Neurologist Appointment

This morning Caleb had a regularly scheduled neurologist appointment.  Caleb always has difficulty at doctor's appointments, unfortunately.  We left the house at 8:15 and arrived at the doctor's office.  I knew we were in trouble as soon as we got out of the van and he said, "Not here again!"  I told him before we left where we were going, but I guess it didn't click until we arrived at the office.  (I really need to start taking pictures of everything and making him a PECS book!  Another thing to add to lengthy to do list!!!!)

We walked in and I checked him in and went through his medication sheet, just as always.  While we waited to go to the exam room, Caleb and Steven played with the train table.   We went to the exam room and I took Caleb's shoes and braces off and he did very well getting he weight and height checked.  Then they wanted to get a measurement on his head, which they had never done before.  He didn't like that and at that point things started going down hill.

The doctor came in shortly after that and I was able to redirect him fairly well and he accomplished some tasks that the doctor wanted him to.  The doctor then received a phone call from another doctor and had to take it.  I understand that and I wasn't upset at all.  I know that this doctor gives as much time as necessary to all of his patients.  There have been numerous times when we have had emergencies that he has had to take care of for us to the delay of his other patients.

I had mentioned to him about Caleb's short-term memory issues and his hand tremor.  He didn't really seem too concerned about either of them.  In fact, the only comment he made about the short-term memory issue is that we needed to take pictures so that he could remember.

After he came back from the phone call is when things started to go downhill very quickly!  The doctor wanted Caleb to read a story from a Highlights magazine.  Caleb has such a heightened sense of smell and cannot stand the smell and would not look at the magazine.  The doctor read the story and Caleb answered a couple of the questions, but didn't remember the answer to the other two.

After that the doctor wanted Caleb to do a math problem.  He didn't like the way that the doctor wrote the first number and crossed it out.  He then got very upset about the fact that he crossed out the first number.  We tried to get him to write a new number and he was too upset.  I wrote the equation over and he completed it.  Then the doctor asked him to write the word "dog."  At first, he refused to do it.  I told him he would not get his snack on the way to school, which caused him to be more upset and he started hitting and kicking.  UGGGHHH!!!!!  The doctor wanted to look at his eyes.  Caleb's indecisiveness took over.  He said he'd write the word, then he wouldn't and I felt like I was watching a ping pong match!  The doctor wondered out loud if we needed to consider another medication to help with his OCD issues.  We went round and round and finally we got him to write the word "dog."  He wrote "g" and then "o" and then "d,." so that when you looked at the word, it was "dog," just started at the last letter.  You could see that he was really struggling in his mind to determine how to write "d."  It broke my heart!!!  Just another way that his skills have regressed!  He could write his letters very well without having to think about it when he was in preschool
He was still very upset that he wasn't going to get a snack and we still needed to get his eyes looked at.  I ended up having to put Steven down, who at this point was getting very antsy as we'd been at the doctor's office for over an hour and he was ready to go.  So we had Steven screaming and Caleb trying to hit and kick the doctor and screaming.  I ended up having to put Caleb in a restraint and hold his head so that we could get his eyes looked at!  UGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

I was given material regarding the new medication the doctor is considering, but before doing anything he wants to talk to Caleb's psychiatrist.

We finally left and headed to school!  Then this afternoon we had Steven's speech evaluation.  That's for another post!!!