March 30, 2009 - Pragmatic Compendium

I had a massage Thursday.

Picture it. A dimly lit room. The sound of water. Soft instrumental music. Candles flickering. The soft smell of eucalyptus floating in the air. The massage therapist discovers the steel cord in my shoulder and begins to transform it back to human muscle.

Then, she says: “Did you hear about that guy over in Deltona?”

Me: “oh, no, don’t tell me any bad news, especially if it involves children.”

Her: “No, it’s nothing about kids. This guy murdered this other guy and then shot a police officer in the face.”

Good feelings gone. (From a Disney movie. Who said it? )

I spent the next hour changing the subject to more positive things. Over and over and over. Seriously. She’s had some fairly negative things to say in previous sessions, but this time, she complained every time she opened her mouth. Nothing good to say about anyone or anything. Everyone is stupid and a pain in the butt, from her ex-husband, to her son, to her boyfriend, to the vitamin sales rep . . . she even had vulgar things to say about Muscadine grapes after I changed the subject to fruit in a final and desperate attempt to keep things positive. I thought talking about fruit was safe, noting all the great fruit in season right now. She picked one to complain about and called it a shXXbag. And that isn’t the only curse word she tossed around. Seriously? How can a massage therapist not make the connection that continuous negative conversation doesn’t compliment a massage?

What is the deal? She has worked miracles on my shoulder over the last few months. Was she just having a bad day? Has she just become too familiar with me? And if so, has she not paid attention to the fact that I don’t use foul language? Or say mean things about people? I don’t want to know what she had to say about me after I left.

I’m taking a break from massage. I don’t know if I’ll go back to her. She does good work, but the experience is not positive. I spend the time and quite a bit of focused energy pointing out good things in life. Not restorative. Emotionally draining.

I went to an open house for this spa two weeks ago and got a free twenty minute acupuncture session. Interesting. I’ve got a number of health issues which could supposedly be treated with acupuncture, from reflux to eczema, not to mention the arthritis in my neck. I’ve had craniosacral massage before and it was actually very effective in relieving pain, so although I don’t understand it, I know it worked. I figure it’s time to find out whether acupuncture will work for me. Tomorrow I go for my first full session and I’m thinking I’ll try it out through my surgery date.

As usual, looking for information. Anyone have acupuncture treatments? Thoughts? Advice?

It’s a backwards edition over at Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Kristen at We Are THAT Family. Click on over and see if you can help someone out!

Works for Me Wednesday posts prior to February 2009 are archived at Rocks In My Dryer

That would be the date for what I’m hoping is the final “ectomy” in my life. I’ve had a myomectomy and a polypectomy to remove my pesky fibroid tumors in the past but they always come back.

I’m finally taking away their home forever.

I’m impressed with how fast this is happening. I made the decision in late January and just a few short months later . . .

I banked a unit of my blood on Friday afternoon! That’s a big deal because of my low iron. I passed my iron test and I didn’t even study for it. My doctor is very conservative and wanted me to bank two units of my own blood just in case. I’ve done it for my past surgeries and ended up not needing to use it, so hopefully the same will be true for this surgery. (FYI – Donating your own blood for later use is called autologous donation, just in case you ever need to know.)

This time, I had to work a little to stop the bleeding. I’ve never had that happen before. I had to use ice and extended pressure and today my arm looks pretty bad. I guess from where the blood kinda backed up under my skin? It’s a big, oblong, purple/yellow bruise, a little over 3 inches from one end to the other. I’ll spare you the photo, it’s not pretty.

I’m seriously wiped out today. I did an hour of strength training and it was a LONG hour. I was definitely weaker than normal. It took some determination to get through the hour without wimping out. I recently read another blogger say she was able to hold a plank for two minutes and I was ~~freakishly and competitively driven~~ inspired to do the same. I was able to do a minute forty Friday morning and I was hoping to make it to two minutes today. yeah . . . no. A minute forty five. I’m supposed to do strength training again tomorrow. I’ll try again. I started sublingual B-12 supplements today so hopefully that will help.

I have 5 more appointments/tests before the big day, including a complete cardio workup.

I can’t wait for the other side of this surgery. No more fatigue. No more low iron. No more feminine hygiene products. EVER.

I should do a giveaway. Or a bonfire.