read the emotional content of the conversations with the patients as accurately as I could. I had no idea then that all of the interviewing would serve as an invaluable training ground in running my homeopathic practice and providing consistent case management for my clients.

But after 10 years in practice as a registered nurse, I grew restless as I began to understand that there was a great deal that Western medicine could not cure. I was in search of something and I wasn't sure yet what it was. During this searching period, in 1983 my sister sent me a “kit” of 30 homeopathic remedies, as she had become interested in homeopathy and was having good luck with it. I began to read up on the subject and “dabble” with acute illnesses for myself and my family and friends. Little did we realize what a lifesaver it would become for us.

A year later, the worst happened when my 10-month old son developed a serious illness known as RSV, a potentially fatal retro virus. He was severely ill by day 3 of a 14 day symptom curve. His symptoms were high fever, projectile vomiting, wheezing respirations, severe weakness and malaise, and we received nothing but a wait and see answer from the doctor and what looked like an imminent hospitalization. Fear engulfed both me and my husband, not to mention a feeling of helplessness. (This now seems incredible to me after all these years as a homeopath.)

I did the only thing I could think to do: I called the homeopath whose book came with my kit (Dr. Dennis Chernin in Ann Arbor) and I had a conversation with him about my son's symptoms and “modalities” (particulars) that he needed to know in order to make the differential diagnosis for the remedy selection. Based on the symptoms and