Canada

My son’s scan is clear, but the doctors still do not know why he keeps collapsing

Dear Delyara, My son is seventeen and has collapsed four times in six months. Heart tests, brain scans, blood work—so far, nothing explains it. Everyone tells us normal tests are good news. They are. They also leave us with a boy who may fall unconscious at school without warning. He has stopped cycling because I begged him. He resents me for that. Yesterday, he said, “You’re treating me like I’m already sick with something they haven’t even found.” I know. I watch him walk upstairs and listen for a fall. I ask how he feels so often he has started answering “alive” sarcastically. His friends are planning a camping trip. He wants to go. I want to say yes because he is seventeen. I want to lock every door because he is seventeen and unexplained things keep happening to his body. The next specialist appointment is six weeks away. Until then, we live between two sentences: all the tests are reassuring, and nobody knows why your child keeps collapsing.