Since your Daddy is a single parent he has to keep a close watch on his little girl. While she goes to school and does very well in all her classes in high school she comes home and does not seem able to care for herself properly. While I'm at work my friend Sue, a retired RN, meets my little girl after school, brings her home and give her a snack. Sue is very good with my girl and she learns what is going on in her life so I find out a lot about my daughter from Sue.
"Deborah is just not right," Sue tells me when I get home. "She is as cranky as a four year old, acting like she can make her own decisions and tell me and you what to do."
"I know that she is difficult, growing up without a mother in the house has been rough on her and at 18 she is getting a lot of social pressure at school. Did you get anything from her that might give me a clue about what's troubling her now?"
"The school nurse sent an email to you, she may have something for you," Sue told me. We went to the computer and went through the elaborate security system, put in place to keep Deborah out of my business. An email from the nurse gave us a starting point on how to deal with Deborah this time:
"She has been grumpy for two days, complaining to her friends about a tummy ache," the nurse wrote, "She did tell one of the girls in her gym class that she will tell your friend Sue, that Sue can help her."
"Well Sue, I know that you will speak to Deborah and let me know what is going on; thees "girl" things are difficult for a young woman, for a girl who does not want to grow up it must seem impossible." Sue quietly went upstairs to Deborahs room. Sue knocked and went in, closing the door behind her.
"The good news is that it does not seem to have anything to do with her periods," Sue told me when she returned to the living room. "She has been complaining to her friend that her BM's are as hard as rock and it hurts to move her bowels so she has been holding back."
"Well," I said, "I'll give her a mild laxative now, Phillips M&O will work in a few hours so she should be done with it by bedtime."
Sue looked at me with a look of concern, "Will she take it?" Sue asked, "I bet she refuses and is nasty to you to."
"Come with me Sue," I said, "I"m surprised that with all your experience you have never learned this trick." I made a stop in my office where I kept all of the medicines in the house locked up in a steel filling cabinet, behind folders of old papers. "I don't leave anything where she can get it, precaution is vital with an obstinate little girl." In the kitchen I checked the refrigerator and took out Deborah's favorite, dark chocolate milk. Pouring an inch of milk into a glass I added an ounce and a half of the M&O, then thought about it and added another half ounce. "This should fix her Sue. It's an emulsion of mineral oil in unflavored milk of magnesia. The combination will loosen her bowels and lubricate her so she can't hold back. Why don't you bring this to her?" I said, filling the glass with chocolate milk and stirring it well. "She will not know that anything is added to her milk so just encourage her to rest until supper time."
Sue came back to the living room a half hour later, an empty glass in her hand. "You were right Steve, Deborah does like the chocolate milk and told me that she did not feel like eating any solid food because of her tummy ache. I hope that it works, it will be much easier on her than a strong medicine."
"I"ll let you know tomorrow morning Sue. I think the two ounce dose should kick in before 7:00 this evening and it should be done by 9:00. Have a good night, I'll bet that Deborah will have something to tell me in a couple of hours."