This is a story about two identical hernia surgeries. The recovery from the first surgery was without Reiki. The recovery from the second surgery was with Reiki. The first surgery was an outpatient procedure. You’re in surgery in the morning, then in the Recovery Room. As soon as you can urinate, they send you home. Sounds easy, right. Wrong! I’m in the recovery room by 10:00 a.m. I’m waiting for the pain medication to kick in and I’ve got my eye on the bathroom door. Lunchtime comes and goes. I watch other patients begin to make their way to the bathroom and get released. By 4:00 p.m. I was the only one remaining in the recovery room from the morning surgeries. Hadn’t been to the bathroom yet. The next shift of nurses came on duty. I thought if I just walk over to the bathroom, I’d be able to "go" and get out of here! As I made my way over to the bathroom the level of pain increased with each step. Needless to say I did not "go" and had to be helped back to my Lazy Boy. I finally left the recovery room by wheelchair at 7:30 p.m. that evening. Once home, I faced three flights of stairs which I could only negotiate one step at a time. The next three days were very painful. Two days later I was in the surgeon’s office to have my staples removed. While on the examining table I was handed a mirror so that I could view the incision. It was all red and irritated, with some infection.
Two weeks later, I participated in a Reiki retreat. I was there so that the Reiki students could experience treating someone who was post-surgery. I also helped with meal preparation. In exchange I was initiated into Level One. Months later I had the second hernia surgery. I gave myself pre-surgery Reiki. Once in the recovery room I started giving myself Reiki. I was the first one in the bathroom. I walked out of recovery under my own steam before lunch. When I got home I did not have to negotiate the three flights of stairs. I just walked up normally. I continued to self-treat myself for the next five days. Back in the surgeon’s office to have the staples removed as I gazed into the mirror a week after the surgery, the new incision was all normal skin tone. No redness. No irritation or infection. My doctor remarked about how good the incision looked. I told him about Reiki. He smiled and pulled his pants legs up to reveal what had been badly injured legs. As a child in China he faced amputation and as a last resort his family took him to a distant uncle who he said, touched his legs.
