When I woke up one morning last April and discovered that I had almost no strength in the main quadriceps muscle in my right leg, my first thought was that I'd had a stroke. It was difficult to stand or walk, and it was especially challenging to negotiate stairs. The fact that there was no pain alarmed me—it seemed to indicate that the loss of control could only have come from some celebral accident.
I grew up in a family steeped in the medical tradition. My father and my brother are both doctors. In fact, I didn't know anything about Christian Science until I met my wife. So while I've had a number of healings through Christian Science treatment, my knee-jerk reaction is still to think of solutions to physical problems in terms of medical action. My first response this particular morning? To call a doctor.
The diagnosis was chilling. After an MRI scan, the neurological specialist told me that I had an "extruded fragment disc herniation" that would probably require an intrusive and traumatic surgical procedure. Not only did the surgery offer no guarantee of success, it also came with the risk of permanent paralysis.
