This Thorn In My Flesh
One man's struggle with Attention Deficit Disorder
by
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I was on my third cup of coffee when the doorbell rang. Sarah and our three children were at the mall taking back some unwanted Christmas gifts. The breakfast dishes had already been washed, and a fresh pot of coffee awaited me in the kitchen. Usually, when someone rings my doorbell it is most likely a first time caller. Those I know fairly well usually knock. As for myself, I hardly ever use the doorbell. A couple of raps to the beat of “shave and a hair cut” are my way of announcing arrival. So when I heard the doorbell I was pretty sure that the person at my door would be someone with whom I was not familiar. Since I had settled in with a very good book, one of the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker, and was completely relaxed and absorbed in my reading, the interruption was not welcomed.
To my knowledge I had never before seen the face of the man who stood in my doorway that Saturday morning of January 9, 1993, and it did not appear that he had ever seen mine.
“May I help you?” I asked him.
“Are you Dr. William Walton?”
“Yes I am,” I replied. I wasn’t going to invite him in until I had learned the reason for his calling. If he was a salesman we could get this conversation over with quickly, right here at the door. If it was to request my professional services I was simply going to give him my card and ask him to call my secretary, Megan, on Monday to schedule an appointment.
He extended his hand. “My name is Albert Newsome. I know that this is rather unusual, my stopping by unannounced and all, but I really would like to talk to you if you have a moment.”
“Could I please ask what this is about, Mr. Newsome?”
The man looked at me for a moment and tears welled up in his eyes. “I... I think I’m going to be arrested.”
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About the Book
This Thorn In My Flesh is a fictionalized account of Albert Newsome, the victim of a unique, and overpowering, attraction (known in the A.D.D. world as hyper-focusing) that has plagued him since childhood. Now, at age forty-six, Albert finds himself faced with possible criminal charges resulting from an incident that could result in possible prosecution. Albert’s unique story is told through the eyes of Dr. William Walton, who encourages his patient to revisit those initial traumatic episodes in childhood and continue the emotional journey that will take Albert through his formative years and into adulthood. Dr. Walton’s intense study will offer the reader a riveting account of one man’s struggle with Attention Deficit Disorder. Was Albert Newsome a manipulative perpetrator? Or was he himself a victim? In the end, the reader must “read and decide”.
About the Author
The author, writing as Reed Anderside, served as a counselor for the Department of Rehabilitation Services for twenty-two years. During this time, the counselor began to identify similar components that were present among his clients who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. As someone who had also grown up with A.D.D., the counselor became fascinated with the unique personalities and traits that were exhibited by his clients, such as forgetting, backtracking, and impulsiveness. This fascination led the author to a more intensive study of other individuals whose lives had also been altered by this genetic disorder. The result of his study is a fictionalized account of Albert Newsome, whose unique, and overpowering, attraction (known as hyper-focusing) became his ‘thorn in the flesh.