What I Did Last Fall

Last September, I sent a private email to the people who have subscribed to this blog. It was the first time I have ever sent a message to my “subscriber list” and I was delighted by the people who so kindly replied! I wholeheartedly read each and every email response, but I did not have time to write back to everyone. Some of the responses brought tears to my eyes, they meant THAT much to me. Thank you!

In that personal email, I gave my subscribers insider information. They were the first ones to know that I was going to be switching clinics, to Interactive Health Clinic in Lynnwood. In that email I wrote,

“I will have a more formal post about the switch on the blog later this month (you’re getting the inside scoop, lucky you).”

But the “more formal post” later that month never happened.

I underestimated how much work it would take to switch clinics. Learning my way around a new workplace felt like I moved to a new home and couldn’t find the light switch when I woke up in the morning. Because I am the only doctor there that provides naturopathic pediatric care, there were a few extra things that I needed to set-up that were not already in place. This included launching a Vaccines for Children (VFC) program with the state of Washington and a lot of emails to my colleagues about making the office as kid friendly as possible. Don’t you wish you could be the recipient of my “that’s not kid friendly” emails?

Keep in mind that the Wendy’s Eating Husband likes to regularly point out that my biggest character flaw is biting off more than I can chew.

Then, right after I started at Interactive Health Clinic, I taught urology class two weeks in a row to naturopathic medical students at Bastyr University. The first week I taught about Interstitial Cystitis, which I LOVED.  When I was sick, suffering from bladder spasms that felt like my bladder was contracting on a garbage bag full of rusty razor blades, I had no idea that there was a way out of this suffering, and that later in my life, I’d be standing in front of the next generation of naturopathic doctors saying, “There is a way.” And it’s true. People, you can heal from interstitial cystitis.

During the second week of Urology guest lecturing, I talked about male fertility. I wrote a post from some of the awesome stuff I learned.

Then, after all that, Dr. Eric Yarnell ND, who is writing the next naturopathic urology textbook, asked me to help him with his book. I did a little bit of editing work for him and also wrote a chapter about vasectomies. I felt so honored to help him, but at the same time, I struggled with feeling like I let him down because I literally squeezed this into the tiny margins of my life. I love writing, I love urology, and I love Dr. Yarnell, so it was a win-win-win.

You know what all this means, right? Not only am I an expert in interstitial cystitis, I am also an expert in chronic prostatitis, vasectomy, sperm, and male fertility.

I also made some health tip videos at Interactive Health Clinic. I loved getting to branch out into this kind of work. It was something I have never done before, and forced me to develop new skill sets. I can’t wait to start making fun videos for archerfriendly! Check out my first one below and watch me be very serious (I wish you could see my eyes widen when I say the words “very serious”). The video clip shows children before it is played, making it seem as though I might not be in this video, but I promise, you’ll get to see me soon after you hit play.

On a personal note, my daughter started kindergarten this fall. That has been a huge transition as I feel like managing a kindergartener alone could be a full time job with all of the scheduling and paperwork that comes home!

All this to say, that it has been a very busy, full fall, bustling with change, growth, and incredible opportunities.

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