Curandera

Yesterday, a well-educated (MA), 40-year-old student, who worked as a pharmacist in a hospital in Chile, told me that she's been worried about me because my "color isn't good." I assured her that I feel fine, but she hung around a bit to explain her concern before class began. She also stayed after class so I could help her with her English pronunciation as she may be working as a liason between non-English-speaking pharmicists in local hospitals and their employers and wants to sharpen her pronunciation skills so she is easily understood by the English-speaking personnel.

When we finished the lesson, we walked to the campus cafe to have lunch (a salad), where she again expressed her anxiety about my health. She told me that I must eat healthy meals and see my doctor to be sure that I am fine. Perhaps, she said, I am just getting the flu, which could account for her concern about my color. I assured her that I had my flu shot last week (and a shingles shot about 4 months ago), so perhaps my color is a reaction to the flu shot?

You know, it's a bit frightening to have a stranger approach me and share that kind of insight. She explained that her grandmother was a curandera in Chile, a "native healer," who uses both her insight and natural herbs as remedies to help poor people who cannot afford to see a doctor. She also shared with me that she, herself, is sensitive, which is the reason for her career in pharmacology, as well as why she decided to share her concerns with me.

Maybe her concern is good, but perhaps it's just another layer of stress I don't want/need in my life? I have been stressed and cranky, attributing that to the on-going hand thing. Today, I have the next spinal epidural, and next week the actual appointment with the hand specialist I was supposed to see months ago. I keep thinking that if I have these 2 issues handled (no pun intended), perhaps my stress will lessen.

If there is something else to which I should pay attention, I'm not sure what that would be. Maybe the headaches that are back? Those are usually either changes in barometric pressure or blood sugar problems, but my blood sugar is staying down as I continue to work on that part of my life, too.

I thanked her for sharing her insight and then had to decide whether to "do something" or not because I have such negative experiences with the medical profession that I don't want to share this story with a doctor and wait for the laugh track! When a student pointed out the first week of last May that my upper left arm was swollen and the blood vessel at my wrist looked as if it were going to burst, I immediately contacted my primary care physician and was seen the next day. I have demonstrated the problem with my left hand to 7 separate medical personnel before the guy administering the spinal epidural said my hand is the problem and needs to be the focus of the medical interventions!

That reassurance only took 5 months to arrive, so if there were anything seriously wrong, I'd be dead before it was diagnosed, much less treated. I'll check with her again next week: maybe my color will be better and I'll eat another salad for lunch to make her feel better, too.