I was raised in Christian Science in a loving home with my dad, mom, and older sister. The expectation of good health was normal, and I remember having an amazing healing in high school of severe burns to my face from the effects of falling asleep under a sunlamp. About the time I began college, my mother became a Journal-listed Christian Science practitioner. I loved attending the Christian Science Sunday School until I was twenty, and during my first two years of college I was a member of what’s now called a CSO, or Christian Science college organization on campus.
About this time, though, I began social drinking and smoking. After college graduation, I continued with these habits. A few years later, I completed a graduate degree and moved to the East Coast, where I worked for about five years. I was not attending church at this point or practicing Christian Science.
During this time, one of my jobs was in the finance department at a university that had an extensive medical and dental school. While refinishing a large piece of furniture, I injured my back and was in a great deal of pain. I used a chiropractor for several months but found only temporary relief. So I made an appointment with a doctor at the medical school. After a brief consultation, he referred me to an orthopedic surgeon whose diagnosis was sciatica, a pinched nerve, and he recommended an immediate operation. I was completely shocked!
