What the Dr said...

*copied from elsewhere on the internet cuz I just don't wanna type it again*

Have I mentioned I love my Dr? He's great. He didn't understand any more than I did why the teacher changed her position on the ADD testing thing. I forgot to bring her letter with me so he didn't get to see it (I'm holding onto it in case I need it in the future). But he agrees that ADD testing would be a good idea, based on Jaben's history. We've been to him before about things with Jaben and he knows this is an ongoing problem. He did ask about things going on at home, but aside from the everyday things everyone deals with, things are on a pretty even keel at home, so that's not it. I understand his asking this tho - the last time we saw him about issues was when I was pg with Kyan and yes, things were changing at home and stressed and I thought that was to blame. I know better now.

He told me I needed to talk to the Mental Health clinic in our town because he believes they do thorough ADD testing and see what the procedures are and let them know we're considering having my son evaluated. I've got the first evaluation sheets for his 3 teachers and myself to fill out. I need to get ahold of his homeroom teacher and let her know this is going forward whether she thinks it's necessary or not. Both Dr C and I have known Jaben for 10 yrs - I think we know him way better than she does. Once everyone gets their evaluations filled out, they need to get sent back to the Dr. He put his fax number on all of them so the teachers have a choice of faxing them back, mailing them, or sending them home in a sealed envelope with Jaben so I can send them. Doesn't matter to me what they do as long as they do it. Once he's got the evaluations and can go over them, he'll talk to us again. We have another appt in a month and at that time we'll determine what to do.

Today he has an order in at the hospital for a blood draw to check Jaben's thyroid. He doesn't think that's it, but agrees with me that, based on family history, it's a good idea to check it anyway. I've got problems, my mom's got it now too, and I've found out my great-grandmother had problems, so it wouldn't be unusual for Jaben to have a thyroid problem. Like I said, he doesn't think that's it, but better to be safe.

Okay, now this is the part where he scared me. If, once he sees the evaluations, he decides that ADD is unlikely, or we do testing and that's not what's going on, we need to do other types of tests. Specifically, brain-wave testing. Based on what I said, there's a possibility, albeit small, that he's got some sort of seizure disorder. This had NEVER crossed my mind and honestly I wish he hadn't mentioned it. But, with the types of things Jaben is experiencing he could be having petit-mal seizures. The way he explained it to me was, say he's sitting in class and the teacher begins explaining something, like an assignment. He hears, "tonight you need to take home your math book and ---------- Okay, everyone got that?"

If he's having these small seizures, it would explain why he's missing bits of things, and that would definitely affect his memory and recall, concentration, etc. I never would've thought of that. I was talking to my friend later while I was working on her computer; I told her about this and said, "The thing that gets me is, I've seen this. He stares like he's not quite there but if you repeat his name or wave your hand in front of his face he comes back. I never thought it could be something like that." Well, she got this "look" on her face and it hit me - she's seen it too. She's known him since birth too. So I asked her and she nodded and said she's seen it herself but wow, never, ever would've thought seizure. I wish he hadn't put this in my head, because even tho it's "worst case scenario" it's still there and I keep thinking of things that could point to it. I hate that feeling.

So that's where things stand with Jabe right now. We'll get the thyroid testing done today and send the evaluations to the teachers on Monday. Then in a month we'll see what the Dr thinks. Until then, we wait.