Charles Sheehan-Miles

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Day 2 and 3

So, today was day 3. I'll run through some of the details of what happened ... the good news, Khalil dealt with yesterday and today much better. We'll have to see how things continue to develop, since they say tomorrow is the day things will start to get rocky.

Day 2

At the end of Monday, they said its okay if Khalil brings some sort of toy with him, if it will help keep him occupied. Stipulations -- he still has to lay, or at least recline, on his back, with the toy in his lap.

So, Tuesday morning on the way to the appointment we stopped at the store and got Khalil a mongo glow in the dark Bionicle with about ten thousand pieces. The rest of the drive, he rested the glowing pieces on the dash of the car so they could absorb what little natural light was available.

On arrival, we set him up so he was half reclining, at something like a 30 degree angle off the table, with the light above his head. Headphones on, lights went out. I should point out that we're not talking dim lighting here -- we're talking absolute darkness, with a big black blanket covering the cracks in the door. With the sounds of one of those filtered air blowers in the background, it would qualify as a good sensory deprivation tank, except for the constantly moving table. The purple light started to slowly come on, then float off, in what seemed to be a pattern of about 60 seconds on, 60 seconds dimming, 60 seconds off. Even at its brightest though, it wasn;t very bright.

Khalil worked away in the dark, and seemed much happier about it than the day before.

Afternoon session was much the same. Khalil came out in a good mood, and we went back to the hotel and did some work (he soldered together the pieces for his robot for the science fair, at least all that we have with us).

Interesting note -- we stopped at Whole Foods in the evening to pick up some snacks, and on walking in to the store, deep red and black circles appeared under his eyes. In the store he was absolutely off the wall, which is not particularly unusual.

Day 3

This morning, Khalil went in, no arguments, laid down on the table with Bill (his rabbit, remember?) and got started. Very smooth.

They introduced the red light for the first time. Purple. Red. Purple. Red. For thirty minutes.

They told me that we're likely to see more emotional behavior as the red is increasingly used. Later in the week there will be more colors.

On returning from the appointment, he had a hard time getting himself together for his homework. Very sleepy, and though he wasn't fighting me about doing it, work just wasn't up to par. I had to send him back two or three times, which, again, is not that unusual.

Back to the room, some more homework, then break time, which he spent playing on the computer. We dropped in on my parents for about an hour, then came back to the hotel and played Yu-gi-oh until bedtime.

Now for the bad news. I disovered at bedtime that we're out of melatonin. Oops. Khalil has never slept well, and without the melatonin he often can't go to sleep at all. As I write this, he's listening to a guided sleep meditation and with any luck going to sleep. We shall see.

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