For the first month home, riding in the car was an ordeal to say the least! Danny would not stay seated, keep his belt on, would not stop talking, complaining, hollering, and GOD, trying to take the inside of the car apart. Thankfully my daughter's boyfriend Earl traveled with us those first few weeks. We put on the child safety locks and made him sit in the back. He would try to open the doors, and reach up front to grab the wheel. He took apart the back ashtrays, tried to disassemble the windows and handles. He would yell for us to stop and get him a drink with vodka in it, or a beer, and Earl would tell him there was vodka in the drink we brought along, which would quiet him awhile. He would yell "God DAMN it the bumps!" every single time we hit a tiny bump.
Then there was the getting out of the car. He would start by saying we had to stop and let him out. If I didnt do so immediately the asking would escalate to yelling. One time he was even hitting me over the head with a paper folder while I was driving, but there was no where to pull over!
He would get out and either just stand there, or start staggering all around pointlessly. I would run alongside him trying to convince him to go back to the car.
Some of the times he needed to stop to go to the bathroom. This was a time-consuming endeavor, for he could be in a public restroom anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. What he was doing in there I can only imagine. There've been "accidents" he's attempted to conceal himself, and experiments with seeing how much paper toweling can go down a commode before it clogs and floods.
At the end of Feb. I started taking Danny by myself in the car to his dr visits and therapies. In the front seat he was finally over the "opening the door of a moving car phase" (except for twice) but there was much more to get into up front. My cd player hadnt worked for months, but each and every time, 3 times a week for over 3 months, he brought a stack of about 30 cds, and tried every one, complaining that it didnt work and then tossing it on the floor. It didnt matter how many times I explained the player didnt work, he continued the routine anyway. After the appointment, same routine.
After a week or two he added more activities to his maddening routine in the car, fussing with the radio and stereo, disassembling it completely from the dash, twisting wires together etc. He was forever on and off with the heat, up and down with the temperature, changing the direction of all the vents, adjusting the radio volume, the bass, treble, balance. Clicking and unclicking his seat belt. It went on and on, every moment of the trip, while still yelling every time we hit a bump and asking to stop at a bathroom.
Sometime in March car rides calmed down a tad and sometimes he would actually doze for a short while. He still played with all the controls in the car, but he was calmer. He soon started another habit in its place though, of having me pop the hood and trunk so he could "work on" his subwoofers and amplifier. They didnt work correctly, and eventually not at all, but we had to wait every trip while he worked on them....connecting and disconnecting wires, tightening bolts, switching connections...there were times it took an hour....and times when it was just too much to bare!!!
