Minneapolis Wins Our Heart
Functional Neurology, Hell’s Kitchen, Ed Sheeran and more!
🧠 The Brain Doesn't Forget... Even When You Do.
Yesterday changed the way I think about concussion recovery.
Like many of you, I've had more than one concussion over my lifetime. Some were dramatic. Others I shrugged off and got back to work. I figured if the CT scan was normal and enough time had passed, my brain had healed.
What if that's not always true?
Yesterday, Gio and I spent the day at The Functional Neurology Center with Dr. Schmoe, Dr. Harvey, and their incredible team. We each had hours of neurological testing...and despite walking in together, we walked out with two completely different treatment plans.
Because healing the brain isn't one-size-fits-all.
My evaluation uncovered issues with my vestibular system, eye alignment, autonomic nervous system, and even tiny structures in my inner ear called otoliths—little calcium crystals that help your brain know where your body is in space. If they're not functioning properly, your balance, vision, brain fog, dizziness, and even fatigue can all be affected.
After treatment?
I felt...different.
More grounded.
Like my nervous system had found a gear it hadn't been in for a very long time.
Then after the second session...
I crashed.
Not in a bad way.
More like my brain had just finished running a neurological marathon.
The funny part?
Neither Gio nor I could sleep last night.
It almost felt like our brains were busy rewiring themselves with all this new information.
Was it coincidence?
Maybe.
Was it fascinating?
Absolutely.
As a physician, I spend my life helping people recover from mold illness, Lyme disease, chronic inflammation, parasites, and complex chronic illness.
But yesterday reminded me of something important...
The brain sits at the center of every healing journey.
If your nervous system isn't regulating well...
Everything else becomes harder.
And here's the scary part...
Most concussions are treated with little more than:
👉 "Take it easy."
👉 "Rest for a week."
👉 "You'll be fine."
But what if you aren't?
What if the concussion you had at 12 years old...
The car accident in your twenties...
The fall on the ice...
Or that football collision...
Is still influencing your balance, vision, autonomic nervous system, brain fog, anxiety, or fatigue decades later?
That's a question worth asking.
The best news of my day?
Dr. Schmoe checked my neck thoroughly...
No craniocervical instability!
🎉 I'll gladly take that win.
The thing that impressed me most wasn't just the treatment.
It was the passion.
Dr. Schmoe isn't just helping patients...
He's teaching doctors.
This weekend he'll be training clinicians from around the country because he believes more practitioners should understand how to properly evaluate and rehabilitate the injured brain.
I couldn't agree more.
In fact...
I've already decided I'll be attending one of his future courses.
Because if learning this helps even one of my warriors reclaim their life...
It's worth every minute.
🧠 Your brain is your greatest asset.
Protect it.
Challenge it.
Heal it.
Don't assume that because an injury happened years ago, it has nothing left to say.
Sometimes the body whispers...
Sometimes it screams...
And sometimes...
It simply needs someone who knows how to listen.
❤️ Here's to rewiring.
❤️ Here's to hope.
❤️ Here's to never stopping the pursuit of healing.
#FunctionalNeurology #BrainHealth #ConcussionRecovery #Dysautonomia #POTS #VestibularRehab #LymeDisease #MoldIllness #HealingJourney #TheLydayCenter #NeverStopLearning #ThereIsHope #RewireTheBrain
Minneapolis: Healing, Hope, and a Little Bit of Hell's Kitchen ❤️🧠✈️
People often think when they see us traveling that it's all vacation.
The truth?
Most of our trips revolve around healing first...adventure second.
This week in Minneapolis was exactly that.
When we travel, we've learned a few things that make life so much easier for those of us with chronic illness.
🏡 First...Airbnb every time.
Hotels are wonderful, but for us, an Airbnb wins almost every trip.
We can cook our own food.
We have multiple rooms instead of feeling confined.
We can order groceries.
We sleep better.
Before a single suitcase comes inside, though...
We do a mold inspection.
Yep. Every. Single. Time.
We walk through first looking for musty odors, water damage, or anything that makes my mold radar go off.
Only then do the bags come inside.
Next stop?
🛒 Grocery delivery.
Our order is almost identical every trip:
• Distilled water
• Ice
• Kefir
• Cheese
• Gluten-free snacks
• Energy drinks
• Whatever we forgot packing...which, if you know us, is always something. 😂
Thursday started with coffee at the adorable little SK Coffee near our Airbnb before heading to the Functional Neurology Center.
The first day was all about evaluation.
Balance.
Eye movements.
Vestibular testing.
Orthostatic testing.
Finding out where our brains were struggling.
After lunch...
Treatment began.
Then, because healing deserves celebrating, Gio and I drove out to Wayzata for dinner on the water at Gianni's.
The atmosphere?
Absolutely beautiful.
The food?
Let's just say the view won. 😅
Still...it was the perfect continuation of celebrating our first wedding anniversary.
Friday morning began with another mission.
Blood work.
We had planned this brilliantly...
Or so we thought.
Since Labcorp is one of the few places where we could easily obtain the Vibrant Wellness micronutrient panel alongside our standard laboratory work, we figured...
"One poke!"
Nope.
Labcorp happily drew their own labs...
...but they wouldn't touch the Vibrant kit.
😂😂😂
So...
Thursday poke.
Friday poke.
Sometimes medicine keeps us humble.
Fortunately, we met Patience at ArcPoint Labs.
Can I just say...
She was incredible.
I may have joked about bringing her back to Green Bay when we eventually build our own laboratory. ❤️
Our third Functional Neurology session taught me something I've suspected for years.
My brain has been compensating...
for decades.
I've had at least six significant concussions.
Instead of jumping into all of the high-tech gadgets like Gio...
Dr. Schmoe had to start at the beginning.
My vestibular system.
He repositioned my otoliths.
Not once.
Not twice.
Three times.
Then he repeated the testing.
Everything looked better.
Could years of POTS and dysautonomia be partly related to an inner ear system that has been compensating since childhood?
Maybe.
Could it have started with my first concussion?
Maybe.
Could it have been one of the later ones?
Also maybe.
The body keeps score.
Once things were recalibrated...
I finally graduated to the GyroStim for a gentle introductory ride.
Success.
Then PEMF.
Laser therapy.
Seal in the progress.
Until next time.
Meanwhile Gio...
Let's just say his brain advanced through treatment a little faster than mine. 😂
Once the work was finished...
We finally became tourists.
We walked downtown.
Enjoyed absolutely gorgeous weather.
I snuck away for a wax appointment.
Priorities. 😂
Then...
Dinner.
At...
Hell's Kitchen.
Or...
What we thought was Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen.
Imagine our surprise when we realized...
It wasn't affiliated at all.
Oops.
Still...
The cheese curds?
Fantastic.
The giant pretzel?
Amazing.
So amazing, in fact, that we couldn't even finish our entrées.
The prime rib sandwich came home with us and starred during our evening movie.
Absolutely worth it.
The chicken tenders?
They're still waiting patiently in the refrigerator. 😂
Today we're slowing down just a bit.
A trolley tour.
The Pillsbury Mansion.
Exploring one more beautiful city before tonight's grand finale...
🎶 Ed Sheeran.
Our pièce de résistance.
Then tomorrow...
It's a quick flight home.
Back to our warriors.
Back to The Lyday Center.
Back to doing what fills our hearts every single day.
Because while these trips may look like vacations...
They're really investments.
Investments in our own healing.
Investments that allow us to become better physicians...
Better healers...
Better partners...
And ultimately...
Better versions of ourselves.
Because I truly believe the best doctor you can find...
Is one who never stops being a patient too.
❤️ Here's to healing...
❤️ Here's to never settling...
❤️ And here's to making every journey count.