A personal touch

Another day, in this life of mine.
I'm just back from acupuncture. Ralph (a.k.a. Mr. Acupuncturist) has broken his arm. So the woman who treated me a few months ago, Breda, will be treating me the next 4 to 6 weeks.. depending on how soon Ralph gets back to normal.

Breda is so nice. Not nicer or better than Ralph, just nice and different. For a start, she's a woman.. and she shows more compassion than Ralph, but I reckon that's a gender issue.. Anyhow, she hadn't seen me for nearly 2 months and she couldn't believe how well I was looking. She said she had been reading my file before I came in saying that Ralph was so pleased with the progress I'm making. He's told me this before, I know, but not in so many words. She said, that I seemed more focused and stronger (apparently Ralph wrote that in my file as well) and calmer too.

Ralph popped in to see how I was doing, which was so thoughtful. He was worried that there wouldn't be anyone to cover for him, while he was off mending his broken arm. He said that because I've been getting so much stronger and that the acupuncture has been helping so much that it's vital, at this stage in the process, the treatment doesn't get disrupted. To miss out on treatment, because of his injury, would only mess up the work that the acupuncture has already done and continues to do. Thankfully I won't miss any treatments, as Breda will be filling in.

It was so nice, that he was worried about his injury interfering with my recovery and treatment. I didn't really expect it. It just goes to show.. To him, I'm a client he treats every week and this would always lead me to believe that it's not really about me and I'm just another tortured soul, nothing more, nothing less. I would ask myself, why should he care if I start to go backwards or if I'm not doing too well or if I'm in a bad place? But he does. The fact that he came in to see me today, as he expressed his concern, showed me this.

Him and Breda were then talking about the herbs I take and just general chit-chat about me. Nothing bad. It was so personal and it made me feel like I was an individual who's receiving help from these people that care about where I'm heading and who want me to be back to full health as soon as possible, just like me. That personal touch is so overwhelming. It didn't help that I was feeling emotional this morning..that's probably why I picked up on it and felt it so much.

I'm not just a number, I'm a person. Yes, I know they're doing their job, but there are only certain types of people who can do a job like that, the way it's supposed to be done. I appreciated it so much and it made me see how important it is, to feel comfortable.

The treatment itself, was a glorious one (I hate using that word 'glorious', but I don't really know what other way to put it). Okay, I could say, it was great. But that doesn't cut it. Glorious means that it was uplifting and relieving because I was soaring and floating feeling numb and at the same time the inside of my chest was opening-up and growing. It was all in the feeling of course, this didn't really happen and wouldn't have been visible on the outside..

Afterwards I could feel inside my chest, that something had happened. I felt like I had run a marathon. A slightly warm glowing feeling in my heart, but the rest of me was relaxed. It's strange going from feeling so floaty and light to engaging with the world again and using the strength in my legs and arms after feeling like my muscles had gone on strike, only moments earlier. And then walking to the taxi and chatting again and switching on but trying to keep ahold of that chilled-out feeling, so you can enjoy it as much as possible. Because after the treatment, that's how the most benefits can be felt.. a relaxed body and zoned-out state of mind letting the therapy work in whatever way it needs to.

I was wanting to go out and about this afternoon. But I was told to take it easy. Especially after feeling so bad the past few days. The feeling I had in my stomach on Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night, came back yesterday afternoon again. I thought it had gone, yesterday around lunchtime, but maybe because I didn't let myself rest enough, yesterday morning, it came up again. So I only have myself to thank for that. I'm not sure what it was, that was going on in my gut but Breda said it could be that I was doing too much without resting enough combined with the build-up to Christmas which causes stress and dealing with everything else that's going on in my head, could have been the reason. Then again, it could have just been a virus of some sort that I managed to pick up. Today, however, it feels as though it's totally gone and now I have to force myself to rest all day to avoid it from coming back.. Wise words, but not it's not always easy.