First posted to the Rising Sun EFT Group, 3-01-09
FIRST AID KIT IN MY HEAD – PART 2 – USING EFT FOR SURGERY
(Part 2 of a 3-part series)
My broken wrist was re-evaluated and surgery was recommended — and scheduled for the next day. I’ve done a lot of pre-surgical work with people and always make them a hypnotherapy CD to inform the subconscious and ask the body to cooperate. Well, I didn’t have time to do that! So I just brought what I would have said into rounds of EFT, some done with physical tapping, some done with mental tapping (imagining tapping the points) since even my good hand was extremely tired from doing everything for me.
BEFORE THE SURGERY
“Even though I’m going for surgery, I love and trust my body — body, you’re going to do great.”
“Even though it’s a little scary, I want my body to know that I have an excellent surgeon and I have complete trust that he is going to do a great job.”
“Even though my arm has to go through this, I’m informing the tissues and fibers and cells of my left arm about what to expect and how to cooperate…”
I then talked to each affected part, “Skin, you can accept the incision. Your job is to open up the gateway. Thank you for your courage, you’re a trooper.” And so forth. I visualized the good result and tapped that in too. “I see myself when it’s all over with my wrist strong and healed, perfect form and function. I appreciate how well my body has handled this.” I tapped these thoughts in and also simply repeated them mentally.
I also talked to the body about minimizing any negative effects. “Even though my arm has to go through surgery, I’m asking my body to accept the anaesthesia perfectly… and minimize bleeding… and minimize swelling… and accept the titanium plate that will support the bone… it’s going to be wonderful, welcome support.”
THE DAY OF THE SURGERY AND AFTER
I was amazed that I felt perfectly calm during the prep for surgery. My blood pressure was normal. This was out-patient, so I would be awake, just sedated. There were several hours where I was mostly just waiting and what I felt drawn to repeating over and over mentally was, “Body, you are my hero. You’ve got so much courage to go through this. I’m so proud of you. You’re going to do great. You’re my hero.” I really felt that appreciation deeply and the words moved me to tears. With an IV in one arm and the other completely numb, I could only tap mentally, of course. I kept coming back to those words.
I felt very calm and free of fear throughout the surgery and into recovery. I was given enough pain meds for a couple of weeks, and I was warned that there would be so much swelling that I might think the cast was too tight, but that this was normal. I went home to rest and heal.
As directed, I took the pain meds when the numbness began to wear off and they did help me sleep the first night. But I hated the sick feeling the next morning from the narcotics. So I tried to go with just ibuprofen that first day after surgery — and I was perfectly fine with no more heavy pain meds. I remember doing some tapping to address the discomfort, which was not bad:
“Even though I’m feeling a little pain, that’s okay — my arm just had surgery! My arm can scream and yell about that if it wants to! If it needs the pain to express what it went through, that’s okay!! I give you permission to feel whatever you need to feel. But I want my wrist to know — you’re okay now. You’re doing great. It’s time for healing now.”
I’ll never know if that communication was what did the trick, but by that afternoon, 24 hours after the surgery, I really had very little pain using only over-the-counter relief.
As for swelling, there was a tiny bit the first two days, but nothing like what they had predicted. Soon it was completely gone, my fingers looking and feeling completely normal. When I went in for my post-op 10 days after surgery, the medical staff was quite surprised that I’d only taken pain meds once and had no traces of swelling. My stitches were taken out and everything looked great. The physical therapist who fitted me for a removable brace said, “This is really miraculous. We don’t see this kind of rapid healing.” Of course, I gave lots of credit to my excellent surgeon for doing such a good job. But I did mention to everyone that I was a hypnotherapist and EFTer and that my work with body-mind connections could have made a difference too.
I’m writing this exactly two weeks after the surgery, typing with two hands. My wrist feels great. It will still take time to fully heal, and I will give it plenty of time, but I’m amazed that it’s completely pain-free and very strong and functional already, just a little stiff. Physical therapy exercises will take care of that. I’m still tapping to continue sending healing energy into the cells of those affected tissues and fibers. and especially to appreciate my wrist and thank it for doing such a great job.
As many times as I’ve done pre-surgical preparation for others, and everyone has reported great results, it’s been a whole new level of understanding going through it myself. Now, I can’t imagine having surgery without the mental preparation. Without the EFT to clear away the fear and bring in the reassurances, without the positive images of the successful result, of course the body would perceive such an invasive procedure as a threat. But I think my cells knew it was safe and okay, and so the tissues didn’t have to react with a lot of swelling and pain. I also experienced dramatically that what I would have done through hypnosis worked just as well through EFT. I can see that self-hypnosis and mental EFT are very close, and perhaps what I was doing was a blend of the two. Whatever brought those messages into the deeper level, it worked!