DINGS tells of a mother’s struggle to support her son in the midst of a mysterious condition. Conner’s school believes that he is not ready for promotion into the third grade. His teacher recommends that he repeat the second grade. Conner’s dad is on a combat tour in 2006-7 Iraq; the adults in the boy’s life assume that stress and anxiety about his father serving in a combat theater have interfered with his school achievement. Meanwhile, Sandra is embittered; she is forced to deal with her son’s problem alone.
A psychologist identifies Conner’s anxieties and works to alleviate the child’s stress. But, the boy’s actual condition eludes the adults. He has unrecognized blank outs-his friends think that he acts “weird” sometimes.
Sandra’s husband returns from war, but all is not well. He has changed. She recognizes PTSD symptoms-Sam drinks more, snaps at the family and he has bad dreams-yet, he denies that anything is wrong. Sandra’s emotional stresses mount. She sees that her husband is incapable of emotionally supporting her as they struggle to understand their son’s difficulties; she is uncertain that she can keep her family together.
One night, Conner gets a high fever and he has a convulsion. At the local E.R., he has a brain CT scan and he gets a spinal tap. The doctor suggests to the parents that epilepsy is a possible cause of the convulsion. He refers Conner to a neurologist. Sandra interprets the mere mention of epilepsy as a personal affront. How could her son have such a stigmatizing and debilitating disease? He has never had any seizures before. All of their lives change when they meet the neurologist. diagnohttps://www.amazon.com/DINGS-Lance-Fo…
