I was excited the other day when I did a Google news search
for “narcolepsy” and came across this article about Stanford Center for Narcolepsy's new pet: Watson, the narcoleptic Chihuahua.
I won't bother re-telling the details of the article, since it's really interesting and you should definitely read it for yourself. I just think it’s absolutely perfect that Dr. Mignot has this dog. The
article talks about how he takes Watson with him when he is seeing his children
narcoleptic patients. Dogs in general are amazing for calming people and
relieving stress; but having a dog that collapses when Dr. Mignot offers him a
treat and he gets excited? That’s something that these scared narcoleptic children
can sort of relate to and help them understand their own cataplexy as well.
Even though I was diagnosed at 16, I can imagine that having
a dog like Watson in the room with me when I was diagnosed would have helped me
too. It’s a difficult situation, and it’s nice that Watson is unknowingly able
to be a comfort to Dr. Mignot’s patients.
While I never got to meet Bear (Dr. Mignot's first narcoleptic dog who recently passed away), I’m hoping that
someday I’ll be able to meet Watson!
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