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1/11/08: She started with a fever, sore throat, and runny nose. Sickness was going through the school. Our family had the same thing, too.

1/14/08: She started with a fever that night and headache.

1/15/08: We went to the pediatrician for the first time. She fought the nurse with the Strep test. They took two swabs. The rapid test was positive. We were given Amoxil 400 mg for 10 days.

1/17/08: We went back to the doctor. We were told to giver her Tylenol and to rest.

1/18/08: The doctor's office called and said the Strep test they sent out was negative and to take her off the Amoxil. We did that. She became depressed, wouldn't eat, and she started to suck her thumb. She would wear dirty clothes and sweat pants. She would rage when it was time for school. She would scream, throw things, and rip up paper. We started to take her to a therapist.

2/5/08: She wrote on a homework paper that she wanted to die. The therapist sent us to the ER for a PESS assessment. There the Psychiatrist saw her for 5 minutes and said that she was being sexually abused. She looked as if she wanted to climb the walls. Her eyes turned black and her face became distorted. I was afraid of her. Then the light came back into her eyes and she became afraid. They had her admitted to a psychiatric unit.

2/6/08-2/8/08: She was admitted to Monmouth Medical Center. She was put on Zoloft 50 mg. She was diagnosed with OCD, anxiety, and school phobia secondary to PANDAS. This whole time she was still sick with a sore throat, a cough, and earaches.

2/9/08-2/25/08: She became a little better.

2/25/08: The symptoms came back. She didn't want to go to school, OCD, school phobia, and nightmares. She said that there was a devil in her head. Zoloft was increased to 75 mg. Her ASO titers were 149.2. Strep test negative. She was put on 10 days of Amoxil.

3/08-6/6/08: She was so much better. She was going to school. She was happy. She was participating in class. She was 95% herself again.

6/7/08: The symptoms came back. I started to get the phone calls from school. She would be at the nurses office eating lunch, not participating in class and crying in school.

6/17/08: The school had an unscheduled fire drill due to a construction mishap. Emergency vehicles were called. She had a full-blown panic attack. She vomited and kept saying she had to go home. When the emergency vehicles left, she was fine.

6/17/08-7/25/08: She was not herself. She had anxiety attacks, some rages usually ending with headaches.

7/25/08: She started summer religion classes. They were 3 hours long. She would usually last 1 hour and then start to cry. I took her back to the doctor. I told them about her headaches. I was told to restrict caffeine, which she doesn't drink, and said that they were inherited migraines from me. She was put on Paxil for the anxiety.

9/3/08: School started. The first few days she went to the nurse. The next week the phone calls started every day. She was sobbing loudly in class. The sore throats were back along with ear pain, leg pain, anxiety and rages. It got to the point that she would be in school 1 hour and I would be told to come get her. She had a PESS assessment in school and told the counselor that we would be happier if she wasn't here so we did not have to deal with her.

9/13/08: I couldn't get her into a child psychiatrist, but got her to see the nurse practioner who said that Paxil is toxic for kids. She was weaned off it and put on Luvox and Rispadal. She gained 15 lbs. on these meds. During this time she had screaming rages, growling, grunting, throwing things, and calling her parents stupid idiots. "My God" became her favorite phrase and it was at anything we said. After she would come out of a rage she would cry, apologize and beg for help. Her voice would change as she repeated "I need to go to school." It was like she couldn't move her tongue.

Her OCD became worse. She became afraid of fire. My nephew was blowing bubbles by our fire pit and she went into a panic attack repeating "we have to get out now, the house is going to go on fire." I can't even light a candle without her obsessing about it causing a fire.

10/24/08: Clonazepam was added by a psychiatrist to help her get through school. A neurologist was recommended for the headaches.

10/25/08-11/10/08: Rages lessened. OCD was present but tolerable. She was being home schooled since 9/30/08.

11/11/08 -present: She started basketball. Practices were in her school. That night I saw a change. She had a temper tantrum, and became afraid of the dark. She would be up a few times a night using the bathroom. She would check the locks on the doors. She was afraid of the other students in school making fun of her. When she is tired, she has many melt downs. Then she will say "I'm not tired" many times then change and say "I need to go to bed."

11/17/08: I spoke with Dr. Kovacevic. He suggested trying a steroid burst. We are currently weaning her from the psych medications and are planned to do a steriod burst the first week of December.

My daughter was a happy girl. She liked going to school. She was kind and compassionate. She had many friends. She loved cheerleading and drawing. She was a straight A student. She never talked back to us or any other adult. She has lost a year of her life to this. Her friends don't understand what is going on. She is struggling to keep up her grades from not being in school. Most days she thinks everything she loved is stupid. It's not fair that any child has to go through this.

We would like doctors to be aware of how to correctly treat PANDAS.

It breaks my heart to see my child try to run away from the "monster" and beg God to help her.

We just want our sweet daughter back.

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