MomWithOCDSon

Ouch! This is a really tough one! Similar to your idea about preventing "co-eating," first by delaying 30 seconds, and gradually increasing the time . . . it might be easier to do it by "bites," yah? Then neither you nor DS has to be a clock-watcher, on top of everything else. And you could start with one bite and expand from there, maybe? It might work for the getting dressed thing, too. Brother gets to put on one sock first, or after he does, gradually expanding to include both socks, both legs of the pants, etc. If rewards don't really incentivize him, would the mere LACK of the manifestation of any of the consequences he so fears, encourage him? If you point out to him at each and every exposure experience that, "See, Brother's safe. The OCD can only make you FEAR not being safe; it can't actually PUT someone in danger. It doesn't have that power 'cause YOU'RE the boss of IT. IT isn't the boss of YOU or Brother." Not a revolutionary suggestion, I know.

I'm not as "up" on tics as I am OCD, but is glutamate thought to be contributory to tics? If so, then perhaps NAC would be of some help. Here's a quote from the best source I've found regarding the effectiveness of NAC for OCD, and here's a link to the paper in full: Glutamatergic Dysfunction in OCD The amino acid N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is widely used for its antioxidant properties and as a treatment for acetaminophen toxicity; however, recent preclinical studies suggest that NAC also modulates CNS glutamate. NAC is converted to cystine, a substrate for the glutamate/cystine antiporter located on glial cells. The uptake of cystine by glia causes glial release of glutamate into the extrasynaptic space, where it appears to stimulate inhibitory metabotropic glutamate receptors on glutamatergic nerve terminals and thereby reduces the synaptic release of glutamate. Systemic administration of NAC has been shown to reverse the susceptibility to reinstitution of compulsive cocaine use in a rodent model by restoring re-establishing normal extracellular glutamate concentrations in the nucleus accumbens. In addition to attenuating synaptic glutamate release, NAC may enhance clearance of glutamate by glial cells at the synapse. Elevated levels of glutamate deplete glutathione within glial cells, impair cystine transport, and thereby increase the vulnerability of glia to oxidative stress.129 Preclinical studies demonstrate that NAC protects glial cells against glutamate toxicity, repletes levels of glutathione, and attenuates toxic levels of glutamate. The authors of this article hypothesize that NAC, through its inhibition of presynaptic glutamate release and protection of glial function, may be beneficial in disorders of glutamatergic dysregulation. If effective in OCD or other disorders, NAC would be an attractive treatment option because of its benign safety profile and low cost. Therefore, a small number of OCD patients have been treated with NAC, and evidence for benefit in compulsive behaviors has been found in two preliminary case reports. As noted above, NAC also reduces the tendency toward relapse in a rat model of cocaine abuse, suggesting that it may have more general efficacy against compulsive behaviors and maladaptive habits. This agent merits further investigation.

Michelle -- I'm no expert, but items 2 and 4 are shouting "yeast" to me, particularly for #2 in the face of neither IVIG or Augmentin making any discernable difference. And I'm pretty sure the carb/sugar craving is a yeast-related behavior because that's what the yeast feeds on, after all. Maybe upping his probiotics or adding an anti-fungal would help nudge him along some more? Other than that, I tend to think time is another major factor in our kids' recovery. Because some of them declined so rapidly, we'd like to think they can heal just as rapidly, but the anecdotal evidence seems to generally run contrary to that notion.

Well, I must say, I find her reasoning via #2 to be totally illogical! When was the last time she heard of a kid with "regular OCD" responding well to antibiotics?!?! That ought to be a reason IN SUPPORT OF PANDAS, not AGAINST IT! As for the temporal relationship between strep exposure or illness and the behaviors, this is a sticky point for many of us, especially since some of our kids (like my DS) have been entirely asymptomatic in the classic sense, so there was no way for me to know in the past whether or not his sudden "waxing" of OCD behaviors was tied to strep. He's NEVER responded to strep with a fever, a sore throat or ANY physical manifestation, so I never even knew he had it! But when he was tested and his titers were 5 times the top of the normal range, it was obvious that he was having SOME physical reaction to it . . . it just didn't show like the average kid's case of strep. For 6 years, we got the same answer that you did: doubt that strep had anything to do with the OCD, and even if it did, it doesn't matter now because what he has is OCD and it needs to be treated as OCD is typically treated, i.e., therapy and psych drugs. No strep tests, no antibiotics, no medical response to the issue whatsoever. It wasn't until Sammy of "Saving Sammy" represented with asymptomatic strep that I realized I might've been on the right track all those years ago, and that I needed to circle the wagons and press on for the right answers rather than just the convenient old saws. But I'm trying to let that be ancient history now and rejoice in having found some better answers and some meaningful support FINALLY! Bright you, to have come to it so quickly!

Unfortunately, beyond the source that Phasmid suggested, I'm not aware of any person or research paper that's going to specify dosage necessarily. But given Danny's age and size, I feel confident you can go up on his dose, and if you've been seeing positive results at 600 mg., perhaps you'll see even more with some more glutamate modulation support. Our DS13 is about 140 lbs., and we see no ill effects from his current, higher dosage. I do believe it can contribute to lose bowel movements, so just keep an eye on that, though it may be a small price to pay.

I'm not sure if you mean how school nurses might help our children "in the moment" of an exacerbation behavior, or if you're more after the whole strep exposure thing. In our experience, we had no trouble being notified of strep cases when DS was in elementary school; a form letter would normally go out in his folder the same day that the school was notified by the afflicted child's parent. But once DS moved into junior high, the notices ceased being sent out; in 2.5 years of junior high, we've received only ONE written strep notification. The administration says they can only officially notify when they are notified, and parents of kids this age just tend to not report. Once I made the school nurse aware of our DS's strep "sensitivity," however, she's been great about picking up the phone and calling me immediately when she becomes aware of a case of strep in the school, even if it is a teacher or staff member and not another kid. I'll be forever grateful for the "heads up" she provides of her own volition!

We actually give DS13 1,200 mg. in the a.m. and another 600 mg. in the evening. Accompanied by quercitin and Vitamin C; can't recall the source, but was advised at one point to make sure to use Vitamin C with NAC.

Because regular Augmentin has such a short half-life (only about 1.3 hours), I think you are probably justifiably concerned. As I understand it, Dr. K. prefers regular Augmentin to its time-released version, Augmentin XR, because the regular formulation has a higher clavulanic acid component, and he feels the clav acid is a key component. But the half-life of clav acid itself is only 1.0 hour, so, either way, if your child is returning to school and/or any kind of regular social life, the risk of re-exposure with once-per-day coverage is a little daunting. I know some parents have successfully lobbied with Dr. K. for a prescription for the XR version or higher doses of the regular Augmentin. Not knowing how old your child is or what he weighs; I suppose if he's young/small enough, 250 mg. twice daily might be sufficient. Generally speaking, though, Augmentin doses tend to run considerably higher than azith doses for similarly-aged individuals, and if Dr. K. felt that 500 mg. once daily was appropriate for your DS, then he could probably handle 500 mg. twice a day. Maybe some others will chime in here with a different experience on this front . . . something more comforting for you. For comparison's sake, my DS began PANDAS treatment at age 12 and about 130 lbs.; he initially took 1,000 mg. Augmentin XR twice daily. The recommended adult dose of Augmentin XR for active infections (sinus, etc.), meanwhile, is actually 2,000 mg., twice a day.

Yes! Our DS also had significant contamination OCD, and his handwashing was out of control. Within 48 hours of starting the antibiotic, he had calmed down immensely overall, and his contamination concerns essentially disappeared! No more handwashing, no more obsessing over sticky fingers, etc. Congrats to you for acting so quickly! Don't be surprised if the improvements don't continue to come at this fast rate, or even if she stumbles backward briefly now and again as she continues to improve overall, but cheer the improvements and enjoy!

What we see when he's ramped up via PANDAS is increased volume. We're constantly having to remind him that we're "right here" and he doesn't have to shout. I think it's the same adrenaline push that the "fight or flight" induces when the PANDAS anxiety is pumped up.

Lynn -- Our DS is nearly 14 (next month) and has had significant OCD behaviors. We, too, have him in ERP therapy with a well-known and respected therapy group; this is our second therapist, though, after having discovered (somewhat belatedly) that our first therapist was fairly well versed in CBT, but wasn't really implementing true ERP in a consistent way. Our DS has healed to the extent that he's now doing well in school again and generally handles homework reasonably well, also. However, we initially had a LOT of homework avoidance behavior . . . meltdowns, distractions, breaking pencils, scribbling on the page, unnecessary and repeated erasures, ripping up papers, etc. . . . and he still has a day every now and then in which the homework just seems overwhelming to him and he goes into avoidance mode again, dragging the process out longer and longer until the afternoon and even the evening wither away and he's barely gotten anything done. Like your therapist, ours suggested tackling the subject our DS most dreaded first when it came to homework; interesting enough, this was the subject he is actually BEST at: math. Sometimes it works and, with our coaching, he can muscle through it. Generally, he's intimidated by a perception that the assignment is too lengthy and/or tedious (he'll count the problems and scan them for complexity and get overwhelmed), and that's when the true avoidance kicks in. Other days, it is a losing proposition and it does seem to wear further on his sense of self-worth and capability. So when we see the process devolving, we make an "executive decision." We determine that he will complete SOMETHING on that hardest subject, whether it's the problem he's currently on or, if things are going a little more smoothly, maybe he'll do the five problems on the one page. But then, after that, we're going to move on to another subject. We talk about how this is a good answer because he cannot foresake all his other subjects in favor of this one . . . they deserve some of his time and attention, too . . . and he has been responsible and bossed back the OCD by making some headway on that tough subject before moving on to the others. If he has extra time after having tackled his other homework, we'll circle back around to the math and see if he can knock out another problem or two before we call homework done for the night. For a while, too, the homework was such a trigger for him that it became an actual therapy exercise for him; we'd send him and his homework to the therapy session together so that the therapist could see the true ferocity of our DS's fear and avoidance, and could therefore better design the techniques and responses that would be in keeping with the behavior. I will echo that it was tough going in the beginning. That urge to avoid, to flee, is really, really strong in our kids. And it takes tremendous strength and determination on their part and ours to ride out that wave of desperation and stick with moving forward, even if it's only an inch or only a single problem or a single page, rather than give in to the avoidance and ditch that undertaking for something that's less of a trigger . . . now. But the thing about the insidiousness of OCD is that, if you give it that inch, it will stretch its tendons into a mile, and tomorrow instead of fearing chemistry or math, your child may decide that Spanish is the evil subject, or geography. So making a gain, however small, before moving on to something else or switching gears, can be so important in terms of building their confidence and helping them gain leverage against the fear. In the end, I know exactly where your therapist is going with this; he's trying to have your DS get on top of the avoidance behavior, nip it in the bud, and experience success so that the avoidance won't feed upon itself. But you may need to stage it a bit and build in some smaller steps and some flexibility, rather than making it an all or nothing proposition. Even if this therapist is the cat's meow, you know your son best, and you're the one up to your eyeballs in the heat of the moment, so the three of you have to work together to formulate techniques and responses that actually work in the trenches. But you can do it!

Re., wax and wane versus PANDAS exacerbation . . . FINALLY, our psychiatrist came to recognize that not only is the exacerbation a much deeper "trough" than typical OCD wax and wane, but also that is it much faster/more dramatic in its timing. Honestly, there were points in time in which the exacerbation took on such ferocity with such speed that it almost looked like "bipolar OCD" in our DS's case! Nowhere have I read or heard of "regular OCD" taking on those kind of characteristics, and neither had our psych. That's when the lightbulb went on . . . thank the heavens!

We have been on the PANDAS healing road for over a year now and, yes, sawtooth recovery. Very much so. And it can vary. Depending on the triggers and the situation, he can have a setback daily. He can have one per week. He can go strong for weeks on end and then hit a bump in the road that'll set him back for 3 or 4 days before he seems to regain full purchase again. This is tricky, unpredictable stuff, in our experience. It's the big picture that keeps us going, though. When DH and I sat down a bit over the holiday and compared notes between last Christmas and this, we were really able to see the tremendous, lasting gains. But sometimes, on a day-to-day basis, it's like the way you don't notice how tall your kid is getting because you see him everyday. It takes the "outsider" perspective . . . Aunt Mary who hasn't seen him in 6 months . . . to wake you up to how much he's grown. For us, sometimes it takes that broader, longer perspective to see past the sawtooth and fully appreciate the true expanse of the healing.

Do people ever question my judgement over this? ALL THE TIME! EVERY DAY! Even my DH operates from a level of skepticism that, frankly, is probably a healthy balance for my unbridled enthusiasm. But at least, coming from him, it's with respect and love, which is a lot more than I can say for some other people who've felt free to judge. Over time, though, I will say that the "proof being in the pudding" has won me some validation, as it surely will you in the end, as well. For weeks after the abx kicked in, our DS's psychiatrist kept asking, "What do you think accounts for this sudden improvement?" Every time I shouted my response: "The abx, of course!" To which he would wryly smile and shake his head: poor woman's off the deep end, he was thinking. But I kept shoveling the research at him, putting our journal under his nose, etc. Finally, he opened his mental door just a crack, I got my foot in there, and we were off and running. Now he sees the dramatic difference in our DS, and he's been able to verify a lot of what I've been telling him for months through discussions with his colleagues, newly emerging research, etc. On the other hand, some people will never come around and will always think that they know better than you. But that would've been the case even in the abscence of PANDAS, wouldn't it? Don't those same people tend to second-guess you anyway? Your parenting techniques? Your disciplinary measures? Etc.? There's NO pleasing some people, so I say please yourself and your child and to heck with the rest of 'em!

Drifter -- We were in the same boat as Meg's Mom and her DD. Unfortunately, we operated under a purely OCD diagnosis for nearly 7 years before finding PANDAS and trying a PANDAS intervention -- antibiotics -- which reached our DS when all of the "standard OCD" treatment options had ceased to have any efficacy for him. I would try the ibuprofen trial, and I would gather my child's history and some basic PANDAS research and seek out another expert opinion. All of our DS's doctors initially ruled out PANDAS for our DS, too, based on their perception of the "birth" and "pattern" of his OCD, and the fact that he is entirely asymptomatic in the classical sense when it comes to strep (no sore throat, no fever), so we never knew to tie his OCD explosions temporily to strep exposure. But they've now come around and support the PANDAS part of our picture. Hopefully, you'll have a similarly beneficial experience. Good luck to you!

Unfortunately, I don't think there's any one correct answer here. But honestly, were I in your shoes, I would by now begin to wonder if either a) I'm trying the wrong antibiotic for my child's particular situation and/or perhaps, something else I'm giving my child might be contributing to her condition and sort of "voiding" positive ground that may be achieved via PANDAS and/or yeast treatment. In our experience, and from reading others here, I would think that by now you should have seen some improvement, however small, if the antibiotic was appropriate for your daughter's condition. Our first positive results were visible within 48 hours of first dosing the antibiotics; within 30 days, we'd seen a significant reduction in both OCD behaviors and emotional lability. Have you tried any other antibiotic besides azith? Some kids respond really well to azith, but some do not; some, like my DS, respond remarkably well to Augmentin. Since these two abx lie in entirely different classes (macrolide versus b-lactams) and therefore work via different mechanisms, it is possible that your child will respond more positively to one class than the other. The other thing is the Seroquel. My DS is currently taking a low-dose SSRI, so I'm not one who's categorically opposed to psychiatric medications; I know from experience that they can be helpful. But I'm sure you've seen here the cautions about some of these medications and their impact upon some PANDAS kids. We had terrible results with both Seroquel and Abilify, despite the fact that low doses of SSRI's (different ones at different points in time, but we've had some success with each of Luvox, Lexapro and Zoloft over the years) have generally been of assistance. So, again, every kid is different and perhaps the Seroquel is having no ill impact upon your child at all, but it might be worth considering.

I think the answer to that is because this is where Dr. Susan Swedo at the NIMH started . . . with strep. And considering the struggles she's had having her strep studies validated, further diversifying her research into other triggers is probably not an option . . . at least not yet. She does acknowledge in her speeches, however, that there are other auto-immune triggers. Meanwhile, it's my understanding that while Dr. Madeliene Cunningham's current field of study is limited to the SC/PANDAS realm, some of the neurotransmitter marker levels her research is identifying are being related to other conditions, and she has met with other doctors regarding the PITANDS pieces of the puzzles such as myco p and Lyme. It's all a matter of time and funding, it would appear. As for antibiotics not helping your child, have you tried different antibiotics? Sorry . . . I can't retain the histories of all the families here. Just wondering if it's possible that your child would respond to a different class of medication than you've had the opportunity to try thus far?

Are there ups and downs in abx response? In our case, the answer is a resounding YES! Remarkably, our DS had a very positive response within about 48 hours of beginning the abx the first time; it was almost as though he'd gone back in time, that's how dramatic the response was. He went from being a mopey, whiny, clingy, contamination-obsessed kid to his old laughing, witty, irreverant self again. But that dramatic change lasted for about 10 days, and then it seemed like, though the behaviors that had disappeared with the advent of the abx stayed away, he exchanged them for some other ones. So we stayed on the abx and used some ERP techniques, and slowly each of those new behaviors would be set aside, too. But we never again saw the dramatic improvement rate we'd originally experienced. Over the course of a year, we actually started and stopped abx usage several times because his improvement would plateau to the extent that we were convinced it had done all it could for him. But when we'd take him off the prescription, within a matter of 8 or 9 days, we'd begin to see the old OCD behaviors worming their way back in again, and at an increasing pitch, until we once again began regularly dosing him with the abx. Even while on the abx, it can feel like one step forward and two steps back at times. How much of that is learned/behavioral from having to cope for extended periods with the OCD thoughts swirling around in his head, I don't know. But, overall, we continued to see improvements throughout the 13 months of full dose abx, and we continue to see them today. When DH and I sat down and compared notes about last Christmas versus this one, we realized just how far our dear boy has come in that time frame. Long way of saying, yes, I think the improvement and response can be very uneven, especially when you view it from a day-to-day basis. But keep a journal, and then start giving it a glance from the perspective of one month ago, or three months ago, etc. I'm betting you'll start to see that, overall, the gains continue; its just the trajectory that slows down, for whatever reason. My personal experience leads me to encourage you, however, not to give up on abx as a viable therapy too quickly. It's hard, I know . . . especially in the cases in which your child was virtually struck overnight with this condition . . . to accept that the healing may be extremely protracted. But so long as the healing continues on some level, it may serve well to stay the course!

Hawks -- Welcome, though sorry you're dealing with a sick child. My DS is nearly 14, and though we now suspect his PANDAS dates back to potentially the age of 3, with his first real exacerbation occurring at 7, he "hit the wall" with OCD, separation anxiety, general anxiety and emotional lability in May 2009. It took us until November 2009 to more or less self-determine PANDAS (thanks to "Saving Sammy" and high results on strep titer tests) and begin antibiotic treatment. As you've noted, every child and every situation is different, and PANDAS/PITANDS may have any number of infectious triggers, so the fact that your child's strep titer tests are not elevated outside the range does not necessarily mean that he doesn't, indeed, have PANDAS/PITANDS. We, too, saw Dr. K. (May 2010) and have high regard for his experience in the field; however, like you, some of the responses we received from him did not mesh with our "field experience" of the disorder and the efficacy of various treatment options in the months with regard to our son between identifying PANDAS and reaching out to Dr. K. He does believe solidly in IVIG as the treatment protocol of choice, but we had had very positive results with antibiotics, beginning in November 2009, so we were decidedly reluctant to undertake IVIG at that juncture. We still haven't undertaken it, and we're one of a handful of families here who have seen remarkable gains in terms of recovery via a combination of antibiotics, supplements and therapy without either plasmapheresis or IVIG. Is recovery speedy? Not in our case, no. But it is palpable nonetheless. Dr. K. also gave us a prednisone trial prescription which we filled but have never used. On some level in our case, it didn't seem necessary; we had the behaviors, the titers and the improvement on antibiotics to support a PANDAS diagnosis. In your case, however, without positive titers, I can see why you might want to try something else for confirmation. You could try the Cunningham test, and/or the prednisone trial can more or less confirm if your son's behaviors are the result of inflammation. From what I've read, though, kids whose PITANDS is actually Lyme-related can experience a worsening of behaviors when given steroids, so if your DS neither remains stable nor improves, that might be a sign that considering another agent such as Lyme would be worthwhile. As for whether or not azith is the correct abx for your son, unfortunately, like with a lot of other things regarding PANDAS, the jury is out. It works great for some kids, it seems, and less great for others. Our success story has come by virtue of Augmentin XR in the "Saving Sammy" dosage: 2,000 mg. per day, to begin with, for just over a year. We were led to try this response by the very similarities that have led me to respond to your post: Sammy and our DS and yours were all roughly in the same age bracket with the illness struck, Sammy and our DS were both "math prodigies" before the PANDAS struck, Sammy, our DS (and presumably yours, from your post) had a heavy tendency toward OCD behaviors. Trouble is, at this juncture, nobody seems to know for sure how much age, developmental stage, behavior set, heredity, etc. play into the efficacy of each treatment option, so we're all left to learn from one another and, to some extent, experiment -- cautiously and as prudently as possible, but experiment nonetheless -- on our own kids in the meantime. Much luck and support to you on this journey, and hold onto the knowledge that there IS an answer that will help your kid. It's just the trick of finding it!

We use a brand called "QBC Complex" from the Vitamin Shoppe; it combines quercetin, bromelaine and Vitamin C into a single capsule. The capsules contain 500 mg. of quercitin, and we're giving our DS13, 140 lbs. 1,000 mg. in the morning and another 500 mg. at night; we're not adding any other Vitamin C, though. Yes, for us it is symptomatic use predominantly, though it is supposed to be anti-inflammatory also and Vitamin C is supposed to accompany NAC, which we're also giving, so we continue with the QBC even outside of allergy season, per se. The biggest benefit I notice with it, though, is his lack of sneezing. Pre-quercetin, he'd have these jags -- especially in the morning -- of sneezing 15, 20 times in the space of an hour! The quercitin has completely quieted that. I would think you could break the capsules open and sprinkle it in food, though we've never tried. They smell sort of "acidy-grassy" (how's that for a description? ), so it might be best in something like applesauce or something like that.

Hey Swim -- I Googled the issue and, like you, I found a couple of mentions that quercetin is thought to have some impact on a limited class of antibiotics, but I didn't see mention of the three primary ones most frequently cited here for PANDAS kids: Augmentin, Azith or Biaxin. And when I searched the interaction information for the abx themselves, I didn't come across any warnings, either, so I'm thinking it's probably not an issue? I know the different classes of abx have entirely different mechanisms of attacking infections, so, presumably, there's a risk only if the mechanism itself is hampered by the supplement. Like I said, we've been using quercetin for over a year because our DS has substantial environmental allergies, and during allergy seasons, especially, his sneezing and congestion goes off the charts and complicates his whole PANDAS picture. The quercetin has made a huge difference. For him, it's like a natural antihistamine.

Lisa, OCD is a really complex set of behaviors, and there are a number of techniques you can use that would be age appropriate with your child. That being said, none of it is a short answer. I would suggest you search the forum here for posts by Meg's Mom. This forum member has a daughter of a similar age to your son. She's become quite an expert on OCD, and she's taken the time to write some really long and detailed responses to questions like this; she's also posted a nice book/resource list for helping children with OCD. What I can add personally, as a parent with a son, now almost 14, who's OCD behaviors began at the age of 6, is that if you feed it, it will only grow bigger. If you give in to your son's OCD demands and participate in it with him, the list of demands and the ferocity of them will only get bigger. It's really hard, I know, to deny your child something he so desperately seems to need, and that's why you need professional help and resources for approaching it in the best possible way. Also, you didn't mention it, but your child's OCD is related to PANDAS? And he is currently being treated for the immune disorder via antibiotics, IVIG, etc.? We have found that not only did much of the OCD behaviors recede once we began antibiotics, but that our son's need to "obey" the OCD that remained relented significantly under the influence of the antibiotics. Check for those Meg's Mom posts, try some books by Aureen Wagner ("Up and Down The Worry Hill"), and seek out some professional help if you can.

Can you share a link with this research? We've been using quercitin for some time now, along with antibiotics (in our case, Augmentin XR), and don't believe that there's any reduction in efficacy. Then again, we've been using them concurrently for so long, if it is just a matter, perhaps, of reducing the efficacy rather than voiding it entirely, I don't know that we'd know the difference! Now I'm curious.

It sounds like contamination OCD to me, though something else could have triggered his concern, too. Like if he heard or saw a news story recently about the whole bed bug debacle? Maybe that set him off? I would see if his concerns continue or maybe even mount. Then you'll know if it was a limited, passing issue or if he's extrapolating the concern about cleanliness to other instances and situations.

What a great idea! My DH has a beard, too, so we'll just designate him "The Einstein" of the group, and what he says, will go. Unfortunately, he won't make anyone cry, though; that's usually my job. In almost any "Good Cop/Bad Cop" scenario, he's always the good cop -- comes by it naturally with his sweet disposition. I'm the cynical, battle-worn, crusty old geezer who takes no prisoners and doesn't suffer fools lightly!