What to say.....

Tomorrow I leave for Malta for a few days and thought I better check in with the world one last time before I go. However, I didnt really have much to say as I have been home most of the week resting my knee. I thought I would wait until after my massage today and see if that gave me anything great to talk about (because they always do). And I was not disappointed. Another interesting day on the table.....

I had it in my mind that I was going to ask for a massage only on my back in order to alleviate any knee uprisings. But as soon as I told her I had fallen, she started asking all sorts of questions. How does one say strained PCL ligament in Italian anyway? (That is, by the way, what I have self diagnosed myself with after hours of web surfing.) Well, she was not going to have anything to do with only half a massage. She checked out my knee from top to bottom--pushing, pulling and all the time asking 'dolo?' meaning does it hurt there. When she narrowed it down, I was instructed up on the table and she went away only to come back with some brownish green mixture in a bowl. She slathered this all over my knee and then went to work on my other leg with the massage.

After a while she had made her way up to my stomach. This is still something that is foreign to me (no pun intended). And then she asked if I was sick today? I realized she has been doing a bit more than a massage. She told me she was a doctor (what that means I dont really know) and she noticed something wrong. I smiled and told her I only had one ovary (how does one say oopherectomy in Italian) and to notice the scar on my stomach. She thought I had had a kid. So, next thing you know, she is giving me the once over in the stomach/female region just as impressed as can be. 'Complimenti' she kept saying about the work done on the inside...she asked where I had the surgery and told me it is very difficult to do such things over here in Italy. It was the first time my massage gal became my ob/gyn....what a surreal moment that was.

Anyway, she finally flipped me over and started working on the back of the legs. She picked up my injured leg slightly and bent it slightly and then told me to relax! Well, that was a waste of about 10 minutes...how can one relax when they dont know what is going to happen to their injured part....it was funny...we were both laughing. I would relax and then she would move just the tiniest of bits and I would tense up again. She gave up in the end.

Then she wiped off the mask from my knee and gave me the ingredients for the concoction to make myself and I am to do it every day for an hour. It has arnica in it. I never heard of arnica till I came over here. Its very popular (along with potassium--everyone takes potassium pills--including my cat now!). When I first fell, the Italian in the room gave me some arnica and the American gave me a tylenol with codeine! After the mask was off, she slathered on like half a bottle of this arnica stuff on my knee and worked it in and told me not to shower today.

The mask worked great...my knee truly hasnt felt this good in a long, long time. I am hoping Malta is easy to get around because I am pretty sure I am not taking arnica and the rest of the stuff with me. Worse case scenario, I can buy it over there if need be. But, I think I might have finally turned the corner in healing. And I am sure you are glad about that as well because I know I am tired of hearing myself talk about it...so I can only imagine what you are saying! Or as my mother told me the other day with great love and conviction, 'get over it'!