Oh Happy Day!!

It’s Wednesday morning and I am so thankful, relieved and happy today. I woke up this morning and the full range of motion in my left arm has returned and while my strength is not 100%, it is close. After visiting with the Peace Corps medical officer this morning, she cleared me to return to work on Friday with no restrictions. I still have to go to Brisbane and have tests done, but that will probably not happen until February now. She says because we don’t know what caused my arm to fail, it’s important to have it examined in case it should ever happen again.

When I posted my update about my arm yesterday, it was still difficult for me to type, so I didn’t explain what happened to me at the doctor’s office Monday morning. The doctor was an Australian Doctor, probably in her late 50’s. After examining me, she suggested acupuncture to see if that would help my arm. I agreed to give it a try. I figured it certainly wouldn’t do any harm.

At the clinic, there is only one exam room, so she moved me into the clinic pharmacy which opens onto the waiting room and has a big open window between the rooms. She stuck six needles in me, one in my head, the rest in my hand, arm and shoulder. I asked for a glass of water and was left alone in the pharmacy. After about five minutes, I started to feel faint. I screamed for help and a stampede of people came rushing in, including other patients who were waiting to see the doctor. They grabbed me before I fell and put me on the floor. I spent the next 20 minutes lying on the floor of the pharmacy with these needles sticking out of me. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had fallen on top of one and jammed it into my body. Afterwards the doctor told me that about 1 out of every 50 people get faint when they get acupuncture. It’s hard for me to imagine that those little needles could cause that. Of course, I also don’t know if it was the acupuncture that made me get better or if it would have happened anyway. Doesn’t matter. I’m just happy to be almost back to normal and thrilled that I’m not going to have to end my Peace Corps service.