...First Do No Harm Page #2

Mark, be nice

to your brother.

Sorry.

Here you go, squirt.

You told me to squirt!

Ohhh, I'm drenched.

You know I'm just gonna have to get you

back double for what you did to me.

I'm comin'.

Robbie? Robbie,

quit screwing around.

That's it.

Robbie?

Mom! Mom! Mom, come quick!

Something's wrong with Robbie!

Hurry, Mom! Hurry!

Mom!

Oh, Robbie, Robbie.

It's okay.

It's okay.

It's okay.

It's okay.

It's okay.

He was admitted 45 minutes ago,

and he's still post-stictal.

Lori, Dave,

this is Dr. Neaves...

- the ped's neurological

consultant here. - Hi.

- Hi.

- He knows a lot about epilepsy.

Epilepsy?

Uh, yes. One seizure

is just a seizure...

...but two, by definition,

is epilepsy.

But he's only had one.

The fall you called me about this morning

was probably another kind of seizure.

So we're going to admit him and

watch him for a couple of days.

But this is a kid who

hardly catches a cold.

How could he

have epilepsy?

Well, there's a lot of different

triggers for seizure disorders.

We're gonna run some tests

and see what we can find out.

I think the best way to understand

what a seizure is...

...is to think of it as

a short-circuit in Robbie's brain.

Something interferes

with the normal electrical flow...

...and everything goes

temporarily haywire.

Oh, oh, oh. It's okay. It's okay.

Look at you so brave.

Now, Robbie's going

to need a CATscan...

...so we can see if his seizures have

a cause that we can treat surgically.

We'll inject a dye

while his head is being X-rayed...

...and then a computer

takes a picture...

...just as if we'd cut

a slice of the brain.

The EEG is used for comparison if

Robbie's seizures change in character.

It's helpful in diagnosing

some special forms of epilepsy.

We do these tests to find out if your

son has a tumor or lesion in his brain.

- A spinal tap is used to rule out bacterial

meningitis. - Hold him just like that.

If we catch it early, it can easily

be treated with antibiotics.

Usually we don't find anything.

We don't necessarily

need to find a cause.

Most of the time we don't.

But we do have effective drugs.

As a matter of fact, 70 percent

of kids with epilepsy...

...have their seizures reasonably

controlled with the first medicine.

We'll start Robbie

with phenobarbital.

It's been around the longest,

so we know the most about it.

Although it can cause

behavioral problems...

...and is associated with withdrawal

symptoms and lowered I.Q...

...most kids on phenobarbital

do just fine.

- It's boring! - "And the emperor... "

Oh, Robbie, come on.

I don't wanna read!

It's boring. I hate it.

- I know. All right. You just...

- I hate it!

- I wanna ride my bike!

- You can't ride your bike, honey.

I told you that. Because we don't

want you to fall down and hit your head.

I wanna go ride Schwartz!

- You can't ride Schwartz. I told you,

sweetie. - I wanna go pet him!

- Anybody home!

- Let's go see who this is.

Come on.

Maybe it's the emperor.

- Hey!

- It's just Margeen.

Well, nice to see you too, Robbie.

You can go play upstairs

in your room quietly, but no jumping.

You hear me?

I ran into

Doc Peterson today.

He wanted to know if Robbie's okay after

the fall he took at school.

I told him I wouldn't know

since I hadn't seen you in a dog's age.

Where have you been?

Home, with Robbie.

What's the matter with him?

Well, they're not sure.

Probably just a virus.

He's on medication, but it's...

he's having a reaction to it.

- Coffee?

- Sure.

What kind of reaction?

Well... he won't eat,

can't sleep...

...and he thinks that he can leap

tall furniture in a single bound.

What kind of medicine is he on?

What!

Our insurance company's

computer...

...is unable to handle the fact

that Dave has transferred union locals.

So I submit a bill;

they send it back to me.

I resubmit it;

they send it back to me.

I mean, it's...

- Want me to go check on him?

- No, it's all right.

I'll go up myself

in a second.

What's new?

Robbie!

- Check his room.

- Okay.

Robbie!

Hey! How are you...

Come back here!

- Come here, sweetie.

- You'll never catch me!

- Ohh! Rob!

- I'm too speedy!

Come here, honey!

- Ohhh!

- Oh! Ow! It hurts!

It's okay.

It's all right.

- It's okay. Stay here.

- Ow! It hurts!

I know, I know, I know, I know.

I want my Mom!

Hello, this is Lori Reimuller...

S:

...and I need to talk to Dr. Miller

about Robbie's medication.

Now!

A, B, C, D, E, F, G

H, I, J, K, L-M-N-O, P

- Hey, when's this new stuff...

What's it called? - Dilantin.

When's this Dilantin

supposed to kick in?

Oh, about a week.

They're tapering off

the phenobarb...

...and they're getting the Dilantin

up to a level where it'll work.

What did he do? Break every bottle

of perfume in the house?

This place smells

like a brothel.

Hmm. Not that you'd know

what a brothel smelled like.

Q R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

- Now I know my ABC's Tell me what

you think of me - Has it been that long?

A, B, C, D, E, F, G

H, I, J, K, L-M-N-O, P

Q R, S, T, U, V

W, X, Y, Z

- It'll never be that long. - Now I know my

ABC's, Next time won't you sing with me

On the other hand...

it has been a while.

Mmm.

Listen.

He's okay.

Don't let your imagination

run away with you.

You'll drive yourself crazy.

Yeah.

Come on.

Peanut.

Be careful.

You'll wake him.

I'm just gonna...

I'm just gonna cover him up...

...make him cozy.

This is embarrassing.

What do you mean bringing home

a report card like this?

No kid of mine is gonna do

better than I did in school.

- Don't have to make A's to do that.

- Well...

You have me to make

you look good.

I hate grammar!

It's boring!

Well, no argument there.

Um, what would make it

less boring?

If Miss Kirchwall taught naked.

Gross!

For a year I've been putting money away

to buy your mom a good horse.

Now we've got Schwartz.

- I want to ride him.

- Mm-hmm.

How boring would it be

if I added that money to the trip jar...

...and booked us

to Hawaii next month?

And there was even enough

money left over for, um...

...scuba diving lessons

when we got there?

Bring your grades up

to a mere... "B", and it's a deal.

- I'll help you.

- Whoa. Grammar rules!

Incentive.

Bribery.

Oh.

We're closed!

Sorry, we're cl...

- Sorry, we're closed.

- Lori?

- Yeah.

- Bob Purdue. High school.

I was a couple years

ahead of you.

- Oh, yeah.

- Can I talk to you for a minute?

Sure.

- So how you been?

- Good.

How's your boy, Robbie?

Uh, h-how do you know Robbie?

I was in here a couple of months ago.

He was being your little helper.

He took me right over

to the garden tools.

I'm sorry I didn't

recognize you then.

Oh, that's all right.

You were busy.

Such an ugly disease for such a sweet

little guy to have, isn't it?

Epilepsy.

Who told you

Robbie had epilepsy?

I saw his prescription

at the pharmacy.

I've taken the same drugs.

I've had epilepsy since I was four.

So you hide it?

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