At the Hospital

I've been going to the hospital nearly every day for over a week. As I recently discovered that my student, Isabelle's, dad is a chiropractor, I decided to take him up on his offer for some neck treatments. I usually have a pretty stiff neck and sometimes the pain will become very acute on one side so that turning my head becomes a problem. Usually after a week or two the problem just goes away on its own. 

This time I decided to take the matter to Isabelle's dad. During the first examination they took an x-ray that showed some flattened spinal disks. To correct this, I was put into a straight-backed chair, had a noose-like contraption strapped around my head, and then my head was lifted by some mechanical attachment. Those who saw me said my head was visibly crooked. I, for one, had entered into a mediation of sorts and couldn't maneuver myself into coherence anyway. After twenty minutes of head pulling, I got a massage. 

After three days of massages my muscles felt loose and relaxed, but my neck pain had gotten decidedly worse. Isabelle's mom said its because my disks are being reshaped and aren't used to the position. That very well could be, I think, but I'd just like to be able to sleep at night again. 

 

So began the electrical massages and the injections. Although an electric pulse has a surprisingly life-like touch, I continue to feel terribly stiff afterwards. I can't tell if the hormone injections are supposed to work immediately or what. As far as I can tell, an IV hookup is a last resort, but also practically inevitable in Chinese hospitals. There goes three hours every day. 

 

The thing they try that I receive the most relief from is ba gua, the fire cups. This is where they take a bulbous glass, stick a burning cotton ball in it for a second, and then suck it onto your skin, thereby creating a big circular hickie. The darker the color when they pop it off, the more toxins were being released from that area. I leave the hospital peppered with black dots for a few days, but it does release a lot of the built up tension from my neck and shoulders. 

Finally, the last few days it has gotten to the point where we've had to do acupuncture. Since its my nerves I'm pretty sure that are the problem, the threadlike needles really make an impact. I can sense the needle's presence on a very deep level. My shoulder socket, especially, cringes even before they start the antibacterial swab. After the needles go in, they hook up an electrical current and proceed to send charged particles down the needle sticks into those molecules of mine running adjacent to them. To complete the effect, they set a heating lamp over the process. Day after day of this, I sit there and can only hope that somewhere in some deep tissue one little molecule has had enough. I hope he stands up before his compatriots and begins the struggle to straighten things out, put things back where they belong, and get back to living. Please, little Molecule. Your motherland is waiting.