Saturday - Aug 29

Jerry had his first visit with Dr Zhu's acupuncture yesterday, the session was 4 hours, it was quite a new experience for him. Dr. Zhu inserted about 15 needles into the top of Jerry's head, for the first 45 minutes Jerry sat in his wheelchair tilted back and relaxed, he said it made him feel sleepy. The doc then had Jerry do arm and leg exercises, with the needles still in his head. Next the doc inserted about 20 needles into Jerry's shoulders and arms and he relaxed for another 30 minutes. Dr. Zhu removed the needles from the arms and shoulders and then a trainer did acupressure on Jerry's feet. The trainer would put pressure on certain spots which would make Jerry's legs jump, it was kind of weird. Jerry did a variety of other exercises which included upper body balance work, standing frame and a motorized pedal bike. For the most part I would have to say the exercise portion was a little weak, there was a lot of time in between exercise sessions and each session was very short, Jerry was bored. The acupuncture portion was very interesting, the doctor asked if Jerry had any pain, Jerry said yes in his shoulders. The doc twisted or moved a needle in Jerry's head and then asked again if Jerry had pain he said no. That was crazy twisting a needle in the top of the head removed the pain in his shoulders. Jerry also experienced sensation in his sides below his rib cage, he had a hard time describing what he felt. The doctor wanted Jerry to go home and leave the needles in his head until he went to bed. Jerry was not happy about that and asked the doc if he could remove the needles. The doctors English is not so good and his accent is so heavy there was a bit of a communication gap. The doctor took out half the needles but left 8 needles in, Jerry thought all the needles were out. We left and started loading Jerry in the car, his head brushed the top of van and he felt the needles, he was PO'ed. I think it was a mental thing about needles, he said they hurt but after the doc took out half he couldn't feel the others. Jerry reluctantly decided it would be OK to leave them in until bed but he wasn't happy about it. By 8:00 pm Jerry had decided he really couldn't feel the needles and it wasn't so bad leaving them in. We canceled SCI-FIT on all Fridays in September and are going to go to Dr. Zhu on Fridays. Dr. Zhu is very expensive and of course the insurance does not cover it. I think we will do the 4 hour sessions during Sept but for October maybe we will see about just going to Dr. Zhu to get the needles inserted and then do the exercise at home to cut down on cost. The exercise they did was nothing special and could easily be done at home.

Tonight is the classical concert benefit we are very excited about it, it should be a wonderful evening. I hope to see some of you locals there, come say hi.

katie