Finally our appointment at the paediatrician came around. For those of you who don’t know, we decided to put Beth on the mini pill a couple of months ago after shocking mood swings and behavioural problems at school and at home since Beth started her period. I went to the doctors on her behalf who decided that, due to the fact that we couldn’t get an appointment for so long, we would put Beth on the mini pill and have it reviewed when we had our appointment. I was worried that if I had to wait until now to do it, we wouldn’t know whether Beth’s behaviour was because she had just started a new school year or because of hormones. Starting a new school year could of course make Beth anxious and we wouldn’t know which one it was. At least if we started it then I could let the paediatrician know if it had worked or not. (It did.)
As usual our paediatricians appointment was like the health centre visits that we had when the kids were babies. We don’t go to our bi yearly appointments for this very reason. He measures her (173 cm), he weighs her (53.3 kg), he checks in her ears and looks in her throat. The only difference is that the health sister doesn’t charge $150. This time we did a bit of talking though and questioning (on my behalf) so I guess it was a bit different. He didn’t have an issue with Beth being on the pill. In fact although I was happy enough with his decision I did find it a bit uncomfortable. He made it clear that when a child has severe problems understanding her periods, an extreme child in Beth’s case (his words) then there are no issues with putting her on the pill. Even though in some ways Beth would be considered severe, I don’t like hearing it in such black and white terms. I did tell him how she had actually coped with her period very well and that besides the mood swings I really wasn’t worried. And it’s not like it’s removing the problem all together so I don’t really get it. Is her physical wellbeing not as important because she’s autistic? I don’t think he meant this at all but I did find the whole decision to be a bit blase. It’s not like it’s going to stop her from having children or anything like that but once again, if it did, would they be as flippant about it or would they think to themselves that it might be for the best. Anyway, both he and our doctors have told me that it’s a very mild pill and wont do her any harm at all so for the moment we’ll continue. He did also ask me if her periods were heavy (they are) and suggested that we keep her iron levels up. I asked if 6 weetbix each morning were sufficient!
All in all he was pretty happy with Beth as are we. He did ask her a few questions and she did answer. I was a touch disappointed that he didn’t comment on how well she is doing but we haven’t been there for 18 months so maybe he didn’t remember. Most of what he asked was of course from his notes. I can always tell when we don’t see somebody a lot because they call  her by her full name of Elizabeth.  He asked about high school and I commented that Beth wont talk about anything in the future. He suggested waiting until the transition days before trying to broach the subject which I’ve already decided to do.
Beth’s settling down now and watching Bee movie. I’m glad she’s varying her movies. Last week she insisted on watching Shark Tales twice a day every day. She’s still watching it but not so incessantly. 2 more weeks to go.
