Podcast - Episode 40: My story: From invalid and severe pain to a full and active life with a passion to help others

EPISODE SUMMARY
Guest: Ruth Elder

In this podcast episode, Ruth’s son Andreas Elder takes over as the host to ask his mother some questions about her story; her background, why she is worth listening to, and what she has to offer. He starts off by asking why it’s worth listening to what she has to say.

  • Her main reason for doing this podcast is  wanting to help people.

  • She has herself suffered greatly and found a solution to it. She was practically an invalid her whole life up until age  21, and nobody could find out what was wrong. She kept going to doctors, including chiropractors, and not finding any answers. And then, she finally found something that started a healing process that has continued for 29 years.

  • Since 1994 she has seen hundreds and probably thousands of people that have had the same story. They've suffered greatly. It's been complicated; it's been chronic.

  • In 1994 Ruth got a job for the Blair Upper Cervical Doctor who took care of her; Dr. R. Weldon Muncy. Her main duty was taking notes and assisting him in the room. It's like the  Hamilton song “In The Room Where It Happened”. She was in the room where a lot of healing happened, and a lot of stories were told, and a lot of discussions happened. 

  • She has seen hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people come in sick, suffering in despair. Then at some point, they are starting to heal, and she heard their stories. She listened to the discussions that they would speak in confidence with their doctor, kind of be a fly on the wall.

  • As part of her role as a support worker for top leaders in the Blair Upper Cervical  Chiropractic profession, Ruth has also had opportunities to observe and listen to lots of lectures and conversations between Doctors.

  • Ruth tells her story of suffering from sinus infections, pneumonia, bronchitis, low back pain, neck pain, chronic severe headaches, constant neck pain, blurred vision, hives, pain in the shoulder blades and so much more.

  • Due to the severity of her injuries, Ruth was told that she had permanent damage and needed lifetime maintenance care. She has been an extremely complicated patient and this has taught her to be a support for other people with chronic, complicated conditions and help her husband Dr. Gordon Elder, to be a better doctor.

To contact Ruth, go to https://www.blairclinic.com

ruth@blairclinic.com

https://www.facebook.com/rutelin


TRANSCRIPT

 Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to What Pain in the Neck? podcast. Today is a first here on the show. This is Ruth, normally your host, but today I am not the host, so I'm going to turn it over to my guest host, Andreas. 

 Hello, I'm Andreas. I'm 19. I'm her son. So I have a bias as that I like the person I'm interviewing.

 Okay, that's nice. Lucky me. My son likes me. 

 Yeah. So my first question is, you run a podcast that's focused on a specialized technique of chiropractic. 

Yes.

 And you aren't specialized in that technique or chiropractic at all, so why do you do this, and how can we trust what you say or whoever you have that they're trustworthy or whatever? 

 Great question. I love it. So, first of all. When it comes to building trust, it's kind of up to you who you choose to listen to. So I will say nobody has to listen to what I say or take my advice to heart. But I'm going to say, the reason I'm doing this podcast and I feel like maybe that would be the reason why it'd be worth listening to and maybe worth sharing, is threefold, actually. So the first is I have suffered greatly and found a solution to it. And that was 29 years ago now. And in that time, I have seen hundreds and probably thousands of people that have had the same story. They've suffered greatly. It's been complicated, it's been chronic. People have gone from doctor to doctor to doctor and not find relief, which was my story. I had been basically an invalid my whole life up until I was 21, and nobody could find out what was wrong with me. And I kept going to doctors, including chiropractors, and not finding any answers. And then I finally found something that started a healing process in me. And my purpose for sharing that story is if there was hope for me in that despair. There might be hope for you too, if you're in that same situation. So if you've tried everything but you haven't tried this, maybe it's worth listening to. Is this something that makes sense for me? So my main reason is I want to help people. So in addition to having this story of being very sick and then starting to heal, shortly after that I got a job as an assistant, for a very renowned upper cervical doctor. I didn't know at the time actually how special this doctor was, but he was a leader. He was the teacher of the Blair technique at that time. He was the only one. He was the top authority on the Blair technique at the time I started working for him. My job was taking notes and assisting him in the room. It's that Hamilton song “In The Room Where It Happened”. I was in the room where a lot of healing happened and a lot of stories were told and a lot of discussions happened. So I saw hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people come in sick, suffering in despair. And then at some point I saw them starting to heal and then I heard the stories. I heard the discussions that they would speak in confidence with their doctor. I got to listen in on that, kind of be a fly on the wall. Also, there would be lots of doctors flying in from all over the country and even from outside the United States to come and see Dr. Muncy. And I got to be in the room. And that happened too. And also I was helping out in some of the classes that he taught. So with that said, I've gotten to meet some of the smartest doctors in the world and have heard a lot of those stories. And it's been 29 years now. As part of that story, 29 years ago, I got home from work every day, and I was so excited about what I was doing and what I was seeing. And not only was I healing, but I saw all these other people healing and I was talking to super smart people. Not that I was talking because I was listening, actually, I was just soaking it all up. And I was telling your dad, who was a student of economics at the time, and although a smart guy and getting all A's, his heart wasn't really in it, but I would come home from work so excited every day. And so, he decided that this is what he wanted to do and that we decided that we wanted to do this together. So at the time we were thinking maybe both of us would be chiropractors. That was the plan at the time. But because I had been so sick growing up, I was behind in school, and so I needed a lot of credits before I could even enroll in chiropractic college. Whereas my husband, your dad, Dr. Gordon Elder, he already had his associates of science, and he had more Physics and Math and not enough Organic Chemistry and Biology and Anatomy and things like that. So he just had to take a few prerequisites and then he was good to go. His health was top notch, and while I was healing, I was not hundred percent, so I was kind of on the slow boat to college credits, and then I ended up having kids and that whole college becoming a Chiropractor idea went out the window. So I've had more of a supportive role. But for 29 years I've been surrounded by these stories. I've seen more and more. I've been side by side with my husband through all of his learning. And now he has got the top certification that you can have within Upper Cervical. He is an advanced instructor in the Blair technique, which means that he can teach all the levels of this technique. And also he has a Diplomate in Craniocervical Junction Procedures, which means that he has studied the neck. And that's the highest level of specialty that you can get as a Chiropractor in the upper neck. And so all throughout it, I've been side by side there and then running the practice. And so to run it full circle, to sum it up, that was a very long way to answer why. Why am I doing this podcast? And why is it worth listening to what I have to say? That whole background runs it all together. And what I have seen day to day, for almost 30 years now, is first, people come in and they think they're skeptical because they're really sick and they've tried a whole bunch of things and “is this just quackery? And why haven't I heard about this before? And the pain is severe and what if it doesn't work?” That's typically how people come in. “I've tried it all, and why should I try this?” So that's kind of the first appointment. Typically, people are in that frame of mind. Hopefully they'll have called and maybe talked to me and think, okay, maybe there's still hope. But a lot of times it's just “I don't know what else to do, so I might as well try this too. But it probably won't work.” That's the majority of people, and then they start to heal. And that's really exciting to see. You can really see it on people's faces. There's life in their face again, there's a different quality to the smile, I like to say there's fireworks in the eyes when they smile. And people are starting to make plans again for doing real life, and people are really getting their life back. And that's super exciting. But then comes the phase where, “why didn't anyone tell me about this sooner?” And that is the reason why I'm doing this podcast. I got help because I found out about it. And if you hear this podcast and this story, you can always decide, “oh, yeah, no, I don't want to do that.” But you can't decide to try it if you haven't heard the information. Yeah, so that's the long answer to a question of why I'm doing this podcast and why it might be worth listening to it. 

That makes sense to me. So you keep mentioning that you needed help. You mentioned you're practically an invalid or you were, excuse me, I know part of what that means, but I still don't know the full story of what that is. 

Yeah. 

So for my own knowledge, honestly, and for the people listening, 

What happened to me? 

 Yeah. What was going on? What is going on for the first 21 years of your life? What was 

 happening? 

 Yeah. I was one sick child, and a lot of times, maybe you wouldn't know by looking at me, but I was sick most of the time growing up. I grew up in Norway, and Norway, there's a thing called winter,  and it takes a toll on your immune system. So it's kind of normal that kids get sick in the winter. You stayed in Norway last year, so you found out about winter. 

 Yeah, it is brutal

So I grew up with that. And it's normal for people in Norway, but it is normal. Like kids kind of get sick a lot more in the winter. But in my case, when the people would get colds, it would turn into maybe massive pneumonia or bronchitis or maybe pneumonia, and then bronchitis, and then a sinusitis, and then a second batch of sinusitis.

What is sinusitis? 

Sinus infection. And it just was unusually much sickness in my case. I was six years old the first time I can remember having excruciating low back pain. And that's been a companion off and on through my whole life. I was young enough. I think that despite the fact that I've done a lot of healing, that still rears its ugly head from time to time. But thinking of someone that started having back pain at age six right now, I'm 50, I have not had surgeries. I live an active life. And so, yeah, that ache in my low back, it just is what it is. It's been a lifelong off and on companion, but it was all the time.

Yeah. Do you remember what you were doing? Because you remember having it, do you remember what you were doing when you first got it? 

When the first time I noticed a low back pain? Yes, I was skiing, which people again in winter in Norway.

 I mean, they teach them that young.

Yes, it's a saying that says Norwegians are born with skis on their feet. 

Absolutely. 

Which is not entirely true, but you have this contraption that's like a stroller on skis that you put your babies in. 

I saw many of those.

 So, yes, that is the first time I can remember having back pain. I'm not going to say that that was the first time, but that's the first time I remember. And then in Fourth grade, I remember going home halfway through the day once a week, crying because my head was pounding. It was awful headaches. It was always the same day of the week. It was Wednesdays. And I don't know, maybe it was just accumulated time. I don't know why that was. And then the headaches got worse. And then from Fifth grade, I had this episode where my neck stiffened up, my muscles on each side of my neck just swelled up and became hard like logs, and you couldn't see almost where my shoulders started and ended. It was just this massive log from my shoulders up to my ears, and I couldn't turn my head. 

At all? 

 And that went down into my shoulder blades, and it was excruciating pain, and I couldn't move. And I just cried and cried. Obviously, I went to some doctors and things like that. One of the things they did was they put injections straight into my muscles. And I remember it was so painful that it wasn't really, like crying, but just tears just, like, flew out of my eyes. And it hurt. Like, I can remember that stinging pain from the stuff going into my muscles, but it only gave me relief for maybe, like, a day. Even though I was a young child, I got heavy medications. It got me to where I could function a tiny little bit. Then I started physical therapy. I started going to one doctor after the other, and I saw Neurologists and Rheumatologists and Physical Therapists and Homeopaths and Nutritionists. And eventually I got referred to a Pediatric Psychiatrist because they didn't find out what was wrong. So it must have been in my head. And yes, it definitely was in my head. I had excruciating headaches, but I didn't make it up. And by then I did have some depression and things like that, but that came from just this pain just didn't let up. And I couldn't do normal things. I didn't do PE. I was missing tons of school, and that's basically from Fifth grade. That was my life. Not only was it all the time, it was every year was gradually worse than before. Like, new things happened. Like, it started with infections, and those continued. And then I got back pain, but I still had infections. And then I had this upper back and neck and head thing, but I still had the low back and the infections. And then I got tendonitis in my elbow, so I couldn't write or hold a pencil. There was just new weird things all the time. And then I'd get dizzy spells, and then I'd take some strong medication, and then I'd get one of the things that happened that I think actually was a side effect from medication is I almost completely lost my vision for a while. 

What? 

I had these white spots that would just cover up my field of vision. And sometimes they'd be really huge, and sometimes they'd be a little bit smaller. It was enough that it was hard to see, and I couldn't read or things like that. I could maybe make out a shape, but I may not be able to see who it is. 

Goodness

 So I just had just lots of weird things. Another thing that happened is I broke out in hives all over my body. And this is just a sample. Like, different things just happened to me all the time. Every time it was the same. Nobody could figure out why. And then I would maybe get a drug or some treatment that they thought, “oh, it probably won't work, but it might help you a little bit.” But no real answers. 

So because I know you met dad. Because you were doing a missionary program.  How were you able to do that? 

 Okay, so actually, it's because of my illness that I did that. That was, I had done one year of high school, and in Norway, you can actually take a break from high school. So I took a gap year in the middle of high school. I was gone from school more than I was at school, and the pain was just excruciating. My doctor, my primary care physician who actually cared a lot, he just didn't have any answers for me, called the principal of my school and explained my situation. And the principal called all my teachers and said, “do whatever you need to do to pass this girl. If you have to go home and tutor and give her oral tests and make sure that she passes her year, do whatever it takes to pass her.” But in reality, what happened is the teachers didn't really want to do that extra stuff, so they just passed me. 

Yeah, that makes sense. 

So I was at a very low point then, and then I needed to do something that wasn't as hard on my body, but I didn't just want to take a year off. And I came in touch with this organization called Operation Mobilization. It's a missions organization for youth. I was not quite 17 at the time, and I had originally contacted another organization that had a program not too far from where I lived that was for youth, that had kind of like a campground, and they were running camps and outreach with young people. And I was thinking, well, maybe I can do that. But you had to be 18 to do that. But Operation Mobilization, a friend of my dad met the leader of that organization, and his friend told him about me, and he came to visit. And again, I was too sick to actually go to him. He came to my parents' house and I was sitting in a recliner barely able to move. And he said that I couldn't go to another country and go travel the world, but I could be a part of the program in Norway, provided I had my parents permission and I could do as much or as little as I was up to. And so that's what I did. And then in Norway, you have social services that kind of help with your costs. So I applied to get my year covered due to health reasons, so that I could do a program for youth that was easier than going to school. So I got financial support through the social services to cover my cost for that year. So at the end of that year, I met your dad. So he was coming as an international person and to join our team because it was an international organization. 

Yeah. 

And then we started writing letters. Well, I don't know if you want to know this, but well, he saw me and thought, okay, she looks very cute. And I didn't see him the first day, but when we both saw each other, he thought, she's cute. And I thought, he's very American. 

Yeah. You’ve told me that. When I was in Norway, people clocked me immediately as American. It's just, we got a scent or something.

No. Well, it's interesting. That's another conversation, but culture is absolutely fascinating, and I just love being in different cultures and learning about different cultures and different people of different races and even people that are of the same race, but from different countries and different cultures. It's absolutely fascinating. It's kind of like I just love colors, too. If you look at my clothing, I always wear different colors, different cultures is the equivalent of purples and reds and yellows and greens and vibrancy. 

Yeah, exactly. So you had this rough childhood. Pretty much growing up till 21. And then you met my dad sometime at the tail end of that. 

 Yeah, the first time we met, I was 17, but then we just started writing letters. I was in Norway, he was in Poland, and we just wrote letters. This was before email, and it got serious, like, after a little while.  

So you got married, and then you guys went back to the US. Well, you moved somewhere else, and then you were there for a year, and then you were back in the US.

Yeah. So when we got married, it was in 1993, your dad had one year left of his commitment to Operation Mobilization, so I joined him. He was in Czech Republic. And I had applied to nursing school because I had this dream in my heart to be a midwife. I've always had this strong internal desire to help people, despite the fact that I desperately needed help myself. So I applied, and I had taken an extra year and actually completed high school, and I had been accepted into nursing school. But our thinking was, my health continued to decline, and we just thought, it's crazy to think that I could even go to nursing school. It's like, how am I going to do that? I can't do that. And so your dad got this offer to work for his dad and go to school. So essentially, he could complete his college education without loans. And it made sense for us to focus on his career rather than mine. So we went to the state to do that. Because my health was bad. And then when we came to the States, your dad had gone to Upper Cervical Chiropractor because he had been in a car accident as a kid. Got fixed up great, his issues resolved, but he would go occasionally and get checkups. And that was kind of a normal part of his life in the States, to occasionally go and get checkups. He didn't hardly ever need to be adjusted. In fact, even after being in Europe for four years, he didn't need to be adjusted afterwards because he was holding his adjustment. And he was saying, well, I think it's possible that he can help you. Meaning me. One of the things that I had tried, actually, back in I think it was twelve years old, was I'd seen a Chiropractor and he took some x-rays of my neck and found that I had a problem in my neck. He did a kind of a forceful adjustment where he twisted my head one way and then the other, and I felt an immediate rush of relief. But as soon as I got home, I got terribly sick. I was throwing up, I passed out. And for the next couple of weeks I couldn't get out of bed. That's how severe my headache was after that. Manipulation is what that's called. That kind of- what we do here is called an adjustment.There's no popping, twisting or jerking, but with that jerking motion is called a manipulation. So it's not even really the same thing that we do here. But I didn't necessarily know that except that I trusted your dad. And your grandma also recommended this because she has her story too, and they said it's different than that and think that can help. And what I haven't mentioned is more and more through my teenage years, I would have this strong feeling I had extreme pressure on the bottom of my skull where my skull met the neck at the back of my skull. And I would have extreme pain there. And I would have nightmares that I had a tumor and nobody believed me. And every time I mentioned to a doctor that it feels like there's pressure in the top of my neck or at the bottom of my skull pinching on nerves, they would just always just blow it off and say, no, that can't happen. But I just had this really strong feeling that there is something wrong with my neck. And that's kind of the key. And I just was telling one doctor after another about that. So how does that relate to the story of going to the Upper Cervical Chiropractor that your dad recommended? So when I went there, he had this policy that he wanted all his tests to be completely objective. He didn't want to be influenced by how I was feeling, so he didn't ask any questions. He just ran the test first. And he pointed to the spot that I had been pointing to and was feeling. And he said, “you have a bone out of alignment in your neck, putting pressure on nerves right here.” And I just felt this wave of tears coming through my eyes and immediately thought, finally somebody's got an answer for me. And have seen that many, many times through the years, and I see it now in our clinic of people going, finally, there's an answer. So he took some X-rays and he found that there was not only one bone out of alignment in my neck, but three. And that was extremely rare. He made a big point of it. He almost never adjusted more than one, and he very rarely adjusted two. And he had only maybe one other time in his life adjusted three bones at the same time on the first visit. And that's what he did for me. All on the left side, but all of them were so light that despite how sensitive I was, which I guess I didn't touch on that, but my whole body was really sensitive, so you could hardly touch me, like even a hug. I couldn't be hugged properly or touched properly, but despite being super sensitive like that, the adjustment didn't hurt. It didn't feel like anything really happened. Then he made me take a long nap, and then I did feel slightly different after that. The biggest difference was one of the things that was wrong with me is I could never sleep through the night. My whole life, I never slept well. After that first adjustment I slept and slept and slept. I slept through the whole night, and I slept way into the late morning. And that was the beginning of my healing. So it wasn't a miracle in that I immediately got well, but the healing started immediately, and gradually I started getting better and. Remember I said for my whole life I was gradually getting worse, and now I was gradually getting better. So would I have liked to be instantly? Well, of course, but to choose between gradually getting worse and having no answers versus having an answer and getting gradually better? I'll take the gradually take the getting better part. 

So now you're perfect now, right? Your body's fine and everything's good and all that? 

Yeah, well, there's a little bit more to it than that. So somewhere along the way, I found out this doctor was saying that I was the most complicated case he had ever had. He had over 40 years of experience at that time, and he had never had a patient that was as difficult as me. That kind of explains a little bit why other doctors couldn't find any answers at all. Here's one of the top experts in the world, and he's saying you're a really difficult case, but he still could figure it out. And so the short of it is, sometimes when you have extreme trauma and that trauma happens early in your life, you've lived with that trauma for a lot of years, you can start healing up to a point. That was the case in my case, he pulled me aside. And one time when your dad was with me,,the extent of my injuries was such that I would always need maintenance care. Now that I'm almost 30 years in, that is the case. The typical situation that we see is people get an adjustment, and some people need more than one, but only a few adjustments, and they heal up beautifully and very rarely need an adjustment. But in my case, I have regularly needed adjustments. And the fact that we went through the whole rigmarole of your dad becoming a Chiropractor and then a Specialist, and then the fact that I was complicated, he has always strived to do better and do better and do better and taken the next class and the next class. So because he has applied what he's learned, and if I have a flare up, I now have an answer. So, unfortunately, in my case. I am going to need to be near a Chiropractor in order to be well for the rest of my life. Unless there's going to be new breakthroughs in science, which is possible because that happens all the time. In fact, I just talked to somebody on the phone today that said, oh, I've had this condition for 30 years and I've tried everything. How come I didn't know about this? And in this particular case, he was talking about actually a condition called Minier's disease. And there's some breakthroughs in research that have just come in the last few years, so maybe there'll be some breakthroughs that will help me finally hold my adjustment and we're looking at some possibilities there. But I am still a complicated patient and I think that actually kind of ties into where you started. Why people should listen to me is because I have a story and I'm not just the easiest case.  I have a little bit more nuanced view of how it works and what doesn't work and what to do and how to deal with it if it's difficult and it's not responding the way you react. But I will say my life is completely different than what it was. I've had four kids. Of course you were the fourth. So your evidence of that. When I got pregnant the first time, it was only a short time after I had started treatment. And all my friends and my family, their first thought was, “how in the world is she going to manage that?” And I didn't manage it just one time, but four times. And I feel like I was decently, actively involved in your life. I did things with you I didn't just basically barely muddle through. And I decided somewhere along the way that I loved to work out. And I did that more and more and became very strong and energetic. I decided I love that enough that I wanted to teach it and I've helped other people with their fitness. And so what's different now is I can pretty much just plan on setting a goal and this is what I want to do and this is what makes me happy. And so I'll go out and do it, whereas before I had this kind of solution. Yeah, my education would be one good example of that. This is what I want to do. But reality was there was no possible way, there was absolutely no way I could do that. And so basically, my physical pain dictated who I was or what I was doing, be I would just be in a dark room that day. So maybe there was a concert or something I wanted to do or a trip with my friends or something, and that's what I really wanted to do. But if my physical condition was saying no, instead you are laying in a dark room today, that's what I had to do. Whereas now, if I want to do something, I do it. 

And because you need lifelong care, what are the problems that show up now? Because you don't get sick that often. You’ve barely been sick when I've been alive. But I know there are times where there are days you're just like, I can't.

Yeah, my immune system is much better. Like you said, I don't get sick very often, although I did get COVID pretty bad. But yeah, I have flare ups with headaches and muscle pain and things like that, and enough to remind me, like, yeah, if I didn't have Upper Cervical Care, I would still be in bad shape. But because I have a solution and I live with your dad, I talk to him and say,” okay, can you check me today?” And sometimes it's just symptoms that kind of pull and flare its ugly head, and I maybe just need to rest a little or it blows over, and other times he needs to put a bone in my neck back in place, but then I'm back to being healthy and normal again. But I think maybe that reminder is kind of there to remind me why I'm doing that. And the silver lining is it motivates me to continue to spread the word of this solution and be compassionate to people who are struggling. And also, I think it helps in dealing with people who come in here that are complicated and offer encouragement and help when things are bumpy, because I've been there and, to some degree, some days that's where I find myself. I like that you asked that, because it's easy to say, okay, I have the solution so now it's all butterflies and rainbows and unicorns, and life oftentimes is more complicated than that. And we do specialize in Upper Cervical on chronic complicated conditions. And when you specialize in something that's complicated, well, it's complicated sometimes. So it's okay to realize that. The other thing is sometimes Upper Cervical is one part of the solution. So that's the other thing. I've done other things to take care of myself. Sometimes keeping the neck in line is one part of the answer, but maybe there needs to be another part of the answer, whether it's exercise and nutrition or maybe another doctor. So that can be the issue too. 

Yeah. 

 So I don't want to say pretend like there are easy answers. I don't really think if you have a complicated situation, that there's an easy answer. But what I will say is, for me, the catalyst or the thing that made the biggest difference and is completely different than any of the other things I do to take care of myself is making sure my neck is in alignment. It's like night and day if my neck is in alignment or not. 

Yeah. I have one last question. Did you update your primary care physician? Because you mentioned that they cared about you, and they were like,”we don't know what's going on, but we want you to get better.” Did you talk to them, like, once you were like, “hey, look.” You fly from US to (Norway). Do a little jig in their office, be like, “look what I can do now.”

 You know? That would have been great. I don't know that I thought of that, because I moved away, so obviously he wasn't my primary care for vision anymore. Yeah, I don't think I did that. That would have been great. I suppose I could see if he's still around, but most likely does he even remember me? I don't know. After all these years?

 If you're such a complicated patient, he might. 

That's true. He did try really hard to help me and he recommended a bunch of different things and experimented with, like he was, for instance, taking a course in acupuncture and he tried that on me and things like that, but, yes, that's a good idea. I'll see if he's still around and send him a letter, I guess. Or maybe I'll send him a link to this episode.U2 

Do you have anything before it ends that you would like to share? That I haven't touched on? 

I think the main thing that is important to me is to say what BJ Palmer said, who developed this type of Chiropractic. He said, “as long as there is life, there is hope.” And so no matter how bad you are, no matter what age you are, no matter how bad it is and how many things you have tried, there is hope. And don't give up hope. Keep on going. And if it makes sense to you. Try it. It might be valuable to say, since I've tried a bunch of things. The criteria that I use for myself for whether something is worth a try is, A. can I afford the cost? And as part of that is, can I afford the cost of not trying it? Like not doing anything has a big cost when you're that sick too. What are the risks and what are the potential benefits? And do I trust this person? Does it make sense to me? I knew that I had pressure in my neck, and the guy said, “you've got pressure in your neck.” I knew that it made sense for me to try. So don't give up hope. There's always a solution out there, and I feel that is my life purpose, is to connect solutions to problems. If you have a problem, it's my biggest desire to help you. And obviously, in your life or in my life, it's my responsibility to help myself. And if it makes sense to me, I'm going to try it. 

That's good.