I want to talk about my experience working with Dr. Kim Bell, Physical Therapist, when I went through a very sudden and surprising vestibular incident.

Prior to contacting Kim I was a normal active (I am not going to mention my age) individual. I was going to yoga classes, hanging upside down, doing handstands, and all these kinds of things… and I have a two-year-old.

All of the sudden, I went to one of my normal yoga classes and the world went sideways!

I managed to get help from some friends at class, but essentially I could not move off of my back because when I did, very extreme dizziness occurred.

It was so bad I couldn’t stand up to use the restroom. I had to crawl there – like literally crawl there – and even that was a struggle!

I contacted Kim. I left a voicemail message and I wasn’t even sure if I would get a response because I know she is really busy in the healthcare world.

Being a physical therapist myself, I know we all try to get back to patients in a timely manner, but for a lot of us who own our own practice, there is only so much limited time, so I just wasn’t sure. I left a message and thought I would just hang out on my back, and when she got back to me she got back to me.

I wasn’t even really sure if it was a vestibular issue. I didn’t know what was going on!

Kim called me back very promptly, within an hour, maybe less. It might have even been twenty minutes or so. I can’t remember too much because I was very dizzy, but all I know is that she got back to me super promptly.

Before she even came over to the house, we talked about some things I could do at home – because I was by myself at the time – to try and alleviate some of the symptoms and the intensity of the dizziness.

I did what she told me over the phone and help decrease the dizziness from very severe.

The only reason that I probably didn’t go to the ER was because Kim called me back right away and I trusted her. I knew she could help. I did what she said and it did reduce the severity from almost a 10/10 and dropped it down a bunch!

She was able to come over that night and I was still not able to stand up, function, or take care of my daughter.

The thing I loved about working with Kim was that I felt taken care of. She looked me in the eye when I was in a very very vulnerable position just not feeling like myself, not understanding what was going on or how I even got here.

She performed her very thorough evaluation with a very compassionate heart. She was always explaining what she was doing, why she was doing it, and the results she was getting so I could follow long each step of the way.

I felt very much taken care of! My two year old daughter wanted to help out and come in the session so she even worked with her.

She explained the process to my husband. I think it is sometimes hard for the significant other to watch someone that they care about go through a time of distress and not be able to do anything about it. She involved him with the process so he felt like I was being taken care of and that he could help in some ways.

That was extremely beyond the traditional care. She even continued the care on outside of the session. She held the space for healing, is the only way I can think to describe it, by following up with texts and calls, checking in, asking how I was doing, seeing if I was able to return back to normal functioning, and my work.

I didn’t have to cancel my whole next day of physical therapy patients and I had a yoga class that I was able to teach. It’s pretty amazing that I didn’t miss a single day of work!

She followed up and made sure I understood the home exercise program that I was supposed to do, which was more of a self correction and self treatment. She made sure that I knew how to do it and what were the results I was getting because I had both ears involved.

I just felt truly supported.

My sister asked me ‘What would you have done if you didn’t know Kim?’ and I was like “I don’t know. I feel so fortunate that I do know her and that she was able to help me.”

I really, truly recommend her services.

Dizziness doesn’t always happen to the older population. It can strike at any time, just being life what it is. I really recommend Kim’s services. She goes above and beyond! It is totally worth the investment and the value times 100. I really do believe that.