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So today is April 1st. I was considering making some kind of April fool’s joke. Like “Oh my god my sight has come back I can see clearly again”. Or “Oh my god I have gone completely blind and am writing this entry with the help of a typing monkey the government gave me”. But I guess that would be a little cruel. So I won’t.

Having a typing monkey would be awesome, though.

In serious news: I have decided to do the acupuncture. I am not actually too happy about it, though. I did some internet research on this particular acupuncturist and there are some questionable things. People accusing him of embellishing his results. Of stealing his methods from others. Of being scientologist. But then there are others who say he is genuine enough. And he has apparently worked for a big Danish cycling sports team. It’s all a little up and down. Seems he is a tiny bit controversial. My skeptic self does not really want to do this. But I guess it comes down to the fact that my eyesight is so bad that I am desperate enough to try. All I have to lose is time and money, and I have enough of that. He claims to be able to help 7 out of 10 patients. Let’s say he is embellishing and it’s only 5 out of 10. If there is 50% chance of my eyesight getting better, even if it only gets 5% better, then I’d take it. Honestly, my eyesight right now is so bad that I could live with it, but I’m not sure I’d want to. It’s so bad that even though I don’t want to, I feel like I have to try this. I don’t want to go blind and be sitting here wondering if acupuncture would have made a difference.

So there you go. I have the pre-examination for cataracts surgery on April 22nd. I want to wait until that’s done. So acupuncture treatment can start Monday 27th April at the earliest. That fits okay with the 2 week waiting list, seeing as theough there is Easter too. My dad is going to call and set it up tomorrow. Hopefully I can get in on the 27th already then. And you just know that Magnethe will have her babies right around there. Damnit. I don’t want to lose their first weeks. But being away for 7-8 hours isn’t going to leave me much time or energy for it. But we’ll see how it goes. I just hope uncle Jens will be able to drive me. That would make a huge difference. A world of difference. So much of a difference that I’d almost not want to do it after all if he couldn’t. But he is retired so he should be able to open his schedule. And it is such an amazing thing that he is offering it. If my sight does get any better then I would owe him a debt of grattitude. For suggesting it in the first place and for being so helpful.

But I’m not going to get my hopes up. I don’t expect to get anything out of this. It’s just something I have to try. And if it helps any little bit then that will be a welcome surprise.

Also, my mother is making soup on Saturday. So at least I got that going for me.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 17:00 and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
4 Responses to “Ran Slirpa”

1. hanne Says:
April 1st, 2009 at 23:53

im always a sceptic too.. but go for it, you dont want to ever regret indeed.
wishing you the very best!
2. Debster Says:
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:45

Hee, hee. A typing monkey! That’s pretty funny. One gal we know put her kid’s breakfast cereal in different boxes, so went they went to pour out their cereal, they were sure surprised!

That’s about the only April Fool’s joke we heard of. We’re “fools” every day, so it wasn’t too big of a thing for my husband and I.

We were working on the good side of town today (nice houses, but old) overlooking the river. Whenever we work in this town, the cardinals are always singing so pretty. And today was no exception.

I’d read somewhere that cardinals can sing 23 or 24 different variations of their song, and I think they were doing 3 or 4 songs today. They were all singing a little different song and at different times and they were sure loud.

Poor Mrs. Cardinal has to decide which of those singers she likes the best! “Can you sing that part again for me, please?” “One more time, from the top, please!”

Good luck in getting your acupuncture appt. I’m with you in thinking I’d be ready to try anything (as long as it didn’t involve snakes). Glad you did some research and hope it does you some good. As long as it doesn’t make things worse and your doctor didn’t see anything wrong with trying it and you want to try it, go for it.
3. Desirée Says:
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:41

I had acupuncture for “pain relief” when I had Arthur. Bah-humbug is what I say. But many of my peers, who also had it during labour, were all for it, so maybe I’m just a wimp and nothing but a total knock-out will be enough for me and my pain. To be fair, not even the epidural worked as the heffer I was giving birth too was squashing a nerve and causing me pain beyond reach of alternative or modern medicine!

It makes me so incredibly happy that you have the support of your whole family at this time. It really means a lot to me to know that you’re not left to cope with all this on your own.

I don’t know what the doctor has said, but I don’t see why the cataracts surgery wouldn’t work to make your eyesight much better, so I’m hoping they’ll get on with that side of things asap. As you say, I should wait with the acupuncture until after the op so as to give both the best possible chance of a successful outcome.

I’m so pleased you’ve amended your eating and especially your drinking habits – it’s doing you the world of good! And getting back ont he bike is also just so, so good for you!

You’re my hero, Plume!
4. Plume Says:
April 3rd, 2009 at 23:13

hanne – Yeah, nothing to lose. Let’s hope it goes well. Thank you!

Debster – Did the goats pull any jokes? I bet they wanted to do something like not eating their food.. but then they couldn’t hold out and they ended up eating it anyway. Doh.
I got my appointment for the acupuncture, so I’ll be starting on the 27th. I’m trying not to expect too much. But it’s hard not to hope. Fingers crossed.

Desiree – I’m sorry the acupuncture didn’t help you with the pain. I’m sure it can help some people though, so I’ll just cross my fingers and hope that I’m one of them. I have to try anyway.
My family has been wonderful throughout this. I am very thankful for that.
The reason why the cataracts surgery might not help my vision a lot is that there aren’t too many of the cataracts. Or they are small. Or however you say it. I don’t have ltos and lots of it. My sight problems are mainly caused by the diabetes stuff. So while the surgery might give some improvement they couldn’t say that it would make a noticeable difference. But we’ll see. If my sight gets better then I don’t really care if it’s from acupuncture or surgery or both. Or neither. I would have prefered to wait with the acupuncture really, but at the same time I don’t want to risk losing more of my sight. If it can be helped. The acupuncture won’t have any negative effects on the cataracts surgery.. so might as well get everything I can do done as fast as possible.

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Why didn’t anyone tell me that yesterday was daylight saving time in Denmark?

Normally I always remember these things. But yesterday I didn’t. And of course yesterday was the first time in as long as I can remember that my mother did not decide to remind me. Normally she’ll mention it to me “don’t forget to set clock back/forward”. And I’ll roll my eyes and say “duh mum, I’m not a total spazz”. But yesterday I was. I should have suspected something when I got up around 8 (or so I thought) and then a little later I was sitting at the computer and it was 10 o’clock. i thought to mysself I thought “I haven’t been up for two hours have I?”. But I chalked it up to morning tiredness and blindness. And then later that day I was getting ready to go to my parents’ for dinner and I thought I had more than an hour. Then I looked at the computer clock and realized I had less than 10 minutes. Oops. Good thing the computer auomatically updates the clock. Otherwise I would’ve been late for dinner.

We had fish. I think that might be the first time I have ever been invited over for fish. And there is a reason for that. We hate fish. No no, I mean there is a reason that I was invited over for fish. And it has to do with that new development I have been mentioning.

A couple of days ago my dad came over with a piece of paper he wanted me to look at. It was about alternative medicine. Yes. That surprised me a lot. My dad is very down to earth and skeotical of these things. At least that’s the image I had of him. And as he said the other day, 20 years ago he never would have thought he’d be talking about those sort of things. But you remember uncle Jens, my dad’s brother? He went through that cancer thing. And apparently he had some help from alternative medicine. Not saying it cured him of cancer, but he felt it helped. And he has an ex-colleague that he has known for 20 years or more who is doing that kind of thing. alternative healingmajig. I’m not sure exactly what. But anyway, I guess my dad and Jens have been talking about it all. And Jens has been giving some advice. And that was what was on that piece of paper.

Not all of it was really alternative in any way. There was some diet advice. Cut the soda, even the sugarfree. I have done that. Only had a mouthful of sugarfree Fanta in the last 4-5 days. And there was something about vegetables. And fish. I knew fish was good, I’m just not good at cooking fish at all. And thereby we are back to the beginning of the tale. Eating fish with the parents. We are going to be doing that once a week or so from now on. In an effort to get me the fatty fishes that I need. Also my dad is deboning mackerels for me. I used to like smoked mackerels to put on bread. But I never liked getting the bones out. And with my vision worse and worse that wasn’t really an option anymore. But my dad is doing it now. Buying mackerels, getting the bones out, bringing them over to my apartment. He is so much help, no doubt about that.

Carrots should be one of the best things for you too, and I have been eating plenty of those. Getting back on the exercise bike. I’m really trying to do an effort to get back to better living after being so down for so long. Not that I’m not down about my eyesight anymore. But at least I’m not letting it ruin everything.

Another thing on the list was cranberry juice. I didn’t think I’d like that, but it’s actually okay. I mix it up with carbonated mineral water and that has replaced cola for me now. So that’s alrite. It’s odd not drinking any cola anymore, though. I can’t remember a life without cola. But it hasn’t been too bad so far.

Also on the list were some “German eyedrops” that supposedly relax something in your eyes and help. I’m waiting to find out what exactly they are, because I don’t want to start taking medication without checking with the regular eye docs.

But all in all that was mostly standard and good advice. There was one more thing though. Acupuncture. Jens’s friend has reccomended an acupuncturist. Who claims to be able to help with sight problems amongst other things. I still have not decided if I want to try that. I am skeptical at nature. They do claim to get good results with a lot of people. It does seem that acupuncture can accomplish things. But how much is in the head of the patient? If I don’t really believe in it, is it going to work then?

I am still considering the pros and cons. Going to do some internet research on the acupuncturist in question. And think. What do I have to lose? If it actually helps my eyesight then that would be a really, really good thing. And it’s not like it can hurt. On the other hand, if I try it and it doesn’t work then it would be very disappointing. I’m not sure how well I would cope with disappointment these days. And there are other issues. The clinic is fairly far away. More than 2 hours by train. So that would be more than 4 hours of transport. And you need 2 treatments for 10 days. Monday to Friday then weekend pause then Monday to Friday. A treatment is about half an hour and then you have to wait an hour until the next one. So it would add up to some 6-7-8 hours every day. And to me that is a lot. A lot. Traveling, being away from home, strange people, strange things. I do not like the thought of that. Uncle Jens has said that he might come and stay with my parents for those two weeks and then he could drive us in his car. That would be an awesome help. And if he can’t drive me every day then my dad will come with me on the train. Again, everyone is so nice and helpful. My dad has even offered to pay for it all. Including transportation it would probably be around 10,000 Danish Kroners. Something like 1800 Dollars. He’s been saving up for a makeup Greenland trip so I could get to go there after missing the family trip. Doesn’t look like that will be happening. I’m not going to want to go while my sight is so bad, I’m just not. So the money could go to this instead. It’s incredibly sweet and generous of my dad. And everyobody is urging me to say yes. And as fast as possible. But do I want to spend all that time and energy and money on something I’m not sure I believe in?

I want my eyesight to be better.

I don’t know. I’ll read the papers the acupuncturist sent my dad. I’ll look on the net. I’ll think. They want me to say yes as fast as possible. I’m thinking I might want to wait until after the cataracts operation and the last laser treatments. Maybe say no to the acupuncture if that stuff works, maybe say yes if it doesn’t work and my eyesight gets even worse.

I don’t know, I don’t know. I have a lot of thinking to do obviously. I should come up with an answer in a couple of days or so. Even if the answer is that I want to wait before I decide.

We’ll see.

I took my dad’s piece of paper with me to the doctor when I got my test results. He looked it over. Thumbs up to the diet stuff. He couldn’t say one way or the other about the eyedrops and the acupuncture because he didn’t really have any experience with that. He didn’t say anything against it though.

Any thoughts, opinions, advice, experiences etc you want to share would be most welcome.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 22:35 and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
3 Responses to “Alternative Lifestyle”

1. Debster Says:
March 31st, 2009 at 0:51

Hay, hay! Sounds like you’ve got some options. That’s great! All the diet stuff sounds great and will help you and your parents to be healthier regardless.

I’ve not had any direct experience with acupuncture, but my sister had some treatments done when she was having some major back problems. She seemed to think they helped her and she didn’t have any bad reactions to the treatments.

She was in so much pain with her back, that she was ready to try anything. If your regular doctor doesn’t have anything bad to say about any of the alternative medicines, you might give it a try.

Yes, the acupuncture may not help. But on the other hand, it might. At least you have some options now and you can either try them or not try them.

I am so glad to hear how supportive your family is for you. I’m so relieved, if fact that you are not doing this all on your own. I know you want to and you don’t want to be a burden on anyone, but there comes a time in just about everyone’s life when one must depend on someone else.

You are very good at helping other people (like visitors to the playground, the lady and the bus schedule, etc.), but the other side of that is being able to graciously accept help from others. Think of it as you’re doing them a favor by letting them help you.

You sound so much more upbeat and hopeful regardless of what happens. I’m still pulling for you to get better.

This is also a second chance for you to get to know your parents and uncle as an adult and to maybe make some positive changes in your relationships with them. And it sounds like that is already happening for you.
2. Katrine Says:
March 31st, 2009 at 8:27

Hey!
It must be so good for your parents to be able to do *something*, to feel that they can help you a bit :) The dietary changes sounds like the things all of us would benefit from, I’m sure it will bring good things!

About getting enough omega3-acids or what ever it was they recommended, I don’t think fish once a week is quite enough to fulfill the body’s need, so maybe you should consider a dietary supplement as well? Do you have “tran” in Denmark? (yeah, it tasted le horrible back in the days, but now you can buy these capsules that doesn’t taste a thing now, like these: http://www.mollers.no/c-21-M%C3%B6ller%E2%80%99s-Dobbel.aspx)

I know that my mum, biggest sceptic in the world, got help for back problems using acupuncture. But as far as I understand, acupuncture is about stimulating nerves to make muscels behave in certain ways (relax/contract/release tension), and I must say that I don’t understand how that will work on your eyes. But I may be wrong, t’s just a novel idea to me. Do your reasearch and let us know what you find.
3. Plume Says:
April 1st, 2009 at 17:15

Katrine – I’m sure they’re glad they can help, and I’m sure glad they can too.
I’ll be eating fish more than once a week since my dad will be bringing me the mackerels.. those are supposed to be really good. And I’ll eat them pretty much every day. So hopefully that’ll cover my needs.
Without going into too much details, this particular form of acupuncture does something that is supposed to break down some blockades in the body and that allows some chemicals to be released and get to the eyes.. or something. That’s my very unprofessional retelling of it.

Debster – I’m desperate enough to try the acupuncture, so hopefully it will help. It can’t hurt to try anyway.
I’m happy that my family is so helpful. I’m very lucky to have them. No doubt that helps our relationship a lot too. I feel a lot closer to them by now.