[blindkid] A cautionary tail

Sally Thomas seacknit at gmail.com
Thu Jul 30 20:04:48 UTC 2009


I've debated about sharing this information with the list as I believe it 
reflects poorly on me but if I can spare anyone else this problem, I guess 
it's worth it.

Last year my son developed chronic headaches and missed the last 3 months of 
school.  Originally we thought that the headaches were due to sinus 
infections.  After massive doses of antibiotics and trips to the 
pediatrician, allergist and ENT failed to make any difference, he was 
admitted to the hospital and placed under the care of pediatric neurology. 
Finally he saw a pediatric headache specialist who diagnosed him with 
occipital neuralgia.  It took quite a while and several different tries at 
treatment modalities to determine the appropriate treatment which turned out 
to be therapy by a PhD physical therapist with special knowledge of 
headaches.  We live in the Houston, TX area, in close proximity to a world 
class medical center.  Our son was treated at one of the premier children's 
hospitals in the country and it still took a long time to get the proper 
treatment for him.  The neurosurgeon we saw wanted to implant electrodes in 
David's head.  I was very pleased when David asked the neurosurgeon why he 
wouldn't try something simpler first.

Why do I share all this with the list?  Well, our best guess as to the cause 
of the neuralgia is the seating arrangement the school designed for our son. 
Last year he was placed at a table facing the wall in order to provide him 
with easy access to outlets for his electronic equipment.  In order to face 
the teacher, he had to turn sideways.  This was an ergonomic nightmare for 
him. The constant turning resulted in tight muscles and inflamed nerves.  I 
had mentioned that I didn't like the placement but when they insisted, I 
decided that there were other battles to fight.  I didn't realize how 
damaging that seating arrangement could be.  We have made it clear to the 
school that this seating situation must be changed and they have agreed 
(without any admission that it was a problem to begin with, of course).

Seemingly little things make a difference.

Sally Thomas 





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