Connection

Finally the long, frustrating work week came to an end, much like how it began. There’s more to do next week, but that’s for next week.

I pulled a muscle in my lower back a couple of weeks ago and while the pain has eased, I still had a dull ache. Before I came up to Edinburgh, I tried to book a massage with an old massage buddy of mine. She was fully booked but suggested a few other therapists, including another old massage buddy. We all trained together back in 2010-2011 and qualified together as advanced clinical massage therapists. Since then, both buddies have undertaken further training, including a qualification to work with people with cancer, which I would like to do. 

After work I went to see my massage buddy J. It was great to see her after so long, looking fit and healthy. She’s a beautiful woman, inside and out. 

Turns out she’s had kidney disease and was on dialysis just as the first lockdown started in March 2020. She needed a kidney transplant and eventually got a live donated kidney just a month before my kidney surgery. I swear, you couldn’t make it up. She also had her right kidney removed and then a short while later received a right kidney from a man in his twenties. Isn’t modern medicine amazing? 

She said she wrote to the donor a year after her surgery through the organisation that matched them, thanking him for such a profound gift. He wrote back saying he was happy that a small part of him had become a part of her that will allow her to live life to the full. I’m tearing up again as I write this. Aren’t people amazing? 

She was unable to massage for two years and has recently started again. Wow, she’s certainly not lost her skills. I felt like she got to all the spots that needed releasing and felt so much better getting off the massage table. The pain and ache is gone and I feel much more nimble. I already knew that massage was amazing, but it was great to be reminded in such a tangible way. Ahhh, it was just what I needed. 

Listening to her story reinforced for me that I had an easy ride through it all. She had to have dialysis, had to shield, go through some chemo-like care, had two pulmonary embolisms, sepsis, and then two surgeries. My word, what resilience she has. 

I reflected later that I was so glad my first massage friend had been fully booked and reminded me of J. J doesn’t really do social media so I would not have known of her struggle. 

Afterwards I wandered around the neighbourhood of the clinic and was reminded of the beauty of Edinburgh. 

Friday the 13th - an auspicious date.