How a Tire Changed Things for YOU (and Me) with Lumigrate

"Some days you write the song ....... some days the song writes you" is playing on my beloved Acoustic Sunday radio show by Rock Cesario as I start writing today, and I realize that Yenta, Alice and I all talk about how we regroup for a while related to what to write about and then have a general idea of what we're going to write about but then the piece takes on quite a life of it's own.  So we can only hope today is the same for me and this finds you entertained. 

Early this summer I made up my schedule for when to help with family obligations which are clear over the Continental Divide from where I live.  Fortunately, we're beyond the days of horse power that has 4 hoofs and if the weather is good it's not a bad drive.  But knowing in years past that I was going to need to be going over more when needed and not for social times with family, I purchased an AWD (all wheel drive) vehicle and came under some scrutiny from the man in my life for having put REALLY good mud and snow tires on it with the most sturdy sidewalls available. 

I not only grew up with a dad who worked for a tire manufacturer, he was a bit obsessed with detail and what could possibly go wrong and so tires were what I always got in college for my main Christmas present. Later, once, it was a new battery.  Those were the kind of things my dad got satisfaction from giving and doing, which was nice. 

This provided a foundation for me about safety which then was added onto years later when I worked in driving rehabilitation for the same company that 'our' Karen Richardson, OTR, CDRS, from Karen's Korner in the forums at Lumigrate later guided to new heights (as she was/is a certified driving rehabilitation specialist).  You'll notice her sign off is always '... keep the rubber side down!'  I've been fortunate that any time the rubber's not been where it's supposed to be it was not me driving, and part of that reason is that I put safety of my vehicle very high on my priority list -- some people would have gone on vacation the year I replaced 'perfectly good' tires with REALLY good ones for $800.  GREAT ones.  

So as a result, I've never had a tire go bad on me when I'm driving, but two weeks ago within 25 miles and 2 hours of having had my tires rotated at a local shop that is located conveniently near a lube and wash place that I like to do business with, I noticed the light on my dash go on saying I had unequal tire pressures on the vehicle.  I'm NOT known for my observation skills -- I have to look direction at something to see it more so than other people (a brain/perception 'learning disability').  ("Noticed" is a key word in the occupational therapy world related to cognition and functional ability.  Then having the motor/body and processing/mental abilities to do something about it is the other part of the equation.)

"Ironically" I was right near the only gas station around for a LOT of miles in the direction I was traveling, so I turned around and had a very flat left front tire.  Since the tires had just been polished by the car wash/"shine" place, it was super easy to see the reason ... there was a bulge in the sidewall which had a split in it.  Later, when I took the vehicle with the bad tire into the OTHER tire place where I bought these (with the insurance for damage, thankfully), they immediately spotted it -- the hatchback wasn't even fully open yet.  Live and learn, and I've learned to invest the time to drive to a SEPARATE place to have my tires rotated.  (I do try to reduce my carbon footprint as well as simplify life / time, it's part of 'energy conservation' which is part of living somewhat successfully with chronic illness management.)

I had bumped a curb at least six months ago and checked the tire at that time carefully and I didn't see that it had damaged the tire's structure (though it had a good scrape on it).  I've driven thousands of miles since then, many of it out in the middle of Colorado with nobody with me to help, and no incident.  So here it goes not only JUST after I've had experts who are trying to sell you tires handling the tire, but handily when someone capable of changing the tire for me is right there AND by an air station since the 'professionals' hadn't checked to see if my spare had air. 

As I stood there helping with the complex 'newfangled' way of having a spare tire that you lower by cranking it down from under the back end of the vehicle, I had a minute to think 'THIS is too 'coincidental' ....... I canNOT wait to see what is going to come from this happening.'  One of the benefits of being middle aged and hopefully older and wiser is that I've seen this pattern of what some call 'silver linings'.  

Well, the positive fallout that has occurred from that tire problem 'surfacing' when it did has been really interesting.  Not only did I have the pleasure of finally interacting with our local 'Safari Ltd', specialists in my brand of vehicle, Toyota,as they could answer the question of whether I needed one or two tires and why or why not, but I learned to simply say 'no chemicals' to my favorite lube/wash people.  I found out I was as behind in information about how to take care of your car as some people are about health care!  I now have switched to a product they carry called 303 Aerospace Protectant.  SPF 40 for Your Stuff (for Vinyl, Rubber, Plastic, Leather, Fiberglass).  Who knew that the 'shiny' stuff that is rarely even put on my tires or dash as I'm too cheap to pay for them to clean my car more than once a year actually causes cracking -- they showed me the cracking on my tires' sidewalls (which had nothing to do with the tire failing, that was a result of my curb bump last year).  

But more importantly, since my investigating that was a process that took some time to talk with the right people (thank you, Safari Ltd.!) -- and was SO inspired by their business/employee health practices -- they've gone to expense to minimize their employee's exposure to air toxins, having moved here from the 'prestine' higher mountain town of Silverton (lately made a bit famous by winning Olympic snowboarder Shawn White who retreated there to work on his craft off the beaten track with some privacy).  The husband and wife owners had noticed when living there a lot of people were getting ill from it's not really being that pristine a place due to the way toxins move and linger ubiquitously.  The area I grew up in is also know as a 'hot spot' for illness I've heard, and with the current oil spill's fortunate news coverage, this is a big topic, toxins!  

New tires had to be shipped from Texas (don't ask me why so far, I just say 'this IS western Colorado, ya know' a lot), so it turned out I was able to attend something I'd not been aware of earlier in the summer when I made my 'be out of town' schedule... SO I was IN TOWN driving around on a spare tire for a week and was able to attend the seminar about concussion and young athletes, which got me included in a discussion that lead to bringing MORE excellent providers from Grand Junction wanting to provide information to Lumigrate's Forum area.  I also have made a connection with 'THE' person in town who utilizes something called 'microcurrent' with patients with chronic pain, and YOU, following Lumigrate's "light on the path to health and well-being" will ALSO benefit from that in the near future I hope. 

The podcasting studio is 'together' too!  So we'll be able to have local providers together for that 'real experience' you only get with people in the same room, and be able to Skype in people to join into the recording.  Good timing, actually GRATE timing, because the local providers are seeing the benefit of networking through the educational capacity of Lumigrate -- with local providers AND those outside of our area.  So this is a VERY exciting time for all of us at Lumigrate --- those writing, 'experts' who have information to teach, readers and listeners and people who want to learn from Lumigrate, including busy providers who have expressed that drive time is a time they would utilize Lumigrate in addition to the written 'readable' materials.  I still think there is a HUGE place for the streamlined written format as a person can readily hit that 'print' button on Lumigrate and send or give it to a provider or person with a medical condition and say 'you might check this out'.  

It's a challenge to keep up with it all -- different formats for different populations, and I've had to see what 'stuck to the wall' with Lumigrate AND wait for the podcasting studio Adam's been generous enough to include me in.  I like to keep people in the loop with us and let them know what's going on, and I hope you will help us with that -- if you're communicating with other providers or people who are medical consumers of our type of information, please help us make that connection or remind them of Lumigrate and all that we have.

At the end of the day, our medical providers really are generally trying to 'keep up' and do the best they can and find it difficult to stay up on what the tools are they have at their disposal.  It appears to me Lumigrate is crossing the threshold of accomplishing what the 'real deal' has always been -- getting more providers educated about how to effectively and efficiently help people with chronic pain and chronic illness, or keep them 'chronically well', as I jokingly call 'good health'.  Again, thanks for your involvement!  In light of having taken some time 'off' this summer to help with family concerns, my business incubator adviser was VERY impressed with how much Lumigrate continued to evolve and grow since our last meeting in late spring. 

We're all in this together --- if everyone grabs and oar then it makes for light work with many hands!

Link to Karen's Korner by Karen Richardson, OTR, CDRS about driving -- another Lumigrate resource I hope to connect to providers who are seeking the kind of information she is expert in (and knows others who are as well) : www.lumigrate.com/forums/integrative-medicine-parts-make-whole/therapy-occupationalfunctional/karens-korner-driving-th [1]

Link for 303 Aerospace Protectant, my 'new favorite thing!':  www.303products.com [2]

Link for GRATE example of Lumigrate's Grate Group contributing about Concussion (and fibromyalgia) in the Forum on head/brain/mind: www.lumigrate.com/forums/integrative-medicine-parts-make-whole/therapy-behavioralmental-health/-head/brain-body/mind-p [3]   (you might want to look at other topics in that Forum ... interesting article about pro baseball and depression/anxiety, the piece about Letting Go has been well liked, and the wolf piece only takes a moment and I think is really neat).  STAY TUNED to this Forum, as Dr Chris Young (who has a FREE video on Lumigrate) has things on the way for this forum now!