Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Reflexology

So I was in my stats lab the other day, and made enough comments that it was obvious to at least one of my classmates that there is something wrong with my voice. As in, it's pretty much totally gone, going on Day 6 of this now = awesome.

I say that apparently it was obvious because after class one of my classmates, with whom I've had a couple of conversations, said to me, rather abruptly, "give me your hands." And then to explain, "I'm a massage therapist."

So I'm thinking, "SWEET! She wants to make my life a little better while I'm so obviously sick by giving me a hand massage!"

Uh, no.

She grabbed a certain part of the meaty part of my hand between my thumb and first finger - and SQUEEZED. And it HURT! Badly! MUCH more than it should have hurt for the amount of pressure she used.

I yelped, "Ouch!" and gave her the look that you give someone when you don't them know very well and they suddenly inflict pain on you. Yeah, you know, that look.

She said, in some approximation of these words, "Just as I suspected, your immune system is totally hosed."

She looked me full in the face and said, "You need to take care of yourself. Sometimes we need someone to tell us that. I hereby give you permission to take care of yourself."

And I gulped and teared up a little bit and admitted (to myself) that I did need that. So I bought oj on the way home from campus that night, and went to bed at 9pm, and I'll offer her my hand again tomorrow, hoping that the sharp pain will be reduced to just a dull ache and that I'll be feeling human enough to remember to thank her.

7 comments:

Erin said...

Get better soon! Hope that meaty part of your hand doesn't hurt anymore and that your immune system bucks off the invading germs in a flash! (Positive messages are powerful against illness!)

Sharon said...

Good luck! I never knew that squeezing someone's hand could be so telling.

Daniel said...

Get well soon!

Amy said...

:( Poor sicky-poo. I'm glad you got more sleep... have I told you recently the sad tale of my like 3 years of depression in college that I'm sure were caused by lack of sleep?

But enough about me. You, there--sleep more. :) (I suggest you let yourself get like an hour more than you think you need for about a week longer than you think you need to. That's my brilliant, scientifically-calculated solution to your sicky-poo problem.) Love you!!

merrilykaroly said...

She sounds like a saint. You should listen to her.

Rachel said...

I just got back from Thailand. I am now a firm believer in whatever people who do reflexology say if it means they'll do it to me. I almost missed my plane back because I needed "just one more" Thai massage (which is basically reflexology). Hello, I'm Rachel, and I'm a reflexology addict.

Janell said...

Someone did that to me once! Not the niceness, but the hurting-squeezing thing. And it HURT. HURT. Pain hardly comparable to other pains!

The message therapist is a smart woman.