When a Child with FASD Gets Sick...

I have noticed in my household that when my child with FASD gets sick, the whole world falls apart. My daughter is a 14 year old with the maturity and mentality of a 9-10 yrs old, but when she is sick she is 6 years old. The whinning begins, all things taught to her about sneezing or coughing into her elbow, tissue, etc go right out the door and I have to keep reminding her those important things so that others don't catch what she has. I always question if she is really sick because with kids who are FASD have a tenency to lie about things and make things up for the attention and I thought this was one of those times. She went to bed early last night, moaned and groaned for a little bit, she did run a fever and when it was time to get up for church this morning, the headache, dizziness stuff came along. I thought she was pulling my leg again. There are those Sundays she doesn't want to go to church with her mom because she feels she is being teased, and I thought this was one of those Sundays. But lo and behold...she is really sick. Took her to the doctor's and she tested positive for the Flu A Virus. Then I come home feeling like a terrible mother, and this is where I get mad at Dani's birthmom for doing the alcohol/drugs while she was pregnant with my special daughter but then comes all the lessons and lectures about forgiveness. Thats when I take a few deep breaths and get back to the task of taking care of my sick daughter.