A Random Act of Kindness

Living with an adult who has attention deficit disorder presents a host of difficulties. Emotions run the gamut. Frustration. Aggravation. Disappointment. Anger. The list goes on. I often feel overwhelmed, resentful, angry, critical, and accusatory, but unloading on my husband is not option. He is already beating himself up quite enough. I am lucky to have a good friend who listens.

His initial attempts to get help were mostly a disaster. He had an appointment with a local psychiatrist that went south almost immediately. The man knew nothing about attention deficit disorder and was arrogant and dismissive.

We love the nurse practitioner who handles our day-to-day medical needs, but she and the physicians at the local medical clinic are not specialized enough to prescribe the medications that work to help keep the ADD brain under control.

He had mostly given up on getting help when a lovely man (thank you Al!!) who is a friend of my best friend suggested he make an appointment with the local neurologist.

He did. She was willing to treat him and prescribe the drugs he needs.

He is not cured, not even close, but the medications have definitely improved his ability to function.

When he went to see her last week for a routine checkup, she was lamenting that she “lives on peanut butter,” but when she went to the local Walmart to get some, the peanut butter had been cleaned out.

After his appointment with her, he went shopping at Walmart. They had restocked the shelves and peanut butter was available. He wrestled with it for a minute, and then bought two jars of peanut butter and took them to her office.

My husband is a lovely man with a kind heart. I have on occasion poked gentle fun at him here (at least I hope it was gentle), so it is only fair that I should also give him a well earned hug and a public pat on the back for doing something nice for her.