November 27th, 2024
Our three-year-old grandson, Asher, is sitting at the kitchen table, watching YouTube videos about monster trucks and eating a slice of raisin bread. He seems to be in a good mood. He’s looking healthy today. Two days ago, he wasn’t.
Two days ago, we took the little boy to his pediatrician. Asher was hurting. He had been having bouts of diarrhea and abdominal pain for ten days, and nothing seemed to make him better. Over the course of the ten days, my wife and I had taken to boy to the ER three times. The first time we went there because we had no idea what was causing the ailment. The doctor told us during that visit that he probably had a wicked stomach virus, and it would have to run its course. Three days later, we were at the ER again because Asher had blood in his diaper. The doctor at that time told us that his repetitive explosions of poop had caused an abrasion on his rectum, and that it would heal quickly once the diarrhea stopped. They told us to buy some Ibuprofen for the pain, and we did that. Two days later, we were at the ER one more time. This time we were at our wits end. I had been up all night with Asher because he had an endless series of tiny bowel movements. I changed his diaper probably twenty times. The third ER physician also assumed that Asher had a virus and told us to get a medicine to slow the flow of diarrhea down. We did that too.
Nothing helped. Asher was in pain every time he excreted. I was exhausted from getting up at night with him repeatedly. The whole experience was getting scary. As Asher’s fulltime caregiver, I was worried. Worry was gradually turning to panic as he cried every time he had to go.
Two days after the last ER visit, we saw his doctor. Asher was in a bad way. He cried and screamed during the entire time. His doctor is on the staff of the local children’s hospital, so he wasn’t bothered by that. He examined Asher and asked us about his symptoms. Then he immediately ordered an x-ray of the boy’s abdomen. He told us,
“I think I know what this is, but I have to be sure.”
Asher had his x-ray made, and the doctor showed it to us. He asked us,
“Do you see the dark areas?”
“Yes.” (There were many dark areas.)
“Those are places where the bowels are full of stool. He has an obstacle made of hard stool in his rectum that is blocking everything but the liquid feces. It seems like he has diarrhea, but he doesn’t really. Actually, he has constipation. There is name for this, encopresis.”
The doctor prescribed an industrial strength laxative for Asher. It was like what I took when I had my colonoscopy. He also prescribed Ex lax to get things moving. We started giving Asher the meds that afternoon. That night, after he went to bed, the dam broke. I spent almost all of the night changing Asher’s diapers. It was literally a shitshow. We will keep giving the meds for the next several days to ensure that he gets his bowels cleaned out. He seems emptier already.
He’s been sleeping quite a bit since he started on this protocol. It literally takes a lot out of him. He crawled into bed with me to take a nap this morning and I held him close. He won’t sleep unless he rests his head on the bicep of my left arm. He got comfortable and slowly closed his eyes. His left hand reached for my right. He didn’t want to hold my hand. He just wanted to touch it. Then he fell asleep.
We were both at peace.
Frank is Emptiness 