Massage and sepsis

[Kollin N]

My sister has leukemia and recently finished her final round of chemo. Her blood counts are currently down, and due to the fact that she has almost no immune system right now, she got an infection. It turned out to be gram positive bacteremia/sepsis. She's in the hospital getting antibiotics and a whole host of pain and anti-nausea meds. She received a blood transfusion, which allowed her blood counts to go up a bit.

One of the symptoms of sepsis is body aches, and she has them pretty bad. It doesn't help that she's been lying in a hospital bed, not able to move too much because she's been drugged up, for several days now.

Is there any type of bodywork (aside from energy work) that I can do for her? This evening was really rough for her, and the only thing that helped her feel better was a very short, very gentle neck "massage" (probably no longer than a minute, and with slightly more pressure than a tickle). Obviously I need to err on the side of caution (it IS a systemic infection, after all), but at the same time it's hard for me to sit there and watch her be so miserable when, throughout this entire cancer experience, massage has been her saving grace.

I've been doing a little reiki here and there, but she prefers massage hands down. Is it safe to do very short (minute or two) very light massage? It probably wouldn't stimulate the system any more than a shower, for example. My brain tells me to stick to energy work 'til she gets over the infection, but my heart wants me to give her the one thing that helps her feel as close to good as she can get right now.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lady P]

I'm sorry. That would be so hard!!

I'd just ask her to sign a form allowing you to talk to her doctor. Ask direct questions of him and find out exactly what needs to be avoided and what is fine.

 

[nick h h]

Definitely see if you could check with her doctor, but in the mean time if it's some form of physical contact she's looking for, maybe some gentle holding would be comforting. Maybe try some relaxation exercises (breathing techniques or anything good you know) and just hold the areas that are bothering her with a gentle pressure. Nothing to cause circulatory changes, but just making quiet contact with her body after so much time of people poking and prodding her during treatment. I think that's about as non-invasive as touch can be.

 

[Ashley M]

I appreciate everyone on here being so cautious about asking the doctors, etc about what is advisable. HOWEVER, in this area, the docs turn around and say, "Well, you have the license and should be knowledgeable about what you are doing, so, how in the world do you think I would have a clue?!"

I did my required outreach work for massage school in a hospice. The comfort that can be derived from holding a hand, just being present is enormous. The LMT who supervised my time there provided gentle massage as described by the OP, reiki, craniosacral, and other forms of LIGHT mostly energetic work that gave great care and comfort to the patients of the hospice. She encouraged all of us who were doing our outreach there to do likewise without reservation. An idea I loved then and hold to dearly still.

 

[Alexia]

Thank you for sharing that, Ananstasia B. It reminds me of one of the first things I read in regard to massage (which I, too, cling to):
Never be afraid to touch someone with love.

 

[zombieombie]

I would highly recommend CranioSacral Therapy in this case. If I were the therapist providing CST, I would probably do some therapeutic imagery and dialogue with both her immune system cells and stem cells. The CST work would also help with the aches/pains, the nausea, and balancing the CNS. Once she saw how great she can feel after a CST session, she might be ok with waiting a bit to get back into massage.

 

[Dave Randal]

I wasn't cautioning against touching without doctor's instruction, but suggesting that the doctor could give a lot more info on what cautions were being taken and why. Is there a concern about the patient moving around at all, or is she in bed (in the hospital) for another reason? How coneforum.xxxious is this case of sepsis? Is lymphedema a concern with the leukemia? With the sepsis?

There may be a reason to avoid massage, but there may be NO reason to avoid massage, but just a caution not to overtire her. In that case, the comfort she could be given via what is familiar and desired would be a relief to both melekalikimaka and her sister.