Third of Three: OKAY!

Monday, July 14th – Today I had an appointment with my terrific Primary Care Physician at Scripps Clinic, Dr. Sanjeev Shah. And, just as with Dr. William Bugbee in June and Dr. H. Arthur Silverman in April, I was looking forward to seeing Dr. Shah with a certain amount of trepidation. I never know how MDs are going to react to hearing that I have been receiving chiropractic adjustments three or four times a week for more than four months now. Twice now I’ve been more than pleasantly surprised — I would say instead, I’ve been astonished — by the positive and encouraging attitude my doctors have shown. Since I previously had only my late OB/GYN father’s long-standing and negative opinion of chiropractic to go by, it has been nothing short of a revelation to see how open these MDs are to chiropractic, and to “alternative medicine” in general. Scripps Clinic actually has a Department of Alternative Medicine. And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the University of California San Diego Medical School is now sending its Fellows seeking Board certification in Pain Management to Seaside Chiropractic, for a certain number of hours learning from Dr. David Klein how chiropractic can be efficacious in managing pain.

Dr.Sanjeev Shah commented on how good my blood pressure looked, and how great I  looked, having lost a fair bit of weight since I last saw him in February. He also mentioned that I seemed to be walking better than I had been. So then I told him the story of my Skeptic’s Journey with Chiropractic. I showed him how I can now move the right foot, that had been “like a block of wood attached to the leg,” to quote Dr. Klein; I showed him how I can wiggle the toes, which a few months ago just sat there, immobile, no matter what I did. (Still can’t quite pick up marbles with them, but that will happen soon.) I showed him how I can now reach both arms behind my back — also new in the last couple of months.   I told him how much better I feel, overall. I reported Dr. Bugbee’s remark about “keeping me out of the hands of the surgeons,” and awaited his comments.

Dr. Sanjeev Shah did not disappoint me. He said: “That’s quite a statement, coming from a surgeon! I would say, it’s obviously working for you — keep at it. And I’ll see you in six months!”

I told him I hoped to be walking without the cane at that appointment in January!

So three out of my three regular MDs have unequivocally given me the thumbs-up I guess I was hoping for!  Cheers to Dr. Sanjeev Shah and his two colleagues, who are to be congratulated for their open-mindedness to chiropractic in the face of the evidence:  ME!

Thanks for reading — Betsy