Finally, after 4 1/2 months, I was able to have an in-person acupuncture appointment again with Sophie. As instructed by the M.A. when the appointment was made, I called when we got to Union City and the M.A. who answered told me to come on in and upstairs to the Acupuncture Department. At the Building B entrance, there was a person who asked me questions and took my contactless temperature then instructed me to use hand sanitizer, rather than using the handwashing stations that were there.
So I entered the building and took note that Vision Essentials was open for business but patients were not allowed to go inside. The entrance was closed off, with a receptionist, properly masked and behind plexiglass, who was allowing only one patient at a time to enter the large room where a half dozen opticians were sitting at their stations, approximately 20-30 feet apart, so no more than that many patients were being seen.
I decided to go to the second floor by way of the stairs, which I regretted, because I couldn’t hold on to the hand rails and it hurt my knees. The Physical Medicine/Acupuncture Department looked very familiar, except there were tall plexiglass barriers in front of the receptionists. I asked if she needed to see my Kaiser card and she didn’t answer but just handed me the pain status sheet to fill in, instructing me to take a pen from the canister on the counter.
There was one other patient in the waiting area, where all the other seats were blocked off except the one I sat down in. I barely had time to start filling out the pain status when Sophie appeared at the door and invited me to come in. I hardly recognized her, because she had her hair pulled back behind her head and she was wearing a mask so I couldn’t see her cheery smile. She ushered me into a familiar treatment room.
“Take your mask and glasses off before you get onto the treatment table,” she said. “But when we are both together in this room, we both have to wear masks.” When she came back into the room, and after I had positioned myself on the treatment table with my head down into the “donut hole,” she wiped my arms and neck with a disinfecting wipe–something she had never done before. She continued talking while she was placing the needles in–including on my head, since I had indicated on my pain sheet that I was having migraines in addition to the right side neck pain.
She said they were initiating a replacement for the group acupuncture, in which 5 needles were placed into each ear. The new procedure was something called “ear seeds” by which metal “seeds” were placed on the trigger points of the ear. I don’t understand it, but it sounds intriguing so I guess I’ll find out more later.
The 30 minutes went by quickly. I did not request the heat lamp but I could hear the beautiful Eastern music playing and it was very soothing, as I settled in with my mindful breathing, recognizing itching in my eyes but moving on. I don’t think I fell asleep, but I was very relaxed.
When Sophie came back in, she said the M.A. would phone me tomorrow and follow up for my next appointment. There was also some small talk. She said her 85-year-old father, who had resisted learning anything about technology, was now really adept at phone and video appointments for his medical care. I told her that both my son and son-in-law were able to work from home since they were already in hi-tech careers. She told me of someone in I.T. who said his business had grown significantly since the pandemic started!
I went back downstairs via the elevator, which I used my elbow to call and push the buttons inside. There were 3 yellow social distancing circles inside the elevator, meaning only 3 people could be in the elevator at any one time. I used the hand sanitizer on my way out. Linda and Emily were waiting patiently for me in the van, although Linda really misses having the radio (since it stopped working after the battery went dead when our van had sat in our driveway for 3 weeks without being driven or even started).
When we got home, I checked my blood pressure. As I suspected, it was lower than usual–115/84. Ah, yes! So relaxed!
