I Need Chocolate...NOW!

What a day. I spent most of yesterday completing 22 pages of questions for Ian's new/first psychiatrist. This morning was the 2 hour appointment. I am overwhelmed AND I NEED CHOCOLATE to deal with it. I am having a Weight Wathcers Just 2 Points Mint Cookie Crisp Flavored Snack Bar. Sounds almost as good as a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints. If I hadn't already eaten 3 boxes of thin mints earlier in the year, I wouldn't need the Weight Watchers bar now. I refuse to eat my way through this stressful event and end up wearing it on my ass.

Today I finally met a man of medicine who shares my view that drugs should be administered scientifically and monitored closely through precise testing. The shotgun approach is too dangerous. I am abandoning the physician who believes you throw supplements at autism and wait to see what happens. Although there is relief associated with this decision, our new quest is going to start with tests - not just of blood and brainwaves, but of the spirit.

On Friday morning, Ian will undergo a 6-hour fasting glucose tolerance test. Ladies, you may recall this from pregnancy. It's the ordeal your doctor put you through if you failed the first test for gestational diabetes. It is grueling. We will start on an empty stomach at 8:00 a.m. and finish at 2:00 p.m. Drawing blood from Ian in a good mood takes 3 people. I honestly don't know how we're going to pull it off.

Now, here comes the really fun part. Beginning Friday, we have to take Ian off all medication - yes, ALL - because he will be having a QEEG (Quantitative Electroencephelogram) on Monday morning. That means we will not be dealing with a rational child from the blood-letting through the torturously hot weekend and on Monday when I get to hold him down while electrodes are attached to his head.

It is a good thing I've been working out. It will take Herculean strength to keep Ian still for all the needle sticks on Friday and the electrode placements on Monday.

Hopefully, the results of the QEEG will be ready by Tuesday so Ian can start any new medication/s on Wednesday...THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! What a special gift I have for his first grade teacher: a wild child on new meds.

I know I can make it through this. Ian, most likely, will be fine. Ainsley will be a major pain in the butt the entire time because she will take great joy in mimicking her big brother. Sugar will sleep on my bed and run for cover if she is discovered by either of the kids. Steve is the one I am worried about. Lately, he seems so angry that Ian is coming apart. This is how he expresses frustration - by getting mad at the kid who can't help it. He forgets momentarily that the behavior is not intentional, nor is it directed at him. Sometimes it just takes a look from me to help him see that his anger isn't helping the situation. In many instances, Steve gets his own special "time out" (that's when he gets to go cool off some place quiet and I handle the situation solo). Goodness knows he has done it for me enough times that I surely owe him a few.

My first hope is that we will both keep our sense of humor this weekend and try to keep the kids focused on the fun aspects of being "bouncing-off-the-walls-hyper". I picture our family in the scene from Mary Poppins when Mary, Uncle Albert, Bert, and the children are able to float through the air simply by laughing. Oooooo - watch out for the ceiling fan!

My second hope: that there is enough chocolate in this house to sustain me until Wednesday morning.