Acupuncture

I took the sore abdomen to practitioner AO, a licensed acupuncturist and expert in Chinese Medicine, practicing in Stillwater. We discussed most of my health issues, not only the recovery from surgery but also the myeloma, the minor peripheral neuropathy in my hands and feet, and even the chronic runner’s knee. She asked about diet, sleep, medicines, and more.

She examined my tongue, top and bottom, pronounced it good, and felt my pulse for quite a while, not quite so happy about that. Looking at my legs, she said that I had good skin. Who knew.

She seemed a little concerned about the amount of swelling around the incision, but did allow that she is not an expert on that medical issue. I’ll wait a few days more before I call the surgeon about that.

Then, as I laid on my back, she placed needles around but not in the surgical field, in my ears, on my face, my hands, my legs, and my feet. Sometimes I could feel a little pinprick as she placed one, but usually I felt nothing. Maybe 25 needles in total were placed. Then she positioned infrared heat projectors near my abdomen, and left me to sleep, meditate, or just relax, but not move.

Twenty-five minutes later she came in and removed the needles. Results: She thought that the swelling might have gone down slightly, as well as the redness in the area. Now, a few hours later, I do think that the swelling is less, though I have also applied ice to the area one more time. The neuropathy in the fingers of my right hand seems to be less too, though the thumb on that hand and the whole left hand seem unimproved. Bottom line, any change prompted by the acupuncture treatment is small. I didn’t ask and don’t know if the benefits of the acupuncture treatment are likely to show up later.

Whatever, I’m going back soon.