In 1907 I had performed a surgical operation of a very serious nature, the result of which was very disappointing, as the condition in which I was left was more distressing than that for which I had been operated upon. In February of the following year the same doctors again operated, promising to relieve me, but with no results whatever. I drifted on in this condition for several months, then consulted another physician, who suggested electric treatments. This method of treatment was taken up and continued for four months with no results. We then moved to the country, so I gave up all treatments, feeling that I must just make the best of it; but I was not satisfied, because I felt sure there was help for me somewhere if I only knew where to look for it.
A friend who had been healed of a carious bone in the face spoke to me of Christian Science, but her words did not seem to make any impression; so I submitted to a third operation, the doctor telling me it was only a chance, but if I was willing he would do what he could. The result was the same as before. I then sought relief in other ways, trying first one thing and then another. To say I was discouraged only half expresses my mental state. I was fast becoming a nervous wreck.
It is often said that "the darkest hour precedes the dawn," and it proved so in my case; for just as things seemed darkest a friend came to visit me who had been wonderfully helped in Christian Science after having been given up by the doctors. During her visit, one evening while we were all seated around the table on which her copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy was lying, I picked it up and began to read. Previous to this I had asked my husband to go to the drug store and purchase a drug which I had used as an application and felt I could not get along without. That is all I remember about anything until I arose the next morning after sleeping all night for the first time in about five years. I can never explain the joy and hope I felt when I walked into that room and found the package from the drug store unopened, and realized I had not used it or felt the need of it, and had slept. I realized that it was what I had read the night before that had helped me; so I decided right then that it was there my help was coming from.
