On Pins & Needles

We switched health plans last open season and moved to a plan that allows us to go to any doctor we want instead of only getting an in-network referral. I only mention this because Jaime mentioned to me that now we can get acupuncture and it will be covered by the plan. Before I knew it, she had me signed up for an appointment.
I'm not sure I would have taken the initiative on this, but I thought I'd just go with the flow and see how it pans out. I tend to let my stress gather in my back and get muscle spasms once in a while. After reading up on the ancient Chinese traditional practice, I found it a compelling idea that I was willing to try.
One problem is, that while I intellectually don't have a problem with needles, somewhere my subconscious mind just doesn't share the love. I have (I am a bit embarrassed to admit) passed out, or nearly passed out a few times where needles have been involved. I'm not talking about the occasional flu or Novocaine shot, I'm talking about blood donation/collection or this one time I had some electrical needle thrust into my body at different points (electromyography) and the PT decided somewhere midway that I wasn't exactly well and stopped.
Last week was my first appointment and walked into the office. It was in a house in a residential area, around the back entrance to what would be the basement patio. After filling out the requisite forms and intake meeting, I got my first treatment. My back has been bothering me since college and my days of trampolining around with Gymkana (<---see the video of some of the things we did --I'm getting off track here, and maybe I'll post something about this another time).
It was a good thing that Mr. Li treated my back first, because I was on my stomach and couldn't see the needles being stuck in. In fact, I wasn't sure at first how many he put in because it took me a while to figure out that he wasn't just touching my back to locate a spot, he had been inserting the needles without me realizing it. I think that out of 30-40some needles he put in my body, only 3 of them were uncomfortable enough for me to wince. And let me mention again that I couldn't see them. And another strange thing (or just new to me) is that he put in a few short needles that he put a patch over and kept in until my next visit!
And did it work? Well, let's just say that the side that had been giving me problems recently has not given me any problems at all. And I didn't feel or notice the needles that stayed in all week.
Today I went back for my second treatment. I discussed a few issues wanted to address before I go away on my trip this summer. He treated my back and then had me lie down facing up. He put needles on my arms, stomach, head and legs/ankles. These I did see. I felt like Pinhead from the movie Hellraiser. But it didn't hurt at all (OK, one did hurt, but the rest didn't). I didn't pass out and walked away feeling quite relaxed.
So, will it work? I dunno yet. But I'll stick with it for a while at least.

Counterfeit Busters

Somehow my daughter got a counterfeit one dollar bill. Yeah, a one dollar bill. I'm not clear on the circumstances of her getting it, but that is not important. My thought was who in their right mind (or criminal mind) would ever bother counterfeit a one dollar bill. It was most likely a gag or a joke someone made out of a bill, but by all accounts, I am told that it looked and felt real, except for the rather lewd pictures that were on it. Thank goodness those pictures did not register in my daughter's radar. Still, she felt a sense of duty and wanted to call the police and report it. Eventually, an agent of the Secret Service felt compelled to come to the house to take a look at it. He was surprised at how good it was for all the markers of a real counterfeit, except again for the pictures. He said he needed to take it and wrote out a receipt for it. My daughter was so proud that she did her civic duty to protect the USA!
As it turns out, the bill was a gag gift brought back from another country by a friend of ours. Somehow she got a hold of it (note to self: it's time to put away certain items in drawers -- kid's are getting curious!).
The Secret Service agent was called and told about where the item came from and how it was acquired. He was interested, because the bill was so real that it was illegal to produce. No one was getting in trouble for it, but they wanted to know more about the whereabouts of its origin.
This reminds me of when I used to work in a bank as a teller. I was the resident counterfeit identifier. For some reason, I was able to quickly identify which bills were real or not. In one year, I must have spotted about 15 $100 bills, much to the chagrin of customers or other tellers. It was exciting, in a way, and I got to fill out forms to send to the secret service.
However, I never got to be visited by an agent!

Appreciating a milestone

I have been very busy the last week, and after teaching family life for a week, nothing else seems to rise to the level of interesting at the moment.
So I will take a moment to slow down and appreciate something that should not go unnoticed:
Tonight (and this was not the first time), my son read to me a bedtime story. I mention this because somewhere we have transitioned to the point in what I think is one of the other miracles of life: the ability to read. As I listened to him read Green Eggs and Ham, one of his favorites to read, he stopped to show me the pictures and to fill in some background and commentary of what is going on. He was doing some of what I do when I read to him and it is interesting to see him interpret what he is reading.
Each afternoon and/or morning before school, I have him read to me a leveled book from his kindergarten teacher. He is reading above grade level and it is really cool to see him read unfamiliar words and sound them out and think about what they say and mean. You can really see the gears turning.
Those gears are turning a lot easier lately.
It's a beautiful process to watch.