etly in a darkened room, with combined TV and screen time being restricted to 2 hours a day. Music could only be listened to at low volumes and even reading was off limits. We'd had to take him out of school, and he was being home tutored. When he was about to lose it, we'd take him out to restaurants, on off hours, to reduce sensory input. For a formally active and social 16 yo, the convalescent months had been an awful and lonely experience.
So, it's difficult to capture and convey how filled with joy he was as he pulled on his shoes for his first walk in the sunshine, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, on his own, in months. As he left the house with a big smile on his face, my eyes filled with grateful tears -- my boy was healing. He was going to be okay.
