Dings

by Lance Fogan

DINGS begins with eight-year-old Conner's high-fever-related convulsion. In the local ER, the doctor performs a brain CT scan and then, to rule-out meningitis, a spinal tap. The interplay of the parents and the ER staff explain the medical situation, the procedures performed, and the parents' distress. The ER doctor refers Conner to a neurologist to rule out possible epilepsy. The mother becomes distraught hearing that term; how could her bright boy have a devastating condition that could change his life, all their lives? Conner has never had a seizure and neither has anyone else in the family. "My baby cannot have epilepsy."The novel moves then to relive earlier months with Conner failing school. His mother and school staff meet to discuss this. His father is in Iraq. Sandra resents she must deal with her son's serious school problems alone. Conner's non-convulsive epileptic mental blank-outs are not recognized by the adults. He's not fallen, he's not convulsed in an epileptic seizure. These spells are too confusing for the young boy to explain to himself or to anyone else. His schoolmates think Conner sometimes acts weird.Psychologists and his pediatrician all miss Conner's true diagnosis prior to the convulsion on the first pages. Dad returns from his combat tour, but he is changed by PTSD. Sandra must deal with her son's school difficulties and now her troubled marriage. Then Conner's convulsion happens.In the neurologist's office, the doctor asks if Conner ever perceives smells or tastes that aren't really there, a neurological hallmark of Conner's type of undiagnosed complex partial seizures that only a neurologist would query. These are identified by the doctor as a form of epilepsy; the youngster refers to them as his dings. The family's lives all change. The neurologist supports the parents; he explains that it's common to live a normal life if the epilepsy in the three million afflicted Americans can be controlled with anticonvulsant medications. Mother realizes her baby may never again be normal, time will tell, but they will all deal with it as do so many successful people in all walks of life.

316 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Lance]

It's an intriguing medical mystery. An 8 year old is failing school. He's bright. His dad is serving in Iraq in 2007. The adults persue psychological evaluations and testing. No one recognizes his blank out non-convulsive seizures. Quite emotional. I could feel the mom's fears and confusion.

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the first four chapters, there was a good story in there. In chapter two or three, I got the mother and daughter mixed up too much for my taste. Chapter four had a clunky, italicized, point of view and perspective shift explaining a medical procedure. I think it may have helped the story, but I wondered (and still wonder) if there was a better way to include it. It also started more with the end or the middle of the realizations, which isn't wrong, but left me feeling as if this didn't flow smoothly. Perhaps just letting the events unfold naturally would have left me with a more satisfying story. The mother's character felt as if she was written on a pendulum. I almost wish the author had taken her pendulum one way or the other and let it stay there.

However, after chapter four, and once you got around the semi-chronological arrangement there was a good story in there. It is a story of a seven-eight year old boy who's parents are coming to understand he has a serious medical condition not often discussed. This story should read as a balm to parents who are going through this. It does seem a bit on the predictable side, though the ending did exceed my expectations and left my heart-warmed. It was a good, and necessary story--which are often the trickiest to tell.

[ASHWIN PATEL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seizures explained

Written in simple lay-person's language, this story makes it easy for everyone to understand what seizures are and what different kinds they are. It is almost a complete encyclopedia of that awful and usually scary condition that people often don't understand or adopt a careless attitude towards. Thanks to the author for putting it in the form of storytelling for readers to grasp the importance of a major medico-psycho-social issue and accept it as a norm and a part of a daily life.

[Manuel Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real life horror story.
"Dings" tells the story of how a mother deals with her 8 year-old son that has epileptic seizures. The poor mother has to deal with the situation all by herself, since the boy's father is in Iraq.
Anyone that has, or knows someone with epilepsy can understand this and will find this novel to be a wealth of information. "Dings" is well written by, Lance Fogan, a real-life retired neurologist.

[Rebecca Runyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

So relatable

I felt for poor Connor! I never convulsed, but his dings sound so familiar. Epilepsy stigma is sooo real, and the author definitely showed that off, all while educating people about the realities of epilepsy; it's not a death sentence, it's not contagious, and it is real.

[Traceylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why

This is about a young boy who s dad just gets back from Iraq and they realize his son has been having seizures and has epilepsy