EPISODE SUMMARY
Guest: Dr. Ian Bulow and Cristina Bulow
In this episode, Ruth and her husband Dr. Gordon Elder have a frank discussion with Dr.Ian Bulow and his wife Cristina about what it is like to be partners in life and in business, particularly as it relates to Blair Upper Cervical. Both couples work together operating a busy local Upper Cervical Clinic and are involved in leadership roles and travel around the world to teach students and other doctors.
These are some of the topics of discussion:
Family dynamics coming from a family business, going into another family business.
Chiropractic as an alternative form of serious healthcare.
Motivations behind specializing and always wanting to do more.
What it is like to be the one at home vs, the one who goes out to learn and teach.
Migraines.
Finding work/life balance.
Living out your purpose.
Couples with different skill sets balance each other out.
Favorite stories about recovery from Migraines, Heart Failure, Back pain, Carpal tunnel syndrome, and more. Whether through a quick or slow recovery process, helping people with their health means giving them their quality of life back.
The commitment required to keep a strong marriage,
To contact Dr. Bulow or Cristina:
https://www.reviveucc.com/contact/
To contact Ruth, go to https://www.blairclinic.com
ruth@blairclinic.com
https://www.facebook.com/rutelin
Transcript
Ruth: Welcome, welcome, welcome to what pain in the neck. I'm Ruth Elder, your host. And today we have a really cool episode planned and I'm doing a first. There's four people here. Well, including me, there's three guests. I'm sitting here really close to my husband, Dr. Gordon Elder. Hello.
Gordon: Hi, cutie.
You've been on the podcast a few times before, and we're here with our good friends that are also similar to us, Blair Upper Cervical couple working as partners in life and in business. It's not too many of us. So let me introduce Dr. Ian Bulow.
Ian: Hello, hello.
And his wife, Cristina Bulow.
Hello.
Hello. Thank you so much for being here.
It only took us to get to Las Vegas together all in one place.
Yes, and we're here in Las Vegas to - well, not to whittle away all our hard earned savings. No, but we're here to learn together and to encourage each other and to learn together at the Blair Annual Convention.
I: That's right.
R: Yeah, all right. Well, thank you and welcome.
I: Absolutely. I'm excited to sit down and chat.
R: Yeah. So Cristina, why don't you introduce yourselves? Like start by talking about who you are, what your background is, what brought you to Blair and maybe you want to introduce your husband. Cause I'm sure it's always the way around.
C: Well I was going to say, I’m Cristina, I work in the office with my husband, we actually met in high school. We're high school sweethearts.
I: One day at band camp.
R: Yeah. So that's really fascinating. So in high school, did you think, I want to run a Blair Upper Cervical chiropractic office?
C: Not at all.
R: Okay. So how did that happen?
C: Well, my parents own a restaurant. And so I kind of grew up in just business background type thing, you know, watching my dad do, you know, QuickBooks and all the things of running the restaurant. And so I always thought that that's what I was going to do the rest of my life, but it wasn't anything that I was passionate about, you know, I don't necessarily like all the - I don't know, the - I wouldn't say the customer service, just the issues, and stuff that came up with running the restaurant.
But no, then I met Ian in high school and I was gonna say, you kind of said about just like a medical, well, he said that he didn't like blood. I remember him saying that, but he wanted to go into the medical field and he started talking about chiropractic and then I was like, “okay”, you know, I didn't know anything about it, but yeah.
R: Great. Okay. All right, so you hit you didn't like blood I've heard that before. Gordon off and says, “oh, I'm a white collar doctor. I don't do blood.”
I: That's right.
G: No body fluids.
R: Oh, yeah, there you go. So a Dr. Bulow, in high school, you didn't want to do blood but you wanted to do the medical track. So what was it - first of all, what drew you to a healing profession and second of all why chiropractic?
I: Yeah, it's a good question. So I think a lot of people that get into the healing professions do so because they were helped, you know, they had a condition themselves and something really help them in a big way. And so it was no different for me. I was in a car accident in high school. I played soccer at the time, and when you have a spinal problem and a weakness in your spine, you can't perform as well physically. So anytime I would get up to a jog, I'd have a sharp, knife-like pain in the center of my spine. And I could walk fine, but if I tried to run, I'd knock the wind out of me, you know?
And my mom was always very alternative healthcare minded, I would say. And so we went to see Dr. Rambacher, our friend, you know, neighborhood chiropractor who worked out of his basement. And saw me a dozen times maybe and I really honestly didn't think much of it after that. It helped me but I didn't really…
R: So you could run after that without stabbing…?
I: Yes, without stabbing pain. But I didn't think of it as a career choice until I met some other homeschooled children - I was homeschooled. So I always looked at things a little differently just critically thinking and whatnot.
But there was some other homeschooled friends. I was at their house for lunch one day in the middle of the week when all the kids are at school. So it's just something homeschoolers do. We study hard and we get done by lunch and then we can go to our other friend's house. And I went over there for the first time. I knew their dad was a chiropractor, but I'd never met him before. I'd never been to their home. And I go to their home and it was a normal home. It was a nice home. I thought those chiropractors were kind of weird. And it was this very nice home, you know, and I thought, “Oh wow, that's a nice home.”
And then they were eating healthy food and most of the other kids I knew, their food was all microwavables and not very healthy food. My mom was more health conscious as a hippie, you know, she was a seventies child and she liked to eat natural things and whole foods. And this family was eating sandwiches with alfalfa sprouts on them. And I thought, “man, I've never seen any other family have alfalfa sprouts, except for my house.” So they were eating healthy. And then what threw it over the edge was we're having this lunch and all of a sudden in comes to the home, the dad, the chiropractor for lunch in the middle of the week. And I thought, “wait a minute, hold on.” Cause my dad does general contracting and he never come home for lunch. You go to work. You're at work. You come home six o'clock, seven o'clock at night, you know, and this guy, chiropractor, came home for lunch. And I'm checking all the boxes in my head. I don't have to do the body fluids, you know what I mean? I can help people without cutting them open. And I can kind of, you know, sustain a healthy family, home life, you know what I mean? And that was, that to me was a little light bulb, you know what I mean? And that's really what kind of got me into it, you know, from there. And then the rest was just figuring...
R: And that was in high school?
I: Yes, that was in high school.
R: Then you tell your sweetheart, Cristina.
I: That's right. Hey, we're going to Iowa.
C: Yes. I'm like, wait, isn't there a Palmer in Florida? Why Iowa?
R Okay, Cristina, would you like to pick it up from there?
I: Yeah, share that one.
C: Yeah, we literally got married, and moved out to Iowa, which is very similar to, you know, our hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
R: So at this point you were married?
C: Yes.
R: And you had two kids?
C: No, we did not have kids until, well, we had kids while he was going to Chiropractic.
R: Okay, so they were born in Iowa.
C: They were born in Iowa. Two of them were born in Iowa. Yep. Yeah.
G: That's like our story. They weren't born in Iowa, but that's our first two were born in chiropractic college. Well, not in the chiropractic.
R: So we had decided we were going to wait till we were done with chiropractic college to have kids. So we waited the first quarter.
I: There you go. At Palmer. They said, “while you're at Palmer, you're either going to get married, you're going to get divorced, - or you're gonna get married, divorced, or have a child. And if it's a really rough year, you're going to do all three.” So we figured, we were married before school, so the only option for us was to have kids.
R: Yes, and you're clearly still together, so that's good.
I: We stuck to the plan.
R: Yeah, so, one of the reasons I wanted to invite you is there's a unique challenge when you're going into the healthcare field, and especially when you're going into something unique like chiropractic. So, you know, if you were going to say, “okay, I'm going to be a pediatrician, you know, or a cardiologist,” everyone would go, “Oh yeah, that's a solid work.” But chiropractor, just like you said, you were surprised that the chiropractor lived in a normal house. Like chiropractors, they're like, what is that? So what were some of your challenges? Cristina, when you were talking to your parents and “yeah, no, I'm not going to help in the restaurant. I'm going to go to Iowa with Ian to chiropractic school.”
C: I mean, when I left the restaurant, it was a little bit of a strain with my dad, but I was like, I needed to get - break away, you know, from that. And then, yeah, just being with him going to school for chiropractic, my dad, he doesn't necessarily believe in chiropractic. Like he didn't necessarily agree with us getting married with him going to school. Like my dad wanted it to be that he was finished with school and had kind of established practice. And then it was like, “okay, now you can get married because there's more, you know, financial stability.” And so, yeah, he wasn't going to come to the wedding originally.
R: Oh wow.
C: So it was. You know, but then,\ we did it anyway, and then at the end of, um, at the end of the wedding, he turned around and he was like, that he was proud of me for sticking to what I believe.
I: And he did come.
C: Yeah, he ended up coming.
R: Okay, so here’s something that I grabbed a hold of. Because we hear that all the time. You said he didn't believe in chiropractic. What was your relationship with chiropractic, and how is that in your family right now?
C: I mean, I never had gone to a chiropractor. My first adjustment was actually while he was going to school. But what I was hearing from Ian speaking, or just the people, you know, that we were around, I don't know, it just seemed like that was the right - like I didn't necessarily believe in like taking the medications and the side effects and stuff from them. And I was like, there's got to be something different, you know, not, because I had headaches a lot. And so I would sit there and take my mother's medication for her migraines that she had. That were super strong, and then there'd be side effects from it, and so it was like, you know, there's got to be something else, like, what's wrong with me that, you know, I keep having these issues, and the medication just, it seems like the medication's not, you know, doing something, or it's doing something worse to me.
As far as now, with my parents and stuff, I think just them witnessing our lives and stuff and, you know, just day to day speaking with them. They asked like, you know, how was your day or something and I might say like, you know, we had a patient that did really well with like, you know, just different testimonials with patients, you know that I mentioned to my parents. They came into the office a couple times. You know, just to kind of see. And then they were like, “Oh,” you know, they came to the doubt house one time. And I remember my dad saying something about like, “Ian is so passionate about chiropractic and what he does.” And he was like, “that's awesome.”
I: So, yeah, they don't fully understand it, but they, I think they respect it now. They don't have to understand it. They know it works. You know, that's always that sentiment. People say, “I don't believe in chiropractic.” “Well, neither do I.” It's not a belief system. You either - you know, you take the time to learn about a thing or you don't. You're either ignorant about it or you're not. And so, they understand that they don't understand it, and they're okay with it, but they understand it works. And I know your dad also has, over the years, he's kind of warmed up to the whole approach and everything, all the life choices we've made because he's been able to see the normal nature of our home and what we've been able to do and the types of people we've been able to help. And so, yeah, he's fully supportive now. He just didn't understand it back in the day. You know, a lot of people don't understand and that’s okay.
R: So what was your journey like to get into chiropractic school and now you're a specialist in Blair Upper Cervical and even above that you went into this program called the Diplomate where there's only a few - there's less than a hundred specialists like this all over the United States.
And then as if that wasn't enough, you decided to join the Upper Cervical Council and you were the president of that organization.
I: I don't have an off button or a no button. I have a hard time saying no, put it that way.
R: Yeah, but it's like someone says, you know, “when you're a specialist, you know more and more about less and less.”
I: Yeah.
R: And there's a beauty in that, in that you can help more people. And so I want you to talk about from both of your perspectives, what are some of the unique challenges and Dr. Bulow, why did you decide to get that specific? And then, Cristina, how did you feel about that and support that?
I: Yeah, that a lot there. That's a lot. It's a big question. That's a heavy question because that's 10 plus years in the making. I mean, I've been in practice now 15 years, but I think there's been a solid - the educational growth curve was probably 10 years, you know what I mean, from student to doctor to Blair board certified to teaching Blair to getting a diplomate.To the president of the council. I mean, there's a solid decade, probably.
R: Okay. So let's back up a little bit. So bottom line here, since it's 10 years worth, if we can sum it up in a couple of sentences. So what can you do now with all that specialty that you couldn't have done if you just went to chiropractic school and opened your door and just…
I: Saved time, just save time, you know, save time. I think it's almost like a chiropractic, almost like a trade, you know, where someone learns a skillset and it takes time to learn that skillset. And once you master it, then you don't waste as much time on a project and our patients are our projects, you know? So when they come in, we can get to the solution a lot faster, a lot faster.
You learn a lot in chiropractic school, like you do in medical school. But it's almost too much information. You have to be able to read between the lines to see the important aspects of someone's case so you can get to the solution faster. And that's a big deal because that helps them and it helps you help more people because then you're not wasting - I don't want to say wasting, but you're not spending as much time solving the problems. You can just get to the solutions a lot faster so you can go on to the next person and help them. And so that I think is - the educational growth curve has helped just speed up the how quick we get our results.
R: Yeah. And I think also the way I understand Dr. Blair's story, how he came up with this unique approach to helping people was, most of his patients got great results, but some didn't. And he just fretted over that, literally stayed awake at night and came up with…
I: That's what makes you a good doctor is that, you know,is the late nights trying to figure it out. And that's what was the best thing about all these different certification programs and all the rest is that you're around other doctors who are after that same pursuit of excellence. You know, that's one of our core values in the clinic is excellence and Upper Cervical chiropractors tend to have that we’ll, for fun, call it a defect where they're hell bent on excellence and they can't go to sleep unless they solve that problem, you know? And when you're around other people like that, it really, on our end, it becomes special. And then on the flip side of your question, though, is then Cristina's end because we're going to 10 years of education. That's more time away from home for me, you know what I mean? And that was, yeah, from, from chiropractic college to - yeah, when you take the mantle of leadership, I mean, it takes a lot of time.
R: It’s lot of weekends alone and things like that. Right?
C: Yeah. A lot of weekends alone with the kids.
R: Yeah. So, okay. So how did you feel about that? You know, when Gordon would go away, I felt like, yeah, he was tired when he came home, but he came back with personal development and knowledge and a new purpose. And it's like, yeah, I was alone all weekend changing diapers and handling temper tantrums. It's like, whoo.
C: Kinda like, tag, you're it. I need a break.
R: Yeah. So, what were some of the things that you were thinking about or stories that you can tell that helped you keep your purpose in that?
C: I mean it was definitely hard in the moment with him being away and raising, I mean we had three little kids, you know, at the time. But yeah, just when he would come back, that energy that he had just, You know, like you could tell that he was passionate about it, about it, he learned a lot and then he would like implement things into the practice and just seeing how he transformed taking care of the patients, but then also with all of this knowledge and stuff, he's able to now teach other students. And so just the overall, you know, witnessing him doing all of that is really cool because not only is he helping the patients, but he's also helping, these future chiropractors that are coming up. I don’t think - you didn't really have many, people like that when you were going to chiropractic school.
I: No, there wasn't as much. When I went to school, it was before Facebook. I think we got our Facebook account when we were in school. So there wasn't as much informational sharing, right? There was - you'd only learn about something if someone drove to the school and taught it. And now there's a lot more influence and the ability to to have an impact but back then there was only a handful.
There's - we were talking earlier about Tony Robbins and you - just something you were saying reminded me Tony Robbins talks about fulfillment in your occupation or your life's work and he said there's four levels of things: you can do you can do things that are bad for you and they're bad for the greater good. And that's, you would never want to do that. That’s addictions and…
R: That's when you end up in jail or dead.
I: Yeah. It's not good for you. It's not good for everybody else. There are some things that are bad for you, but they're good for others. And I don't even, I honestly don't remember what his example was. Maybe it's self sacrifice where you work yourself to the bone. You're helping other people, but you're not really helping yourself. There are things that are good for you, but they may not be good for other people, depending on the occupation. But I think the height of what you try and do in life is do things that are both good for you and fulfilling for yourself, but are also making an impact in the society in which you live.
You know what I mean? And I think, yeah, maybe that rubbed off on Cristina or maybe we both, I've always had that mentality and what, which is why we got married, cause we had the same core values, but I think that - I mean, that's the only thing you can do cause everything's going to be hard. So, but it's - but when you can see the results and the fruit of your labor and you know that you're making an impact that'll outlast you, that's a pretty cool - that's worth it. I mean, I think that's worth it. And then the girls have - our girls have been able to see that and they may not comprehend it completely. When you're raised in an environment that's working with, means and you're not taking the prescription migraine stuff when you're in high school. You know what I mean? It's pretty cool. They're critical thinking smart kids that have a pretty awesome, in my opinion, a pretty awesome worldview in terms of how to take care of their bodies and how to take care of themselves. And that's kind of like, I don't know, that's worth a lot. You know what I mean? That's worth a lot.
R: Yeah. I want to take our conversation another step, but before I do that, Cristina, what happened to your migraines?
C: They're gone.
I: She used to faint when we were in chiropractic college. She would like have fainting spells and like just all kinds of things. And it just - ever since school.
C: It just all went away.
I: Yeah. I mean, It was pretty cool to see, you know, that's lucky, I guess. No I’m kidding.
R: Okay. So Gordon, I'm going to let you get started on the next topic of our discussion. So we got started with chiropractic care under another couple that worked together and it was Dr. Muncy and his wife, Millie. And they worked very closely together and Dr. Muncy thought and spoke very highly of Millie and was very open about the fact that he couldn't do what he did or even pass chiropractic college, much less be a specialist and a teacher and be, at that time he was the world expert in the Blair technique, without her.
So, I want to hear what your thoughts are on what it's like to have two people working together as opposed to just doing it yourself.
G: My thoughts. Oh, great. Throw me in the deep end. There's obviously a balance you have to have between what you talk about at home and what you talk about at the office. I don't think it has to be like a knife-edge balance. Like we don't talk about the office when we're at home because that's just impossible, but there is a really nice aspect to having you understand what my life is like at the office and me understand what your life is like because they're at the same place when we come home, we can discuss different issues and we can brainstorm problem solving. We can encourage each other with things that have happened that somebody said while they were at the office. So there was a while when I was off at the office by myself and you were at home raising the kids or, you know, with the job that you really loved doing, which was the personal training and the group exercise. That our lives were just very different and that's much more normal in our society is that you have two separate lives and you meet up at mealtimes, right? Or at nighttime or whatever, depending on your schedule.
When I married you, I wanted a partner, not just a sometime partner, and I didn't know that we were going to be working together as in a chiropractic office at that time. We were planning on working together. I mean that was our plan, and so it just seems natural to me for you to be there and for us to discuss and I'm not saying it's not easy sometimes learning how to work together, but that's going to be true with anybody, so.
R: Yeah. I also think when you're in a profession where you help people with serious, maybe chronic, difficult health issues, that there's a certain pressure or strain. And typically if you're a good doctor, you're an empathetic person and people are looking to you for improvement in their lives, and there's certain pressures that come with that, I think, and also when you're talking about leadership, such as, well, both of you doctors here, there's a certain strain that comes with people looking to you for answers for their organizations, so Cristina, how do you feel like you have contributed to all of that big role?
Part of the reason I'm asking, so I hear often, “oh, you're, you're a doctor's wife. Okay, so you probably do the books,” but there's a lot more to it than that, isn't it?
C: Yeah. Yep. I spoke to you earlier. I kind of mentioned how when patients will ask me that I, I basically say I do everything except for adjusting.
I: That’s a good way to put it.
C: I leave that for him to do.
I: She runs the place. I just work there.
R: So, yeah. So Dr. Bulow, what do you feel Cristina contributes to in the clinic, like in a larger sense? Aside from like the - I know she explained to me, she's really good at seeing the details and knowing what needs to be done. Obviously nobody cares as much about that place as she does. So what does that do to you as a doctor?
I: Well it allows me to do my job, you know what I mean, I don't have to worry about all the things that are going on outside of the clinical room, you know what I mean, what most people would call a treatment room.
R: Yeah, so as a doctor you don't have the distraction of going, “okay, is there gossip going on out there or, you know, are the phone being answered correctly or whatever.”
I: Especially when it's your spouse, you know, and Gordon, you said something about, you know, a normal household might people live in - work outside and then they come together around mealtimes and it's - you almost wonder if that's how most people say I get the normal amount of headaches, but it's not really normal to have headaches. It's just common in society. So it's, you almost wonder about that. Like, I think to a certain extent. secular society has pulled people apart. You know, married couples have been pulled apart. And even recently Cristina took a little break from the office and it was the absolute wrong decision. Like it wasn't on her. It was more like, I thought it would be a good thing. “Like, hey, we got this, we got new team members and staff. You can like, you earned it. Like you can take some time. You don't have to come in, like go home.” You know what I mean? And she tried, but it was almost like, I think not only is she geared towards being a CEO because she grew up in the hardest industry there is, which is the restaurant world. But then as my spouse and us coming into this profession from the very beginning together, it really is inappropriate for us to be doing it apart, like, and that's the thing that we're working out right now is we're really coming to that conclusion like, “yeah, no, it has to be together.” And she even said in the same vein, when you were talking Gordon about working together with Ruth, and I remember Cristina was saying she just wanted to live in the time of little house on the prairie because then you do everything together, you know, you spend a lot of time that sort of love language, quality time.
But there is probably something virtuous there that because if a lot of time couples come together because they balance each other out, then the reality is they'll be better together because of that. If they can respect their differences. And actually accept the complimentary effect they have on each other. And they can have a much more fulfilled life. And like Gordon said, it's not always easy to work out those kinks and those boundaries. And those ways to like, work together as a team. But I do think there's something virtuous to that. I think that's probably the way it should be.
Now it may not be possible. It may not be possible in today's society. It's just so far technological and different. And there's a million and one reasons. I have come to appreciate that that probably is the right thing, and for me personally, it just has to - I just have to fully embrace that, you know what I mean? Because, you know, you grow up now, and it's like, that's what you think. It's like, oh, you just, you have these separate, segmented roles, and it's like, well, maybe, maybe not. Maybe we're supposed to be, you know, as a married couple, together. One and one equals one in marriage, you know what I mean? And when you - you know, it's like the power couple concept, you see that a lot, you know, in different industry leaders that happen to be married, people say, “Oh, there's that power couple”. And it's like, well, maybe that's the way we're all supposed to be. If we just found a way to work together on projects and things. It's not always easy, but I think there's something there.
R: Okay, I'm going to ask the other half of the power couple. What are your thoughts on this? Cristina, what do you feel like you're accomplishing together that wouldn't happen if you weren't working together? And also, how did you feel about when you were released from duty and he said it didn't work out?
C: At first, whenever I was released from duty, it was nice, you know, being able to sleep in in the morning and, you know, get some stuff done around the house that being at the office was kind of like pulling me away from once. I got everything situated at home again, then I was like I was just sitting there and I'm like, I don't like this. Like, you know, I grew up where, you know, strong work ethic, you're constantly doing stuff and you don't stop until things are done. And, you know, there's been times where we were working on projects, he would go to bed and I would stay up, you know, until four in the morning, finishing it.
So I couldn't stay home, you know, and I was, I was starting to get miserable and then he would come home and, you know, he would be on different conference calls and just continuing doing his stuff. And I was like, you know looking around like we don't have that common thing to talk about again. And so we were always talking about like the kids or like different things and I was like I missed being, you know, in the office with him and seeing the patients and everything. So I was like I need to get back into the office and be around him and be in that atmosphere. So then came back in and…
I: Now we're restructuring it in such a way that we can accomplish more when we lean on each other's strengths instead of me trying to be the detail person because I'm not a detail person. I'm analytical, I'm precise with things, but I'm not necessarily a detail person, you know, and in the same way Cristina would maybe not be as comfortable say talking to a group of community members, you know But that's what I do, you know I mean and if we recognize those differences and lean on them now we can accomplish a lot more because we're playing in our strengths and not trying to like do secondhand weakness activities.
R: I have two more questions. The first question is do you have a story each of something that you've seen in your practice that is really meaningful and purposeful for you. And then the second question is we've talked about a bunch of things, is there something burning that you really want to share? That if I had asked just the right question the answer is, this is what I wish everybody would know.What is that second thing?
I: Who wants to go first?
C: You go first, I’m trying to think.
I: I think every day is meaningful to a certain extent. And I think as chiropractors, especially Upper Cervical chiropractors, there's always those stories that really keep us going. You know, I got into Upper Cervical. Part of that 10-year story was I got into Upper Cervical because a patient who was going to kill himself with a facial pain syndrome was helped through Upper Cervical and he spoke to our school. And so for me, I would always go in the early years and I would say - I’d go to the screenings, you know, like the healthcare screenings at the pharmacies. We would do that. We would go with our equipment, our Upper Cervical equipment and do screenings. And I would always in my mind say, “I need to find James.” You know what I mean? I just have to find James because that was what motivated me. You know what I mean? So everyone has a James. Everyone has a thing. I think the latest one was a chiropractor actually.
C: Oh, you took mine.
I: Oh, I took yours? Well, you have to share it from your perspective. Well, we'll tag team this one, but it was - you share the clinical results. I'll share the workup to it. There's a chiropractor in our town. He's in his probably his sixties or seventies. And very successful, big practice, very successful doctor, not Upper Cervical, just good chiropractor, very successful. And over the years, I started to take care of one of his employees that ran the insurance office who had migraines. And then another office manager, and then one of his chiropractors that worked for him. And I didn't know what this clinic owner thought of me because I was taking care of a handful of his employees, you know, and I didn't know what that would be like. Like if I just didn't know, I never met him before.
And then one day he was on the schedule as a new patient. And I thought, this is the guy that I'm seeing his people, you know? And I was so worried because I didn't, I had no idea. I'd never talked to him before and didn't know what to expect. And Cristina will tell you some of his clinical story, but my point, and what really was special was, as one would expect, he was the most - Is the most genuine and loving and amazing human being and that's why he's successful because he really cares like not - I mean every profession has its bad eggs. But I from what I've observed chiropractors are really good people that are just trying to help naturally. And he was no exception to that and it was such a like a little bit of a humility check for me because I just thought maybe this maybe that but it's - I try and live life to expect the best out of people and let them surprise me if they're not genuine and have integrity, because I don't want to go around thinking ill of people. And that snuck up on me. I thought maybe he would be jealous or maybe he would have an issue. Not at all. He was the kindest man you'd ever meet. And you can tell him about kind of his condition and how he came along because that's pretty cool.
C: Yeah. So yeah, he came in and what was the official?
I: Heart failure. His heart rate was down at 40 when it should be 80 to 100.
C: Yeah. And, I mean he came in, I can't remember if you ended up adjusting him on the first visit or I can't remember if he stayed longer. But he ended up having a monitor on and I think what you had, you adjusted him. He went and laid down, which he actually, he couldn't lay down.
I: He would pass out, like he would get nauseous.
C: Yeah. So he got adjusted, he was able to lie down, you know, so I remember, you know, when he got up, that was one of the first things that he said was like, you know, he was able to lie down and, you know, and he goes back into the adjusting room and. I think, was he, was he crying or did he give you a hug?
I: Yeah, it was pretty cool.
C: I kind of, like, heard all this second-hand because I wasn't actually in the room.
I: He's an old rugby player. Big guy. Literally a big heart. Figuratively and literally. So his heart was, it's larger than most people's because of rugby. And that's why it was failing, you know? Like most people have their smart watch where they can watch the pulse, you know? And so his heart rate was at 40. And again, that's half of what it should be. And so he's always tired and dizzy and all the rest. And while he's lying down, after getting his very first Blair adjustment, he's monitoring his heart. And when he gets up, he starts pointing at his watch, and he's showing me, and I didn't really realize what he was showing me. And we walk across the hall, and he stands in the room, and he's like, And he's just taking, testing his breath because before he was out of breath, right? Because if your heart's not pumping blood, you're out of breath. You know what I mean? And he kind of takes a breath and he got any with tears in his eyes. He said, “I can breathe.” You know what I mean? Because before he was like having a hard time breathing and I just thought it was like, “give me a hug, man.” And it was just so sweet.
And yeah, he had the big defibrillator chest for a while because they were saying like any day your heart's just going to stop. So he had to wear the defibrillator vest. I said chest, the defibrillator vest. So if his heart would stop, it would kick in and shock him, but that never happened. But for a few weeks when we were taking care of him, he'd show up with his big old vest on cause they weren't sure.
C: And he told our team in the front and myself that he basically was like, he said goodbye to his family, you know, cause it was like, he just, he didn't know. You know, he had those rough conversations and stuff with his family.
I: That's crazy.
C: Yeah, like he came in, he like bought like this big huge thing of flowers, you know, and like she's like, “oh my gosh like, you know who the flower is from: and yeah, so we're able to like share his story with them and they're all like “Oh my gosh”, you know, so yeah.
I: That's special.
R: Yeah, that makes it all worthwhile.
C: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
R: Yeah, I think it’s relatively regular, I’m sure it’s for you as well, usually not right away, but somewhere along the way, people come to us and say, “oh, you save our life”.
I: Yeah, they don't always say it in the, you know, you never really know. And then you'll hear it from their spouse or their kids or whatever. And you hear the backstory of like, I remember it was real early on. Someone came in and it was a family member and they said, “Oh, you're the guy”. They said, “they have this whole shrine to you at the house or whatever”, you know? And I thought, they're quiet as a mouse in the office. I had no idea. But it really changed their lives. And some people, they don't know how to express that sometimes. And we don't always, as chiropractors, we don't always want to put the pressure to like, you have to heal today. You know what I mean? So we don't always talk about the symptoms in the beginning because not everybody responds quickly, but it's life-changing.
And it doesn't have to be a heart failure. It could be a migraine headache. It could be a sore back. It could be carpal tunnel in your hands to where you can't clap in church. Like there are little things that just get in the way of you living your best life. And that's a big deal. You know, it really is. I think it's, and it's good to talk about these things because I think sometimes we just get busy being busy, whether it's because the business, you know, you're always working and you're doing whatever, but it's good to discuss this because it's life changing work. And happen to do the chiropractic piece. There's plenty of professions that are good professions, but it is, as couples and spouses, it's pretty fortunate and we're pretty blessed to be a part of such a pretty neat profession.
R: Yeah. So is there something that you wish everybody knew, that I haven't asked that you would like to say?
I: Final last words. Final last words? Yeah, no, I think, um, I'll let you get the last word, Cristina, but if this, we've been talking a lot about couples. I think I already said what I would want to say, which is that I think couples need to accept and fully carry the weight of their commitment to one another, which is not something that we've always been very good at. And by we, I really mean me because I'm the ADD brain. That's the scatterbrain out of the two of us. And we were talking about this when we started going to this new church about five years ago, but it's like marriage works for a reason. And it's built for a reason. And I don't think it's a coincidence that when you play by the rules, you have a blessed life. It doesn't mean it's perfect, but it just means when you're really, truly, living a sacrificial life and serving your spouse and working together and trying to create a life where it's all done in unity and togetherness. It doesn't mean it's going to be perfect, but it's just going to be better. And instead of trying to like, I don't know, make rules based on society, it's sort of like, let's go back to the manual. The manual of marriage. And I think you all know what that is. Let's go back to that and figure out how we should behave and how we should act. And it's a constant thing. Like I said, I'm far from perfect, but I feel like it actually gets better once we fully embrace those kind of like fundamental things. They're so easy. We don't do them. You know what I mean? Like, so yeah, that's the stuff I've been working on. There's always something I'm working on.
R: Yeah. Cristina, do you have something that you just wish everybody would know? Here's your chance to say it.
C: I have no idea.
I: The pressure's on, babe.
C: Yeah, I follow what you said.
R: Yeah. Gordon.
G: Oh, I didn't even think you were going to ask me. I was getting out of it. I think, Ian, you've got something there. I think in society it's just not possible for most people to work together as couples, good or bad. Right. But there's obviously ways we can - Even in those situations, we can work better together. Whether that, even if during, you both got different day jobs, even if it's just one person is staying at home and the other person's going out to make the money. There's the weekends, there's the kids, there's the family, whatever else. If we embrace our roles and seek to use the strengths of the other person and cover the weaknesses of the other person, then the effects we can have, even if it isn't, because during an eight hour a day job, but even in the other parts of life, is greatly - I don't know if exaggerated is the right word, but increased. It's just that partnership works itself out in other areas of life as well. But I think we're blessed because we do get to work with our spouses during the day and we - there's some division, but there's - it's a gray line between what's private life and what's public life. And we've got a profession we've chosen that we probably wouldn't want it any different. I mean our public life taking care of patients is, you know, fulfilling.
I: Yeah. we have a picnic coming up. We're celebrating 15 years. We've got a fall picnic coming up and we just started promoting it a couple of weeks ago and there's 50 people coming right now. And it's just like, that's an extension of our family. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like the professional, personal life. Everyone's coming. We invited family and we invited patients. We told them to bring their family. Like, it's just life, man. We're all just living life and u we do the best we can, but if we love each other and love, love our patients, that's, it's a pretty blessed life.
R: Yeah. Okay. So, just finally, and I know I can put you on the spot here, Cristina. Tell us where you're at and I'll put the contact information in the show notes, but um, I don't think we said what your practice is. If somebody wants to call you or contact you or see you, you are not in Lubbock.
I: Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah.
G: Darn it.
C: We are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. The clinic is called Revive Upper Cervical.
I: Yeah, you go to reviveucc.com for Revive Upper Cervical chiropractic. We're happy to help whether it's a patient or a student or a chiropractor or anybody like.
C: We can even help find other people, you know, find other doctors in the area.
I: Or in their area.
R: So call you or call us. And also, you know, if you need a speaker, I know Dr. Beulah is a great speaker and…
G: He's got lots of free time.
I: That's right. Thank you so much for having us here. This has been wonderful.
G: Thank you for your time.