Pins and Needles

I was laying there in the exam room with a doctor sticking needles into me, preparing to send pluses of electricity through my body and I thought “what else can be done to my poor body.” No, this wasn’t another biopsy looking for more cancer cells, nor an infusion aimed at killing them, or even an emergency life-saving procedure. It was an acupuncture treatment aimed at my immune and endocrine system hoping to aid my body in the fight against my cancer cells and other maladies my body is dealing with. You see, several years ago, my daughter and I went to a doctor at a local “doc-in-a-box.” Instead of rushing us through, she actually sat down and listened to us. We followed when she eventually left and started her own practice. Recently she became certified in acupuncture, and as sort of an internship, offers it free to her patients. Though I can be skeptical, I am also open to thinking outside of the box and decided to give it a try. The first treatment was OK, but I didn’t get the mind relaxing benefit I had expected and actually felt no different during or after. Since I learned that my cancer had returned, I have been waking up every morning feeling drained, nauseous and overall, yucky. Yesterday was no exception. In fact, I had been feeling especially bad. I was more depressed than usual, I needed to return to work but really did not want to, and felt like my GI system was planning an all out attack on me. All I wanted to do was crawl in bed and take a nap. I managed to get through the day, even spending a few hours at work. By the time I got to my doctor’s office, I figured if nothing else, a few minutes to just lie on a table with nothing to do on my part would be nice.

The room was filled with the soulful sound of flutes and a steady drum beat, candles flickered, and as I lay on the table I could feel myself relaxing a bit. The insertion of the needles isn’t too bad. You sometimes feel a slight pinch and if she got it in just the right spot, you can feel sort of a mild ache. Needles were placed at specific points on my feet, legs, hands and elbows. This time she added a few on my abdomen. Those didn’t hurt (fat can be useful for something!) but as I have always been really ticklish, I tended to jump each time she placed one in. After all of the needles were in (I purposely didn’t count how many there were, I figured I didn’t need to think about being a porcupine), she lite a sacred Egyptian aromatic herb, called moxa, and held it by each needle to bring heat to that point. It actually felt pretty good. Then she hooked some of the needles to a small electrical stimulator and turned it up as far as I could tolerate it. I could take it where it made the needles pulse slightly; I didn’t like it when they tingled more intensely! After placing one of those space-age silver blankets over me (yes, that didn’t fit into the zen like feel of the procedure, but it did keep me toasty warm) I was left to relax and let the energy, or chi, of my body converge through the selected spots and adjust and alter my body's energy flow into healthier patterns. Though she could have used a better choice of words, she left saying she would leave me to “cook” for a while and then be back in. I can’t say I zoned out into a mind clearing meditative state, however I did find I could relax and let the music flow through my mind instead of all the thoughts that had been running amuck around in there. By the time she returned and removed all the needles, I was feeling more relaxed than I had in a while.

As luck would have it, her husband, who is a licensed massage therapist and also doing a type of internship, was there and she offered me a free massage after my treatment. Since I am still a little worried about my bones being weakened by the cancer, I opted just to have my feet and hands massaged. If all the pain and suffering I had been dealing with these past few months were necessary just in order to get to that few moments of having my feet and hands massaged, I would happily do it all over again! It was, literally, just what the doctor ordered. When I left her office my body felt like rubber: relaxed and mushy.

Now, here is the thing, I woke up this morning and felt something was wrong. I didn’t feel quite right. When I sat for a moment to observe what my body was experiencing, I realized what was wrong….I felt good! I didn’t have that familiar nauseous, mildly uncomfortable feeling I was so used to. I felt energetic and was looking forward to getting up and starting the day, an unfamiliar sensation in recent weeks! Whether it was the acupuncture, the massage or just my body finally shaking off some virus or medicine side effect, I’ll never know. I do know that I am going to continue the acupuncture treatments and hope that the massage continues to be available also! You know, I could learn to like this new feeling of well being!