Had Luke’s first psychiatric appointment last Tuesday.  He wasn’t able to go to that appointment.  We spent the hour talking history and symptoms.  But first impression: I like her a lot.  She is easy to be around and talk to and seems honestly excited to meet Luke.  She isn’t phased one outward bit by the medical history of his gene pool she is up against, but is instead excited to meet the sweet boy my Lucas is.

Off the bat she recommended Melatonin to calm his ass down at night and help him to sleep.  It’s all natural and over the counter, so she felt safe offering that relief before meeting Luke.  I had heard that you can use it with kids, but not knowing what exactly we were dealing with mental health wise, I wasn’t going to attempt anything without a medical thumbs up.  She gave it and it was her idea.  She also gave dosage instructions which is helpful.  I know where to start dosing at, but also know how high I can go if needed.

The next course of action before she meets him was to get blood work done for him.  She wrote out the script and I took him to the local Children’s Hospital Close To Home.  I probably could have taken him to his own pediatrician or elsewhere, but Luke has a great history with that close to home, they are skilled with children as young as Luke, and it was closer to us than his pediatrician.

I gave him the general idea of where we were going and what for, before we went, but I left out the details such as the needle.  I didn’t want him building it up to something it wasn’t, out of fear.  I did suggest he bring his (my) teddy bear to meet the blood doctor.  Once there, he sat in my lap and the wonderful nurse spent a good amount of time examining the veins in both arms.  I have no doubt in her skill.  4-year-old veins are tiny, though, no matter the amount of practice.  Once she found where she was headed, she called in her “friend” Jason to help hold Luke’s arm still.  I bear hugged him and kissed on his cheek while Jason secured the arm of importance, the needle came out, Luke put two and two together and was not happy.  But she got it on the first try and my boy was brave.  Sure, he went to jerk away and cried out in anguish, but I’m seen grown ass men freak out over blood draws so no one can blame Luke for his reaction.  And he did not make the blood draw impossible.  Granted, Jason and I were strong (but gentle) so Luke only had so much he could move anyways.

Once all was said and done, and Luke was given a McDonald’s breakfast sandwich to break the blood draw fast, all seemed to be forgiven.

But luck of the unknown won’t be on my side for the next blood draw.  He’ll know what’s coming.  And what’s coming is pointy.

Anyway, with the labs, the pdoc can double check to be sure something physical isn’t causing the issues.  She can also confirm his baseline levels so that if/when meds are introduced, she can keep checking to make sure they aren’t doing unnecessary physical harm on the risk verses benefits scale.

Meds?  We did not discuss.  She brought up we’d discuss them in a round about way.  But after my conversation with her, I really get the feeling we are on the same page.  Neither one of us seem to be the type to throw a pill at the first sign of trouble, but neither one of us will shy away from treating what needs to be treated.  And I get the feeling she’ll advise, but defer to me.  We are already clearly on the same team.  And that’s Team Luke!