Things I’ve Never Done #2

Wednesday morning rolled around and I dreamed that my ear/jaw/nerve (whatever it is) had acted up during the night.

But it wasn’t a dream.

As I lifted my head, a stabbing pain shot through my ear and so it began. The first real ear issue ( I really don’t know what else to call it) since Cami was born, settled in.

Sometimes I can feel it sitting there, lingering, perched on the nerve in my ear/jaw, just waiting for me to make one wrong move. And I have, time and time again, looked right a little too fast, touched my ear the wrong way, smiled. Yes, smiling sets it off. So does surprise. So I have to be totally balanced in emotion and movement, or the little  waiting thing gives me a reminder. I am both alive (great!) and able to feel pain (great!)

So, this week I finally made it to acupuncture. First time.

We did a check in. I told him I wasn’t stressed or angry (and I am not sure if he believed me or not) and he asked me to lay down. First he pricked the ring finger on my left hand and squeezed the blood out. I am not kidding. I could feel the swelling in my jaw/ear go down. Immediately. After the ring fingers, he stabbed a few (12 or so) needles in my arms and legs (and two behind my neck) then moved them around to make sure they were sitting on my nerves. They were.

I laid there for about 15 minutes until he came to take them out. As he removed them, he mentioned that the point of pain is on the same meridian as the gallbladder, albeit, on the opposite side. Check it out GB 2. 

My ear/jaw felt completely better, and then I sat up – and the pain came back. I walked home cupping the back of my ear, because that provides a little bit of relief.

Then I took a pain killer.

The moral of today’s story, is that I got curious while sitting on the table, of whether I could be an acupuncturist. About how much rent he paid for his office. About whether this treatment is going to work (he is convinced he can heal me). And now I know that maybe this has something to do with my gallbladder. I also feel like I might need to walk around with a safety pin so that I can stab my ring finger if things get unbearable. 

Stay curious people. Cami is awake and I have carrot soup brewing.