't get much exposure - its not too dissimilar from Downs Syndrome in that all sufferers have similar facial features and mannerisms.
Compared to a Downs Syndrome sufferer they were both asked to name animals
Down Syndrome person said dog, cat, horse, sheep, pig, horse, sheep etc...
Williams Syndrome person said Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pterodactyl (sp?), Rhino, Elephant, Crocodile - you get the idea - the language skills are massively different.
My son wasn't diagnosed until he was two and a half - this in itself has caused problems which are still evident.
Anyway back to the resilient side - Williams Syndrome sufferers generally have heart defects - my son was originally diagnosed with a heart murmur, not overly serious but it always had to be mentioned when we visited the docs. The diagnosis of WS wasn't properly made and I don't think would have been so soon if the cardiologist of all people hadn't suggested it - luckily he did cos we then had a label for all his problems - doesn't sound nice but it at least gave some kind of explanation of what we had been experiencing!
Last week my son was operated on for an Aortic Stenosis - a narrowing of the main valve coming from his heart, it was essentially too thin so they opened him up, cracked his rib cage, stopped his heart and sliced open his Aortic valve and stitched in a long triangular piece of gortex.
They use this as it is water proof and non stick so it doesn't cause blood clots.
This was open heart surgery however he was up and walking about within 48 hours under stipulation from the physio, 5 days after the op he was on the trampoline with his friends as if nothing had happened.
We went through 5 days of complete stress however I reckon he barely remembers anything bad happening as it was over so quick, me or you and we would have been bed bound for a week at least.
Just nice to get that off my chest - thanks for reading!
Apologies if this is a bit garbled - a bottle of vodka will do that to you!!
