preemie-l pain and sensitivity
Gary & Tammy Bangs (gtbangs@worldnet.att.net)
Wed, 12 Jun 1996 23:26:52 -0700
Count Taylor as one of the tough ones!! A few months ago I had to take
him to the emergency room because all of the sudden he started crying,
and could not be consoled. He even cried in the car, something he NEVER
does. It turned out that he had a very severe middle AND outer ear
infection. He had shown absolutely no signs of a problem before his
crying episode. He never pulled his ear, or had a fever, he had played
and been very active the whole day. It never even entered my mind that
it could be an ear infection. The doc said that considering how severe
the infection was, and the fact that it had migrated to the outer ear as
well, he had to have had it for several days, he should have been in
pain for a while. It made me wonder if he just perceives pain as a
normal part of life. This also coincides with the fact that he doesn't
seem to recognize, or at least acknowledge, hunger. I have to pin him
down to feed him. He never asks for food. In fact it is sort of the
running joke at our house that if Taylor is bugging you, just offer him
food and he'll run away. The idea that no child will starve himself
certainly does not apply to Taylor. I have often wondered if it is
because he just considers the hunger pain as a normal 'pain' that is
just a part of life, or if he doesn't recognize it as something he can
do something about. He was on a very tight med and feed schedule (every
three hrs round the clock) until he was about 18 mo old. So up until
that point, I really don't think he ever got the chance to get hungry,
so now maybe he just doesn't know what it is.
Tammy,
Mom to Taylor (28 wks-now 3 and hates food), angel Alex, and Travis (19
mo and eats everything in sight, and outweighs Taylor by 3 pounds)
wife to Gary (out to sea again)