Intuition

Being a Scorpio, it is natural for me to be make decisions based on my intuition.  When I was suffering from severe pain in my right knee and inner thigh , I made an appointment with my primary care physician.  Much to my dismay, she was on vacation.  I had already prolonged making the appointment and I was in dire straits.  I decided to make an appointment with another doctor in the practice. 

For privacy reasons, I will refer to this doctor as Dr. Chen.  There were two occasions that I had participated in phyical activity that I correlated to when the pain in both my inner thigh and knee started.  I thoroughly explain the circumstances behind those two events to Dr. Chen.  She asks me where the pain is, examines my leg, and then makes her diagnosis.  "It is your veins", she announces.  "I want to send you to the Vascular Institute where my husband is the head of the practice".  WHAT??? (That seemed a little sketchy to me. Isn't that unethical or something? A conflict of interest?)     I knew that the pain in my inner thigh and knee started after very specific physical exersions.  Up until then, I wasn't experiencing any pain at all.  It made perfect sense to me that there was a very good chance that I had probably strained myself in the process.  Nevertheless, she is the doctor, not me, so I begrudgingly accept the referral.

The next week, I'm sitting in the examining room of Dr. Chen's husband.  The ultrasound technician enters the room with the machine.  She scans the area in my knee for about 20 minutes then leaves.  About 10 minutes later, like right out of the movies, the ultrasound technician returns with Dr. Chen and his interns in tow.  So now there are 5 people staring at me while I'm clad in this stupid johnny.  The ultrasound technician scans the same area in my knee to show Dr. Chen.  They go over and over my knee.  Finally after about another 20 minutes, Dr. Chen concludes that the the main veins in my legs are normal.  However, he sees a small cluster of veins that prove to have some irregularities.  He wants to start me on injections.  Before we do that, in order for the insurance company to approve the injections, I have to wear this compression stock first.  Afterwards, while I'm sitting in my car, I recount the appointment in my head.  There is something nagging at me.  The whole thing just doesn't make sense to me.  And what about my inner thigh? What does this small cluster of irregular veins around my knee, have to do with my inner thigh?    "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark".....(Shakespeare's "Hamlet")

I decide to follow my intuition and wait to see my primary care physician before I get involved in vein therapy.  During our appointment, I regale Linda with the same stories as I did Dr. Chen.  Linda decides that the best course of action would be for me to try physical therapy first.  (This is why I was so traumatized when I discovered Linda was retiring.  She always took the time to listen and offer a more holistic approach first.  I will greatly miss her!) 

One more week later, I begin physical therapy.  For the third time, I explain the course of events leading up to my condition.  After making his assessment, the therapist reveals that my left leg is longer than the right leg.  This is news to me.  (I question my mother about this later and she says "oh yeah, the pediatrician found that when you were an infant, it didn't seem necessary to tell you..." HUH?! What else has my mother kept from me all these years?? But, I digress....) He surmises that the  imbalance is causing my right pelvis to torque which is causing the discomfort to my thigh.  He creates a treatment program around that.

Maybe I am too suspicious for my own good, but here it comes, that funny feeling again.  I follow my intuition and ask the therapist why all of a sudden after 39 years, is this defect bothering me.  I've always been an active person: hiking, marching in drum corp, tap dancing, aerobics-this deformity has never bothered me until now.  He answers "it's your time".

I complete a month of physical therapy and I admit the pain has diminished  but I'm still not 100%.  I am released from physical therapy with the condition that if the pain is unmanageable, I should apply for a second course of treatment.   Since it is a fact that physical therapy is only successful if the patient maintains the regimen, I commit to doing my exercises. I routinely do my exercises every other day and when the pain warrants it for a month.  By the end of the month, I'm really not feeling any better than the day I left physical therapy.  In fact my inner thigh is really bothering me and it seems like the exercises just aren't working. My disposition is gloomy, convinced that I am doomed to a life of pain. I give up my exercises and sulk for about two weeks.  

One evening I decide to do some stretches.  One stretch in particular that targets the inner thigh, that did always provide relief, is leaning forward and twisting to the left while seated in the lotus position.  Here it comes, that funny feeling again.  I decide to follow my intuition and design an excercise program that exclusively targets the inner thigh.   I've been doing this program for almost two months.  I'm ecstatic to report that I haven't felt this good in a long time.

So what is the morale of the story? If I hadn't trusted my intuition, I probably would've gone down the path of injections and compression stockings.  Take my advice, trust your intuition.  It is usually right.