Chapter 18
The little house felt so profoundly empty. It seemed as if every breath echoed through the rooms of the small building in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The breathing was not natural—more like being on a respirator in intensive care. The once cheery nursery was now a catchall room, filled with empty boxes, plastic bags, high chair, playpen, bottles, and baby clothes. Rob gravitated toward books for anesthesia, and Mary toward the TV--remote control channel changer ever at the ready. During his last appointment with the mourning couple, Dr. Cooper had suggested that the couple work on a common project. December was not the time one could plant a garden or trim the bushes, or even paint the outside of the house. The cellar needed a good cleaning out, but it was one of those projects easily put off because it was largely unseen. A lot of junk had collected in only a few years of marriage.
“No time like the present to begin our common project, I suppose. What say we start to clean out the basement?” asked Rob with a large amount of forced cheeriness in his voice.
“I guess so.” Mary looked about as enthused as an eight year old boy who had won at playing “Spin the Bottle” at a birthday party.
Rob led the way, and Mary forced herself to follow. He opened the basement door and turned on the light. They creeped down the old cellar steps in unison, one force pulling them forward, the other force pulling them back. The workbench at which Rob fixed household items and did a little woodworking was easily the main eyesore. Tools were scattered all about and sawdust graced the tabletop and the floor around the workbench. Sawdust footprints moved off in all directions, fading as they progressed. An overflowing trashcan stood near the washer and dryer, bursting with dryer lint, empty liquid detergent bottles, and soda cans. Translucent fabric softener sheets clung to just about everything in the trash container. Soap powder was sprinkled everywhere, creating material for even more footprints. Metal hangers were scattered on the shelving above the appliances like shrapnel from a duel at a laundromat. “I’ll take my anger out on the workbench area if you will struggle with your depression in the laundry area," Rob said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
Mary came out with her usual unenthusiastic affirmative reply, which only fanned the fire of Rob’s anger. He had been reading up on the various topics that surfaced during their treatment with Dr. Cooper. Research and clinical experience indicates that procrastinators do well to begin even a little corner of a job, much like putting one toe or finger in the cold water. After a while, the job begins to draws the person into it and eventually some enthusiasm can result.
Before long, Mary reached over to a rickety white metal table and clicked on an old clock radio. Mellow sounds from the seventies and eighties drifted out of the battered means of communication. The soothing liquid voice of disk jockey “Delilah,” along with her “Lehigh Valley love sounds,” wove together a mosaic of work, music, and healing.
The couple was non-verbally connecting at a very unconscious level. Just as Mary did not ask Rob’s permission to turn on the radio, so too, Rob went up and put some microwave popcorn into the oven without mentioning anything to Mary. The tempting aroma filled the basement within minutes, even managing to penetrate the dankness and sawdust smells. The happy sound of popping lifted their spirits ever so slowly. One more trip up and down the steps on Rob’s part and the couple was munching popcorn daintily with dirty fingers as they hummed along to Delilah’s love sounds coming out of the radio. The room was shaping up, as were the feelings of the young couple. Several hours had passed and the basement looked dramatically better. The couple felt dramatically better. Rob and Mary dragged up and out several large black bags of trash. Sweaty and dirty, they hugged and cried. After showers and hot chocolate, they drifted off to the most serene sleep either had experienced in months.
A little after three in the morning Mary woke up to find Rob doubled over, feverish, and groaning in extreme pain. She couldn’t get a clear answer as to what was wrong with him. Rob was not really sure himself. All he knew was that his abdominal area felt like he had eaten ground glass.
“Let’s get you to the hospital, Rob.”
Rob knew very well that Mary had seen more than enough of hospitals in the recent past because of dealing with the sickness and death of their son—so had he for that matter. “I’ll be all right; maybe it can wait until morning.” With that, he let out a scream.
Mary said: “The only choice you have is whether I take you there myself or whether we call 911.”
“You win, Mary. Let’s see if I can make it down to the car and that way we will cause less disruption for our neighbors by avoiding an ambulance ride.”
Rob put on the most comfortable things he could think of--sweat pants and a sweatshirt. He found it difficult to unfold himself but slowly came partially out of his fetal position and hobbled down the stairs after Mary, who went before him to break his fall should he lose his balance. Slowly and carefully she helped Rob into their car. She shut the door after him and got into the driver’s seat. As they backed out of the driveway they passed the bundles of trash they had collected that evening in their healing ritual. Just when there was a glimmer of hope.
The Lehigh Valley Hospital emergency department was the epitome of controlled professional chaos. Competent nurses, doctors, technicians, and administrative workers took care of people with nighttime emergencies. The housekeeping staff kept the place spotless.
The western medical machine, a system that seemed to have a life of its own, admitted Rob to the hospital and he was then mildly sedated. Within hours he was calmer and relatively free of discomfort. Angel Carlos, D. O., gastroenterologist, scoped the patient early that morning. The upshot of that test, an extensive clinical interview, and an array of other studies indicated that Rob was suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, sometimes called colitis, or simply I. B. S. He was told to go on a bland diet for a few days in order to calm his digestive system down, given a prescription of a medication called Bentyl, and referred to Dr. Francis de Sales O’Neill, clinical psychologist and behavioral medicine specialist for Chinese medicine treatment, and perhaps some clinical hypnosis. That was the only pleasant surprise in the ordeal for Rob and Mary. Another glimmer of hope.
When the couple returned home, Rob and Mary read the re-print of a brief article from a research journal that the gastroenterologist gave them while Rob did his stint in the hospital. It was written in a scientific fashion but well worth reading.
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THE IMPACT OF MEDICAL QIGONG UPON CLINICAL TREATMENT OUTCOME4
by Brother/Doctor Francis de Sales O’Neill, SMC, EdD, DNM
As a Doctor of Clinical Psychology specializing in Behavioral Medicine, I have spent most of my professional life treating patients with serious medical disorders. The use of such modalities as clinical hypnosis, biofeedback, relaxation training, bodywork therapy, and medical qigong are employed by me within the context of psychotherapy when treating such patients. Many of the people I am honored to treat are dealing with chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, gastrointestinal problems, various forms of cancer, and mood disorders such as panic attacks and depression.
I have practiced some form of personal cultivation qigong most of my adult life. During the last fifteen years or so, this personal cultivation has grown into ever-increasing medical qigong training and clinical practice. I began to wonder, as this evolved, about the impact of medical qigong on the quality and length of treatment for my patients. A review of the clinical charts of my patients (counting the number of treatment sessions to termination of therapy) representing more than twenty-five years of clinical practice indicates that when medical qigong is added to one or more of the other modalities used, remediation of symptoms occurs more quickly (often beginning with the first session or two) and the number of treatment sessions decreases by about fifty per cent. More specifically, a mean of approximately fifty sessions per patient is reduced to approximately twenty-five through the addition of medical qigong treatment along with patient self-cultivation as instructed by me.
As scientists, we may reasonably wonder about the impact of years of clinical experience upon length of treatment. In other words, would not one expect the doctor to hone his or her clinical skills over the years and thus experience a decrease in the number of treatment sessions necessary for a positive outcome as a result? Addressing this as a control factor, I studied the charts of patients for whom medical qigong was not used during the past ten years, i...e., psychotherapy as the sole modality, and found that treatment did progress faster than when I began my career, but only by about twenty per cent. Comparing this to the fifty per cent decrease noted above suggests that adding medical qigong to the clinical treatment decreases favorable outcome time by an additional thirty percent.
A related benefit of medical qigong in clinical practice is that, at least in my case, the doctor is less depleted, more creative, more empathic, and is thus more likely to communicate this positive attitude to his or her patients. Numerous empirical studies, including the extensive one referenced below (Seif, 1981b), clearly support the therapeutic effect of such an attitude on the part of the practitioner.
My reading of the scientific literature indicates to me that the etiology of most disorders is multi-factorial. Is it not logical, then, to employ several modalities in treating such disorders that arise from a synthesis of many causes? East and West need the wisdom that the other contains, in my opinion, in order to make our world a healthier and happier place in which to live. Medical qigong appears to be a wonderful bridge to this end.
Seif, B. (1981b). The Effect of Counselor Religious Orientation upon Student Perception of Counselors. Dissertation Abstracts International, 42. 1015A. (University Microfilms No. 81-18850).
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Rob scratched his head and ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. The journal article was as dry as dust, which was typical of most good research articles. Scientists needed to be objective and unemotional in reporting their data. More importantly, the sense he was left with after reading the study was that medical qigong has a genuinely positive impact upon the process of treatment, be it of the body, mind, or spirit. Seeing Abbot Francis again might not only help his present physical crisis but might also help the progress in marriage therapy with his wife. His glimmer of hope grew into a ray of hope.