Acupuncutre and Bone Stimulator

But first the Chinese medicine/acupuncture Dr. Ting. The idea of going to him was not so he could fix my fracture. The idea was to see if he could alleviate some of the secondary pain in the soft tissue/muscles caused by this pea-sized problems otherwise known as the sesamoid bone.

I saw him the 28th. We discussed what I had done with Western medicine, and how long it had been, and that I would be getting an MRI. He was understandably hesitant to do too much to my foot. But he did try to pin point the pain and tried to get the circulation to improve. He said that I should stop doing cold and use a heating pad to help with the circulation. I said I had actually stopped using ice packs because the cold made my feet hurt so much worse (at this point with NYC winters I had been wearing 5 pairs of socks, which only works a short while when you keep pace with the hobbling elderly). He said based on the pain he didn't think the bones were smashed, but something was wrong with them...perhaps a hairline fracture, and that he would like to see the MRI. He is the one I credit for encouraging me to get copies of my X-Rays and the MRI. Once we knew exactly what was wrong he might be able to help more.

My foot did feel different, it went numb for a bit, which it was supposed to do, and something was going on down there, whether it was increased blood flow or something else, for the first time in months my foot felt something different than pain.

Also at this point in the timeline, I had been contacted by a person representing a bone stimulator manufacturer, who would be applying for approval. One of the reasons it takes a fractured sesamoid so long to heal is the lack of blood flow in the foot, and loss of blood can cause necrosis, make the bone die. The bone stimulator, depending on manufacturer, sends either electromagnetic or ultrasonic waves to help stimulate blood flow and encourage growth in fractured bones....the studies have shown it to be effective to varying degrees. This is the one Hilary worked for.

She needed medical records from St. Luke's and we decided to wait until we had the MRI because that would show something definite.

Personally I was having a really difficult time. Socializing became harder. I wanted to take all possible measures to avoid the surgery and have my bones heal. I would wait a year if I needed to do, keep pace with the hobbling elderly, maybe write a blog, find as many theatre opportunities that would be willing to deal with the disability...Shakespeare's Richard III and Laura Wingfield (Glass Menagerie) are written disabled, but surely there are roles that a gimp could make work?

I wanted to be able to dance again and get my energy back, and I would do whatever it took.

Because of the holiday timeline I started carrying my camera with me and took some pictures of the season. In holiday seasons past, I used to walk all over the city, see the trees and the decorations, one of my favorites being the giant snowflake hanging over the intersection at 57th and 5th Ave. During this time I realized my day-to-day perspective was changing. Perhaps it was because I had to move slower and was able to notice more.