Letter

Here is a copy of the letter I emailed Dr. C (Emily's Neuro), followed by his response.

Cross posted at Emily's Page.

Dear Dr. C,

I am writing this to you in advance of our appointment scheduled in Cape Cod on Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 5:30. I am hoping that you will be able to review this letter, so that during our appointment we may have a discussion about what we can do to help Emily.

A number of concerns regarding Emily have come to light in recent months. Her behavior has gone downhill quickly and what was only a minor concern has turned in to a huge worry. Some of the behaviors Emily has shown:

Rages and Explosive Temper Tantrums
Oppositional Behavior
Distractability
Impulsivity
Aggresive Behavior
Low Self Esteem
Obssesional Behavior
Bossiness
Lying
Manpulative Behavior
Poor Short Term Memory
Destruction of Property
Strong And Frequent Cravings for Carbs and Sweets

Emily has always exhibited these behaviors at one time or another, but never as frequently or as intensely as she has of late.

According to her teacher, Emily is progressing fine at school academically (which is also apparent by the papers she brings home). Emily's teacher does have to re-direct her frequently and has commented that Emily seems impulsive at times. These behaviors have been a constant at school though...her teacher has noticed nothing new or out of the ordinary recently and feels the 504 plan is working.

One thing I wanted to mention that may or may not be of note; Emily wakes up almost every night with wet underwear. The underwear is not wet enough to even go through to her pajama bottoms or the bedsheet, but it is wet enough that she notices it and wants to change. She seems awake and alert when she comes in to our bedroom to let us know (or at least as awake and alert as anyone would seem in the middle of the the night) but, I am wondering if it is possible that she is having seizures at night that could be causing the wet pants, disturbing her sleep pattern, and causing the errant behavior during the day? I don't ever remembering this happening (the wet underwear) before her diagnosis in July of 2004, so it does seem (at least to me) kind of likely that there is something going on. Whether or not it is related to the behavior she has been exhibiting, I am not sure.

I will follow up with you at our appointment on Thursday. I am a bit aprehensive discussing this in detail in front of Emily (I don't want to make her feel bad) so perhaps we can have her play in the waiting area while we talk.

Please feel free to email or call me with any questions you may have prior to our appointment!


His response:

We'll definitely talk about it while she is in the waiting room, but I
wonder indeed if she is having seizure activity in her sleep. We may
need to consider an overnight EEG.

DLC