Friday, July 23, 2010

In Which Connor Has A Quiet Day, And We Have A Sad Gerbil

Connor and I had a much-needed quiet day today. 

No more seizures, thankfully.  It's very likely that his seizure yesterday was, in fact, a breakthrough seizure because of his medication transition.  Tomorrow will be the first day he's on the full dose of Tegretol-- hopefully it will go smoothly and we won't see any more of those.

He had full function of his left side back this morning, which was nice.  We spent most of the day cleaning, catching up with family via phone (Connor provided the background piercing screaming-- he's not a big fan of Mommy's attention being on something other than him) and doing some gentle sensory therapy.  This is the first quiet at-home day we've had for a while, and it was interesting to watch Connor.  I think he was actually a little bored by our quiet, safe house, which is definitely a first for him.  I think he's started looking forward to our field trips, which is pretty amazing.  I'll be sure to take him out somewhere interesting tomorrow-- I'd like to keep that trend going!

In other topics, Connor's gerbil, Lili, has been spending a lot of time moping around lately.  Since he ate his brother a few months ago, he's taken to spending more and more time either eating or curled up in his nest.  I was worried he was getting sick, so I pulled out our gerbil books and did some research.  Turns out gerbils need a companion or they get depressed.  Seriously-- we have a depressed gerbil.  Since they don't make gerbil Prozac, apparently the only solution is to get your gerbil a companion.  I'm a little unsure of how this is going to work out, given the fate of Lili's last companion, but we'll use the recommended "split cage introduction" method and see how things work out.  So I'll be purchasing some hardware cloth and fashioning up a barrier when we get home.

I should probably mention that this will be a male gerbil companion.  We have no desire to experience the Miracle of Life around here; especially as I will be compelled to either find all of the gerbils perfect homes or keep them, and this will probably result in me having about 8,000 gerbils.  When you consider one pair of gerbils can have up to ten litters a year and have five to nine pups per litter, it wouldn't take much to turn me into That Crazy Gerbil Lady.  So Lili will have to spend his life celibate.  Tragic, I know. 

It's also relatively tragic that I'm worried about depression in a gerbil.  Oh well.

~Jess

4 comments:

Julia O'C said...

I think it's nice that you're worried about a depressed gerbil!! Good luck with the introduction of a new one.

And how cool is it that Connor is enjoying your outings! I'm looking forward to reading about more of them.

(Also: Hooray for a seizure free day!)

leah said...

Thank goodness yesterday was a seizure-free day. Here's to the Tegretol kicking in and preventing any more!

Poor gerbil- too bad they don't make rodent Prozac. Of course, I have no idea how you would get a gerbil to take a pill, so perhaps it is better that you simply find another "friend." Let's hope this one doesn't get eaten!

Unknown said...

Just think, you could use gerbils as party favors at Connors next birthday! That'd win you points with other parents! Ok, maybe just stick with two boys then... I've gone through that with my class pets (rats). It's remarkably hard to teach when you have two rats having a noisy battle royale in the back of the room! Good luck with your new meds, outings, and "operation happy gerbil".

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Sarah's comment about your gerbil(s) reminded me of a story my kids read once - "The Day Dinosaurs Came With Everythng!" Party favors - I like it!

Glad you got a quiet, restful day - you deserve it!

Julie

 
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