The View from Debbie’s Desk

Hope from despair. There have been so many times in my life that

I have felt despair and couldn’t see past the despair to what hope lays beyond. But then the hope does happen just when I need it.

So you know me. I’ve been praying and praying about what I should write for this newsletter. The one time that really keeps coming to mind is about Gideon. As you know Gideon has some issues. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, ADHD, a sensory super power (that’s what we call it) affecting all 5 senses. Also, he shakes. He’s on Parkinson’s medicine but doesn’t have that diagnosis. His specialist can’t figure out why he shakes. But the medicine helps.

About 3 years ago the doctor decided to try him on a new medicine, Abilify. It’s used to treat certain mental/mood disorders (such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, Tourette's syndrome, and irritability associated with autistic disorder). Asperger’s is on the Autism spectrum. Gideon used to have total melt downs and would scream for hours at a time. (I’m so glad that he has stopped that.) The doctor thought she would try Abilify to see if it would help him. What she didn’t realize is that the males in my immediate family will have a bad reaction to medicine or it will work the complete opposite of what it’s supposed to do. (Like Don, they gave him Valium before an MRI and it made him hyper. He didn’t have an MRI that day!)

We gave Gideon his medicine on Saturday morning and about 2 or so hours later he started screaming. His whole body was stiff as a board. He was having one giant spasm. Don was holding Gideon trying to comfort him. I was getting ready to call 911. He was still rigid and stiff as a board and crying uncontrollably. I could hear Don praying. I took a video of Gideon and then I started praying. The Lord

spoke to me right away. “Don’t call 911, call the doctor.” I’m thinking, “Lord the doctor is not going to be at the office right now.” But I hurriedly called her office. Of course she wasn’t there but on her voicemail she had her cell number in case of an emergency. I called her cell and she answered right away. I told her what was going on and then I sent her the video. She told us to get some liquid Benadryl and give it to him immediately. Thank the Lord we had some in the cupboard. We gave it to him and within minutes he started to relax and calm down. His whole body went limp and he was completely drenched in sweat but the worst was over.

Despair – yes, we definitely felt despair and so helpless but the Lord saw us through it. He gave us the help and the hope that we needed. I now have the doctor’s cell number programmed into my phone, we keep liquid Benadryl at all times in our house and we only start new medicine on Saturdays.

I found out a few days later that Gideon’s specialist was at her daughter’s wedding when she answered our call. How many doctors’ nowadays would do that? I don’t know, but we did find out from this experience that she is a keeper and that God is where we need to go when we’re in despair to find hope.

Debbie Champagne