I had an interesting experience this past week.  Our church organist (a
professional if ever I met one) took a nasty fall at the university and
sustained a hairline fracture just above the left wrist.  Becuase he also
has a neurological disease (myasthenia gravis--mild form), the docs he saw
after the fall said he would heal slower (he is also in his late 40s, early
50s, so age might also result in slower healing).  His biggest complaint
during rehearsals were of swelling whenever he uses his left hand to
accompany us.

I approached him Wed. night and asked him what he was doing to reduce the
swelling (and accompanying pain).  He said they had tried ice--no luck--but
not the anti-inflammatories given him (he has a bad reaction to them).  I
asked if he was willing to try an experiment.  A twinkle came into his eyes
and he said ANYTHING that would help he was willing to try.  I suggested
cold cabbage wrapped around his wrist and lower hand until the pieces
wilted and then replaced and repeated for about 1 hour or until he felt
more comfortable, whichever came first.  (I did not want him thinking I was
asking him to become cole slaw all day!)  :-)

On Sunday, I asked him how his experiment went.  He gave me a huge grin and
said, "The swelling went down quickly and didn't come back until this
morning!" (when he had to play for the first service).  I then asked him
what he was planning to do after church.  He said, "back to my cabbage!"
and laughed.  I asked him to use it at least twice to confirm its effects
before mentioning it to his doctors.

In working with this man, it occurred to me that by NOT mentioning its use
on breast tissue (probably not a problem here where our choir director
regularly breastfeeds her six-month-old between choir numbers!) the
therapeutic outcome is accepted without question--simply as a reducer of
swelling.  I wonder if people who have had difficulty getting it accepted
as a common technique are being blocked by the breast phobias of others.
Perhaps if we simply mention that cabbage is a natural remedy for swelling
(forgetting particular parts of the body at the outset), we would have a
more ready acceptance of this treatment.

Thereafter, engorgement is simply a particular swelling at a particular
site, rather than cabbage being something that works on engorged breasts.

Am I being as clear as mud here?

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
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