I went to Brooklyn Acupuncture Project

Never Done: I went to Brooklyn Acupuncture Project

I have a love-hate relationship with acupuncture. On the love side, in the mid 90s, John Blank ran a community acupuncture clinic in my workplace -- Workers Organizing Committee -- and provided weekly acupuncture to workers and staff. We all sat together in a big room, and while we all were thoughtful and respectful, we could hear what each other was dealing with -- addiction, muscle pain, STDs, anger management. I think we grew closer because of this, and were able to deepen our community, and support each other more fully.

On the hate side, sometimes acupuncture hurts like fuck and doesn't seem to work.

On the love side, sometimes acupuncture works great.

On the good story side, once I was in the middle of an acupuncture session in Portland, OR, with a bunch of needles in my back, and the acupuncturist was in the other room, the way they tend to be while they leave you to let the chi flow, and an earthquake hit. Earthquakes were more common in Portland than on the East coast, so we all had a fairly practiced response. Drop to the ground. Get under a sturdy table. Stand in a doorway. So there I am, lying on my stomach, needles in my back, and the world starts to shake, and the acupuncturist crouches in the doorway, leaving me on the table. Imagining the worst, that the ceiling would fall and push the needles in, I was, shall we say, directive. "Come here now and take these #&@! needles out of my back!" She did, we both crouched in the doorway, and all was fine. This was one of those bonding experiences that endeared me to her for years to come.

Which brings me to my thoughts today. How do you react when a health care provider makes a mistake that causes no harm? Upon reflection of past and recent experience, I seem to respond positively. When I was at the Brooklyn Acupuncture Project, which is, by the way, a wonderful clinic on 3rd Ave and 13th Street, my acupuncturist (who helped me through the remaining vestiges of bronchial and sinus congestion) mistakenly left two needles in my head. I have a tendency to run my hands through my hair, and when I did this, I hit one of the needles, yelped in pain, and drew my hand away to find it was covered in blood. My acupuncturist was pretty relaxed about it. She came over, she took out the needles, she tried to stop the bleeding (which wasn't actually so easy -- I guess heads bleed profusely) and she said something about how she hadn't seen them because they're the same color and length as my hair (which is totally true.) To me, this was perfect. She had already shown me how skilled she is, and when she made a mistake, she was responsive and relaxed about it. Endeared.

Once my OB/GYN tripped and knocked the light into my crotch, and then cracked up laughing. Endeared. Once when my mom showed a gross something to her doctor, he instinctively said, "Ewww." Endeared.

What about you? How human/real/infallible do you want your health care provider to be?