May 17, 2018, 2:50 p.m.
Everything is very familiar now in Building B of the Union City Kaiser, where I first went for my appointment with Dr. Sumetanon to begin my Pain Management journey. I am ushered into Paul Simon’s treatment room by an assistant. She asked if I used the table or the massage chair. She brought in the chair. Then she scheduled my next appointment for June 25.
The first thing Paul Simon asked me when he came into the room was, “How are the headaches?” I explained (I did try to be brief, I really did!) that I was working with my pain pharmacist to gradually decrease the gabapentin to where it did not cause the headaches but would still be effective for pain reduction. We talked a bit more about gabapentin and how evil I think it is.
“Do you use anything topically?” he asked me. I paused then said, “Well, to be honest—and you are one of the few people I admit this to—” He laughed. “I know what you’re going to say!” And I knew that he knew! “Cannabis salve,” I said and he said, “Yep! A lot of patients do that.” He went on to express his opinion that he wished the medical community would/could accept things. Things that work.
He asked me again exactly where the neck pain is (so he would know exactly where to put the needles). Then I got positioned on the massage chair and he put needles in my head and neck like last time. He also put two needles in my right arm, in the exact places of the points he had shown me last time: one on the outside edge of my hand and the other one on the thumb side slightly below the wrist. I could look down at my hands for the next half hour and, hopefully, memorize the exact points. After today’s session, he also showed me another point on the top of the hand between the 4th and 5th fingers, explaining that was more for headaches. I recognized that this was the same point on the hand that Toni Narins of Elemental Sound Healing (on Facebook) had demonstrated only on the foot. Interesting. I wish I could reach my feet easily.
During the session, I listened to the background music as I did mindful breathing and for meditation focused on relaxation of parts of the body. The music was not the non-western music that was played in the group acupuncture sessions but was very familiar, soothing orchestral Western music. The first one I was aware of was Debussy’s “Claire de lune” followed by the Quaker song, “Simple Gifts,” and the Sibelius’ “Finlandia.”
A few minutes into the session, I began to feel a warmth, mostly on my neck and upper back. I noticed how good it felt and wondered if the acupuncture was responsible for those feelings of warmth. It was only when Paul came back in at the halfway point to make sure I was okay that I found out he was using a heat source above my back and neck! It was a very nice thing.
At the end of the session, when he came back in and took out the needles, he told me I was “a good patient.” He checked to see that my next appointment had been made, and he was almost apologetic that it was over 5 weeks away. He explained that part of the reason for that is because he’ll be on vacation the first part of June. I said, “That will work out, because I’ll be on vacation the first part of July!”
Before leaving, I told him that I had looked at that “S”-shaped tool for using on one’s back and neck and that I had then found a tool in Daiso and I pulled it out of my bag and showed it to him. He held it in his hand, put the end on his back and neck in different positions. I could tell he approved! “Plus,” I said, half in jest, “it’s small enough to put into my bag so I can take it with me on my trip!”