We got home just a few hours ago. So now I am decompressing from our long weekend and telling you about it!

Scott's doctor was worried about his growth rate. Scott is and has always been on the small side. He is below the average BMI for his height. He should be between 18 and 22. Scott is at a BMI of 13.

She became even more worried when she noticed in his chart (in May) that he had not gained a pound of weight in the last 6 months. Not even 1 single ounce! She called it "failure to thrive." Definately something any parent should be concerned about. Scott also has acid reflux as well as incredible constipation. Scott has not had a regular bowl movement in the last 2 years! Could you imagine? He has to have a weekly dose of Myralax to help him. So it was a good thing to get the referral.

So she referred us to Chapel Hill. If you have had to go the Chapel Hill for any kind of specialty appointment you know about the waiting lists. When I called to schedule his appointment, the next available was in October. That was 5 months of waiting! To long for him to have to wait.

So I started to call around to all of the Pediatric Gastrointerology Clinics (GI) from here all the way to DC. It was a hard find since those clinics also had to be in the TRICARE network. TRICARE-a whole other post in itself!

So after about 2 days of phone calls, a clinic in DC had the closest available appointment in July. That was great! I was excited to have found an appointment closer than October. My son's health was at risk and could not wait 5 months!

So now to walk you through our day in DC.

I was so nervous about having to drive to Washington DC.  I know about all of the congestion and accidents. Afterall I grew up around there.

According to the expedia.com directions-it was a 1 hour drive. So we left 2 hours before his appointment time. This would allow us time to be stuck in traffic. The directions were very confusing. We were going to Georgetown University Hospital. I had never been there before so I had no directional experience to go from. My sister who commutes there everyday said to be sure to not stop on side streets and to keep our doors locked! It was a good thing that we studied the directions and the map before we left. Had we gone without reviewing-we certainly would have missed the turns. It was one turn right after another. Boom Boom Boom! And then we were in front of the hospital. It was kind of neat to drive right by the Pentagon. I had never been that close before.

So after we found a parking spot in the parking garage we made our way inside the hospital. 

All went well.

The doctor was very nice and very comforting. Scott however did not
want to be examined. No surprise there.

The doctor wants to start with the least evasive and easiest of treatments.

We are going to address the constipation issue first and he thinks
that the rest should correct itself. He thinks that since he has never really been able to dump out his meals after consuming them that this is why he does not have the best appetite. So then he may still feel full and not eat. Makes sense to me!

We are going to have to "clean him out" first. He said we would be
doing it as if he were preparing for a colonoscopy!

He will take this laxitive four doses each day for 2 days in a row.
FUN FUN FUN!! He said it is going to be very messy. So I am going to
wait to do this on Friday so that he will have all weekend to
recover.

After the "cleanout" session he should then be on a regular daily
laxitive, myralax, which will keep him on a regular bowl movement
cycle. Daily which is what he/we should be doing.

Once this is done than the doctor feels that since his colon is
emptied on a regular basis that he will start to eat more which will
then lead to weight gain. If after about a month Scott has still not
gained a sufficient amount of weight, then we will dig deeper into that
issue.

Just one of the many perks to Autism!!