05/13/2012
A TOUCH OF HUMOR
(Massage and Laughter United)
Many times when I enter the homes where I give massage treatment I carry a small camp stool to sit upon during part of the session. It helps to prolong the life of my old back and knees. The stool may weigh 2 pounds, but so far it has done the job. One of my favorite patients is an eighty something year old lady who suffers from Parkinson’s and dementia. I love her. The second or third time that I was in her home, I was seated on my little stool and working on her feet while she sat in her recliner. I began to notice that she was really “checking me out”. She looked at what I was doing for several minutes then finally commented in a clear, calm voice; “I’ve never seen anything so big sit on anything so little”. Well, so much for my professional demeanor and actions. I think I snorted several times; I was doubled over in laughter, as was the nurse who was attending. But, most importantly, my patient was laughing out loud as well. I was most assuredly the “butt” of her joke. It was the first time that I had seen her in this mood. It totally transformed her. She ended the session with a big grin on her face and she felt really good about herself. She had forgotten about her pain and situation and had become just someone who had shared a joke with a good friend. She was the teacher that day and I was the student. Laughter still is the “best” medicine.
Even in a state of dementia or with ongoing pain, people of any age and circumstance need to laugh. Laughter has many of the same benefits of massage itself. Together, they make an awesome team. Both elevate the mood of the person, therefore lowering states of melancholy and depression. They lower the heart rate and blood pressure, and increase circulation. And both provide a sense of touch that we are all starved for. The touch of massage takes care of the physical and to some degree the emotional. Laughter touches the soul. Many older citizens (me included) tend to tell the same funny stories over and over again. If it makes them laugh, I don’t mind if they tell it a million times. I dig for that story. I’ll say “off the wall” things just to get them engaged and sooner or later I’ll get it. The folks at CADES (adult day care) taught me so much about serving older citizens and I’ll ever be grateful. The greatest of those lessons is; hold on to the fact that this is still a unique individual who still has much to offer if we only listen. My patients have many times called me “silly” or “crazy”, but do so with a smile on their face. Find a reason to laugh today and find a way to make someone else laugh. Then two people in the world will be in a much better place.
