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Over the next few days my mind was still reeling from the fact that I had a seizure. The event felt like it gave another deeper feeling of the reality of my situation–how close to death I potentially could be. It was another moment where I felt like I was staring my mortality in the face.
As the word of my cancer continued to spread, one older lady from church approached me and offered her services to help. She was trained in reflexology and considered herself a healer. She was a sweet lady and really wanted to help other people and was very sincere in her offer. At this point I was willing to try any treatment that didn’t involve poison or chemicals. I wasn’t familiar with reflexology prior to this experience. I learned that reflexology is an alternative medical practice that involves pressure points and massage on certain zones of the feet and hands. I appreciated her desire to help and took her up on her offer.
I went to her house one morning and she gave me a paper to read over which explained that she heals through the power of the Holy Ghost and asked if I gave her permission to pray for guidance to help me. It was a little different than I expected, but I’m not sure what I expected so I granted permission. She proceeded to pray for me and then I laid down on her treatment table which resembled a massage table. We talked about my concerns, where the cancer was, and about any locations of pain I was feeling. She used her reflexology chart on the wall that correlated points on the feel and hands with corresponding organs in the body and found the places to focus on. She began rubbing my feet. It sounds like it would feel wonderful and relaxing. At least that’s what I was hoping for. But she found all the painful pressure points and rubbed at them until they were no longer painful. As she rubbed the sole of my foot she asked, “Do you feel that?” I wasn’t sure exactly what she was referring to. I definitely felt her rubbing my foot, but I wasn’t sure if she was referring to a specific sensation that I wasn’t aware of. I told her ‘maybe?” She told me that as she was rubbing she could feel crystals of toxins that represent blockages to the energy channels throughout the body. She proceeded to rub at those crystals to break them up. She also told me that the foot massage helped to rid the body of toxins. This part was relaxing and enjoyable. She also rubbed deep into my right abdomen, where I had said the pain was, and said she was breaking up adhesions. She would press her fingers firmly but gently into my side and hold it for a few seconds before shaking out her fingers. It wasn’t as enjoyable as I was expecting it to be. Yet, I was surprised that much of the pain related to my incision site and surgery was mostly gone. She told me to come back whenever I felt like I needed a treatment. I went about once a week for a few weeks, and then didn’t think about it again for a few weeks with the busyness of my other appointments, juicing, and making foods for my family that fit into my diet.
In July, my brother Dallin came for a week-long visit. Maybe it was because he wanted to spend time with me before I died, or just that he wanted to come and spend time with me and help out with all I had going on. Either way, it was nice to see him. He came with me to one of my treatments and kept me company while I talked like I was drunk. And he drove home so that I didn’t have to wait in the office for the drunk-like side effects of the vitamin C to wear off. He helped me juice bok choy, beets, and broccoli, and even tried some of it. While he was visiting, my younger sister, Melinda, came for a few days too.
One day while they were visiting, I noticed a sharp pain in my abdomen. Remembering the pains I had while pregnant, I panicked thinking that the cancer was back. I called the reflexologist to see if she could fit me in. She could sense the panic in my voice and had me come over later that afternoon. As she worked on me, she rubbed in my abdomen and told me that the pain I was experiencing was related to the adhesions and that she was trying to break them apart. It made the pain go away and put my mind at ease by helping me to realize and recognize that the adhesion pain was different than the cancer pain.
I’m still not sure the exact way that reflexology works. In my training and education as a nurse, I learned the pathology for disease and the physiology of how the body works. Trying to wrap my mind around “energy balance” in the body, “toxic crystals,” and “pathways” in the body just didn’t make sense. In the medical field, reflexology is considered a pseudoscience most likely because there is no logical explanation as to how it works. But I couldn’t deny that it had an effect on how I was feeling. Whether it was purely a placebo effect, I don’t know. Even now I’ll notice a pain somewhere and I will rub my feet and find a corresponding tender part on my foot. I check reflexology charts online and the tender spot on my foot matches the body part that is hurting. And as I rub out the tender part, the pain in the corresponding body part fades as well. It still baffles me, but I still use it.
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