“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”—Sharon Begley.

So we decided to add clindamycin to the mix. I remember feeling good about this approach, and on the morning of March 7, 1997, I started it. Within four hours, my abdominal sensations lit up like a Christmas tree. The clindamycin apparently made my symptoms worse! In fact, they added a position on my abdomen where these sensations were occurring: the distal ileum. I will have a lot more to say about these sensations later.

At this point, my daily symptoms had become so severe, I had no choice but to pull breakfast. I was now reduced to one meal a day, and on the advice of a dietician, this was limited to lamb and rice.

During this time, I lost thirteen pounds on my thin frame.