By God’S Authority: By Faith, Dreams Can Come True

By Kathryn

In addition to being born high-spirited, inquisitive and stubborn, Kathryn was also her parents worst nightmare. She was ill from the day she was born. Her parents were unable to find any physician or surgeon who could find the root cause of her pain. The present medical profession had just begun to evolve at the time of her birth, as x-rays were still being read by holding them up to a ceiling light. Political correctness had not yet become a part of how the medical profession treated their patients or the parents of an ill child. The science of medical equipment and the repercussions from the physical symptoms of an ill individual progressed slowly. For within the human body, there were organs that could not yet be seen.

That would change, under God, in the United States of America. One of the beneficiaries of that change would be a girl named Kathryn

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449799328

Kathryn

Upon retiring from medicine, Kathryn began writing. Through her imagination she delves into an array of relevant aspects of todays society as well as some of the more recent unique medical conditions that plague mankind.

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Copyright © 2013 Kathryn.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Names of actual persons, places and times, have been purposely changed to protect any and all against the facts as remembered by the author.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-9933-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9932-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013911591

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/10/2013

Contents

Foreword

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Epilogue

The Sentinel

1

This book is dedicated to the medical system of the United States of America prior to the year 2009, the system which helped me to survive, and to all the surgeons, physicians and medical staff that were allowed to practice as they saw fit according to the rule of law. Freedom in their chosen field of expertise within the medical community ultimately gave me mine.

A sincere thank you to the individuals who took the time to read the original manuscript before editing to reveal its worthiness: Mrs. Betty Lurgio, Mrs. Carolyn Meisler and Mrs. Molly Vaad.

To my friend, my nemesis and the ‘sister’ I never had, Miss Carol, for her skill in corrections, suggestions, editing and non-judgmental kindness, I give a heartfelt note of gratitude for her time, encouragement, insight and love.

Foreword

A fter years of struggling to cope with the pain that radiated through her body, the cause of which no physician or surgeon could find, she began to fight back. She refused to believe that a cure for whatever was wrong with her physical body wouldn’t be found. And when it was, whether in school, or practicing in her profession or just living life, through Christ, she knew her life would be profoundly different.

She had her faith . . . . and her dreams . . . . and she always had hope.

For I know the plans I have for you,

declares the LORD,

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

1

W hether she was at home or visiting friends, her parents worried. They were always concerned that she wouldn’t take care of herself. When she wasn’t at home, her father would show his distress every time he’d ask Alise if Kathryn had called. If she was still in bed at home when he’d come in from milking he’d ask if she was ill. Her mother couldn’t help but notice what she would eat or not eat. It was apparent to all that Kathryn was more interested in eating often, than eating nutritionally; that in itself disturbed both of them.

Over the years it was the accumulation of all the little things that became warnings of what a day may bring. What she ate, what she didn’t eat, was she gaining weight or losing weight, did she ride Lady, did she help her mother in the yard? There were always ‘looks’ between her parents if something with Kathryn seemed out of sort.

Her brother could’ve cared less. In high school Bill was very well liked. He played center on the basketball team and quarterback on the football team. Every Saturday night, Bill would come home with three liters of Coke. Before Wednesday, they were gone. That’s what Kathryn noticed!

Of all the foods she had deleted from her diet, Coke was one she definitely cast aside. Fried foods, spices and Coke. Eventually, Kathryn would cast aside foods such as Pizza, raw vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, anything that was not bland. The two things that remained steady on her diet were chocolate and margarine. She could eat margarine by the stick and not get sick!

One evening during summer break while they were watching ‘the box of snow,’ Alise asked Kathryn,

Did you attend church regularly last year at school?

Some. Kathryn answered. Her mother look saddened.

You know, she began, when you were so sick and no one expected you to live, I made a promise to the Lord. Her mother’s emotions welled up in her to the point where she could hardly speak. I would make sure that I would take you to church every week if only He would heal you. Did you know that? Did your father ever tell you?

No.

Well, I told him. Your father knows the Bible and what it has to say very well. I suppose that’s why he’s a good man. He walks the walk.

Kathryn wasn’t sure what to say, if indeed she should say anything. Her parents had been through so much together. They had experienced every type of emotion because of her and lived through so much of what most parents never have to deal with in life. She knew that what her mother had promised to the Lord was not something to be taken lightly. Since she had been so ill for so long, she wondered at what point her mother had made such a promise. But she didn’t ask. It was enough for Kathryn to know that her mother had cared enough to make the promise.

When you go back to school, make sure you go to church. And! Make sure you eat properly! If it’s a matter of money, your father will make sure you have enough.

The summer between her first and second year of college brought more episodes of unexplained pain. The attacks could be triggered with as little stimulus as ‘smelling a pork chop frying.’ With the exception of her gall bladder, there wasn’t much more she could lose and still survive. Kathryn fell deeper into her shell unless someone or something triggered her sensibilities.

Her parents took her to see the new local physician in Farley. She was told that he was well educated and well-liked. He came from British Columbia, Canada, where he had attended medical school.

She was in the middle of an attack on her first appointment to see him. Of course, Dr. Towner asked the same old questions that by now were becoming all too common and irritating. Before Dr. Towner was ready to examine her, she was writhing in pain. Her parents continued talking, trying to explain all that had happened in the years after her birth.

She complained ferociously as Dr. Towner probed her belly.

Let’s take an x-ray. I think I know what’s going on here. It was sour music to her ears. How many times had she heard those same words? How many times were those words wrong!

"Well! It looks like she may have gall stones! The x-ray isn’t too clear, but from what I CAN see and from what I’ve seen before in other patients, it doesn’t surprise me to see her gall bladder full of stones! Her parents just looked at each other. The doctor continued. From how you explained her attacks, it would make perfect sense. Since she doesn’t have a stomach, whatever she ate would have almost an immediate effect on the output of bile." He spoke as though Kathryn were not in the room.

Output of bile? Her father reiterated.

Yes. The bile is basically coming from her liver, enzymes, that is. If there is too much produced, it goes to the gall bladder for storage. If there isn’t any room in the bladder, the gall bladder is going to react…

Kathryn kept listening. Why hadn’t other physicians listened to her? The many medical books she had scoured for years had contained information about the gall bladder and its function. Occasionally, there was a photo of an x-ray, showing the gall bladder filled with what appeared to be stones. Dr. Cameron had done surgery on her twice. Why hadn’t he checked out her gall bladder or any of the other organs she had left to see if there was an organ or two that might be compromised? Dr. Towner went on.

The only way to get rid of the stones is to remove the gall bladder through surgery.

If she wasn’t before, now Kathryn was incensed! This time they would listen to her! She sat upright on the examining table. With every bit of strength she had left, she spoke.

"Dr. Towner, there will be no more surgery! Period! No more surgery! Surgeons have cut my abdomen three times, each time saying that it would be the surgery that would heal my body, take away the pain. They even took my tonsils! You’ll not fault me when I tell you that I’ve known for some time it might be my gall bladder."

How could you know… . ? Dr Towner interrupted. That was clearly a no-no!

Do not interrupt me! This is my body! I know my body! I know my body better than you or my parents or any physician or surgeon. I am so tired of having to deal with the pain, never knowing when the attacks will occur. While she was talking, the pain was getting progressively worse. Unmanageable. Unthinkable. "I am NOT going to let anyone cut on me anymore. Not until I’m absolutely sure you guys know what you’re doing. So if you’re implying that you do this surgery, forget it!"

She heard herself say it! No more surgery until… !

Kathryn, that’s enough! It was her father again. Always show respect! She should have known not to raise her voice when her father was present. So, with pleading eyes, she continued.

Father, please let me finish. Please! Kathryn looked again at Dr. Towner. I know that you are trying to help. I know that you have the best of intentions. I know that you’re probably correct. Because I too have known for some time that it could be my gall bladder. Just ask my parents. I told them the same thing. Kathryn paused. She heard her voice steadily increasing in decibel strength again. "But I’m going to ask YOU a couple of questions that have been bothering me since I lost my stomach. She didn’t breathe. She didn’t move. As had happened before, she was afraid the physician would interrupt her and she couldn’t finish her thoughts. Where does the bile go when the gall bladder can no longer hold it for storage? Does it back up to the liver and the pancreas? Does it lie in the common bile duct? Does it drain into the small bowel? The questions came at a rapid pace. Because the common bile duct empties into the duodenum, but my duodenum has been rerouted. Besides, there’s a sphincter involved here called… ?

The Sphincter of Oddi, Dr. Towner said softly.

"Yes… . Yes. That’s it! That sphincter might be involved. And you know what? From what I’ve read, all surgeries that have removed that portion of the duodenum where the Sphincter of Oddi dumps bile, die. Die, doctor! So as far as I’m concerned, I’m content to try and survive the attacks until someone, maybe you, can tell me for sure just what’s going wrong in my body." Kathryn was finished. She removed herself from the table, opened the door and walked out to the waiting room. The pain was clearly all she could handle for the moment.

Dr. Towner looked at the x-ray again. When he sat down, he looked at both of Kathryn’s parents and very quietly said,

That girl knows too much, way too much.

She heard it! She was not impressed! She was hurting and no one could find out why.

Kathryn had several more x-rays that summer and each time was during an attack. Dr. Cameron and Dr. Towner said the same thing. They spoke with her attending physician at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester. They all agreed. It must be her gall bladder!

2

E arly fall or late spring, when the weather was still warm but crisp, a sorority and fraternity would go on a picnic together. They’d have the normal picnic cuisine, along with beer, by the keg.

The year Kathryn joined Gamma Delta Phi or GDP, she was instructed to go on such a picnic.

Dispel some of your shyness, my dear, as only a housemother could say it. It was a bad idea from the start. Kathryn ate a bit of hamburger without a bun. The hotdogs and salads were off limits: they were poison to her system. And then, there was the matter of the beer. She learned how to take care of that with the first mug they handed to her. Walking out of the light of the campfire, behind a tree, she dumped all of it on the ground, except for a swallow or two. Mary Ellen, her friend and sorority daughter who followed her, did the same thing.

Kathryn was amazed at the amount of beer the college freshman could consume. Their breath reminded her of the stench on her father’s hired men after a Saturday night of drinking.

She and Mary Ellen sat on a log and observed the chug-a-lug activities. Although hardly anyone paid any attention to it, the campfire was comforting. It wasn’t long before they heard slurred speech and the ‘boozers’ were walking funny. Both of them had to laugh. She couldn’t get it out of her mind what a waste of time it was to drink beer and get drunk. She also wondered what her parents would’ve thought of her had they known where she was. Some picnic! She didn’t think for one moment that when her father told her to have a good time at college, he had in mind a beer drinking picnic!

3

L ike clockwork, the pain would return. She’d find herself going to the school clinic to get something for pain. She’d stay in her room for a couple days until she could move rationally and then, return to class.

At the end of her first semester of her second year, she again found herself in the hospital in Fargo. Excruciating pain. It left no room in her brain to think of anything else. If she ate, she had abominable headaches! Her stomach had stretched. If she didn’t eat, she had abominable headaches! Her stomach had shrunk.

Only this visit to the hospital revealed something new and sinister. She felt like vomiting! Since she was connected to an IV and had not eaten for two days, she wondered what she would regurgitate from an empty pouch. It didn’t take long to find out.

The nurses were not answering the call button and she couldn’t reach the pan in the drawer so, she vomited on the floor. What came out was black, repugnant slime, so terrifyingly bitter it seemed to burn her entire mouth and throat.

Help me, someone, help me! But no one came and Kathryn continued to vomit. When she opened her eyes enough to look at the floor, the only difference between the black tiles and her vomit was that her vomit was moving. The little white dots on the black tile were disappearing, slowly. As loud as she could holler, she screamed.

Nurse, help me. Dear God, please, help me! From somewhere in the hall, two nurses finally appeared.

What’s wrong with you? Turn on your light! said one. But before Kathryn could tell them that the floor beside her bed was now covered in vomit, one of their shoes hit the slime. The nurse had all she could do to hold onto the bed to keep from falling. Why didn’t you tell me?

Kathryn, in spite of her headache and her pain and the burning in her mouth, had all she could do to keep from smiling.

Tell you what? That you were late in getting here? That I’ve been vomiting for the better half of a half hour? What? What exactly did you want me to tell you? By rights, you ought to be on the floor!

Kathryn was sick. She felt like dying. It would have been easier, she figured. No one knew what was wrong with her. No one but God. Where was He when she needed Him so badly?

As the two nurses bickered about who was to come and clean up the mess, Kathryn suggested that they might want to keep some of the bile and analyze it.

Why would we want to keep any of this? It’s probably occult blood! I’ll get a washcloth and you can clean your face.

Silently, Kathryn prayed. ‘Lord, You have to get me out of this. Only You know what’s wrong with me. No one will listen to me. Please. Please. Hear me. I need Your help! Don’t let my parents find out just yet! They’ll just worry! Where are You when I need your help? Why am I so distasteful to the nurses? They could care less about my pain.’ Then, she heard her grandma Madewell again, whispering softly in her ear.

"God never leaves you. Call on Him by name and He will always hear you. But then, be quiet… . and listen. He’ll answer all your prayers and He’ll grant you all your dreams. In His time. But… . you must ask before you can receive His blessing. And He will hear you. Never forget. He is always here for you."

Grandma Madewell was a believer, a choice she had made so many years ago. Had it not been for her, Kathryn may have never realized what her life could be.

4

A fter washing her face, she began to find that the pain was slowly releasing her from some of her torment. ‘Now let me think this through,’ she thought. ‘If vomiting released some of the pain, then perhaps the gall bladder was indeed full… . of something. This meant that the bile that was being produced by the liver had to park itself somewhere else. If it came down the common bile duct to empty into the duodenum, why did it back up into her gut-made stomach and out her mouth? Dr. Cameron had said that her duodenum was now an appendage off the site where the remaining cap of her stomach and the small bowel met. If that was truly the case, the bile release would dump into the duodenum and immediately be at the mouth of the esophagus. Of course! That’s why the bile came out. It didn’t bother going into her gut made stomach! But why now! Why hadn’t this happened before? Something must have triggered all that bile to come out at one time. What was it? Why was this the first time she remembered vomiting this black, vile substance? What was she missing?’

Kathryn recalled all the times she and her father would argue over nothing. While in high school, she would bring home some unique things to talk about and while she thought one way on the subject, her father would always take the opposite view.

Father, you know you do not believe what you are saying. I know you! You do not believe that the Social Security system FDR (President Franklin D Roosevelt) put in place was good for our country. You… . and I… . believe it was the beginning of government control over its citizens. I know you! So why are you arguing so profusely for a point in which you do not believe?

Because if you believe that the Social Security system is a bad thing, then you must be able to prove your point. Otherwise, everything you say is invalid! And so it went. Day after day. Her mother and brother would get so tired of hearing them argue.

Enough already! It was her mother. Go entertain the cows!

It was especially difficult when Alise knew that Kathryn and her father probably thought more alike than any two other people she ever knew. But Aaron was determined to take the other side of an argument. Right or wrong, he was determined to make her think. In terms of reality, that’s probably why she had been extremely good on the high school debate team.

Why did she remember arguing with her father, at this instant? Her father had trained her to get her point of view across to the person listening. Of course, that did not pertain to him! Nobody could change his mind on what she should study in college! She realized, at that moment, that it would be up to her to convince anyone who would listen, medically speaking, that there was more going on in her body than just having a gall bladder full of stones.

The nurses, after their initial clean-up, had a cleaning crew come in and clean the floor. Kathryn thought that they would never finish. They seemed to be ‘milking’ their time in her room. However, when one of the nurses returned to the room and looked at the floor, she indignantly asked,

Why aren’t you done? There’s still some on the floor.

Ma’am. We can’t seem to get it off the floor. We think it stained the tiles. He stood there with his mop, while the nurse looked a little closer.

Well, I’ll be! Can you beat that? exclaimed the nurse.

When they all left, Kathryn bent over to look for herself. Sure enough, there was a patch of black on the floor where her vomit had been spewed. With no white dots! She looked at it for a period of time. The black spot almost looked a dark green. Bile. And more bile.

At that moment, Kathryn understood what must be done. She was definitely not looking forward to another surgery. In fact, the very idea of it was repulsive to her. She knew that even with surgery, there were no guarantees that she would ever become healthy. There had been too many times already when it didn’t happen. She was not looking forward to another disappointment.

Two weeks later she had another attack. This time she called her parents. They drove to Fargo immediately. Again she vomited! Again, it was a vile, bitter, dark green slime. Again the pain left in three days! There was something she was missing. Obviously, all the physicians and surgeons she had had were missing it too. After discussing Kathryn’s options with the medical staff, her parents came back to her room and asked her one simple question.

Do you want to have surgery now, here, or do you want to go back to Mayo? It was her father requiring the information. I’ll leave it up to you.

She was surprised by the question. No one had ever asked her what she thought about having the surgeries she’d had before. To her, she felt like a walking experiment! It didn’t matter what doctor she saw, they could only surmise what was wrong. Her tonsils, her appendix, her stomach, the cyst… . they had to come out. Or did they?

But this! What had she eaten to cause her gall bladder to fill up with stones? Or were the stones always there? Kathryn thought about her father’s question. When would all this pain and confusion end? Where did it all start… really? How could anyone ‘fix’ her?

Why? Why? Why? For a moment in time, it all seemed so overwhelming. Mayo! With her head on her pillow and her eyes closed, she said, with resignation,

Father, if you can afford it, let’s return to Mayo.

Then it’s settled. He walked out the door and down the hall. Her mother stayed behind and tried to ease the discomfort that Kathryn was feeling. She put a wet washcloth on her forehead and tickled Kathryn’s back.

When is it going to be over? Alise asked, quietly. Kathryn didn’t like the tone of her voice, but then, her mother had been through so much already. She couldn’t expect her mother to understand anymore: nor her father, for that matter. She didn’t understand all of it and she had been studying it. ‘And still,’ she thought, ‘there is a missing puzzle piece here. I just need to find it.’ Her father returned in a matter of minutes.

They are going to set up an appointment for you at Mayo two days before your break. You’ll need to heal fast over Christmas. So when you’re ready to get out of here, go back to school, take your exams and then we’ll all go to Mayo.

Kathryn was relieved. She hadn’t told her parents much of what the physicians had said to her on this last visit nor had she told them what she had said to them in return. It served no purpose. Maybe the physicians told her father already about their little conversation. Maybe that’s why Mayo came up. It wasn’t important. It was settled. She’d spend another Christmas in the hospital.

5

W ithin two days of being in Rochester, Minnesota at Mayo Clinic, the surgeons knew what they had to do. Kathryn was transferred to St. Mary’s, where they conducted even more tests and x-rays on her body. On the evening of the second day, Kathryn was taken to surgery. Her parents waited, first in the surgical wing waiting room and then in the small apartment across the street, the one the hospital provided for them. Her parents knew she would be out for most of the night. Tomorrow would be another day. They could talk to the surgeons when they called. And they promised to call!

It was mid-morning the next day when they walked over to the hospital. Upon entering the room, Kathryn turned her head to see them. She was still drowsy from the Pentothal they had used to induce sleep prior to surgery.

Hi! You look pretty good just having had surgery. How do you feel? asked her mother.

Okay. I’m sure they have me on something for the pain. I don’t feel my abdomen at all. But she could feel every orifice where they had stuck a tube and each arm where they had inserted needles.

If you don’t have that much discomfort, you can always refuse the medication. Especially if you want to read. Kathryn could sense in her father’s voice the urgency he felt for her to get away from the pain medication. And yes, she figured she could live with a little discomfort after what she’d been through. In fact the pull of the stitches meant that she was on the road to recovery.

Do you know what kind of gall stones you had?

What do you mean what kind? She was trying to get her mind around what her mother had just said.

I mean, what they were made of? Again it was her mother.

I imagine they are made up of bile, green and ugly looking!

Your stones were cortisone deposits. They’re white and shiny, about the size of your front teeth. Inside each one is a little crater, with a greenish tint. Dr. Solberg said that when he opened the tissue holding them together in the bladder, they all fell out like some giant jigsaw puzzle. I guess each one had its place. Do you want to see them? Her mother was excited about the prospect that having had the stones removed Kathryn would be feeling much better and possibly cured of whatever plagued her body.

Kathryn thought that surgery was so neat, really. They cut you open, take something out and within hours, you can see what had been in your body. She should have asked Dr. Cameron to see her stomach and duodenal ulcer, and the tissue covering that huge cyst in her body. Oh, well, the gall stones would have to do.

Sure I want to see them. Please. Her mother produced a little blue box and upon opening it, Kathryn saw just what her mother had described. She took one from the box and turned it over in her fingers. How many of these things were there?

Over a hundred. They gave us a few and sent the rest of them to be analyzed. Aren’t they pretty! I mean, just think, that for years these have been growing inside you much like a pearl grows inside an oyster. No wonder you had pain! Her mother was fascinated with her gall stones. Well. Whatever turns you on, mother!

Holding one of the stones, Kathryn broke it in half. Sure enough! Inside was a bluish-greenish looking crater, rather tiny with stalagmites or maybe, stalactites facing the center? She thought of Dr. Burbank. He’s the one who ordered the cortisone. ‘Back pain, my eye!’ It disgusted her! How many times would she undergo surgery because of someone’s inappropriate diagnosis?

Kathryn was confined to St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester for several days. The staff ran extensive tests on her while she recuperated. What they were hoping to find was anyone’s guess. The day after they removed the stitches, she and her parents returned to Fargo.

Once there, Kathryn and all her medical supplies were left at the dormitory. In the past, it never occurred to her to have any help after surgery. She was always at home. Anything she needed, Kathryn could handle pretty much by herself. Or so she thought! It was her mother that always made it seem so easy. It never occurred to her that she’d need help at school. This time she did.

Every morning, Karen, her roommate, would take the wrappings off Kathryn’s abdomen and replace them with new, clean gauze. Prior to the