I rarely (O.K. maybe never) share my full health journey. I am coming to realize it is useful to let people know. First, I am the recipient of the very care that I provide. Second, my journey totally forms the basis of the services:
My amazing journey in health care started with my first near-miracle chiropractic adjustment at age 16. I had several return visits to the medical doctor as a child for stomachaches, ear infections and severe abdominal cramping. The pills and injections I received temporarily gave me the relief I was seeking.
When I was fifteen, I was now antibiotic resistant after having the umpteenth ear infection. Tonsil surgery was performed at that time. Turns out tonsils were in bad shape and the surgery more involved than when you are six years old. Several months of rapid growth and weight gain followed the surgery. That summer I ended up getting knocked off the back of my horse. This, in addition to yet to be discovered spinal scoliosis resulted in unrelenting, incapacitating, and frightening low back pain. I felt practically immobilized as my participation in athletics came to a standstill. I agonized over being physically debilitated the rest of my life. Totally distressed, I fervently sought relief from medical and orthopedic specialists to no avail. My hopes were dashed each time.
My aunt recommended her chiropractor. Even with a trusted recommendation from her sister, my mother was very reluctant to expose me to a chiropractor and had to defy the medical establishment and society’s view, held at the time, that chiropractic was quackery. The last resort visit to the chiropractor was the miracle I was looking for. I laid down on the chiropractor’s table in extreme pain. After the adjustment, I got up off the table pain free. I was elated and astonished at the same time. Being pain free was initially temporary at it actually took several adjustments for things to stabilize. I resumed participating in high school sports. I have never been concerned about being physically limited with back pain like that ever again.
As my astonishment turned to realization, my blanket acceptance of the status que completely changed. No longer accepting things at face value. Much to the contrary of medicine’s and society’s view, the chiropractor knew something about healing the other doctors did not. I passionately wanted to know that something too. One of my curiosities was I wondered why medicine did not accept chiropractic.
My view of society changed as I could see how mistaken a commonly held view can be. I became more open to all kinds of different ideas. I wondered what else what out there that was also just as wonderful.
My newly found curiosity led me to learn Transcendental Meditation my first year in college. I found meditating, jogging, eating well and continued chiropractic care helped me meet the demands of my education much better than partying with my dorm buddies as the legal drinking age was 18 at the time.
I met a classmate who became a lifelong friend early on at Palmer College of Chiropractic. I had developed a sensitivity to the energy people carried as a result of my continuing meditation practice. Jack’s energy was strong and inviting and piqued my curiosity to what was behind his different energy. Jack knew a lot of chiropractors as his father was also a chiropractor. He introduced me to Dr. Bill Bahan who traveled the world presenting on the wholistic approach to not only healing but wholistic living as well. I fully embraced the core principles and way of life of an international organization focused on actively engaging in the art of living and attended many conferences and trainings with Dr. Bahan and others uncovering the powerful secrets to wholistic living and wholistic healing.
Chiropractic college was academically intense. So much so the stress triggered the recurring severe abdominal cramping. I knew from personal experience how chiropractic heals low back pain. I was now learning that chiropractic restored nerve function to the internal organs! Imagine that! I was now curious if chiropractic care could fix my abdominal cramping. I decided to forgo the injection of muscle relaxants to find out. The process ultimately took 9 to 10 months of regular adjustments (and lots of convincing from 4th year students to stick with it) for the abdominal cramping to completely subside. There were no more episodes for decades and maybe forever.
I was pretty occupied for several months in 2008 and early 2009 with attempting to address the return of intestinal symptoms that I previously had episodes of from birth to age twenty. This time they were constant. My body benefited from all the chiropractic, nutrition, emotional work etc that I did this time, but the pattern did not resolve. An abdominal wall weakness appeared to have herniated. I thought that was the cause of my symptoms and had surgery in August of 2008 to repair it. The surgery took care of the weakness and I recovered quickly but the symptoms continued. I did a detoxification program for a few months and then a strict anti-Candida diet for a month with apparent weight loss associated with both. January 2009, I went to a integrative medicine medical doctor who previously was a conventional colorectal surgeon for many years. The pattern was not typical of colon cancer but that’s what it turned out to be. I had surgery in March of 2009 to remove the 6 by 5 by 3.5 inch tumor and have two sections of colon removed and reconnected. Fortunately, there was no evidence on scans or biopsy of lymph nodes of any malignancy anywhere else. Follow-ups continued to be clear. My weight went from about 200 lbs in the spring of 2008 to 140 lbs after surgery. Though I was close to checking out, all I had done in 2008 to support my health really showed up once the tumor was removed. I declined the six months of chemotherapy recommended. I was back to work in a month. Five weeks after surgery I was gingerly tossing a Frisbee on Myrtle Beach S.C. Three months after surgery I moved my home and office from Richmond IN to Zionsvlle IN. I began running, swimming and biking in July. My weight recovered back to 200 lbs by November of 09. I continued to work nutritionally and homeopathically to rebalance my biology and work with a personal trainer to bring physical balance for over two years.
I want to share with you what I learned over the course of 40 plus years on this journey and guiding 1000’s of practice members on their journey fortifying their resilience to stress, generating new levels of energy, supercharging their resistance to disease so they are showing up powerfully for their family, their career and themselves.