Individual Acupuncture Therapy #9
Thursday, January 10, 2019
I knew today was my ninth individual acupuncture visit and I intended to enjoy it to the fullest! The young non-white female who ushered me into Paul Simon’s treatment room was pleasant and efficient, scheduling me for #10 on February 14–an appropriate date to end my individual acupuncture treatments. At least, for this time around.
Paul Simon was his usual pleasant self, asking me questions based on what he was seeing in my medical record. This included asking me about my dog and if I had been to any more board meetings. I still don’t know if those details are in my medical record or if he just remembered them from past sessions. He also commented on what a beautiful day it is, and I said yes, it was the kind of day I needed to take down the Christmas decorations.
If he turned on the heat lamp, it must not have been on very high because I don’t think I felt any heat other than the heat of the room. But I did hear the music with my new hearing aids! It was a quiet mix of what I thought would be Asian music and new age music. Whatever it was, it was perfect. I did mindful breathing throughout, even though my mind was distracted a little about other things. But not enough to break my relaxation.
I left relaxed and refreshed, as always. Linda commented on the way home that she and Emily had had a relaxing time in the van, waiting for me.
New Glasses
Thursday, January 10, 2019
After my acupuncture session, I went to Vision Essentials to pick up my new glasses.
The technician put them on my face but could see that the nose pads needed to be adjusted to put the glasses farther away from my eyes. That’s always been an issue, ever since I had Graves’ Disease at age 28. In Graves’ Ophthalmopathy, the immune system targets the area surrounding eyes and may cause inflammation, redness, achyness, pink eye, eyelid retraction, and bulging eyes. In my case, it caused bulging eyes.
My hearing was also affected when I had Graves’ disease. I had a radioactive iodine treatment for Graves’ Disease, which destroyed half of my thyroid gland. I was told that I would need to take thyroxine for the rest of my life. That didn’t bother me–if getting the right level of thyroid hormone would enable me to have babies.
I just found out that “radiation treatment for thyroid cancer may also [cause] hearing loss.” But it wasn’t hearing loss, and it’s hard to explain. But I had perfect pitch before that. After that, my hearing was two half steps off. For instance, if a piece of music was playing in the key of D, I heard it in the key of C. It made it complicated to try to play the piano with someone who was playing the organ! But I digress.
The glasses fit amazingly well for a first fitting! On the way home, I felt like I was seeing better in the long-distance vision, even though there had been no change in my prescription except for close-up reading. Perhaps it was due to having a wider range of vision in the new glasses.
Acupressure Webinar
When I got home, there was an email offering a free one-time webinar on acupressure. For today, Thursday, January 10, at 5:00 p.m., PST. I signed up to register, which meant submitting my first name and email address. I then got an auto response email saying they would send me the link to the webinar. I did not get that email until 5:20 p.m. so I responded with my complaint and a request to get a link for the replay. The “free” webinar was, as I fully expected, a promotion for selling his weekly “training” videos about meridians and pressure points.
Meanwhile, I actually did my pain physical therapy exercise routine (since I have my pain physical therapy appointment tomorrow!).
