After a year or two of picking my brain while she opened her interesting world to me, she told me out of the blue that if I care to, I should get the job of writing a column on how to get the best of children. As she puts it, never mind without paper qualification, my methods actually worked.
Were I to think of her as an unusual person; her daughter, Crystal, is even more unique. When Crystal was in grade school, a fellow mum witnessed her being almost strangled by a so called friend in the cafeteria. The victim turned pale, staggered to the sink and threw up. Yet she didn't complain to any teacher. Neither did she say a word to her mother. Around that time, Crystal behaved exactly the same way as before or after the incident. Bee heard about the incident from another mother.
One day I was sitting in Bee's kitchen, talking nineteen to a dozen. The topic of hives came up. Bee related how they made a trip to a neighboring country to visit relatives. Their relations, being good hosts, treated them to expensive restaurant meals. Crystal was a small size ten-year-old who could not tolerate spicy food. Since the host and hostess ordered a spread of adult's choices, Crystal could hardly find anything to eat. Anyway, she was extremely hungry after a full day of shopping, she ate whatever available that she could tolerate and swallow. When they came back, Crystal had a very bad case of hives that did not respond to the usual course of anti-histamine. As I questioned Bee closely, she related how Crystal for years ate very few types of food. Not only was Crystal underweight, she often reacted with different symptoms if she was forced to eat food she would refuse if given a choice.
There I made a few comments that Bee agreed whole-heartedly with. She said she wished her GP knew as much as I do about children's allergies. Then she went on to ask me a number of questions that her Doctors could not or would not answer.
As I answered one question after another without thinking, both she and I were staggered. How did I know? After all, I had no medical training. Well, I had no explanation until I met a general practitioner who was not only experienced but who is a life long learner. He prescribed me a one week dose of steroid. I returned to his clinic two days later complaining I felt giddy, had heart palpitation and possibly had hallucination (it is something like dreaming while awake). He believed I had very sensitive stomach lining, probably was born with it since I avoided antibiotics and certain other drugs like plague throughout my life.
What are the chances that I meet up with the mum of a girl who shared similar nutritional problems, food allergies and emotional upheavals of childhood with me? One in a few millions in terms of probability, I guess. It is not like I could take one look at Crystal and identify her past history. When I got to know her mum, she was thin but not unhealthily so. It must be providence.
* solscenic 11 ig 798605 from www.earthwatch2.org
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