- Comparing

[Guest guest]

,

I know you're into alternative healing so I think

you'll understand and appreciate this.

Before I got sick I had a part-time job with a large

company. I had fully paid health benefits as well as

a retirement plan, four weeks paid vacation, etc. I'm

also a registered massage therapist (my favorite

career), I gave 10-15 massages per week. The money

wasn't an issue, I needed an outlet for my excess

energy.

At one point my MT friends and I decided to take a

course in Tuina (Chinese acupressure and massage) to

get our certification because it was something we

could use to enhance our massage technique. During

the class the instructor was demonstrating a certain

technique. He stopped when he walked by me and held

his hands about 2 feet from my rib and abdomen area

then kept going (I knew what he was doing). After the

class he pulled me aside and asked if he could " Feel

my Qi " . He just felt my energy without ever touching

me. He said that I had too much heat in that area and

asked if I had an illness. Of course I said " No "

because I had never been sick. He said that he felt a

chronic condition and advised me to go to a doctor

immediately. I looked and felt fine so I choose to

ignore him (Denial). He pestered me for the next two

months. At one point I asked him to treat my

'mysterious' condition, (I thought he might be trying

to drum up business), but he refused and once again

said I had to go to a doctor. Since my insurance paid

for general checkups I decided to go because I had

nothing to lose and it would get him off my back. The

labs showed elevated liver enzymes, I was then tested

for all the Heps and referred to a specialist. I went

to a local yokel rather than the medical center

because I was in denial and still felt fine. I wasn't

given any treatment because I had no symptoms. I went

along my merry way for 7 months and then the fatigue

set in and that was the beginning of the end.

My instructor and I became very good friends

throughout this time and after my transplant I went to

him for Tuina massage. I really wanted acupuncture but

my docs at Baylor didn't allow it. The tuina really

helped with the muscle and joint problems as well as

the toxic build up caused by the medications. My

transplant was fairly new, so I didn't allow him to

touch my abdomen).

One day he was working on the meridian on the lower

calf and he had a look of concern. He told me to call

my doctor because he could feel that my spleen was

enlarged. I waited until my next doctor visit which

was two weeks later. I asked the hepatologist how my

spleen felt and he asked me what brought on that

question (he thought I felt pain in the area).

Although he's very open minded I felt a little silly

explaining meridians and qi. He said that my

therapist was very astute but not to worry because the

enlarged spleen was due to the medications and would

return to normal later on. He asked me how the

therapist could tell and I showed him the place on my

calf. The doctor was feeling around my leg, but

couldn't feel anything. Like I said, he's very open

minded and didn't dismiss the idea - just didn't

understand it.

For the most part I'm a fatalist (what will be, will

be), but sometimes I wonder just what would have

happened if I hadn't taken that class. Weird huh???

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Barbara Ann

AIH Transplant Recipient

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