After the Storm: What Rebuilding Our Home Taught Us About Rebuilding Health
After the Storm
When Portland’s devastating wind and ice storm struck on January 13, 2024, it didn’t just take down trees — it took our home. What followed has been nearly two years of struggle: fourteen insurance adjusters, multiple funding shortfalls, and endless frustration.
The experience taught us more than patience. It reminded us how fragile “systems” become when they’re reactive instead of proactive — and how that same principle applies directly to our health.
From Insurance Delays to Health Lessons
The aftermath of the 2024 Portland ice storm exposed more than structural damage — it revealed how easily systems fail when reactive thinking replaces proactive planning. What began as a straightforward recovery turned into an extended lesson in bureaucracy, inefficiency, and the true cost of delay.
Over the course of nearly two years, repeated turnover among adjusters, inconsistent communication, and inadequate funding delayed reconstruction and compounded the damage. The lack of continuity and accountability at every step turned a natural disaster into a prolonged human one — a reminder that even well-intentioned systems can collapse when they prioritize process over people.
Finally, after formal escalation and months of persistence, reconstruction was approved and (while still not fully funded), the rebuild is nearly complete. The experience left a lasting impression: recovery shouldn’t depend on crisis or confrontation.
'Systems — whether financial, structural, or biological — must be built on readiness, resilience, and foresight if they’re to protect what truly matters.'
Those lessons extend far beyond rebuilding a home. They apply directly to how we approach our health, aging, and longevity. Just as a home requires maintenance and preparation to weather a storm, the human body demands proactive care to thrive through life’s inevitable challenges.
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Priorities That Sustained Us: Health, Routine, and Resilience
During months of displacement, we learned that comfort and convenience weren’t enough — our health had to remain the priority. Living through uncertainty underscored that daily habits determine how well we withstand stress.
When searching for long-term housing, we intentionally chose a hotel with a full kitchen and access to a fitness center, allowing us to maintain structure, nutrition, and movement. We brought essential cooking tools, small exercise equipment, and the supplements we trust to continue preparing healthy meals and staying active.
Cooking whole foods, maintaining meal timing, and exercising regularly weren’t luxuries — they were lifelines. In the face of disruption, these small acts provided stability and preserved physical and emotional resilience.
Those habits reflected the same principles we teach in longevity medicine: consistency, adaptability, and self-care under pressure. Even in temporary housing, we prioritized sleep, hydration, strength training, and nutrient-dense meals — because longevity isn’t about perfection; it’s about protecting your foundation when life feels unpredictable.
Crisis often strips life down to essentials. For us, those essentials were clear: relationship, health, structure, and purpose. Keeping those priorities front and center transformed a difficult chapter into a living example of what we teach at HormoneSynergy® — that resilience isn’t built in times of peace, but proven in times of disruption.
Homeowners Insurance Is Not Home Care — and Health Insurance Isn’t "Health" Care.
Many people assume their 'home' insurance equals home care — but it doesn’t. Insurance is a financial contract designed to reimburse loss, not to rebuild lives.
Real “home care” happens long before a storm: maintaining your property, understanding your policy, confirming coverage, and choosing companies that value people over process.
Our experience after the 2024 Portland ice storm reaffirmed our belief that being insured is not the same as being protected.
At best, insurance helps you recover; at worst, it exposes every gap you didn’t know existed. True home care is proactive — built on preparation, awareness, and trusted relationships before crisis hits.
The same is true for health insurance. Having coverage doesn’t guarantee care. Health insurance is designed to pay for sickness, not to prevent it.
'Real health care is what you do every day to strengthen your foundation — optimizing hormones, metabolism, nutrition, movement, and resilience.'
At HormoneSynergy®, we believe longevity shouldn’t depend on what an insurance company decides to cover. True care means investing in proactive testing, personalized medicine, and long-term strategies to preserve health before it’s compromised.
Longevity Medicine Parallels
Proactive Care Prevents Crisis
Just as homeowners must confirm Additional Living Expense (ALE) coverage before disaster strikes, we must confirm our body’s readiness long before illness appears. Longevity medicine is proactive care — assessing biomarkers, hormone balance, and inflammation before they become crises.
Continuity Matters
Fourteen State Farm adjusters meant fourteen new beginnings. In health, that fragmentation leads to missed details and lost time. HormoneSynergy’s model emphasizes long-term physician relationships — continuity of care that builds knowledge, trust, and measurable results.
Systems Should Work for You, Not Against You
When corporate systems fail to deliver, the human cost rises. The same is true in conventional healthcare: rushed visits, symptom-based fixes, and lost accountability. Longevity medicine repairs that by aligning systems — cardiovascular, hormonal, metabolic — to work with you for decades of vitality.
Resilience Is the Real Goal
Our rebuild, led by our steadfast contractor PacWest Restoration, symbolizes resilience — the ability to recover stronger than before. In longevity medicine, resilience is biological: stronger mitochondria, balanced hormones, improved cognition, and sustained muscle mass. Both kinds of rebuilding require foresight, patience, and the right foundation.
A Word of Gratitude and a Call to Action
We are deeply grateful to everyone who supported us through this long and challenging process — especially our HormoneSynergy® patients, whose patience, understanding, and encouragement sustained us. Your kindness reminded us that resilience isn’t only physical — it’s communal.
We also want to recognize our contractor PacWest Resoration, whose expertise and commitment made recovery possible. After a disasterous over demolition by another company, their integrity and dedication turned what could have been despair and an ongoing insurance system nightmare into progress.
Let's just say that PacWest Restoration was the REAL "Good Neighbor" we were looking for. Arnold Swarzeneggar, Danny Davito and Patrick Mahomes were no where to be found.
To our patients, readers, and community — our message is simple: whether you’re protecting your home or your health, preparation matters.
- Review your home insurance and coverage, including "additional living expense"
- Continue being proactive rather than reactive when it comes to your health.
- Build your resilience before the next storm — literal or biological — arrives.
Because whether it’s your home or your body, proactive care always costs less than reactive repair.