A Bad Reaction by Sarah Bridges

Author:Sarah Bridges
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2016-01-13T05:00:00+00:00

After another month passes, Katherine contacts our special master. The government exceeded the deadline and we request a response to the filing we’ve made. No response occurs and we wait another month. The outcome is murky and the seizures continue. The government has another delay as they review his testing. We finally get their official response: The results of the tests we’ve done are too old so we must start all over. Between the official governmental response and life at home I am almost emotionally swamped.

There’s a parents’ seizure support group at a facility called the Courage Center and I show up, because when your child is brain damaged everyone tells you to get counseling. The facility provides therapy and living accommodations for people with disabilities. I walk from the parking lot to a small path that hugs a tiny creek. Two long-haired men in wheelchairs sit by the back door, smoking cigarettes. They meet my eyes as I walk past though neither greets me.

Inside the building the place has an industrial feel. I peek inside rooms until I find the right one. There is a picture of a man in a wheelchair shooting baskets on the wall. He is smiling from ear to ear. We sit in a circle on folding chairs and I recognize a person two seats over. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail and her sweatshirt says, “The Black Dog Saloon.” I think I know that place. I wonder if I’ve met her on Martha’s Vineyard. I introduce myself and then realize she was in a graduate class with me a year before.

“How are you?” I ask as we sit in a circle for parents with damaged kids.

“Great!” she says, which is code for terrible. She looks terrible. I tell her she looks great. Her son has seizures and her doctor says she is depressed. My son has seizures and I am not depressed. I am high energy, which is another word for agitated. I try to connect with her, but she is staring at her purse.

The group is like a Quaker’s meeting, but quieter. At first, the room is silent. It is like driving without directions. It is a parents’ group but all the participants are mothers. The woman across from me is fidgeting.

Julie’s hair is bobbed and curly and she wears a beeper on her belt. She breaks the ice. “I hate silence!” she says and it comes out like a cheer. I can picture the pom-poms she had in high school. “I’m a doer. I solve problems. I run the fitness program at our elementary school.”

I have no idea where she is going with this and am pretty sure she wandered into the wrong group. I wonder if I should tell her. “It’s my mission to make all the fat kids skinny!” she continues. The group is silent.

She looks down. “I can’t explain how it feels to watch daily seizures,” she says, but she tries to elaborate and the description goes on for half an hour.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.