There
is another story after this episode. When I saw A’s father more than 20 years
later, he told me an interesting story as follows. After this hospitalization,
A developed episodes of night terrors he suffered almost every other might,
which lasted for 3~4 years afterward. A often woke up quite confused a couple
of hours after he went to sleep. He was in big terror and tried hard, trying to
utter some words which never made sense to his concerned parents. He needed to
be stroked and cuddled until he again went to sleep. A never remembered anything
which happened on the previous night, which is typical of this type of night
terror. A’s parents thought that it was due to his extended hospitalization and
two surgical procedures that he needed to endure as his empyema was very serious
and pus accumulated even after the first operation, and exceptionally in his
case, the second operation was needed. A’s parents thought that he needed a
special care as A was traumatized by these medical procedures. A’s night terror
subsided when he reached 7 or 8 years old, but A had a tendency of remaining
anxious at night time and he insisted that his mother holds his hand until he
falls asleep, and she acceded to it. A’s parents were concerned that their over-protective
attitude would make A even more dependent on them. Although they encouraged A
to sleep at night in his own bedroom, he never listened to it and remained in
his parent’s bedroom. They decided to allow him to stay close to them as much
as he wanted. Otherwise A was OK at school and his academic performance was
basically acceptable, at least well enough for him to get into the college of
his own choice.
“Think
what’s happened afterward” A’s father then asked me. Then this was what he told
me about what’s happened to A afterward. “When A turned around 15, his behavior
suddenly changed. He started to use his own bedroom at night, began spending a
lot of time chatting with his high school friend or hanging around with them
until late in the evening. Then he chose a college in a state far away from
home, and he would never came back home during spring and summer vacation for
more than a couple of days. A’s parents felt that A ended up being kind of fed
up with their caring and over-protective attitude and enjoyed living on his own.
