I want to update everyone on my last post. . .

I did get in touch with Mikey's endo regarding Jake and possible family history. To say the least, he was intrigued. While I never got to speak with him personally, we exchanged several voice mails and faxes over the last couple of weeks and he agreed that it would be a good idea to get Jake karyotpyed. I am expecting the paperwork to come in the mail any day now. The good news is that I will be able to take Jake directly to a lab and bypass all the typical office visits.

I had to sit down and have the discussion with Jake. It's kind of a hard thing to explain to a 9-year-old. Yes, we've told him everything about Mikey, but we kept it in more basic terms. I found myself explaining testosterone, hormone levels, puberty, DNA, chromosomes, genetics - you name it. It was a very long, complex discussion. Jake never ceases to amaze me with his intelligence level. He easily grasped the concepts and now has a pretty good working knowledge of the topics. (Now I only hope I don't get some sort of note from his teacher - LOL!)

When I told Jake that we want to have him tested to see what his karyotype is, his only concern was "will it hurt." I didn't lie. I never lie to my kids. I told him that, yes, it will hurt but not as much as a shot. Since he recently had a flu shot, he had a point of reference. Honestly he's more concerned about getting the blood drawn than possibly having a chromosomal disorder. In fact, when I told him about some of the characteristics of XXY boys (ADHD tendencies, difficulty with reading comprehension, difficulty fitting in with peers, etc.) he immediately said he wanted to be tested. What a trooper.

So, I'm now waiting on the paperwork to arrive and then we'll get the blood work done. After that it is a very long wait to see what the results are - usually three months. (Mikey's was seriously rushed while he was at Children's. It's unheard of to get a karyotype in two days). Once again, we play the waiting game. I'm getting pretty good at it though.