The Franklin Files

CHAPTER II
WEIRD SIGNS & TRIPS TO THE DOCTOR


     On one of the days that Scott was unavailable to play with, I decided to play by myself in our back yard.

     My dad had given me this super cool Calvary Fort; the kind that you can build up, and it came with gun towers and little Indian men and Calvary soldiers.

     I believe it was early August, and the weather was warm that day, but this is something I had done thousands of times; building and playing with this fort in the sunshine in the back yard.

     After building the fort, which took about an hour I suddenly started to get light headed and dizzy.

     I continued to play with my fort for a few more minutes and then suddenly I got nauseous.

     I got up and went inside the house, and my mother was standing in the kitchen.

     "Oh my God!" She exclaimed, "You're white as a ghost!"

     I ignored her comment, and ran past her to the bathroom, where I threw up repeatedly into the toilet.

     After throwing up, I still didn't feel good. My skin felt cold and clammy, and I was kind of shaky at the knees.

     My mother had me lay down on my bed, and told me to rest for while.

     My mother then called the doctor's office, and described the symptoms to him. He had asked if I'd been out in the direct sunlight for very long.

     The doctor said that I probably had a light case of heat-stroke, and after resting in the cool of the house I would probably feel back to normal within an hour or so, and if not to call him back.

     After an hour I felt back to normal.

     I'd never had a case of heat stroke before that, and like I said, I'd played in the back yard in the heat of the summer many times and this had never happened to me before.

     A few days later, I was taking a bath, and it happened again, but this time I completely passed out.

     I had used a space heater to warm up the bathroom; again, something I did every time I took a bath. I'd done this countless times.

     When I got out of the bath, I started to feel shaky at the knees again.

     I got dressed, and walked out into the hallway, and went out like a light. I lost consciousness so fast, I don't even remember hitting the ground.

     My mom heard me fall, and with the help of my grandmother (who lived next door), they moved me to the other room, but I was totally unconscious.

     My mom called the doctor again, and the doctor said to put a cold washcloth on my forehead.

     After several minutes, I finally woke up.

     Again, the doctor said that I suffered a heat-stroke. This one more serious than before. My mom scheduled an appointment to come see him, and if I didn't feel better with an hour to take me to the emergency room.

     I felt OK, in about an hour.

     When my mom took me to the doctor, he gave me some tests, and everything seemed normal.

     He asked my mother if I was currently taking any medications, because certain medications, such as antibiotics can make one more susceptible to heat-stroke.

     My mother said no because I wasn't taking an medications.

     The doctor wasn't sure why, but he said that it seemed that for some reason I had become overly-sensitive to heat, and instructed my mom to make sure I don't stay in direct sunlight for more than twenty minutes, and if possible that I wear a hat.

     At the same time, my parent's had noticed that any time I was in direct sunlight, my right eye would close up; I mean totally close up, and it seemed to be getting worse.

     My mom scheduled an appointment for me to see an eye doctor to check out my eyes.

     During the period of time that I was waiting to see the eye doctor, my parent's took me to the beach.

     My dad had bought me a dark blue L.A. Dodgers baseball cap to wear. They also brought an umbrella for shade. My parent's didn't allow me to play out in the water in direct sunlight for that long, only about ten minutes at a time, then I had to come sit down under the umbrella. They'd make me sit there and see how I felt and after a few minutes they'd let me go play in the sun again but only for about ten or fifteen minutes and making sure I wore the baseball cap.

     I was feeling just fine, when suddenly, I got nauseous again, and threw up in the water. My parents saw what happened, and that ended that trip to the beach.

     I was taken back to the doctor for another heat-stroke incident, and again the doctor asked if I was taking any medications, because certain medications can cause this to happen.

     Again, they took some tests, and everything came out normal. Once again, The doctor said that for some reason I had become super-sensitive to heat, even mild heat, and he wasn't sure why.

     He did some more tests, and asked if I had hit my head, because this can also be a sign of a concussion, particularly if I was having vision problems as well.

     All the tests came back normal and they didn't indicate that I had had a recent concussion of any kind.

     Then my mom took me to the eye doctor to find out what was going on with my right eye closing all the time when I was in the sunlight.

     I remember the eye doctor did a lot of tests. He also asked if I was currently taking any medications. Again, the answer was no. 

     The doctor said that my eyes were particularly sensitive to light, especially my right eye. He called it a "Lazy Eye" and said people with blue eyes sometimes develop this condition.

     The doctor also asked how close to the television I sit when I watch it, and suggested that I sit at least six feet away from the television.

     The doctor suggested that I be allowed to wear a baseball cap or sunglasses, and instructed me to try to keep that eye open even when it was really hard to do, to strengthen it.

     The eye doctor said that if the condition didn't improve in a month or so, they might have to put a patch over my good eye.

     There was no way I was going to wear a patch, right at the time that school would be starting back up. No way. I was already a fashion obscenity, we we're not going to be adding a pirate's patch on top of my ensemble!

     I was fully willing to cooperate and do anything I had to do to avoid getting sentenced with a patch.

     My grandmother bought me a pair of sunglasses, which I wore from time to time, but I discovered that the baseball cap allowed me to keep that eye open, and eventually, the lazy eye went away completely about the same time that Scott and I stopped being friends.

     I would have one more incidence of heat-stroke while Scott and I were friends, just near the end of our friendship, but after Scott and I departed company that symptom too went away and never happened again.

     My parent's can corroborate and have corroborated that for this period of time approximating my friendship with Scott (which lasted only about six months) that I did have incidences of apparent heat stroke and that I had become particularly sensitive to heat, as well as the incidence of "lazy-eye"; a symptom that also appeared during this six month period I knew Scott.

     My parent's may not agree with all of the specific details. You have to understand that these events happened over 35 years ago, but the main points are based on my own memories and incidences that my parent's told me about later and not in any outside context.

     There is one other weird symptom that I developed at this time, that my parent's (I don't think) will be able to corroborate because I never told them about it and I hid the symptoms.

     At this same period of time, out of the blue, I began to experience a strange compulsion to repeat the last word of every sentence.

     So for example if I said to you, "Hi, how are you doing" I would be compelled to say "Hi, how are you doing doing" 

     Sometimes I would repeat the last word two or three times and I had no idea why I was doing this and the compulsion just came out of nowhere, it was like one day I talked normally and then suddenly the next day I had this strange new compulsion.

     The reason that my parent's or others were never aware of it is because I quickly learned to whisper the repeated words, so that it wasn't particularly noticeable. I think I got caught a few times repeating the last word out loud, and it was just shrugged off because I would deny that I had done it.

     I remember this strange compulsion really bothered me at the time because I didn't know why I was doing it. I had wondered if maybe I had suffered a concussion of some kind, but there was no evidence that I had, the doctors had tested for a concussion and that had been ruled out.

     What I do remember is that I experienced these strange symptoms during the time that I was friend's with Scott and when Scott and I went our separate ways, this strange and unusual compulsion also strangely went away as mysteriously as it had started.

     The reason I write this chapter is not to accuse Scott of anything, or really even to insinuate anything. I am simply documenting what happened at this same period of time and you the reader can form your own conclusions.