Day 20

Dr. Bock

Today was our appointment with Dr. Bock. Originally this appointment was for November 8th but Dawn managed to get Ryan an appointment today. I will talk about how she managed that one in another posting.

It was a crazy day but one well worth the time. The only bad part of the appointment was the fact that we had to have Ryan fast to get blood work. This never ended up happening. Now that his body is accepting the GF/CF food he has regained his appetite. So by 7:45 AM he was getting very upset telling us that he was hungry and that he wanted his special toast! The appointment lasts over 4 hours and the blood drawing does not occur until the end of the appointment. There was no way we were going to be able to keep Ryan from eating until noon.

Dr. Bock seems like a very nice man and he was impressed with the progress that Ryan has been making with the diet. We described what Ryan was like before the diet and what he was like now. Ryan did great with the appointment. He sat and played in the office as Dr. Bock went over the huge intake packet with us. We even had Dawn's parents meet us at the appointment just in case Ryan could not handle the appointment. Ryan did amazing. He watched the phone company repair a downed wire outside the building. He even waved to the worker in the cherry picker fixing the line. He was such a trooper.

Dr. Bock was also impressed with the fact that we read his book and that Dawn was able to share the progress that Ryan has made on the diet. The doctor shared with us that it is a good sign that in such a short amount of time Ryan has made such great progress. He even commented that Ryan had good eye contact! This was probably the first time that anyone has ever said that about Ryan.

After the appointment was over they handed us several test kits to collect more blood, stool, and urine to get tested. The directions are unreal and we feel completely over whelmed with all the stuff that we learned and that we have to now do to help Ryan. Finding a lab that will draw the blood needed and test for the specific items that he wants is a huge task. Dawn is still sorting though all the directions and going crazy finding a place that will do these tests and at a time that we can have Ryan fast but not have him go crazy about wanting to eat.

The last part of the appointment was going over all the supplements that they want Ryan to take. This is a huge undertaking and the directions alone will make your head spin. Take this now, this later, this with water, this with food, this twice a day, this needs to be in the frig, this can not be in the frig and the list goes on and on.

As over loaded with information as we are, we do feel much better that we are now under the care of a doctor and not his book. While the book was a huge help and a great resource, having a human being talking to us and a plan of action is so reassuring. We are hopeful that with the supplements, the continued diet, the OT, continued speech and whatever else he wants us to try we are going to see even more progress by his next birthday! Today we received what has been missing in a while: Hope.

PC