Thursday, February 11, 2016

Meridian Tapping

One of my best discoveries recently is of meridian tapping.  It has done a better job of helping me with my anxiety than anything I have ever tried. 
I stumbled upon this practice from a video posted from one of my favorite bloggers.  (http://www.mamaandbabylove.com/).  The author has a daughter with some sensory issues and she shared a video of how she helps to prevent meltdowns with tapping.  It was so amazing to see this little girl model after her mama.  That video sent me on a search for other videos and more information.  The  basic premise is that our bodies are made up of grids, called meridians.  Energy gets stuck in these meridians as travels through our bodies.  There are several ways to help unblock it and move it around.  Accupuncture, accupressure, massage, reflexology all work on similar premises.  Once I tried tapping, I was immediatly hooked.  I could literally feel some of these channels unclog.  It was like pulling a stopper out of a sink full of dirty dish water.  I could instantly feel my body relax and tension release.
I have been practicing tapping almost daily for many weeks now and this morning I didn't really feel anything shift.  It got me curious.   Was I not in the right space or if maybe for the first time since I started, maybe I hit a plateau?  Did I not have any built up or clogged energy?  Maybe I did a maintenance session?  Kind of a cool thought.  To be continued...

Saturday, February 6, 2016

My BRCA Journey Part Two

I LIVED!!  One of my greatest, and most unrealistic fear of having surgery was the anesthesia.  As the anesthesialogist told me, I had more risk driving in a car to the hospital than I had going under general anesthesia.  Thankfully I had a great experience.  The syncronisities continued and could not have asked for a better surgery experience.
Heath and I got up really early and left twice as long of time to get to the hospital as we needed because we had to go all the way across Denver in morning rush hour.  We hit not one accident or traffic jam and arrived a full hour before we needed to check in.  We were just pulling in when I got a phone call from the hospital saying that they were running ahead of schedule and asked if we could get there any earlier.  When has that ever happened in the history of healthcare!?
I had great staff in preop, and have no recollection of anything from leaving preop until postop.  I felt great, had no nausea, was able to get up pretty quickly and peed easily.  The only issue was that I probably took a little too much pain medicine and could not stay awake for longer than a couple of minutes, lightweight.
We got home by dinner time and I slept all the way in the car.  I recovered comfortably on the couch the following few days, and other than feeling like I had done the ab workout from hell, I really felt good.  I only took the percocet for a day or two, and then soley took Ibprofen for a week or so until I started forgetting to take pain medicine.
Heath lived up to and exceeded all of my expectations with his level of concern and dedication.  My mom was a dream and at the ready for any needs Heath and I had.  They both let me lounge around and relax.  Healing was no problem with such wonderful people in my corner.
After a week, I was pretty well back on my feet, and after two weeks I felt like I could go back to work.  I had to be off for four weeks to allow my surgical sites to completely heal.  With the physicality and lifting expectations in my job, there is some concern for developing a hernia through one of those sites.  It was a wonderful opportunity for a staycation.  Heath and I and the kids sucked up all of the wonderful family time, and made the most of every opportunity to enjoy being home (a rarity for the four of us).
I was ready to walk into my two week surgeon follow up appoinment questioning if my doctor really took anything out because I had not had one symptom of menapause.  Then just a couple of days before, I had my first hot flash.  Wabam!  I heard them described as "power surges" before and I would agree that is what they feel like.  Instead of being hot like usually, when you have too many layers on, you take off your coat or your sweater and it feels better.  Nope, nothing helps these.  It is a internal fire which there is no relief until it passes.  Luckly they are quick, usually less than a minute long.  I have them mostly at night when I am sleeping, and at church (I'm trying not to read to much into that).  Since I have returned to work, I have noticed they happen quite a bit at work to, but it's quite a nice change from being freezing all the time.
I am so grateful that a few power surges are my only symptom.  There is nothing else that I have noticed, and nothing that Heath has remarked on.  I feel perfectly normal, and am able to get on with life, just a little warmer!  The relief that I feel having had the procedure done, and knowing all the pathology came back completly clean is indescribable.  I am grateful that I have had such a great recovery and do not regret the path that I have chosen.  I have been truly blessed!