Thread 49 - Covid GCSE Cohort - The nights are drawing in...

[OrangeSpicedBun]

Autumn 🍂 well and truly underway, has been chilly this week !

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results ( or life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, uni vs employment please don't within this thread.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue. We were previously on the secondary board and then further education, now we shall be here in 'Parents of Adult Children' gulp

Our DS/DD may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed). Experience is that everyone is welcomed wherever, whatever their child is doing we have some in work, gap years , apprenticeships etc too. Lots of contributors with different experiences and always sympathy and advice to be had.
Previous thread :

www.mumsnet.com/talk/parents_of_adult_children/4880640-thread-48-covid-gcse-cohort-summer-before-year-2-uni?latest=1

Sorry to hear about DS @JustHereWithMyPumpkin that sounds grim, well done for rescuing him.

@icanbewhatiwant thinking of you and DH, those are some big decisions re telling the DCs etc. Treatments are improving all the time, fingers crossed for him.

@PhotoDad cool album cover! Puts me in mind of Jethro Tull (theirs is one of my favourite Christmas albums).

@Comefromaway wow, what a time of it for DS, you must be so proud of him.

DS has had an up and down week. He got a really good assignment mark and was chuffed to bits, then a friend came to stay from home and has been staying they've had some good fun but friend got stranded there over the weekend because of train strikes and DS just wants a bit of space again, hopefully he gets home today. Also the fire alarm has gone off in the middle of the night several nights in a row. DS has an exam next week and is worried about it, he is going to see the disability team today as he used to have access arrangements, he has got extra time but is worried about some aspect of it (I didn't really understand).

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin well done for the rescue. That sounds awful. Does he have home GP appointment?

@PhotoDad - cool album cover!

@EerilyDecorated - great news on the assignment. I hope exam goes well

@EerilyDecorated well done on your DS's assignment and hope the fire alarms stop soon!!

@craggyrat he has literally just switched his GP to one in Notts because he needed to see them and the transfer only came through on Saturday so we're a bit buggered with that one, he just wanted to be home where he's got his comforts and people looking after him. I've just taken his temp, its 36.9 so only 0.9 higher than mine so no real fever but he is feeling so rough again this morning, just made him the softest breakfast in the world but he can't eat it even though he's very hungry.

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin - that's just typical re GP isn't it! It is so crazy they can't have dual access when at uni with home too. We had to use drop in at hospital last year for nose infection.... I hope he soon picks up now home

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin sending empathy to you and DS. I have the worst cough I can remember, not coughing blood, but lots of catarrh, and has left me unable to do anything without bringing on a coughing fit. Can't sleep because I am coughing through the night. I can recommend yogurt/actimel, icecream, macaroni cheese (no breadcrumb topping), nice smooth, slippery food, I guess jelly and angel delight would be good too. If eating is painful, could try some pain killers, I have been using ibuprofen. You can register him as a visitor with your GP, and if coughing up blood I think you have good reason. NHS says use lots of pillows as lying flat makes it worse and say stay hydrated, they recommend honey and lemon, but I think warm blackcurrant is also good. Hope he makes a speedy recovery with some home love.

I hope mine is nearly finished, supposed to be going to concerts tomorrow and Friday, bringing DS1 back from Manchester for a weekend after concert on Friday, but I would not be a popular audience member at the moment!

@Comefromaway crazy, but exciting times! Hope he is getting enough sleep!

Thanks both, he's currently taking paracetamol with codeine plus nurofen 2 hours later and it's making little to no impact. He's also using an aesthetic throat spray but again not really helping. I've been trying to give him smooth food @Monkey2001 but it's painful too. I might get him some ice cream though so that's a good shout. I'm going to book a private GP appointment for him today if I can, I've just realised the relatively low temp is probably because he's on a constant round of painkillers which are bringing it down!

@Monkey2001 I really hope your cough clears up soon, it's so miserable not being able to sleep on top of feeling like rubbish.

Get well soon, Monkey and your poor DS, JustHereWithMyPumpkin.

The whole uni/home GP situation is tricky to navigate, isn't it?I
DD has real difficulties getting her ADHD prescriptions because she's kept her care at home and the MH team have to send scripts by post, which can take up to a fortnight from when she requests them. This month (they will only send one month at a time), her consultant was ill so it was delayed waiting for another doctor to sign off, which meant she was without meds for a couple of weeks...not good.
The whole situation takes more forethought and proactiveness than DD is capable off, but it's also pretty disorganised at the MH team's end.

DS finished his Conservatoire auditions on Thursday and got his first offer on Friday (to what has been his first choice in the run up to auditions). Waiting to hear from the others; he was really pleased with how all the auditions went, but one in particular seems to have gone exceptionally well, so that may well change his mind about where he goes.

Given everything he's had to deal with right up until his first audition (more goings on at school...), he's shown amazing stoicism and resilience.

Piccolo that is such good news, well done him.

For all of you suffering bad bouts of infection, it really is relentless right now :(

Gosh...lots of poorly people about. I hope everyone recovers soon. DH is mostly over Covid, still a bit of a cough but not as bad as some of you sound. None of us caught it from him, thankfully.

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin your poor Ds. He must be feeling really dreadful.
The private GP is a good idea. Especially if he's coughing up blood. Or even a&e?
Ours has Gp's there too.
@Piccolo is your DD managing to get any ADHD meds at the moment? There's a shortage of even the most basic ones now. As all the chemists are rationed & they don't know when or if they will get them in.
@Monkey I'm sorry you're ill too 💐

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin Have you tried 111? They might be able to book him an appointment at a local GP or walk-in centre.

She is, but a different brand name and I think she's experiencing some side effects from the change - she rang me in tears yesterday to say that she's had a few hours of feeling really awful every day since taking them.
She had a letter from the MH services, explaining there was a global and national supply issue but it would hopefully be resolved in the new year. Patients were advised to ration their supplies, by not taking them at weekends...which is not great for students.

We've been to the doctor! Only cost £95 (bitter laugh) but seen at 12pm after DH booked it online so a bit of a mad dash to get there. Anyway, apparently his tonsil is covered in pus (she actually recoiled from him although that could have been his breath to be fair 😂) and he now has a 10 day prescription of 2 tablets 4 times a day! Fingers crossed he'll start to feel human again in a day or so. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

@Alsoplayspiccolo fabulous that your DS has got an offer already, well done him particularly, as you say, with all the school shenanigans. Has anything come out of that in terms of dealing with the person who was doing all this? Also, what on earth about the rationing of meds for your DD???? 😮

Well done to your ds @Alsoplayspiccolo ! I'm also interested in what happened to the person responsible; I hope your ds can put it behind him.

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin I was going to say earlier, that sounds like how my dd was last January with glandular fever and tonsilitis. We also had a right palaver getting her seen and diagnosed! Hope the meds kick in for your ds soon and he starts to feel better.

Great news @Alsoplayspiccolo

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin - hope the antibiotics kick in soon

Amazingly the antibiotics appear to be working already! He’s had two doses and managed to eat some dinner and has been talking 😮 he literally couldn’t speak in the car to and from the dr and has barely eaten a thing since being home.

@Alsoplayspiccolo Fantastic update! Except for the bit about the MH meds. That is dire.

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin I bet he is so happy to be home and great news that he is on the mend already.

The person involved and her parents were summoned to a meeting with the head and safeguarding lead, and were presented with a detailed timeline of all the incidents over the last 10months, along with a huge quantity of circumstantial evidence.
The parents refused to accept that she would ever do any of the things she's suspected of, and without concrete proof, the school can't expel her.
However, she and her parents were informed that we have spoken to the police and they have recorded the complaint as stalking and harassment, including coercive controlling behaviour and misuse of a computer, which may be actioned at any point, leading to potential prosecution.

She has been told not to have any contact with DS or any of our family, and school have done their best to sort out logistics so that DS doesn't have to cross paths with her.
However...a week after the warning meeting, there were separate complaints about her behaviour from people connected with DS, and we've been told that school has written to her parents, stating in the strongest terms that she is as close to being expelled as is possible.

How frustrating @Alsoplayspiccolo but so glad you took it to the police and that other people have come forward. Hopefully she will get her comeuppance and also learn a hard lesson from this.

@JustHereWithMyPumpkin glad you’ve got your DS some antibiotics and hope they start working soon.

@Alsoplayspiccolo congrats to your DS on the conservatoire offer.

Finally found some ADHD medication after ringing so many pharmacies. DD on Elvanse so fingers crossed that the supply is better in January. She’d been using up some lower dose left over from titration which was better than nothing.

Elvanse is meant to be coming back online on the 17th of December but our clinic reckons it will be mid-February by the time things are back to normal.
We can't get Elvanse so we've been switched to the short acting version.
But that's now In really short supply & rationed like the Elvanse. Even Boots have run out here now. Plus they & I have phoned all the chemists around.
Ds2 has his A level mocks coming up this week & in January. Hence he will need these meds throughout the holidays for revising. It's just the very worst time for this to be happening.
I'm glad things are picking up for your ds @JustHereWithMyPumpkin.
In other news ds1 failed his 1st driving test.
Didn't slow down enough coming up to a big puddle on the road. Occupational hazard of living in a rural area with lots of flooded roads.
Oh well he will know next time.
He's not having a good time of it at the moment. Spent hours applying for a Boots Xmas job on Indeed & a separate Boots form the other day. With Dyslexia & ADHD it's a real battle to complete forms. Anyway got an email to say the position was filled already so sorry.

@Cantonet Can you speak to the school about the issues with medication shortages? This is genuinely shocking. Sorry to hear DS1 didn't pass his test, as a rural road driver I know those puddles well, especially when the fields either side are just using the road as a drainage channel! Fingers crossed for next time.

@cantonet your poor ds1, that's discouraging for him. From experience (and to avoid him wasting any more time on applications!) I think it's probably a bit late for Christmas jobs. Ds works at Tesco and they recruited their seasonal staff a few weeks ago.

Dd is working with FestivAll Staff at Wollaton Park at the moment - it's worth getting signed up with them as they seem to have plenty of work, but of course, it depends if they're running a festival or event near you/ds. She's signing up for Reading Festival this year though, as you only have to work three days (which includes the Wednesday and Thursday when there's no acts on) and you get free entry the other days. And finish work by 8.30pm so you can always see the big acts.

Ds (year 13) asked last year if he could try ADHD meds again as he was really struggling to study. However we found out that his old NHS psychiatrist had signed him off when we moved house instead of passing him on to a psychiatrist in our new area. So he's on a long waiting list and no chance of trying meds. He's had no teachers in two of his 3 A Levels for most of this term and has got into the habit of not going into school except for the third subject. He's now saying he actually works better at home, just teaching himself, as there's no distractions. I'm inclined to agree, so he's not really going into school at all now. We've had an attendance letter.... I'm wondering whether to officially ask the school if he can stay at home, or whether that will rock the boat more and they'll say no. What will happen about his attendance otherwise? I'm assuming they can't get rid of him at this point?

@crazycrofter I'd be tempted to reply to that attendance letter asking why he needs to attend if there is no teacher?! Surely they have a duty to provide that?