*Warning* It's about to get gross.
For those of you who have had cats, you will know what I'm talking about. You know that smell when the litterbox has gone too long without being cleaned? You know that tangy smell after the cat has urinated in the wrong area and you think you can still smell it? You know how most people gag at the smell of fresh & large excrement?
This is our life now.
No, we don't have a cat. We have a child who continues to meet our acknowledgement of "special needs." We have a child who unofficially has encopresis. Let's get real about this. He poops in his pants every day. Every. DAY. Sometimes even more than once a day. We have that smell in our nose constantly, thinking we smell it everywhere - in the bed, in the car. It makes cozying up next to him a chore. I have had a nauseous feeling & headache for two days - because I can't escape it. We divvy up the job - who is going to wipe his dried crusty butt when he gets home each afternoon, peeling away the excess; and who is going to peel the excess out of his underwear and scrub the chunks out so they can be washed. If we threw them away, we'd have to buy 2 new underwear packages a week.
He had an x-ray to see if there was severe constipation or an impaction - it was clear. So we've been referred to a pediatric specialist in Ann Arbor to determine if it's something physical or psychological. So another doctor. Even he is starting to complain about it. Meanwhile, you can find us armed with an old potato scrubber & flushable moist wipes.
For those of you who have had cats, you will know what I'm talking about. You know that smell when the litterbox has gone too long without being cleaned? You know that tangy smell after the cat has urinated in the wrong area and you think you can still smell it? You know how most people gag at the smell of fresh & large excrement?
This is our life now.
No, we don't have a cat. We have a child who continues to meet our acknowledgement of "special needs." We have a child who unofficially has encopresis. Let's get real about this. He poops in his pants every day. Every. DAY. Sometimes even more than once a day. We have that smell in our nose constantly, thinking we smell it everywhere - in the bed, in the car. It makes cozying up next to him a chore. I have had a nauseous feeling & headache for two days - because I can't escape it. We divvy up the job - who is going to wipe his dried crusty butt when he gets home each afternoon, peeling away the excess; and who is going to peel the excess out of his underwear and scrub the chunks out so they can be washed. If we threw them away, we'd have to buy 2 new underwear packages a week.
He had an x-ray to see if there was severe constipation or an impaction - it was clear. So we've been referred to a pediatric specialist in Ann Arbor to determine if it's something physical or psychological. So another doctor. Even he is starting to complain about it. Meanwhile, you can find us armed with an old potato scrubber & flushable moist wipes.
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