Sunday, October 19, 2008

Surgery on my elbow?

Not for now. I have been working on alternatives for my tennis elbow and though getting a cortisone shot does work, it really does nothing to correct the problem. If you'll remember, I said I was far from a believer in Acupuncture. I mean, really, part of the word is "puncture" for god's sake. The only other time I use "puncture" is to talk about something making my tire flat.

Pain makes us do odd things so I found a Acupuncturist and though I had doubts, gave him a try. My insurance, using some strange insurance wisdom, doesn't cover anything such as this. No, they'd rather spend thousands for surgery and then more on six weeks or so of therapy to help me get over the surgery. Where is the sense? After one visit to Dr. Needles and Pins I felt better and after three, I couldn't say I was cured, but I felt enough relief to cancel any plans for conventional surgery.

Why or how does it work? Hell if I know nor do I care if he'd held a dead chicken over me and set fire to something; I just know the morning after the first treatment I awoke with no swelling. No swelling. It had been swollen for months. Months of physical therapy, which was doing no good at all, and the insurance company will gladly pay for. Months of taking medicine for the pain. Months of ice.

Does it still hurt? Yes, it is stiff when I don't use it. I probably could have taken a few more treatments but felt the cost was prohibitive. Like I said, a little stiffness that can be rubbed out is not too much for me to handle. At some time will I go back? Yes. An emphatic, YES! If it gets bad again. For now, I'll wait. But I might have convinced my darling companion to have Dr Needles and Pins look at his back. Now that, would be amazing.

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