The hospital Avner moved from emergency to the pediatric floor on that Friday afternoon. Avner arrived at the hospital early in the morning after a difficult evening, still asleep and unable to cooperate, nonverbal and resisting attempts to examine him.
I stumbled into a description of Kleine Levin Syndrome almost as if by divine providence. I suggested to our family therapist that Avner’s extreme behavior problems might be directly related to sleep, instead of sleep being a response to another primary behavioral problem. When he suggested that we pursue that possibility, I started looking for an explanation. It seems odd to me now that I was looking for a medical
Among the other troubling behaviors Avner exhibited, he would sometimes drop off to sleep while on the way to school. He would fall asleep against Barbara in restaurtants or in the car after dinner. Sometimes it would be a struggle to wake him to go home or come inside our home.
Avner would become mute and disconnected from everything else around him. On one occasion, he left the Scout House to sit on a bench outside. When our Scoutmaster, Crill and I tried to speak to him, he refused to acknowledge us. I tried to get him into my car at the end of the meeting. Instead, he got up and started walking towards home, only a mile away. I called Barbara from the Scout House to let her know that Avner was walking home. He walked past her which worried us both, but eventually turned around and came inside.
My apologies for the recent hiatus in my writing. I had to gather my thoughts about the next part of our family’s story. It both drains me emotionally to revisit some of our darker days and I think it’s important to cover the details of this period as accurately as I can. As a memoir, I understand that much of what I share is my own subjective account of our