Ashley Update

I have finally gotten a little more information from my school district about Ashley's "incident" last week. After being passed from the school's assistant principal to a woman in Human Resources and finally to the school principal, here is what I found out:

• The school nurse and the school security officer were the ones who witnessed what happened and the ones who made the initial report to the school principal.
• There are cameras on the school campus but because they are often in the shade, they often don't supply usable footage
• There are no cameras in the classrooms, and no plans to put any in
• There are cameras in common areas where students congregate
• A report was filed with Child Protective Services, but neither the school staff nor I have heard anything from CPS
• The principal believes that removing Ashley's one-on-one aide from the school campus was the appropriate action to take, but can't tell me anymore than that because it is a "personnel issue."
• When the school principal is given more information, he will share it with me if he can

Not a lot, and you may notice that conspiciously missing from the list is how the actual injury occurred.

Here are a few of my thoughts:

• I have a great deal of respect for the school nurse and for Ashley's teacher. Just hearing that the nurse was the reporter made me feel better. I understand that she has probably been told not to share any information with me, and I don't want to ask her to jeopardize her job by doing so. But I can relax just a bit because I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that she and the teacher have Ashley's best interest at heart
• I have discussed everything with an attorney
• I will not wait much longer for a detailed explanation on how the injury happened

I thought Ashley has recovered both physically and emotionally from the injury, but now I am not so sure. Yesterday, I needed to take her for some blood work before our upcoming visit with her neurologist. She started crying the instant the tech touched her arm - and it was not the arm with the injury. When the tech and I tried to hold her arm, she completely freaked out. I tried to calm her but it didn't work. She was so distressed and worked up that at one point she bit me - hard. I know it was just a reaction but I also knew it was time to stop trying to get the blood.

So, was her reaction a result of what was done to her at school? I don't know, but I do know that blood draws have never been a problem before. She will usually hold her arm out, point to the vein, and then tell the tech "good job" when she is finished drawing the blood. Yesterday was a complete departure from that. And now I don't know what to do.

We've got to get bloodwork done to make sure her seizure meds are dosed appropriately and to make sure no liver damage is occurring, but I just can't put her through that again. Will time help? I don't know...