Chapter 65 - Electronic Miracle

At 9am this morning she sits in her chair after combing her hair, gives me a handful of of shed hair. Her feet extend almost straight shaking, heels not on the floor, her hands wobble gently and her lower lip trembles. She had washed her hair under the shower then needed help drying & dressing. Although recently she has needed less help but perhaps I'm growing accustomed to the routine and don't notice. Her bra clips have caused most bother because doing that female thing of whipping hands behind between the shoulder blades has given her pain. The pain may now be a thing of the past.

A few weeks ago a neighbour showed her an Electronic Nerve Stimulator for T.E.N.S. therapy. I was born a sceptic and immediately doubted the claims of this type of therapy to relieve pain. Witch-doctoring cods-wallop. Anyway, I checked with our favourite on-line pharmacy to discover they would send me the top-of-range model for $145 (rrp about $180) with free delivery. I couldn't refuse a bargain like that so a few days later an Omron HV-F128 was delivered. Neither of us really wanted to initiate the use of the thing, maybe electrocution was a non-advertised side effect? (unlikely since it ran off two AA cells) This last Tuesday, just before we intended going down town to buy some photo frames (to hold likenesses of beautiful & handsome grandchildren) she complained of the pain in her right arm from her thumb to well above the wrist. OK, time to experiment! Sticky pads attached above & below the wrist. Select "Arm", "Soothe", turn on & crank up the volume control. Above a level of 4 she felt discomfort, so we wound it back a bit. The machine only runs for 15 minutes at a session so we waited patiently. As I removed the sticky patches I looked for burn marks (as one would see on the bodies of undesirables in the "land of the free"), saw nothing and she said "The pain is gone. Look, I can wriggle my fingers. Although there is a twinge when I move my thumb like this." So off we went down town to buy the frames. We have been "doing" her right arm morning and bedtime for the last few days. Although this morning after showering she was very stooped, a thick feeling in her lower back, yet no pain. Partially dressed she lay on her stomach on the bed, I attached the pads on the rear right side of her waist and set the machine for "knead massage". At completion she said the thickness feeling had gone. A little while ago as she walked past my dungeon door, saying "Look, I'm walking upright!" Encouraged by our success, the neighbour has begun using her machine. She had not used it, having only told us of its benefits, not verified in her case.

What else has happened to us since the last post? A revised report for her yearly CT scan of her kidneys stated that she had another cyst on her liver, rather than a "normal" gall bladder that was removed 20 years ago. One shadow on a scan looks much like another I suppose. In the process of this yearly check-up our GP detected a bladder infection so now she is taking a couple of courses of anti-biotics as well as regular Avapro since he says he trending blood pressure readings need lowering. Her PD meds are performing differently this last week & she suspects the new pills may be the cause. Probably not.

Her embroidery activities have lapsed after she hooped but not yet stitched a 2007 calendar which will need 3 hoopings. However she put in several days' effort preparing our Xmas cards this year and sticky address labels for them. This year we decided to attempt the el-cheapo by printing our own cards on pre-formatted paper. Unfortunately, the costs of the paper, printer ink possibly is no cheaper than buying the average "snow & tinsel" card. I wonder why we maintain this pretence inherited from the northern hemisphere?