From: Abi Katz-Stein
Date sent:04/30/00 11:10 PM
Milestones, Medicine and Miracles

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been awhile since we have written to update you on Dan's health and the happenings in our family, and there is now much to tell.

At the end of March, Dan visited Dr. Moore (the neurologist who follows his seizure disorder) and was given permission to start driving again. There is some paperwork to fill out, a driving evaluation program at MVH, and retesting to be done before he can actually drive. But, the process has begun.

Also at the end of March, Dan was discharged from the CORP rehab program at MVH. CORP is meant for people who need therapy in two or more areas of rehabilitation. Dan will continue with Occupational Therapy, "single service", but both PT and Speech felt he was ready to move on and continue to make improvements on his own.

Throughout April, Dan has looked for an OT that takes my insurance (his ran out of OT visits), and will be able to work with him single service. He has also explored other healing modalities including osteopathic muscle manipulation therapy, massage therapy, Alexander Technique, and Art Therapy. Each of these treatments have contributed to his physical and spiritual growth and well being.

Two additional treatments stand out as even more significant milestones.

Earlier this month we went to Boston to have the shunt that was left from the abscess surgery removed. It was a pretty simple procedure and went according to plan. Dr. Black came to talk to me and said that the abscess site looked good, that the fluid was clear and the shunt removal was straightforward and uncomplicated.

He was also able to answer some of my lingering questions about Dan's overall condition.

I asked if he had seen the most recent MRIs that we sent. He said he had, and that Dan's 6 month MRI does look good. He recommended that Dan get another one in 6 months, and then yearly afterward.

I asked him again about the growth of this tumor type and the growth rate index. He said that if this were a "typical" oligodendroglioma, he would say that it would be 5 to 10 years before we would see it again. However, since the growth factor was a little high, he thought it might be as soon as 2 to 3 years. Then, we would do chemo therapy or radiation, as seemed appropriate at the time.

I reminded him that in the course of the first excision, that we saw "something" on the MRI at 12 months, that the doctors at that time called "scar tissue". When we followed his films yearly, we looked for changes in the scar tissue. Until, at 4 years, there was the mass that Dr. Black had taken out. He said that at this point if we saw "anything" on the MRI, we would assume it was tumor, and treat it right away.

I asked if it was true that since his technique was able to remove so much more tumor, that it would take even longer to have new growth. He said yes, that was true, the better the removal, the better long term outcome.

I have also read about when treating with chemo therapy that there are genetic markers to look for, and when there are certain "genetic deletions" it can be predicted that the chemo will be very effective, and if these deletions are not present, that the chemo is not very effective. He said that yes, that was true, but not absolute. That he would still use chemo even under those conditions because there would still be benefit to be gained and that, (of course) everyone responds differently, and that overall, oligo's respond well to chemotherapy.

He also said that he would like to see Dan continue with his Occupational Therapy, and if we needed a letter of support for that (to the insurance company), he would be happy to help in any way that he could.

So, although I was left with an uncertain sense of the long term future, I still felt like we had passed an important milestone. This chapter of Dan's ordeal is closing. There is no more "treatment" for this tumor or the abscess that followed. It is time to move on.

The second significant event happened last Wednesday, one week after the shunt removal. We went to see a man named Solomon Wickey. He is an Amish man, who is able to heal people of all kinds of illnesses. We heard about him from the speech and occupational therapists at MVH and from an astrologer in Yellow Springs. My mom always said that if you hear about someone from three different sources, that's a pretty good recommendation. So, we went, not really knowing what that meant and not really knowing what to expect. Dan said he had heard he was a trained doctor, I didn't know if Amish went to secular schools to do that.

It was a three to four hour drive, and on the way, Dan and I talked about our hopes, our expectations and the nature of miracles. I said that I was hoping for a miracle, I believe miracles are possible. But, I didn't necessarily expect a miracle, and I had no way of knowing if we could get one. But I hoped for one anyway.

Dan said he did not want to go all the way to "hope for a miracle" because he had looked for so many other silver bullets that didn't turn out the way he expected. He said he would like to have help and guidance on what he needed to do next to improve his health in any way, in every way... stamina, emotional, physical abilities, continued seizure relief, not have his tumor come back. We thought perhaps Dan would be given herbs or something to treat his conditions.

We arrived late for our appointment by our time, but early by Indiana time (miracle number 1... I was truely unnerved by the fact that we didn't know what to expect, that he might have a long line and we would miss our appointment, there was no way to phone him, and we didn't know how to get there, and the maps were not very helpful for the smallest roads.... and we were LATE!!!... but saved by the time change!)

We walked into the house/store. There were two older couples waiting for their appointments. There were signs that said "Leave pictures and handwriting at the desk." I had no clue what that meant, but one of the women told us it was for Solomon to use to pray for people. There was no one to greet us, or orient us to the system. Finally, after a time, a door opened, and one of the couples stood and went inside. We could just barely see him through the open door... but, there was no introduction, no preamble, someone just got up and went inside.

When the door opened again, the other couple went in. Finally, we were the last ones there when the door opened again. Dan asked "Is that our cue to come in?" Solomon just nodded.

Solomon was sitting at a desk, there were two other women in the room who at first, appeared to be chatting. Dan sat in an empty chair between Solomon and one of these women, I sat in a chair to the side, by the second woman. He said to Dan "Do you have a problem?" Dan tried to explain simply his medical history. Solomon stopped him and asked "Why did the tumor return?" Dan asked "Do you want a philosophical answer or a scientific answer?" Solomon said, "Either."

(Aside: While this is going on, the two women were talking to each other, and I was very confused why they were there, and why they were talking in the room, it was very distracting. Turns out they were doing energy work with each other and about Dan, but that didn't become clear until much later... it was just happening, while Dan was trying to talk...)

So, Dan went on to describe why the tumor returned... philosophically because he was trying to make his life get back to normal, and scientifically, because the growth index, etc... Solomon took all this in, and then reached over an touched Dan's head on the left and held out his right arm. Then he moved Dan's arms and picked up a vile of pills and put them on his left knee, moved his right arm, and touched his chest. He went through a series of these motions. It was at that time that I noticed the women were writing things down and were also making motions, sometimes with each other, sometimes with Solomon. Sometimes, he would reach out, take the hand of the woman next to Dan, and use it to make a motion with her and with Dan. This process took only a couple of minutes.

Then Solomon sat back in his chair and said that the siezures were caused by an iron deposit on the left side of Dan's head. Dan said that the movement problems had been on his left (right side of body controlled by left brain) and the tumor had been on the right. Solomon said that the tumor had pushed his brain and the flow of metals from the right to the left, leaving a seizure focus on the left side of his brain. He also said that the original tumor had been caused by childhood immunization, that it had settled in the brain instead of in the chest where it was supposed to settle. He said that he saw no reason that Dan would not make a full recovery.

I asked about the cause of the tumor, he said he removed that and that the tumor would not come back. He said that all of Dan's strength would come back.

Solomon talked about Dan's strength coming back in terms of early childhood development. He said Dan would relearn his movements as a baby had learned motor skill. That both arms would have to move in parallel before they could move in alternation. (my interpretation of his words) He said that Dan's nervous system had to reach way back to the "instinctual centers" and relearn all the things that it had known before, but that it could definately do that.

He also said that the cognative skills would return in the same way. That he would have to relearn the thought processes as a child would learn them the first time.

We asked about the abscess, and the infection from that. He checked Dan again and said there was no residual bacterial infection. He said also that the infection was caused by leftover blood in the surgical site, and that was cleared now. And again said he could find nothing else that would block Dan from making a complete recovery.

Solomon asked the woman next to Dan to check for any "voids" and she rubbed his back, made some flicking motions with her hand, and placed Dan's palm over several pictures of brains in a text book. She said that she could find nothing lacking.

In the meantime, the woman sitting next to me touched my arm and started checking my energy feilds. She said that my spleen and thyroid were suppressed, but she cleared them. She said that I would not be so tired.

Solomon said that he would like to follow Dan, and that we should come back in 3 months. Then he asked Dan what he does for a living. Dan started to describe his career and interests in information technology (that technology was interesting, but what was really important was the people, and helping people with the way they use technology).

Solomon asked some interesting and pertainent questions. They talked about the flow of information (both within the computer and within networks), and although Solomon and the assistants didn't necessarily get all the technical details, they really understood the energy componants of what Dan was talking about.

Observing this conversation, I thought that whatever treatments they had just provided for Dan made a difference right away in his conversation, he was fluid, excited, clear, engaged.

All in all, we spent about 45 minutes with them and were very satisfied and intrigued with the experience.

Later in the evening, it was very tempting to be flip about this encounter. This man just told us he had cured Dan's tumor. How believable is that? And, yet, how does one relate to someone the power of those moments? It is unbelievable and believable. Dan said, we need to be careful of how we share this story. Our own telling colors our experience of it.

The next morning Dan asked me if we had gotten the miracle I wanted. He said he thought we had. I had to agree.

There is a complex churning in my mind when I say this. Because, even if some day it proves not to be so, today, we have the miracle of hope. Today, I have a sense that it is possible that Solomon could clear away leftover blood bits, iron accumulations and mis-settled childhood immunizations.

How can my scientific mind hold these seemingly preposterous notions to be so? Because blood contains iron (and when Solomon senses "a lot" of blood or an "accumulation of iron" I have no way of knowing if he means a tablespoon or 4 molecules out of balance...), because our lymphatic system is in charge of clearing poisons from the body but it doesn't always happen quickly or completely, because at the very core of all human biology is a bunch of chemical reacations, and all chemical reactions are a transfer of (or sharing of) energy. Although the language of Solomons miracles may or may not be the same language of my life science, there are common threads of truth.

So, what if someday life proves that these miracles were not "true" or not sustaining? That won't take away from the miracle of today. The future won't change that today, we have a kind of hope that wasn't possible a few days ago. A kind of hope that transforms into the reality of an everyday life filled with moments that just feel lighter than before, moments more precious than wieghty, moments that are gifts.

It is an emergence into a new phase in our life. Dr. Black's work and healing represent a physical milestone. Solomon Wickey's work and healing represent a spiritual milestone. And we step forward in to the next phase of our life.

Thank you for sharing the journey with us.

With Love and Hope, Abi and Dan