Jo's Chronicles

08/10/2026

Chronicle 29 - What a difference a year makes! If you would have asked me last year at this time if I thought Jo would be going off to college, working a part-time job, hanging out with friends, and driving to the city herself, I would have said that those things were not even in the works yet, and that I pray that those things will happen eventually for her. The fact that she is doing all those things now and getting to live her life again makes this momma’s heart so very happy. She still fights each and every day to do the things she needs to do, but she does them, and I could not be prouder of her resilience. I cannot thank everyone enough for the prayers and support that we have gotten over the last two years.
As for this page; I was so uncertain about starting it, but the people that have reached out to me asking questions about a loved one that may be struggling with some of the same issues and me being able to share about the programs that Jo has gone through makes me feel more comfortable sharing our journey. The question I get asked the most besides, “How is Jo doing?” is, “What was the thing that helped her the most?”. I do not know! I honestly believe that every single step, program, treatment, and therapy worked together to get her where she is now. Had we not uncovered every single stone by going to every specialist recommended, seeing the holistic doctors and getting some unconventional tests done, going to the clinic in Mexico for stem cells, traveling to the Spero Clinic for 21 weeks for treatment, and taking the trips to Idaho for LymeStop treatment, and Jo giving it her absolute all for all of it, we never would have taken her to the Mayo Clinic for their pain management program and it would not have worked as well as it did. Mourning a life that you thought you were going to have and accepting one that you are given is something that I wouldn’t want anyone to have to do. The Mayo Clinic really opened her up to the possibility that life could be different and she would be able to enjoy it again. She will still have pain and hard days, but life can be lived, and that has made all the difference.
If I have any advice for anyone with chronic illness, it is this, turn over every stone, do whatever you can to advocate for what you believe is right, ask questions, research all the things, and stay the course. Once you have overturned every stone then the Mayo Clinic has a great program to help a person find their way to live through chronic illness and to manage it. They have programs for adolescents and adults. It is not easy… none of what we did was easy. Actually, I take that back; the easiest thing we did was the LymeStop treatment, it worked wonders for Jo, and it is a blessing that she got to go. If anyone you know has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease, please take them to a LymeStop treatment facility. There are two of them, one in Idaho at Dynamic Health and one in Wisconsin at Erlandson Clinic. The only reason we traveled to Idaho is because they could fit her in earlier than in the Wisconsin clinic. Dr. Tony Smith was so confident and rightfully so, his treatment works.
Thanks again for the prayers and support! Jo’s beginning a new chapter, in a whole new book, in a whole new light. Attached are a few clips of her Instagram posts recently.

03/07/2026

Chronicle 28 - Jo and I are back home! Rochester was a great experience, challenging as well, but all in all the Pain Rehabilitation Clinic was a great learning experience. Some highlights from our time at PRC: Jo filled out her first college application to Drake University! We thought it would take 3-4 weeks to get a response, but it only took 4 days... and she was accepted! This was such a good feeling for both of us to experience while we were at the clinic. Jo also filled out a job application, we are still waiting to hear back to see if she gets the opportunity or not. We are both anxiously waiting for a reply, this step will be very beneficial in her continued progress with the PRC program here at home. It is important for her to keep her schedule full of ordinary things. One of the most surprising things that Jo did while at the clinic was write her graduation speech. If you know Jo, in the past she has been an avid writer, in which the last two years has not had the ability to write and put things together very well. I am honored to say that her graduation speech was spectacular, and she wrote it sitting in a Texas Roadhouse the night before! Since being home, Jo has applied to two more colleges, kept up on her physical therapy plan, reconnected with driving again, and has been making plans for college visits and plans with friends. Our first college visit will be Wednesday! I almost forgot that during the time at the clinic they worked with Jo to get her assistance free, she no longer uses a cane to rely on while walking, no longer needs a walker to attend concerts in the future, and no longer needs grandmas scooter to go shopping at the mall. We are still working on moderation during those activities, and that will come with practice. She has a 6 month plan put in place to help her to build her stamina each and every day.
Going forward there are some important things to remember. If you see Jo out and about, it is important to not ask her how she is feeling. Even though things look great from the outside, the pain that she is living with is very real, but the program has taught us that we don't talk about it, or even acknowledge that it is there. For her brain to rewire itself correctly we need to fake it until it believes that she is no longer in danger. Within 6-12 months this rewiring should take place and she should be feeling much better. If someone does happen to ask her how she if feeling, she simply will just change the subject.
Attached are pictures of Leonard while at PRC, and a drawing of Leo from another participant of PRC... Alaina is a fantastic artist!
This may be the last post that I do for a while here as we plan to focus on the program here at home to ensure that Jo builds her endurance so that going to college this fall will be an option for her! Thank you again for all of the prayers and support these past few years. We appreciate it all very much!

02/19/2026

Chronicle 27 - Update, Jo is attending the Mayo Clinic’s Pain Rehabilitation Clinic (PRC) in Rochester. She attends therapy and treatment from 7:45 am until 4:00 pm every day, takes a lunch with her, and then has social events every evening and on weekends as well. They are working hard on desensitizing her central sensitization. Normally a persons body would automatically switch from sympathetic to parasympathetic without problems. In Jo’s case her body isn’t doing that correctly. Her body is constantly in a stress response mode. They are doing therapies to rewire the brain and improve functioning. The program focuses on growth mindset, goal setting, stress management, and going by the plan not by the pain. Most importantly changing the narrative, not talking about symptoms, recognizing pain behaviors, and working toward being able to fully function throughout the day.
Through all of this, I am also taking classes, and attending sessions to help me to learn how to parent a child that has pain. Learning to not pillow fluff or punish, but practice warm neutrality. Changing the subject when pain symptoms are verbalized. Attending sessions with other parents that are going through the same thing has been comforting.
The goal is to continue functioning and navigating every day at home the same way they are here at the clinic. Spending 6-8 hours away from home everyday in school, or at a job, practicing time management to be able to fit everything in during the day without compromising sleep or things that need to be done. We plan to get things in order for her to attend college in the fall, but for the time being looking for a job will be important to not fall back into old habits that allow the pain symptoms to become overwhelming. So if anyone knows of a part-time position that would offer her an opportunity to get into the workforce please send me a private message. Jo will also be looking into possibly sitting in on some local college classes to maybe get her back into the school routine of studying and attending classes. So having some options would be a great starting point. Thank you all for keeping Jo in your prayers, These weeks have been challenging but refreshing all at the same time.
Side bar - remember when my car needed the engine replaced, I am still having problems with it... the dealership is actually coming today to Rochester to swap out vehicles for me and give me a loaner again until they can figure out what is wrong with mine. This will be the second time it has gone back to the dealership since the engine was replaced. It's not throwing a code or anything yet, but it is acting up every now and then. So who knows if they will be able to tell what is wrong with it. I am glad that they are coming today to swap them out, I am taking Jo to St. Paul tonight to see her friend and go to a concert that she has had tickets to since November. (Her birthday present)

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02/01/2026

Chronicle 26 - It has been a week since we got home from Mexico, Jo was exhausted, but on Monday we went back to Precision Chiropractic West in Des Moines and got her neck readjusted again. She needed it for sure. After getting sick and vomiting for hours she really needed the adjustment. We will get it checked two more times this week and hopefully she will be good to go for a while. I say that because Jo got accepted into the Mayo Clinics Pain Rehabilitation Clinic for 3.5 weeks. She will be doing a lot of therapies there everyday from 7:45-4:00. I am also required to attend different sessions throughout the week totaling 15-20 hours. We hope that this gives Jo a different perspective on what she can and cannot do physically. Understanding limitations, and working around them as well would be beneficial to improving every day life at this point. They have social sessions planned for evenings and weekends as well, so there will be no traveling back and forth. I'm not sure how I feel about being away from home and the business for over a month, but I guess we will find out. I plan to work remotely as much as I can. If the weather stays cold then there won't be too much that I will need to catch up on while away. Just the normal tax prep and getting maps ready for spring.
Before leaving for Mexico Jo was feeling pretty good and we booked a self-guided college tour at Drake this week. I was super excited that she wanted to take this step. She keeps talking about college and what the future looks like, so those are all positives. It will be a no pressure, just curiosity on our visit, it helps that Jo already has a friend there at Drake and we plan on meeting up to hang out some too! So here is to our final week at home before hopefully some big changes take place. Praying that all goes according to his plan and that we can handle whatever that plan may be with grace.
Oh and we will be taking Leo with us for the month trip. ***He believes that I hung this shelf and clock just for him to lay on and play with ... needless to say the time is never correct now.
On another note, has anyone ever heard of a stellate ganglion block? I have just started to do some research on it. It is currently in clinical trials for use on patients with AFIB; but it is alternatively used in patients with POTS/ and autonomic dysfunction, and for patients with PTSD. It is a nerve block that is injected into your neck in three different places, in stages, and the results are life changing for some, and mild but still better for others. It is an automatic reset for your autonomic nervous system. Sounds too good to be true, but I plan to keep researching and I will ask about it when we get to Mayo. (They are the ones doing the trial for AFIB).

01/25/2026

Chronicle 25 - Two weeks ago Jo had an AO adjustment again. This was good news because the adjustment held for almost two weeks. The adjustments should hold longer and longer each time they are done. Jo also drove for the first time in over a year! I was so excited that she had the courage to get behind the wheel again and that she had the energy to do so. She didn't even take a test run with me or John, it was with a friend of hers. Very brave of the friend to trust her :) lol.
Monday of last week Jo and I took off for Mexico. She has been getting stem cells at Bioadvanced Medical Center for a while now. Pictures attached. The trip was going really well until the last night there, Jo got food poisoning. It is rare that it happens especially at the location that we stay at, but it can happen. We stay at the K-Tower by Lucerne and have never had a problem. The hotel series covers a half of a block and there are three restaurants to eat at. There are other hotels to stay at near the clinic, but they don't have as many restaurants to choose from. Jo typically does not have enough energy after being at the clinic all day to go somewhere to eat so typically I get her back to the room and then I go and get food for us to bring back and we eat in the room. The typical trip goes like this: We fly into San Diego one day before our treatment starts. A medical shuttle service called Easy Cross picks us up from the airport and brings us across the border and takes us to our hotel. We get checked in and find a bite to eat for the night. Our favorite place to eat is the rooftop sushi bar at the hotel that we stay in. This time they changed their menu a little bit and didn't have all of the dishes that we have gotten in the past. The next morning we walk the 3 blocks to the clinic and we are to get lab work done on the 3rd floor of the clinic at 7 am after fasting. As soon as the labs are drawn we head to the 6th floor where there is a indoor/outdoor cafe. They have really good food that is organic that they serve from 7 am until 4 pm. We typically eat most of our meals there. They also have a coffee shop and smoothies for anytime throughout the day as well. When you get to the 6th floor you check in at the front desk and you get a pager that buzzes when the doctor is ready to see you. When the time comes you head to the 5th floor where the hospital is located. You meet with your doctor and go through all of your symptoms and the doctor comes up with your plan of treatment. Just after meeting with the doctor you see the administrator and put money down on your treatment plan. You pay the balance at the end of your last day. The IV treatments for Jo have been Ozone IV, Chelation, Antioxidants, Stem Cells, Booster, and sometimes Glutathione. There are also many spa therapies that they recommend to help you to relax and to help your body detox and flush out all of the toxins that you tend to hold onto. The spa is located on the 4th floor. They have massages, facials, medical pedicures, foot detox baths, ozone saunas, infrared sauna, magnets, radionics, and a nutritionist to consult with. You can choose to do as many as you would like while there. You also talk about how many specified shots of stem cells you would like. For example Jo got stem cell shots in her neck, hands, and hips. These shots target problem areas. Since I have two bulging discs in my low back I have been getting shots in my l4-l5 and SI joints. After you pick out what treatments you want specifically you are assigned a host. Your hostess makes sure that you do not miss any appointments, and give you a schedule to follow each day. If you ever need anything you just reach out to your host and they help you with whatever you need. Upon your last day after seeing the doctor multiple times during your stay if there are any medications that you need to get they have a pharmacy on the 3rd floor as well. Fortunately when Jo got severely sick on our last night there I went to the clinic that next morning and told them what happened and they moved our shuttle back to the states for us, and offered Jo a private room and treated her for the sickness. She got to sleep it off for about 4 hours and was feeling well enough to get across the border. We took the medical shuttle back across the border and got dropped off at a hotel that I had booked last minute. Usually we get taken directly to the airport. Anyway, Jo finally got a bite to eat at about 3:30 that day and then went to bed again. She woke up at 9:30 and asked if it was the next day or not. It was not, and she went back to sleep. I finally got some sleep at around 4:30 that day as well. San Diego was beautiful, maybe sometime we can visit for fun. We got up the next morning and took a shuttle to the airport and finally made it home .. yes it was frigid, but I am so glad to be home. John had supper on the stove when we got through the door and I was so very grateful!
Mayo Clinic Update coming soon!

01/09/2026

Chronicle 24 - Thank you again to the donations that are still coming in for Josie. Like most things we have done the new treatment that she has been getting does not accept insurance. I plan to file the paperwork to see if they will cover it after the fact, but in the past I have not been successful on the insurance covering anything. This week we made trips to Des Moines every day so far. Jo got her first atlas orthogonal adjustment on Monday at Precision Chiropractic West. She has been sore this week from the adjustment, and has been wearing a collar while traveling. She has been super careful to not do any activity to hinder the adjustment. This is the hardest part, making sure the adjustment stays the first 24 hours. She has done a great job since the adjustment has held all week. We had a followup Tuesday and Thursday to check. On Wednesday we followed up with Holistic Health as well. Jo is still detoxing from the mold exposure as her gallbladder and liver are not wanting to cooperate with expelling the toxins. So she started some new supplements to support this process. She will also do a more potent set of vials to help with the detox.
Jo did get accepted into the Mayo Clinics Pain Management Program, but we are waiting for our insurance to approve the request as well. As of Monday they still had openings for the February 9th session. This clinic is for adolescents between 13-22 years of age and will last for 3.5 weeks. She will attend sessions from 8 am to 4 pm daily, and there are parent sessions for about 15-20 hours per week as well. This program includes, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Recreational Therapy, Psychiatric Therapy, and Group Therapy. They focus on finding Jo's physical limits and teaching how to not over-do things to the point that she has to recover for days at a time, but at the same time they want her to be able to live life and make adjustments to improve quality of life for the time being. I am excited for this opportunity for her as I believe she will learn a lot about her body and how it is and is not working for her.
Jo and I also have a trip to Bioadvanced Medical Center planned this month as well. She is not looking forward to traveling with her neck collar on an airplane, but we want to make sure her adjustment holds so she will be sporting the collar.
On another note, we get to finally celebrate Christmas tomorrow with our kids. fingers crossed that the two of us that haven't had strep/flu stay healthy for one more day. Jo has been patiently waiting for her new heated mattress pad that she insists that I got her! We will see!

12/29/2025

Chronicle 23 - Praying that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We are waiting to celebrate since we had an immediate family member get sick on Christmas Eve. I wasn't ready to take the decorations down right away anyway.
An update to Jo's appointment in Des Moines, the imaging that was done showed upper cervical instability. This is probably due to her Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos diagnosis. Also her atlas bone is a little bit misshapen and when out of alignment it is putting pressure on her carotid arteries and vagus nerve. Fixing this should help lessen her headaches and reduce her pots/dysautonomia symptoms. We start treatment on January 5th. She will do a follow-up within 24 hours and then again in 48 hours. And the day inbetween we follow-up with holistic health on her progress with the mold detox. We also have an intake interview scheduled the morning of Jan 5th as well for the Mayo Clinics Chronic Pain Management Clinic. I have jumped through so many hoops to get her this appointment, praying that we can get her in sooner than later, but she has to be accepted into the program first.
Our house is still a construction zone, keeping an eye on the spots that we treated to make sure the mold is gone. Waiting on the windows to show up and I am taking my time deciding on how to put the bathroom back together. With the year that we have had I am just not ready to pick out anything construction wise to do the rebuild of the bathroom. We are just missing a tub, we have a nice size hole in the floor that we have covered for now and I put a rug over it to hide it all, and that is how it will stay for the time being. I will get up the energy at some point to do some looking, but I am in no hurry.
***** Christmas with Leo has been fun, he has been quite the present opener ... not sure how much longer I can keep him away from the presents that we still need to open whenever we decide to have our Christmas.

12/17/2025

Chronicle 22 - Last Thursday evening I moved Jo up to my parents place to spend the weekend. John and I had made plans to de-mold the house and didn't want Jo around if we unnecessarily stirred up too many spores in the process. She got to play cards with them and she has recently started to read again. We got out some of the books that were in storage before she left and she has been reading ever since! This makes me happy to see. She was such an avid reader and loved it so much.
So come Friday John, Skyler, and I started our quest for getting our home mold free. We started in the basement, not knowing exactly what we were going to find. In the end none of the spots were too bad. There were spots, but I thought that it was going to be much worse than it was. Luckily we took care of the problems downstairs and then moved upstairs. We had two windows that were an issue and our jetted tub. We took off the trim for the windows and found that the sheetrock underneath the window sills were moldy. I had moved everything out of the room Jo had moved to and taped off her closet and her bed and other belongings and we had created a negative air space to push the mold spores out the window. We have new windows coming next week right before Christmas, but I do not expect them to be put in right away. For now the mold is out of the house and I do not have to worry about Josie having to detox again in the future, since we got it out now during her detox.
Saturday we were able to finish up the few spots that needed taken out. We sprayed down the surfaces with 12% Peroxide and the places that were left, like the bottom of the window that had mold, really foamed up with the peroxide. It was clear that after about the third application the mold was gone.
On Sunday John put in the three new toilets that we were told to replace. Once there is a mold threshold in your home, it starts collecting in places that hold water. I kept wondering why I was having to scrub them more often the last 6 months or so. Sunday evening I went back up to my parents to pick Jo up as she had made plans with friends that were going to be home from college. Wednesday I take Jo to Precision Chiropractic West in Des Moines. They plan to do all of the imaging to prepare for her first Atlas treatment after the first of the year.
***Picture of before and after mold mitigation in one of the spots in our basement. Luckily all of the mold was on the outside surface of the sheetrock, there wasn't anything on the back side next to the plastic and insulation. We ended up taking more out than what we needed, but we wanted to make sure we were getting it all out. Looks like a good place to put our exercise equipment for now :)

12/04/2025

Chronicle 21 - To those of you who are invested in Jo's Story.... here we go.... The last two weeks have been super busy. Jo is still detoxing pretty heavily from the mold exposure. She has been getting specific Lymphatic Drainage Massages to help get her lymphatic system moving and she also has gotten some advice from a new Holistic medicine doctor to help with her symptoms of detox. Every three days that she takes a new vial of stuff, for the next day or so she feels pretty crappy. This is a two month process so I am hoping it helps give her some relief soon.
I also took Jo to an upper cervical chiropractor in Des Moines on Monday. They do a specific Atlas adjustment with precision equipment, after doing a ton of imaging. This procedure sounds very promising to help Jo with her Pots/Dysautonomia and hEDS symptoms. We were lucky enough to find this doctor as she is one of 4 in the United States that does these precision adjustments with people that have hEDS and has been successful. She actually said that she has helped 100% of her POTS patients feel better. She cannot guarantee it, but it sounds very promising. We go to get imaging done later in the month, and then start treatment after the holidays are over. Too bad I didn't get this on my radar earlier, it has been one of those things that has been in the back of my thoughts for a while now and I just keep researching more and more about it so it was time.
On Tuesday we had Mold Sniffer LLC come to our home, yes this is a mold seeking dog and trainer. We have a couple of windows in our house that need to be replaced that may be causing some issues, and a couple of other places in the house that need some more investigating done to find out the source of the mold. We plan to run a camera down a few walls to find exactly where the problems are. Trying to figure out a plan to move forward is the hardest part, tear into the house before Christmas, move Jo out for the time being while we mitigate, leave things the way they are until after Christmas? I sent an email to where we will get the windows through, so hopefully we can get them measured and on order, that will be the biggest hang up for now.
I did get the house decorated for Christmas last weekend, luckily John was there to help with carrying of totes, I have been dealing with two bulging discs and shingles. I am thankful that the decompression therapy that I have been doing in Council Bluffs has been working. Unfortunately the last two weeks there have been days that I am in Council Bluffs in the morning for myself and then I drive to Des Moines for Jo in the afternoon. Also my worst fear came true on our way home from Des Moines... I had a warning go off on my car: "Low Oil Pressure - Turn Car Off Immediately". So there we were.. on the side of the interstate, sitting with our flashers on. It was one of the nights where the weather had been wet and we hadn't been able to do much in the fields the previous days, but John had gone out to one of the machines to see if the dual placement would run, and he had just called 20 minutes before that and said that it was working perfectly.. he was going to finish the field and get moved to the next and asked if I could pick him up when I got back. Well, needless to say, Clint hooked up one of the pickups to a trailer and John quit pulling so that he could come rescue us. Glad he hurried, it was getting cold in the car, luckily Jo had blankets, she always has blankets! When the car got to the dealership they confirmed that I needed a new motor... they have been having problems with them, thankful that it is still under warranty. Praying that the new one that I get has the upgraded part that failed on the last one. Here is to "just keep swimming" :)
***Pic of Leo helping me decorate!

11/24/2025

Just wanted to say "Thank You" to everyone that came to Jo's Benefit yesterday. It was an amazing event!
On behalf of John and I and the rest of Josie’s family we will forever be grateful for yesterday.
There honestly are not words that any of us could say that would convey how Thankful we are of everyone who has asked to help us over the last few years,
to the people that were persistent enough to make this day a reality,
to everyone that donated auction items,
and those who have donated even thought they cannot be here,
and also to all the prayers that have been given,
to the wonderful meal that was provided,
and especially for everyone showing up, from the bottom of our hearts, Thank You!