Predictability and Surprises

Hello-o-o again.  Spring has "sprung up" in this part of the world.  The weather is unpredictable.  But Erik's days are becoming more predictable.  This morning I walked into the main lobby and he was sitting on one of the couches, keeping company with some of his new friends.  They may have just finished their sing-a-long.  Erik came up to me and it was clear that he's got another cold.  Rats, he just got over the first one.   I had his clean laundry to put away so we headed to his room.   He's so funny.  The first thing he did when we entered his room was THIS:

"Erik, you drank BOTH the diet cokes?!"   "Uh-huh."   He needs no words.  Please bring me more diet sodas, you- you- you- sister.   "Ok, I'll bring some next time."   Notice that he still has 2 of the 3 chocolate milk containers Dad brought him AND the juices at the bottom I brought weeks ago which really don't interest him at all.  With Erik, it's Coke or Dr. Pepper or Pepsi...or else.    We don't fill Erik's fridge with tons of sodas because he'd drink them all at once and be very happy, I might add.  So we stretch them out, much to his dismay I'm sure.


He started coughing and went over to his bed and seemed a bit tired so I helped him lay down.  He fell asleep pretty fast but I noticed something.  He wasn't getting good rest at all.  In fact, he was experiencing all the typical signs of sleep apnea.  Double rats.   I did a little reading on this and it turns out it's very common in Down syndrome children and adults.   I wonder how long Erik has experienced this and no one really knew.  I don't know how he'd respond to a CPAP machine.  I think it would bother him.   My husband wears a dental appliance at night to help open his airway.  I wonder if that might help Erik's breathing.  I'll have to look into this.  I watched Erik attempting to sleep for about 15 minutes.  Then he sat up, blinked real big a few times, looked at me, and smiled a bit.   Then he pointed to the door and I said, Yes let's go find your friends.   We went into the activity room just in time for exercise. Today they used bands for the first time.

They also used the parachute which is a lot of fun.   Erik was the only man in a circle of sweet women, exercising away.  Then it was on to lunch (lasagna) so I headed out.  I saw their nurse and told him what I noticed about his sleep.  We talked about it a bit and she mentioned to me that Erik's loving the dogs who live in his facility.  He's been brushing some of them and spending lots of good time loving them.  I am not surprised at all; it makes me so happy.  We do not own a dog but it's been on my mind for years to think about getting one.  Just think.


So, if any of you have advice about sleep apnea please let me know.  If any of you have advice about dog ownership, I guess I need to know that too.
Have a happy week and be blessed.