...First Do No Harm Page #4

or whatever you said?

- They'll sell it.

- They'll sell it?

Where are we

supposed to live?

What about the animals?

What about Schwartz?

- I don't wanna sell our house.

- I know, honey.

- And what, you're just gonna let them?

- Mark!

I'll do everything I can

to keep our house.

I could use some support.

Fine. I'm sorry.

Lynn? Lynn?

[Let's see. Um, do you have any

untapped financial resources?

Savings, investments,

family?

Well, uh, we've already

gone through our savings.

All we have left is the farm.

We're not in the business

of taking people's homes.

We'd much rather

work something out.

What kind of payments do you think

you can handle, say, half-monthly?

Well...

...that's how much

I have today.

I don't know

about next month.

Come on, Lori.

Come on, sweetie.

I want to pet him.

Can I ride him?

Someday. I promise.

Scout's honor?

Scout's honor.

Mom is gonna be so excited!

- I get to tell her first.

- Okay.

Hey, where were you guys,

huh? Huh?

I called and I called

from the doctor's office...

...to get Daddy to pick up

Robbie's prescription.

And the phone rang and rang,

and nobody answered it.

We were here. Maybe you dialed wrong.

What did the doctor say?

Well, it's not measles.

You want that?

It's Stevens-Johnson's Syndrome...

...one of the rare

side effects of Tegretol.

I don't know why

they call 'em side effects.

As if a 102 temperature

and a rash over his whole entire body...

...is somethin' off

to the side somewhere.

Did I forget

somebody's birthday?

No, it's something else.

We're gonna wait for Dad.

What is wrong with this...

Oh, my God!

What time is it?

I still have time.

- Lynn, do you have any money?

- Uh, a couple of dollars.

- Never mind. I think...

- What are you doing?

The phone's turned off.

We didn't pay the bill.

Well, good. We won't be waked up by

stupid people yelling we owe them money!

- I have ten minutes. Will you

watch him for me? - Uh-huh.

You can't take money out of there.

No one touches that money!

We have to have a phone, Mark.

What if Robbie needs 911?

No, this is for our trip!

What trip?

Mark, look at your brother!

You really think we're gonna

take him on a trip?

When they kick us out of our house,

you think we're gonna go on vacation?

Oh, well, I thought since

I got an "A" in English...

...we'd be going to Hawaii and

taking diving lessons like Dad said.

- Dumb me!

- Oh, honey, I'm sorry.

Me too! I'm sorry

Robbie was ever born!

- Don't say that! - If he's gonna die,

why doesn't he do it?

Mark!

Mark! Mark!

Mom, Robbie's having a seizure!

Mark!

Mom, it's a bad one!

Okay. Okay, darling.

It's okay.

It's over.

He's doing it again.

It's okay.

It's okay, honey.

It's okay.

We're here.

It's okay.

It's okay, sweetie.

County Hospital cafeteria

will be closed in ten minutes.

- I'm Dr. Abbasac.

- Hi.

Robbie's failed to respond to most of

the usual anticonvulsive medications.

The problem's compounded by the fact

that he has multiple seizure types.

We're gonna try some

less commonly used drugs.

What about

a compassionate use program?

I see no reason to use an unproven drug

when there are proven ones left to try.

I'm ordering a series of tests

for tomorrow morning.

We'll repeat them

on a regular basis...

...to monitor changes as we begin

the new med regimens.

- Is that necessary?

- Is what necessary?

Well, he's had the same tests over and

over, and they're pretty hard on him.

- Yeah.

- They always turn out the same.

There's something I should make

very clear to both of you.

After a first

antiepileptic drug fails...

...there's only a 15 percent chance

the drugs will ever work.

After that,

there's only surgery.

You shouldn't expect this

to be easy.

Why not? So far it's

been a piece of cake.

Robbie's what I consider

a high-stakes case.

If I can stop his seizures, he still has a

very good chance for a normal, healthy life.

But a young brain can't tolerate seizures

of his intensity and frequency indefinitely.

Well, what if you

can't stop them?

There are no

hard and fast rules...

...but it's not unusual to find

neurological compromises:

diminished capacity,

developmental delays...

progressive retardation.

Excuse me.

Not much of a view, huh?

No.

- Your boy has seizures?

- Yeah.

That's what Lili had.

They did brain surgery.

Oh.

How is she doing?

Okay, I guess.

She's a beautiful little girl.

And I checked with several colleagues

from across the country,

all of them very accomplished neurologists.

A few of them run pediatric neurology

departments at major meds

schools and hospitals.

It sounds like you're in very

good hands right where you are.

Uh-huh. Okay.

They differ slightly in the order

that they try the drugs.

After that, there's surgery, but

you're not ready for that yet.

- Oh, no, we are not. - Oh, Lori,

one other thing they did agree on:

Treating seizures in kids

is much more art than science.

Okay, Doc, thanks. Bye.

I'll put a request in

to Dr. Abbasac for a stool softener.

That should help.

Why does he have hemorrhoids?

The medication causes

the constipation...

...and the pushing

causes the hemorrhoids.

Hey, little pretty girl

Hey, KC Tanker.

Will you be needing any 24-hour roadside

assistance there, good buddy? Come back.

Negatory there, heavy hauler.

Just pullin' over

to check my rig. Thanks a lot.

Stay away!

Come here, Robbie.

Robbie.

- Oh, God!

- Get away from me!

- Come back here, you! Robbie!

- You're gonna kill me!

- I got you now.

- Let me go!

- I got you. There's your Dad.

- Hey, what's goin' on?

- Get out of here!

- It's a reaction to the mysolene.

- Get out of here! - Will you be still?

Look at Daddy's truck.

- Let me go, you pig! I hate you!

- Ohhh!

Hey, don't you ever talk to your mother

like that! Do you hear me? Ohh!

Oh, no! Oh, honey.

Come on.

Somebody help me, please!

Somebody help us!

Oh, it's okay.

It's okay.

Ohhh, okay.

I've called Dr. Abbasac

to authorize a sedative.

Why don't you go home

and get some rest?

I'll look out for him.

Go on, Lori. It can't do him

no good to stay and sit.

I will, I will.

Mommy, Mommy, let me out!

No! Mommy!

Mommy, don't leave me!

I'm not going anyplace, honey.

We're gonna stay here.

Let me handle this.

- Here. You know what?

- Mommy!

You know what we're gonna do

when you get better?

We're gonna go

to the playroom.

- Mommy, don't leave me!

- They have some neat toys in there.

And when you get

really, really better...

- we're gonna go down

to the cafeteria... - Mommy!

- and we're gonna get some

lemon merengue pie. - Mommy!

It's the best.

Oh, I can't.

I just can't.

- It's okay.

- Mommy, Mommy, let me out, please!

- It's gonna be okay.

- Help me!

Please let me out!

Dr. Abbasac, code blue.

Dr. Abbasac, code blue.

Dr. Abbasac, code blue.

- Good morning.

- Good morning, Steve.

Ohhh! Oh!

- He has a fever.

- How high?

- We've stabilized it.

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