Week 70

Dr Steven Cowan

We decided to try a different doctor after our last appointment with Dr. Bock.  If you recall we waited 45 minutes in an exam room while he finished his dinner.  We were also getting concerned that after each visit with Dr. Bock we would be putting Ryan on a different supplement.  We actually stopped all of his supplements recently.  It was getting to be too much.  Dawn found this doctor through one of her work friends that was bringing her son to Dr. Bock but decided to try this new doctor.  We meet with Dr. Cowan for about two hours and we both like him and his approach.  This appointment was only with Dawn and I; Dr. Cowan did not want us to bring Ryan with us.  He believes that parents are more honest without the child present.  He is a pediatrician by training and shared our belief that Ryan was on too many supplements.  We spent the first 45 minutes talking about Ryan from birth to now and he took lots of notes and asked follow up and probing questions.  He looked over all of Ryan's lab tests and all of the supplements that he has been on over the past year and a half.  

For the next 45 minutes he went through his philosophy of different types of brains and how each section of the brain works with the other parts of the brain.  While this part felt a little long to the both of us it was interesting if you looked at it from some of the brain research classes that I have taken over the years.  We also went over a few steps and suggestions for us to discuss with the teaching assistant that has been assigned to Ryan when he goes into Kindergarten.  These were fairly practical suggestions and something that we will discuss with the teacher and the assistant when we meet with them in the fall.  


We are still going to have Ryan on the GF/CF diet but he wanted us to try a different approach with the food.  He wants us to limit the amount of carbs that Ryan is eating and to increase the amount of protein that he is eating.  He also wants us to try getting him protein for breakfast to balance out any carbs we give him.  We are not sure how we are going to do this but we are working on a plan.  He is still going to have us give him oils and supplements but these are going to be at different levels and a more manageable amount.  We are still working out the dosages with him but we will keep you updated on the types and levels.  We are still going to be giving him injections of B12 but these are only going to be once a month as opposed to every other day. The biggest change in his diet is that we are going to try to re-introduce eggs, starting with once per week.  We will keep you updated.  


One of the interesting things that Dr. Cowan spoke about is that when Ryan gets to the point that he can come to us and explain that he is afraid of something, like school, then he will no longer be Autistic because he is at the point of being able to make connections and communicate effectively with us expressing his fears and asking for help.  Both Dawn and I thought that this was a little out there but it did stick with us.  The ironic part was later on that evening when we were putting the kids to bed, Ryan came out of his room and told us that he was afraid of going to sleep!  Not sure we are ready to cancel our next appointment but it was very funny.  Our next appointment is in September and  we will be bringing Ryan in to meet Dr. Cowan.  

PC
 
We celebrated a few birthdays this week.  Phil's mom came during the week so that we could celebrate her birthday as well as Julia's since she will be in Pittsburgh visiting Phil's sister and her family for the remainder of August.  Here's a nice picture of the kids with their grandma:

We also went to Norwalk, CT to celebrate Luke's First Birthday.  Luke is the son of Phil's cousin.  The kids had fun playing on the playground and Ryan did a good job sticking to his diet.  He did sneak in a few pieces of buttered popcorn, with a sly smile on his face each time.  But when cake and ice cream came out he was excellent about asking for his special cupcake.  

I want to share two stories this week where Ryan proved to be very protective of his sister.  The first took place in our house in the evening.  We had friends over for dinner and dessert and while eating ice cream my friend took some of her whipped cream and placed it on Julia's nose.  Not liking whipped cream, Julia got very upset and felt offended.  She immediately ran into the living room, buried herself under a pillow, and bawled her eyes out.  Ryan turned to my friend and said, "That was not very nice to do to my sister!"  After settling Julia down, we all got a good laugh out of both kids, and to make ammends, my friend wore whipped cream on her nose for the remainder of the evening!  It's a good thing these particular friends have been around our kids enough to know their personalities and I hope they didn't feel offended :-)

The other incident took place at the Danbury Fair Mall.  Ryan and Julia had spent most of the morning and afternoon with another friend of mine so that Phil and I could attend Dr. Cowan's appointment.  Let me preface all of this by saying my friend shared that the kids were excellently behaved all day and were super nice to each other.   I guess it is only around Phil and I that they are wild and spiteful with each other!  Anyways, I met all of them at the mall and after a ride on the carousel the kids played in the playground section.  At one point I heard Julia tell Ryan that a little boy was hitting her hand.  Now I didn't see this little boy hit her but I watched as Ryan asked her which boy and Julia pointed him out.  This kid couldn't have been more than 18 months old.  But Ryan marched over to him and pointed in his face and said, "You don't slap my sister."  I immediately ran in the area and pulled Ryan away from this kid and told Ryan that he was just a baby and didn't realize what he was doing.  About two minutes later, sure enough, this little kid went up to Julia and slapped her hand.  For fear that Ryan would eventually see this kid slap his sister and then proceed to knock him in the jaw, I decided it was time to leave!  Now if I could just get Ryan to stop hitting Julia himself, we'll be golden!

The kids' new school invited us to their annual family day picnic.  Julia met her new pre K teachers and we met Ryan's teacher that he will be with after he returns from his half day kindergarten program (Ryan ran right over to the bouncy house and slip and slide and showed no interest in meeting school teachers!)

 And as if we didn't have a busy enough week, we squeezed in a day trip up to The Berkshires to a place called Jacob's Pillow.  We attended a dance performance in which one of my former students was part of.  It was a great show, but Ryan wasn't half as interested as Julia was.  But afterwards I did catch Ryan doing a little dancing of his own!

 DC