The Start of Much Yet to Come

I (Tony) received a ton of feedback about the flu vaccine article I sent out. The general gist of the feedback was that people wanted to hear more. So until I get my own office/website, I will be using our family blog to write on various topics. I am not a scholar in grammar; however, there shouldn’t be too many points that are beyond comprehension. The first topic starts below.

“So what exactly do you do?” In talking with people, that is a common question I get. People know that I am a chiropractor but most people associate chiropractic with helping low back pain despite that we actually see nearly every type of condition known to man. Chiropractic as a whole has been its own worst enemy. There are different types of Chiropractors, however, we have failed to better classify the different types so that the general public has some type of clue as to what to expect when they walk into a chiropractor’s office. I joined the group I am with now (Maximized Living) because they are like-minded in they way they approach patient care. This gives me an opportunity to give someone in another part of the country a trustworthy doctor that I can refer them too.

What exactly do I (and other doctor’s in Maximized Living) do? Do to the overwhelming prejudice chiropractic has received from the AMA (American Medical Association) I used to be in a defensive posture anytime anyone ever asked about Chiropractic. A passage of Scripture, Ezekiel 3:16-21, helped me grab a better understanding of how to explain to people what I do. My job is to spread the truth -- not to try and convince you. You are ultimately responsible for your own health. The short and sweet answer of what I do is that I take people out of the standard medical model and put them into a model that will actually allow them to keep their health the way God intended. Recently I had another doctor say to me that he was frustrated many times he walked into church. He said that the church will raise their hands and tell God that He is a Mighty Savior, Wonderful Counselor and Faithful Friend yet too often they deny that He is also the Great Healer. They say they have faith that He will heal them, yet as soon as they leave the church doors they go take something like the flu vaccine or an antibiotic etc. which basically says that they really don’t trust that God can heal them. They need something man has made and it is what does the healing. The Maximized Living lifestyle embodies the principle that we were created to live by. The principle is that God created us with the most amazing healing ability in our body; we just need to get out of the way so it can do its healing. Let’s think about this for a second. When you get a cut on your arm, do you have to take an anti-biotic for that to heal? Or does the body just innately do it by itself? Of course the body does it by itself. So the bigger question to ask is that if the body can heal and protect a cut on your arm, why is it not healing your diabetes, ulcer’s, ear infections, fighting of flu’s etc? The answer is that we interfere with it. My job, as a chiropractor, is to remove interference with the innate, God given, ability to heal. And guess what? All those health conditions I just mentioned (and many more), we see reversed on a consistent basis. Now it’s extremely important not to misunderstand this point. People often miss it and ask how I can cure their diabetes or infections among other ailments. The point I want to make is that all I do as a Chiropractor is find and remove anything that is interfering with the body’s natural ability to heal. You do the healing, not me! Your body has the best doctor, and the best pharmacy already inside it!

Many of you know my background, but for those who don’t, I wanted to share that I grew up in the standard medical model. My mom was a nurse who had the inside track on who the best pediatrician was in our area. So I supposedly had great care. And for anyone who knows my mom, when I mean she got me the best care, I mean she got me the best medical care. No one or thing messes with mama bear’s cubsJ Yet, despite my mom’s amazing job at getting me the best care she knew possible, all growing up and through college I was sick every year…. sometimes seriously. This happened without fail. In college I had bad sinus infections, pneumonia and what the E.R. doctor called the worst case of mononucleosis that he had ever seen. I actually had to drop out of a semester of college because I was so sick. Despite trying to achieve good health, I continually failed at attaining it. It wasn’t until I started in Chiropractic that I started to realize I had been on the wrong path. I’m happy to report since that point I have been sick once and instead of taking forever to “get over it”, it was short lived. More importantly is the change I see with my family. We let Kaiya watch “The Secret of Nimh”. In the movie there is a little mouse that is really sick. At that part of the movie she gives us a quizzical look. It is so amazing that Kaiya doesn’t comprehend what being “sick” is. Part of that is her age, but she has hardly ever had to deal with any type of “sickness”. We are not perfect as a family. We still do things that aren’t healthy. As I write to you, Rachel and Kaleb are expressing certain cold symptoms. The difference is that they won’t be taking any over the counter or prescription drugs, and instead, will concentrate on letting God’s amazing creation do the healing!

The topic for the next newsletter will be about vaccines. Many people had questions about it after I talked about the flu vaccine so I wanted to follow it up with a letter about all vaccines. It is an extremely sensitive topic that needs to be addressed. Look for it to be completed in the next week or so.

To finish, I understand that some people are concerned with the financial costs of chiropractic care. The way our health care (or rather disease care) system is set up; it doesn’t give much allowance for Chiropractic care. While I genuinely understand that some people cannot afford it, many times it is that people don’t value their health enough. People in our country think it is their right to only have to be responsible for co-pays when it comes to their health care. For as much as our health insurance costs, I understand why. However, times like last night, for me, when Rachel and I took turns staying up with Kaleb because he was having a hard time sleeping, allow me to see that it’s about value. I honestly don’t know how parents with kids that are sick frequently survive. As a parent I now know the toll it takes when they are sick. How much is that worth?