040 - Pieces of the Puzzle: Seeing God's Provision One Piece at a Time with Kayla Hochstein

In this week's episode, Kayla Hochstein, an operating room nurse from Oregon, shares her journey of faith, love for the outdoors, and experiences of divine intervention. Kayla discusses how her connection with God deepens through nature, her adventures in the Pacific Northwest, and the importance of prayer in her life. She reflects on her healing journey after a difficult divorce and how she uses her experiences to help others. In this conversation, Kayla Hochstein shares her profound journey through long COVID, detailing the physical and emotional challenges she faced after contracting the virus while working as a nurse. She discusses the drastic changes in her life, including moving in with her parents and the struggle to maintain hope amidst overwhelming health issues. Kayla emphasizes the importance of faith, community support, and a holistic approach to healing, combining both Western and alternative medicine. Her story is one of resilience, transformation, and the power of keeping faith during the darkest times.

Connect with Kayla: @kaylahochstein719

Transcript

McKenzie Smith (00:02)
On today's episode of My Valley, His Victory, we have Kayla Hochstein, born and raised in the beautiful state of Oregon. She loves Jesus and her faith is an extremely important part of her life. She's an operating room nurse, specializing in mostly orthopedic and neurosurgeries. She enjoys being outside, hiking, traveling, camping, stand up paddle boarding, exploring national parks, going on adventures and spending quality time with God and loved ones.

Thanks so much for being with us today, Kayla.

Kayla Hochstein (00:33)
Yeah, thanks for having me. It's an honor to be here.

McKenzie Smith (00:35)
Yeah. So why don't you go ahead and just share with the guests a little bit more about yourself and who you are.

Kayla Hochstein (00:39)
Yeah. All right. Yeah. I'm born and raised in Oregon. I was actually born at the same hospital I now work at. So went a little full circle there. Like you said, I'm an operating room nurse, specializing mostly in orthopedic and neurosurgery. So I do lots of total joint replacements, brains and spines. I actually went to nursing school in Spokane, Washington. So I've always lived in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and I absolutely love it here.

It's perfect for an outdoor enthusiast. you can hike, stand up paddleboard, camp, go on adventures. The beach and the mountains are right there. So it's a great place to live. I enjoy spending quality time with God, family and friends. I have a lot of family that's close by. I like to travel and have a very long travel bucket list, including all seven continents, which I think would be cool, but I feel like I could settle for six. But every country in Europe, all 50 states, all the US national parks.

So far I've only been to 12 countries and three continents, so I have a lot of exploring left to do. I grew up in a Christian family. My faith, like you said, has always been really important to me. I got baptized in 2001, so when I was about 13. And at that time I chose Philippians 4.13 as my baptism slash life verse. And boy has it been a lifeline and my core verse to this day.

I got divorced for domestic violence in 2015 and ever since then, God and I have just been on this beautiful, deep healing journey. He's been drawing me closer and closer to him and continuously using me to help others in their own valleys. And from that, I love sharing the love of Jesus with others, making others feel seen, and known and love leading a community group, being part of the church's prayer team.

and the Women's Ministry team and I even just recently joined the Christian Outdoor Collectives Prayer Team as well. So all kinds of things I'm getting excited about.

McKenzie Smith (02:37)
I love that. Busy, busy, busy gal it sounds like.

Kayla Hochstein (02:40)
With balancing lots of breasts, but yeah.

McKenzie Smith (02:45)
Yeah, so beach or mountain since you kind of grew up in both.

Kayla Hochstein (02:51)
You know the nice part about here is you don't have to choose like you there's the mountains at the beach or you can do both in the same day. So that's the nice part.

McKenzie Smith (03:03)
Yeah, yeah, it's always the Pacific Northwest is an interesting place because you can have both, which is not normal in most places.

Kayla Hochstein (03:09)
Exactly. Yeah, absolutely.

McKenzie Smith (03:14)
I just don't love the hot beach. I can take the 70s, 80s beach, but I don't want to be out there when it's 90 or 100 degrees. So growing up in the PNW, I read in your bio you kind of do a lot of things outdoors, but what is kind of your go-to? What do you feel like you spend the most time doing?

Kayla Hochstein (03:17)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I feel that I probably do the most hiking. I grew up hiking with my family. So I've done it for as long as I can remember. And in 2020, being a hospital nurse in a pandemic had to balance that out a little bit. So I definitely upped my hiking miles and started mountain climbing. And each year since then, like 2020 and 2021, I hiked over 500 miles each year. And that was kind of like a really good

outlet and stress reliever for me.

McKenzie Smith (04:10)
Yeah, wow, that's awesome. That's a lot of miles in a year. you're active, active gal.

Kayla Hochstein (04:13)
Yeah. It was also 2020, so there wasn't much else to do.

McKenzie Smith (04:21)
Yeah, it's either do that or binge watch TV inside your house. So I think I'll take the outdoors. So I have to ask you this question only because one of the continents is on the very top of my bucket list. You said you would settle for six. What's the one you would take off? That's the one that's at the very top of my bucket list.

Kayla Hochstein (04:24)
Exactly.

Antarctica. So if you want to go with me, let's do it. So I haven't found somebody to go with me. I tried for a long time to convince one of my friends. And she was like, why would I ever want to go to Antarctica? And then she up and went without me. She did. was like, wait a second, where was my invite?

McKenzie Smith (04:58)
No, she did not.

That's funny because that's my husband is like, no, why would why would anybody want to go to Antarctica? That sounds terrible. And I'm like the penguins, they're like just different. don't know. I'm like, I can go and see not saying that different continents aren't different, but I feel like that one's the one that's like very, very, very different. But yeah.

Kayla Hochstein (05:15)
It sounds awesome.

Yeah, let's do it. Christian Outdoor Collective. Let's plan a trip and go.

McKenzie Smith (05:37)
I love it. Get the Christian Outdoor Collective group to host a trip there. Yeah, but no, my husband's like, no. And I'm like, please. Like I even told him, I was like, for my 50th birthday, I want to go. I'm like 30. And he's like, why 50? And I was like, whoa, it's really expensive to go to Antarctica. Like it's like over $10,000, if not more, over $20,000, depending on how you go. And so I'm like, I'll give you some time. We can save up the money.

Kayla Hochstein (05:51)
you

It is.

Gives him 20 years to accept it.

McKenzie Smith (06:06)
You know Yeah, and I'm like just get it in your brain we're going But that's funny that your friend was like no because I feel like people are people are one way or the other they're either like Absolutely, not that sounds miserable or Yeah, yeah same same same same So

Kayla Hochstein (06:14)
Perfect. And then win.

Right? I think it sounds super fun. Good adventure.

McKenzie Smith (06:34)
Being that you grew up in the PNW and it sounds like you've traveled a lot. Is the PNW one of your favorite places or is there another place that just kind of sets your soul on fire in a different way maybe?

Kayla Hochstein (06:47)
Pacific Northwest is definitely my favorite place. I've traveled so many different places and it's just, there's nothing like the PNW. But another one that does have a special place in my heart is Maui. I've been there a lot over the years. So it's kind of also like a second home of sorts, but also I just love to travel. So it's always hard to choose like one favorite place. Like I love national parks and all over Europe. But yeah, Pacific Northwest is a good way to say like my number one.

McKenzie Smith (07:12)
Yeah.

What's your favorite thing about it?

Kayla Hochstein (07:18)
I love just the beauty. Like it's so easy to do things outdoors and when I'm outside, I feel the most connected to God. And so it's just perfect and rain or shine, I'll be out there hiking all year round.

McKenzie Smith (07:32)
Yeah. So talk to us a little bit more about that. Talk to us about how being outdoors plays a role specifically in your relationship with God.

Kayla Hochstein (07:40)
So that question makes me think of first Kings 19, when Elijah has just like ran away for his life. He's hiding in a cave and God appears and tells him to go stay on the mountain and wait for the presence of the Lord to pass by. And it's like, you know, a great wind comes and then an earthquake and then a fire and the Lord wasn't in any of those. Then a gentle whisper comes and that's where the Lord was.

The world we live in is just chaotic and loud. It's super busy and go, go, lifestyle. It's hard to hear God in the chaos. So when I go outdoors, that's when I can really like feel his presence, hear his audible voice, his whisper. And I can hear him tell me that he loves me. I feel his peace. I receive his wisdom, guidance and concern. And I just feel connected to his creation being surrounded by.

the beauty, know, in the Pacific Northwest we have fields and majestic mountains to the roaring waterfalls and even the intricate details of like wild flowers and the warmth of the sun on my skin. It's just so amazing being out in nature. It definitely energizes me and plays a huge role in my relationship with Christ.

McKenzie Smith (08:52)
Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful and I've never thought of that story. I don't know how now that I'm sitting here thinking about it, but don't know that I've ever considered that story in kind of being outdoors, but that's such so good and such a such a good picture of exactly what.

Kayla Hochstein (08:59)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. I feel like that's not the point of that story, but you know, like you can compare it to other things, so.

McKenzie Smith (09:18)
Yeah, yeah, no, think that's good though. And I think that it's, it is true. Like God can show up in these really big ways, but a lot of times like it is that just getting, hearing that gentle whisper and you gotta be quiet enough to hear that gentle whisper.

Kayla Hochstein (09:30)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, he's not going to compete with the chaos and the loud noise. You gotta intentionally listen for him.

McKenzie Smith (09:39)
Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. That's huge. But yeah, I couldn't agree more. I feel the same way. So could you share a story with us about a way in which God has revealed himself to you through the outdoors?

Kayla Hochstein (09:44)
So.

Most of the time, God reveals himself to me in the outdoors, like in gentle ways. Sometimes when I'm out there, I can hear his audible voice to me. Sometimes it's a worship song or scripture that'll pop into my head. If I'm hiking with a friend, words of encouragement from them, or sometimes it'll be a special God wink will happen. Like it's super cloudy, it's supposed to be cloudy all day. I'll pray for sunshine and then the sun pops out.

But there was one time where he spoke very loud and clear, so it stands out a lot to me. And I was hiking with some friends and we were going down like this super steep stretch and it was right next to a cliff. And it was so sketchy that we almost like turned around and I of course volunteered to go first. And I fell and was like going head first over this

McKenzie Smith (10:28)
Hmm?

Kayla Hochstein (10:52)
lift and I was like, all right, life flashed before my eyes. I was like, I'll see you soon, Jesus. And all of a sudden I felt this like invisible hand on my chest and it just flew me backwards and back onto the trail. And God was like, this is not your time. Like I get to determine that. Like I still have so many more adventures to go on with you. And I'm still in awe of that moment to this day. And also I never told my parents about that. So if they are listening, like

Sorry, still live.

McKenzie Smith (11:26)
I'm laughing that you said that because...

Kayla Hochstein (11:26)
Hahaha!

I'm sure that'll listen.

McKenzie Smith (11:34)
I was on a hike recently and I sent my mom a video and I was like, specifically I was like, hi mom, I'm alive, don't worry. Like I'm doing something really, really, really sketchy and I'm like, hi mom, don't worry, I'm good, I'm safe. There are some things that maybe just mom and dad shouldn't know. Better not to worry them. Just tell them you're safe when you get back.

Kayla Hochstein (11:50)
so true. Yeah, so-

yeah. Or my, exactly, my brother and I will be like, so we just did this, we're back now, we're good, you don't have to worry.

McKenzie Smith (12:06)
man. Yeah. Wow. What a, what a phenomenal story though. And, experience. I feel like, you know, I don't talk, try not to talk about my life, myself a lot on this podcast, but, my, I have a story very similar where I should have probably been very seriously hurt. And I actually fell very far off of a cliff and, I wasn't even a believer at this time.

Kayla Hochstein (12:10)
Yeah.

home

McKenzie Smith (12:34)
But I just remember the same thing happening and just this like, was like I shouldn't have landed softly, but it was like this little pillow underneath me. Anyways, this story's not about me, but that's really cool. What was the... Yeah, he was working on me hard during that time.

Kayla Hochstein (12:44)
Bye.

Yeah, God was looking out for you before you even believed in him.

McKenzie Smith (12:59)
lot of lot of really crazy things happened during that time. But so the people that you were with, did they like, watch experiences happen as in like, did they see you see you fall?

Kayla Hochstein (13:13)
No, they were still up in the cliff up above to see if I was safely going to make it down.

McKenzie Smith (13:19)
And what did you say to them? Like were you like, hey, you should come or were you like, no, this isn't safe? Like what was your reaction there?

Kayla Hochstein (13:29)
Like enter at your own risk. Here's what just happened to me. And they just decided to like go for it. And I was just kind of like helping hands to tell them where to step and stuff. So they went a lot slower and more cautious than I did and had verbal commands of where to put their feet. So they all survived as well.

McKenzie Smith (13:48)
Yes.

Good, good, good, good. That's a little scary for anybody that's never fallen or had an experience like that. But that's wild. So talk to us about has the outdoors been in kind of the P &W and growing up in this lifestyle, has this always been an outlet for you in, let me rephrase that, let's go back.

Kayla Hochstein (13:55)
Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

McKenzie Smith (14:19)
So growing up in the PNW, has the outdoors always been a way in which you've connected with the Lord or is this a newer found thing maybe from COVID on or kind of talk to us about that since you said you got baptized at a pretty young age and kind of have grown up in the PNW and in this lifestyle? when did you start making that connection and start feeling his presence outside?

Kayla Hochstein (14:44)
You know, I've always loved the outdoors like my family the first time I remember camping I was like two years old so we always did outdoor things We would go on bike rides as a family would do hikes and stuff like that So it's always been a huge part of my life I never really thought about when I first made the connection with God and the outdoors I think that was I went through a really hard season my sophomore year in college

to the point where I just like was wrestling with God, not wanting to believe him based on a lot of things that happened. He kept drawing me in, drawing me in. And coming out of that, I was like, you know, I can't not believe in you. And so that's kind of how our relationship just started getting more special. And I think that's kind of when the outdoors started feeling more of a connection with

Christ at that point because I felt his presence everywhere I went and then had more of that special bond being outdoors with him.

McKenzie Smith (15:49)
Okay, okay, cool. I was just curious because it's like if you've grown up doing something from a really young age and there wasn't, you know, that spirituality piece tied to it, you know, at what point did that did that shift? So

Kayla Hochstein (15:58)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and I've never thought about that before, so I think that's it. That's cool to make those connections even after all these years.

McKenzie Smith (16:08)
I love it. I love it. Yeah, and you live in Portland, is that right?

Kayla Hochstein (16:15)
Yeah, just outside of Portland, but I work in Portland, so, scenario.

McKenzie Smith (16:18)
Okay, so being in a pretty large metropolitan area, talk to us about a way in which maybe through your everyday life, you can connect with God through creation without being out on these hikes or, you know, being on a big trip.

Kayla Hochstein (16:34)
Mm hmm. You know, God's creation is all around us. Even if you're in a big city, you know, there's so many city parks. I have one that's just down the road and it has a lake in it too, which is great. So you can go to the park and enjoy it. Go for a walk with God. I like doing prayer and praise walks with him, or I'll bring a blanket with my Bible, listen to the birds chirping and the wind blowing through the trees. Like no matter where you're at, it doesn't even have to be a big piece of land. It can just be a tiny little park.

A lot of cities also have botanical gardens or a zoo. Both are great ways to explore God's creation in an urban environment. And then, yeah, for those that are doing the city life when you have bigger chunks of time, like get out of the city, go explore the countryside or something, find some hiking trails, a body of water, figure out what sparks your interest and start doing it.

McKenzie Smith (17:26)
Yeah, I love the prayer and praise walk. think we all have somewhere we can walk, right? Even if it's at a track or, you know, high school track or something or down down your street. But prayer and praise walk. like that. I like to pray a lot when I'm out and hiking and before I go on any of my big trips or big backpacking trips, I'm always like, y'all drop your

Kayla Hochstein (17:32)
Absolutely. Uh-huh.

Yeah, absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

McKenzie Smith (17:55)
drop your prayer requests in the box. Like I am going to have plenty of time to be praying. And you know, when you're walking multiple, well, not multiple, lots of miles a day, you kind of need some things sometimes to like think about. and so I like that prayer and praise a lot.

Kayla Hochstein (17:56)
Yeah!

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. My pastor will put his ear pods in so people think he's on a phone call, but really he's talking out loud to God and we'll just go to a city park or something and it's just him and God, but he talks out loud and it's awesome.

McKenzie Smith (18:25)
I love that. I have actually realized that I pray better, better, not the right word, longer and about different things when I pray out loud, like even if I'm just like hiking and walking and I decide to start talking out loud and praying, I find that my prayers are actually a lot more.

Kayla Hochstein (18:43)
Mm-hmm.

McKenzie Smith (18:55)
I'm going to use the word valuable, but you know how it's like whenever you pray in your head, you like pray very similar prayers. So all prayers are valuable. Don't hear me say that, but they're just different. Yes, yes, yes. Words today. Can't find them, but yes, that is exactly it. And I find myself praying about very different things and with very different language. And I find myself praying longer. Like I feel like whenever I pray inside, you know, or in my

Kayla Hochstein (18:57)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. But more like genuine and heart posture behind it.

McKenzie Smith (19:25)
in my head. It's just kind of, you know, the same, same couple of things, obviously different things change, but it's, you know, always semi short for the most part unless something really crazy is going on. But if I verbalize it, I'm like, man, I talk a lot longer. I need to do this. Like it's good though, like because I spend more time in prayer that way. But I didn't realize that until and I felt like kind of crazy when I did it for the first time because I'm like walking down a trail talking to myself.

Kayla Hochstein (19:36)
Mm-hmm.

Hahaha!

Mm-hmm.

McKenzie Smith (19:55)
I mean, I'm talking to God, you know, to an outsider, yeah, I like that he does that because I think there's value in that and I've definitely noticed that in my experience. I need to do that next time. my headphones on so people think I'm talking to somebody else. Yeah, I mean, usually I don't see that many people on trail, so it's all right, but just in case.

Kayla Hochstein (20:07)
Yeah, absolutely.

It'll look less like a weirdo.

Good backup plan.

McKenzie Smith (20:24)
All right, so yeah, yeah, exactly. So switching gears a little bit into the title of this podcast, My Valley, His Victory, would love for you to share with listeners a season of wilderness or a valley that you experienced and just what God taught you or prepared you for in that season.

Kayla Hochstein (20:28)
Thank

Yeah. So my most recent valley has been disabling long COVID. So kind of as you've heard on this call so far, before I got sick, worked 12 hour shifts as an operating room nurse, put standby call for surgeries. I was on my feet in a very mentally and physically demanding job. Then on my off days, I was outside hiking 12 to 15 miles, two to three days a week, climbing mountains, lifting weights, stand up paddle boarding, like all very active lifestyle.

And then I got COVID at work, January, 2022. And that experience really humbled me. The first two weeks were brutal, but I started slowly improving. I was even about to go back to work, but then I got the huge crazy cytokine storm and my body just went berserk. went into borderline left ventricle heart failure. I had developed irregular heartbeats, chest pain, nervous system disorders, including hypovolemia, tachycardia, and POTS.

My blood pressure was crazy low and my heart rate was sky high. The effort to even try to stand long enough to brush my teeth would send my heart rate over 200. My nervous system got stuck in fight or flight and it was so bad that if I tried to sleep, I would have these awful dreams of being brutally murdered. So I slept maybe three hours a night that first year. I also had stage two adrenal fatigue. My fatigue was so

bone crushing that I need help just to stand. And some days I couldn't even lift my own arms. I had severe vitamin nutrient deficiencies, massive gut infection with three different bacteria, which brought on a lot of like GI issues, mass cell activation syndrome and severe food intolerances. I had COVID toes, I had neuropathy on my scalp. So it hurt to even touch my hair. My eyelids were so swollen that they started splitting and got infected.

I had like yellowish, bluish, stings my skin, micro blood clots in my left leg, muscle spasms, hand tremors, skin rashes, Raynaud's. I mean, I could keep going and going and going. My brain fog was so bad that there were some days I couldn't even answer the question of like, what would you like for breakfast? And so my first year, my body was even like so...

overwhelmed and full of toxins. I didn't even sweat. My body was like not even trying to heal. It was just trying to take one step in front of the other. I even had auto elevated auto antibodies, ANA levels, showing long code was acting like an autoimmune disorder. But at my worst, had 88 known issues going on. And Iona

three story townhouse and lived by myself. So it wasn't a very good combination. So I had to move in with my parents for the majority of the first two years. And my mom drove me to all my appointments. I even had a handicap parking pass and a wheelchair for a while. And I had five different medical providers tell me that being bed and couch bound would most likely be my new normal for the rest of my life. Five.

And I told each one of them that if they thought that, then they didn't know my God. And I just thought of that story in Daniel three of like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, where they were thrown into the fire and they said that their God would save them. But then they also said, but even if he does not, like they will still praise him. And even if there is

It's such a powerful statement. Like these three men had every reason to doubt, but they resolved to trust God no matter what came. And God came through for them and he has been coming through for me too. And it's just been a beautiful testimony. And honestly, I couldn't even imagine being sick for the rest of my life, that extreme. So I just kept my eyes on Jesus and he kept my head above water.

I kept thinking of those three men knowing that even if God didn't heal me, I would still praise him and point others to Christ. And it was really hard when I wasn't showing any signs of progress, but I knew with past experiences and feeling his presence that he was with me every step of the way. And I was never alone. About eight months into my long COVID journey,

I wasn't getting any better and Western medicine was royally failing me and I am a nurse so I feel like I can say that. But I started changing my prayers from asking to be healed to asking the Holy Spirit to show me how to take care of my specific body and to reveal to me what steps I need to take for that to happen.

And for him to also help me be the best patient advocate that I could be both for myself and also for others that I knew battling long COVID. And that very next day, after I started switching my prayers to that, he had me sign up to work with a functional medicine doctor and a functional nutritionist. And a lot of those diagnosis I listed above actually finally got through working with them. I finally had answers. And when you have answers, have, you can, you have solutions to work on.

And we'd in like tackling root causes of my symptoms, all the damage COVID had done to my body. And I started slowly improving one day at a time. We had things like balancing blood sugar, balancing hormones, eating anti-inflammatory, kind like a Mediterranean style diet. And I learned that like everything you eat is either healing you or feeding your disease. And that was pretty eye-opening. I started drinking.

water through like a zero water filtration system, consuming tons of electrolytes, slowly supporting detoxing, replenishing vitamin nutrient deficiencies. My iron was so dangerously low that I needed four iron infusions right off the bat. I'm on so many like supplements and powders that sometimes I feel like a little pill popper, but you know, they're all needed to not only replenish like what's lacking in my body to also support areas in my brain.

my gut health, my adrenal gland, my mitochondria, things like that. What else did do? I hyperbaric oxygen chamber sessions. I very slowly worked up with detoxing from like a heating mat to infrared saunas. I did two stellate ganglion blocks to reset my nervous system. Within two days of that, my brutal nightmares were finally gone and I could sleep again. I did mindfulness, vagus nerves.

stimulation, learn how to regulate my nervous system to keep my body as calm as possible. I still do self injections of NAD, which is like an energy precursor. It also helps with like a mental stamina and DNA repair. I've done like glutathione infusions, stem cells, stimulating patches, done a ton of like healing work, restoring like my gut health. I found out my C1 and C2 neck vertebrae were out of whack, putting pressure on my spinal cord.

And so I got that fixed and haven't needed a adjustment in like five months. It's like first time in my life I've actually held a good posture or alignment. I also use like the Yuka app to help me switch to all clean non-toxic products from like face wash, hair products, sunscreen, makeup, like the works. And it's terrifying to learn just how many toxins are in our products.

And especially ones that are banned in Europe and Australia, but the U S is like, it's fine. We'll just put it in all of our stuff. but as I, and then as my brain started to wake back up, I started watching medical summits for long COVID, dysautonomia, got help, chronic illnesses, anything I can get my hands on and kept incorporating pearls of wisdom that I learned. I learned the hard lesson that I need to receive and not just give, give, give and go, go, go all the time. So.

With that, even learned to be comfortable like in the silence and not even having to fill conversation all the time. So even like if I'm a passenger in the car, instead of talking the entire time, I'll just enjoy someone's presence and the silence that admire God's beauty around us, which also helps me like fill my energy tank back up. Let's see, I also did a lot of mindset work, taking negative thoughts captive and obedient to Christ. That definitely helped me hang on to

hope, trust and transform my thought life into one of gratitude. And that was a really big game changer too. But God kept bringing me new treatments, one puzzle piece at a time and figuring out that combining Western medicine and alternative medicine has just been amazing. And I enjoy sharing my knowledge with others and seeing their progress happen as well, being cheerleaders for each other. I have one friend with long COVID who we share our weekly wins every single week and cheer one another.

And it's just been really great. But during this time, God also took the opportunity to heal me in other areas of my life. Like he cut off branches that weren't for me and prune ones that were. He healed me from perfectionism and people pleasing tendencies. He definitely deepened my trust in him. And even when I couldn't see one step ahead of me, he helped me just surrender the outcome again and again, knowing he had me safely in his arms.

Even brought me like this deep, rich, godly community, community that can't even begin to say how much of a blessing they are. So like when I got sick and some friends went MIA, God just brought in this new community that was better than I could have hoped or dreamt possible. So that's been really cool. Another thing that I found really beneficial in my healing journey was keeping a gratitude journal.

McKenzie Smith (30:43)
No.

Kayla Hochstein (30:52)
So every night before I go to sleep, would write down what I was grateful for that happened in that particular day. Some days it was really hard to come up with even one thing, but it was a habit I was gonna do. And that way I went to sleep with a heart of gratitude and talking to God, knowing that even in my hardest days when I couldn't even stand, there were still blessings and God winks and special moments in each and every day. One gift with that that I thought was really cool that I didn't realize would happen

is on my bad days, would flip back to previous entries just to kind of cheer myself up a little bit. And then I realized that what I now considered a bad day was once something maybe even two months prior that was my best day yet. And I was praising God for those healing moments in my journey. And that definitely put it.

in a perspective. And so these gratitude journals just became something where I can trace God's fingerprints like all over my story. And that was just so beautiful. But I'm sure everyone's wondering like, where I'm at today then, but so it's been since January 2022. So now it's October 2024. So it's been getting close to three years now, which is hard to believe. But so with those remembering like those five

McKenzie Smith (31:54)
Yeah.

Yeah

Kayla Hochstein (32:15)
medical providers saying I'd be bed bound would be like my new normal and that'd my rest of my life. But God didn't leave me there. I'm fully back to living on my own back at my house, even with the three stories. Most of my issues have been resolved and the remaining ones, which would include like fatigue, post-exertional malaise, some brain fog, like word binding, gut health. I still have constant 24 seven headaches, some vitamin nutrient deficiencies.

and they've all drastically improved. I still have some tachycardia, high heart rate, but all other heart things have resolved. And like that's it, like down from 88 diagnoses, like that's pretty good. I've weaned off a ton of my medications and I weaned off of two more this summer. And I'm actually meeting with my pulmonologist later this month to wean off my two asthma meds, which I was actually on before I got sick.

So God's like, not only am I gonna heal you from long COVID, I'm gonna make you healthier than you have ever been. He's like just going all in. And on September 16th, I actually started working in the operating room again, which I didn't know if that day would come. I was even doing some job shadows with different types of nursing, thinking like maybe something a little bit more sedentary and easier on the body. But God's like, no, I got more for you.

So it's just been a crazy journey, but God, but God doesn't, you know, he doesn't want just mediocre. He wants us, know, like Philippians 4 13, my life verse, like he wants us to show like, we can't do this on our own. We can only point to these things and say, this is only because of him. And not only like,

Does he give me the strength to do it? But also all of this that I just shared and it's just been amazing. And not only my back to work, but back to the gym, back to paddle boarding, walk to the park, camping, even hiking. It's still like very, so some days on a really good day, I still only start with like maybe 50 % of my energy and other days less than that. Sometimes I try a hike and it goes really well, other days.

My heart rate soars, my chest is pounding and I have to stop. But through it all, like learning to listen to my body and appreciate it for how strong and resilient it is. God made the even body and it's absolutely incredible. But every step of progress just has me rejoicing and praising God. And a couple of weeks ago, I even got to go up to Mount Rainier and do Tolema Peak, which is just under seven miles and 1600 elevation gain.

And I did it. My heart rate was really high, but I did it. And, you know, some days I can do that, rejoice at the top and other days I might need to rest all day and I can still rejoice because it's still progress. And I'm learning to hold space for both and have so much like grace for myself. And I don't know what my new normal is going to look like. But I know God's got this and he's

not done with my healing journey and I'm just waiting expectantly for all that he has for me and excited to see what happens.

McKenzie Smith (35:43)
Yeah, well, praise God for just what he's done through this whole journey and taking what doctors said, you know, wouldn't be the case and made it the case. And I just know I'm super thankful that God has healed most of your journey thus far. Obviously, there's just still a few things in the works, but sounds like you've made miraculous progress and.

Kayla Hochstein (35:52)
Yeah.

Absolutely.

McKenzie Smith (36:09)
doing things that doctors said that you would never be able to do again. I think that, but God, some, some girls said this on my podcast, but God, that's a complete sentence at this point. And, it truly, truly is. so at what point, so you said kind of two years was the bulk of it, right? at what point did you make the switch from

Kayla Hochstein (36:13)
you

Yeah, absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

McKenzie Smith (36:39)
the Western medicine into this more naturopathic.

Kayla Hochstein (36:45)
that was about eight months in. So I gave Western medicine eight months and I didn't get any better at all. And then I started West integrative medicine, October, 2022. And by December, I could stand on my own. could function, take care of myself a little bit. I mean, my energy tank pretty fast, but like I was making drastic progress and beginning to heal my body.

McKenzie Smith (36:52)
And

Yeah. Yeah. So I didn't prepare you for this question, but I'd like to ask the question. How has it been going back into maybe a field of work that

was not your story and how you got better. And so maybe the push and the pull of going back into something that maybe doesn't seem to have the right answers in some scenarios.

Kayla Hochstein (37:44)
Yeah, and not only that, but like the operating room, that's like last resort. It just means you did not get the help you needed, but could have gotten there. And so it is hard to be back in there. It's also kind of like returning to the scene of the crime, because this is where I got COVID and like starting it all up again. But I'm kind of holding that loosely and just letting God do whatever he wants in that.

if he wants to keep me in the operating room. I do really love being a patient advocate and during the surgery our patients are asleep. So I am their eyes, their ears, their voice. So there is something really special in that. But I also have a pull to help others with preventative medicine. And God has slowly been putting it on my heart of being potentially like a nurse health.

coach. And so maybe he'll merge those together and balance those for some Western medicine and some alternative medicine and stuff. But in the meantime, I'm just encouraging others and their healing journey and sharing my story with others that have long COVID as well and watching their progress with things that I've learned.

McKenzie Smith (39:03)
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that has to be a little bit of a hard place. I know that I am, I lean probably more to the naturopathic side on a lot of things than the Western medicine side, but I know that there's a time and a place for both, right? Like there, there are things that they, they both serve, serve a very, very good purpose, but I think it would.

Kayla Hochstein (39:25)
Yeah, if you have a brain aneurysm, Western medicine, you're kind of going to need surgery, but yeah.

McKenzie Smith (39:33)
Yeah, yeah, but I think that there's, it would be hard for me in your shoes, you know, like going through this and having that system, you know, kind of fail you to step back into that and not look at it through a little bit of a tainted lens.

Kayla Hochstein (39:50)
Yeah, absolutely. huh.

McKenzie Smith (39:53)
but obviously you work in surgery, so it is a little bit different and you're not, you know, prescribing people heart pressure or blood pressure medicine. And yeah, if you were a nurse at like a doctor's office. so I always like to talk about the real life, you know, emotions that were active in this, in this timeframe. So you are.

Kayla Hochstein (40:01)
Correct. Yeah, I think that would be even harder. Yeah.

Mm-hmm, absolutely.

McKenzie Smith (40:24)
37 now? 36, okay. So you were 34-ish.

Kayla Hochstein (40:26)
36.

I was.

I was 33, because my birthday's in July, but I got it in January, so yeah.

McKenzie Smith (40:38)
Okay. The 33 being told that you might be in bed for the rest of your life, having to move back in with your parents. Talk to us a little bit about that season and you know, I know that it led to, know, you spending this intentional time with God, but talk to us about maybe that wrestling season if there was one.

Kayla Hochstein (41:01)
Yeah, absolutely. It was really hard. One thing that was kind of a silver lining in that is I had like 0 % energy and zero brain stamina too. So some days I was truly just like a lump in the corner and didn't even have the energy to process.

what was going on. feel like that honestly was my first eight months. And so when I finally started getting some, you know, moments of mental clarity and stuff, those were the moments where I was like, yeah, definitely wrestling with God and like, why another valley? Like I've been in so many valleys in my life. Why this one and how long is it going to last? But you know,

One thing with God is he doesn't necessarily provide all the answers to the questions that we've had. And I've seen that time and time again. And through the previous valleys, I, even though it was brutally hard and I was able to hold space for both in a way of like grieving who I once was while also hanging on to

hope and trusting God with my future and whatever that would look like. And also hanging on to hope that no matter what my future held, God was going to use my story to help others and give it purpose. And when you have that purpose, it just

can still keep you going and light a fire in you, even if you're still bed bound and stuff. Like, okay, I'm going through this because X, Y, Z, and God can still bring incredible beauty from the ashes and this. I just had to constantly remind myself of that again and again.

McKenzie Smith (43:08)
Yeah, yeah, those are good. Those are good reminders to focus on. But I love that you said that grief and hope can kind of coexist, because I think a lot of times that's not the case that most people believe in. And so it's like, yes, you can be both and. It doesn't have to be either or. And so.

Kayla Hochstein (43:11)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely, yeah, you can be full of the joy of the Lord and the fruit of the Spirit and heart on fire for Him and also be grieving. I mean, Jesus grieved. He's our perfect example and, you know, the Psalms are full of grief and all the feelings.

McKenzie Smith (43:45)
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's just as long as we take them to him, whatever they are then. Yes. Yes. So you said you're back hiking, you're back to work. You are getting off of most of your medication. how has this journey like felt as your

Kayla Hochstein (43:49)
Absolutely, he can handle all of our feelings, absolutely.

McKenzie Smith (44:13)
getting closer to being being like you said better maybe than you were to begin with like you're in a healthier place.

Kayla Hochstein (44:22)
It's hard to even grasp honestly. Like, only God can do stuff like this. And it's just, you know, it's a miracle. All my friends and my family are ecstatic and celebrating, rejoicing and praising God along with me. All my medical providers are just shocked. They're like, how are, like all of our other patients are still bed bound. Like, how are you making progress?

And part of it's like, don't tell them you're gonna be bed bound for life and steal their hope. know, but God's just restored, you know, faith in me that no matter what happens in life, God has the final say. He's not gonna leave you in the valley. He will get you out and he will heal you, you know, whether it's this life or the next, but.

McKenzie Smith (45:10)
Yeah.

Kayla Hochstein (45:18)
God has big, beautiful purposes for all of us, and it's more than we can ever imagine. And everything we go through, He will use for our good, His glory, and His kingdom.

McKenzie Smith (45:30)
Yeah. So you shared that you, you know, text with a friend that maybe also has long COVID and share your weekly wins and you do some patient advocate stuff and hope to maybe work with long COVID patients in the future. But what advice or words of encouragement are you giving or would you give to somebody in this similar season?

Kayla Hochstein (45:36)
Thank

I'd say the number one would be keep your eyes on Jesus, like for everything, no matter what your valley is. And even when you're on the mountaintop, keep your eyes on Jesus. Like he will get you to the other side. He will never leave you or forsake you. And he just loves us all so deeply and fully. One thing that was powerful that I saw one day in my long COVID journey was like this.

It was like an image that popped up on know Facebook or Instagram or something but it was like the prepare process for Japanese pottery. So if pottery breaks they don't throw it away like we would. They join it together and then the cracks are painted and decorated with precious metals and so the final product becomes more unique and beautiful through the refinement and it becomes more valuable. So like

Don't feel shame or sorrow for your valleys or imperfections for like everything that we go through is helping us to develop like into our full potential. And that's just part of God's incredible beauty from the ashes as well. And I just love that image.

McKenzie Smith (47:08)
Yeah. Yeah. I like that too. Let me get, I cannot talk today y'all.

Kayla Hochstein (47:15)
You're good.

McKenzie Smith (47:19)
I love that. think that that is such a cool analogy of these things that we think in the moment are life shattering and that breaking us to pieces. Man, what a good analogy. Thank you so much for sharing that. That's, it's going to stick with me. That's going to stick with me. Yeah. Yeah. You'll have to me a link or something. well.

Kayla Hochstein (47:34)
We have some.

There you go. Now you'll have to look up the picture because the designs are really beautiful too.

Yeah, me too.

McKenzie Smith (47:48)
Thank you so much, Kayla, for sharing and for sharing your story, being vulnerable and walking us through this journey. Thank God that you are getting back to normal. I know you're not fully 100 % there yet, but getting back, yeah, back to the light of the living. I like that. But, you it seems like you are on the other side for the most part of all of this and, you know, back to work.

Kayla Hochstein (48:02)
Yeah, but back to the land of the living.

McKenzie Smith (48:18)
working out again, doing the best you can to live that healthy lifestyle and really taking a lot of responsibility for your health and for this journey. think that, yes, there's God, I think that you have made some really hard swaps and changes and kind of...

went against the grain a little bit. And, you know, obviously God gave you the courage and the guidance to do that, but you still, you know, took those steps and followed through and kind of pushed the envelope on some of those things. And so just super thankful that you found the answers and that God has has taken your story and turned it into one of restoration.

Kayla Hochstein (48:45)
Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

McKenzie Smith (49:08)
But yeah, just thank you so much for sharing. For the listeners who maybe want to follow along with you or learn more about you, where can they find you?

Kayla Hochstein (49:16)
Let's see, I'm on Facebook with just my first and last name, and then I'm on Instagram too, which I believe is KaylaHokstein719. So yeah, feel free to follow.

McKenzie Smith (49:30)
I love that. Not Hawke's Hawke's Steve. For the 18th time.

Kayla Hochstein (49:33)
Yeah, which actually my last name is a city in Germany, so one day want to go there and see my name everywhere, but they'll probably really roll the Rs and pronounce it differently, but.

McKenzie Smith (49:41)
I hope that.

funny. I didn't know there's a town. That'd be cool. You walk around and you just see your name everywhere. You'd be like, Hey, that's that's my restaurant. That's my water tower. That's my

Kayla Hochstein (49:51)
Right? Like how cool would that be? Yeah. I'm staying at Hochstein Hotel and having dinner at, yeah.

McKenzie Smith (49:59)
You should just give them the bill back and say, this is mine, can't you see? It's on my credit card. Yeah, what's the family discount? Exactly. Well, thank you so much again and just appreciate you being here.

Kayla Hochstein (50:04)
It has my name on it, yeah. What's the family discount?

you

Yeah, thank you for having me. This was fun.