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A Summary of the Week's Doctor Visits (February 19, 2009 - 7:06 p.m.) As promised, here is an update on Stephanie's recent doctor's visits. First, on Tuesday morning, we had a very nice visit with the new therapist, Dr. Leslie Faris, a psychologist. This was Steph's second meeting with her, but my first time to meet her, and I was very impressed. I wanted to stay in her waiting room because it was the most serene place I had seen in a long time. Heh. Nice and comfy, with big, cushy couches, and the local classical music station on the radio. For the meeting, though, I got to giver Dr. Faris a little of my perspective on Stephanie's situation, which is pretty much the same as her mother's. We asked her to write something up, though, to present to the school for today's ARD meeting. She did that and sent it to us in an email yesterday. Here is what she said in the letter. To Whom It May Concern: Very good recommendations, I think. Then Steph spent about 15 minutes alone with her and we scheduled our next appointment for next Tuesday afternoon. So, today (Thursday), we had the ARD meeting. It was a mixed bag. I would feel a little more positive if we had gotten a little more acknowledgment of her condition from the Vice Principal, but at least I have gotten him to do some research on autism. I challenged his knowledge in a previous phone call, and he has risen to the challenge. That impressed me. He still thinks that some of Stephanie's actions, however, are more "choice" than "symptoms." We shall see. The most positive thing that came from this meeting is that we all agreed that they would do a complete re-evaluation of her sometime during the next few weeks. This will be pretty comprehensive, with paperwork filled out by us, Steph, her teachers, and a team of diagnosticians. I feel a little more confident in the results of this. We still have three professional opinions, now, though, to fall back on. After the ARD meeting, we headed back to the psychiatrist's office to see the nurse practitioner to try to get a handle on the drug situation. To update a little on that, Stephanie was previously put on Wellbutrin (150mg) and Abilify (15mg). The new psychiatrist felt that Wellbutrin was not the right thing for her and pulled her off of it back around the time that Steph's Pawpaw died. This resulted in her having much more anxiety, which has increased ever since. Last week, the psych increased the Abilify by 5mg to make it 20. This has not helped. This afternoon, when we picked her up after the ARD meeting, she was already crying. She said she was scared and didn't want to go to the appointment. We told her we had to, because we need to get this straightened out. She cried almost all the way through the appointment, and hardly said a word the whole time. (We saw the nurse/practitioner on this visit.) We discussed the situation with the nurse and all agreed that Steph needed something else for the anxiety. She still felt that Wellbutrin was not the answer, and that an SSRI (Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitor) would be better. We had tried one of those a few years back (Lexapro), and it caused Steph to "act out" a little more. However, we were not taking Abilify at that point. So, we left there with a prescription for Zoloft (she will start with only 25mg a day, a very low dosage), and a little bit of Xanax, if we need a "quick fix." However, we have the understanding that Xanax is potentially extremely addictive, and we certainly don't need that. She only gave us 14 of those for an "as needed" basis. We have another appointment for her in two weeks. Sigh. It's been a rough day, to say the least. But I/we feel positive/hopeful that these things will help. I plan to continue to use this diary to keep updates on the therapist's visits and psych visits, and any updates from school. As well as my usual nonsense like book reviews, baseball news, etc. TTFN, y'all Missed anything? |