Avner had previously encountered an ADHD medication “generic equivalent” that gave him extreme side effects. The reaction was so violent that we filed a report with the FDA about the medication. Apparently several other patients had enough problems that the medication was removed from the list of generic equivalents for Concerta (a longer acting form of the same medication in Ritalin).
Given the option to continue training without the surgery to correct my ACL in December of 2015 or to have the surgery again with the same outcome, I’m not sure I’d do it again. Of course, I’d hope to be more mentally present as my son declined in health but there’s no guarantee that it would play out that way. When I chose to go into surgery for my knee,
In January of 2016, Avner began to change. He became secretive and withdrawn. He was very irritable. Suddenly, he went from struggling with English to struggling in most classes. We worried. We also assumed the cause was puberty.
July 2016: Finally, a couple very eventful weeks after my retina tore in the ER, the boys left for St Thomas. For two brothers in our scout troop, it would be the crowning adventure of their time in Boy Scouts. Brandon, the older brother had aged out of the program. Dylan would age out the following year. Both brothers were athletic and aspired to military careers. Brandon, was the less
In June of 2016, Boy Scout camp at Wallwood ended. I had been shuttled to parent night at camp by another scout parent, just before my eye surgery. I sat on a bench talking with Erica, another scout parent, who is visually impaired. She became my guide into the world of the minimally sighted. Honestly, my having a partially sighted friend during my temporary blindness helped me keep perspective. She