Home | Forward | Contact Info APRIL,
1977 From
nursery school through kindergarten, Scott was taken to and from the
Dalton School in a private school bus which picked him up early every
weekday morning at 7:45 A.M. from in front of our East Side apartment
house and dropped him off at 3:00 P.M.
He had had regular physical checkups from his pediatrician Dr.
Alan Samuels for four years since birth without incident and so when
we were informed that Scott had become carsick on the bus, one day, in
early 1977, we were not unduly alarmed. Even when it began to occur more frequently, we didn't begin
to think of it as a serious symptom.
It brought back memories of my own difficulties in surviving
long car trips to the country during my own childhood, often
interrupted by bouts of nausea. After
all, Scott told us that the school bus made many stops to pick up
children all over the East side and the West side also. Then,
Scott began to have severe headaches from time to time which only went
away after a nap or vomiting. Still,
in our ignorance, we didn't associate the headaches or the vomiting
with what was soon to be diagnosed as serious life threatening
neurological disease. Scott's
pediatrician did not seem overly alarmed and the school psychologist
attributed it to the emotional reactions of an only child looking for
attention and an excuse to stay home with his mother. One
day, in early April, 1977, my twin brother Bill, the Chief of
Radiology at the Danbury Hospital in Connecticut and his wife
Madeline, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Yale's Grace New Haven
Hospital were speaking to us on the telephone about Scott's symptoms
and Madeline suggested that we bring Scott up to Yale for a complete
medical checkup. She was
concerned that the symptoms had continued for some time without a
definitive diagnosis. I
can remember her saying that if Scott went through a neurological and
gastrointestinal workup with negative results, we could then consider
taking Scott to a good child psychologist.
I am specifically indebted to both Bill and Madeline for their
support and assistance during Scott's long illness.
If they didn't know the answers, they always guided us to ask
the right questions of Scott's attending physicians. As
this tale unfolds, it will become apparent that Scott's illness
regularly presented difficult issues in defiance of all known medical
experience and knowledge. |