As Ms. Elyse, the Nurse Practitioner from Center of Autism, suggested to try the medicine (Methylphenidate HCL 5mg) on weekend because the side effects might be tummy aches, headaches, and lost of appetite for the first few days, I decided to let him have it on Saturday.
He was ok when I told him that he needed to take this medicine to help him focus. He took the medicine with no problem. After 10 minutes, he complained about the tummy aches, so I rubbed his belly, but that went away after 10 minutes. Other than that, he did not have headaches or loss of appetite at all.
After 1 week of medicine, I noticed he had more aggressive behaviors like slamming doors, kicking things he saw when he was upset. So I stopped giving him the medicine. His aggressive behaviors went away after we stopped the medicine so it’s definitely this medicine is not good for him.
Late Thursday afternoon, William complained that his tooth hurt. I asked him to open his mouth and point to where he felt hurt, he pointed on the bottom right. I saw swollen gum so I thought that’s where it hurt.
I told him rinsing his mouth with salt water would help to sooth the swollen gum; and to my surprise, he was willing to try. I asked him to keep the salt water in his mouth until I counted to 20; and we needed to do it 3 times. I did it without any problem.
Later he seemed to feel hurt more, so I gave him some Motrin; that helped him to sleep easier. He woke up around mid night and complained about his tooth; it was more than 6 hours since I gave him Motrin so I gave him another 5ml; and 5ml Benadryl to help with his running nose. He felt asleep about 1 hour later.
Friday morning, he was still sleepy so I texted Mr. Castenada about his tooth and asked for excuse from class. “Toothache is no fun, let him rest” – replied Mr. C.
The whole Friday I’d give him Motrin every 6 hrs and had him rinse his mouth with salt water several times. I texted my good friend Nhi at the All Children Dental for appointment, we got one at 9:00 AM on Saturday. Knowing how he was so terrified on his first visit to the dentist about a year back, I primed him that we needed to see the dentist to check on his pain. “No pulling tooth?” – He asked. “No, the dentist will just check to see why your tooth is hurt” – I assured him. I also primed him that they’d need to take the X-ray so that he needs to sit still while doing the X-ray.
Saturday morning, he woke up early around 7:30 AM. I gave him some milk and cereal for breakfast before we headed to the dental office. We arrived around 8:30 AM, he did not seem to be scared at all, I’m glad.
Waiting to be called
His gum is swollen because of the new tooth coming out, I was wrong thinking that the hurt tooth. The one that hurt is the first Root Canal one.
After filling out the forms and waiting for 10 minutes, they called his name. They asked me to wait in the waiting area but I told the dental assistant that she would need my help because he would not sit still; so she let me in with him
She took him to the x-ray machine; to my surprise, he sit still and listened and did what the lady told him to do. Two year ago I had to sit on the X-ray chair and hold him! My little boy is growing up and starting to understand things.
Taking X-ray
Waiting for the dentist
After the X-ray, he was asked to sit on the chair and wait for the dentist. He jumped on it with some enthusiasm. I primed him that the doctor would need to see his teeth so he need to lie down still and open his mouth. He nodded. The assistant came to clean his teeth. As soon as he saw she picked up the cleaning tool, he jumped off the chair so quickly and stood next to the wall! Finally I had to hold him and lie down on the chair for the lady to clean his tooth. It was a quick clean for about 2 minutes.
We were told to wait for the doctor; so I got off the chair and let him sit there by himself. I reminded him again that the dentist will need to check his teeth so he needs to lie down still and do not move his head. But then when he saw the doctor apply some cream on his teeth, he jumped off the chair again and spit out on the floor! One more time I had to hold him lying down so that the doctor could exam his teeth.
“We need to pull out this tooth!” – the doctor said. Later when we got home, I realized that it’s the tooth that had the root canal 2 years back! Why he has pain on the root canal tooth and that we have to pull it out? Does that mean the root canal failed? I felt so sad that William has to go thru this for the tooth that is NOT supposed to hurt if the doctor did a good job on the root canal. The root canal procedure was supposed to save the tooth, but it did not! He went thru that traumatized experience 2 years ago for nothing!
Doctor Vo said to make appointment for pulling the tooth. I told her we’d call to make the appointment, so for now please prescribe him some antibiotics to help with the infection. So she did! ( She was not gonna prescribe anything until I asked).
William left the office feeling happy I think (no teeth was pulling out as I promised him). We stopped by the SaiGon pharmacy to get his antibiotics medicine right after leaving the dental office.
We got him, gave him some lunch and we started the antibiotics and continue with Motrin because he still felt hurt. He said the pink medicine does not taste good at all and that he hated it. He said last time we had white medicine which tasted better. I do not remember what was the color of the antibiotics last time but he kept saying it was white!
After 3 days with antibiotics, we finished 1 bottle, his pain is gone, so I stopped giving him antibiotics.
I was debating if I should make dental appointment for him for next Saturday or not; it’d be Memorial holiday weekend; We need to have him start on the ADHD medicine that Ms. Elyse prescribed for him; she said that would give him headache and tummy ache for about 3 days so we should start on the weekend, which means this Memorial weekend is perfect to start. If we don’t, then we’d have to wait till the next weekend. This is the 2nd weekend after her prescription so I don’t think we should not delay further. Thus, I decided not to make that dental appointment; and that we’d start on the ADHD medicine instead.
He’s no longer feel pain on his bad teeth, last time I checked. “My tooth feels better now!” – He said.
Zoom meeting at home. We talked about giving William medicine to help with his focus. She prescribed short acting medicine Methylphenidate HCL 5mg to have in the morning, which will last around 4-5 hours. Side effects would be tummy aches, headache for the first 3 days and loss of appetite. She suggested to give it on the weekend.
We primed William the night before that we’d go hiking; and to my surprise, he was ok with it.
It was a cloudy day which is perfect for hiking. The “Hiking Trail Bonita Falls” is in San Bernadino National Forest, which is about 1 hr driving from Santa Ana. We arrived to the parking area around 10:00 AM; and there were a few parking spaces left. Actually there’s no designated parking lot: we parked along the road and then walked to the 2 green portable restrooms where there’s a little trail to get down.
Once we’re down, we’d have to cross a little creek: there are some tree trunks and rocks lying across the creek so if you don’t to get wet, you can walk on these. William walked on it fine; he was scared at first but kept walking and made it to the other side with Tim; I was so scared that it took me so long to cross it; William was waiting for me at the other end and handed out the wood stick toward me so that I could grab it. Thank you for trying to help, my little boy! 🙂
There’s rocks every where; there’s no established trail! The worse part is that there’s no sign at all. We kept walking on the rocks and asked people for directions when we saw someone. We walked so slow that a few groups of people could easily passed by us, leaving us alone by ourselves. We thought about giving up a few times. William looked tired but he did not complain or cry/whine at all. He was so good today.
“It’s a hidden trail to go up to waterfall, keep to the left” – the man said. So we kept to the left and kept walking, still have no idea how far we needed to go because there’s no signs; the only signs we saw along the way are the paints that people sprayed on the rocks; there were some arrows pointing up. When we were about to give up, we saw some people coming down from what looks like a trail to our left far ahead; “That must be the way to the waterfall” – I told William. So instead of going back to the car, we aimed to that trail. And finally we got there!
We love this log
William is walking with the stick found by the creek
Broken tree along the way
The mark of beginning of the trail to waterfall
But, it’s not it! it’s the beginning of the trail to go UP to the waterfall: it’s an up hill which is full of more rocks! We walked slowly, took breaks often and drank water; at one point William wanted to go back to the car; then suddenly there it is, we heard the sound of the water! So we encouraged him to keep walking and finally we found it. It’s just simply beautiful!
William tried to get near to the waterfall, he enjoyed sitting on the rocks and looking at the water; we took some pictures and short video clips. It’s a small area so when it was started to get crowded, we decided to leave.
The way back of course is faster because now we know the way; but it was so windy that William asked for his jacket.
We crossed that little creek again to get to the other side; but this time we did not care if our feet got wet!
“William, did you like the hike and waterfall?” – I asked. “Yes” – he replied softly.
I’m glad that he’s starting to like hiking and being outdoor. Last year we went to the Malibu state park, he ran back to the car as fast as he could when he saw a small butterfly!
