Sigh...

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If I have learned any practical skill from my health issues, it would be this: I am darn good at medical research.

It doesn't hurt, though, that I have access to medical journals by being a grad student.

Anyway, I've been having weird tingling, numbness, and lack of feeling in my hands and feet. It comes and goes, but in one instance I picked up a hot pan and the burning didn't register until I had blisters. So, yeah, it's more than just an annoyance. We've done tests, and - long story short - my neurologist has prescribed a supplement called Metanx (research it if you want all the deets, but it's basically a mix of folate and B vitamins that helps with peripheral neuropathy, which is my diagnosis, and can be used for other reasons too, like folate absorbency issues). Well, technically it's a medical food, which is different because medical foods are semi-regulated by the FDA and allowed to make claims about disease treatment (whereas supplements are not). I got it filled today and was optimistic, especially about treating this without adding more crazy chemicals into my system.

And before I took it, I did some research. (Of course. Because that's what I do!) And I'm not taking it tonight. Not because there are any red flags for Metanx; I researched that a few days ago when my doc wrote the script. The red flag is the generic I was given.

I was given Neurpath-B. On the Metanx website, though, I found this. It's a letter to pharmacists and other medical professionals from the folks at Metanx saying that Neurpath-B isn't the same and is mistakenly linked as a generic. I am a bit skeptical, because it is in Metanx's best interest if generics aren't used, but I found a lot of info about the makers of Metanx successfully fighting another so-called generic, Folast, earlier this year.

Well, Folast was made by Brookstone. Neurpath-B is made by Acella. And...drumroll, please...Brookstone changed its name less than a year ago to Acella.

So quick summary here: the medical food product Folast used to be considered a generic for Metanx, and PamLabs (Metanx makers) fought to have removed as a generic. Now the makers of Folast have another so-called generic for Metanx. And that's the one I got.

So in the morning, I'll be calling my pharmacist and my neurologist. I'm not just blinding trusting the interwebz. All this could be misinformation. Once I have any updates, I'll post 'em on the blog and link up here.

Advocating for my health is a part-time job, one that I've gotten pretty dern good at. A lot of people don't know, though, that patients need to be their own advocates and researchers. I love my doctors - and it is a huge blessing to say that, because I have several specialists but not one bad apple - but they have a lot of patients and I don't expect them to know every detail of my complex health mess. That's my job. And it's my job to hold them accountable as a partner with them in my health. In simple terms, their job is to know their specialty, and my job is to know mine, which is my health.

I do it well. I just wish that it wasn't necessary and that it was a bit less complex. 'Cause, you know, there are other things I would rather spend my time doing.


(P.S. - I'm pretty sure only I could come home from an appointment with the neurologist about lack of feeling in my hands and feet and then drop a piece of furniture on my foot and fracture it. That's what I did Monday. And now? I have plenty of feeling in my foot, just not the type of feeling I was going for. I do appreciate the irony of the situation, and I'm glad God has a sense of humor.)

Be moved.

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Forgotten Girls: Stories of Hope and Courage is worth reading and remembering, but this post is more than just a book review.

In other words, if you're one of my friends who skips my reviews (I know some of you do. and I'm okay with that and love you all whether you love book or not), this one is only review-ish. There's much more to be had, including random Shannon-esque musings, a semi-related movie clip, and talk of a sweet Guatemalan girl named Joselin.

So read on, book lovers and others! Moving on...

As I think about this book right now, I also think about the blog posts by my friends Lindsey and Ann and Amanda and Shaun on their recent Compassion trip to Guatemala. (Okay, okay, it may be a stretch to call them friends. I have exchanged a few emails with Lindsey, and we're Facebook buds, but I just like to read Ann's and Amanda's and Shaun's blogs and pretend we're friends. Don't shatter my illusion by pointing out that they don't know who I am. Thanks.) The pictures and stories were hard to consider. I wanted to close the Firefox window and move on to lighter fare from the interwebz. I wanted to walk away from their blog until the Compassion stuff was over and I could get back to their typical posts, ones that do challenge me but that don't regularly make me consider harsh realities. (Well, except for Shaun, because it's his job to post Compassion stuff regularly.)

I'm glad I didn't walk away from or ignore their posts. And I'm glad I didn't put down this book without letting it affect me.

I loved the stories in this book. And hated the realities that they showed me. I know women around the world face the harshness of starvation, displacement, illiteracy, sexual exploitation, and abuse to a greater degree than men do. Knowing that and reading stories of it are two different things. Knowledge doesn't always move me much; that knowledge with skin on in a story does.

At the end of each section, authors Kay Marshall Strom and Michele Rickett include a list of action steps that could make a difference. Some are simple, including specific prayer needs and ideas for blog posts. Some are more elaborate. It's nice to have difference-making ideas after reading about awful circumstances.

One moving passage:
"Do our brothers and sister in the West know what's happening to us? Do they know we are being forced from our villages? That we are being raped and killed?"
Yes, we say, they know. The plight of the Sudanese is reported in newspapers and shown on television, and it saddens and horrifies us.
"If everyone knows," they say, "where are God's people who have freedom? Why don't they help us?"
That's why Sudan is the hardest place. Yet we go anyway, because the more God's people know, the more they care.
That made me think of a line from one of my favorite movies, Hotel Rwanda, about what the reaction will be of Westerners to footage of African genocide:



I didn't mean for this to be such a heavy post, but I'm not apologizing for it. This is reality. This is humanity, women and children created lovingly in God's image just as you and me and our children were. These are the least of these, who Christ compares to Himself in Matthew 25.

When you're faced with these realities, does it change you? Or do you, in the words of Joaquin Phoenix in the clip above, "say, 'Oh, my God, that's horrible.' And then they'll go on eating their dinners" or go on doing whatever it is you do? (As Lindsey wrote on her blog following the Compassion trip to Guatemala, do you let experiences that should be lifechanging truly change you?)

I'm not saying you shouldn't eat your dinner. And I'm not saying you need to open your wallet or take off to another country. Being moved by these realities could be something as simple, yet also as powerful, as being moved to prayer. That's all I'm saying.

(By the way, we're now sponsoring a little girl from Guatemala through Compassion. I had recognized atrocities and then gone back to my dinner too many times, and I couldn't do that again as I considered the needs. A seven-year-old girl bearing the same name as our daughter - albeit spelled Joselin - is benefiting from our $38 per month for her basic needs, like education, health care, and opportunities to know Christ and grow in faith. While there are a variety of child sponsorship organizations, we chose Compassion because they don't ignore the needs created by poverty, like hunger and illiteracy and violence, but they also don't ignore the need for the Gospel as they work to meet those other needs.)

I support Compassion's Christian child charity. You can too. Sponsor a child today.

Many thanks to InterVarsity Press for providing this book for my review. They didn't ask for a positive review, just an honest one.

Princess theology gone wrong

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A couple weeks ago I defended one princess-inspired children’s book. Today I’m telling you not to bother with another, My Princess Bible by Andy Holmes and illustrated by Sergey Eliseev.

The difference?

My Princess BibleMy previous review was of a book that is princess-oriented but Christ-focused and Gospel-saturated. My Princess Bible is princess-focused, with Christ as a secondary character to the princesses and sin nowhere to be found. I suppose that’s good because – in a Bible with no Savior – sin would be mighty depressing, though I would prefer one with this truth: that there is ugly sin in this world and in our hearts but – praise God! – there’s also a beautiful Savior!

This would have been more aptly titled something like The Stories of God’s Princesses because that’s really what it is. Each gal from God’s Word has a rhyming description, an illustration, references for the verses associated with the story, and a takeaway for girls. In the description on Amazon, it states,
Each story ends with two lines that remind the reader of valuable character traits of a princess; the little princesses are even encouraged to recite the learning of the biblical princess using her name in the blank instead: “________ is God’s special princess; ________ is sad when she does something bad” (the takeaway from the story of Eve).
I don’t know if that’s from the pre-print version or what, but the one in my lap says “__________ is God’s special princess. ____________ takes care of God’s world.” as the Eve takeaway, because her story ends before the fall. As I said before, sin doesn’t exist in this “Bible.”

The only references to Jesus are to the baby born to Mary (with Mary as the focal point in the story), the child prayer for by Anna (once again, focus on Anna), the man who acknowledged a poor woman’s offering of meager coins, the man whose feet were washed with perfume, the man who looked into the heart of the woman at the well, the man who healed Jairus’s daughter, and the One to whom Lydia could pray.

He’s a Jesus who is no different from the one that is presented by religions other than Christianity: a skilled teacher, a healer, an all-around good guy, someone who inspired others. A savior, though? The Sovereign Lord? The Prince who makes the royalty of the princess possible? None of those things are emphasized.

The cross? Not here. (Of course, it’s unnecessary if there’s no fall or sin.)
The resurrection? No. (Once again, why does Jesus need to rise from the dead if our sin never gave Him reason to die?)
The Gospel? Absent. Sadly, sadly absent.

In the absence of sin and a Savior, this is all about the behavior of princesses rather than their hearts. Girls will learn two things: that “I am God’s special princess” (without any explanation of how one enters the kingdom, which makes that a false promise for many children who will read it because they don’t yet know or treasure the King) and that princesses behave (for example, a princess “is happy to be a good helper,” “asks for help when she needs it,” is good to her family and friends,” “obeys God and sings him a song,” and so on). It’s all about the princess with little emphasis on the King. It gives no hope to cling to when the princess doesn’t behave. How very sad and lacking.

I may be extreme and a bit crazy, but – because Jocelyn already likes the book and because I don’t mind the stories (not great, but not bad either, especially because she knows the story of the fall already) – I defaced, er, altered the cover.


There. That’s a little better.

My sincere thanks goes to Tyndale House for providing this book for my review. They asked for nothing but an honest review.