Progress

     We have been busy with things for Buzzy since my last post. He had his first appointment with a DAN! doctor on Thursday. My husband took the day off from work, because he had to go with us.

     The whole getting everyone ready and getting there went surprisingly smoothly. The office is about 2 hours away from where we live. The funny part is a number of years ago, I used to see a psychiatrist a few minutes away from where we had the appointment. I used to live about 30 minutes away from there, a long time ago.

     First, I was surprised at how few patients were there. I would have thought it was going to be really busy. Quite the opposite. I saw only one other patient: a young boy (maybe 8) and his father.

     We met with the nurse only. She went over all the paperwork and his history. We talked about our concerns and what we wanted to do. Since I was familiar with how DAN doctors generally do things, this went pretty quickly.

     We spent time talking about the GFCF diet, which she suggested we keep him on for 3-6 months before we evaluate whether it's working or not. I was going to keep him on it, regardless of what they said, because I have noticed some positive changes. And not just in Buzzy, but in myself. I "cheated" and ate rather poorly on Saturday and I wound up with a sore throat (this morning) from coughing and mucous in my throat (just minutes after having dairy). We are also stopping his cheap chewable vitamin (which I knew was crap) and replacing it with some Kirkman Labs Super Nu-Thera. I had purchased the Spectrum Complete II, but the nurse told me that the amount of B vitamins in that may not be adequate and to try the Super Nu-Thera. So, that's what I am waiting on to show up. In the meantime, I am using the Spectrum Complete II. I am also giving Buzzy a shot once every 3 nights of methyl-B12.

     We are also going to be doing stool testing. I am just waiting on the stool for now. Ha! I had to bag around Buzzy's parts, because the urine can't touch the stool and Buzzy isn't potty trained (of course!). Of course, I let my husband talk me into waiting to deal with everything after church, so I missed one really epic poop. And one right before church. The problem is, I need to have samples all collected and sent off by Wednesday or I have to wait another week. (The samples have to be received at the lab before the weekend.) And we know how I feel about waiting. I had to stop his probiotic a few days ago in preparation for this, which I did.

     Buzzy also had a physical. She said everything looked good, and his abdomen wasn't bloated at all.

     We also decided to have Buzzy's blood drawn while we were there and just get it over with. We would have done the testing, anyway. But, I figured it would be better there and then - we were both there and they had someone who does draws on kids. My husband took him back and while Buzzy wasn't happy about things, they got their blood - about 7 vials worth. They will be looking at CBC, micronutrients, copper and lead levels, and testing for the MTHFR mutation (and probably other things I can't remember right now). I am really looking forward to seeing what the results are, particularly about the MTHFR.

     In terms of progress, I have been noticing at night when I read to Buzzy that if I stop at certain points in the story, he can fill in the final word. And it's so cute, because when he gets to one part of _A Fish out of Water _, he will say "more food". We still don't have much in the way of functional communication, but we are progressing from where we were many months ago. Hopefully the functional communication will follow.

     We also attended what I nicknamed the "congrats, your kid has autism!" presentation Saturday morning. I had gone there hoping to hear about more programs that I might get Buzzy into, but it wasn't really good for that. They did go over how autism is diagnosed, what different therapies there are, and similar things, but not much else. So, I was mildly disappointed. I did learn about their intensive "in-addition-to" preschool program, so that was good. I saw a few other parents whose kids were diagnosed, but it wasn't like there was time to really connect with them, like I had hoped.

     Oh, who am I kidding? I am socially awkward, so it's not like I would have been able to do anything. Ha, ha. My husband is the social one, I am not.

     That was utterly evident last night at the pizza party for my oldest (and her basketball team). I sat at the parent's table and I am not sure I said a word the entire night. Everyone there had lived in this town their whole life and I am still an outsider, and probably always will be. One of my husband's colleagues suggested that I would have fun trying to get to know people in this town, and I thought (at the time) what an odd thing to say upon meeting me for the first time. Now I look back and totally get what he was trying to say. Once my husband arrived (and I got up to watch over the babies) they were very chatty with him. Then again - he is the principal.

     Well, here's hoping for more progress this week, and an SLP that shows up - since she cancelled last week and never bothered to reschedule. Ugh.