The visit

     I can't beleive it is Saturday already. I guess I better do a little catching up today.  I left off with the reason why we were going to see Dr. Megson, so I guess it is time to let you know what she had to say. Bear in mind we were being given sooooo much information in an hour and a half that everything couldn't possibly be remembered, but I will be as detailed and scientific (haha) as I can.
     Our Monday morning began with a trip to IHOP (International House of Pancakes). Alex has seen the commercials on tv and for a year or so now and had been begging us to go there for breakfast. I am not quite sure why they show these commercials when the nearest IHOP is around 200 miles away, at least that I know of. Alex was ELATED to say the least. I laughed at the thought of someone asking him why he went to Virginia and his response being, "To go to IHOP." After an ok breakfast, I like my food a little warmer than cool, we were on our way. So we plugged the address into the GPS and of course it wasn't recognized. Did this surprise me? No, the whole trip had gone too smoothly, I knew there had to be a pothole in the road. So we just decided to find the street. Well this idea left us at the other side of Richmond. After my husband stopped and asked for directions (yes MY husband can do this, it makes me so proud) we found out we were in Forest Highlands not Forest Ave. So back across the city with only a half an hour at this point until our appointment. This time the GPS recognized the address. You know it wasn't the fault of the person typing the address in, she would never have noticed that there were two selections for Forest Heights and Forest Avenue. Anyways we made it with 10 minutes to spare. The funny part is that it was only five minutes from where we were staying. Proves to me that God was there since I prayed my heart out to get there on time after we had been lost.
     As we were entering the building I was holding back tears. These were tears of hope, anxiety,fear, and any other emotion that could possibly have wanted to come out. After we waited for about an hour we finally saw her, the lady we were going to put all of our trust into helping our son. She called us back into the examining room and did a thorough physical on Alex. She discovered an ear infection that we had no idea he may have even had. Just like when he was a baby, he never seemed to bother with his ears or have a fever with them. She checked things that most peds. had never done. His mouth for fillings, his running gait, his throwing ability, his reflexes in spots that I had never even known were there. So after the exam she takes us into her office and sends Alex into the waiting room to watch some tv or play. She sits us down and begins asking us our family health questions, backgrouds, all about Alex's issues current and past. She shakes her head and says,"I hear the same story everyday multiple times a day." So down to business. She shows us diagrams of studies  done and blurts out technical terms that we really had no idea what was what. Although I am the science person of this marraige (Enzo is the math) this was WAY beyond my studys. Then we get to the cell, ok I was on the same page now that she had come down a level here. Bear with me here, because this is where I understand, but am not sure on how to state it, or the complete medical terms. She claims that in ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) patients when the calcium is transfered between cells there is a blockage that causes the receiving cell not to be able to close. Just think of it as like transfering livestock to different pens. You open one pen to let them into another and when  they enter the new pen they are supposed to be going into, the gate doesn't close. Although some do stay in, others come right back out and the process is incomplete. Made sence to be. This seems to me why Alex either gets things all together, or not at all. Also, she said about the gut and why that is the first thing that needs to be healed. Tiny holes in the lining caused from toxins, over use of antibiotics (this is where I think Alex has fit in) and radical use of vaccines cause proteins from certain foods (I think milk products and gluten) to escape into the blood stream, travel to the brain and act as Opiates. I have read that theory before, so it wasn't that hard to understand. She also showed us how people with ASD view things and explained why they don't look at us when we call them, told us why they rock or fidget with there hands. It was just so much information that if I had to write it all down I wouldn't get anything done this weekend.
      We ended  the visit with our plan of action. For the next three to six months Alex was put on a GFCF (Gluten Free Casein Free) diet. We were also loaded up on Viamins and Mineral. My next blog will get into some detail about these. She also gave Alex a prescription for Straterra for his Attention issues, a lab slip for blood work and a bag that at this point we had no idea what was in it. We just figured it went to the lab with us. We decided to go to the lab just down the hall from her office. At least this way there was a better chance the results wouldn't get lost in transaction. We know how our luck runs. We got to the lab and were taken back in no time at all. The shocker was the fact that he was getting nine, yes 9 vials of blood drawn, and the bag full of what we knew now were more test kits. Only these were to be perfomed at home. Alex did well with the blood testsssss he sat there with tears in his eyes, but he held up like a champ. His reward, a trip to McDonald's which would be his last for a while. After lunch we started our way home.
     It was nice to be home, but I was eager to get started, but I knew that I needed to give it a day to sink in, plus I would need to go shopping for the foods Alex was to have for the next few months.
In my next Blog I will talk about the supplements and the diet. I will try to get that on by Sunday. So have a happy Saturday!!!