Transformations...

 

It was her very first massage at PCI.  She explained to me that she was a type A+++ personality and sitting still was difficult for her.  As I worked on her, she did appear restless.  She even expressed her dislike for the cd playing during the massage.  During the session, she really needed to talk about her fears of her upcoming chemotherapy treatment, fears for her children’s responses to her disease and hair loss, fears for radiation therapy, concerns about juggling being a wife, a mother of 3, running a business, handling treatment, being a den mother, and the list went on.   It was a time of change, of stepping into the unknown, and of losing control and it seemed almost too much for her in that  moment.  She was hardly able to lie still—it was more therapeutic for her at the time to express herself than to relax and receive massage.

 

By putting one foot in front of the other, each one of her treatment sessions came and went and she did great.  She faithfully continued enjoying massage therapy all the way through her journey at PCI.  Each session, she seemed a little more peaceful and a little more able to melt into the table than the time before.

 

Once she had completed her chemotherapy and her radiation therapy, she came in for her last massage.  As I worked on her, I couldn’t help notice the dramatic difference in this final massage as compared to the first.  She had become a picture of peace—the only thing she said during the whole massage was how much she liked the cd that was playing (I might add that it was the same cd that I played during her first massage). 

 

When the session was over and we were saying our good-byes, she commented on the massage being “extra special”.  I asked what she thought the reason was. She said she thought it was that I was giving her a really good one as a sending off gift.  She seemed surprised when I then told her that I had not done anything different than any other time.  The only real change was in her.  By allowing herself to really be “present” during the massage, she could fully experience it.   She was truly “right here, right now” during the session and so she was able to feel every stroke, every touch completely.  It was beautiful!  I hugged her and thought, “You may have come to us as a self proclaimed type A+++, but you are graduating with full A honors.”

 

Transformations are the essence of the journey.

 

I love this work!

 

~amy