Why So Much Linen for One Person?

This is not all of Cameron's linen there is also a fully made up bed ....

With multiple layers of bedding ......

And protection ......

When a little person wets their bed it stinks and it's annoying that you need to change the linen and air out the mattress if you haven't put a protector on the bed. When Cameron wets the bed it is like you threw a bucket of water on the bed. It is really hard to find a protector that can contain it all so we have resorted to multiple layers in an effort to protect the mattress,

We also use different types of protectors in the vain hope that we will only have to wash the first one but then if it leaks around the edge or soaks through we hope the next one will catch it but if he moves and misses the edge of that one then hopefully the next one will catch it. And on it goes.

We use comforters because a doona adds more work. You don't want to wash a doona and doona cover and then have to get the doona back into the doona cover every day. There are doona protectors but that is still more washing so we figure we may as well use comforters.

As he grows the problem alters and we just have to find new and creative ways to contain the problem. No nappy can hold a teenage boys output and especially one who doesn't use the toilet or who tries but ...........

Then we will add the issue of blood noses, vomit, poo and seizures. Cameron has only started the blood nose problem over the last few years.. All of a sudden he started to have really bad blood noses and he likes to choose to do this during the night so when he wakes up in the morning it looks like a blood bath on his pillow and face. Half the time he doesn't even know it's happened.

Vomiting was something that ruled our lives for many,many years. He would wake up and vomit at all hours of the night. Sometimes it was from over consumption of food but I also believe it was seizure activity and thankfully since we found our wonderful Chiropractor this issue has disappeared.

Because Cameron's brain is still at a very young age, there are times when he feels the need to investigate and experiment. If anyone has ever walked into their baby or toddlers room and found them finger painting with their own poo then I'm sure you will understand my horror when Cameron does the same thing.

Finally you have seizures and with a seizure you can add into the mix frothing of the mouth. Thick goopy mucus that usually ends up on the pillow and floor. It always cracks me up when an ambulance officer discreetly asks if Cameron has wet himself during his seizure - umm, like we'd know!?!

Actually there is one more bodily fluid that invades Cameron's bed linen and I really don't think I need to say much more except to point out to you that he is a teenage boy and sexually he is age appropriate. He just doesn't get the idea of putting it away which adds to the wetting problem. There is nothing more frustrating than finding a soaking wet bed and dry nappy.

Picture this, you've made up the bed and then you hear him vomiting so you go and strip the bed and remake it. Then during the night he gets up because he is cold because the bed is wet. So you get up and remake the bed again. In the morning you awake to a wet bed, of course, so you now have three complete sets of bed linen, pyjamas and mattress protectors to wash and dry. You can't fall behind because what if tonight is the same. We have been known to resort to layers of towels because we've run out of mattress protectors and we've scrambled around the house finding suitable blanketing and sheets - because we've run out. And a t-shirt and nappy is great night attire.

Cameron did have times when vomiting once was a good night and he has been known to get up more than once because he was uncomfortable with being wet. We've also gone in before going to bed ourselves to realize there is blood everywhere or you can smell that he is wet and you can't leave him like that.

Summer is great - no comforter goes anywhere near his bed. He also doesn't have a second pillow because he would decide to sleep with it and then we'd have two wet pillows. These days no soft toys are allowed in the bed or anything else not essential to the task of sleeping. It is just too hard to get everything clean again.

We are constantly on the lookout for age appropriate comforters for Cameron. We want him to enjoy his bedroom and find his bed a haven. We upgrade sheets because they wear out and because he is a young man and little toy cars is not what a fifteen year old young man would want on his bed. It's not his fault that he wets the bed every night so we try very hard not to make a huge issue out of it. We usually strip the bed while he is in the shower and let the bed air out during the day before making it up to look nice, feel fresh and enticing for him before bed. If guests are coming we will try and have his bed made and looking like everyone elses so he doesn't feel different and he can show off his room just like his sister does. That's what little kids do.

So that is why Cameron has so much linen. We haven't always coped so graciously with what Cameron has done to his bed. It has taken years of coming to terms with how life is and accepting it. There is no point in getting angry or cross, there is no point in yelling or screaming and there is no point in asking why me. The reality is that this is reality and if you calmly accept it life is a lot easier and you actually come to appreciate the days when the pile is like this ............

And celebrate the days when there is no pile at all.