Cool iPhone / Touch app!

Since I'm planning on blogging when I go to Spain for the Camino, I figured I'd better find a way to do it from my iPod Touch. I need practice to get faster with this crazy keyboard!


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Acupuncture!

At a recent visit to my family physician for pain in my left hand I was given a diagnosed of ‘nerve entrapment’ and the good doctor offered to put me on anti-depressants. I kid you not. At first he called them anti-spasmodic, then said, “Actually they are a form of anti-depressant and will take the nerve pain away”. I said no thank-you and walked out of there feeling both shock and anger. Ok I won’t go on a rant about my views on allopathic medicine right now. I immediately went home and made an appointment with the Chinese Acupuncture Institute.

I have been treated with acupuncture a couple of times in the past by a slightly inexperienced naturopath and those treatments had actually helped so thought it would be a great idea to visit London’s most renown acupuncture expert Professor Cheung. Today I had my consultation and 1st treatment with Professor Cheung and it is this experience that I wish to share with you.

When I walked into the updated century old building I was immediately asked to remove my shoes and offered slippers. I was then explained the fee schedule and the expectations should Professor Cheung accept me as a patient. (I assume Professor means Dr., but everyone calls him Professor). It was explained that Professor Cheung would probably ask me to come in for 5 days in a row and the amount that I’d have to pay each day. He would also create a mixture of Chinese herbs and these would be purchased separately as part of my treatment. I know you’re doing the math and thinking that this might be getting expensive and you would be right, but I felt compelled to meet the Professor and hear what he had to say.

I would not want to guess how old Professor Cheung is but I will just say that he is older than me and he has a gazillion certificates from all over the world, many of which are in Chinese. He wears a large jade ring and on his wooden desk sits a 2 foot jade eagle with wings expanded. I explained my pain to him and threw in a couple of extra complaints for good measure. From across his desk he placed his fingers on my wrists. I thought he was taking my pulse, but then realized he wasn’t timing and appeared to be only feeling my blood pulsating through my body. Fredrick, a young Chinese man, came into the room wearing a mask and pushing the blood pressure machine. Frederick took my temperature and blood pressure and since I’ve never learned what those numbers mean, I have no clue whether it was high or low. Whatever the results, they were written down in Chinese by Professor Cheung, as was everything else on my chart.

The next part of my consultation made me a bit nervous because it felt kind of Frankensteinish, but I think I did a good job of not placing judgement or saying, “what the hell are you doing?” He asked me to hold a metal prong with a wire attached to it and a metal probe at the other end of this wire. Yes, you would have been nervous at that point too right? He started probing my ear and said, “tell me when it is sensitive”, which I immediately translated to mean painful! At any second I expected to be zapped, but happy to report no zapping. As he probed my ear all of a sudden it hurt, sort of like a bad bruise was being jabbed at and I said OUCH! The first ouch produced laughter from Professor Cheung, as did every ouch that followed. In fact he seemed to grow more and more pleased with my ouches and I was beginning to think that he was enjoying himself a bit too much.

Professor Cheung sat back at his desk and proceeded to confirm with me everything else that he suspected might be wrong. Things that I had not told him…. Crazy little stupid things that I had lived with for years. The first thing he said was, “you drink a lot of hot drinks don’t you?” Anyone who knows me know that I am a tea-aholic so I was a bit surprised by his statement and wondered how he knew. He knew my hands were cold, he knew my feet were cold, he knew about my lung condition and he knew about other things that I will not share publicly. It’s all in the ear apparently. Who knew? Professor Cheung told me that the pain in my hand is due to the problem with my lungs and that he would be treating me holistically. Fredrick then escorted me to the treatment room.


Now here is where the real fun started. I lay on my back with my pants and shirtsleeves rolled up and three 2 inch needles were inserted into each hand. There was mild discomfort but nothing too bad. Then Professor Cheung began inserting the needles into my ankle area. The 1st needle goes in…. Ouch (Prof. Cheung laughs). The 2nd needle goes in ….. not bad ….. I can do this. Then the 3rd needle is inserted just below my ankle bone and the weirdest indescribable pain \ shock went through the centre of my foot. I mean the pain was not even near where the needle was inserted. I yelled rather loudly, “HOLY SHIT”, which are not words I would normally use in professional company, and Prof. Cheung laughed even louder. I was starting to realize that he was not laughing at me exactly, but was pleased with each success. He said, “That’s your kidney”. I replied, “well my kidney did not like that!”. He started on the other leg and I kept asking, “is that going to happen again?” because I was quite concerned there was no way I could prepare myself for this sensation a second time. I braced myself as he inserted a needle in the same spot on the other foot…….. no pain. “Only one good kidney”, Prof. Cheung said. And here I didn’t even know that one of my kidneys was so unhappy.

But the best is yet to come. The next thing that happened was Frederick attaching electrode type clips to the needles on my hands. I could see they were attached to a machine beside the stretcher. I had no clue what would become of this situation and kept asking myself if I should trust these people. Frederick said, “tell me when you feel a pulsating in your right hand.” My right thumb started to twitch. I’m talking about involuntary electrical jolts causing my right thumb to twitch every second. I looked down and saw my veins pulsating just as quickly. “I’m not sure this is right, it’s very fast”, I said. Frederick replied, “it’s good, tell me when you feel the pulsating in your left hand.” This time my whole left hand started jumping and all my fingers were twitching. “We’ve got it too strong here Frederick”, I know I was sounding slightly frantic, but he assured me that this was good too. He said, “It’s like your 1st day of school because you don’t know what to expect but next time will be easier”. Now I can’t remember my 1st day of school, but I am fairly certain that it was nothing quite like this. I laid there for 30 minutes trying to not focus too much on my twitching hands and thinking that headphones with Bach’s Toccata and Fugues would make this a happier experience. I was alone in this room for the 30 minutes with nothing but a shelf full of Chinese medical books to stare at and feeling like I was in a scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

As I was pulling myself together after the treatment I noticed a giant picture of an ear on the wall. Within each area of the ear there was a picture of an organ or area of the body. Sure enough within the area that was sensitive in my own ear was a picture of a kidney and next to it were lungs. Our eyes may be the window to our souls, but it is most definitely our ears that tell the story of our bodies.

I cannot tell you yet that acupuncture has worked or even made anything better, but I have appointments with Professor Cheung for the next four days and I am apprehensively embracing my acupuncture experience extraordinaire.

Priorities

Time has passed since I last wrote. It’s all about priorities and when you have many of them…well something has to suffer. Christmas has come and gone, a trip to Cuba, joined a gym, joined Toastmasters, started a Spanish class, reading War & Peace, reading book on Buddhism, tried knitting socks (but quit), and lost a good friend to cancer. Some sad, some challenging, and some peaceful times all mixed together as my life. As I approach my 55th birthday I start to ponder about this life I’ve been given that can either count for something or for nothing and it is totally up to me to decide which it’s going to be.

As I read War & Peace the message that hits me hardest is that these people lived 200 years ago and they weren’t so different from the way we are today. Some are hungry for power and want to rule the world and many people are killed needlessly in the name of justice; but the main thing is they are all dead…..just like 100 years from now we will be dead and how will the people then look back on our decisions? Will it count for anything?

My beautiful friend who died was loved by many and really lived life. I am now happy for her legacy and memories that her friends will cherish. Here again, when death comes to a friend, it forces us to look at our own lives and the decisions we make. Please don’t think I am being morbid or thinking too deeply. No, I see all this as a simple fact and happy to have clarity enough to make healthy decisions for myself. I suppose this may be part of the reason I joined the gym. And Toastmasters? I have not actually had to get up and speak yet so will have to send an update on this later.

I have not been walking all winter because the cold weather just got to my lungs and illness prevented me from getting out there. That’s OK, I’m on the right path again which is all that matters. I have postponed my trip to walk the Camino de Santiago until Sept\Oct and know that I’ll be in better physical condition at that time. All any of us can do is keep moving forward.

Life is a gift.

Goodbye Old Friend

Last night I was at the theatre with my Mom, Sister and good friend Judy. For years I have told myself that one day I would get season's tickets to The Grand. Well check that one off my bucket list! First show of the season was Side by Side by Sondheim and we loved it :) We went out for dinner to Garlic's beforehand and although I'm not an official reviewer of restaurants I know what I like...... I doubt that any of us will be going back there. The food was VERY salty. My dinner probably tasted the best of the 4 and I ordered the scallops. But the after affect? Whoa! My body did not agree that I should have consumed it at all... enough said.

The Grand is a venue where you can get dressed up if you want or wear your jeans if you want and nobody cares either way. I chose to dress up a little bit and wore dress pants with my brown leather heals. Now since I have become 'a walker' my heals have been gathering dust in my closet for sometime. I blew them off and carefully walked to the car when my mother picked me up. For those of you who have been to The Grand you know about the stairs and the potential for dizziness when you are finding your seat in the balcony. I will tell you that I did not feel safe wearing these high heals in the balcony. I kept envisioning myself toppling over the edge. Once seated we enjoyed the show immensely and I climbed out of there in one piece.

Walking to the car afterwards was another matter. I'm sure you're all aware of the infamous grates in the sidewalk of downtown London. I kept telling myself, "don't step on the grates", but well, we got talking and boom.... heal stuck in a grate. It was not just a little bit 'wiggle out of here' stuck. I had to remove my foot and pry the shoe out, which now has much of the leather destroyed on the heal. I really do look and feel like a crazy person wearing these things and I have vowed to myself that our relationship is over! All those heals in my closet will find a new home once I take them to Goodwill.... including my very sexy orange boots :(

Goodbye old friend.

High School Prom

It is July 2nd and my daughter has just left for her high school prom. I am sitting on my lazy boy feeling the way one feels when something impossible has been accomplished. I would be happy just sitting here for about 4 hours just doing nothing and thinking nothing. Only a parent with a daughter who has gotten ready for prom will understand how I am feeling. This event involves buying a dress, buying shoes, buying the tickets, stressing about the dress not being right, buying a second dress that is right, returning the shoes for the 1st dress, buying shoes for the 2nd dress, buying the clutch and hairpiece, having the 2nd dress altered, finding out you can't return the 1st dress, buying the after-party dress, buying the after-party shoes, booking the after-prom room at Grand Bend, getting makeup done, getting hair done, and finally finding out at 3:30 that you are supposed to be ready at 4:30, not 5:30. Today is 10 days after my daughter's 18th birthday and as I sit here, trying to make sense of this whole prom thing, I find myself thinking about the day 10 days after my own 18th birthday.

It was April 24th 1974, the day I got married for the 1st time. I was a young girl, and I hadn't even had my high school graduation ceremony yet. There I was..... 18... married and working full time at a nursing home. I made my own wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses too and I remember my sisters wearing yellow floppy hats. There is no way to explain how wrong the whole thing was, but it happened and I can't say that I remember it as a happy time in my life. But I can use my own life experience to give me a different perspective today.

I saw my daughter today looking so beautiful in the most stunning prom dress ever... hair and makeup perfect and she was smiling and I knew she was happy.... and that we'd pulled it off. Yes, I do allow myself to take a lot credit for the successful outcome of these preparations! And my heart is happy just knowing that my daughter will have a high school prom that she will remember with great joy :) Was it all worth it? Darn right it was! Would I want to do it again? Ask me in 3 months after I forget!

Happy Friday

Today is my Happy Friday off work. I get every other Friday off and I appreciate you all paying your Union Gas bill so that I can keep working there because my job is pretty great. For a long time I was telling people (and myself) that I hate my job, but I no longer do. I always feel unhappy going to work when I think I'm being useless, but right now I am doing some pretty cool stuff and loving it.

Years ago I would have slept until noon on a day off, but 7:00 AM.... there I am eyes wide open and excited that I have a hair appointment at 9:00. Daisy has other ideas about going for a very long walk, but she'll have to wait. Rose of course is still asleep and thinks that since I'm not going to work than she should not go to school. School is winding down nd another year has gone by. Which brings me to the point.... ROSE IS GOING TO BE 18 NEXT TUESDAY!! My last baby is getting all grown up!

Many changes are happening in our family life. NINO AND AISHAH ARE GETTING MARRIED IN 3 WEEKS!! Yes, the cutest couple in the world are tying the knot and we will all be celebrating together on July 8th. We are having a bridal shower for Aishah tomorrow and drinking tea (yum). I wonder if we are playing games.

GIANNI IS GOING TO COSTA RICA TO WORK WITH SEA TURTLES!! The world may tell you that it is an irresponsible thing to do Gianni..... but many days I wish I could throw caution to the wind and go live in Costa Rica for a month. So I say do it! You'll get a job later.... (well you'll have to unless Nino and Aishah are going to adopt you) :)

JENN IS COMING HOME FROM ARGENTINA!! If you have not seen Jenn's pictures in Facebook from her current trip, well you really need to! They are amazing. Jenn will be back for the wedding and bringing Carlos with her too (her very patient boyfriend who has developed a relationship with Skype) and then she will be leaving for Peru a couple weeks later.

GRACE!! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO? Haven't talked to Grace in a while, but last I heard she is liking her new job and moved to a new apartment in Toronto. I think I am due for a road trip to visit you Grace and we'll go out for dinner.

Lots of changes ..... Life keeps happening ...... It's all good :)
.... Now for that HAIR APPOINTMENT!

Walk to the Dog Park

Daisy and I went for a long walk tonight, along the river trail and ended up at the Adelaide Dog Park. It was a perfect night since it was cooler and not humid at all. There's so much to see on the bike\walking path; boys fishing, girls roller blading, old men on bikes, young men on bikes, families walking, mothers with baby carriages. Most people pass and say Hello, or at least smile.

When we got to the dog park Daisy took off like a bat out of hell. She never does that! I am always proud of how she listens and doesn't go far from me. Well we have not been to this particular park for quite some time and she remembered! The thing she remembered was the huge lake-size pool of watery MUD that is at the far end. She could not get to that mud fast enough. I don't know if you have ever seen a dripping wet, muddy golden doodle, but it is not a pretty sight. Or I suppose you might think it was very funny if you weren't her owner! There seems to be different social rules at the dog park than those on the walking trail. People don't talk to people much.. it is all about the dogs. There will be a group of people standing around, not saying a word to each other, all just looking at the dogs .... standing guard in case there should be a 'humping' incident.

Then there is always one guy who brings a ball for his dog. He brings it there to throw for HIS dog even though there are 30 other dogs ready to steal that ball. You stand there and hope that your dog is not going to be the one snag it so you have to do the whole 'drop it' thing and pass the slobbery ball back to its owner. I often wonder .... when dogs and humans are all there together behind the fence.... if the dogs are thinking that we all look stupid and boring just standing there watching them. I believe if they served alcohol in dog parks the owners would loosen up and have a lot more fun. It's a thought.