Doctors and Stuff......

Nothing is easy in this household........  I got bombarded with interviews, sometimes 3 a day.  It was crazy.  Then I get a call at the end of last week from Ryan's Urologist.  It was time for Ryan's appointment.  I did not realize it had been a year already.  He has had one trip to the ER with a large kidney stone and passed multiple little ones, but had not seen this doctor in a year. 

As with any time we go to any doctor, Ryan is usually anxious or very quiet.  Today he was anxious!  Oh Lord.....  When we got there for the appointment, he was almost immediately taken back into an examining room.  After the nurse updated his info and took his vitals, Ryan shifted into rare form and became anxious.  He was eyeing the little stool with wheels that the doctor sits on when he comes in.  I knew what would happen next.  Ryan looks at me and says, you know what I am going to do, and I did.  He got up and went to sit on the rolling stool.  He spun around this way and that way.  Let me remind you that this is my 27 year old man child.  He is at times a child in a grown man's body.  It is easy to see why people see him as a grown man.  It's moments like today in the doctor's office that people do not see.  After scolding him and telling him to sit back down in his chair he starts picking and chewing at one of his fingernails. 

I don't know if this is just an "autism" trait or what, but Ryan picks at his toenails and fingernails very badly.  For the most part he wears socks and shoes all the time - Thank God!  Otherwise, he would not have any toenails.  So I proceed to ask him to stop with the fingernail.  There is barely a fingernail there.  It looks awful.  He tells me that he is trying to clean the nail out.  There is no nail to clean there.  I asked to PLEASE stop.  This became a bone of contention with us.  He started laughing and taunting me, and of course I eventually started laughing.  I mean, how could I not?  LOL! 

Finally, he gave up on the fingernail and then started playing with the little container holding all the kidney stones he had passed and caught over the past year.  At this point my nerves were shot!  Shot, I say!  I asked him if he was anxious about something.  He responded with, maybe just a little.  So this is where I try to distract him.  That wasn't working either.  Then the "thumping" started.  When he gets anxious he will sometimes tap his feet.  We have deemed this "thumping."  I knew at this point I should have given him an extra anxiety pill.  I just thought he would be okay.  He loves this doctor.  It's always an adventure to go to the doctor.....

The outcome?  The doctor decided to order a CT Scan to see how many stones are left in Ryan's kidneys and to analyze the stones he had already passed.  He goes back in May to follow up.

We decided to ride down to the beach after the doctor's appointment.  Ryan likes to go sit on a bench on the causeway and watch the ocean.  He is fascinated with the ocean and sea creatures.  We've been doing this more often since I have been out of work.  It's not too far from home and sitting on the causeway does not cost anything.  This also helped Ryan AND Mom to decompress......  I love my boy!

Peace!