Today has been the busiest day I’ve had in ages. I had to wake up at 7:00am, get out the door by 7:20am, and drive all the way to downtown DC. I had an appointment at Walter Reed to see my neurologist to get the results on a special MRI and an EEG I had done earlier. I was given good news and bad news at this visit. Good news first: my EEG was clear, so there are no clear signs that I have any kind of seizure disorder. That’s absolutely fantastic, I’m overjoyed with that news.

The bad news was that the folks running the MRI test did the wrong study. It said very clearly on the order for the test that it was a very specific MRI scan called a CSF Flow Study, which was supposed to determine whether or not this brain stem malformation thing I have is actually causing the headaches. I even asked the technician running the MRI if they were doing the flow study, and they said yes. Well, they didn’t. It was just yet another scan of my brain. That’s nice and all, but I already had one. It wasn’t what I needed, which means at some point this month I’ll have to drive all the way back to Walter Reed and have *another* MRI done. Fun fun fun.

So I talked to the neurologist, who was very sweet and considerate and oh so very thorough. He actually recommended other forms of pain management besides just another slew of medications, since I’ve tried about half a dozen already and none of them have done anything but make me feel ill. He actually suggested I try acupuncture. I’ve been trying to avoid that for ages, what with my past history of bad luck with needles. But, he said that Walter Reed – the Army hospital(!) – actually has an acupuncture clinic now, run by highly trained MDs. The only people actually dealing with the needles are doctors, so that made me feel better.

My neurologist gave me a consult to get some acupuncture done, and I went down to that clinic to set up and appointment, and wouldn’t you know it, they had a cancellation that very same day. That was a huge relief because apparently acupuncture’s very popular in the Army – the clinic was booked solid until the end of of March! So they told me to come back at one o’clock that afternoon for my first treatment.

That was perfect! That gave me just enough time to drive down to K Street to pick up my effects from the First Star office. I showed up, walked in, told Debbie that I couldn’t stay long because I had an appointment, grabbed my stuff, and back out I went. It was great! I was really worried she’d try to sit me down for a talk or something, but nope, nothing like that. Such a relief; I was so nervous about that as I sat at the computer there, deleting my files, that my heart was pounding against my ribcage. Not fun at all.

After that, Mom and I went off to an art supply store, bought some fun stuff, and then, heaven! Lush is finally open in Washington, DC! Just like an answer to my prayers, there it appeared on M Street, right smack dab in the middle of Georgetown. (Actually, I found out it opened a few weeks ago and purposefully mapquested a route to get there… what can I say? I needed to be enveloped by that Lush-store wave of scents as you walk inside one of those cute little cubicles of cosmetic loveliness.) I bought some more shampoo, some bath bombs for some very nice ladies at the Tricare office. (Tricare is my military insurance health coverage – there are two ladies who work in a local office here who have been fighting for nearly two years to get Tricare to pay for the prosthetic toe I got. We got word a week ago that Tricare is going to pay the whole bill, every cent of it. We got the check it was nearly unbelievable! That was a huge chunk of change. So, I thought, since they worked so hard, those lovely Tricare ladies deserved a Lush present.) Lush was exactly what I needed. It brightened me up, although driving in Georgetown traffic and parallel parking wasn’t too fun.

After that, it was time to head back to Walter Reed. It took ages to get back there, even though technically it wasn’t all that far. Darn city traffic. But I’m very proud to say I drove the whole way, avoided several evil drivers, and didn’t even come close to an accident. Hooray for me!

Back at the acupuncture clinic, I met the funniest Gap Model Doctor yet (I believe he’s number eight, but I’ve kind of lost count.) Anyway, GMD#8 was exactly how I imagine my brother Tim behaving about eight years from now: hyperactive, sly sense of humor, and absolutely in love with his work. He talked to me for a while and explained all about how the Chinese believe that acupuncture releases chi, lets chi flow more easily, or something like that. All in all, he said it has a lot to do with chemicals and muscles and all that good stuff. Either way, he said that it wouldn’t hurt too bad and it would most likely help with my headaches. I was game.

I got into my hospital gown, laid down on the little bed thing, and he started sticking the little needles in me. Whooooa, he picked the *wrong* place to start: he stuck needles in my feet! What’s worse is, he stuck needles right in the same area where I recently had serious nerve pain thanks to the bones in my left foot shifting due to the amputation. It hurt pretty badly for the first few minutes, and then my whole leg started aching to the point that it went kind of numb. He then proceeded to put needles in my legs, my stomach, my hands (YEOW!), wrists (PAIN!), and then, worst of all, my forehead (GAG!!) I have a really high pain tolerance: I’ve been stabbed by icky things twice, I’ve gone through over six operations, had a digit amputated. I think I’m pretty good at handling pain. But I can tell you, there was nothing like having those needles put into my forehead. According to the Doctor, that proves that there’s something painful going on with my headaches: he said they’ve found that when they’ve hit just the right spot with the needle, the skin around the needle will turn red. The redder the skin, the more effective the needle.

My forehead looked like the fourth of July. I had five needles in my forehead, two kind of underneath my ears at the base of my skull, and one on the very top of my head. The forehead was the worst, with one right between my eyes, one on each temple, and then one about an inch or so above each eyebrow. The eyebrows hurt the worst, mostly because he ended up pushing them into a muscle and oh my heavens that made the nastiest noise I have ever heard in my life. And he *meant* to do that, he said it was a *good* thing! I highly doubt that the internal sounds of squishing matter can be a good thing… eeeugh. I was very happy when they came out.

Interestingly enough, the final pin to come out – the one between my eyes – provided the most entertainment. It actually made the doctor giggle. What happened? It was the only needle that started bleeding. He pulled it out, giggled, and said, “Wow, that was some impressive chi!” He mopped up my forehead and went on and on about what a great point that was, and then finally said, “Oh, and you might notice some bruising… um, yup, there it is…” Mom looked at me and said it looked like my forehead had been attacked by a swarm of bees.

Thankfully, the redness has since subsided. Unfortunately, I do have a massive bruise and a bit of a bump right between my eyes. And holy crap does it hurt. I can’t move my forehead too much, and just forget about touching my face. Not gonna happen. I think the bruise itself looks rather disconcerting. Having the shape changed and the discoloration right there, I can’t help but feel like some kind of alien off Star Trek. It’s like I’m growing klingon ridges, and that’s a very scary thought.

Hopefully by tomorrow my klingon forehead will go away and I’ll quit feeling like an alien. That would be nice. It’s also very nice that I get to sleep in. Hooray! But before I go tuck myself in, I have to send out a message to Stephen:


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 🙂 Hooray! Let the February birthday events commence! 🙂

And that’s it from me for tonight. It was enough, don’t you think? Okay, more than enough… What can I say? A week of nothing to do, it all gets piled into one day. 🙂