I did not choose Upper Cervical Chiropractic. I did not come to chiropractic school to become an Upper Cervical Chiropractor. I did not have a debilitating condition that was cured by Specific Upper Cervical Chiropractic like some doctors and students. My wife, January, even tried to talk me into becoming an Upper Cervical Chiropractor when I was in my fifth trimester here at Parker and I said “You got to adjust more than just the atlas!”
Little did I know.
My Introduction to Chiropractic
In August of 2001, January started working for a chiropractor in Phoenix. He was not an Upper Cervical Chiropractor, but he did educate his patients on the importance of getting the atlas adjusted. He also educated his patients about DD Palmer and BJ Palmer. As a chiropractic patient, I understood the importance of the term Above-Down-Inside-Out and of the healing ability of Innate Intelligence. In short, my wife and I were chiropractic patients for life.
When my oldest daughter, Tatum, was born, there were complications and she was born via C-section. She was frank breech, meaning her feet had been up by her head in the womb. Basically she had been crinkled up. Our chiropractor’s wife, also a chiropractor, was at the hospital with us and adjusted Tatum’s atlas three hours after she was born. That first week, because of her position in the womb, Tatum needed her atlas set properly five times.
Over the course of her first year, we would notice when Tatum was subluxated. Her atlas would hold for about a month at a time, but when it misaligned, there was hell to pay. When she got adjusted, she would either pass out and take a nap, or poop, then pass out and take a nap.
I was able to see first-hand the significance of an atlas adjustment on a baby, and it was simply amazing.
Rude Awakening
When I started the DC program at Parker in January 2005, I automatically assumed everyone there would feel the way I did about chiropractic. I did not know about the divisive factions in chiropractic, or the difference in the ACA and the ICA. I did not know that many chiropractors abhored the term “vertebral subluxation.” I did not know that there were chiropractors that still took prescription drugs. I did not know there were chiropractors who also became nurse practitioners so that they could be better respected by insurance companies and/or MDs. I did not know many chiropractors felt that the death of BJ Palmer was the best thing to ever happen to chiropractic. I did not know that some chiropractors did not believe in the body’s innate intelligence to heal itself.
Basically, I was ignorant. I thought chiropractic, as a whole, felt the way I did. I thought many of my teachers would feel like I did. I thought many of my fellow students would feel the way I did.
I was wrong.
I was so wrong, in fact, that I lost my fire for chiropractic. I got caught up in the “needing to make money when I graduate so I can pay back my student loans” mentality. I tried convincing myself that I needed to do therapies in my practice one day. I started to think becoming a mixer was the only way to make money.
It came to a head in the spring of 2007. I had just taken Part 2 Boards and was ready to take clinic entrance exam two weeks later. I was beyond stressed. I was not sleeping. I was not exercising. I was not nice to my wife and kids. I did not know why I was in school anymore.
So on Friday, April 20th, 2007, I went out and sat in my car. I was about ready to go my final Bone Pathology practical. I was miserable and confused and unsure about where my life was heading. So I prayed and asked God for an answer.
That answer was “Stop.”
So I did. I didn’t go to my practical. I didn’t go to Finals the next week. In fact, I quit chiropractic school altogether. I hated Parker and wanted nothing to do with it ever again.
Things Get Worse Before They Get Better
We moved back to Arizona at the beginning of June 2007. I started a home-based business and planned on “making it big.”
Again, I was wrong.
I didn’t make any money and we had to move in with January’s aunt so we could get back on our feet. At the same time, my wife’s grandparents gave me a job with their real estate business.
And… January was about ready to give birth to our third child.
I had a hard time accepting that I was 28, living with my aunt-in-law, unable to provide a home for my family on my own, working for my wife’s family in an industry I did not enjoy, and no longer having a direction in my life. I was very resentful to God and everyone around me that supported me. I fell away from my church for a little while and my life felt like it was on an uncontrollable downward spiral.
I felt like I had no hope.
Things Turn Around
On New Years’s Day 2008, I had a dream early that morning that helped me get back on track. I dreamt I came back to Parker, was re-admitted, and finished everything. It was so vivid and realistic that I was really startled and confused when I woke up. I talked to January about it later that day and told her I thought I should act on it. Her jaw literally hit the floor. She never thought I would return to chiropractic. Ever.
I originally tried to transfer to Life West, but January did not want to start over again in a new city, so we decided I would come back to Parker. I went through the process of getting admitted back in and we were set. But we didn’t have any money to move.
January came up with the idea of selling everything we had to move back to Dallas from Phoenix. We did just that. Whatever we couldn’t sell, my dad put in storage for us, which wasn’t much. When we got back to Dallas (Irving actually), we really only had what we could stuff into our Dodge Caravan and that was it.
I had to completely repeat the trimester I had been in when I quit school, seeing as how I never took finals and failed everything. But it was okay. I was just grateful to be back.
Upper Cervical Chiropractic Finds Me
Before we moved back to Dallas, one night I got down on my knees and prayed specifically about what kind of chiropractor I would be, whether it was to become an Activator doctor, or Gonstead, or CBP, or Upper Cervical, etc. In that prayer, I made a deal with God that whatever answer He would give me, I would embrace it and give my all to it.
Before we drove back to Dallas, we went up to St. George, Utah to visit a friend I had gone to school with. He actually quit school the same time I did, but he did not believe in chiropractic at all. We spent a few days up there hanging out with them. One day, he and I got onto the topic of chiropractic. Out of the blue, he brought up Upper Cervical Chiropractic, mentioning that it was the only form of chiropractic he respected. This was coming from someone who now believed chiropractic was quackery.
Also during that trip, January mentioned to me that I should just focus on straight Upper Cervical Chiropractic. It was true chiropractic, in her opinion, and not physical therapy like CBP or Pettibon. Anytime I brought up a rebuttal, she shot it down, simply by saying “That’s not chiropractic.” The wheels started turning then.
When I finally returned to school, the first person I met from my class was Scott Brady, who happened to be president of the Upper Cervical club at the time. He also happened to be in my church ward. One of the first things out of his mouth was that he was going to try and convince me to do Upper Cervical. As I stood next to the copy machine in the Parker library, I looked up and thought to myself “Okay Lord, I’m listening.”
I can honestly say that I feel Upper Cervical Chiropractic has saved my life, but not in the way most people experience it. It has given me a clear direction that I did not have before. I wake up excited about my life everyday, knowing that what I am specializing in will indeed do the most with less.
And even more than that, I’m grateful that my wife stood by me through it all. She supported me throughout all the roller coaster decisions I put our family through.
She deserves an award simply for being married to me.
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Wow. Well, it was probably a little more emotional for me to read than other people b/c I was there! It has been an incredible journey! I am so grateful that you have come to such a great place with what you want to do and how you can serve others.
P.S. It’s a good thing you have such a wonderful wife that has (always) had such a strong foundation and belief in Chiropractic Philosophy!