Is it Baileys o'clock yet? The Friday Night Thread - all welcome! Regulars and lurkers and newbies pull up a pew.......

[Ben10NeverAgain]

Nothing much to report in the house of Ben tonight which is great ....no hospitalisations, no problems in school and DH got a met in his yearly appraisal which he was panicking about given my poor health and DS's assessments and dx having caused so much upheaval this year.

DH out for most of the weekend so DS and I can chill out and do nothing, maybe order a takeaway or do a drive through McDs tomorrow - sounds pretty good to me!

Finally asked my old university friend whether her DS1 had a dx having noticed his obsessions with trains, pylons and wires for years. He is due to get a dx next week! Him and DS already think that they are best friends even though they haven't ever met .

Thanks Sally am going to look now.

hazey, good she's keeping an eye on him. We spend far too long at the eye unit, it's never a quick in and out when we go.

Sally, yep but they're forty odd quid and I'll probably never wear it again. I actually have £40 of Bravissimo vouchers, but I desperately need new bras since I've lost weight and will get far more use out of them than I will a swimsuit. I still have a 32GG/H chest unfortunately, so nothing short of scaffolding is going to keep everything neatly in place.

Hazey, I like the swimdress idea, but can't find one with suitable chest scaffolding that I can afford. I might buy myself a swimskirt to go over my cozzie though.

I have narrowed it down to two suits. An underwired Bravissimo one I bought just before I got pregnant with ds1 (10 years ago ) but never wore - but it doesn't have a bra-clasp back, so is supportive but not perfect or a sports-style boy-leg fully body suit, which I can get away with wearing a decent sports bra underneath. Sadly the 1950s style red and white polka dot one does absolutely nothing to support the necessary areas.

Ds2 always over-reacts to refraction drops as well. He can never go back to school, even after a 9.00 am appointment, despite them saying he'd be fine within a couple of hours.

Hazey, your ds sounds very similar to ds2. He also has one pupil more dilated than the other - but after years of monitoring they've said it's nothing sinister and won't cause him any problems. He is longsighted and has an astigmatism in his left eye - although his was caused by a particularly bad chalazion which put pressure on his eyeball. He also had artificial tears for years as he wasn't producing enough moisture and developed pits and dips on the sclera. He was under the eye hospital on 6 monthly checks from when he was 3 until this January (he was 8 this week) and was eventually discharged without any major concerns, just a regular prescription.

I have to get ds1 referred now - they've gorn and written that into his blooming statement.

Can't really say very much about eye problems. DS is slightly long-sighted and has the coloured lenses in his glasses, but he won't wear them very often. They make a difference in busy places if he does - he doesn't get sensory overload. He's never had drops or anything though.

the dilating eye drops never bother dd3, she always goes straight back to school afterwards, but then she can't see much to start off with so they don't really make any difference! Can't be nice if they do at all.

Oh dear - we have a rather surreal situation in my living room. Dh has put YMCA on his phone and ds2 and dd are dancing to it!

There is a back-story. Dh drew a Star Wars birthday card for both boys' birthdays this holiday and I caused much hilarity by pointing out that Captain Rex looks distinctly like he's dancing to the YMCA. (Dh was of course inimpressed with this apparent slur on his artistic talent ) The dcs had never heard of it, so he is now educating them. I really hope they don't start singing at school next week!

well I will catch you all later, away on my night time rituals

zzzzz the one I got is a bit like that, but much cheaper from Sports Direct, so without the bra back - hence the sports bra underneath. Twas bargainous, so I could afford a suitable sports bra as well.

These shock absorber tankinis look good as well, unfortunately I have already shelled out for the slazenger suit and sports bra combi.

Night dev.

Wow its busy in here tonight. Greetings to all and great for all those making some progress on winding route to some help. Our road is still winding. Apparently Ds's referral to the Maudsley has to go through about three tiers of bureaucrats before its approved. They meet infrequently and of course know nothing about Ds apart from what his keyworker's statement says and she is not someone I have much confidence in. There is also much confusion around support for him when he comes home (if he goes in the first place). I however have sorted out in my own mind what is best. I am going to write it all up and present it to next TAC meeting on Tuesday and then fight like crazy to get it implemented. Wish me luck. I'm not actually much of a fighter but needs must.

Eye clinics!! Neither of my Dcs need them but DH has fairly major eye problems and he always waits months (somtimes over a year) for appointments. Feel for anyone having to get Dcs through them.

can I join you guys? I ususally just lurk but have been brave and started posting a few times.. I also have 5dc, though I would say 4 is my limit! but oldest is 23 and youngest 3 last week. and i can completley relate to the swimwear fear, i really need to loose weight but love eating rubbish. this week hasnt been to bad, just 2 appointments for ds2, so lower than average, ds3 started pre sch, and threw up over the fantastic teacher on his 2nd session :O he is 12mths younger than ds2 so they are together at presch, and I have spent 2 mornings under my big coat hidding as school places were announced with alot of dc not getting into the sch but ds2 has as he is being statemented, and people dont realise so eyebrows are raised why their dc havent 'got in' when they think they know their dc are higher up.. so a quiet week! pass the baileys please.

night dev

Hi Mummy

Night Dev

NoHaudin good for you.

NoHaudin, sorry there still hasn't been much progress, hope you manage to get them to see sense at the TAC. You can borrow my famous steel toe capped butt kicking boots to wear if you like.

Hi and welcome Mummy. Don't worry about what the other parents think about the school placement, it's none of their business and your ds got his place because his need is greater than theirs, that's why he was higher on the priority list. Hope ds3 is feeling better now.

zzz the Slazenger one has a lot of the stretchy bandagey stuff lining it - its all down the front definitely, not sure about the back. The sports bra just kind of blends in and looks like part of the suit, as they're made of pretty much the same material anyway. I love shock absorber sports bras and managed to get one on ebay bnwt for £8.00, so can't complain really. The one I work out in is purple, so I figured that might not blend in quite as well.

Well I'm very comfortable with the total crappy food I've eaten tonight. Hummus and chips, dairy milk and two glasses of rosé. Classy stuff. Schlovely!
Feel like I've had a great week, back to my Maths GCSE course tomorrow. Need to work my arse off to increase my points in the final exam to get an overall C. First paper c, second paper D sigh.... So I need to get a B. It was so much easier at o'level. If you screwed up. Tough.

I have just looked up the consultant ds2 has been referred to about his hypermobile joints, as he has his first appointment this week. Apparently he's a blooming paediatric immunologist with research interests in PID (Paediatric Immune Disorder) and Meningitis. Right, so he's going to be soooo usefult to talk to about joints and ligaments etch.

Basically they've just dumped us on an Comm Paed again, who will then have to refer on. Honestly what a waste of everyone's time, not to mention NHS resources.

Poor old ds2 is really suffering at the moment, he's in constant pain and regularly at screaming point it's so bad. He's also started to get extreme cramps in his feet again and has a new problem that seems to be to do with his left hip flexor. I have been telling him it's ok, because we are seeing the doctor this week and hopefully they will be able to help - but no, instead we will see someone who will go through his entire medical history, most of which is irrelevant, then look puzzled and then, if we are lucky - pass us onto yet another waiting list. The only good thing is that this guy apparently specialises in children who have repeated infections and susceptability to pneumonia. I'm half wondering if there's been some sort of mix up - because afaik, he hasn't been referred for that.

Moose speak to him about that and then he might get somewhere with one thing . Sorry DS2 is struggling so much.

I suppose so, although to be honest I don't think he's bad enough for them to be interested, as he tends to get pneumonia around one a year and they did say that was likely after his first serious case at the age of 4.

I just don't understand why they didn't send him to the Comm Paed that has the closest specialism/interest to ds's needs. They have about twenty to choose from, surely at least one of them is interested in bones n'stuff?

Have you thought of a Physio? We are able to self-ref here for one of them.