PinnedThe Most Important Question: A Dying Man’s Lesson for Us AllIt goes without saying that every day, physicians learn valuable lessons from patients that make us better healers. The practice of medicine, by its very definition, means new knowledge is always making its way towards us. When we consider the possible variables that can influence one’s health — biology, environment…Dying5 min readDying5 min read
Jun 28, 2021Lessons from AyahuascaI heard about ayahuasca several years ago, after I started the first outpatient ketamine clinic in Iowa to treat refractory mental health conditions. Once I started reading about the therapeutic uses of psychedelics, I couldn’t stop. I knew I wanted to eventually have an ayahuasca experience when I had the…Ayahuasca Experience25 min readAyahuasca Experience25 min read
Mar 5, 2021When a Haircut is More Than Just a HaircutI’ve sat in a salon chair twice in the past twelve months. After the pandemic started, I was able to get my hair done at the end of May and again in October. Not ever being the person that can do regular visits because of my job, I get in…Pandemic5 min readPandemic5 min read
Aug 22, 2020Yellow Dog — how an illness opened my heart….then broke it into piecesJackie wasn’t the first dog we had. My husband has always had hunting dogs. But, hunting dogs have a purpose — they don’t exist simply for the sake of enjoying them. Don’t misunderstand, they were all treated well and my husband loved each of them fiercely — but they were…Dogs9 min readDogs9 min read
Jun 16, 2020Lost and Found…and LostShe was lost to me. For so many years, I’d not seen nor felt her. But, last night, in the wonderland of sleep — I found her. She’d been away, taken to a convent in Italy when I was sixteen years old. She didn’t die! It had been my imagination…Grief3 min readGrief3 min read
Feb 19, 2020Why I Started a Ketamine ClinicIn the fall of 2016, scrolling through Facebook, I came across a post in one of my physician mom groups that caught my eye. At that time, I didn’t know the women who had written the post, but she was congratulating herself for being able to repay her capital investment…Ketamine6 min readKetamine6 min read
Jan 19, 202049 Things I’ve learned in my 49 years…About myself, relationships, the world, and medicine.Everyone has a story, and chances are you don’t know anything about it. You can be the accused and the victim at the same time — it simply depends on who sees you and how. Some things just don’t have answers, and it’s true freedom when you are okay with…Psychology5 min readPsychology5 min read
Dec 17, 2019All The ThingsMy mother died when I was sixteen years old after a six-year battle with brain cancer. She left four children behind and I was the oldest. Going through life without a mother is one of the hardest things I’ve had to endure. Every day, I’m reminded of her death in…Death3 min readDeath3 min read
