Lendon H. Smith, MD
I have noticed if I get upset at someone's stupid mistake, the error usually turns out to be mine. Errors of judgement are not always due to low blood sugar. Some people -- even those in high places -- are so stupid they need keepers. They may be smart in adding figures, or frying bacon, but interpersonal communication is a lost art for them.
Just an hour ago I had to go to the bank and figure out why I had too much money in one account and I was overdrawn in another. I told my wife about the screw-up and she said, "Entry-level people there." I had to agree; I was really going to read them out until I got there and found that I had used the wrong slips to deposit the checks I had received. The money was there but not in the account from which I was writing checks. I bailed myself out and tried to save face with, "Someone must have moved the deposit slips." I wonder who.
My wife feels she can ask off-the-wall questions at community or board meetings because she is a woman. Men, on the other hand, are usually embarrassed to ask questions or they might look naive or childish. I must tell you about a bright woman who writes me about her children, especially one who was very sick a few years ago; she almost lost him. He had some sort of viral encephalitis when he was 3 1/2 years old. He had "a fever which lasted a month and would not respond to any amount of vitamin C, garlic, or homeopathic preparations." He held his own that month, but then started to have dizziness attacks, "then bumping into walls, then falling down, then not being able to get back up again. We checked him into the hospital where he deteriorated remarkably, gradually losing all motor function, including speaking, swallowing, or opening his eyes more than 1/8 of an inch. He was hooked up to an I.V. drip and had a nasoduodenal tube because he was vomiting everything they pumped into him. Well, you can imagine the nightmare that ensued.
He was poked and prodded by the neurologists and the infectious disease team, getting spinal taps, CAT and MR scans. I finally had to get very firm with everyone, and forbade them to touch my son again! Boy, did I make waves around that hospital." They labled her "hostile mother." She even told the head of neurology to get lost. "I was so proud of myself," she said.
As they were getting nowhere, she realized she had to take her son's health matters into her own hands. She used Nutritech's ALL-1 powder, plus megadoses of vitamin C, thymus drops, and lecithin, all liquified and injected into his nasoduodenal tube, four times a day. She knew by the way the staff was acting, that the infection was spreading to his respiratory center, and that he would die soon. "I didn't even want to think about the life-support systems they could plug him into." But in a few days he did start to come out of it! She knew he was getting some of his nervous system function back when he could open his eyes 1/4 of an inch. He soon spoke, and then could move his arms and legs voluntarily. He could suck some fluid through a straw, so out came the tubes. "I signed him out against medical advice, but I knew he needed fresh air, sunshine, and play-time with his brothers." He had to relearn sitting, walking, and talking all over again. Six months later, he could run. He was found to be totally blind in his right eye, but now the MR scan is normal.
The mother has taken him for chiropractic and acupuncture treatments. He also gets vision-specific herbs. She gave him lecithin, EFAs, and extra B12 and folic acid, along with the other vitamins. His fine motor and gross motor skills are a little behind for his age (six years), but he is bright and friendly.
So he is not the perfect child that he started out to be, but he is alive and about 90 percent well. This mother saved that boy's life. If she had not been a hairy fog-horn or a size 40 scorpion, he would have died three years ago.
If a mother brings a child in to see you and you are not sure what to do, ask her. Remember, that child was once a part of her. She knows him best. The child is an extension of her body. It helps, also, if the mother is intelligent and knowledgeable. Don't discount "mothers"; they are a force to be reckoned with.
