The Rest of the Story

No we did not find the eye,  The next step was to call the ocularist to have a new eye made.  So the next morning I called Mr. J.   I explained our problem that Tristan’s eye had been flushed down the toilet.  Mr. J listened and then responded that a few times a year he gets similar phone calls,  In fact, he just spoke to a lady whose eye was on the counter and bounced off into the toilet as it was being flushed.   He said this is just one of those freak accidents.   I could not believe it!  We got the eye replaced rather quickly.  Another healthy dose of laughter from our home!

Eye Am Watching

Often we have different respite workers in our home. One day we had a nice lady, we will call her Mary, watch Tristan while we took our other son, Jacob, to the movies.  Just about the time the movie was over, I saw on my cell phone she was calling. I said to Brian, ” I need to call Mary, because I just missed her call.”  I quickly move to a hallway and called.  She was crying on the phone.  Mary stated that Tristan’s fake eye was missing.  I reassured her that it would be fine. No worries we would be home soon.  We arrived home and started searching.  Mary explains Tristan came out of his room and went into the bathroom.  When he came out of the bathroom she noticed his eye was missing.  It is important to note Tristan was laughing when he came out of the bathroom.  We continued looking while Mary was getting ready to leave.  Our gut told us where the eye was.  We waited for her to leave because we did not want to upset her anymore.  We spent a few more minutes looking in a few locations.  It was not found.  We knew where the eye was and it was not going to be retrieved.  We knew the eye had been flushed down the toilet.  It was time to cancel the search.  You may be wondering how we knew.  If Tristan laughs it’s not good news.  It means he is up to something.  So our NEW rule to respite caregivers has changed.  We now say they are not responsible if his eye is missing. We   can get it replaced–no worries.  Another healthy dose of laughter from our home!

The Rules

        Over the years we have had quite of few different respite care workers in our home.  Some people we would find in the community on our own,  While others would come from an agency that provided respite caregivers.  It is always an interesting process of explaining our son, Tristan, to each of his caregivers.  We try to remember every detail.  At one point I had a script written out to refer to.  The rules go something like this:  1) keep all doors locked—He is risk of elopement.  Do not lose him! 2) If you need it cooler in our home, turn up the A/C.  Do not open the windows, he will crawl out.  3) Food is an emotional issue.  Please feed him upon request.  Reassure we have food.  4)  He has an artificial eye.  Not to scare you but it can come out.  Let me show you what the old one looks like to familiarize you 5) Tristan is like a two year old who is curious.  Please keep that in mind.  He will test you to see if you can handle him.  6)  Call us if you need ANYTHING.  7) Have Fun!

That pretty much sums it up.  I often leave the house hoping the time goes smoothe. The next post will continue with some of the workers and their experiences.  You won’t want to miss out!