You're putting it where?

So I went to the acupuncturist yesterday. I don’t really have any reason to see an acupuncturist but I have insurance at the moment so I might as well go. Here’s what I learned:

- Having a youngish Caucasian doctor (versus an elderly Asian one) performing ancient Chinese medicine seems funny.

- Having a youngish Caucasian doctor thumping your tummy with something that looks suspiciously like one of those hammers they use to test your reflexes seems odd.

- Having a youngish Caucasian doctor then massage your bare belly with his bare hands seems like something you should tell your husband.

That said, the guy seemed to know what he was doing. He asked me a million questions and checked my pulse in my right and left arms (“I don’t mean to scare you, but your left pulse is incredibly strong. It’s probably nothing…”) and told me I was thin blooded and oh, something about my spleen and my chi. He had an extremely light touch with the needles, I didn’t feel a thing. Until he put one right between my eyes.

For those of you who don’t know, I have a bit of a needle thing. A phobia, if you will. It’s a weird phobia (sewing and acupuncture don’t really bother me but the threat of a shot will make me drop kick the doc) but I’m working on overcoming it. And I was doing pretty well until he put a needle in my face. Apparently it’s supposed to be very soothing but all I could do was stay motionless and pray that I didn’t have to scratch or twitch or do anything that might make a needle fall into my eyeball.

That said, I do feel better - especially since I can now blame all my irritability on "thin blood".