Fired or Freed?

“Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.” ― Bill Drayton, Leading Social Entrepreneurs Changing the World

Let me set the scene for you.

A bitter cold Friday night in Chicago. Some Thinking moms decide to get together to break up the monotony of a seemingly endless winter. Several bottles of yummy wine lay interspersed among their mostly green, mostly raw, mostly organic food fest. They laugh and talk and enjoy one another’s company. The topic turns to pediatricians.

“I got fired from Dr. * this week.” Says, the youngest one of the bunch. This Thinker has a remarkably healthy child who eats well and is developing normally with no learning disabilities or developmental delays.

“Whaaaaaat did you just say?” We all rubbernecked, saucer-eyed and slack jawed in her direction; our delicate sips turning into large lapping gulps.

“Yep, he sent one letter certified and one to my house . . . Not sure what the point in that was.”

“Oh, he%$ no!” Piped up one of the senior thinkers. “Why?”

“I take *** in for his well-baby visits. He gets weighed and measured still. The doctor looks him over. But, for all the times I’ve gone in there I’ve never gotten a single bill.”

After reading many books, talking to several moms, attending seminars and events held to address the growing problem of chronic auto-inflammatory illness in this country, the young Thinker decided that given the undeniable link between chronic disease and genetically engineered foods and medicine, she would not be vaccinating her children. She is responsible and educated. It’s hard for me to resist wishing I was her, when I see her children reap the fruits of her research versus the pain my family endures as the result of my obedience to the herd. I think all Thinkers, at some point, wish they could get a cosmic do-over.

“But, I still go in for the check-ups! I need a pediatrician in case he does get sick! What am I supposed to do now?” The young one asked.

See, she is somewhat of an accidental renegade. She knows the score, but she is still holding fast to what is quickly becoming regarded as medieval medical-mindedness.

What will I do if my child is sick and I don’t have a doctor who I know and trust? Of course, this is what we think we are thinking — that we are coming at it from the perspective of our assurance.

Buuuuut, when we really look at the present landscape of contemporary American medical care what she really means is . . .

What will I do if my child is critically ill and I do not have a doctor that knows and trusts ME? Things can and do go terribly wrong in the mainstream medical model of “health” care when a mother dares to disagree with a physician. We’ve been intimidated into submission and taught to believe that the word of a doctor, any doctor, is as good as law. Even when a nagging voice (and, frankly hundreds of papers and scientific studies) tells us what may be good for one child is not good for all.

“Well, first off . . .” said my tipsy brilliant Thinker-friend, “There is no way to code ‘baby got weighed and measured, is well fed and perfectly healthy.’ You are taking up their billable time with your healthy baby! Vaccines are what make the ‘well baby’ visit a ‘well baby’ visit. You have every right to challenge your dismissal from their practice.”

The young one replied, “You know it really bothered me when I first started with Dr. * and I asked him to explain why he thought I should vaccinate. He didn’t answer the question, but turned the question back to me and asked why I didn’t want to.”

Listen to this next part closely . . .

“Then, he asked me if I had a history of allergies, asthma, or autoimmune in my family. He would never have asked me that question if I didn’t go a few rounds with him. Then he let it go, and I kept bringing **** for his visits. We didn’t really talk about it again. The nurses harass me sometimes, but, I just tell them I am not going to do it.”

“Yep!” Piped up another Thinker fresh off a sip of her Merlot. “Exactly. If you know, if you present the science, they know you know what you are talking about. You don’t get harassed so much. They will push you around because it’s their business model. It’s their job. Like a used car salesman only with the pharmaceutical industry, media and government supporting them.”

“But what happens to all the kids whose parents don’t know? I go into his office for his check-ups and I hear those babies screaming all around me. You know, those rooms — there are so many, and that office is always packed with new babies,” commented the renegade.

We all just nodded and pursed our lips. Been there, heard it, panicked, puked and wrote the book already.

“The nurses cannot harass you.” Said yet another wise, happily buzzed Thinker as she waggled her finger and flipped her braid. “That is a violation of your HIPAA rights. While HIPAA is in fact designed to allow your private health information to be bandied about among insurance providers without your knowledge, it also means a nurse cannot use your medical information to intimidate you. Your vaccination practices are none of her business, and you need to let them know you’ve been questioned.”

“I have called Dr. * to ask for an explanation for all of this, and they just keep telling me he is not available.”

Siiiiigh.

I’ve been a Thinker going on six years now. If you follow me, you know our journey: volumes of science read, dozens of doctors consulted, many doctors’ offices and surgical facilities visited, over 20 protocols/diets implemented. Hundreds of food allergies accompanied by metabolic disease, autoimmune dysfunction, esophagitis, bowel disease — documented vaccine injury. That is my son’s story.

For all you newbie Thinkers out there, this is the wisdom I wish to impart.

1. We are partners in our children’s healthcare. Partners. Partnerships operate under the assumption that both parties have a viable contribution to make. Partners respect and listen to one another.

2. It is in our child’s best interest to build a team of healthcare professionals. After all, we all share a common goal: the health of all our child, right? A couple pediatricians, a chiropractor, a whole foods nutritionist (who understands grains and the gut), homeopath, naturopath, and homotoxicologist are all good team members. The pediatricians and healthcare professionals are covered by insurance so you can have as many of these on staff as you want! I enjoy having a few doctors because then I can weigh what one says against the other and decide for myself what the best course of action is for my child. For instance, my daughter had bronchitis three weeks ago. I tried my best to tackle it with essential oils and homeopathy, two methods of preventative and responsive medicine that are often quite effective for my family. They’ve helped assuage eye twitches, nausea, ear infections, minor allergic reactions, bruises, eczema and a myriad of other ailments. But, this bronchitis was nagging despite the fact that she did not have a fever and was still very active. She needed an antibiotic, so I took her to a pediatrician who prescribed one. My children do not get them very often, so I was willing to take the risk, off set them with probiotics, and make some dietary changes for the duration of their use. Days after she got the clean bill of health, she came down with an ear infection. Some Galilean olive oil with a dab of Thieves and she was good to go. Sometimes allopathic medicine is an option. Sometimes, simply educating ourselves about proper nutrition and preventative care is an option, too.

3. At TMR we recently sent around a meme expressing that it is not the same to think and do. We have to do both. Many of us with chronically sick and brain-damaged kids found ourselves in this predicament because we believed wholeheartedly that our children would suffer:

Polio

Measles

Mumps

Rubella

Pertussis

Diptheria (in a country where the poorest of the poor have clean running water and garbage disposal),

Influenza

Tetanus

Hepatitis B, (to get this one you must believe your newborn will get a sexually transmitted disease or use IV drugs on the day he is born)

Hepatitis A

Varicella

in the first year of life, if we did not allow the pharmaceutical industry to intervene. We did not have confidence on ourselves. We overlooked the fact that the very premise of vaccine philosophy is that it is both fine and necessary to sacrifice some for the good of many. To date our government has paid out over two billion dollars to the top 1% of the “some.”

But now the “some” are the many, and marketing executives sit in board rooms all around the country trying to figure out how to make paying customers of the few somes that are left. Chronic autoinflammatory illness of unknown origins is incredibly profitable these days.

4.  If and when that letter from your pediatrician arrives? Consider it a victory. You are now a Thinker, and you have been invited to take an active role in guiding healthcare policy in this country. May I gleefully suggest there are several medical, chiropractic, whole-health physician practices in your urban/suburban areas that will be more than happy to care for your child? Investigative physicians that treat the individual child are out there. Many, many physicians are resisting this intimidate-to-vaccinate model and are finding ways to stand up for themselves and their practices. They need us all to do our part as Thinking parent if they are going to be successful. Link arms with them, present the science, share your story and consider yourself freed instead of fired!

Love and Respect,

~ The Rev

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