Doctor update, part two

I wrote this back on May 6. I apologize for not posting it sooner!

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Last night was my first appointment with Dr. Franco, who is the head of the Arthritis Center in Riverside, California. I had been to the center six weeks before and I had seen Dr. Franco's partner doctor, Dr. Lallande, who took lots of blood and asked lots of questions. This was my follow up.

I was of course nervous, as I always am. I was first scheduled for x-rays. They took about 20 of my neck, elbows, hands, wrists, and feet in varying poses. I then became extremely nervous and wished I had called my insurance company ahead of time to get assurance that they'd pay for all of these. And I hadn't met Dr. Franco before. I had a great appointment with Dr. Lallande last time, but who was to say Dr. Franco would be as cool as Dr. Lallande?

Then, sitting on the table while the tech was messing with the x-rays, I had a brief moment where I imagined the doctor saying something like, "Madam, I do not AT ALL agree with my colleague's methods or theories about diet or vaccines; however, I tolerate him because he is an excellent physician. You will not find a sympathetic ear for your hippie theories in this office!" This made me smile in an entirely goofy way.

Next was blood work. I complained that I had blood work last time to no avail, naturally.

Then FINALLY I saw the doctor, an hour after my original appointment time. Apparently he had gotten hung up by another patient. At least one of the assistants came in to apologize while I was waiting.

Dr. Franco was rather exclamatory. He exclaimed about everything. He told me I had an extraordinary capacity to make red blood cells! He told me my adrenal glands were quite amazing, and that he had never seen anyone with such naturally strong adrenals!He also exclaimed on the softness of my skin! Amazing! He saw the x-ray of me bending my head back as far as it could go, and he raised an eyebrow and said I was more flexible than most. He then asked if I had ever been a dancer. Um, NO.

He asked me about the diet changes I'd made. I told him I and my son were on SCD. He asked me to explain SCD, and I started to, and he instantly understood the purpose and the implications. He asked me to bring the book for next time and said, "I think I should read more about this diet."

He spent a few minutes lambasting the insurance companies, and how the pharmaceutical companies are in the business of keeping people sick, and he works to make people well, and if his patients are in pain he can't sleep at night.

He thoroughly explained all of the x-rays and showed me the bone damage that was apparent within my right wrist (a couple of eroded spots and holes). My earliest joints affected showed compression, so you could see that there wasn't really much space between the bones. He showed me a joint in my foot that was also severely affected and I was honestly surprised, and told him it didn't cause me any discomfort at all. He said that was great.

Apparently though I have muscle spasms through my neck, which has caused those vertebrae to curve out of place a little bit. He then exclaimed on my vertebrae, that I had "amazing windows" where the nerves exit the spine.

He then examined me, and pointed out to the assistant that my rib cage has an interesting shape, which makes me a natural variant of...something. The assistant
feigned polite interest.

And then...the verdict. "I want you to take S. boulardii," he said.

I blinked. "Actually, I have some in my fridge, I just haven't started taking it yet."

He told me they have one that is put together specifically for the Arthritis Center. I asked if I could read the label. It had potato starch and I told him I couldn't have that, and he was fine with me using what I had. He said he didn't want to mess up what I was already doing. He figured out a dosage for me from what I told him about my bottle.

Then he asked if I took glucosamine/chondroitin. I told him I had wanted to, but they contain shellfish, and I tested allergic as a child, so I was a little leery. He thought about this at length,and then said I should try a small amount and work up to the appropriate dosage. I checked the ingredients on the supplement bottle and it looked OK, so I agreed that I would buy that particular one.

Next he suggested a supplement to relax the muscles in my neck, but that one also contained SCD illegal ingredients. I told him I would look for something similar.

And then I asked about drugs. "Do you think I need meds?"

He waved his hand. "I don't think so."

I looked at him, and I started to smile, and the grin eventually took up all of the real estate on my face. He then looked at me curiously. "What?" he said.

I said, "I like you very much right now."

He said, "Oh, thank you."

He then told me he thought I was a great mom (they are both very interested in what I am doing for my autistic son), and a straighforward and honest person, and the world needed more people like me.

So! That was my appointment.

A doctor told me I don't need meds.

A DOCTOR TOLD ME I DON'T NEED MEDS.

Now it's Clark's turn. I've got more work to do.

P.S. And I need to find my copy of BTVC! It's been missing for months now! >_<

SCD and the doctor

I don't even know where to begin. I guess at the beginning. That's good, right?

Over the past three weeks or so, Clark has been off again, on again sick. However, about two weeks ago, he went from a sniffly nose to a hacking deep cough in the span of about eight hours. He also spiked a high fever, around 104 degrees.

I don't freak out when my kid gets sick. I don't like taking him to the doctor. Kids get sick; it's what they do, and most of the time there's nothing you can do about it except wait it out. Their school environment is like a virus factory.

But this did worry me, and so we took him in. We found out he had pneumonia (joy) and he had his first chest X-ray. This brought back a lot of memories for me, because as a child, I had pretty bad asthma. I had pneumonia multiple times, and bronchitis more times than I could count. I learned to sleep sitting up, and as a result, I can sleep pretty much anywhere at any time, much to the envy of some of my friends.

When my son's doctor told us she wanted to prescribe antibiotics, I told her that sugar caused huge problems for Clark, so perhaps she could give us something sugar free that we could crush and mix up with something. She prescribed Augmentin, which is a combo of two antibiotics, amoxicillin and clavulanate, and she gave it to us in a tablet form that was OK to crush and mix with applesauce, much to my relief. I knew the pills would likely contain corn starch, but I was OK with that short term.

My pediatrician, who is a really cool lady, did caution that the antibiotic might cause diarrhea, so she suggested we give him L. acidophilus along with the antibiotic. While that was a great suggestion, I can't find any that's SCD legal locally, and the stuff from GI Pro Health is on back order. So we just decided to wait it out and see what would happen.

After the first dose, I had a nightmare where Clark literally turned into a monster and was eating my hand with very sharp teeth. My husband pointed out that I was afraid Clark would go back to the way he was pre-SCD, and my mind interpreted this literally.

Clark was OK with the antibiotic. He did start to regress around day three or four, much to our dismay, but it wasn't severe.

And then, on about day 7, we got Clark up for school and he was covered in a bright red rash.

Guess what? He's allergic to penicillin. *head on desk*

So we took him in to the doctor while the reaction continued to worsen. The doctor noticed Clark was a little short of breath, so he got a breathing treatment of what I assume was albuterol. Once again, I was hit by memories of my childhood while he sat on my lap with a mask over his face, and I chatted with him while we waited for the medicine to run down.

We were instructed to give him Benadryl, and I mentioned the problem with sugar again. We found him a kids chewable version with NutraSweet, and we tried that. We were sent home with instructions to keep an eye on him for the next 4-6 hours to see if his breathing worsened again.

We ended up giving him two doses of the Benadryl, and it really didn't seem to help him much. He was also getting weepy and emotional and I figured I should switch to something without the NutraSweet and artificial colors. I was also worried because the rash seemed to continue to worsen. So I picked up some generic Zyrtec tablets and crushed one for him. The dosage is the same for anyone ages 6 and up, and it lasts for 24 hours. I carefully checked the package and it didn't say you couldn't crush them, so I figured it was OK.

The next morning Clark was definitely more cheerful, even though he didn't look much better. I had looked up the ingredients on the Zyrtec in the meantime and one of them did have an extended release component. Since I was worried, I grabbed the same product at Target and asked their pharmacist if it was extended release -- it wasn't, and she said it was OK to crush. Whew.

So far, so good. The Zyrtec tablets do contain starch and a teensy bit of lactose, but they are very small and I think Clark is doing really well with them.

The interesting thing is, I realized Clark has never had antibiotics until now, and I wonder if that's why he's only mildly autistic instead of much worse. I managed to explain a little bit about SCD to his regular pediatrician and she was slightly mystified but didn't try to dissuade us.

And now it's my turn. I'm leaving work early today to go to an arthritis institute, and I'm a little nervous about it. See, even though my son and I have only been SCD for a little while, I've been tinkering with diet changes for the past three years because cutting out grains has REALLY helped my arthritis. Every time I go to a new rheumatologist I have to be prepared, because every time I tell them the diet changes that have helped me, and every time, I get the silent treatment because they don't believe me. I don't know if it will be different this time, but I am resolved.