Why do we have to keep going to the Dr.?

Tuesday was Dr. Day!  For those of you that follow me, Dr. Day is also known as "date day," for Araya and I.  Well, I have found that the earlier we get in during the day, the shorter the wait to see Dr. Hoyt.  So, we have started to be her, "first patient of the day," which in reality means getting up very early...the ride usually starts out relatively quiet as we are still waking up.  Traffic was absolutely terrible on Tuesday and we were a little worried we would be late...we had lot's of stop and go, which seemed to bring on lot's of questions....like, "why do we have to do this all the time?"  "do we have to do this forever?"  "what if we don't keep going?"  Great questions for a 12 year old that is "getting" the fact that he sees the Dr. more than anyone else in the family.
That is what we talked about..."Araya, we have to do this, so you stay healthy."  "yes Araya, you will have to do this forever."  "If you choose to not go the Dr. that will eventually be your choice, but for now, it is my our choice."  I asked him if he understood what I was saying..."sort of," he said.  I think he is right on, this is hard for me to explain, how can I expect him to understand? 
First of all Dr. Hoyt is AWESOME!  She is awesome with Araya and our family.  The clinic that we see Dr. Hoyt at focuses on the whole family.  Her specialty is Pediatric Infectious Disease (infants-young adults), others in the clinic focus on mothers, fathers etc.  It can be a sad place too, as I sit in the lobby or wait for Araya's labs and realize that everyone is seeing the Dr. for the same reason, they have HIV or are with someone that does.  On this day it was a mother and her one year old daughter that caught my eye.  The little girl was getting her blood drawn and didn't like it one bit!  I was reminded of Araya's first visit ..three of us holding him down, just to get a little blood...I am so glad that we are passed that stage..now he squeezes my hand and we talk about what we are gonna do when we leave the Dr,....usually where he wants to eat!
Dr. Hoyt told Araya and I that she was going to see 6 new patients that week~4 HIV+ kids that were adopted from Russia, 1 from China and 1 from Ethiopia, I am so happy to hear that these kids are getting adopted and getting great care!
Another blessing this week was that Dr. Hoyt was actually able to talk to Araya about some of those questions that he had for me.  She explained it so much better than I!  We did find out that Araya's meds are working great and remains, "undetectable" which is the ultimate goal and the word that I love to hear!  Dr. Hoyt did tell Araya and I that the average med works for 10 years, when meds start to not work, counts and levels in the blood change, then we need to experiment with something bigger and better to fight the bad guys....I am hoping and praying for a cure!
On a little lighter note...Araya and I stopped at Kohl's on the way home to find a couple more pair of jeans.  As we approached the boys section and I went to the Levis, Lee's, etc...Araya announced that he wanted to know where the HUSKY'S were, he thinks HUSKY is a brand name...I laughed to myself..I didn't have the heart to explain to him what the HUSKY really meant but we found a pair in the Levis and the Lee's and he was very excited to find the word HUSKY on the tag.  He smiled all the way to the check out...I wish I was that excited to buy a 1X!!
As we jumped in the car I was so hoping he would want to eat somewhere else besides KFC, I mentioned Chili's, Panera, Chipotle....guess what he said, "KFC."  Off we went for another KFC lunch!  It was a great date with Araya!