The Appointment

The Appointment

The appointment crept up more quickly than I had expected and before I knew it, Billy and I and Coleman were in the car driving for our overnight trip to “see my friend” (as we told Coleman) in New York.  We had to be at his office at 9 am for lab work and Coleman couldn’t eat for 12 hours prior so we drove up the day before and tried to make it seem like an adventure.  We stopped at a rest stop once we hit New York and took the token NY picture for you all J  He was great in the car and perfect at the hotel, amazing when you consider the girls were not with us.  And in the morning, when he asked for breakfast, we acted all surprised that we didn’t have any waffles, angrily stomping around the room saying “Coleman where ARE they??!!  We better go buy some!” He bought this charade, and laughed as we headed out the door.  I explained that we had to first stop at my friends place so they could “look at his blood – it’ll be a little pinch on your arm.  Very quick”, and then we would get some waffles.  He was ok with this plan until we got there and he panicked over the blood draw.  Although it took three of us had to hold him down, once they got the needle in he was very, very patient waiting as they filled 13 vials.  Being the good, Clampett family that we are, we brought our toaster and waffles with us, so as soon as he finished, we asked to use their kitchen, plugged in the trusty lifesaver, and gave him his waffles.  And all was good.   

The appointment was at 10:30, and we didn’t leave there until after 3.  You would not believe how good Coleman was.  A total champ.  I know my mother was there that day, helping us again.  J    

It was interesting to be in front of Dr. Bock.  He was kind and quiet, and well versed in common autistic symptoms and behaviors.  He was the first doctor I had been to that I felt really understood Coleman, and that gave me a great sense of confidence.  More than that, though, I was beginning to feel hopeful. 

Bock had asked us to prepare a timeline prior to our arrival and he spent a great deal of time going over that, going through Coleman’s history, asking questions, making notes, and asking more questions.  He put several events together that we hadn’t, and after a couple of hours, he put down his pen and told us his thoughts.  He felt fairly confident he could take care of Coleman’s OCD and substantially reduce his anxiety.  He also added that he thought he could help with Coleman’s GI issues, get him off the Miralax, and hopefully help eradicate some of the fog he seemed to dwell in.  And if all of those things fell into place, the structure and teaching he was getting in school and at home would be absorbed more readily and we should see good progress.  He had only one word of caution: age.  “If Coleman was three or four years old, I would say we have a pretty good shot at recovering him.  But he’s nearly 11, and I just don’t have enough history with kids his age to predict a fully successful outcome.  But I know we can make some meaningful progress.”  To be honest, he had me at OCD improvements.  Anything above that, well that was gravy really.  Our biggest issues on a day to day basis involved the OCD and anxiety.  Even in school, the most difficult parts of Coleman’s day still consisted of breaking fast-adopted, non-productive OCD driven routines.  So Bock could have stopped right then and I was in.  And as for age, I wasn’t discouraged.  He didn’t say it wasn’t possible.  He only said he didn’t see enough kids Coleman’s age.  And I could believe that.  Although biomed has been around more than 25 years, in the last 10 years there has been an explosion of growth, due in part to the growing body of research linking gut health and food intolerances to brain health, as well as increased awareness due to the rapid expansion of social media and celebrities like Jenny McCarthy.  But for parents with older autistic children, they already tend to think “it’s too late.”  The idea of trying to change eating habits and add supplements is overwhelming in a child that is a teenager.   But for parents of younger children, the changes are less formidable – it’s certainly easier to start new habits than to try to break long term, old habits in teenage children.

So I hung onto the good news, put the ‘age’ issue on the back burner, and focused on the plan Bock was presenting.    Given Coleman’s complicated medical history, we all agreed that casting a wide net in terms of baseline testing was the way to go, so we did broad, comprehensive blood work and stool samples.  Bock provided a short-term plan until the results came in, largely aimed at starting to heal Coleman’s gut, with some basic supplements, a probiotic, and omega oils.  “Let’s see what we get in the lab work, and then we’ll formulate an action plan.”   We scheduled a follow-up for 6 weeks later, and oddly, I found myself hoping that the blood work would come back with all sorts of problems.  “What if everything comes back completely normal?” I asked.  Bock answered without hesitation.  “It’s not game-over.  There are many paths we can take.  But I don’t think that will be the case.  I think we’re going to find plenty of things to work with in his results.”  And he was right.