In 2nd grade, we were struggling to get his homework done after school (it is still a struggle and I imagine is just going to be more fun as he gets older YEAH!). Meds had worn off. So his attention was all over. Unless I was sitting next to him pointing out each problem individually about every two seconds, it didn't get done. It was frustrating for both of us. The neuro, Dr McStuffy (only called that because that was how he came off to us at the first visit. He grew on us over the years. HistoryBoy loved him though) added a Ritalin dose after school. Some days it seemed to help, some days it didn't. I don't know why. At a 3 month check up, McStuffy asked how it was going, I told him, he said since it wasn't a resounding YES then he was going to stop it. I said ok. To me, what is the point of medication if it is only going to work *some* of the time.
Then to our dismay our Dr. McStuffy, left his practice to work too far away for us to follow him, so we switched to another great childrens's neuro practice, Dr Kelso, (any Scrubs fans? Although the name was not chosen for his mannerisms, he kinda looks like him a little) who was very impressed with the thoroughness of Dr McStuffy's notes on HistoryBoy's behavior and his previous out of control ADHD and all that. Dr. McStuffy had apparently been noting all his Aspie's tendencies WAY back before we talked about Asperger's and got the diagnosis and such.
So now Dr. Kelso is the neuro who had us lower HistoryBoy's medication. He had originally wanted us to go medication free in the summer between 3rd and 4th grade with HistoryBoy. I said I wasn't sure we could do that for a whole summer. HistoryBoy can't go out without medication. Thankfully, my HistoryBoy is very articulate when he wants to be he turns to Dr. Kelso and says "I can stay home with Mommy and Mimi without medication, but if I want to go the pool or to the beach I can't handle all the people and noise without medication. I can't even go to friend's house." Just to let you know HistoryBoy was 9 at this time, and I was so proud of him. Also, Mimi is my mom (his grandmom). Dr. Kelso then told us to use medication at our discretion. If we were going to be home then don't, but if we felt we needed it, use it. I felt that was fair.
Now the one thing I didn't mention yesterday, which I think is funny is that at our last checkup Dr. Kelso said that HistoryBoy was doing great he was 50%/50% where he should be, but he didn't see any signs of his ADHD. I was like *DUH.* The meds are working great. Let's not mess with them. Well he wants to see HistoryBoy in all his ADHD glory UNmedicated at his next appointment in August. My eyes widen a little. HistoryBoy said “uh doc that is not a good idea I am going to be...” (and then he does his best imitation of a mental patient having a seizure). Doc just kind of looks at me and ignores HistoryBoy's antics. And says again he would like to see him unmedicated. I sigh and agree.
Poor Dr. Kelso doesn't know what he has let himself in for...
I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave a comment or email me at teenahope@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment