It’s time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  This is the time that I love to share things that Skylar has said or done that have left us red-faced, laughing, and sometimes speechless.  If you are new to my blog or missed previous posts, you can click here for a complete list of No Filter Friday stories.

Our story for this Friday happened in 2006.  For those of you who don’t know, Skylar not only has Autism, she also has Epilepsy.  In January of 2006 Skylar had not had a grand-mal seizure in almost 4 years and her neurologist suggested that we try to decrease her seizure meds.  We did not give her the mid-day dose of Depakote that day (a Thursday) and on Saturday morning I awoke to find Skylar seizing.  I immediately called 911 and they had to give her a LOT of medicine to stop the seizure.  In fact, the ER doc noted that she had been given enough medicine to “sedate a horse”.  When Skylar seizes, she does so with gusto!

Skylar did not wake up until later that evening.  When she did start to come out of the sedation the first thing she said was “I have a BAD headache”.  The doc said “I bet she does.  She had a LOT of medicine.”  She had been given benzodiazepines, which are not usually recommended for individuals on the autism spectrum as they can cause severe hallucinations.  Skylar had been given them before and we knew this, however we knew she wouldn’t stop seizing on her own.  Due to the severity of the seizure and some breathing issues they decided to admit her for observation.  Once she was settled in her room, her nurse came in and asked Skylar if she could get anything for her.  Skylar’s response:  “I still have my headache so I could really use a band-aid!”  The nurse giggled, said “Okay” and walked out of the room.  Skylar has always been a huge believer that band-aids help everything!  If she had a tummy-ache she would put a band-aid on her stomach.  We went through a box of band-aids at least every week.  I would rather just give her a band-aid than give her medicine.  If band-aids gave her comfort that was totally fine with us.

More than a half hour passed when the nurse came back into the room and asked how everything was going.  Skylar looked at her like she had 2 heads.  She tapped on her forehead and said to the nurse:

“Hellooooooo?  I NEED a band-aid!!”

The nurse was stunned.  She looked at me and said “Oh my!  She was serious about the band-aid?”

I said “She sure was!  I can assure you that if you just bring her the band-aid, she will not ask you for another thing during our stay.”

The nurse said “I am so sorry!  I totally thought she was kidding.”  She ran and got the band-aid and gave it to Skylar who happily put it on her forehead.

The next morning, the neurologist who was on-call came in to see her.  He saw the band-aid and said:

“Skylar, why do you have the band-aid?  Did you hit your head?”

Skylar said “Why do you think I have a band-aid on my forehead?  I already told the nurse….I HAVE A HEADACHE!!!”

The doctor immediately started laughing and said “Wow!  I wish that band-aids could fix everything like that!”  He flipped open her chart and turned to me and said “That’s right.  She has autism!  I should have known by her matter of fact response.”

I quickly apologized and he said “Are you kidding me?  I wish that I could be that brutally honest with people.  It is really refreshing!  She totally made my day!  I LOVE HER!”

We were so thankful for the comedic relief that Skylar gave us during a time that was extremely scary and emotionally draining.  We were also thankful for a doctor that had a wonderful sense of humor and was completely understanding and accepting of who Skylar was.

I hope that you all have a great weekend!

JuJu

*I was nominated for one of Babble’s Top Autism Spectrum Blogs.  I’m totally honored by this.  If you read my blog and you have found it helpful I would appreciate your vote.  I am currently in the 50’s.  You can click here and search for I Am JuJu, then click on the “I Like This” icon.  I believe you can only vote for one blog per computer/device. Thank you so much for your support!  I love sharing our journey with others and I truly hope that it brings hope and understanding regarding Autism.*