ACUPUNCTURE

Dear Harry,

You would not have heard of it. Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese form of medicine still in widespread practice today. It involves the insertion of thin needles at strategic places in the body to promote the proper flow of qi, the life force, to all parts of the body. Some say this is fanciful, unscientific--and certainly it is so if you apply the rules of strictly Western rational scientific theory. Still, it has worked, empirically, since centuries before Western medicine and drugs were the accepted form of treatment for disease.

I mention this because I am currently myself experiencing a course of acupuncture treatments. It was recommended by a traditional Western doctor in my HMO (health management organization; no National Health in America, of course! No "socialized medicine" here!) as a way to address recurring pain from my hip replacement surgery earlier this year. 

The office I visit is, I suspect, a Chinese family affair. It's unclear how much English is understood. No matter. There's a good deal of pure intuition involved. No "bedside manner." The office is a little dingy, communication minimal. I lie flat on my back while the acupuncturist inserts the needles--mostly painlessly, now and then a little pricking sensation--and leaves them in place while she disappears for fifteen or twenty minutes. Then I'm invited to try "cupping" and massage for an additional $30. I have been indulging in this extra. Cupping involves multiple small "cups" which are placed on the back and (it seems; I can't actually see because obviously I'm face down) vacuum-suctioned in place for a further fifteen to twenty minutes.

The massage that follows is unlike any other I've ever had. It's short--ten minutes or so--and vigorous, starting with the back of the head and neck and working down the spine. Almost chiropractic--another medical practice which is now much more generally accepted than in your day., Harry But I think you would have liked it all. You were certainly open to alternative medical treatments including--we have talked about this before--the laying on of hands. Faith healing. Sometimes it worked. Remember the story of the local blacksmith, a wart charmer, who cured my warts?

Is this course of treatments working for me? Hard to say. Healing, in my experience, is never an overnight process. I will say that I noticed a remarkable improvement after just the first treatment, but I could not be sure whether this was in my body or my head. I did want to feel better, so maybe that was enough. But anyway I decided to continue with the treatments. My HMO pays for all but $5. The extra $30 is on me. But it strikes me as a very good deal, Harry, wouldn't you say?

I wish you had been able to find more effective treatments for your pain. You did suffer, and throughout your life, from a variety of ailments. Would acupuncture have helped? Who knows? I'm sure your would have been willing to try, as you tried so many other things. But anyway, you're beyond pain now. Perhaps that's good

With love, Peter