20.6.08

intro to acupuncture

as some of you know earlier this year i had surgery. to explain--i've been dealing with a wide array of 'girlie issues' and horrible pain for nearly a year and a half and the surgery was merely a diagnostic procedure to try to figure out what's wrong. i've been to so many doctors and had so many tests done and yet still no answers even now. i've been feeling a bit like a guinea pig and if the eight vials of blood taken from me for tests just this week are any indication of things to come, i think answers may take a while.

i am ok with this because i've decided to turn to complementary health to supplement what i'm doing/will be doing with traditional doctors. a month or so back my gp {regular family doctor} recommended that i try acupuncture to help w/the pain, my auntie gail had suggested chinese herbalists a while back and i had seen doctor oz on oprah praising alternative medicine {including acupuncture} on oprah as well. after all these recommendations i figured heck why not try it. it may not work at all, but at this point i've got to be open to all options.

well anyway, i had my first appointment this week. i was given 3 bags of herbs to boil and drink and that will probably taste like @$*! but hopefully may do me some good. i then had about 20-30 needles stuck in me to start treatment. the actual needle part i was quite nervous about cause i really hate needles. the first one hurt slightly but then after that i was totally cool with it. she left the needles in about 20 minutes and then lit what looked like a cigar under my feet to warm the points. you get the strangest tingling sensations throughout your body and in the end i felt pretty darn relaxed. the only other weird thing for me was seeing that many needles sticking out of my stomach. i think maybe from now on i'll keep my eyes closed.

i have to admit part of me during the experience felt like i had visited a shaman or some voodoo doctor, but i did feel really good afterwards. i do know that more and more people now are turning to alternative therapies and acupuncture is becoming more and more respected as a treatment in the medical field. anyway-we'll see if i notice any benefits in about 4-6 weeks and i'll report back!

{image from here}

7.6.08

wolfman in greenwich

aghhh! how i wish i had a camera this morning. james and i went for a glorious 5 1/2 mile run this morning through blackheath and greenwich park and when we got to the park, we found ourselves immersed in huge film crews, lighting and sets. apparently 'the wolfman' with benicio del toro & anthony hopkins is currently being filmed in greenwich and have been since march. funny how you can not even know what's going on in your own neighborhood eh? anyway, the top part of the park has completely been taken over with cables, lighting and other wide array of things. it was slightly annoying to see the beautiful grass dug up and how the squirrels seem so confused because of it. however, there's signs everywhere though assuring that absolutely everything would be put back to its proper place. so a bit of excitement in our backyard you could say! the only bad thing is because i didn't have a camera with me i unfortunately have absolutely no pictures of anything. if you are really curious though i found this blog which has all the juicy bits complete with loads of pics {be sure to scroll down most of the page}. anyway, after today i may just ensure i take a camera with me everywhere!!