Tummy Troubles

Izzy first came to work with me when she was eight.

Diagnosed with Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis, she and her mother showed up at my office full of energy and bubbling with joy. Izzy had recently spent nearly two months in hospital, right through Valentine's Day and her birthday, so they were particularly delighted to be out and about.  The family was referred to me by another of my clients whose child had made significant progress on a similar journey.

One of the diagnoses we serve at The Painted Turtle Camp in Lake Hughes, California is Crohn's disease. It can be debilitating and embarrassing for young ones especially during adolescent years if a colostomy bag is required when part of the intestine has had to be removed or it's just taking a rest so the colon can heal from a surgery.

Izzy's hospitalization was difficult for the whole family, as mother, father and younger sister spent many, many hours there with her, but still had to feed pets at home, run carpools, go to school, and work.

One of the therapeutic techniques of particular import for children, well for anyone who's had a life-impacting event, is to create a coherent narrative. In Izzy's case, she was eager to dictate her story of the hospital experience and to illustrate the days spent there with wonderful pencil and later colored-pencil-filled-in drawings.

Rabbits figured big in her drawings... as if every family member was a bunny with long ears. She showed the doctors, nurses, dietitians, family, and visiting friends all as bunnies. The birthday and Valentine's Day drawings were particularly colorful and poignant. She drew herself lying down with lots of people all around her, but looking very alone and tiny in the middle of the bed. The words to that part of the story included her love for the chocolate candy someone brought her, but of which she was allowed only a nibble - like a bunny.

Over the course of our work, we employed many different games and self-help techniques - some of which were for sensory awareness. When the body hurts so awful much, there's a wisdom that kicks in. We vacate the premises. Part of the hospital stay was to try different medications to ascertain which drugs helped the pain abate and which ones were too numbing or stupefying. 

Our smart bodies are good at something called "localized dissociation." When the pain is localized and just too much to be with all day long, the body cleverly retracts awareness from the site - sometimes. Other times it seems as if we'll never be rid of the pain. Localized dissociation can be a good thing. It can also need support when we want that part to come back on line, or back into the mainstream of our ordinary awareness of body. Any part where consciousness cannot reach cannot be fully alive. Pain and all, our most healthful state is to be aware of all sensations.

Some of the games we used included exercises from Brain Gym by Gail and Paul Dennison. Standing with feet crossed, crossing arms thumbs down, interacting fingers and bringing the knuckles up under the chin, rolling the eyes back and curling the tongue to touch the top of the inner upper front teeth where they meet the gum line, and inhaling and exhaling deeply three times can recalibrate the connection between our left / right brain hemispheres, giving us an upper edge in focus and attention out, and leave us feeling refreshed. There are other games in the delightful book which are useful to kids of all ages - nine-month-olds to nonagenarians. (Babies and toddlers may need outside help.)

Games to listen to the body's sounds was an essential one for Izzy. When gurgles hurt, we tense up automatically hearing hunger pangs announce it's time to eat. Differentiating the good sounds from the painful ones was one of the most important interventions we got to do. She learned to mimic the sounds of her tum tum (her words) with her mouth as if to sing along with that part of the symphony.

The name of the book she wrote is called, "Tummy Troubles." The set of games in a box I sent home with her was called "Tummy Troubles To Go."

She chose one every time she was feeling edgy, nervous, tense or upset and also one at bedtime, just to help her go to sleep. Her Book was also part of her bedtime routine.

Overtime, Izzy was able to feel comfortable in her body even under conditions where she used to have tension, like school. Her book helped her to reintegrate when she shared her funny bunny pictures with her classmates and teachers who had really missed her when she was away. 

Tummy Troubles may always be a part of her story, but they do not have to be the central focus of her life.