TNR Happenings January 28, 2019

Know the difference between activity and achievement. Many of our practice members or potential practice members are trapped in a bewildering array of activities that range from the amusing to the bizarre. How many times have you experienced the stalling tactic that they don’t have time to commit to your office because they are already so busy in what doesn’t work. Here’s where the power of beliefs kicks in. They will actually stick with what’s not working rather than abandon ship and move toward something that will produce results. Don’t be intimidated by anyone when they won’t commit to results and instead opt for activities that don’t produce results.

In the world of addiction, disease, and emotional and behavioral issues, the answer is incarceration or altering the actual chemistry of the brain and body. In any human endeavor, there are results that look like results and there are results that are results. In the world of disease, the absence of symptoms is good enough. In the world of health, it’s not. Health is a journey, something to be worked for, not a destination. It’s a lot like in the fitness world: some participants look strong by having hypertrophied muscles but lack functional strength; others look lean or almost skinny and they have amazing functional power, strength, and speed.

Drugs have amazing, powerful, immediate effects, are very convenient, and somebody usually pays for them (insurance). On the other hand, to get real results to achieve health, the person is going to have to commit oneself and is totally responsible for the results. Shortcuts are always tempting as we think there must be a better way than having to put in the time to be a master at something, like being a musician, a black belt, or a once-in-a-lifetime DC.

 

Practice tip of the week

Stay in contact with people. Just because they discontinue care does not mean they have answers. This is especially true in the world of DCME or chronic cases. I just was contacted by a woman for DCME help with her kid who is a young adult. She originally obtained material about me over a year ago. Just like with most issues, the problem will not go away until the cause of the issue is corrected. Have an online or paper newsletter that speaks to them. You can call them every so often. Even though they may have stumbled upon some temporary results, the core of the problem exists until it’s corrected.

You can make a video of yourself for discontinued practice members. In our laptop lifestyle, we sometimes are too quick to move on from discontinued people. The #1 expense for many in their offices is the procurement of new patients. After joining TNR, you quickly learn it’s RETENTION! Just make sure they are someone you want back in your office. If they ripped you off for $1,000 or trolled you on social media, it's best to leave well enough alone. With other great members who just seemed to fall off the face of the earth, be in contact with them. Do this on a continual basis.

 

DCME confidential

Read the words of warrior Dr. Helena Beacom as she details the ups and downs of being a once in a lifetime DC:

I’ve been in practice since 2002 and I’ve been in TNR since 2006. I’m not even remotely the same DC that Dr. Kevin met so many years ago. I see the world differently and I see myself differently. I “hear” what a patient is actually saying versus what is coming out of their mouth. But all of that training over the years doesn’t make it any easier when I have more urgency for a child, then their parent or for a patient does for themselves.

Years ago I had my first “DCME” without understanding yet what that meant, John. A boy who watched his Mother be physically abused by his Father and could do nothing. A boy at four years old who was backed into a corner by his Father and physically abused while his Mother watched and did nothing. He was under care for a year but one day his Mother quit, on herself and on her son. They stopped care. I found myself in my office crying and being lectured by my husband about how I can’t care more than she does for the health of her son, and Brent was right. But I’ve been given sight. I can foresee the outcome of such decisions and I understood in my heart this was the moment John was lost. As an adult, John would pop back into my life from time to time. He is in a world of violence and bad decisions. He told me it was just too hard to walk away from that life. At that moment, I had to let him go; knowing I couldn’t save someone that didn’t want to change and it was one of the hardest things I had to do.

A little girl with XYZ diagnosis rolled into my life in a fancy wheelchair. She has a personality that can stop a crowd. You have no choice but to smile around her. I don’t really know why her parents brought her to me because they never intended on following through. At that first meeting, I knew they drank the medical kool-aide. I knew there was no faith in her little body to heal but only a medical “push” to help with the Mother’s guilt. They opted for a surgery to put buttons on her abdomen, so she would “have control” of when she wanted to urinate or have a bowel movement. (If Innate thought that made sense, we’d all have buttons on our abdomen.) The next step was to cut the nerves to her legs and paralyze her, even though she could cruise along furniture and walk with a walker. The reason for this? I have absolutely no idea. I knew at that moment, this young lady would either walk across the stage for graduation years from now or she would be stuck in the wheelchair and life shortened because of the parent’s decisions. Sadly, I haven’t seen her. . .

My son’s best friend has CP and is in a wheelchair. At 7 years old, he wears a diaper, doesn’t speak, or sit up on his own. His Mother admitted to me that her son has tantrums and when he does, she drugs him to calm him down. She has never committed to his care because big brother has football and basketball and there just isn’t time to get him to the office. My daughter came home to tell me that he was administered to the hospital because he is now spitting up blood. This little boy is going to die and I have to be ok with it. And this fucking sucks. There will be a day I will have to try and explain to my son why his best friend is gone and I hate the thought of that. Lily’s response to his big brother was, “Why wouldn’t your Mom take him to see my Mother?”

Today I have to go to a visitation. A practice member lost her brother. He was just 36 years old and had been fighting cancer for years. He had chemo, radiation, and surgery on his brain tumor. I talked with his sister about getting him in for Chiropractic care. We had a great conversation where we left in hugs and tears. I told her, “I cannot guarantee anything, but I know this; there is one thing your brother hasn’t done. Like a stone skimming across the water, his care here will make ripples. Those ripples will make more ripples. And I know even with all of his medical treatment, his body wants healing. Why not dedicate himself to care here in this office? Let’s see what his body can do.” She came back to me and said they weren’t willing to come in for care because we didn’t take his insurance. I just stayed quiet but I knew what the outcome would sadly be.

Sometimes I think to myself, “Having a wellness practice is nice. Your heart doesn’t get ripped out as often.” But in truth for every parent that refuses to commit to their child, there is one that will. I keep moving forward to help another child. Choosing to see DCMEs is hard. It is not an easy road. It is filled with loss and rejection. But damn it, it’s right. And kids need us. No one else cares this much and is willing to do what we do. Their lives depend on those DCs willing to keep going.

There is a story that I turn to when I’m struggling to keep going:

“An old man was doing his daily walk along the beach one morning, when he spotted a young boy crouched by the water, scooping something up from the sand and throwing it into the sea.

The beach was normally empty at this time of day, and so the old man stopped to watch for a while.

He noticed that the boy kept on shuffling a little further down the beach, then repeating this same action again and again – stopping, scooping, throwing, moving.

“What are you doing there, boy?” the old man asked, walking closer.

“I’m saving these starfish that are stranded” replied the boy, “if they stay on the beach they will dry out and die, so I’m putting them back into the ocean so they can live.”

The old man was silent for a few seconds.

“Young man,” he said, “on this stretch of beach alone, there must be more than one hundred stranded starfish. Around the next corner, there must be at least one thousand more. This goes on for miles and miles and miles – I’ve done this walk every day for 10 years, and it’s always the same. There must be millions of stranded starfish! I hate to say it, but you’ll never make a difference.”

The boy replied “well I just made a difference for that one”, and continued with his work.”

I continue the work because it makes a difference to that one child in front of me. We cannot “save” them all, but we can die trying.