TJELTA CHATTER: PAIN AND LAUGHTER

PAIN...pain like none other...oh my goodness...I haven't slept for a couple nights and wasn't sure why, until I woke up this morning and could barely stand up. The pain in my back was immense....immense...did I mention that the pain was immense???? Oh my...but I got ready for work and off I went...after the taxi ride in (yes, I took a taxi which tells you how much pain I had to be in as I refuse to take a taxi that costs as much in one trip as my entire week of public transportation costs) to the office I attempted to work only to realize I couldn't. I knew I needed to go to acupuncture. I had a name from Sandy. I asked Lynn, in the office, what I would say to them when I called (I wasn't sure the terminology here) and she got on the phone and called for me. She told them I need to come urgently even though they were booked completely. Bless her heart! They told me to come and she gave them my name by spelling it to them...D-E-B. Off I went....another taxi ride...no problem, this meant I was on the way to relief.

The taxi took me to the clinic and when I walked in the door they said "You D-E-B?" I guess they don't get a lot of Americans in the office and it was obvious I was the one they had received a call from.

I filled out a form with my name, phone number, address, gender, and age. That's all they wanted. They then put my name in a ledger...you know, those old ledger pages we learned how to do accounting entries on "back in the day"...yep, a ledger. Then they handed me a card and said "If you come again, you just give us your number and we know who you are"...so, I'm no longer D-E-B, I'm now 271-USA. Cute!!!

I was taken back to a small hallway (not very wide at all) to a stool to sit and wait for them to work me in for an appointment. I was sitting in the hallway with three women. They were all speaking another language and were very animated. It was interesting. When someone came to get me first, one of the ladies said in English "oh, she must be bad if they take her now". I almost turned around to apologize for being taken first, but I was in too much pain to be polite at that point.

I was taken into a doctor's office...a room with a desk and many medical books. The doctor came in and asked me a few questions and then felt my pulse. She said "you have tired pulse, are you sleeping". I almost laughed...no, I hadn't slept in two nights! I have never been told I have a tired pulse before! She then explained to me that she does Total Chinese Medicine (TCM) and would be treating my ying and yang and would that be okay. I explained that I do acupuncture in the USA and I would be more than happy to have her do anything she needed to do to make me better.

Off we went to a room about the size of a very, very small hallway kitchen in a small apartment in the USA. There were six exam beds (similar to those in doctor's offices in the USA, only shorter and not as wide) and each one had beautiful curtains between them. I was taken to the very last one and told to lay on my stomach.

The doctor pushed two spots on my back and I came flying off the bed...oh, my goodness...that hurt beyond hurt!!! I laid back down and then she began to put the acupuncture needles in me on my back, back of my legs, arm, hand, head and one I had never had before...my nose! (I was complaining of some sinus problems also). Once the needles were all in, another person came in and hooked something up to one of the needles on my back and asked if I could feel the beating of the needle...yes, I could. I was a very strange sensation. She then told me to lay perfectly still for 20 minutes and then she left my little area.

I laid there..and almost fell asleep except there was a very weird "popping" noise coming from the bed beside me and so I couldn't get to sleep.

When my 20 minutes were up, one lady (I couldn't see them, just once in a while they would speak to me so I knew they were different people) came and removed the needles and then put oil all over my back and back of my legs. She then began to do some massaging of my back. It felt great...and before I went in there if you told me someone had to even run a feather over my back I would have gladly shot you! The massage felt good.

Then all of the sudden that funny "popping" noise was coming from my back...they were doing "cupping". They took a cup made of bamboo in one hand, and had a tong with gauze on it and it was lit...yes, fire...they took that lit gauze and put it into the cup to capture heat, then put the cup on my back. They had many cups going at once (I'm pretty sure there were two people working on me at this time) and they would rub the cup back and forth across my back and then pull the cup off, and do the heat thing again. It was a weird sensation, but you could feel the heat and that felt good.

Then more massage...ahhh....

Then they started doing a chiropractic alignment. At this point there are four, possibly five people working on me. They are bending my body in all kinds of ways. It was weird, but didn't hurt at all. Then all of the sudden I felt and heard my vertebra make noise...like a bunch of things lining up in a row...ahh, the relief.

The the doctor had me sit up and she held my head and then put my neck back in place. It was all very odd, but good.

She gave me some exercises to do for my knees...oddly, I never complained about my knees but she indicated I had better do these exercises! I will!!!

She then told me she had some herbs for me to take for a few days. She said "I had them put in capsules because I didn't think you would want them in powder form"....oh, thankfully my acupuncturist at home, William, had told me about this! Yes, as an American we are spoiled by having medicine put in pill form so it's easier. Apparently here they take the herb powder, boil it and then drink it. I was glad I was getting it in capsule form.

She then had me bend over...something I could not do when I came in. She said "great".

Then she put "plasters" on my back. Plasters is a term they use here for band aid. These "plasters" were like the heat pads you can put on your body by sticking it on there...wow, that felt good. I've still got them on as they last eight hours.

Then she instructed me to come back if I needed to, but hopefully I wouldn't need to. So different than Western medicine where they keep you coming back and back and back.

The amazing part...I got an acupuncture treatment, massage, cupping, chiropractic treatment and herbs for $85 SING (about $60 US)...no way could I get all those in the US for that amount!

Here's the picture of the main entrance to the clinic...Ever Spring Medical Group.

Here's the other two areas outside the door...one side says the things they offer in English, the other side says the things they offer in Chinese. I'm in a different world here!