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Page 178
I learned from treating patients whose bodies were inaccessible to me due to medical machinery, wheelchairs, or radiation devices, that whatever occurs during healing treatment isn't affected or obstructed by thick metal, bedding, or distance between me and the patient. I became confident that something involving my mind was really helping sick people, but I wasn't sure if I could depend upon that something's reliability.
I wanted to get more experience with people who were ill or in pain, so I signed up for training to be a hospice volunteer. And later, I volunteered to work with people coming to the local hospital for radiation treatments. My job was to be friendly and supportive, and to help the patients feel comfortable, especially while they were lying down on the metal table and waiting to be irradiated.
Over time, I got to know some of the patients whom I saw regularly. People were so fearful about their cancer diagnoses, upcoming chemotherapy treatments, potential loss of body parts, and possible death, that it was easy to feel helpful, just by being with them. Some of the people with whom I became friends spent most of their waking hours in wheelchairs, because one or both of their legs were either paralyzed or had been amputated.
One man told me that although he had been paralyzed from the waist down for over ten years, his feet were always cold, even though he wore wool socks and down booties. I told him about my so-called "healing hands," and offered to treat him as an experiment. He was willing, so we found a private corner, and I brought my hands close to his feet. He immediately felt vibrations inside his toes, and deep heat welling up from inside his feet. He said his feet and toes felt "toasty-warm," and it was the first time they had been comfortable in years. I was curious how he could feel the sensations he described, when his legs could not feel any pain or touch.
The man became tremendously enthusiastic, and declared that he could hardly wait to tell his buddies about me. I told him that really wouldn't be a good idea, because if word got around the hospital unit I would probably be asked to leave my volunteer job. He protested, and exclaimed that all sorts of the patients would love to try the healing.

 
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