When I next saw Lee I
just couldn’t believe my eyes – what a transformation! He was sitting up in bed
and was able to chat lucidly and freely. He said that the last treatment was
amazing and he felt as though something had definitely shifted. His visitors
later that evening all commented that they could see his old self was back
again, something they hadn’t seen for a very long time. Lee told me that he
felt very strong, in fact he used the words 'normal again', and he knew
absolutely that this was not his time to go.
I continued
to visit Lee twice weekly in the Hospice and he seemed to be going from
strength to strength, despite a major setback a couple of weeks previously. At
that time, he had been doing very well indeed - he was no longer reliant upon
oxygen, his breathing was normal, he had good pain control and had regained his
appetite. In acupuncture terms, his pulses had regained their balance and I was
treating him very minimally, purely on command points.
However,
things went pear-shaped a couple of days later when his bowels appeared to be
blocked – in an attempt to regain weight, he had been eating an enormous amount
of food (2500 calories per day) but his bowels had stopped working (probably
due to the morphine and other drugs) and nothing was getting through. He was
once again in tremendous pain, had a stomach drain in situ, was nil by mouth
and was scheduled to have ileostomy surgery. The pulse imbalance had returned
with a vengeance, he was in very low spirits and did not feel up to any
needling, so I treated him with acupressure instead.
A few days
later, I received the message that Lee’s bowels had started to work again and
that he had a reprieve from surgery - and when could I come to give him another
treatment! At my next visit, once again I was amazed at the difference in
him – the pulse imbalance had disappeared again – in fact, the pulses were the
most even to date. This time I performed a gentle ‘clearance’ treatment as
before and finished by gently needling just four points.
Lee’s
transformation was such that he was allowed to go home after a few weeks, although
he continued with his chemotherapy as an outpatient. He told me that he felt
the work we were doing together was extremely worthwhile and he really looked
forward to his treatments. He said he felt very focussed and strong afterwards,
and also relaxed and rested, but energised. Above all, he said that I was probably
his only visitor who came without making any demands, physically or emotionally
- for which he was immensely grateful.
This
experience brings home to me how important it is to be aware of our own
emotions and to maintain a balance, especially through difficult times, where
words can be superfluous - a mere presence can be enough. It was certainly very humbling for me to see such a change occur with
just the simplest of means and good intention.
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