Julian

The hospital visit

The head jerking progressed into eye rolling, clapping, sniffing and yelling the word "up" over and over. It was getting so bad that he was having trouble focusing, doing things he used to and what hurt the most was that people and his classmates would stare at him, would even ask him "what are you doing?" Or "why are you doing that?"

He decided for himself it was time to see a doctor, or at least someone who knew what this is.

His mom took him to the paediatrician at the children's hospital, which was about 2 hours away from his house.

They waited in the waiting room for about 30 minutes. Then a woman with black glasses, red hair, a clip board and a long white lab coat walked out into the waiting room and said "Julian Rudolph?" "That's me" said Julian in a shaker voice. I'm nurse Ellie, one of Dr. Laundry's assistants. If you wouldn't mind could you and your mother follow me please?" Julian and his mom got up and followed nurse Ellie.

Nurse Ellie leaded them both to a white hospital room with a painting of a bird on the door. She opened the door to let them in. "Dr. Laundry will be here shortly" she said before closing the door. Julian could hear her heals click down the hall they had just came from. Julian looked around and became aware of the surroundings. The computer that was sitting on the mahogany desk, the blue and white tiles on the floor that remained in a checker like pattern. And the picture of two little girls in a picture frame, which he assumed were the doctors children or grand children depending on how old she is.

Julian's mother, Clara took his hand and said "I want you to answer everything the doctor asks you, so we can find out exactly what's going on and how to help it." Julian nodded his head in agreement. "I love you" said his mom softly. "Love you too *tic* mom".

A tall woman with raven black hair which was pulled back into a tight bun walked in. She had sneakers on and a lab coat like the last woman. She too had a clip board, and had a stethoscope around her neck. "I'm assuming you're Julian Rudolph, and you are Clara Rudolph the mother?" She asked with a smile. "That is correct" said Julian's mother.

She took out her pen, clicked it and put it against the paper. The clicking noise made Julian tic, as he was sensitive to noises.

"So Julian, I understand you're here to get an answer on why you keep twitching is that correct?"
-"Yes ma'am"
-"How long had this been going on?"
About four months".
-"How old are you Julian?"
-"I'm 10"
-"What grade are you in?"
-"5th grade"
-"do you have any siblings?"
-" I have an older sister Mavis, she's 14"
-"ok, I'm gonna ask you some questions about your twitching is that alright?"
-"yes."

Julian took a deep breath and listened to her words.
-" Julian can you remember when it first happened?"
-"Yes, I was in the back seat and suddenly got the *tic* urge to jerk my neck."
-"And you've been twitching ever since?"
-"yes".
-"Ok, this is definitely a diagnosis for Tourette's syndrome."
-"Tourette's syndrome?"
-"yes, it's a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. So what you are doing is called ticking. There's something in your brain that's tell you to do these things. Many people have it so don't worry it's very common especially among children.

Julian just sat there. He was glad he had a diagnosis and finally knew what was happening. But he was still kind of confused, he didn't remember the last time he didn't need to tic. His mother shook the doctors hand and the doctor gave her a paper with a prescription for a very low dose of fluoxetine to start using on Monday, it was going to help his tics. Julian and his mother got in the car and drove home. Julian looked out the window and watched the trees and cars go by, his mom looked back at him in the mirror, then looked back at the road. Julian took a deep breath, and ticked.