ABOUT ME

You might wonder how a 25 year ICU nurse pivoted and became a Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

It all started with a promise to my mom.

I began nursing school in 1994 when my son, Joshua, was just 4 months old, and I completed my Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1996. Upon graduation, as I was seeking my first job, my mother expressed her desire for me to pursue an advanced degree. I explained to her that Joshua had already endured significant time apart from me, while I was focused on nursing school, and I wanted to prioritize our time together. 

However, I promised her that I would pursue further education once Joshua was grown and more independent.

In the 22 years between starting my nursing career and starting Chinese Medicine School, my family and I endured a whole host of unusual and extreme health conditions (see full blog here).

Suffice it to say, I was well and truly disappointed in the Western Medical Model after all of those experiences (extreme vertigo, breast cancer, multiple surgeries, fibromyalgia, Idiopathic Thromoctyopenia Purpura, to name a few!).  I wanted to go deeper into a field of medicine that offered me MORE responsibility in a broken system. 

I knew that the Western Medical Model didn’t have time to spend on the patients to actually make them well. Now don’t get me wrong, Western Medicine is great at treating broken bones, complex traumas, heart attacks, cancers, and things that need surgery. Western medicine does not treat chronic conditions particularly well, as it is often limited to prescribing pharmaceuticals that have pretty significant side effects.

As I was contemplating how I was going to fulfill my promise of continuing my education I had made my mom, I was in a quandary. Did I really want to continue in a healthcare system that left me feeling like I wasn’t doing enough for the people that I cared for? If I stayed in the advanced degrees available for me as a nurse, I had the choice to continue in nursing education, healthcare administrator, CRNA, APRN, and none of these options felt authentic or good to me.

I also knew that I am a healer at my core, and I wasn’t done trying to help people. Someone suggested acupuncture and a new journey began.

Given my family’s and my own health journey, I am deeply committed to helping people with complex health issues, autoimmune issues like fibromyalgia, lupus, RA. I also love helping people with lingering health issues like Long Covid and Lyme Disease. If you have struggled getting results with traditional care, I would love to help you heal, collaboratively.