Emotional Side of a Disease

My poor Gillian is a wreck.

She has always been emotional but these days she is a walking tantrum.  I am trying to determine what is okay and what has to be handled differently around our house.

I know she is in pain but I just can't tell what is going on--she says that both legs hurt now sometimes but she isn't limping anymore.  I need to get some support from the doctoro for both what is going on physically as well as how I can help her cope during my next appointment.

Which is Wednesday.

It might not sound like a big deal, but when your child could be in pain all day, how hard do you come down on her for falling apart at the seams?  When does her tantrum become a behavior problem?

So here is what I have come up with and I would love any other advice on this:

1)  Crying is okay as long as it isn't loud and disturbing the peace in general.  This behavior is preferred in your room but you can do it quietly anywhere.

2)  If you are hurting you need to tell mommy so she can help you or get you medicine if you need it.

3)  Just because you are tired or hurt, that doesn't make it okay to be mean to people.  No yelling "I hate you Bridget" or hitting mommy because you are mad. You still have to be nice.

4) If you do have a tantrum, we are canceling any activities for the afternoon and going straight home (this is tougher to enforce because it messes up the other kids sometimes.)

5) Majority still rules. You don't get two votes because you hurt.  This is the toughest one because usually you are irrational by the time we are voting.  Example:  Do you want to watch Madagascar 2 or Up?  2 vote for Up and you vote for Madagascar.  You still lose, even if you are super grumpy and sick and tired.  Also, 2 votes for the Habit beats your 1 vote for Jack-in-the-Box.  PS The Habit is way better anyway.

6)  When you have your second tantrum within five minutes of the previous one, just go to bed.

So... these seem really simple, but when you have four children and one of them is constantly crying, it is really sad.  Once she went to bed at 4:30 pm and it was the nicest evening we have had in a very long time.  I feel bad saying that but it is true.

I know she has always been emotional but I so rarely get to see her joyful little smile these days, it makes me extremely sad. Any advice is appreciated.  If you saw how sad she was all the time it would tear at your little heartstrings.  Remember how cute her happy face and her crocodile tears for the saddy from this post?  Cry for me, Argentina.