Acupunture, Dr. Sheng, Montel Williams, Shirley MacLaine Moments, and Good Energy Flow!

Faithful readers of this blog will recall that when I went to visit my new primary care physician, Dr. Mehta, he told me acupuncture would be great for stress on the body as I go through cancer treatments. Being one who loves acupuncture, I readily agree to pursue this weekly until my surgery.

He suggests a Dr. Sheng, a doctor of Chinese medicine and herbalist officed in the Berry Hill area. http://www.southerndesign.com/drsheng/Index.html Of note, the hospital I go to is currently studying Dr. Sheng because of her amazing cure rate among their cancer patients for whom my hospital could do nothing more!

Since Dr. Sheng is also an herbalist, and since my Oncologist told me "no herbs of any kind while working with chemo," I called my regular acupuncturist instead, Dr. Lamberth, whom I adore. Dr. Lamberth and I had a nice chat when I called, and he was very sympathetic to my cause; however, he was not going to be available Friday. So, I asked him for suggestions - he tells me Dr. Sheng in Berry Hill. Well, I'm just not ready to see Dr. Sheng yet ... can't explore herbs right now, etc. So............

I e-mailed some friends and receive other suggestions (which suggestions included Dr. Sheng). I called all of the suggested practitioners minus Dr. Sheng, but nothing available Friday afternoon. When asked who these practitioners might recommend ... Dr. Sheng. This is getting weird. I start to wonder at this point if I am destined to meet with Dr. Sheng Friday afternoon. With nowhere else to go, I dial her up. (I should explain that I try to be considerate of the time I take off from work, since it is frequent at times. Friday worked best for everyone's schedule, so ... that is something I tried to stick to.)

The nice receptionist told me Dr. Sheng has 3 openings left ... for the year. "When did you want to come in, she asks?" I tell her and guess what? One of those openings is Friday afternoon ... due to a cancellation that morning. (Oh.) As I say in the title, I'm starting to feel a little like Shirley MacLaine!

I arrive Friday afternoon at The Lotus Center. You walk through the door and immediately feel more relaxed - soft meditative music, incense - ahhhhhhh. I fill out paperwork and await my turn.

A Chinese woman, all of about 4 feet tall, enters the room. Her personality is 10 feet tall. We go into her office and she asks me a few questions. I am asked to remove my shoes and she takes both my wrists in her small hands. She proceeds to tell me, simply by being quiet and feeling/listening to my pulse for some time, what my symptoms are and have been and what that might tell about where I am in the cancer process. I am amazed.

Next I am asked to lay on her massage table, face down. She proceeds to place about 100-150 needles in the back of my neck, down my back, and in my legs and feet. For those who are squeamish, you can't feel a thing. She puts soft music on and leaves me in the room for about 45 minutes. As I lay there, I begin to feel a tremendous heat on the back side of my body. It disappears as quickly as it appeared. Next I feel something shooting down my feet. Again, this disappears quickly.

In what seemed like minutes, she returns, removes the needles and starts massaging the places down my neck and back that had me crying out before the needles were inserted. Now, I feel nothing but relaxation - all the tenseness is completely gone. Amazing! When I rise up from the table, I feel like a warm, limp rubber band. I notice that even my walking is different and more loose. Dr. Sheng and I chatted for a moment and I thank her for helping me. We make arrangements for me to return.

You may recall that Montel Williams is battling MS. Well, Montel is one of Dr. Sheng's patients. He flies to Nashville for acupuncture treatments with her.

I'm not sure how acupuncture works, but if you ever decide to try it ... you might want to give Dr. Sheng a try. By the way -- Dr. Sheng says I'm going to be just fine. "You have good energy flow and will heal," she said. Glad to hear it!