Dear Patients:
We’ve finished our third week back to work. It’s so good to see everyone again. I apologize for not keeping in better touch this year than I have for the past few, but it’s been a hectic six months. Everyone always thinks that the grass is greener in Florida, but we’d like to share this years’ experience with you all.
The important lesson we’ve learned is that sometimes you have to take in every bit of information and weigh every option and find the right practitioners and friends to guide you back to health.
I’m grateful for the colleagues that have provided care in our absence. All of the reports have been excellent. For those of you that have decided to continue care with them, we understand. In the 43 years I’ve been in practice, what I have learned is that when a patient needs the energy I have, they come to see me. I’ve also learned that when they need a different energy, they go to a different doctor. It takes a village. It takes all of us working together; and we all want the same thing: the very best for the people we care for.
Now, I want to take you on the wild ride we’ve been living for the last year and a half. The story has twists and turns reminiscent of a good thriller:
- CoVid starts something we can’t immediately see
- My Heart Issues escalate out of nowhere
- Nancy’s long term lung issues are seen but not dire
- Our WHOLE life gets hacked
- I make a profound discovery that is affecting EVERYONEs health
- Nancy’s Stress goes off the charts
- Nancy’s Health takes a dive
- The Village comes to the rescue
- It’s not just one modality that heals – spirit, mind, and body in balance
As most of you may remember, last year was not a banner year for us either. The story actually started the November 2023 at Nancy’s sister’s wedding. We both got CoVid. We seemed to recover OK, but in December I had a couple of falls on our way to the promised sunshine of Florida. I ended up with an escalation in a heart arrhythmia that had been an on and off problem for 8 or 9 years that suddenly wouldn’t quit (supraventricular tachycardia), and put me into A Fib
.
After 3 weeks of dragging myself around, walking the dogs about a mile and a half twice a day Nancy finally pulled the plug on my stubbornness, and I ended up in the hospital with a failed cardioversion followed by an ablation (luckily it was a cryoablation). There were some complications and a second cardioversion as a result of a heart rate of 120 BPM that just wouldn’t quit. After that, I was fine and have been improving ever since!
Nancy, on the other hand, was understandably stressed to the max! In retrospect, even a year ago she was struggling a little walking back up to the car from the beach. With all of the spotlight on me, we didn’t think much about it. But she kept saying that her breathing wasn’t good. She “troopered” on through it, and we got home in April as planned.
Upon our April follow-up visit the Pulmonologist said that despite her chronic Interstitial Lung Disease, the problem was her heart, not her lungs. The lungs appeared stable, typically a slowly progressive condition brought on by years of smoking and performing in smoky clubs back in the day. She had another CT Scan in May.
The cardiologist said it was her lungs, not her heart… By June she determined that she was back in A Fib. She had had an episode a couple of years ago after a significant family stress event involving the newly-found natural siblings. She was cardioverted successfully, and had been fine ever since. (Thanks to the Apple watch, we could keep a close eye on it )
At the end of July she responded to what she thought was an e-vite from her cousin which turned out to be an attack that gave full access to her computer, and ultimately our Verizon account, and our iPhones and iPads and iWatches were rendered useless, as they reset the codes and our apple passwords. Our bank accounts and credit cards were all compromised. Our contact lists, notes and pictures – thousands of pictures… all lost.
Fortunately for all of us, Nancy was able to handle all of that stress and spend hours on the phones. We ran back and forth from one Verizon store to another and one bank to another… But I was able to keep working because she was able to shield me from that frustration and get us dug out of a hole we hope none of you ever experience.
(If you do, we recommend you watch the movie: The Beekeeper… it was cathartic!)
The post-CoVid reality that was voiced to us by the health care staffs both in Florida and here is that the number of people with these kinds of heart issues has increased dramatically, and involves teenagers, young adults, many athletes, and middle-aged people, and old farts like us. As a result, the electrophysiologist (who does the ablations) was booked until early October.
Despite the constant A Fib and recovering from the identity theft, Nancy performed at Panza’s Restaurant in their little second-floor show room to sold-out houses that loved her raucous sense of humor and her remarkable ability to take her audience of an emotional roller coaster ride that never failed to satisfy with her magnificent and masterful voice. It was both quite a struggle and at the same time quite a triumph.
She had been scheduled for a follow-up with the pulmonologist in early August, which she cancelled due to the consuming re-creation of our lives following the identity theft. She was scheduled for a follow-up breathing test in mid-October. The cardiologist told her that having the breathing test 2 weeks after the ablation would be meaningless and more stressful on her heart, so on his advice she cancelled that.
(I remember years ago that the biggest argument AGAINST the specter of SOCIALIZED MEDICINE was how horrible it would be and how long you would have to wait for an appointment. It took all summer to get scheduled for the ablation, and a couple of months to get rescheduled for the pulmonologist, which ended up being mid-December…)
The report on CT scan she had in May stated that compared to the previously noted interstitial lung disease her condition was stable, so we were not too concerned.
As those of you who saw me in November know, I discovered the problem which was affecting almost everyone all fall, with mild respiratory complaints and intermittent gas with mild digestive problems. When I finally had the opportunity to test deeper, I was on the trail of the culprit: 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene. Rubber tire dust. And there is another added chemical to stabilize the rubber, known as 6PPD. On studying that, the realization is that this material has become the most significant airborne pollutant in our world today.
And I learned that rubber tire dust has been used in so many ways that it’s quite staggering. Most significantly was the addition of rubber tire dust to the late-season asphalt mix so that it could be used at lower temperatures and paving could continue later in the season.
I’m sure if you drove ANYWHERE in the Capital District from September to December, you were held up for varying amounts of time as they seemed to be scurrying to pave EVERYWHERE to get the roads solid for winter. People were late for appointments all fall because of this. It was a real PITA!!!
But the absolute WORST part of this story is that for Nancy it was particularly aggravating for her interstitial lung disease and seemed to provoke long-term CoVid reactions as well. Nancy’s December Cabaret show at Panza’s was a real struggle. Then the stress of getting things wrapped up to go south for the winter to combat her seasonal affective disorder really wore her down to a stub…
Her Oxygen levels were in the low 80’s, The pulmonologist put her on Oxygen therapy… He seemed to think it would all happen the next day. HAH! Finally after about 2 more weeks we got that going, but hadn’t gotten the portable O2 generator yet. We went to his office for a follow-up and his bedside manner was horrific.
He nearly screamed at her for not coming in sooner, and for everything he could think of to make it not his fault. Essentially he told her she was gravely ill and to get her affairs in order. Great Christmas present. 5 days before Christmas…
He had no objective test findings to go on. The last CT Scan said she was stable. They still have no explanation for why a slowly progressing interstitial lung disease suddenly turned into a life-threatening Pulmonary Fibrosis.
But we got an oxygen machine for home and a portable one for the car and hotel rooms and such. Inogen… Suddenly there are commercials for it all over the place… Seems like suddenly a LOT of people are having this problem… When she was sitting, she seemed pretty good. She could work and function. But by the end of the day she was out of gas.
Stubborn as she is (runs in the family maybe???), she drove us to Florida. For those of you old enough to remember John Voight and Dustin Hoffman in The Midnight Cowboy, that’s the way we traveled south… She kept saying she felt like she was Ratzo Rizzo going to Florida to die. It was not a fun trip. But she was a champion. Drove all the way. We made it. The Florida VRBO we stay in is very comfortable and spacious. And light-filled!
We had already had a follow up appointment scheduled with the cardiologist in Florida that saved my life last year. Thankfully, a woman that we know from up here has a place in Florida not far from the house we rent. She was kind enough to come over and watch the dogs when we went to the appointment (Thanks Joyce!).
Nancy had packed a small bag. We were quite certain that she would be admitted to the hospital and had no small worry about the possibilities of the outcome. Dr. Habib was quite wonderful, and managed to lessen the grip of doom the pulmonologist had instilled in Nancy’s frame of mind. He added a new medication and sent us home with a sample.
We developed an action plan to see a pulmonologist he knew, and started the new medication. We went back home and tried to settle in to restore her health. There were many people that participated in this saga. The two most significant people were Dr J Dunn and Jack Treiber. Next on the list would be her close friend Kristine, a show-business compadre and brilliantly funny actress/singer/comedienne (and more) who always tickles that part of Nancy’s soul that needs to be nurtured in ways only Thespians understand.
I first took Dr J’s seminar (twice) many years ago. I have had a couple of wild cases with significant genetic components which she has always been generous with her time and very helpful with. A few years ago she relocated to a little town about 40 minutes north of Lake Worth. I think I must have jumped on one of her zoom calls for practitioners – however it happened, when we realized how close we would be, we made plans to get together. That was last year. When she heard about my heart issues, she came down…
Luckily for me she didn’t have any chiropractors in her area that worked in the way that we do! Her wrist had been in a brace during the second seminar I took with her eight years or so ago, and of course I couldn’t let that pass without comment – and I ended up adjusting her wrist during a break… So it was easy to anticipate that we could enjoy the opportunity to get the kind of care we love to give!
So due to our good fortune that Costco is about 1/2 mile from our house, and she needed something from there, she packed up her 3 huge bags of test kits and supplements, along with 2 playmates for Logan and Franklin (Toby and Kona), and we had a blast! We traveled up to her house as well and enjoyed trading services, techniques, and developing a deeper understanding of each other’s approach over the course of the winter.
This year was a little more desperate. She came down straight away, as Nancy was really in no shape to travel… We both worked our magic on her quite a bit over the next 3 months… Our friends and my long-term patients (maybe 43 years, I think), the Treibers, were scheduled to come and visit again this year for a week a few days after we arrived.
Jack had been an engineer working for NYS in the energy regulation agency. He had long thought about studying ways to use energy to help people. When he was approached by his superiors with an early retirement incentive, it wasn’t too hard for him to seize the opportunity to take as many courses on energy work as he could find
.
He has a remarkable talent – and Nancy resonates with his work in a very positive way. His evaluation techniques gave us some valuable insights that opened up some other avenues for us to treat. And his ability to get Nancy’s body, mind, and spirit out of the doom and gloom of certain death she had been locked in to by that Albany pulmonologist and was truly a life saver. She continued to have phone and remote sessions with him on a regular basis – even when they were on another vacation!
After Jack and his wife left, the next morning Kristine came. Nancy had two Maids Of Honor at our wedding. Kristine was one… There’s something very extraordinary about performers. Among their friends are people most of us only know from magazines, TV shows, and the theater. In my world, I get excited by fine practitioners, brilliant teachers, and international lecturers.
What I have observed over the years is that the boost in Nancy’s energy when she’s sharing time with her “peeps” is of the extraordinary nature that allows one woman to stand on a stage with only a piano player and command the attention of an audience of 2500 people for over 90 minutes and have them screaming with appreciation when it’s over. I can’t do that…
The time she spent with Kristine had healing energy equally important to anything the rest of us did. Like I said at the beginning, it takes all of us working together for the common goal! We often forget the importance of nurturing the spirit! I know it’s vital! Her sister came come from North Carolina the same time our brother in law came down from Malta.
There’s nothing like the power of family to bolster a weary spirit. Little by little everyone helped to nurture those parts of Nancy that Dr J and I couldn’t really touch… There were a couple of fascinating turning points. One was after the first meeting with another ineffectual pulmonologist we were shuffled off to instead of the one the cardiologist had recommended.
After THAT disappointment, on the way home in the car, something bubbled up from deep inside Nancy, and she shed that, “I’m surely going to die…” and came back with a mighty roar I hadn’t heard since December, determined to live! It was a beautiful thing. We had some other friends come, including her other maid of honor, Wendy, and my friend of 43 years, Gary. Cousin Annie was there at the same time. Everyone brought healing magic.
My son Sean came down as well, giving us three healers bombarding her and tag-teaming her with everything we had and could dream up. We finally got to see the “real” pulmonologist, who was much like the cardiologist who we like very much. He went over the new CT scan and showed us the comparison to the previous scans.
He was at least open to my interpretation, but still persisted in maintaining the pathological interpretation as opposed to a functional one. There were two things that they still remain unable to explain. First, in December, the CT findings were stable but her clinical presentation said she was in terrible shape. Now, in late March, her CT scans seemed to look worse, but her clinical presentation said she was a whole lot better!
The medical paradigm for her condition suggests a continuing progression of the pathology and no real likelihood of improvement. Stabilizing the condition, maybe, but healing? Not in their mindset at all. The doctor said, “Usually when we see test results like this, it’s in patients in ICU.” They have no explanation, because they don’t understand the power of chiropractic, energy work, and the love of friends and family.
He added a medicaton to one the cardiologist had prescribed for the A Fib that helps the body to break down scar tissue. We studied the pharmacology and looked at the side effects so we understood what systems we needed to support to avoid the toxic side effects of both medications.
So far that has worked very well. Dr J has been invaluable in this respect. No one knows physiology better! Nancy ended up having another breathing test done and the results weren’t available until April 1. We arranged to spend a few extra days in case anything else needed to be done. We were scheduled to leave on April 5th to return home. Our April 1 visit was with the PA, and we thought it went well.
The pulmonologist called us himself later that night with a much more grave prognosis, and the recommendation of a third medication even more problematic than the first two… It’s very expensive, and has to be specially formulated, and shipped directly from the special pharmacy. There were many hoops to jump through, educational materials and nurses and coordinators of all sorts… More stress for Nancy!
We had a final zoom call with Dr J the night before we left. We went over all Nancy’s information that we had. I asked her if she had ever gone back and reviewed the whole My Happy Genes report. In most cases, this deep dive is not so crucial. But there were these two elephants in the room, so Dr J took us through screen by screen and we got quite an education in physiology and genetics.
Then she said, “Let me press this button and that will put all of her variant genes on the same page.” Wow! The whole column turned red! After a few moments, she assimilated all of that information and started to explain it to us. She was as excited as a young explorer who just found a treasure map!
Within a few minutes, she was able to show us the reasons that Nancy struggled with obesity her whole life, and how the altered physiology set her up for the inflammatory conditions and lung disease. The reasons for the failure of the treatment protocols and dietary interventions that didn’t work were all pretty clearly laid out.
The most important part was that it allowed us to see the physiological cycles and processes that we needed to augment with specific vitamins and minerals to detoxify the system from the effects of the medication and also how to shift the metabolism to help rebuild and restore the lungs. Each step along the way provided us with another piece of the puzzle to improve her health!
When this began in December, Nancy was very dependent on oxygen, 24/7… By the first week in March, she began to realize that she might take the oxygen off to take a shower, then forget to put it on again for an hour or so. Her stamina is not that great yet, but to talk with her at the front desk, she seems very much her old self, better than she’s been for over a year.
All of these things had also worsened her chronic disc problems… and by looking at the whole picture as we have now, I have every reason to anticipate that we will be lessening that scar tissue as well! It’s easy to get stuck rehashing all the old stories to each person who says, “How was your winter in Florida?” Suffice to say we’re looking ahead to a much happier future!
No matter how good I may be at fixing the structure, if we don’t account for the genetic variants that build weaknesses into the system, and build a total program that works both sides together, the maximum healing potential will never be reached! We are forever indebted to Dr J and her world-class development of Wholistic Methylation and My Happy Genes.
I have been working with Quantum Neurology for three years and woven that neurological rehabilitation work into my protocol. Dr J’s work is my next project. I have tended to attract a lot of difficult cases, and I am quite certain that this work will provide the gateway to the next plateau of better help for everyone!
She is planning a road trip to Montreal this summer to escape the Florida heat… I mentioned that our house is conveniently on the way! We’re planning to offer a zoom call as soon as we can get it together to help people understand how powerful a tool this can be, and give you an idea what to expect. That will be the next e mail to look forward to.
Yours for the best health of your life,
Nancy & Dr H