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The Dream That Diagnosed My Son (When Doctors Couldn't) · Prioritize Your Life

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Prioritize Your Life and PrioritizeYourLife.com. I have Adam
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  Speaker 1: and Holly Anderson back with me today because I knew
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  Speaker 1: they had more stories. I think this time they've swapped
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  Speaker 1: seats because Holly's got the party seat today.
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  Speaker 2: This is my story.
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  Speaker 1: Literally, because we found out that when you sit in it,
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  Speaker 1: the chair makes weird noises.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not going to show you that.
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  Speaker 1: You don't have to demo it.
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  Speaker 2: That's okay. That might take away from.
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  Speaker 1: The feeling of the story. Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: coming back.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for having us back here again. As we
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  Speaker 2: were telling the other story, I couldn't help think about
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  Speaker 2: this story and how much I wanted to share it.
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  Speaker 2: This is a story that has, it's just always on
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  Speaker 2: my mind because it's about one of my children. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, as a mom of five kids, it's kind of,
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  Speaker 2: you can be consumed by your children. And they are
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  Speaker 2: my life. They're the light of my life. And we
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  Speaker 2: had an interesting experience with one of our little boys.
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  Speaker 2: He was, this was years ago. He's nine now. And
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  Speaker 2: this was when he was two. And I had just
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  Speaker 2: given birth to our third, our little girl, our third.
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  Speaker 2: And I remember just being really confused about like why
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  Speaker 2: my little boy was sick. He was two and he
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  Speaker 2: was so sick. And we would just go to the
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  Speaker 2: hospital again and again, go to the doctors again and again.
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  Speaker 2: And they just kept saying, oh, he'll grow out of it. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: this is normal. And I kept hearing that, and I
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  Speaker 2: knew it was wrong. But I didn't know, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I don't have a medical degree. I didn't know what
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  Speaker 2: was wrong with my son. How do you even describe
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  Speaker 2: his symptoms? Help me out here. It was hard.
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  Speaker 3: So, I mean, well, even when he was a little kid,
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  Speaker 3: a little baby, you'd hear him at night, and he
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  Speaker 3: would just start, because we had him in the crib
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  Speaker 3: even with us, and you'd hear him just be in pain,
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  Speaker 3: just start crying. And you could tell his just stomach
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  Speaker 3: was hurting. and just crying always with it. He wouldn't
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  Speaker 3: sleep for more than a couple hours, and he'd be
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  Speaker 3: up crying.
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  Speaker 2: And he would grab his tummy and try to push
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  Speaker 2: on it, and his tummy was really distended and really,
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  Speaker 2: it was like a basketball. It was super hard.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, super hard.
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  Speaker 2: I remember one of your friends came over and picked
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  Speaker 2: up our kid, and he was like, Just gave me
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  Speaker 2: the weirdest look like, what is wrong with your child?
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  Speaker 2: And we just, everyone just kind of joked about like, oh,
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  Speaker 2: he's got some muscle. He's going to be a football player.
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  Speaker 2: But one time that really scared me was I was
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  Speaker 2: giving him a bath. And he stood up. And I
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  Speaker 2: remember just realizing you are losing so much weight. And
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  Speaker 2: yet you have this tummy that's like sticking out. That's
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  Speaker 2: as hard as a rock. And... That's not normal. And
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  Speaker 2: so we tried different things that the doctors had recommended,
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  Speaker 2: and nothing was working. And then one time I just
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  Speaker 2: got on the phone, and I was scheduling another appointment
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  Speaker 2: with the doctor. And I said, hey, we tried doing
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  Speaker 2: this and that, like you told us to for two weeks,
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  Speaker 2: and it didn't work. And I told the lady... on
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  Speaker 2: the phone, hey, my child, by the way, hasn't had
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  Speaker 2: a bowel movement in about 10 days. And she said, what?
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  Speaker 2: You need to take him to the ER right now.
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  Speaker 2: And I was a young mother. I was like, are
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  Speaker 2: you sure? Really? I'm like, I'm scheduling this, you know,
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  Speaker 2: so the doctor can see him again and figure out
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  Speaker 2: hopefully what's wrong with him. And she said, no, take
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  Speaker 2: him to the ER right now. So we did that.
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  Speaker 2: And That was hard enough because we lived in a small,
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  Speaker 2: small town in Idaho. And so just, you know, having
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  Speaker 2: two little boys and a baby and then going to
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  Speaker 2: the ER and calling his mom and trying to just
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  Speaker 2: get that all figured out. We spent the whole night
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  Speaker 2: in the ER with our son. And they were just
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  Speaker 2: doing enemas, pretty much torturing him. And we still had
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  Speaker 2: no answer. And then I remember you decided to fast.
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  Speaker 2: Because we were just like, what can we do? Is
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  Speaker 2: there anything that we can do?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, because they sent us home, right, after all those
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  Speaker 3: enemas and finally got so much out, which was just
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  Speaker 3: so terrible.
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  Speaker 2: It was ridiculous, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And that was actually because we were in the hospital
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  Speaker 3: in that little town, and then we went to a
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  Speaker 3: little bigger town, right?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we went to two different ERs that night.
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  Speaker 3: Two different ERs that night.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they didn't have answers, so they said, we're going
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  Speaker 2: to send you home. Okay. You need to call Primary
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  Speaker 2: and Children's Hospital. That hospital is a six-hour drive away
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  Speaker 2: from our home. So that's a big deal. That's a
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  Speaker 2: big commitment. Call them and just sign up for a
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  Speaker 2: pediatric GI, and it's about a six-month waiting list. And
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  Speaker 2: that really hurt because here I have a really sick child,
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  Speaker 2: and we're going from hospital to hospital, getting no answers,
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  Speaker 2: and now I have to wait six months? Yes. And
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  Speaker 2: we went back and, well, we didn't go home. We
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  Speaker 2: went to your parents' house. And I remember my mother-in-law
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  Speaker 2: was like, you look tired. You should take a nap.
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  Speaker 2: And I said, thank you. So she watched the kids
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  Speaker 2: while I took a nap. And this is my story.
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  Speaker 2: This is where it really begins. This was the miracle
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  Speaker 2: that happened. When I took a nap at my in-law's house,
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  Speaker 2: I had a dream. And the dream was that I
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  Speaker 2: was sitting at a desk at Primary Children's Hospital and
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  Speaker 2: there was a person on the other side of the
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  Speaker 2: desk and they were telling me information about my son.
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  Speaker 2: And I remember just sitting there listening and the person
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  Speaker 2: on the other side of the desk said, okay, so
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  Speaker 2: we found out why your son is so sick. And
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  Speaker 2: I said, really? Okay, what's the answer? And he said, well,
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  Speaker 2: it's because he can't eat gluten. He's gluten intolerant. And
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  Speaker 2: that was the answer. Just simple, dietary, can't have gluten.
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  Speaker 2: And my response was very bitter, actually, in my dream.
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  Speaker 2: I said, you've got to be kidding me. It's, that's it.
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  Speaker 2: That's it. It's that simple. And we had to take
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  Speaker 2: test after test. And you torture my child. And had to,
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  Speaker 2: of course, this was a dream. And hopefully in real
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  Speaker 2: life I wouldn't react this way to a professional. But
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  Speaker 2: in my dream I was very upset that it was
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  Speaker 2: such a simple answer. And in my dream he had
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  Speaker 2: gone through all these tests. And, I mean, he's a
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  Speaker 2: little two-year-old. Did he really have to go through that?
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  Speaker 2: And I remember getting up from the seat and being
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  Speaker 2: upset with God. And I remember praying in my dream. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: this is my dream. I remember praying, Heavenly Father, you
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  Speaker 2: could have just told me this simple answer before we
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  Speaker 2: got here. You could have told me this. Why didn't you?
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  Speaker 2: And then I woke up. And I woke up and
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  Speaker 2: I sat up on my mother-in-law's couch and I thought,
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  Speaker 2: he just did. God just answered my future prayer. And
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  Speaker 2: he wanted me to know that. And he just told
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  Speaker 2: me what was wrong with my son and that he
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  Speaker 2: was gluten intolerant. And I was just so overwhelmed and
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  Speaker 2: filled with gratitude. And I remember just sitting there going,
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  Speaker 2: I know what's wrong with our son. I know what's wrong.
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  Speaker 2: And my mother-in-law was in the kitchen and she said,
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  Speaker 2: what's the matter, Holly? What's the matter? I said, I know.
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  Speaker 2: I know what's wrong with him. And she said, what?
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  Speaker 2: I said, it's gluten. He can't eat gluten. And then
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  Speaker 2: she said, what's gluten? And I said, I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: But we're going to find out. And he's not going
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  Speaker 2: to have it anymore in his diet.
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  Speaker 1: This was back before it was like trendy.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah. It was not cool back then. Yeah. Right.
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  Speaker 2: And so we took gluten out of his diet. And
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  Speaker 2: after one month, we saw an improvement. And then after
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  Speaker 2: two more months, so three months of no gluten... he
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  Speaker 2: completely transformed to a different child. I mean, we're talking
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  Speaker 2: not only was he healthy and gaining weight, but his
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  Speaker 2: behavior changed too. Yeah. Of course, we don't know why
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  Speaker 2: some children have to go through more and some children
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  Speaker 2: don't get an answer, and that's not fair. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: we have other children that have been through other things.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's a different video, but... But what I
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  Speaker 2: do know is important is that we recognize his hand
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  Speaker 2: in our life when he does come and give us
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  Speaker 2: that answer. I think that's really important. And I think
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  Speaker 2: that's the reason why I wanted to just share this
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  Speaker 2: experience is because I wanted to. I felt like I
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  Speaker 2: was ungrateful if I didn't. So.
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  Speaker 1: The dream itself too, I find so fascinating that there were,
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't even just like, this is what's wrong, but
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  Speaker 1: that all of that, like that you're, you had this
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  Speaker 1: element of like you saying a prayer in your dream
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  Speaker 1: and like being angry and why haven't you told me,
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  Speaker 1: did you pull any like specific messages out of that,
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  Speaker 1: of like, I maybe need to be careful about not
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  Speaker 1: being bitter when I don't get answers. Maybe you were
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  Speaker 1: hinting at that anyway. That was, what a fascinating dream.
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  Speaker 2: That's a lesson I probably should learn. Yeah, thanks for
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  Speaker 2: pointing that out. I probably should remember not to so
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  Speaker 2: quickly get mad at God and to remember that, hey,
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  Speaker 2: he knows your every thought, your every need, and he's
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  Speaker 2: going to be with you even when things are super hard,
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  Speaker 2: even when I don't get that answer, even when I
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  Speaker 2: don't get what I'm praying for and what my husband's
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  Speaker 2: fasting for. And so, yeah, that's a good lesson.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, some things take a lot longer time. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: we have circumstances right now with one child with autism
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  Speaker 3: and different things where we haven't had that fast yet.
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  Speaker 3: immediate answer, and it's still not answered, right? And it's
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  Speaker 3: still hard, you know?
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  Speaker 2: He's still nonverbal, and he still can't tell us how
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  Speaker 2: he feels. I mean, we're still fighting that battle, and
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  Speaker 2: he's almost five years old, and it's hard. Every day
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  Speaker 2: is hard. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going
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  Speaker 2: to sugarcoat that one. It's tough. But it's so reassuring
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  Speaker 2: to know that God is there. and that he cares
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  Speaker 2: and that he knows what you're going through and he cares.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it's important to take, to remember those
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  Speaker 2: experiences where he, where you have seen his hand in
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  Speaker 2: your life and keep that with you during the times
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  Speaker 2: where you feel like he's silent because there's always a reason,
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  Speaker 2: even though we don't know what it is.
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  Speaker 3: That's the next video is going to be his story
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  Speaker 3: of healing and stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we haven't gotten there yet. We're still fighting that
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  Speaker 2: battle right now. So, but we wouldn't have it any
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  Speaker 2: other way.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: There's, there's some incredible work out there. Um, I'll even
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  Speaker 1: put some links in the video about, cause it's a
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  Speaker 1: common question, right? Like why does suffering exist and how
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  Speaker 1: could God exist? If, if there's just some people that
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  Speaker 1: it seems like they're meant to suffer their entire life.
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  Speaker 1: It's like, all they do is suffer. I've family member
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  Speaker 1: that I look at her. I'm just like, Oh, I can't,
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  Speaker 1: I almost can't even bear what you have to deal
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  Speaker 1: with all the time. Um, And I'm not going to
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  Speaker 1: try and represent any of the amazing work that's out there.
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  Speaker 1: But if you are suffering and you're trying to understand
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  Speaker 1: and cope with that idea of how could God exist
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  Speaker 1: in this world of suffering, I'd highly recommend looking into
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  Speaker 1: some of those resources. And thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: sharing this personal story. Sometimes I know some of these
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  Speaker 1: things are really hard to share when it's involving these
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  Speaker 1: personal things with you and your family. But I know
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  Speaker 1: it's going to help someone out there. So thank you again.
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  Speaker 3: Yep.
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  Speaker 1: Until the next one, maybe.