Minding My Business -- And My Business is a PAIN... er, about PAIN

Well, everyone -- I've been on facebook and said my 'aloha' to Yenta and her writer, as they are going on a little cruise to celebrate a birthday, an anniversary and to get away and take some time off for HEALTH.  (Aloha means 'hello', 'goodbye' and 'I love you', I am learning from my Hawaiin-influenced friends.) And I'm pleased to say that I have news about the health of Lumigrate that I hope will make YOU very happy. 

While this month my bedtime quiet time has been infused with the wonderful 'manifesto for social responsibility' in business (per the cover), written by the founder of Aveda, and then Intelligent Nutrients, Horst Rechelbacher, Minding Your Business -- Profits that Restore the Planet, I am pleased to say that I feel confirmation that more and more of us are 'onto something'.  More and MORE! I'm expecting to be busy ushering into the Forums are of Lumigrate many new professionals who have somehow come to the surface this month, as well.  People who I have known for years or just months, and who are loosely connected through the Grand Junction 'two degrees of separation' of our 100,000 population Valley, but who hadn't been talking with each other it turns out.  They just called, emailed, or responded this time.   

I was on page 58/59 yesterday when I picked up the book at the end of the day and was intrigued to see that the author was reflecting on when he had a nurse in one of his presentations on "How to Start a Sustainable Business".  She was experiencing the same things I had in years past working in health care, and the word 'crisis' kept coming up as the author wrote -- "Crisis equals opportunity .... How can I serve my customers -- my patients -- better?  What is needed in my porfession -- in this case the nursing profession -- to make it sustainable?  What are the systematic ailments of my company, my profession, and how can I heal them"  

And as I envisioned what the author was writing about, I wondered if I had been in that seminar two years ago when I was deciding to 'do' what you now see as Lumigrate, if he would have suggested to me 'why don't you start a website for people to come to and write and learn from each other -- professionals and consumers as students and teachers to each other'.  So I have worked tirelessley for the last two years, exhausting myself and my funds, to create a website that launched 10 months ago ago. Why?  Because I heard Andrew Weil, MD, years ago on Larry King live say that he was predicting a complete 'collapse' of the health care system in the United States in the coming years, and I have sensed it for a while from my little corner of it as an occupational therapist and felt I had solutions.  That I could contribute and make a difference in the lives of many more people while allowing for my own family and health needs as I grow older and with the understanding that I have a chronic illness with chronic pain that is manageable IF I make changes in how I do the business of MY life.  

And in that ten months since Lumigrate.com has been 'up' on the Internet, it turns out, YOU impressed the BEST, in my opinion, when it comes to treatment of chronic pain! And now you have much more than I ever had hoped for so soon, to be looking forward to.  Not only have I been continuing to absorb and connect with every local presenter I have access to, yesterday I got a very welcome phone call from Jerry Rand, MD, owner of Bay Recovery Centers and Medical Clinic in San Diego, California (USA).  He, representing his management staff, had been talking with me since around the holidays related to conspiring about our common interest, chronic pain. I'd heard about a website 'pain.org' from Dr. Rand last summer when I heard him speak at a conference we were both invited to be part of, 'picked out of dozens who were interested', I have now found out! 

As y'all might know from the blog posts from July where he and I met as invited speakers at the kickoff for the Chronic Pain Educational Documentary Series, we have a lot in common. (Apparently there is some good news coming along soon related to the documentary series as well, so stay tuned in here and I'll share as soon as I know.)  It happened that I returned from that conference to have an infusion locally of trainings related to pain and it's medications, because it is a big topic for providers and insurers right now in the state of Colorado.  The treatment of chronic pain is second to that of cancer in the United States in terms of costs, which hopefully gives it much credibility with policymakers and the public.  And as a person with chronic pain for now almost two decades, I'm well aware of the pitfalls and, in my opinion, the solutions which I am enjoying once I embraced 'integrative medicine'. Bay Recovery uses 'integrative medicine' as their treatment approach as well, and I'm looking forward to getting to visit personally and learn more about it in the near future hopefully.  

Dr. Rand was an unknown face to me until I saw the developing line up for the July conference in Berkeley.  It was impressive to me that he is seen on A&E's show "Intervention", when someone involved in the addiction and family system has chronic pain issues.  Dr. Rand, I now know,  prides himself on being able to help the most difficult cases of pain and pain management / mismanagement.  Apparently, the episode that has had the highest viewers for the show's history involves Jerry Rand and his Bay Recovery and is airing this Sunday.  (I believe the episode is titled 'Ruby', but I'll have his team double chick this blog post for accuracy and I'll edit if needed.)

I, on the other hand, have been specializing and creating Lumigrate with the concept of finding everyday people who simply want to grasp onto the rope of 'progressive medical education' and pull themselves along. I was an unknown to EVERYONE, obviously, since at the time I was asked by Charalambros Kesto to speak at his conference on chronic pain Lumigrate had only been 'live' for under two months!  Everything related to this new business had gone over budget except the computer equipment (which had the benefit of my having purchased similar 'stuff' 20 years ago, so prices are really a fraction of back 'in the good old days').  Every time I walked into the new integrative clinic there was some change that drastically changed what and how I was doing things. 

And most of all, I'd based this new career path to educate people through the internet on the chronic pain and fibromyalgia population which I had been working with most recently in new, large medical building here, and the primary providers who I was geared toward recording were so busy with their busy practices that Lumigrate's recording timeframe passed months before they were finished with their fibromyalgia and chronic pain/illness presentations!  I was freaking out, to put it simply, as I had a finite amount of money I was willing to put toward the website -- until one day I finally realized that I wasn't "driving the bus!"  I'm but a person getting on the bus every day and my job is to figure out which seat to sit in, who to talk to (and not), where to get off (or not) when the bus comes to a stop, and I'll just have to go along and see where the wonderful ride takes me!  So it has been an interesting rest of 2009.  I've had a stressful stretch in my life once or twice before and this has presented as challenging as those with the added 'benefit' that I'm older and wiser.  And while I have made wonderful returns with my health, I was feeling it teetering or what I call 'circling the drain'.  But I hung in there now knowing that even when nobody around me might sense what I do, I know what's right for me.  And for my business now. 

My half hour presentation for Berkeley was an expansion on what you see on the home page with the "You" model, and there is a blog post about it which I'll set you up with the link for below as well.  Basically, I believe that consumers and providers have the same frustrations and I see the best change occurring if both allow the patient to be the one that is in charge of their health.  I know, it seem simple, but if you think about it, do we REALLY get to be the most important one in our health care typically?  I'd tried to pick the minds of the local 'big wigs', and was grateful for the moments that everyone I got to peek at the rough draft wanted to snatch it out of my hands and keep it!  On 07/08/09, I was fortunate to catch the director of the Marillac Clinic, the health care program in my community for people without insurance and who meet low income qualifications.   I'd never met him, actually, and didn't know who he was even, but I had wondered because at meeting he always contributed and had a lot of good things to say! He was way ahead of me on this stuff -- and I wrote down the websites and think tanks he knew off the top of his head that are working toward bringing the patient to the forefront of their health care.  WONDERFUL to know!  It's not just ME seeing things this way!

But was there another website out there like Lumigrate taking the message to the public?  Not that we knew of!  I had actually been in one of those meetings the day that I got a text saying that Lumigrate went 'live'.   One of his staff coordinators for their mental health component was our first 'customer' downloading a free video that very day, and this week I've been corresponding with her about a meeting tomorrow that just happens to be about what their clinic has done related to quality assurance and chronic pain program / patients.  And you BET I'll be there, learning and networking and later bringing something to the table of Lumigrate for YOU to learn from.  

And the other wonderful thing I will be doing from today forward is looking at how to continue to integrate the fabulous information available here in Grand Junction and what I look forward to learning with more contact and interaction with Bay Recovery's team, as they decided based on how YOU had responded to Lumigrate so far, to suggest we collaborate intensively in 2010.  Dr Rand was the first person to say 'I want a link from my site to yours and vice versa' after my presentation.  But it was the ensuing evening of discussion with Jerry, Kesta (and his wonderful wife Gwen), and I -- three people with a history of chronic pain (and Gwen as a family member and advocate for Kesta) and a commitment as strong as any I have ever seen to provide progressive and ethical information to people in hopes of not only best treating pain and it's unfortunate outcomes, but preventing that from happen to people.  And considering I'd haulted a TON of copies of the presentation to the event and Dr. Rand and Kesta and Gwen were involved in the comical escapade of getting my rolling duffel into the car and the restaurant and out and to another vehicle as we had to get our dinners to-go due to the late hour, I know they're all GOOD people.  Like YOU Grate Group who have each done your part to support Lumigrate, if even by reading and showing your interest that then was reviewed months later and lead to this new horizon for us all. 

As Dr. Rand said yesterday 'My goal is to see that people don't have to go to the doctor if possible'.  It's about the same thing as I've said before: "I hope Lumigrate ends up helping a lot of people with chronic pain and then some day there is only the need for prevention information."

So at this point, I'm going to set you up with the links, as promised.  Again: Progressive, valid, streamlined and FUN as we are "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being". 

Link to Bay Recovery's Intervention website -- please go read and tell us here what you're interested in -- it was interesting to me just now to review and be reminded of how Dr. Rand presented on the topic of medications and addiction and the brain related to chronic pain.  ....

AND link out to A&E to find the time of "Intervention" in your area (Sunday's rerun includes Bay Recovery and Dr. Rand):

www.bayrecoveryintervention.com/ [1]

Also: link to my recap to bring what I learned from Dr. Rand's presention at what I like to affectionately call "Kesta's Kickoff Konference": www.lumigrate.com/blog/pain-management-and-medication-addiction-bay-recoverys-jerry-rand-md [2]

Blog about my presentation at Kesta's Konference in Berkeley, July 2009 (which has links to The Chronic Pain Educational Documentary Series, with Charalambos Kesta 'Directing' and looking for 2010 to be educating millions! -- Stay 'tuned' to Lumigrate, as he says big news is soon to be released! www.lumigrate.com/blog/you-and-me-our-part-health-care-reform [3]

Marillac Clinic in Grand Junction, Colorado, mentioned in Chris Young, PhDs video ($0.00) at Lumigrate.com as having beneficial outcomes when alleviated from the model that providers operate under in insurance-based medicine, where people with low economic funds and no insurance CAN have excellent health care: marillacclinic.org/ [4]

Again - we value your Comments, and look to these areas to know what more we can be bringing to YOU.  And it IS thanks to YOU, that you have so much to look forward to this new, exciting 'integration' from Colorado to California, and out via the Internet and more!  We have LOTS to develop, so wish us luck!  Tell others and be involved with us and be part of the solution if YOU want!

Note from January 2012: I have been contacted by more than one former patient of Dr Rand's at Bay Recovery who have asked me to remove all information about him due to their concerns for others based upon their experiences. I appreciate that they are taking the time to research where he might be doing outreach to get his name heard, so thank YOU.  That is true 'generosity of time and energy' which might be translated into 'spirit'.  

I had encountered a change with Dr Rand's behaviors when interacting with me which were very different than how I had experienced him when we spent a day at a chronic pain conference together, so had stopped working to get information from him into Lumigrate at that time.  I have removed all the solo pieces he and his team had posted in the past in Forums but I have opted to keep this and one other piece but adding this disclaimer/caution, because it is "baby with bathwater" as this is an excellent resource for people.  If he was providing good information in the past which is included here and people can learn from it, that's one thing; using him as a physician would be another which I would want people to make their own decisions about.  

To help in your researching this provider (and I suggest you do this for all your providers) here's a link to the portion of the California Medical Board related to Dr Rand's current and past  http://www2.mbc.ca.gov/LicenseLookupSystem/PhysicianSurgeon/Lookup.aspx?licenseType=G&licenseNumber=25749. My apologies for not having done that step after we had met when Lumigrate was only two months 'live' -- I continue to learn with this enterprise and change my procedures just as I have as a medical consumer. Just because a big TV show uses him doesn't mean there's a good history.  Not something I had to know as a woman with fibromyalgia or an OT practicing in Colorado!