Year Five: A Stroke Survivor’s Journey Back to Herself

August 3rd marked five years since everything changed.

The first three years after my stroke were about surviving. My energy went entirely into physical healing—regaining mobility, rebuilding endurance, and re-learning basic tasks like how to swallow without choking or how to eat without missing my mouth or spilling my food on the floor. All the things we take for granted had to be re-learned, step by painful step.

By year four, I began working on my cognitive recovery. I struggled to form full sentences. I’d stutter and stammer and stumble through conversations—an especially cruel irony for someone who never had issues speaking before. It was one of the most frustrating parts of recovery.

Some of the tools and practices that supported me:

• Acupuncture, which I was once terrified of but eventually turned to out of desperation. It helped ease facial paralysis, migraines, and nerve sensitivity.

• Cutting out caffeine and reducing stress—no more migraines.

• Mindset work and belief clearing—because so much of healing is about removing the mental stories that keep us stuck. I had to dismantle the beliefs that told me I was broken or limited. Clearing those created space for healing to actually happen.

Year five? This has been the year of energy healing.
I spent the whole past year getting certified thinking if all the knowledge would help me maybe I can use to help others later on. I’ve spent well over a thousand hours in several levels of Master Coaching, the traditional route of Master Coaching, only to find that it wasn't enough. The answers still weren't there. I did discover I didn’t want to just do regular coaching—so many people were already doing that, and it just wasn’t deep enough, healing enough.

So that led me into the the healing arts. I turned to them because I had to. After my stroke, my energetic sensitivity skyrocketed. Just being near someone would send my body into physical pain. I already knew I was an empath but post stroke —it was overwhelming and painful, my body was super sensitive to all human energy.

I’ve come to believe that many of the lingering issues—the things doctors couldn’t explain or fix—were rooted in unprocessed trauma and energetic blockages. Once I started working on those layers, I started to feel truly connected again. Present. Grounded. Alive.

I was led to the healing arts as sort of a calling. And from there, I began exploring...

• I got certified in Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

• Then I became a Certified Hypnotherapist.

• That led me to become a Reiki Master.

• Then I found Emotional Frequency Tapping and got certified.

• Now, I'm a certified Meridian Clear Practitioner, certified in Hawaiian Ho'oponopono, Tuning Forks, Sound Therapy, Crystal Bowls, Sacred Geometry, and Crystal Healing.

When I began this journey to heal myself—mind, body, and soul—I wanted to understand how the brain works and how energy flows. I wanted to deep dive into spirituality. And in doing so, I found my true calling. I found what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life. Because I’m so in love with these subjects and these topics.  This is when I knew I had arrived on this journey.

I’m even a certified dowser. The energy healing world is just fascinating.

I also found Dr. Joe Dispenza.

I devoured his books—Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, You Are the Placebo, and Becoming Supernatural. The concept that we can heal ourselves changed everything. I never thought I’d have the patience for meditation, but it’s now one of my most cherished daily practices.

Meditation has helped me release stuck emotions and chronic fatigue. It opened my mind to new possibilities. It’s where real transformation began for me. In that quiet space, I began to see myself not as a victim of what happened—but as someone capable of deep, lasting healing.

Physically, I went from using a walker, to a quad cane, to a single cane—and now I walk unassisted. I still have a slight limp, but most people wouldn’t guess I’m a stroke survivor. Years of misaligned walking meant I needed a chiropractor too—but that also helped me rebuild strength and balance.

I had my stroke in Lake Elsinore and was rushed to a hospital that couldn’t help me. Fortunately, they called Temecula Valley Hospital, which was stroke-ready. I had a thrombectomy—a clot removal through a catheter inserted into my groin. That procedure saved my life.

But every minute matters during a stroke. When hospitals aren’t prepared, people lose functionality—sometimes permanently.

Post-stroke, I spent four years going from specialist to specialist—from San Diego to Moreno Valley to Loma Linda. I had MRIs, CTs, sleep studies, ultrasounds, allergy panels, dye tests… I saw neurologists, ENTs, sleep doctors, immunologists—you name it. No one had the full picture.

That’s one of the greatest flaws in our healthcare system: the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. It’s like the FBI and the CIA—they don’t share intel. And the patient becomes the one lost in the middle.

And let’s face it—in the medical world, they just want to give you a lot of medication and keep you coming back, dependent on the system. They don’t want you to learn metaphysical science in ways that you can actually heal yourself. Because like Dr. Joe Dispenza says, you are the placebo.

Eventually, I said: Enough.
After my neurologist gave me a clean bill of health (minus skydiving), I decided to stop chasing diagnoses. I turned inward. And I’ve made more progress with energy healing, meditation, and spiritual work than I ever did with years of specialists.

Just to be clear—this isn’t medical advice. I’m not suggesting anyone stop doing what their doctors recommend. But if you ever get to a place where you feel stuck—like you’ve tried everything and still feel something is missing—there’s another path. Whether it’s the one I walked or your own, the healing arts offer a fascinating world of possibility.

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Five Years Later

I still get emotional sometimes—like recently, seeing another survivor, a photography client of mine, surrounded by love and support. It reminded me of my first year… how hard and lonely it was. I had my stroke during COVID and had to recover in quarantine, completely isolated. There was no community. No one holding my hand.

My recovery isn’t something I “fit in”—it’s the center of my life. And that commitment, that daily return to myself, is why I’m here five years later—stronger and wiser than I’ve ever been.

If you’re reading this and you’re navigating your own recovery… or trauma… or a season of disconnection, I want you to know this: you’re not alone.

Whether it’s physical healing, emotional pain, feeling stuck, or just not knowing how to move forward—I’ve been there. I’ve lived through what felt like the unraveling of everything I thought I was. And I’ve made my way back, one step, one breath at a time.

If you feel like something inside you is ready to shift—if you’re done carrying the weight alone—I invite you to work with me. I’m not here to fix you. I’m here to walk beside you as you remember your strength, reclaim your energy, and reconnect with the part of you that never broke.

This is deep work—soul work.
But I promise you:
On the other side of pain, there is power.
On the other side of survival, there is life.

Let’s take that journey together.

Reach out to me for coaching, and let’s start where you are.