Turning TBI Trauma into Purpose: One NP's Journey | Kelly Tuttle, FNP - Shadow Me Next!

Episode Transcript
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Ashley Love (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Shadow Me Next, a podcast
where I take you into and behindthe scenes of the medical world
to provide you with a deeperunderstanding of the human side
of medicine.
I'm Ashley, a physicianassistant, medical editor,
clinical preceptor and thecreator of Shadow Me Next.
It is my pleasure to introduceyou to incredible members of the

(00:22):
healthcare field and uncovertheir unique stories, the joys
and challenges they face andwhat drives them in their
careers.
It's access you want andstories you need, whether you're
a pre-health student or simplycurious about the healthcare
field.
I invite you to join me as wetake a conversational and
personal look into the lives andminds of leaders in medicine.

(00:44):
I don't want you to miss asingle one of these
conversations, so make sure thatyou subscribe to this podcast,
which will automatically notifyyou when new episodes are
dropped, and follow us onInstagram and Facebook at shadow
me next, where we will reviewhighlights from this
conversation and where I'll giveyou sneak previews of our
upcoming guests.
Kelly Tuttle spent two decadesas a cardiology nurse

(01:06):
practitioner before a traumaticbrain injury completely changed
the course of her life.
Instead of walking away, sheleaned in, turning her recovery
into a platform of hope andpractical strategies for others
navigating life after braininjury.
What I admire most about Kellyisn't just her clinical
expertise or the book she'swritten.

(01:27):
It's the way she bridges livedexperience with medical practice
, creating a connection withpatients that only someone who
has been there can offer.
We talk about resilience, thepower of support groups and what
it really means to adapt whenthe road doesn't look the way
you planned.
Whether you're a studentworried about setbacks, a

(01:48):
clinician rethinking how to meetpatients where they are, or
simply someone curious about thehuman side of medicine, you'll
find wisdom here.
Please keep in mind that thecontent of this podcast is
intended for informational andentertainment purposes only and
should not be considered asprofessional medical advice.
The views and opinionsexpressed in this podcast are

(02:11):
those of the host and guests anddo not necessarily reflect the
official policy or position ofany other agency, organization,
employer or company.
This is Shadow Me Next withKelly Tuttle.
Kelly, thank you so much fortaking the time tonight to join
us on shadow me next.
You have an absolutelyincredible story and your story

(02:32):
has turned into an incredibleplatform with amazing resources
for people.
So thanks for what you'vealready done and thank you for
joining us tonight.
Well, thank you for having meAshley.

Kelly Tuttle (02:43):
I'm excited about what we're going to be talking
about.

It's a great conversation and unfortunately,
it stemmed from a situation thatI would imagine was very
chaotic and very traumatic andvery scary for you, and we'll
definitely talk about that.
But before we do, I would loveto hear how you ended up in
medicine in the very first place, before all of this.

Oh my goodness.
So I was the child that had theteddy bear covered in band-aids
and IV tubing with straws, andmy mother couldn't keep tape and
band-aids in the house.
So from the very beginning Ialways wanted to be caring
either a doctor or a nurse and Ialways wanted to care, you know

(03:27):
, to be caring either a doctoror a nurse.
And I decided to go intonursing because it was so much
more patient focused, intensive,and I absolutely loved it and I
was lucky to have the resourcesand the support to go into
nursing school at 19.
To go into nursing school at 19and to come out at age 22, 23.

(03:52):
I graduated from CaliforniaState University, fresno, for my
undergraduate and I had workedas a volunteer in the hospitals
just trying to build up myresume and there was a specific
hospital in town that I wantedto work at.
It was Valley Children'sHospital at the time and so I
started looking for jobs there,worked in medical records and so
forth, and while I was innursing school and then

(04:15):
graduated to like kind of anursing student position where
you kind of work like acertified nurse's assistant and
did that until I graduated andthen I did my.
It was a leadership type partof my program where I worked in
the emergency room at ValleyChildren's Hospital as a student

(04:36):
to get my foot in and get letpeople know.
You know who I was and thatthat baby step kind of trail
opened up an opportunity to workat this hospital, which wasn't
accepting new grads as RNs atthe time, but because of my

(04:57):
trickle effect into the company,I was able to land a RN job in
the emergency room after Igraduated, and you know what I
saw?
What I witnessed was thetransformation of health care
from a health care business to abusiness model, and so this is

(05:18):
in the early 90s.
And so then I saw thetransition from RNs to
unlicensed personnel doing tasks, and so the RN positions were
going away and the nursingposition wasn't valued.
And at the same time I saw theincreased trend of people

(05:39):
needing to use the emergencyroom as a clinic instead of
seeing an outpatient provider.
And so eventually we hired somenurse practitioners, and so
they were in the fast trackclinic and I was inspired to
become a nurse practitioner, andI did.
I went to Gonzaga University inSpokane, washington, and

(06:04):
finished their family nursepractitioner program, got my
master's in the nursing ofscience and that's just kind of
how my career transformed.
And as a nurse practitioner Igot into a training position in
cardiology doing stress testingand from that I expanded.
Once I was in the with thecompany, my position at the time

(06:28):
was part-time.
I would volunteer and work atfamily medicine practice,
emergency room, obgyn,pediatrics, just to get this
experience down.
And then finally the cardiologydepartment said we need you to
work full-time and so I workedas a cardiology nurse
practitioner for 20 years total.

(06:49):
And then I had my car accidentand got passionate about
neurology and the brain.
And so I worked very hard fortwo years going to seminars,
doing CE courses, readinganything and everything about
the brain, and then was able tobeg and plead to get a training

(07:11):
position as a nurse practitioner, which was really intensive.
I followed a neurologist, youknow, for a year, just you know,
learning about Parkinson's,multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and
trigeminal neuralgia.
That's what we kind of managedat first as the nurse
practitioners in the department,and then it expanded over time

(07:33):
to BNS, the vagus nervestimulation for controlling
epilepsy.
I really enjoyed doing that,and then we added stroke
patients and then, as I wastransitioning out into
retirement, I was learning aboutmanaging headaches.
So it's just a kind oftransitioning, evolving job of

(07:56):
new things, new opportunities.

It is an incredible story.
I am blown away and I think oneof the most amazing things is
you went from cardiology, whichis one of the most difficult and
most complicated and complexfields of medicine, at an
accident which we'll talk abouta major, major life change, and

(08:21):
then you went into then anothermore difficult, more complex
field of medicine which you'vedescribed the transition it's.
It is not just hey, you know,let me, let me go pick up a new
job, um, let me get a new shiftin neuro.
You know you really had totrain and train and train and
learn and, like you mentioned,you were learning all the way up

(08:41):
into retirement and I think wecan phrase medicine as being a
career for a lifelong learnerand we can talk about that.
But until we really hear thatfrom somebody who has
legitimately proven thatmedicine is a journey of
learning, truly, you know, Idon't think we can really grasp
the full concept.
So thank you for detailing allof that.

(09:03):
Let's focus on your role inneurology as a neurology nurse
practitioner.
You talked about a lot of thedifferent conditions that you
guys worked with the most.
What were some of in youropinion, what were some of your
favorite, just ones that reallyyou really enjoyed either
treating or diagnosing orhelping patients work through Dr

(09:23):
Anneke Vandenbroek.

So my favorite part was kind of like being the
ambassador, and because I was abrain, a traumatic brain injury
survivor, I had been there, donethat and had the T-shirt Right,
but I wasn't telling mypatients that and I wasn't
allowing, you know, telling myemployer.
My favorite part of the job wasI would work with patients with

(09:47):
Parkinson's or multiplesclerosis and even with some
patients with epilepsy.
They start to develop mildcognitive impairment, and so my
favorite part was helping themcope with that, because that was

(10:08):
like my bag of tricks that Icould share with them, and they
would be really surprised.
They're just like, oh my gosh,how do you know that?

You're the first provider who understands me, who
gets it, and so that was myfavorite part of the job
Absolutely, and one where yourability to relate to patients is
not something perhaps that youwould have necessarily chosen
the way that you were able to dothat, but you've taken that
situation and you were able toreally positively impact so many

(10:39):
of your patients, I wouldimagine.
I would love to hear more aboutyour situation after the TBI.
I mean, you have written someof these incredible books, one
called After the Crash, an ebookcalled Getting Back Behind the
Wheel.
I would imagine at a certainpoint after your accident you
thought I can't do this.
How am I supposed to do this?

(11:00):
Tell me a little bit about howthat felt, especially as a
medical provider here at ShadowMe.
Next, we have a segment on theshow called Quality Questions,
which is where we discusspotential interview questions
that you might hear on yourpre-health interview.
Kelly has talked a lot aboutTBI.
Traumatic brain injury haschanged the course of her career

(11:20):
and her life and I couldimagine in an interview someone
asking you to describe a medicalcondition that you have heard
about either on social media orwithin your own social circles,
to tell them about it, what youknow about it, perhaps any
medicine that you might be awareof behind it and why it matters

(11:40):
socially right now, why youthink it's a hot topic.
Tbi is one of these.
I'd be interested to know whatyou would say.
Keep in mind that there's moreinterview prep, such as mock
interviews and personalstatement review over on
shadowmenextcom.
There you'll find amazingresources to help you as you
prepare to answer your ownquality questions.

Right.
So I had a mild to moderateconcussion and I had been taken
off of work for three months torecover, and not initially but
eventually.
And when it was time to go backto work after that three month
period, the two weeks before,you're like really I was just

(12:23):
sweating it.
I was like freaking out.
I'm like what does my brainneed to be supported so I can
continue to be a safe, efficientemployee, productive employee?
And you know I read all my.
I had a couple of concussionbooks that were my companions
during my healing and I hadonline resources.

(12:45):
Of course.
I'd had my speech therapypaperwork and neurotherapy and I
just was looking at it and atthe time I had a ton of neuro
fatigue and so my ability toread and memorize and learn my
timeframe was window was tiny,it was like five to 10 minute
increments was like five to 10minute increments and I it was

(13:14):
just really rough.
And then when I went to work andit was just trial by error and
and some mistakes, and when Isay some mistakes, like I didn't
realize I had irritabilitybecause of light sensitivity and
sound sensitivity, I didn'trealize I'd had some
impulsiveness and so I wouldtalk over conversation and maybe
say things I would normally notsay in front of people, and and

(13:36):
so when I decided to write mybook, I wasn't going to write
about my story because I didn'twant to bore anybody.
That's what I told my writingeditors, my writing coaches.
But they said, no, you got toshare your story a little bit, a
little bit.
And I said okay, because I wantthis book to go straight to the
point of strategies and toolsthat a person can use to support

(13:57):
their healing brain while thatthey're at work.
I don't want to waste theirenergy because, I explained,
they may not have the energy orthe visual ability because you
can get your vision processesknocked offline to read a story.
Let's get to the point.
You know facts, baby facts, butanyway.
So yeah, so my book was goingto be a one-stop shop where

(14:21):
someone could go and grab beforeheading to work to find
strategies and tools they coulduse to support their healing
brain while they went back towork and school.

It's incredible.
I mean I love the subtitle howto Keep your Job, stay in School
and Live Life After a BrainInjury and I think so often we
hear about TBIs traumatic braininjuries and we think, oh, wow,
how terrible.
You know, the recovery has gotto be so hard.
But a lot of times we skim oversome of these concepts like am

(14:55):
I going to lose my job?
Am I going to be able to goback to school?
And so just the fact, like yousaid, just the fact that you get
right into it even in the titleand you explained it, these
people perhaps either theythemselves have a TBI or they
have a loved one with a TBI andthey just want to relate.
It brings up an interestingquestion.
I just recently had my firstsupport group experience.

(15:17):
Actually, I was a lecturer forthe support group for people
with limb differences soamputees.
I was speaking as a derm PA, wewere talking about skincare and
wound healing and it was anincredible experience being in a
support group and I was not amember, I was a guest and it was
a very cool thing.
Tell me why this sense ofcommunity and the sense of

(15:41):
support is so important and sohealing for people who share a
similar diagnosis, somethinglike TBI who share a similar
diagnosis, something like TBI.

Yes, I totally support support groups and I got
to participate a couple timesin a support group in my area
and it was so nice to meet withpeople who get it and you also,
when you attend those supportgroups, they tell you, like the
doctors, to see, um, they, theyshare their strategies on how
they cope with.
Like, say, there was someonethere who said, oh, I forgot to

(16:16):
pick up my children and everyonepipes in.
Oh well, I use alarms and I dothis, and that really helped me
remember.
Don't worry, it's not going toalways be like this, it's going
to get a little bit better.
And so I'm really encouragingof all my followers and my
readers to find their tribe,because no one understands

(16:39):
having sound sensitivity orneuro fatigue until you have it,
and it's really important to bewith people who understand and
get you.

I love that, and it's what your book offers for
these people, even people whomight not are comfortable
speaking about it yet or perhapsare not interested in really
sharing their own story.
Yet your book offers not only asupportive glimpse into the
diagnosis, but actionable steps.
Not only a supportive glimpseinto the diagnosis, but

(17:11):
actionable steps.
You know, and then you have.
You also have this incrediblejournal titled my brain injury
recovery journal.
Tell us a little bit about this.
Why is journaling?

so important in this, in TBI recovery.
Oh, journaling is, like, reallykey.
It offers a lot of ways tosupport your brain while you're
healing, okay.
So one.
As I'm sure you know, writingwith your hand on paper helps
with neuroplasticity, theremodeling of the brain and
reconnecting, creatingconnections to make up for the

(17:41):
ones that have possibly beenlost with that concussion.
Because of the axion sharingthat you have with concussions
and it is one of the thingsabout being a traumatic brain
injury survivor is you tend tostay in your head and you don't
want to stay in your headbecause inside your head is
negative Nancy's and Bobby Bully.

(18:02):
Right, you want to get out ofthat house, right.
So writing in your journalhelps you kind of be in the
present moment, thinking aboutwriting, moving that pen, write
down those thoughts.
You know what did negativeNancy say?
And and was it stupid or was itsomething you should share with
your talk therapist?

(18:23):
Maybe you could share it with afriend or you could just say go
, you know what you feel aboutnegative Nancy and leave it
there in your journal.
But it also helps you track yourbrain injury symptoms and helps
you discover what makes themworse, what makes them better,
what therapies you're trying out.

(18:44):
Are they making you, helpingyou?
Are they not helping you?
Did this medication help, didit not?
What were the side effects?
And then it also helps you onthose like really bad days when
you're so frustrated you feellike you're never going to get
better and you can look back inyour journal entry and see how

(19:05):
far you've come, because thefirst two years you do see lots
of leaps and bounds in yourrecovery, but after that the
improvements are moreincremental and subtle and if
you're not journaling so youcould see how far you've come,
you're going to miss out on that.

That is a great example of how some of these
healing processes end upunfolding, and it's not just TBI
.
This is a lot of things rightand we can think about the two
steps forward, one step back,three steps forward, five steps
back type of situations.
But I love the idea of puttingthat in a journal because I
would imagine, especially whilerecovering from a TBI, it's not

(19:47):
just the concepts or the waythat the concepts flow in the
journal, but it could also beyour handwriting.
It could also be the way thatyou follow lines on pay can just
be visual.
You can visually see theimprovements of things and um
and how motivating, you know,how motivating for somebody who
is on a long journey which a lotof these chronic conditions, a

(20:10):
lot of them are.
This is so interesting to me.
Let's talk to students directlyhere real quick.
You have an absolutelyincredible story and there's a
lot of things they can take away, a lot of lessons they can
learn from you, even though theymight not have a TBI or have
experienced a concussion.
Have a TBI or have experienceda concussion, for example, a lot

(20:34):
of students fear failure orunexpected detours in their
career path.
That's a question I get a lot,ashley.
Do you think I'm behind?
Do you think I've derailed?
What wisdom would you sharewith them about resilience and
just pushing through?

Yeah, so I I had this conversation with a medical
assistant that I had used thatexperience in my past and that
was not to let a bump in theroad be a mountain and there's
always a way around.
So her bump in the road was acertain class that she was
taking and she failed it thesecond time and she felt like

(21:16):
that was it.
She's never going to be alicensed vocational nurse.
And I said, oh no, no, no, no,no, find out, go contact the
school counselor, find out whichcollege, other schools accept
transfer of classes.
Go take that class at anotherplace, another university, and

(21:37):
you might have a better teacherthat will speak to you and your
learning, and then you couldtake the class and pass it and
then move forward.
And she did, and she movedforward and she became a
licensed vocational nurse.
So there are bumps in the roadbut you don't have to sit there
and hit your head against it.
There are ways around it.
And if you can't figure it out,ask, just ask people around.

(22:00):
What do you think?
What can I do?

What fabulous advice.
That was great and and I loveit because I think so often, you
know, as a student, I'mimagining just the end goal
right, I need to pass this class.
I need to pass this class sothat, wherever I'm applying,
whenever they ask, hey, did youpass this class?
I can say, yes, but what afantastic story she has about
resilience and tenacity and howshe passed the class and the

(22:25):
people that she talked to andthe advice that they gave.
It's just, you know, it reallyis about the journey, not about
the destination, and I knowthat's so cliche, but it's true.
You know, it's so much moreinteresting to talk about that
journey, which is basically yourwhole story, and I just love it
so much.
Kelly, as we wrap up, tell uswe've talked a little bit about
your book.
Tell us where can we find theseamazing resources and how can

(22:48):
we connect with you outside ofthis.
Shadow me next podcast.

I would definitely recommend people to go to my
website at kellytuttleorg andcheck out all of my resources
and what I have to offer and,yeah, sign up for my sub stack,
which is on my off my website.
But see the other stuff thatI'm up to.
All the links are there.

Absolutely incredible the resources that
you're providing to so manypeople who not only have TBI,
but people who have familymembers that have had this and
people who are just moreinterested in learning about it.
Kelly, thanks for sharing yourstory and thank you for
everything that you have done.

Oh, thank you, and thank you for having me and
getting the word out.
I really appreciate it.

Thank you so very much for listening to this
episode of shadow me next.
If you liked this episode or ifyou think it could be useful
for a friend, please subscribeand invite them to join us next
Monday, as always.
If you have any questions, letme know on Facebook or Instagram
Access.
You want stories you need?
You're always invited to shadowme next.

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Turning TBI Trauma into Purpose: One NP's Journey | Kelly Tuttle, FNP

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Turning TBI Trauma into Purpose: One NP's Journey | Kelly Tuttle, FNP