The oldest of  9 girls and 1 boy. Lena graduated at the age of sixteen, from high school as Salutatorian and won a scholarship to a teachers college. That dream was not to be fulfilled as her old fashioned father felt college was a waste for girls who he felt would get married and have family, not requiring an education. He therefore refused to allow her to fulfill the scholarship and her dream of teaching.  But strangely enough a few short months later he enrolled her in a secretarial college without her knowledge, nor did he ask if she wanted to go. Disliking it immensely she dropped out shortly before graduation and became a telephone operator to his chagrin.  Her family considered her an old maid who would never do anything with her life since she did not get married as a teen.

She did end up married at the age of 21 and immediately started a family fulfilling her father's prophecy after all. After the birth of her 4th child she was overwhelmed with pain all over her body, which began a search for relief from it, but never hitting the mark and multiple side effects to medications given her put her life into a tailspin. She says she learned to live every day in pain without grumbling about it. Meinere's Disease hit her in the mid twenties as well . She says, "It took traditional medicine almost 30 years to finally give a name to those pains. The nightmares didn't end with a diagnoses though... A most difficult part to deal with was modern medicine's inability to effectively treat it so I could fully function! But I learned to live with that."

Over the years Lena had taken college courses here and there but never received a degree so after her husband's horrific accident, at the age of 37, she went back to college full time, which started a long medical career.  Then she received her MBA and took nutritional classes along the way while looking into alternatives to what she watched dished out to people in the medical offices and a career that she says, "I will always cherish and thoroughly enjoyed my life in the medical offices as that led me to the path I took into Alternative medicine."  

Finding her niche in life...

After receiving her nursing degree (1976),  went to  work in a hospital rehab ward, which she soon chose to leave as the hours were too conflicting with the home life and children. She then went to work as a temporary medical office nurse and surgical assistant for a General Practitioner who she felt needlessly put peoples lives at risk every day. Left at the end of her temporary assignment and went to a Pediatric Medical Clinic with seven to none pediatricians where she worked as back office and triage nurse for three and one-half years.  Took classes to get her MBA while working.

Five years of working in medical offices then found her very ill and off work for nine months and misdiagnosed numerous times along that trek. She had become frustrated during those years of doctors visits, misdiagnoses, hospitalizations and medications that did some horrible things to her, physically and emotionally.  And to be there again unable to get out of  bed most days, but that too passed... All that was before she allowed nutrition and alternative medicine to enter her life.

After 25  years of pain and suffering and numerous hospitalizations - usually caused from medication side effects - she was finally diagnosed with Fibromyositis, now called fibromyalgia, myositis and myalgia accompanied by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which are all autoimmune disorders and basically the same thing! (The body's immune system attacking itself or body full of inflammation, depending on who is diagnosing.)

In those early years of her painful suffering fibromyalgia was almost never diagnosed or even considered a disease by most doctors. There are still some today from the old school that refuse to accept that it exists. A condition, at that time in which a person  with those aches and pains was generally given the diagnoses of malingerer or hypochondriac. Then Meniere's Disease had to raise it's nasty head laying her low days and weeks on end until learning some nutritional steps to make it bearable... Lena even saw a psychiatrist for a while, as she was sure that she was mentally ill as nobody could have so much go wrong with them and not be, but was told otherwise by the psychiatrist. 

Given medication after medication that relieved nothing but exhibited side effect after side effect for her, with long term eye problems being one of those side effects. Then along with fibromyalgia she developed osteoarthritis. She  says she soon learned to live with the excruciating pain and fatigue that accompanied it and finally settled on a couple of mediations that helped some but didn’t alleviate the pains nor prevented it from progressing. Then she developed nodules on the joints of her fingers to add to the pain and doctors visits! 

She states, "Keeping busy is a great  alleviator of pain for me. I'm not telling you this to say, hey look at me but to help you understand that I do know a few doctors in multiple practices as both a patient, an employee and a co-worker."

After leaving the  pediatric medical group she then  worked seven and one-half years in an internists' office as triage and home visiting nurse as well as office manager along with assisting the doctor.  Lena says; "That internist was and is a truly great and young genius, who I  felt gave the patients the best that so-called modern medicine had to offer and still feels that way about him. Even though he could only practice what he was taught in medical school and never looked outside that training for better answers..." Even though she occasionally came to a bit of odds with him as he was steeped in the traditional medical syndrome and failed to look at natural or herbal remedies as an alternative, he did his very best for the patient with what he had been taught.

At the ripe old age of 37 the internist decided to leave private practice as he saw what medicine was becoming with the HMO's coming into play and said he wanted no part of someone who didn't know his patient deciding on their treatments.

She believes that about 75% to 80% of the patients she encountered over the years were simple problems that could have been treated at home with everyday common sense, applying their brain  and create better health for themselves. "This belief," she says, "was confirmed by several doctors over the years."

While managing the brilliant Internists' office, one of her vivid memories is of participating in clinic trials and track & documenting patient studies on a couple of medications before their release to the public. Part of the pharmaceutical companies path prior to FDA approval - She received all kinds of great perks for it.  You can find out why she feels one of those  medications should not have been released to the public in her book "Dangers and Secrets Doctors Refuse to Tell You."  Also she reveals in her book other atrocities that should not happen to anyone, but did.

During the years with the genius doctor she developed shortness of breath, swollen legs and ankles, chest pains and more fatigue complicated by Meinere's vertigo. Genius sent her to a cardiologist who found a Mitrial Valve Prolapse  problem.  The Cardiologist let her watch the ultrasound and she saw the valve was flapping and not completely stopping the blood flow as it should, but was assured that if she took antibiotics with any procedures she could live a long happy life with exercise and care! More on this later and how she cleared that problem up!

Lena  has listed a group of  questions to ask your doctor so that you may determine the necessity of a prescription, she also included  some home remedies passed on to her patients during her career - in, "Antibiotic Alternatives To Preventing Mega Bacteria!"

After leaving the brilliant Internist she fell into a whole exciting but, as she describes, "A gut wrenching profession of setting up new medical offices along with setting up and instituting medical office procedures, setting up computer programs to fit each need and with insurance billing training."

In each of the offices she opened usually consisted of the doctor seeing patients and her as the lone office & triage nurse, receptionist, insurance clerk, PR person, and patient counselor until the office grew large enough to add personnel. That process took from three months to three years to grow into a well functioning successful office... 

She also founded a temporary employment agency for medical personnel while still working in a medical office and set up that business in the same medical building giving her the ability to handle both offices. She could be described as a workaholic as both offices created 18-20 hour days. She says, "There were some doctors I had to deal with in the agency which were anything but honest. I won't bore you with the nightmare tales, but it was a hellish experience in some instances. I became very familiar with Small Claims Court due to those problems. But I soon realized that particular business wasn't my forte and the medical office was my true passion and love, I sold the agency a year later."

She took on a teaching position at a paramedical school and taught Medical Office Management and Medical Assisting nights but within just a matter of weeks after starting the teaching position, she was approached to set up and open a new medical clinic in San Bernardino California, which was in proximity to the Paramedical School making it feasible to do both. 

Being overworked set up a situation to create crises flare-ups with the fibromyalgia and another step in searching for alternative treatments that the average traditional medical profession could not offer, in order to alleviate the pain that the medical profession was unable to control, without heavy sedative effects.  If she took the prescribed medications she was unable to function. With the prescription medications  came drowsiness inability to think rationally and  only a slightly lesser degree of pain anyway, leaving her feeling sure that there was something else, if she could just find it?

She was forced to leave teaching a little over a year later. Simply because sitting in faculty meetings, of which about 1/3 of the instructors smoked, she would develop horrific histamine headaches and weeks of pain because of it, so she soon found faculty meetings  intolerable, as they would not forego smoking during the meetings.

One positive did come from the headaches though. The prescriptions given for the histamine headaches left her nauseous, vomiting and unable to function from the  horrible side effects and the inpatient IV treatments given for the headaches, were equally as bad. She accidentally found the headaches could be alleviated with  chiropractic treatment in minutes. 

When leaving her first organized medical clinic in San Bernardino, California three and a half years later there were nine doctors and 17 employees in a very large clinic of over 3000 patients of which about 99% were HMO patients. This clinic initially opened with her, a receptionist and a doctor. She says, "The HMO patient load made for a great education in juggling treatment protocol and insurance company protocol. They collide with a loud crash for the most part, and since I was the gatekeeper and patient advocate along with her Medical Director, it was a real dance and challenge to balance the patients needs and the insurance companies rules. Just guess who is the loser there? I wonder how many people actually can receive the care they need as usually there isn't someone sitting as a caring sensitive advocate for the patients in each medical facility with the capability of keeping the patient first and not the HMO/PPO? There certainly are plenty sitting there with the HMO/PPO interest being taken care of."

For the next dozen or so years she set up several clinics and medical offices throughout Southern California. Getting them up and running onto strong footing and moved on to do it all over again. She says, "Each was a real feeling of accomplishment with the successes and ability to learn and pass it on."

One Sports Medicine Clinic, which she sat up in the mid 80's with both alternative and traditional medicine that required a great deal of study on her part and truly awakened her to the real conflict that exists in medicine, but proved to be her turning point. As she calls it "a wake up call to what other methods exist in medical treatments  for people that truly work and is much healthier with less side effects." She diligently studied under the nutritionist and chiropractor and absorbed everything she could.

Her disillusionment with the chemical medications, that never seem to cure a problem,  found her  interested in nutrition as a means of healing. She then took nutrition courses adding to her ability of helping people find cures and preventions of many diseases... Over those years she managed to receive her MA, MBA and Medical Office Administration Certification, and studied alternative health & healing treatments without a degree, which rounded out her career. But also made for a very busy person  growing and consulting with many medical practices and clinics throughout Southern California.

While managing a clinic in Palm Springs California for a very difficult and demanding doctor, she began to experience more extensive chest pains, more frequent shortness of breath and problems walking very far without almost passing out... After having a  stress tests & thallium stress, she was diagnosed as 75% to 80% blocked heart arteries along with her existing valve problem making it perilous, according to the cardiologist. 

Her cardiologist  scheduled her for angioplasty with probable bypass without her permission. She refused that mode of treatment and left the hospital AMA and found Whitaker's Wellness Clinic in Newport Beach California where she underwent successful Chelation Therapy and corrected the blockage and even corrected the MVP that she had experienced for all those years. She says that anyone who has a heart problem and doesn't try the Chelation Therapy is missing the boat in natural health and healing. Non-invasive, no side effects, less expensive and non-life threatening surgery to contend with so  why would they not try it if they know about it?

After finding healing she then  went to work for a friend in Irvine California and the first day in the first clinic she  ended up firing a doctor and reported him to the state Attorney Generals Office for gross malpractice, of which she later spent a week in trial to successfully remove that doctors medical license… She says, "that's a whole other story in itself…I can only say he was the worst of the worst!"

Her position as Personnel Director, along with managing a couple of clinics, was evaluating medical offices and clinics that were for sale, and helping to  convert them into HMO clinics -- She says, "See I went to the enemy's camp for a short while as a favor to a valued friend." She would go in evaluate an office that was for sale, look at the medical records and financial records to see if it was truly worth buying and determine if the doctor was practicing safely and properly then advise the Company as to it's worth. Then would manage the employee patient ratio to correspond properly and set up office protocols to interact with the HMO.

She says, "I met some more really off-the-wall money-grubbing doctors while doing that! She says that some practice close enough that it's impossible to remove them yet unsafe for patients... She adds, "I cannot stress enough to people how careful they must be when seeing a doctor - Be informed and take charge of your own health and let the doctor be a partner…Do not give him/her free rein with your treatment, medications and testing…you could become one of the dreaded statistics then or later!" 

Statistics found in her book "Dangers & Secrets Doctors Refuse to tell You," are pretty gross!

She states, "I do not take the world at face value without doing some analyzing of my surroundings... I cannot be accused of being a follower for the sake of following, I need to know why I do things  and found that disconcerting to most physicians I worked with."
     She goes on to say, "What I saw and heard was totally different from what the average patient or even medical office employee sees. I became totally disenchanted with the traditional medical profession so-called treating that I came to know! But I became healthier because of it and helped others to do the same with alternative methods, which I searched out. Some treatments I just plain accidentally found I learned many alternative using balance with nutrition, herbs, etc., which I would not have found otherwise and was able to pass it on occasionally to help others."
     "The ability to really help people as a triage person, for those that have the nerve to do it, is truly a great fulfillment. It takes an independent mind to be able to fully help patients become healthier... I had my ups and downs with it... a patient would call in with symptoms indicating a reaction to their prescription and the doctor’s treatment of choice usually was to prescribe another prescription to counteract the effects of the that prescription. I have seen patients end up with three or four prescriptions due to reactions to the first or second one causing a problem. I have watched people go downhill because of the drug treatments prescribed. Watching that regimen practiced by most of the doctors I worked with was like watching a row of dominoes falling that just didn't seem to stop and most people will not listen to anyone but the doctor and die or become very ill  because of their 'doctor knows all' attitude."

She states, "I feel like a very lucky lady in that I have had a very successful life in two areas - Medical Office Nursing Administration and Teaching Medical Office Management, Procedures and law - greatly enjoyed both. I am now successfully combining those experiences with Online Marketing of my own Internet Home Based Business along with Dr. Wayne Garland's Natural Healthy Environmental friendly Master Formulas."

Then there is the Chiropractor that ruptured her C-7 – neck vertebral disc - when she went to see him to reposition her painful TMJ (temple mandibular joint) Christmas Eve 1996. He failed to acknowledge a problem truly had been created and proceeded to ground the material into her spinal cord afterward causing her to have several surgeries creating damages to her spinal cord and almost lost the use of her legs virtually ending her abilities to get out and work full time.  Lesson learned she says, "If a chiropractor is rough stop in mid treatment and run out of his/her office and don't look back!"

Having  controlled the fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis with herbs and mineral nutrients for several years prior to the ruptured C-7, that event came as a devastating blow and sent her autoimmune disease into a tailspin again. Even having dissolved the arthritic nodules on her finger joints with the herbs. Now having to start all over again to bring it back to remission...

This came close to sending her over the edge! But she states, "Out of bad things can come good, if you look for them and I have looked and found them. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

Fibromyalgia flare up was due to so much anesthesia and chemicals put into her body during the course of all the surgeries that followed the neck injury...which led her to find natural treatments to overcome and correct the situation... 

But she feels she had a great experience with a fantastic doctor at Barrows Neurological Clinic in Phoenix, AZ and feels that St. Joseph's Hospital is a place every hospital should be patterned after. "Make lemonade out of lemons," she always says.

Now she has become experienced with the system of justice, because of this incident, and she says, "It's not at all fair nor just."

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