We've come so far...

The much anticipated annual Metabolic appointment was this morning.  I didn't think we would have a lot to talk about, other than just follow-up, since Max was in the hospital so much in the past year.  His Metabolic doctors are some of the first called when we're on our way to the ER with Max, so they always are on board when he's in the hospital.

The appointment itself, really was very uneventful.  He has not changed too much, besides in weight, so medicines were increased due to weight gain.  We went over lab results, and all looked good.  His Vitamin D is still low, even on the supplement, so we're going to have to check again in a month.  The worry is that he's not absorbing it in his gut well.

I can remember times when Max was a baby, early on in this life journey when I would dread Metabolic appointments.  They would start early in the morning, with a stripped naked Max to get his weight, and height, and head circumference.  Then we would meet with several doctors over three or so hours going over every little thing about Max.

I would feel on edge, defensive of his lack of weigh gain, nervous of what the acid levels were in his blood.  I would take far too much personally.  I would walk away feeling so upset that all the work I had done in the past months was really not that noticeable.

Appointments these days are so different.  Max is pretty stable with his Metabolic disease, Methylmalonic Acidemia + Homocysteinuria, Complementation Type C, aka MMA Cbl-C.  We got to our early appointment this morning, and went over how Max was doing since being out of the hospital. Then we went over how he's doing in school, and therapies.

At one point in the appointment, when his doctors were doing his exam, I looked over at Max and he was looking at them and giggling.  We were all laughing.  An easy, comfortable laugh.  How far we've come.  I wish the me 8 years ago could have had a glimpse of the me today.  I didn't leave in tears today, like I used to when Max was a baby.  I left proud of Max, and proud of who we are as parents.  And our relationship with Max's doctors.