The progress of Tom
Nov. 22nd, 2009 12:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sensiblecatJust been looking over a few old posts and I realised that about a year ago we were going through a very bad time with our son. It's probably time for an update, because I got a lot of support from flist people at the time.
We persevered with getting appropriate medical help and eventually he was diagnosed with a rare condition called Delayed Sleep Phase syndrome. Not only was the condition itself rare, but he had an obscure form of it, non-24 hour sleep-wake syndrome.
Briefly, it's a disorder of the circadian rhythms, so it manifests as non-resolving jet-lag. Tom's sleep phase was somewhere between 25 and 26 hours, so every night he went to sleep later and woke later, and found it quite impossible to turn himself around. The therapist we saw worked on his sleep hygiene (no more laptops in bed) and prescribed melatonin. Although you can get melatonin easily enough off prescription, the correct dosage is critical and tricky to self-medicate.
The effect on Tom was nothing short of magical. Within a week he was back in school. He still struggles with his eczema and other health issues, and if he gets a bug it really knocks him out, but he is back in school on a regular basis. He got a mixed bag of AS results - it was particularly unfortunate that there was a serious marking issue with one of his Philosophy papers, since this is the subject he wants to take at university. The school is pursuing the matter legally, but it meant that almost everyone in the class got a Grade E. I have to say Tom accepted this blow very - erm - philosophically. He's resitting that paper and one of his biology practicals, but he's on course for reasonable A level results.
As a result of his health issues, and a certain lack of confidence and motivation, he has abandoned plans to apply to Cambridge, but he already has three achievable offers from Essex, York and Manchester to read Philosophy next year. His first choice, Sheffield, has yet to respond, but then the "insurance" offers tend to come in first. They are all A's and B's. York would just be weird, since I went there myself. Manchester is basically there as a fallback so he can live at home if his health deteriorates further. Essex is the front runner so far - good course, but a long way away. It's going to cost the two of us £500 to travel down for interview by train!
Equally important is the fact that, despite being a year out of phase with his contemporaries (after repeating his Lower Sixth year), his social life has never been better. He's playing bass in a band with his sister (she plays drums) and a friend and is busy with various political and philosophical interests. Every Saturday our home is full of teens watching movies and playing board games - they are a very nice lot.
I'm no longer worrying about whether philosophy graduates in poor health are employable or not. I'm just glad he's back on track and he seems happy. And thank you to everyone who commented and cared. Sorry it's taken so long to report back to you.
We persevered with getting appropriate medical help and eventually he was diagnosed with a rare condition called Delayed Sleep Phase syndrome. Not only was the condition itself rare, but he had an obscure form of it, non-24 hour sleep-wake syndrome.
Briefly, it's a disorder of the circadian rhythms, so it manifests as non-resolving jet-lag. Tom's sleep phase was somewhere between 25 and 26 hours, so every night he went to sleep later and woke later, and found it quite impossible to turn himself around. The therapist we saw worked on his sleep hygiene (no more laptops in bed) and prescribed melatonin. Although you can get melatonin easily enough off prescription, the correct dosage is critical and tricky to self-medicate.
The effect on Tom was nothing short of magical. Within a week he was back in school. He still struggles with his eczema and other health issues, and if he gets a bug it really knocks him out, but he is back in school on a regular basis. He got a mixed bag of AS results - it was particularly unfortunate that there was a serious marking issue with one of his Philosophy papers, since this is the subject he wants to take at university. The school is pursuing the matter legally, but it meant that almost everyone in the class got a Grade E. I have to say Tom accepted this blow very - erm - philosophically. He's resitting that paper and one of his biology practicals, but he's on course for reasonable A level results.
As a result of his health issues, and a certain lack of confidence and motivation, he has abandoned plans to apply to Cambridge, but he already has three achievable offers from Essex, York and Manchester to read Philosophy next year. His first choice, Sheffield, has yet to respond, but then the "insurance" offers tend to come in first. They are all A's and B's. York would just be weird, since I went there myself. Manchester is basically there as a fallback so he can live at home if his health deteriorates further. Essex is the front runner so far - good course, but a long way away. It's going to cost the two of us £500 to travel down for interview by train!
Equally important is the fact that, despite being a year out of phase with his contemporaries (after repeating his Lower Sixth year), his social life has never been better. He's playing bass in a band with his sister (she plays drums) and a friend and is busy with various political and philosophical interests. Every Saturday our home is full of teens watching movies and playing board games - they are a very nice lot.
I'm no longer worrying about whether philosophy graduates in poor health are employable or not. I'm just glad he's back on track and he seems happy. And thank you to everyone who commented and cared. Sorry it's taken so long to report back to you.
