Dex's appointment with the neurologist went well the other day. Well, other than the fact that I had to drag him crying out of his class Halloween party since it had just started. And he cried all the way to Seattle. I was so worried about being late that I was flustered and could not console him. I pulled into the hospital and headed down a ramp to the parking lot and wondered why they put a "DO NOT ENTER" sign at the top of the ramp only to find out that I was driving down the up ramp and head-on into cars exiting the parking garage. Yikes! At least I was not the only goof who did that as there was a car directly behind me on the ramp.

Where the ramp met the garage exit, there was enough room for me to do a 27-point turn and headed back up (the other guy just drove up backwards) and drove around the block around and came back down the correct ramp. I circled around and around the garage until we found parking then Dex, Jax and I rushed to the appointment only to find out that he was running *45* minutes behind! Oh, if I had only known Dex could have stayed for his party!

So, we went for a walk around the hospital and bought tea/hot chocolate/Pepsi and hung out. After 45 minutes, we headed back up for the appointment and it was another 30 minutes before we were called into to see the doctor.

We discussed medication so now we know what we are dealing with if we went that route. We've decided that we'll only medicate him of the tics continue to bother Dex (he doesn't really even notice them anymore) or if he is being teased (he says only a couple of people have asked him about them). The neurologist also taught Dex a way to try to "trick" his brain. When he feels the tic coming, he grabs a spine of a koosh ball (I need to buy one) and pull on it 10 times until the urge to do the tic goes away. The next week he does it 5 times, then 2 times then 1 time and by then hopefully the tic has gone away. Dex sat there glowering at the doctor the whole time (this guy made him miss his Halloween party AND interrupted his Nintendo DS game that he had been happily playing in the waiting room).

And of course Dex did not do his tic once during that whole appointment. He did it immediately before and after but not during the appointment. :\

After we left, Dex said he wanted to try that "trick" and he explained how he gets a feeling like a bubble in his brain that gets bigger and bigger then he has to do his tic to make it go away. Now why did he not explain this to the doctor instead of pouting and making dagger eyes at him?!

Dex said he'd like to try to trick his brain so I've ordered some small koosh balls (they don't really sell them anywhere anymore - at least I could not find them). While we wait for them to come, Dex will try squeezing a little stress ball.

And let's hope the tics go away soon so we don't need the meds after all.