I have seen more patients cry at Cook County in the last 7 months than I have seen cry in 28 years of practice. Take last Thursday. I had a patient come in the week before for a first visit, and because she hadn't eaten yet (common instructions for the pain clinic) we went easy on her. By that I mean no heavy artillery. No deep needling, strong stimulation, Northern style. Instead we put a few ear seeds on Shen Men, Zero, and her hip and leg points on the ear. She started crying tears of joy for the end of pain that she had been suffering since 1984. She even went to church to share her story. But her mind got the best of her, suggesting it might in fact all be in her mind. So she took off the seeds, and voila! Pain came back. So she got a bobby pin and tried to press the points as she could remember them. It helped a little. After we put new seeds on her ear this Thursday. she was good to go. We also showed her some Qi Gong exercises to extend her therapy, Energizer Bunny style.."Still Working!"
The second patient had a through and through gunshot wound to his right bicep, which immobilized his shoulder, and his hand, making him a candidate for surgery. He also had tears tattooed on his cheekbones in memory of his fellow gang members who had been killed. This was one serious dude. I told him that if I could get his shoulder to work, pain-free, it would probably restore his hand function as well. All it would take is a 5 inch needle going through the opposite leg, from Stomach 38 to Bladder 57. He nodded. I did it. It worked.I wondered if their were tattoos for that.And would we both wear them?
