I left off the telling of my story in May 2009, where I had just found the bioresonance practicioner near my house in Wisconsin.  As I said, that's when the real road to recovery took place.  The machine produced such a dramatic improvement in my health that I will dedicate one or more entire entries to it.  For now, I'll leave you without the details on that and just say that it did not entirely solve my recurring issues.  The problems that kept coming back were dizziness, heart palpitations, green urine, circulation problems (including blue nail beds on my fingers), food sensitivity, environmental sensitivities, etc.  However, after a year following the bioresonce machine's recommendations those symptoms were often so slight I only knew there was a problem because I was still keeping daily notes.  One slight heart palpatation would happen and a few days later a slight dizzy feeling and then I would review my notes and see the pattern.  More on that and May 2009 – May 2010 update of my health later.

By the fall of 2009 I was pretty convinced that I wanted to become a Naturopathic Doctor myself.  I had been trying to figure out what career/job I would do once my time of staying home with the kids was over.  I liked a lot of areas and knew I was done working for a a big corporation, probably done doing Mechanical Engineering work, and didn't really want to work for any one else.  I started telling my thoughts about becoming an ND/NMD to my friends and extended family and everyone was very encouraging.  My husband thought that it was an outstanding idea.  Even though he seemed to be fighting against me with every alternative therapy I tried, he was ecstatic about the thought of me becoming an ND.

We decided that I needed to be a 'bridge' between western medicine and natural medicine.  So I wouldn't get my ND degree on-line or from a small school but I would get the same education as any Medical Doctor, MD.  To do that you have to go to an accredited naturopathic medical college.  There are currently 6 such colleges in North America.  I began investigating them on-line, contacted admissions counselors and started talking to current students.  I wanted to get a feel for how hard the schooling was, how long it would take, and what I needed to apply.  We knew it would be expensive, but you get student loans for that and pay it back as you make money in your practice. (For us, the $150,000 – $250,000 the medical school costs were a concern but not a stopping mechanism.  We were used to large numbers from working at GE. The amount is like owning a house, which we also had experience with).  Since I would be in school for at least four years and we would have to move our whole family to the city where the school was we decided we better visit the campuses early-on to make sure the whole thing would work for our family.  (Note that I already knew I would have to take at least 6 courses at a community college to fulfill the pre-requisite education requirements).  So, even before getting started on that we went to visit the schools.  (See my complete review of the schools under the Schools tab).

In May 2010 my husband and I went to visit Bastyr near Seattle, WA and NCNM (National College of Naturopathic Medicine) in Portland, OR.  We were extremely impressed by NCNM, it's on-site Medical Clinic, the Helfgott Research Institute (part of NCNM), and Portland iteself.  In fact, the city, and our future, took such hold of us that we decided to move ASAP.  We flew home on a Sunday and Monday had 5 yards of mulch delivered to our house in Wisconsin to start getting it ready to sell . . .  We had lived in Wisconsin for 12 years.  The housing market is the worst in decades.  We have three kids ages 7, 5, and 3 years.  Portland is over 2000 miles away from our house in Wisconsin.  Todd had one business associate and I had one former college friend that we knew in Oregon, that's it.  We cut down our belongings from taking up over 3,300 sq. feet of space to fitting into 1 POD – 128 sq. feet of space!  We rented a house from just viewing it's listing over the internet.  My husband, Todd,  had just started his own business in Oct. 2009 – his income was not steady nor assured.  And I had a three year on-going illness that needed constant attention and often rendered me physically useless and/or mentally fuzzy (I'm the main planner/organizer/detailed-oriented/experienced mover of the two of us).

DOES ANYONE THINK WE ARE CRAZY YET?!!  

 We are,         but,         we did it.

WE are now living in Portland, OR literally across the street from the Rock Creek, PCC (Portland Community College).  While our Wisconsin home, still for sale, got over two feet of snow and a low of -4F yesterday . . . we are in a place that doesn't often get below 45 degrees in the winter!  The house we rented on-line looks just like the photos, it's beautiful and full of light.  I made it through my first quarter at PCC where I took the same Chemistry class I had 21 years ago.  I also took Psychology of the Human Life Span (good one if you want to be a doctor) and passed both.  Somehow we have managed to keep up with all our bills.  Todd is loving Portland and it's great for his new business.  The kids have lots of new friends and love riding the bus.   In other words, life is really great right now.  :)    But the saga that is my illness continues, more on that later.