Chemar you are right that we believed the doctor rather than Ross. This was partly because we knew so little about TS and nothing about OCD being associated with it. Ross is still the only person we have ever met who has a diagnosis of TS. It was also partly because we were in denial.
Ross was not just an "ordinary" boy he was and is exceptional. He is extremely bright, musical, sporty and people just seemed to be attracted to him. We just didn't want to believe that our wonderful son had a condition that was going to affect him the rest of his life. We can see in hindsight that to Ross it was as if we could not accept him as he was and this was adding to his confusion,fear and his loss of confidence. I think it is only now we are starting to come to terms with Ross' illness and hopefully it is not too late to rebuild our relationship with our son and show him that we have always loved him.
Ross is improving slowly and I know a big part of it has to be us standing back and giving him the space to sort out who he is and where he is going with his future. Not always easy because we -as parents- just want to be able to make things right for him. But I am trying to cope with the realisation that he is the only one who can do that and all I can do is love him and give him space and a safe place to do that for himself.