Anna had heard of EFT in the past, and expressed her curiosity several times, nearly tried a few times, but still kept her distances from this weird method. However when she told me she was to have a minor surgery and I indicated that EFT might help there too, she took me on it and was happy she did.
I visited her 2 days after a small abdominal hernia had been removed around the area of her solar plexus. It had been there for 9-10 months and needed to be repaired in case it would become acute.
When she greeted me, she was moving very carefully, a little stooped. She briefly explained how the surgery went. Her surgeon, known to be a very good surgeon, and whom she trusted completely, had warned her that the healing would be painful, very painful, particularly with Anna being very thin. Even in the operation theatre, just before she received general anesthesia, he reminded her again of the painful recovery to come.
The day after the surgery, she received pain killers, but could feel a pain around 6-7 on a scale of 10 (10 being the worse). Before she left the hospital, the surgeon prescribed more pain killers, since it would be so painful. Thankfully, Anna was open to finding out what EFT could actually do, so even though I had forgotten to mention it, she had taken no pain killer the day I came to her, so we could work on the worst possible pain.
It wasn't that bad actually, she rated her pain at a 7 out of 10, describing it as stinging. I showed her the tapping points and indicated that she should repeat what I would say and do, unless it felt wrong or uncomfortable. It would be too long and useless to write here all the words for each round, but I extracted a few key sentences from each round, since they were each focusing on a different aspect of the healing. Also, if you're familiar with EFT, you'll note that as usual, I adapted the "set-up" with various alternatives to the classical "I love and accept myself". So first round went something like :
Even though I have a tingling pain, I am a good mother.
Even though it is supposed to hurt, he told me so, maybe he doesn't know everything..
this tingling pain...
How could this tapping help?...
This tapping is so ridiculous...
Anna laughed at that last comment, but laughing was painful, so we kept it a bit more serious. After all, pain is serious business. Or is it?
As we tapped, I asked her to visualise her pain, which she saw red, and also visualise the healing (white) replacing it. In 2-3 minutes, the pain was down to 2-3, it wasn't tingling, but felt tight. We tapped a 2nd round on this new aspect:
Even though this is tight and this is to be expected, the surgeon did tell me it would be, I'm grateful it's not tingling anymore.
...the stitches are tight... it's mechanical... logical...
In terms of visualisation, this time, I suggested Anna applied a magic wand to each stitch, seeing them healing in an accelerated fashion, and back to normal. We had no idea of how many stitches there were on the different layers, so we decided for 10 stitches, each healing in their own layer of tissues, finishing with the skin. By now, with no pain, Anna was more and more intrigued.
She was particularly wondering about all these warnings about pain. I explained to her that her surgeon had only warned her that much because he really thought it was the fair thing to do. I quoted David Servan-Schreiber, a renowned oncologist, highlighting in that conference that he had been rightfully taught not to give false hopes to people, but that sometimes science shows us a false hopelessness. He engaged people to “fight for REAL hope”.
As Anna stretched her arm, she winched ever so slightly. A new “tapable” issue:
Even though I can't stretch, I might do something wrong, some damage...
It was a very short round, maybe just over a minute, and laughter no longer seemed an issue. Tingling and tightness were gone, stretching was easier and her whole demeanour more relaxed.
We could have stopped there, but after I answered Anna's questions about how this all works, she mentioned she needed to remove the plaster before she went for a shower, but felt uncomfortable about it at about 8 out of 10. I offered more tapping based on her comments:
Even though I'm afraid to take the plaster out, ...
I might faint, I don't want this on my own body...
Again, a very short round. The anxiety she had felt went away, but she added: “except of course that it WILL hurt when I remove it”. More tapping was in order before removing the plaster:
Even though I WILL feel bad when I see the stitches, I just know it, it's like it is programmed in me, I choose to change the program.
... what if it was easy?...... what if I was just curious about it?...What if there was no fear or pain whatsoever?
She was now really eager to get this over and removed the plaster. Easily. She felt very comfortable.
There we paused for a positive round. In most cases we use EFT to clear pain, whether it's physical or emotional. We don't necessarily think of using tapping when we already feel good. But, in this kind of situation, people are usually delighted with the result, but not too sure it could last after the session is over. I was preparing Anna in case that would be an issue for her too. So we tapped a little happiness in to pave the way.
Even though I'm surprised it's that easy and that nice, I choose to build up on this to create an easier healing.
I expected to be afraid, but I'm not
I expected blood, I'm grateful it's white
I expected to feel anxious, it's so nice to feel OK.... I'm so grateful for all this...
It was only a few seconds but was useful when after I asked a few closing questions, Anna's answers led to one last tapping round :
Even though I'm not quite sure of what will happen next...
not sure I can do this on my own, I might do something wrong,
or make a bad move, or ruin it all... It might reopen..
I authorise my body to heal at the cellular level, I choose to find the words easily and naturally... I choose to heal rapidly and easily, in mind body and spirit. Thank you.
As we stood up at the end of the session, she moved more freely and felt more relaxed.
Before leaving, I suggested that she'd work on it a few times a day, visualising the healing of the stitches into smooth, healthy, supple tissues, and also tap if pain or uneasiness ever returned.
3 week follow-up
As it turned out, Anna worked on it a few times a day for three days and didn't need to tap again, as she experienced just a slight discomfort (which could have been tapped away too if she had felt the need for it). She went back to work as planned on day 5 after the surgery. However, contrary to the plan, she didn't need any chemical assistance towards pain. She followed the surgeon's direction and didn't drive for a week or carry anything for a month. She didn't need to see the surgeon again as all healed well.
Thank you Anna for sharing your experience. One can wonder how would Anna's healing have been different, had she only been able to rely on her surgeon's repeated, and let's admit it, quite worrying warnings about pain. Would have she relaxed in the same way, so her body could focus on the healing, instead of spending precious energy on dealing with fear and stress, in addition to the stress of raising a family and having a very demanding job?
Maybe one day, EFT practitioners will routinely work with people before (when possible) and after surgery to ease into a faster and pain-less recovery? Plus, you have to wonder how it could improve medical costs and hospitals' work overload...