Post by StrugglingAgain on Oct 5, 2005 8:58:44 GMT -5
Good morning. Yesterday ds had his appt. at TX Children's Hospital. We (ds, dh, and I) were there for 4 1/2 hours. Of course, everyone knows how doctors are, so alot of that time was spent waiting on one or another. In the end, we saw a total of eight people; some were med students, some were nurses, but we did see four doctors: pediatrician, developmental ped, 2 child psychiatrists, etc. Naturally, they will all put their heads together and we have an appt. with them on the last Tues. of the month for their formal dx. DH and I spoke with one of the psychiatrists for quite a long time. He said ds is NOT bipolar, but somewhere inbetween severe ADHD and Bipolar (the ODD is positive, for sure!!). He said he will most likely be one of the patients who have a multitude of DXs because he's a little bit of many, but doesn't fit all the criteria of them. (Complicated??) I told him I don't care what the label is, let's just get him some help. He said for insurance purposes, etc. they will have to put SOME kind of dx, but for it not to freak me out! He agreed we'd tried almost everything, except mood stabilizers. I think he's also leaning toward using Risperdal to a much greater extent than what we've used it for in the past. DS has taken Risperdal for aggression and it works very well, but his old psychiatrist doesn't like him on it long term (maybe more mgs?). The development ped. couldn't believe that he moved around like he did. While she was working with him on sentences, he was crawling around on the floor. She said she's surprised he can do any work at school. (By the way, I purposefully did NOT medicate him until we left the hospital....let THEM get a dose of what we go through!!) She asked him to draw a picture of a person, any person. He thought for a minute then asked if he could draw a picture of me. She said he could, of course. He drew a picture of me with something down the sides (he's no artist!). She asked him what it was and he said, "That is wings, because my mom is an angel!" OMG, I started crying!!! I know he loves me, but it doesn't hurt to hear it every ten years or so! She says she will probably order a lower GI series for his encopresis and was shocked that he soils his pants 4-5 times a week. She tested his reading at the fifth grade (he's in the fourth) and just last week we got a paper from his teacher where she tested his level and told me it was THIRD grade. SO, with them two years apart, I don't know what to think about it. Yesterday he was unmedicated, but of course, I don't know when the test was given at school, either. Maybe at school he was distracted or tired or who knows what else! His comprehension that was tested yesterday was excellent and supposedly that is one of his worst problems.
Bottom line, I'm very glad we went. I think we will take their dx to be true since he's been through the mill. I know there's no magic pill, but he needs more help than he's been given. They promised to have suggestions for his IEP, too. I'm so glad it's now over and we can get on with it. I was exhausted last night and slept good, which is not easy for me. Stay tuned for a final DX whenever they get around to it!!
Bottom line, I'm very glad we went. I think we will take their dx to be true since he's been through the mill. I know there's no magic pill, but he needs more help than he's been given. They promised to have suggestions for his IEP, too. I'm so glad it's now over and we can get on with it. I was exhausted last night and slept good, which is not easy for me. Stay tuned for a final DX whenever they get around to it!!
Good Luck 
