Genetics Appointment

You would think that after all the times we have made the trek down to Children's Hospital in Dallas that we wouldn't get confused the moment we pull onto the property. But of course we did and we ended up parking a good 2 miles from where we needed to be. Thank goodness they have a skybridge that connects all the buildings and really nice people to help lost souls find there way. 

Ben broke his all time record by clearing out our half of the waiting room within 3 minutes of our arrival. No one seemed apologetic about abruptly getting up and walking to the other side even when there were no seats left over there and it was already very crowded. People were literally standing in other people's way just to get away from us!!!!

To make a long story short the doctor was extremely nice and felt that Ben was definitely on the autism spectrum. She doesn't think he has a syndrome because he has no abnormal features or bone structure. But she thinks it is worth checking out. They are going to do a full DNA test that would show any abnormalities anywhere in his DNA. Essentially there are three things that could come from this. Nothing, which would tell us Ben's medical issues are all separate issues that have nothing to do with each other. Or it could tell us Ben has a specific syndrome or thirdly it could tell us there are some abnormalities in his genes but without the genome project being completed yet!!! and without his parents' full medical histories and their blood it is impossible to truly understand what is going on with him. The doctor told us that the wait on the blood work would be about 3 weeks.

Because our life just wouldn't be normal without some chaos, I will fill you in on what happened next. We went down to the lab to do the blood draw. To keep Ben busy while waiting for our turn Rob and I took turns walking Ben around in his stroller in the lobby. We had just enough room to make a large circle path. The lobby's ceiling was several stories high and Ben quickly figured out that this made perfect acoustics for him to hear his echo. Now, some people thought this little guy riding around in his stroller in a large circle in the middle of the lobby screaming different sounds was adorable. But others were giving us looks that made us believe they didn't think our little man was "oh so cute"!!!

Finally, it was our turn. A nice lab tech did a great job teaching Robbie and I how to hold Ben so she could safely take his blood. Quick and easy. But it wasn't until we had Ben back in his stroller that she realized she needed a little more blood. I never knew you could get so much blood from a simple finger stick. But she was able to "milk" his finger and get the blood really flowing. It took longer then the original stick and a few more muscles from Rob and I but overall no big deal. She held pressure with gauze added a bandaid and sent us on our way. We got out to the lobby and I looked down and Ben who was furiously ripping at his bandaid and blood was literally shooting from his finger. I'm not lying to you. Blood was all over his shirt and pants (of course I thought he should wear a brand new church outfit to the doctor!!!!) his face, hair, stuffed Elmo, sippy cup, stroller and even the floor. Everyone was staring at us and some really nice employee ran over to help. I am not kidding this place has nice employees coming out of the woodwork. If you are nice and looking for a job in this crazy economy you might want to apply to be a "nice, helpful person" down at Children's. Anyway, we told the lady we were fine and she said, "Well behind this door is a room full of doctors in a meeting if you think you need help." Seriously, what happy pill did she take and were can I get one??? Anyway, we somewhat got our mess cleaned up and we took off for our long walk back to the car. But boy did we get some funny looks! Ben still had blood pouring out of his finger, his face, hair and hands were blood stained and he looked like someone had taken a hose full of blood and sprayed it on his clothes. Even I had blood sprayed all over my white shirt and hands.

We are now home and resting from our adventure and the blood stained clothes are soaking in the washer...

Potty Training

So we are ready. At least physically for Tuesday. We are going to start potty training on Tuesday. First, we are going to see the genetics doctor at Children's on Monday. We have been waiting since the beginning of last April, seriously a doctor with a 10 month + wait. He/she better be good!! We aren't expecting any answers tomorrow. I will even be floored if they take blood. It will probably be a question answer session in which we are barely able to hear the doctor over Ben's impatient screams. But who can blame him, who likes to be locked in a little, cold, white room waiting for a doctor to come? We are hoping the doctor can eventually answer why our little man has so many obstacles to over come. Is there a reason (syndrome, etc) or did he just get a crappy hand. Anyway, there will be news some day, hopefully soon, to share. I am trying not to get to hyped up on getting anything out of tomorrow because I don't want to be disappointed and frustrated like I ALWAYS am when we leave a doctor's appt. We have been waiting for over 3 years for answers I am sure we can wait longer, with God's help. 

But back to potty training. Ben, Bec  and I made a trip to Target on our snow day last week, now that is a whole other story. Ben may NEVER darken the door of Target again and I don't think he or Target employees will mind. I digress, sorry. We bought all the necessary items. A bazillion pair of Elmo underpants, etc. Now this is no typical potty training regimen. It is one written by some experts that work with kiddos with special needs (I won't bore you with their names, titles) that the Total Language Classrooms in Frisco have adapted.  Now, this thing works. Quick too, typically, so cross your fingers that Ben again shows his brilliance and catches on. Of course, if you were making me walk from were I had an accident to the potty, pull down my pants, sit on the potty pull back up my wet pants and walk back to the spot I had the accident 5 times AND then had me clean up the mess all before I got to change into dry clothes I might learn too!!!! Between accidents he has to "check" himself every five minutes. And if he stays dry for 30 minutes he then has to sit on the potty for up to 20 minutes to see if he voids. Can you imagine making Ben sit on a potty for 20 minutes? I can and it is U-G-L-Y!!!!! If he does go or initiates and is successful going a "big party" will begin with tons of reinforcers. After he initiates going we can stop scheduling potty times. Then when he initiates and is successful 20 times in a row we can quit forcing him to drink tons of fluids. He is suppossed to be drinking continuely during this process. (We took 20 Capri Suns to school to prepare) This is going to be so time consuming for us and his teachers but so worth it. Speaking of his teachers, God has blessed us with the most amazing teachers for Ben, truly they are awesome and we owe them so much. They have gotten Ben to do things we never could have imagined. Anyway, this is more than you probably ever wanted to know about potty training. Sorry to bore you with the details, but please keep Ben, us and his teachers in your thoughts this coming week!!!