Chapter 9: A Little
Medicine and a Little Neeb
Index
Lia returns home
Lia’s charts
Cow Sacrifice
Doo-doo soup
Legal Issues
Yuav Paim Quav
Rumors
Paying for the Cow
The Spirit Catches You
and You Fall Down
Mallory, Lexi, Zac, Nate
Notes
Reader Response
~Nao Kao recalls the excitement of
everyone when Lia came back (pg 106)
~Around the age of 4 in Spring and
Summer of 1986
~Peggy Phillip summed up the first few
months after her return from foster
care in 3 words, “nothing interesting
here”
~The uneventful period of time from the
doctors’ point of view was to be one of
the best periods of her life according to
her parents (pg 106)
~To celebrate Lia’s homecoming the
Lees sacrificed a cow
~Animal sacrifices are reserved for
special occasions only (also called neeb
ceremonies)
~”Since the bonding between life-souls
of the patient and sacrificed animal is so
intimate, it is linked to souls being
wedded together”
~Because animals are respected and
considered to be linked to humans, they
do this in replacement of celebrating
with relatives (pg 107)
~Cows’ intestines and anything that
happens to be in it
~Classic Hmong recipe (pg 107)
~In Florida a anti-sacrifice ordinance
~In LA an ordinance in 1990 (pg 107)
~Most citizens did not notice the
sacrifices being performed in Merced
(pg 107)
~Means that the truth will eventually
come to light
~Literally “feces will be excreted” (pg
108)
~1996 a dog sacrifice in Fresno surfaces
~Rumors that the Hmong eat all the
dogs when really it was just a pig (pg
109)
~Bought the cow with 3.5 months worth
of Lia’s Supplemental Security Income
(pg 109)
This is like when a loved one returns
from a war. There are no words.
It’s difficult to put into perspective
how young she really is.
This is so ironic. Which side is more
accurate though? Just because Lia
isn’t having constant medical
attention this makes it boring? In
reality for her family this was
refreshing to experience I’m sure.
Do they do this out in the open?
In the movie El Durado they make
actual human sacrifices instead of
animals.
Yet we test animals for products
eventually to be used with humans.
The truth about Lia’s condition and
the meaning behind it will
eventually be revealed.
I have heard about this actually.
Were they paying for anything for
Lia?
Lia’s condition
Lee’s side
Medicine
Txiv Neeb in Minnesota
Name change
Confusion
Jeanine Hilt
Schelby Center for Special
Education
~”damaged”
~Didn’t know people she had known
before
~Spoke very little (pg 110)
~Thought they took Lia away because
they were angry at them and wanted to
inflict punishment (pg 110)
~Stepped up her traditional medicine
~Worried that the foster care made her
sicker with too much medicine and
that’s why she was returned (pg 110)
~Drove to a shaman
~Their most ambitious act of healing yet
~He had the same condition as Lia when
he was younger so the parents thought
maybe then Lia would become a txiv
neeb when she was older to continue
the cycle (pg 111)
~After all had failed they tried changing
Lia’s name to try and trick the dab (pg
111)
~Why the doctors never seemed to ask
their Hmong patients how they treated
their illnesses
~Because the Hmong acted American in
certain aspects such as clothing and
behavior, it didn’t occur that they might
practice esoteric healing arts (pg 112)
~Only American who asked what the
Lee’s were doing to heal Lia, social
worker
~”the person who gave Lia her disability
money”
~Kept communication very open and
used one of their daughters, May, as an
interpreter (pg 112)
~She understood the Lee’s situation
because she had severe asthma herself
~admired the closeness of her family;
she never had that being a Lesbian in a
Christian family (pg 113)
~involvement escalated from
professional assignment to an obsession
with Lia (pg 114)
~”pain in the ass” according to Peggy
and Neil
~County School for retarded and
disabled children
~Bused there three days a week to
hopefully socialize Lia more (pg 114)
Almost like an elder with
Alzheimer’s; for example in the
movie The Notebook the main
character.
In reality they were angry and
beyond frustrated but didn’t mean
any harm.
Even though this isn’t the truth, it is
logical as to why the Lees thought
this.
Maybe if Lia lives through all this,
she will become a txiv neeb and
spread her knowledge!
They didn’t think their ways even
needed to be considered because
they knew they were inferior to their
own.
Maybe if the doctors had been more
approachable like Jeanine about the
whole situations, her parents would
have been more willing to
cooperate.
Many adults who had a poor
childhood cling to families who have
that love for one another they had
never felt.
If she gets better she never got to
have a normal childhood.
Weight increase
Rule
Instructions/lists
Denial
Status Epilepticus
Lia is published
Lia’s fate
~Lia was spoiled because of the special
treatment due to her seizures
~Lia would be carried whenever she
wanted and ate whatever she pleased
~the more she sat around and let
people do things for her, the heavier
she got
~Her mom groomed her until she was
immaculate (pg 115)
~No one could pick up Lia (pg 115)
~Jeanine posted a schedule for the Lees
~How to administer Tylenol and Valium
to prevent febrile seizures (pg 115)
~She was maintaining her meds based
off of blood tests
~First four years at home she only had
one seizure-best record since infancy
~The Lees thought this to be the
“successful intervention of the txiv
neeb” (pg 116)
~September of 1986 Lia fell off a swing
at the Schelby Center and hit her head
~Seizures continue one after another
with no intervals of consciousness
~ For once parental noncompliance was
not a factor
~Unclear whether fell because she
seized for sezed because she fell (pg
116)
~14th stay at MCMC
~Went into respiratory failure and got a
very unusual infection of the airway
from all the irritation.
~”The doctors made Lia stay so long in
the hospital, and it just made her sicker
and sicker.”-Nao Kao (pg 116)
~Neil and Peggy write article about the
infection
~They were more interested in the truth
than making themselves look good
~Nao Kao was right about the hospital
making her sicker (pg 117)
~Two more seizures within a month
~Depakene wasn’t working and began
basically just grabbing at straws
considering the few options left (pg 117)
~seizures were getting long
~The end was inevitable, it was just a
matter of when (pg 118)
Her parents maybe pitied her and
felt as though all they could do was
treat her like a princess.
This probably was not followed.
Jeanine had so much of an influence
than the doctors ever did!
How can they give Jeanine no credit
for everything she has done?
Both sides probably still found a way
to blame it on one another.
They just keep adding problems and
piling them up higher.
Trial and error cannot be blamed
because it is what it is and doesn’t
always work out.
I hope that the Lee’s realized that at
some point.
Loss brings people together so
hopefully both sides will put aside
their differences for the sake of Lia.
Summary: The end is nearing and everyone is becoming less and less hopeful. More people are being added to the
picture but nothing is being completely resolved. Just after things started looking up and the tension between the
doctors and Lee’s was deteriorating, Lia has her worst seizure yet.