Thanks so much. This is a helpful suggestion. I’m really hoping that he will employ some more organizational strategies when he heads off. The calendar reminder would be great to start working on now.
I did join the parent group on FB, and it looks like bumming rides to pharmacies is what most kids do. We’ll give it a go and see how he does. If he absolutely needs access to a car, we can always take it up to campus later in the year.
I know these are life skills he has to work on. And I’ve probably (read “definitely”) enabled him for too longer. Thankfully Rose seems supportive and I think there are a fair number of neurodiverse kids. I do believe he will rise to the challenge, but it will take some effort on his part.
My s25 gets monthly allergy shots so I’m not looking forward to getting that all figured out and him remembering to get it each month. Our Allergist says they work with universities all the time but Ugh. The worry will never end - lol
This is generally what happens at my daughter’s LAC. I was surprised because my school had a doctor and pharmacy on campus that were usually available but my school was in the middle of nowhere too so they probably had to have that. D23 also had to take an uber once to urgent care because the health center is closed on weekends. Something else that was new to me.
As an aside for everyone, I was completely unprepared for how sick my D23 got her freshman year. She was always very healthy but just got slammed over and over again. There were some grown up things we had never really discussed before that seemed important. How health insurance works, urgent cares, mixing meds, finishing antibiotics, antibiotics making birth control ineffective (hopefully not entirely necessary to point out but I did!), drinking while on meds, etc. She had to make follow up appointments in some cases and finding a doctor was a little challenging. That kind of adulting that it never really occurred to me to go through with her.
My S25 also gets monthly testosterone for a rare genetic disorder. I haven’t even broached that one yet I’m hoping once we know where he will land, all the up in the air stuff will start to come together. Though assuming the worry will not end!
I refer to freshman year at the dorms as Daycare 2.0, they get hit again and again. Send them with an arsenal of OTC meds, thermometers and liquid IV or something similar for electrolytes.
Also at least at UMD where my son goes they also have “sick meals” in the dining hall someone can get for you so you don’t have to go down there and spread the love (since our dining halls are all you can eat they don’t allow for a full meal take out container), it’s also good to familiarize yourselves with the dining policies and what they can do for a sick kid if they don’t allow take out.
On a different note, this winter storm during college return dates is making us rethink our ‘ok’ on our s25 applying to all northern schools (we’re near RDU in NC with no snow in over 3 years!) What a travel nightmare to worry about!
I am from NC and went to NC State for undergrad and then to Vermont for grad school, so back and forth from VT to NC during late Dec and early Jan. It really wasn’t that bad and did travel in at least two storms that I recall. They just typically deal with winter weather so much more effectively than they do in the south.
I would just plan on getting back to school as early as possible (i.e., not last minute) so that you can accommodate a delay because of weather.
For what it is worth, we no longer live in the northeast, but D25 will be going to school in upstate NY, so we are going to have to live with this too. Regardless, good luck to you and S25.
Did you son make it back to Rose okay? The parents group on FB has blown me away with all the hustling and support parents are offering, including places to stay and rides from the airport. Truly blows my mind!
I just want to reiterate this. For any doctors appointments you have between now and them going to school, make them do the forms and answer questions. Be with them if need be, to help them, but it’s really helping them if they learn. We didn’t do this enough with S22 and I’d get calls - while at work and in meetings sometimes - like this “mom, I’m at the doctor’s for blah, and he wants to know if I am allergic to stuff, I am but what is it?” and “mom, I’m going to pick up my meds at CVS, how does that work? What do I show them and do I pay?”
And also YES to @skkm0906’s comment re: sending a home pharmacy. It’s better if they have it ahead of time. I literally went through the shelf where we keep all the OTC meds and things and made a list of what we normally use and then made sure to buy it and pack a little home pharmacy. You can buy premade kits, but we just got a small rubbermaid bin and filled it with OTC meds, thermometer, bandaids, gauze pads, tape (my guy was rowing at the time and would tear up his hands) and literally anything I could think of that you might buy at the pharmacy. It was an expensive little bin to stock, but I was so glad he had stuff when he needed it. And then I also put in an “if → then chart”. Like “if you have muscle aches, then take advil or naproxen”; “if you have a fever, then take tylenol”; “if the fever isn’t going down, you can take advil and tylenol, just on slightly different dosing schedules”.
Amen. Along the same lines, make sure they can fully explain any condition they may have. S25 has a heart condition and I was so grateful that his cardiologist had him explain it to her at their last visit. And he really couldn’t do it! It’s just something he’s always had and it never occurred to me that he didn’t know all the details of it.
I think the worst part of the travel from south to north in snowstorm time is honestly getting through the more southern states. I’m in Northern VA and I’m sorry folks south of me trying to get up 95, everyone who lives here turns into an @sshole and idiot when they try to drive in weather; good luck but you are likely in for some driving nightmares. Plus, we just don’t have the right equipment, or enough of it, to deal with it.
But in MA, where S22 goes to college, it’s no problem. They are used to weather and deal with it fine. Honestly the biggest challenge we’ve had has been the amtrak line between Providence and Boston which, for some reason, seems weirdly unduly affected in bad rain or snow storms. (We’ve solved this now - Amtrak has an amtrak bus (who knew that was a thing?) that connects the Providence train station to the T station in Worcester - so rather than T into Boston then Amtrak train all the way to DC, he takes bus to Providence to Amtrak and it works better.)
It’s a pretty long day of travel to take a train from the north down to NC, but it’s sometimes more dependable (and almost always cheaper) than flying. Plus you have more room, can bring more luggage, and it’s a lot easier to work or use the internet. So if you are near Amtrak, you might want to consider this for breaks.
Some closest may not always be best so it could be worth going 5-10 more minutes.
Also reminding their kids that their chucklehead friends and what they saw on youtube is NOT medical advice and therefore call mom even if it’s 1am instead of allowing them to take the wheel with “bruh, you can just crazy glue that cut together, I saw it on youtube”. An ER visit the next am, high dose antibiotics, tetanus shot, and a nasty scar due to not being able to stitch it along with multiple medical professionals laughing out loud at him later my S21 learned this lesson well…
Also, don’t think it’s been mentioned in this (apologies if I just missed it), but once your kid turns 18, without a HIPAA waiver you have no access to any of their medical information, and—more crucially—without a medical power of attorney you have no ability to intervene in medical care if your child is incapacitated. So there’s something else for your lists.
I had the bright idea of taking D25 on a train trip from KC to Chicago as a present for completing 1st grade - for some reason I thought a trip via train would be pretty cool. It was so much fun for the first 15 minutes. The next 7 hours seemed like 70.
As another point of clarification, University of San Diego is not a Jesuit school. It used to be a diocesan university, but—while still Catholic—it is now governed by a lay board.
San Diego is sounding pretty good right now with this winter storm. Maybe I should go back to school. USD, UCSD, SDSU . . . I’m not picky.
I’m hoping once we know where he will land, all the up in the air stuff will start to come together. Though assuming the worry will not end!