Almost Normal

April 26, 2014

What a busy day! My day started out right with a mommy and son date to the Mother’s Day breakfast at his daycare that he attends two day s a week. Quite the handsome little man!

Then, off to acupuncture. My doctor, Dr. Li is in China so her husband (who normally translates for her) was treating me today. I was wondering how it would go since he’s never taken my pulse and had only her notes to compare it to, but it went well. She apparently takes very detailed notes, and he’s been there translating for three months now, so I think he gets the “gist” of things.

He said compared to her notes, my pulse was much stronger today. When I pushed and prodded a bit more, he said “good.” And when I pushed and prodded even more asking about specific channels, he said that my pulse was actually almost “normal.” Almost normal! Music to my ears.

They had explained to me early on that my Chi would always be a little lower because of my small stature, so I get that. I’m not quite sure how my TCM pulse points and actual pulse / blood pressure according to Western Medicine measure up, but I’ve always had very low blood pressure. During pregnancy, my blood pressure was alarmingly low. At one visit, they retook it four times because my doctor was convinced it was wrong. She said I’d be comatose with a blood pressure reading like that. I’m not quite sure if it went up because it had been measured incorrectly the first three times, or I was getting freaked out and it spiked.

But, almost normal sounded like great news to me! He checked my tongue and nodded. I’ve never gotten more explanation that a nod when they check my tongue. I’ll inquire more next time. He reviewed her notes and put a few markings down for some slight changes to my mixture for the next two weeks.

As he was measuring the herbs out I started asking him about specific ones in the mix and could tell he was getting flustered. I was literally asking what they were, but I could tell he misunderstood that I was asking what each one DID. He told me her prescription was very scientific. Some herbs were for the heat element, some cooling, some damp, etc. He said that some herbs were only for specific organs and others were added in for other organs or to prevent a certain herb from acting on the wrong organ, etc. He said “very, very complicated.” His wife, my doctor, was the true “chemist” when it came to that so he let her be in charge of that. He said he’d only tweaked her mixture VERY slightly according to my symptoms this week.

I discussed with him my light period and he didn’t seem too concerned. He said the fact I GOT a period was a good sign. The ultimate goal is to get me to menstruate around 4-5 days. Out of curiosity I looked back at my chart from the cycle I conceived my son and I had bled for three days. I had also ovulated day 12 that cycle, so, a bit earlier than average, but totally within a normal window. Judging by my fertility signs this cycle, I anticipate ovulating around that time this cycle too (fingers crossed my ovaries kick one out!!)

For now, I’ll take “almost normal.” On my way!