The holiday season has set upon us, and little time has been had to sit and blog.  However, family visits bring interesting perspectives and discoveries.  Let me start by saying that I have continued my Acupuncture and have now had 6 visits.  Each week the sessions get more intense.  Different kinds of electrical impulses have been used on me, one which was almost unbearable.  I don’t like to think of myself as a sissy, so I had never even been tempted to call out in pain when left alone in the dark for half an hour, until last week.  The pattern of the electrical impulses became so painful that I was just about to cry out, when he finally came in and turned it off.  I asked him if the pain was necessary for me to improve, and he said yes.  So…pain it is.

We had a disagreement about some Chinese herbs he sold me.  It is my pattern to go home and research anything before I take it.  The name of the herbs was not on the bottle, so I emailed him and asked him what was in them.  The following appointment, he gave me a long list of herbs, but I still didn’t feel comfortable.   My daughter-in-law teaches plant science, so I gave her the list and she said that there was nothing wrong with any of the herbs, but they also wouldn’t help much.  She said they were more akin to a placebo, and that if I thought they were going to help, they might.  I decided to take them, which I am now doing, but I have not experienced any changes.  When I mentioned it to him, he said that the herbs are not quick, like Western medicine, but rather work gradually.  So, I’m continuing to take them because I’m curious.

My children and I stayed up until 1:30 am on the Friday after Thanksgiving, talking about Artie.  They were not happy that I am waiting so long to get surgery.  They said that they couldn’t believe that I was unable to have something done for health reasons, even though I have only been at my new job for 4 months.  My son was worried that I am planning to have the surgery next August, when everyone would be going back to school (they are all educators) and I would have no one at home to help me.   He said that he and his wife would be travelling until the end of July, but if I could move it up a bit, they would come as soon as they got home and would help me.  When I said that I wouldn’t have enough sick time to cover the surgery until August, he said not to worry, because he and my daughter-in-law could cover the cost of those weeks.  I was flabbergasted.  It obviously means a lot to them to have me get this surgery.  My daughter-in-law’s best friend is a nurse, working with older people, and she handles hip replacements all the time.  She told me that it isn’t just a case of being able to travel outside, but also a case of getting to the bathroom or the kitchen with nobody there to help.  That was sobering.  I’ve never been that helpless.

My son told me that he can tell that I’m getting worse.  We walked a lot on our European trip, and he said I walked much better then.  I feel like the Acupuncture is helping in a minimal way.  If nothing else, it makes me feel like I’m doing something.  The cane is also really helping.  I walk with much less of a pronounced limp.  The Acupuncturist feels that my body is off balance and that one hip may be lower than the other.  The cane helps me to equalize that.  My pain has not diminished much, but I feel that I am walking better.  It’s so hard to know what to do, or who to listen to.

But, I have a plan.  I am trying to get a consultation with the orthopedist, to find out exactly how much recovery time it will take after the surgery.  The hips are supposedly easier than the knees. We have read my employee’s manual and it looks like I may be able to have the surgery by May, when the kids, and my husband may be available to help. It takes a village to get a woman back on her hips.