Geoff Says I'm Back

I've been feeling so good lately. I've even been experimenting with dairy and chicken and I'm back to normal. I discovered that Aimee thought I was always going to have to be on my colitis diet and would never eat with the family ever again!!!! OY!! So I'm making sure to remember to keep the kids better updated. I didn't realize I'd been lax in doing that.

About my blood counts after chemo this time: I still sometimes feel like sitting down after I go up the stairs in my house and my walks are more like strolls yet I still get sweaty. But my energy and my mood is up. My doctor is pleased with my counts and my acupuncturist told me that my counts this time were normal for a chemo patient. So I'm finally a normal chemo patient!

Anyway, I've been feeling so well that I was wondering if I'd take on new clients. I had this thought after my therapist friend Stefanie told me that they'll all start calling after the new year. A couple days ago I had the first new client call and that call was particularly meaningful to me.

This woman was referred by her insurance company - 99% of my clients are referred by their insurance company. That wasn't unusual. What was unusual was that she was a depressed mom with a toddler. This was the first time since I've been starting to see clients regularly that an insurance company referred me someone who was my ideal target audience. Happy New Year, Allison!

Now some of you will understand why that was meaningful to me. Especially my old friend Joe who was one of my co-therapists when I was an intern...oh my...could it be 20 - 25 years ago? He showed me the ropes when I first started at that internship. And we had our hands full with the incredibly insensitive supervisor.

Well, the really miraculous thing is I hadn't seen or talked to Joe for 20 years when I went looking for someone to help me restart my therapy business. I found an ad in a therapy magazine for a marketing class and discovered it was Joe's - he now lived in Michigan! So the first time I started working with clients as an intern, he got me up to speed and now this 2nd time I was starting my practice again, he got me going. He helped me figure out who my target audience was - what type of client I really wanted to help. I created a website and I learned how to market online with google adwords and I began leading a workshop for moms.

Unfortunately, we finally came to the conclusion after awhile that this target audience didn't have the money or the time or the impetus to get help for themselves. So I did what my therapist friends, Stefanie and Doris told me to do years ago: I got on the insurance company lists. I also figured, if moms have working husbands who have insurance, they'd be more likely to get help if the insurance company paid for it!

So here I am after 4 months on the insurance company lists, getting my first mom! I was thrilled and she was ok with my condition (having to skip a week out of every 3 for awhile) and so I am seeing her on Sunday.

Now you all know why Geoff says I'm back. After saying that to me I told him that I woke up with a headache this morning and he says that's a sign - the old me is back! Luckily the headache went away when I got out of bed. Now that's not the old me that's back but a new me!