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...
3 comments:
Oh, dear. What a day. I know you have many frustrations, but you guys do a phenominal job! I hope you can get some answers, but I fear you are correct about not really getting to the bottom of it because you don't have access to the birth parent's info. Too bad. Ben has all the love and opportunities-he will continue to thrive. Potty training........the worst even under ideal circumstances. Good luck........he doesn't drink all 20 Capri Suns in one day, does he? Oh, my. That is a lot of sugar!
NO. Hopefully not, that was for the week. But when he gets started on something he wants more and more and more!!!!!:) He may be high as a kite on sugar!!!! We are assuming we won't get any results back that mean anything but at least then we know it is nothing major and that we have done all that we can!!!
Ok, you guys get the award for Patient Parents of the Year!!! Seriously!! How did you stay sane?? I am glad that this part is over. I cannot wait to get to Texas and get my grubby little hands on him!! I would stay a month if I could (although, I fear Robbie would have to move out). All of my heart and thoughts are in Texas right now. Focusing on your family! Get ready, here it comes.....
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