Written by Dr. Angie Becerra
I'm just over halfway through my time off, my symptoms haven't improved in this time, but I have made some decisions about both my health and Taproot.
As it appears that I'm not dying (at least not quickly), and no one can really put their finger on what is wrong (I'm still waiting on some specialist appointments), I've decided to approach this like I would my patients' health. Now, it is HARD to doctor yourself, but I have the help of the fantastic doctors at Taproot and the nurse practitioner helping me manage my case is knowledgeable and willing to try things beyond the modern medical model. But the basic fact is: I am responsible for my health and my medical choices--no one is going to hold my hand and tell me how to get better.
So with the help of my medical support team, and my family, I've made a plan!
The thing about plans is that they can't be too difficult otherwise they're doomed to fail. I'm going to focus on 5 areas of health every day:
Food
Rest
Toxins
Mindfulness
Movement
Rest is what I struggle with the hardest here. When I was in school, I was lucky to get 4 straight hours of sleep (I had a new, and then teething baby at the time) and I feel like I've never recovered. I also have a hard time making sleep/rest a priority as there are always a million things to do!
Because rest has to be a priority for me, I've decided to change my work schedule. The fact of the matter is that I need to step back from patient care. I LOVE my patients, but chiropractic (at least the way we practice) is hard on the body. I'm fortunate to have recruited AMAZING doctors to Taproot who not only treat both me and my family, but train along side me. I have 100% faith in their ability to treat every-single-one of my patients.
For the foreseeable future, I will be only seeing patients on
Wednesdays 10a-3p
and I'm going to take more breaks between patients.
If this change in my schedule means that I am no longer available during a time that works for you, please see one of Taproot's other doctors. We are all professionals and if anything needs to be tweaked in your particular care, speak up and we will be happy to accommodate you! For those of you who see me multiple times/wk I'm really going to start pushing other therapies that might help you hold your adjustments longer--clinically I've found that soft tissue therapy in conjunction with an adjustment will help the adjustment last longer for most people.
With all this being said, I have no shortage of work (if you're a small business owner, you know what I'm talking about). Over the last year, first with my EOE flare (took 6 months to diagnose and 4 more months to get under control), and now with my dizziness and vision issues, the running of Taproot has been on autopilot. As I focus on my health, I'm going to step back into the ownership role at Taproot.
I want to make sure that everyone knows that I'm not leaving or selling Taproot. Taproot is my vision, and my vision is to keep helping people become well. My role in Taproot might be changing, but the vision is still the same.
