How Almost Dying Made Me Even More Obsessed With Women's Health (You're Welcome)
If you had told me five years ago that I'd be sitting here writing about almost dying, emergency surgeries, and life reinventions, I would have smiled politely... and probably shoved a green smoothie into your hand.
For most of my life, I’ve been passionate and just maybe borderline annoying about health and wellness. I’ve always loved connecting with women, swapping tips, sharing the good, the bad, and the hormonal. I genuinely believed that taking care of ourselves was pretty straightforward: eat well, move your body, get some sleep, maybe light a candle or two.
And then my body was like, "Ha! Cute. Hold my kombucha."
Out of nowhere, I faced a bizarre health crisis that ended with me being rushed into emergency surgery. No one had any real answers. I had to fight, advocate, and bulldoze my way through a system that kept telling me, "You’re fine. Your labs look great!"
(Meanwhile, I was Googling my symptoms and reading medical journals at 2 a.m., wondering if I was secretly a medical mystery worthy of a Netflix documentary.)
Also funny side note…amidst all of this one of my “fun” symptoms was angioedema…aka FREE Kim Kardashian lips..the surgeon even joked about it when he saw me post-op…happy to share pics one day if you need a laugh…because now I can laugh about it as I am not in the midst of potenitally going to the ICU like I was that night as my airway narrowed.
The truth?
If I hadn't known how to speak up for myself, listen to my body, and refuse to accept half-answers, I might not be here telling this story today.
(And let’s be honest, that would’ve been a real shame, I have so many more sarcastic health analogies to share.)
The reason I recovered-and recovered fast (like back at work as a nurse 2 weeks after having a very large abdominal incision…10/10 would not recommend being “cool” and going back to work that early!)-is because I have ALWAYS leaned HARD into the foundations of true health.
-I use food as medicine.
- My day to day habits are the foundation of my health and just part of my life and always have been because I built them up over time (like months/years…no overnight miracles over here)
- I trusted my instincts more than the experts in white coats waving “normal” lab results at me.
Despite living with multiple autoimmune conditions (because, apparently, one wasn’t exciting enough), today I feel stronger, more energized, and honestly healthier than I did in my twenties.
Take THAT, youth.
This experience lit a fire under me- one I didn’t even realize was missing.
It made me obsessed (in a good way) with helping other women not just survive, but really thrive through the confusing, messy, beautiful chaos that is midlife and beyond.
I’m a Women's Health Integrative Practitioner and Nurse for over 25 years!
What I do is built on creating a community of women, resources, and the real talk support we actually need. (Because surprise: cute Instagram quotes aren’t enough when your hormones are flipping tables in your body.)
Midlife is NOT the beginning of the end.
It’s the beginning of your reinvention.
Your comeback.
Your "I’m not just going to accept feeling like crap anymore" era.
If you’re tired of being told "you're fine" when you feel anything but, if you're ready for someone who listens, digs deep, and treats you like the brilliant, complex human you are, I'm your girl.
Let’s navigate this together with a lot of strategy, a little sass, and zero tolerance for being dismissed.
