Just when you start to relax

Well, this is going to be a little different to the blog post I had originally planned.  I’ll just have to get to that one later! 

One thing I really hate about Julian’s condition is the complete feeling of dread I feel whenever the phone rings and the phone number listed is his school.  You know, that “Oh, shit” feeling you get?  Without realising it, you’ve pulled your shoulders back, braced yourself and taken a deep breath before you have even picked up the phone.  I can still feel the knots in my shoulders from this latest call from Julian’s high school this morning . . .

Julian’s high school is great.  The Principal is fantastic and the Year 8 Co-ordinator is unbelievable.  It’s so nice to feel safe when you wave your kids off to school, knowing that the people whose care you are leaving them in are completely trustworthy and that even the students care deeply about the well-being of others.  The teacher’s at Julian’s school are extremely switched on and genuinely enjoy the company of their students.  This brings me back to my tight shoulders.  During the staff meeting this morning, each and every one of Julian’s teachers raised their concerns of how tired he looks.  Every single day, in each and every class.  So, we received a phone call from the Year 8 Co-ordinator and we put our heads together (so to speak) to come up with a plan to make Julian’s school year a bit easier on him.

After looking over his time-table, Nigel and I have agreed to let him drop 2 subjects – Home Economics (we’re big in the kitchen in our house, with the kids always getting involved in cooking and baking, so it’s no huge loss there) and Japanese (while we’d love for him to learn a language, it’s not a necessity in his life).  This will give him an afternoon in the school library to catch up on homework, do assignments and study, one afternoon off school and a morning off, which we both agree will help him out immensely.  We’re starting it as a trial from tomorrow and we’ll see how it goes over the next few weeks.

Now, if only we can get his sleep sorted out . . .