A note from Justin

I have torn the house apart today looking for one small letter and one small journal…have found untold other receipts, cards, notes…but not what I was searching for and I know they are here, somewhere. I keep all that sort of stuff neatly boxed.  But I did find a treasure, it is a letter from Justin written in July of 2000, he would have been 15 years old.  The illness that he speaks of Ryan having was eosinophilic gastroenteritis brought on by an allergic reaction to a “Z pack” antibiotic. Ryan was scary sick for a long time, missed the rest of 7 grade and a good portion of 8th grade. The head of Pediatric Gastroenterology at University of Maryland was stumped….and he wanted to do another steroid burst on Ryan to abate the symptoms.  I believe Justin’s letter to me was in my response to modern medicine’s preoccupation with steroids….the doctors would not even entertain that this was a food allergy brought on by a raw gut. I perhaps had communicated my frustration to the team at University of Maryland about their lack of vision…and this is what my wise counselor wrote to me:

 You’ve told me, whenever work isn’t going great, that things like that tend to happen from time to time, and that there are good days and bad days.  I know you’ll get this sometime, seeing as you check your email often. Well, it is a good thing to keep in mind.  It is okay if you are tired, you have had to deal with quite a bit.  Not just me and my goofiness. You dealt with the medical society and Ryan’s illness since December.  That’s a long time and there isn’t a clear picture still.  You don’t have a picture without color, and there are only a few colors to deal with.  A picture with few colors doesn’t really show you much, but it can give you an idea.  Let’s say the doctor is an artist (let’s also go with the metaphor without laughing), an artist uses colors to paint a picture as a doctor uses test results and lab work to make a diagnosis.  There is no clear diagnosis, because there isn’t enough color.  Is that making sense?  Of course, the artist’s skill varies from artist to artist.  An artist with no idea what he’s doing will paint something that resembles crap.  A good artist, a Da Vinci or a Michelangelo (let’s not mention Picasso, it would screw the whole metaphor, a Picasso doctor would not be good), will paint a clear picture that gives you the best possible outlook and understanding.  However, paintings take a long time before they can show you something clear.  Am I making sense?

Patience is a virtue, and when that fails, reconciliation is a sacrament. 🙂

Love, Justin

Yes my darling, you are making sense. I don’t feel like there is much color with this painting either….I do get it though that it will be a long time before there is color again and a long time before the painting is finished and that it is okay for me to be tired.  The Master Painter is at His work.  I will work at patience…and yes, praise God for His mercy, when I fail…reconciliation is a sacrament.  Love you forever, miss you.  Mom

Just as a footnote.  We took Ryan to see a doctor out of Children’s Hospital in Philly. He said to remove every bit of dairy protein from Ryan’s diet. We did and in 36 hours Ryan was pain free, gained weight and rebounded in six months.  Went back to doc Kelly for a year check up and he said to add dairy back in to see what would happen.  We were hesitant, but the doc was confident…no issues.  The Z pack had started a cascade reaction throughout Ryan’s system, dairy protein can be a huge player if it crosses through into the rest of the body system.  Oh, the PA at University of Maryland requested my research that I had gathered and Ryan’s case was quite the point of debate between these two doctors.  We thank God that Ryan was healed and is strong and healthy today.