Monday, March 17, 2008

NOT Autism

That's what he said.....not Autism. Now, it's just a belief, not a definitive diagnosis, but the neurologist today said he did not feel Duck is Autistic. If anything, he's on the PDD spectrum, and the mild end at that. Duck shows no signs of sensory aversion, he doesn't spend his days lining things up, he makes and maintains eye contact, and the only real time we see arm-flapping is when he's excited about something, like clapping. Having used signs with him, I've gotten into the habit of clapping in sign.....waving my hands above my head. He does the same thing. He does toe-walk a bit, but not as a regular occurrence and the OT has said that because it's not all the time, he likely would not qualify for PT services.

We have orders for an EEG on April 5th and I have a lab request. I am so not going to enjoy doing a lab visit with him. The last time he had blood drawn was two years ago at the clinic and he was severely dehydrated when they did it. My child who would never take more than 6 oz of formula at a time, guzzled and kept down 12 oz of Pedialyte that night.

Anyway, I'm going to try to schedule that early Saturday morning so E can go with me. I'm HORRIBLE about Duck being in pain......knock on wood we have yet to have any serious bleeding, just REALLY bad bumps and bruises.

***************RANDOM VENT*******************
Need to vent about this because it's absolutely driving me nuts. So, I'm an editor for a textbook publishing company. Typos drive me nuts, especially on an official document, like from the doctor's office.

I got the new patient packet from the developmental pediatrician's office over the weekend. I was reading it and noticed a typo on the 3rd page. Didn't think anything of it to start. Then another, and another, and another. This document is 16 pages, with me having to fill out 12 of them. There are errors on 9 of the pages I have to fill out or sign. I mean, things like missing apostrophes I can handle, but mis-spelling diarrhea or resuscitation? It's a DOCTOR'S OFFICE!

E was laughing at me because I went through the damn thing and highlighted the errors. Yes, I am that way.

Maybe I'm expecting too much, but this is something that goes in his file and will eventually be forwarded on to his pediatrician and the school district. If they can't get his paperwork filled out, how can I expect the stuff they send will be accurate? (mind you this doctor is one of the BEST in the area and I've heard nothing but great things about him from two moms I really trust)

Isn't this why spell-checker was invented??

This happens to be one of my personality flaws that I openly admit, it's why I have the job I do and I love it. Doesn't mean I don't make mistakes, but when it's something on this level I check and check and check, then I read it backward to check again. (Yes, I know that's a bad sentence.)
**********RANDOM VENT OVER********

1 comment:

M said...

Okay, so you know when I took Liam to the child psych (who was the specialist for the east coast before moving here) he looked at Liam and said maybe PDD but he didn't think autism and we see where I am now. (not saying it IS autism...my next question is...what's the next step? will they do an ados on him? that would definitely rule in or out and if so where on the scale if applicable. has he seen a ped psych? I find them far more appropriate for diagnosis of things like that though many see pediatric neurologists as well. personal preference.)

Don't get caught up in the typicals of autism. I'm not thinking you're dealing with autism either from what bits I know but Liam? Doesn't spend all day lining things up or stimming or toe walking, flapping, or any 'typical' autistic behaviors that are greatly obvious. Which is why he was dismissed by his ped and initially the psych before the ADOS made it very obvious that he scored on the spectrum.

And, um, blood draw? Good.f reaking. luck. Ugh.