“There is no growth without discomfort” - Abhijit Naskar

A Mother's Reflection

I used to believe living a stress-free, comfortable life was my goal. I am a mother of three and for many years, life was very chaotic and I longed for peace and quiet. I used my “me time” taking up hobbies, like scrapbooking, sewing, Bikram yoga and eventually golf (my husband says I can be a bit obsessive). This worked really well for me when I was in the trenches of motherhood, but as my children grew older and didn’t depend on me as much, I needed to reflect on what I found fulfilling and how I wanted to spend the rest of my career as a Physical Therapist. I learned three things: 1) things happen for a reason 2) life doesn't follow the blueprint you draw up and 3) there is no growth without discomfort.

20 Year Work Anniversary...Yay???

At my 20 year milestone of working in the hospital setting, I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. But every year after, I felt a bit depressed and restless. I would ask myself, “Could I do this for another 15 years…?” My eldest son was a junior in high school when I started imagining what life would look like when all three of my kids flew the coop, with more control over how I spent my time. A few years before, I had experienced my first bout of vertigo, from what I now know was benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV (check out my blog post "Vertigo is Not a Diagnosis" to learn more). Luckily, it self-resolved, but that experience unnerved me. When I needed to take some continuing education courses, one in particular caught my attention. It was an Introduction to Vestibular Rehabilitation home study course on DVD about how to evaluate and treat patients with vertigo, dizziness and imbalance.

My New Obsession: I'm Officially a Vestibuloholic

I watched the course, rewinding it when I needed to rewatch the recordings of eye movements, called nystagmus. In previous live courses I attended, these recordings were shown once and I never really knew what I was looking at. Now I had the opportunity to master what I saw. This fascinating information inspired me to do an inservice for the staff. While I worked on the inservice, I came across another course that I could watch online, on my phone or listen to in my car. Obsessed, I watched the course three times to solidify the content. I rewrote my inservice with the new information and was eager to start treating vestibular patients in the hospital.

Feeling like I had only scratched the surface after my 60 minute inservice, peers asked me to give another one and I ended up giving four over the course of the year. Meanwhile, my rehab director connected me with Liz Youngman, a vestibular OT who worked at our sister campus. With her mentoring, I transitioned to treating in the outpatient clinic 2 days a week while still working in the hospital. Liz and I co-taught a vestibular course to 20 staff members on two occasions and developed annual vestibular competencies for the staff. The culture of our hospital shifted with this training, the hospitalists now asking for vestibular consults for their dizzy patients and referring them to our outpatient clinics after discharge. I am proud of the impact I made at El Camino Hospital and always assumed I would end my career there, but my path changed. Something stirred in me and I was ready for the next phase of “discomfort that would help me grow.”

Balance Solutions Rehab is Born!

Friends and colleagues have been encouraging me for years to start my own vestibular practice but it seemed too daunting. As I said before, I am not a risk taker, my default is stress-free and comfortable. While volunteering at a Golf 4 Life event for post-stroke patients, I met a PT with a mobile neurologic practice, Safe At Home Physical Therapy. After exchanging numbers, I learned about her journey and that day, a seed was planted. An unexpected family illness this winter caused me to reflect about my priorities, passions and happiness and motivated me to finally pick up that watering can and let that seed grow.

I won’t bore you with all the details of my next steps, but I must give a shout out to the team at Uncaged Clinicians who helped guide me and other therapists through their Launchpad program. Balance Solutions Rehab started as a flicker of an idea but is now truly my "fourth baby." I am sure every owner feels this way about their business. So much thought and detail is poured into it and I want all my patients to feel this same energy that I give to their care. I welcome you with an open heart to the Balance Solutions Rehab family and it would be an honor to help you on your healing journey!