Mike Molyneaux, Contributing Writer
Waking Times 

Many perplexing, horrible paradoxes in life eventually turn out for the best and make sense in retrospect if we don’t give up. Here is a parable that may give hope to people struggling in a sea of trouble.

My son is a physically, mentally and emotionally strong and lovable young man today, but he wasn’t always healthy; in fact he struggled through most of his life and nearly died at twelve years of age from the drawn out complications of a rare physiological abnormality. Health and behavior problems were noticed from the first year of his life and numerous specialists in medical science and psychiatry were involved in trying to diagnose and treat his baffling, debilitating and long term life threatening condition, including malfunction of the bladder and bowl, incontinence, kidney damage, frequent pain and infections, as well as anxiety and depression. None of the specialists had ever encountered this complex health and emotional syndrome so the nature and cause remained a matter of speculation for years.

The root cause of the condition turned out to be an overgrowth of the abdominal lymph nodes that had extended around and strangled the organs, bladder and bowl, hindering their functions. Before the cause was finally revealed, certain drugs, operations and treatments were proposed, debated, disputed and some attempted. After 10 years of testing, speculating and treating with drugs, behavioral therapy and minimal surgery, the pediatric surgeon made a small incision in his abdomen, pushed a catheter into the centre of the largest part of the cyst complex and drained two liters of fluid. Removal of the catheter was delayed and a bag fixed to his waist to monitor the rate of fluid drainage, but within a few days bacteria had entered through the puncture in his abdomen and my son developed a serious triple infection of the cyst and peritoneum. Experience in draining cysts of this type when found on the neck or groin of children showed that fluid would fill the cyst again as the puncture for the drainage tube healed, so uncomplicated cases of externally located lymphatic cysts were easily diagnosed and surgically removed. Abdominal surgery for my son was expected to be hazardous. A wrong move could easily make the condition worse, so major surgery was delayed until the specialists and surgeons had accumulated sufficient understanding of the condition and possible complications and felt confident that they could successfully fix the disorder without introducing new problems. Over 10 years other less invasive and hazardous tests and treatments had been applied and the condition fluctuated for better and for worse with frequent visits to doctors, psychiatrists, alternative health specialists, hospitals, tests and minor operations.

Hazardous surgery was delayed while various antibiotics were administered but without noticeable effect. Over a period of three weeks my son was transformed into a weak, pathetic caricature of pale skin and bone, full of pain and medicines, hardly able to eat or sleep. He began asking if he could be given medicine that would make him go to sleep and never wake up. He started an allergic reaction to the antibiotics so I decided to apply some traditional ideas for promoting health and recovery to supplement the medical treatments that had apparently failed to halt the deterioration in his condition – we administered regular high doses of Vitamin C and prepared nutritious raw fruit and vegetable drinks mixed with natural yoghurt. We requested the midnight blood test routines to be changed so that he had more chance of sleeping without disruptions and needle jabs. We took him outside into the sun every day for him to stand up from the wheelchair for short periods and we continued praying and talking with him, encouraging him not to be anxious over injection needles and pain, and not to give up his fight for life.

After a week of these supplementary treatments he started eating, sleeping and feeling better and within another week he was able to leave hospital and recover at home. His surgeon explained that the bacteria had entered the lymphatic cyst complex through the puncture they made for the catheter, causing pervasive inflammation that resulted in damage and scarring of the tissue mass comprising the extended, overgrown lymph nodes. Later, the shrunken, scarred tissue then prevented accumulation of more fluid after the puncture wound healed, and ended the strangulation of his organs and bladder. It was a wonderful paradoxical result – the triple infection that nearly killed him turned out to be the agent that permanently cured him. Today (eight years later) his joyful, energetic, near perfect condition and lifestyle is a small miracle and his life experience serves as a parable for me.

Before the infection started, a great deal of attention and corrective treatment had been given to correct my son’s problems. Various drugs and behavioral therapy treatments were tried and some succeeded in eliminating or minimizing incontinence, the malfunction of the bladder, halting kidney damage, anxiety and depression. But swelling of the abdomen grew worse, infrequent abdominal pain and sleep-deprived nights continued. Some symptoms were simply being suppressed.

Starting with specialist medical treatment (drip fed fluids, blood tests, analgesics and antibiotics) as well as intelligent natural and alternative therapeutic support for healing, including reassuring prayer, the permanent and total cure required the unplanned, unwanted and potentially deadly intervention of nature. My son had learned strength of character through patience in suffering and turned out to be strong enough to fight back and win his battle for life.

I see this as a parable of hope for those in a sea of trouble and for the healing of the world in crisis. The triple bacterial infection hints at how the disorder of our world will evolve in the coming years as we see more signs and symptoms of a complex global crisis appearing. Something dramatic and unexpected will happen to produce the final, paradoxical, healing episode, but we should not be anxious about the future. In the end, truth, faith, hope, love, patience and courage will triumph over all, provided we never give up.

About the Author

Mike Molyneaux is a low profile family man who has worked professionally as a psychologist, engineer, scientist, lecturer and school teacher. He was educated in South Africa and spent two years travelling the world doing low paid and volunteer work in London, Jerusalem, Greece, and San Francisco. He moved his family to New Zealand to avoid the racially and culturally divided African Colonial society he was raised into. After emigration he noticed the same oppressive, deceptive, imperialist political and religious ideas and strategies being practiced on a global scale, including New Zealand. He developed and tested a unique new statistical technique for analyzing belief systems and ethical philosophy that can also be applied to contrast subjective perceptions and objective reality. The analysis indicates whether any system of verbal communication includes anything of real knowledge and meaning or is only an obtuse, confusing mish-mash of esoteric nonsense, mumbo-jumbo mysticism or pseudo-science. Please suport his ideas and research by contacting him at mike.molyneaux@xtra.co.nz.

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