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52 Chapter 5 Jonah, March 2010 ECT Begins March 16, 2010 Andy and I pick Jonah up at school at eleven for the twohour -plus drive to New York. Jonah’s first ECT isn’t scheduled until tomorrow morning, but first he has to meet with a child psychiatrist at Mount Sinai, Dr. Alex Kolevzon, to satisfy New York State requirements that, in cases involving children aged thirteen or younger, two consultants, “at least one being independent, who are experienced in the treatment of children,” agree that ECT is indicated. I’m assuming this is just routine—like the MRI and the genetic test, both of which came back negative—a kind of rubber-stamping. Still, I’m a little anxious. Dr. Kolevzon has scheduled an hour and a half to meet with us. That seems like a long time for a rubber stamp. We take the Lincoln Tunnel and drive crosstown, then up to the Mount Sinai campus at 99th and Madison. As we sit in the always impenetrable New York traffic I imagine doing this without Andy, as I suspect I will be doing most days. It just doesn’t make sense for Andy to take so much time off work. As tough as it will be to get Jonah in the car by five o’clock and drive two hours, during which he can neither drink nor eat—though I have no doubt he’ll be asking the whole time—the fact is the ECT team at Mount Sinai is well staffed and prepared for all the intricacies of treating a kid like Jonah, even though they haven’t treated many children there at all. Liz Muller, the ECT nurse, told me there have been just two since Dr. Kellner arrived last year. Still, she understands that Jonah will have to be held down for his IV to be inserted, that he will wake up agitated, and that he will want to leave as soon as he can stand. She is ready to handle all these contingencies: she tells me they have several strong orderlies who can help restrain Jonah for the IV, at which point his sedative will be administered immediately; she will be ready with a dose of Versed to calm him down if he wakes up agitated. In fact, we will be able to Jonah: ECT Begins 53 leave without delay. So we won’t necessarily require Andy’s muscle, as we so often do during medical procedures. As much as I would love him to be there, especially on the long drives when I’ll be tired and anxious about possible behaviors from my exhausted, bored, hungry, thirsty son, I know I can do this by myself. We get to Dr. Kolevzon’s office just in time for our two o’clock appointment . I’m not sure what I was expecting: definitely a Russian accent, probably someone slight, bearded, and older—kind of like Dr. Kellner. But Dr. Kolevzon is young and tall with Patrick Dempsey hair. In his completely accentless voice, he asks Andy to take Jonah for a walk for forty-five minutes so he and I can talk about Jonah. Every new doctor, therapist, administrator always asks the same questions. It used to drive me bonkers, the sheer repetitiveness of it all. Were there any complications in my pregnancy or delivery? Did Jonah meet his milestones on time? Is there other mental illness in my family? Really basic questions one would think a new provider could find the answers to by taking a minute to flip through Jonah’s records. Jonah must have a paper trail a mile long—I’m sure Dr. Kolevzon, for example, received some kind of assessment from Dr. Kellner who, I would also imagine, has been in contact with Dr. Wachtel. But I’ve come to hope that perhaps there’s some kind of reason for all this repetition. Maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll remember something I never mentioned before, something that might cause a light bulb to go on in the new doctor’s head. If not to me, maybe it happens to another mom describing to yet another provider how her disabled child was the product of a completely uneventful, vaginal birth. John and Cheryl, Greg’s parents, compiled a dossier they hand to every new practitioner. It details every notable event in their son’s life: every doctor, every hospital, every medication. But somehow I suspect they’re still asked...

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