5/19/24

Today’s Sunday. Last Monday I went to the rheumatologist. He did an exam and then they took a lot of blood. They’re going to run a lot of tests and they will come back at different times. They’re not going to call me until they have them all, however. That will take up to two weeks. He says I definitely have an auto immune disease, He is not exactly sure what it is.   He does not think at this time that I have rheumatoid arthritis, though. He says it doesn’t go to the back, so I reckon that’s pretty good news. 

On Tuesday, I went to another doctor for acupuncture. However, when I got there, he said he would like to try needling. I had heard of that before, so I told him I would do it. That was an interesting visit. First, he poked around and then marked my back. He sterilized it and started inserting the needles. About halfway through, I asked him if this was like acupuncture, and he said not really. The needles are different. I asked him if I could see one, and he said sure. He said some people like to see them and some do not.  They are very very thin and have tiny little coils on the top of them. He inserts the needles and then puts the tiny electrodes on the coils. It sends an electrical charge down the needle and I can feel it in my back. Some needles were only an inch and a half long,  But most of them were about 2 1/2 inches. The tiny coils take up about a quarter inch of that, so the rest of it is all needle. I asked him how far he put it in, and he casually said, all the way. I said you’re putting that entire needle into my back? He said Yep. Holy cow. No wonder some people don’t want to see the needles. He would turn the volume up on the charge and ask me to tell him when it got too painful. At that point, he would turn it down just a bit until I could feel it well enough, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. So, I had about a dozen needles in my back, sending electrical impulses into me. It was kind of like a whole bunch of tiny little drums beating all at the same time. It felt weird. I probably looked like quite the human pincushion. He left them in for 15 minutes . When he removed them, then he moved my legs all around and stretched them in different positions. I actually did feel better. He said it could last a month, so I already have made another appointment to do it again. After five days, I could tell it was working. My back still hurts, don’t get me wrong, however, the pain is better. He said I am out of options. The only thing they can do for my back is to fuse it, and he said I don’t want to do that. I have degenerative disc disease, a whole butt load of arthritis, and some other stuff going on, too. It cannot be fixed. 

I got over what was ailing me last week, and I’m feeling better this week. I do have one little boo-boo, though. I think I broke my right little pinky finger. I was cleaning the kitchen countertops and rammed it into the granite. Hoo boy! Did that ever hurt! I have been icing it and it’s in a splint. It’s still pretty swollen and sore. I ain’t never had too much fun.