Older Daughter came along too which leavened the session a little - it was Waif, OD and me with the psych. The psych said that ideally they would like both parents at sessions but fully understood that real life could get in the way.
He showed Waif her weight chart (far from upwards) and explained how he wanted to see a gentle up hill slope, and how that was important for bone formation. He then told her that she was by no means the worst case and that some girls, with the anorexia talking, eat salt and drink water before weighing to try to seem as though they have put on weight. I gave him a slight dagger stare at that point as I bet a thousand pounds that Waif would never have known that unless he had said it, but is quite clever enough to file it away as useful information.
Waif refused to let me mention the possibility of a new school to the psych, so I couldn't. So we talked about the usual mundanities, with OD there to help.
It ended with the weighing, finding that Waif was now 37.0kg in her school uniform (including jumper). I had pointed out to the psych that the time she had apparently put on weight was the time she wore her blazer as well. He took that on board and determined that from now on she should always be wearing the same clothes.
I was slightly worried as the psych clocked Waif's wrist support: she had fallen in the kitchen on Saturday night (having been fine skating on Friday night), and classically put out her hand to break her fall, but instead hurt her wrist. We have a hard solid marble floor.
I was quite in favour of a wrist x-ray but my husband and Waif both thought they had seen enough doctors. The psych had a look at it and his expert opinion was that it was probably a sprain but, as there was no swelling, was unlikely to be a break although only an x-ray could confirm it one way or another. He said that was up to Waif.
The psych finally seemed to take seriously my contention that there might be a physical cause for Waif's weight loss as she has been eating lots at home, at least in the last week - probably 2,000 - 2,500 calories a day. Mind you, she looked terribly thin a week ago and I also bear in mind that perhaps she lost weight in the fortnight before and has only just started eating properly again. I wish that the psych would tell her to keep a food diary EVERY day and not just for the week before appointments as it really focuses her mind on what she is eating rather than a general impression.
Anyway, the pscyh is going to consult a paediatrician and find out what blood tests might be useful for Waif eg Coeliac disease tests. He reassured Waif that he could categorically rule out cancer. She told him that he couldn't possibly say that, and he had to agree. We settled on wording that "there was no reason to believe she might have cancer." Apart from the weight loss, my subconscious couldn't help adding :-( :-(
I didn't have a chance to talk to the psych on his own to point out that Waif was doing OCD calorie checking on line. He is to call me later int he week about the blood tests, so possibly I can tell him then.
He is also going to try to arrange a neck scan for Waif via the paediatrician or, if not, then her GP.
We have our next appointment in a fortnight by which time we should have blood test results.
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