Episode #77: She's back! Podcast, life and business update from Rhonda
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In this catch-up episode, Rhonda shares why she took a pause from podcasting, what’s been happening in her life and health, and what to expect from the show moving forward.
She opens up about her diagnosis with idiopathic tracheal stenosis—a rare condition that made speaking (and breathing!) increasingly difficult—and the medical journey that led to clarity and surgical intervention. Rhonda also reflects on how this experience changed her approach to rest, movement, and advocacy.
Plus: life updates, new office hours, working in-person again at Encompass Health and Wellness, and how she’s making space for this podcast in a realistic, sustainable way.
💬 If you enjoyed this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness, please consider:
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🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned:
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📝 Episode Talking Points:
What to expect from today’s episode
A big podcast announcement
A new addition to Rhonda's family
Rhonda’s health journey and diagnosis
What it’s like managing work, motherhood, and podcasting
A new in-person chapter at Encompass Health and Wellness
Rhonda’s current schedule and how you can work with her
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Episode #77: She's back! Podcast, life and business update from Rhonda
Welcome to Pelvic Health and Fitness, a podcast for moms who want real honest conversations about their body, their health movement, and everything in between. I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, orthopedic physiotherapist, pre postnatal fitness coach, and mom of two. I'm here to share practical tips, informed insights, and the kind of support I wish more women had access to.
Whether you're navigating pregnancy, postpartum recovery, perimenopause, menopause, returning to exercise, or just trying to stay strong through the chaos of everyday life, this space is for you. We'll talk pelvic health, fitness, and the emotional ups and downs of motherhood with zero focus on weight loss, and a strong focus on realistic sustainable movement that fits into your real life.
No, all or nothing mindset. No gimmicks, no quick fix. Is no bs. Just small, consistent steps that support your long-term health. A quick reminder, this podcast is for education and general information only. It's not medical advice, so please be sure to connect with your healthcare provider if you have specific concerns.
I'm so glad you're here. Let's do this. Hey friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Pelvic Health and Fitness podcast, Rhonda, here. And I'm back. Woo-hoo. I took a step back, um, back in April, 2024. I'll get into that in today's episode as to why. Um, but I am excited to be back. I'm excited to be back recording.
I have felt the itch to get back into it for the past little bit. And basically just trying to figure out how I can make a go of this again, um, in my busy life and make it realistic and sustainable just the same way as I talk about all of you with health and fitness. So, yes, I'm so happy for you all to be here.
Welcome back if you have been listening before, and welcome to those of you that are new to my podcast. So I figured I will do a bit of a recap episode today. Um, easing in giving myself grace to not have it be perfect, and just giving you all a little bit of a recap as to where I'm at in my life, um, with my health and my business.
So, yeah. Um, just to give a bit of a recap about this podcast, so my friend Dana and I started the podcast back in 2021. We had so much fun with it and um, had a really good back and forth conversation style podcast. Um, we recorded 57 episodes with some guests in there as well. So definitely recommend going back and listening to some of those.
Um, not to toot our own horns, but there were some really awesome, great episodes in there with lots of jam packed, helpful information. Sorry about that. So a little life update that I'm gonna throw in there, the background noise that you might be hearing here. And there is my dog, Luna. That is a little life update that we adopted from a family member, a dog back in January of this year.
And she's been wonderful, um, a little bit of training involved to um, have her just be able to relax and stay in place. Um, but she's doing awesome and she's here with me recording today. So yes, if you hear a little bit of noise in the background, that is Luna. Um, so like I said, go back, listen to those, uh, previous episodes.
Um, in 2023, Dana had to step away from the podcast. Um, life got lifey for her. She. Took a little bit of a career direction change and I decided to keep the podcast going solo, um, for a while until life got busy and some health stuff came into the mix, which I'm gonna share a little bit about today with all of you.
So I did, yeah, I think, um, 30 or so more episodes, um, until I decided to take a break in April of 2024. Um, so yeah, I have been listening to my friend Shante, the Movement Maestros podcast for a long, long time. Um, just got back into it and she posted a, um, few episodes talking about podcasts and she did a course about it and just started to get the light bulbs on for me, um, to start this podcast up again and again.
Have it be a way that's realistic and sustainable. Um, so I am doing this with no pressure on myself for perfection. Um, just showing up when I can and embracing that messy middle. So how I'm gonna do that? I'm gonna continue ideally with the biweekly episode release. Um, Dana and I started that from day one, which I really appreciated because then we don't have that, um, constant pressure to pump out a new episode every week.
So I'm gonna see if I can keep going with that. Um, I was also with releasing the podcast, I was also posting a YouTube video. Um, I've decided I'm not gonna do that anymore. It's just one extra step, one extra thing to edit, to post, to worry about, you know, what I look like, which I don't really care. Um, I would just show up however I was anyways, but.
It is just that one extra thing. I have to set up the camera. I have to make sure the background looks okay, the lighting's decent, all of that. Um, just to keep it simple for myself, I'm not doing YouTube. Um, I had a wonderful editor, Erin, who was helping me out with the podcast editing. Um, again, I think just because I'm, my goal is to keep it pretty simplified.
I'm going to edit, go back to editing myself, um, and stick with that as best I can. And my other goal, um, and probably this episode is going to go against this, but I'm gonna try to keep the episodes, uh, quite short, digestible. Um, and easier for you all to binge because I know most of you listening are busy moms, busy people, and you don't necessarily have tons of time in your day.
Um, so I want these episodes to be kind of short, quick that you can put on for like a walk around the block type thing, um, and get through them pretty easily. So giving myself grace as I venture back into the podcast world, it is something though that I do really love. I love to talk. So it is, you know, the, the right format for me to get my message out there and to, um, put some messages out into the world that I think more of you need to hear.
So that's why I'm back and that's why I am excited to get started again. So I wanted to start with a little bit of a health update, um, and one of the reasons why I paused the podcast back in April, 2024. So I shared a little bit of my story on Instagram. Um, if those of you follow me there, um, if you don't, at Rhonda Chamberlain, pt, um, is where I hang out.
Um, so back in, uh, 2020 4th of April when I put a pause to the podcast, I was dealing with a lot of breathing issues and, uh, still am to this day, which I'll get into. Um, but basically what was happening is, um, definitely when I was working out, I would get really short of breath, um, even starting to go for like short walks.
I would get short of breath. And the most, uh, disrupting thing was talking. So talking was hard for me. I would get short of breath winded very easily, which when basically I talk for a living, talking to clients for a living, um, was really distressing and it was really hard for me, especially, um, you know, the, the fitness style, sorry, the physiotherapy style that I do is fitness based.
So the hardest thing for me. Would be demoing exercise movements and then going back to talk to my clients. Um, I would get very short of breath and it was, yeah, it's just very strange for me. 'cause I consider myself a pretty fit in shape person. You know, this is what I do for a living. Practicing what I preach and it was very bothersome.
So, um, sort of long story short, I'll try to condense it as much as I can. I went to my family doctor and, um, all of this to say my family doctor was wonderful throughout this whole process. Um, and he started out by recommending that we try, uh, treating it as asthma. So. I tried a few different puffers, um, different options, and after trying those puffers for a couple weeks, uh, sorry, a couple months more likely, um, they didn't do anything.
I didn't necessarily get much relief from that. So went back to my family doctor and he recommended I see a respirologist. So I went to see a specialist in Waterloo. Um, that, uh, particular person again was wonderful, so great on the ball. Um, right away hearing my story, he suspected, he said, I think what this is is called, um, idiopathic tracheal stenosis.
Um, great, wonderful doctor. He showed me pictures online. He described it to me. Everything he was saying was like, yes, I think that's sounding exactly like what it is. But he said, you know, in order to make sure that we cover our bases and aren't missing anything, I'm going to send you for some more tests.
So I did a bunch of breathing tests and he sent me for a CT scan. So he said, you know, we want to rule out making sure that there's nothing that's restricting your breathing, either like pressing. On the outside, into the trachea or like growing inside the trachea. So right away, of course I'm thinking, okay, like cancer, um.
And yeah, he said again, like, let's just rule those things out, make sure it's nothing that's like that. And, um, but I do think it's this idiopathic tracheal stenosis. So basically I went for all those tests. This was in the span of like a couple months. Everything happened pretty quickly, which again, I'm very thankful for.
Um, so had some breathing tests and the breathing test basically showed that, um, my lungs were working really well, but I wasn't. Able to, um, get much air in. So the like curve of my breathing test was, um, like shorter than it should be kind of thing. So, and apologies to those of you that are like lung people that I'm probably not explaining that well, but you get the gist.
Um, so. Yeah, basically. Then when I went for the CT scan, um, they said expect to get the results within a couple weeks. So I'm thinking, okay, I'm just gonna wait it out, um, to find out what's going on. And I, the day that I had that test done, I was home alone. Um, my husband and my kids had left to go camping.
I was gonna meet them later after work. And I got a phone call from the respirologist office saying that they had the results for me from my CT scan that had happened that day, and that the doctor wanted to speak with me, and that's all she said on the phone because she's not, you know, she doesn't have the, um, it's privacy laws for her to not share with me on the phone.
So I, my brain automatically went to, oh my goodness, this is something bad. I was really scared. I was really nervous. I called my husband. Um, we both were a little bit panicky, but within, I think within that hour, the doctor called me back and right away thankful that he just got right to the point. He said, I just wanna assure you that the CT skin.
Did in fact confirm that it is this idiopathic tracheal stenosis. Um, so yes, no tumors or anything, which again, that's where my brain went and he said right away, let's book a, um, surgery for you to widen that, um, blockage. So basically idiopathic tracheal stenosis. So idiopathic means no known cause.
Tracheal means trachea, so like your wind tube. Stenosis means narrowing. So basically for no known reason, I was getting a buildup of like scar tissue, tissue in my trachea that was narrowing the airway. Which obviously made breathing very difficult, very challenging, and why puffers weren't working. So puffers help to open up the airways of your lungs, um, lower down and doesn't change anything to your windpipe.
So basically what I had to do is get a surgery booked, um, where I had to be put under. And they just insert a balloon into my trachea, expand the balloon to basically push that tissue out of the way to reopen my airway. So thankfully all of that again happened so quickly. Um, I met with the surgeon, you know, a couple, maybe a week after I had that CT scan result sent back.
And, um, he explained everything to me. Um, explained that it is a very, like, common procedure, um, nothing to necessarily worry about. Um, and he had booked that pretty quickly saying that anytime there's breathing issues, they try to get you in pretty quickly. So I had that procedure done for the first time in September of 2024, and it was immediate, immediate relief.
And I remember sort of coming to after the anesthetic. And crying a little bit. And I remember one of the nurses came over and was worried I was in pain. And I said, no, I'm just so relieved. Because those first couple breasts were just so clear, so open. Um, and it was, yeah, honestly, like I, I remember thinking I went into that surgery with like.
Eight out of 10 difficulty with breathing and then came outta that surgery with like zero outta 10 difficulty. Um, so it was, yeah, huge life changing moment. I was so grateful, so thankful. Um, you know, our Canadian healthcare system does for sure have its flaws. I totally understand that and validate that, and I recognized that I was very lucky and privileged, um, to have immediate, uh, testing and care.
For this, um, condition that I am dealing with. So that was great. I was so thankful. You know, walking, going for walks again, was amazing. Could actually breathe again. Having conversations with people was easy. Again, um, felt excited to be able to talk with people without being short of breath. And yes, I felt really great for.
Like five or so months, four or five months, and then the breathing difficulties started to come back again. And so that is the thing with this idiopathic tracheal stenosis is that, um, that procedure, that tracheal dilation, uh, very often folks will need it done again and again. So I guess I was opt optimistically, hopeful.
That that wouldn't be me, that I would be able to, um, you know, that that dilation would last forever. Um, it did not. So probably in like, yeah, January, February of this year, so of 2025 started to notice that, um, getting short of breath with walking again and talking. I feel like that's the biggest thing for me is the talking, like when I notice getting short of breath talking to people, um, that's when I know it's returning.
So I, um, talked to the surgeon and he said, yep, let's go and do it again. So did the procedure again in March of 2025. Same thing, um, came out of the, the anesthetic feeling a huge, um, immense change, a huge improvement. Um, very happy with that. So that was, so now it's July, so March, April, may, June, July. So four months ago, I would say.
And, um, now I'm just gonna be open about it, like talking into the, the podcast mic right now. Um, I do feel a little bit short of breath and feel like just a bit wheezy, um, as I continue talking. Um, but not nearly to the extent as it was in the beginning for sure, and not to the extent that it was back in March.
So it's seeming like this second procedure is lasting a bit longer, but I don't know for sure. So I most likely sort of am just accepting the fact that I'm gonna have to continue to have this procedure done. Hopefully I can stretch them apart. So the first time was about six months apart. Hopefully I can continue to stretch that out and see if eventually I don't need to have that done anymore.
Um, of course I've done my own research on it and there's not a lot on it. Um, it's mostly women that this happens to in sort of like the 30 to 50-year-old range I think of, I think it's one in 400,000 people will deal with idiopathic tracheal stenosis, and of those cases, 98% are women. So. Of course there's not a lot of research on it as many women's health, um, things that we deal with.
Um, there isn't a lot of research typically, and so I am just trying to, again, just like figure out the things that feel good for me to keep doing. Um, and so if I have to ke keep having this procedure and um, it starts to maybe become closer together or just I'm not interested in continuing to have. The tracheal dilation, um, I can take further steps to, um, have a bit more like aggressive procedures done.
So they can do like laser removal of the tissue or they can actually do a resection or like a removal of the certain section of my trachea that is impacted by the scar tissue. Um, but obviously those come with higher risks. For now, I'm gonna just keep on doing these procedures, I guess as often as I need to, to feel good and have my breathing be okay.
So all of that to say I stopped the podcast, that was a huge reason why I stopped it, is because talking was very hard and I would get winded and short of breath. And honestly just exhausted. Um, when you're short of breath. You know, folks that deal with asthma, uh, chronic asthma, breathing issues, like kudos to you because it is so exhausting and I would just find myself so drained at the end of my work days where I'm just talking to people all day.
So yeah, obviously having a podcast, it's a lot of talking, so I decided to, that was one of the reasons to stop. Um, and although I'm not cured, quote unquote from this condition, I think just now knowing what it is and not having the fear of thinking it's something worse, um, is helping me kind of get through and recognizing that if I sound short of breath, it is what it is.
I am a little bit short of breath and that's just something I have to manage and work through. Um, so yeah, so I'm gonna just see how it goes and again, keep my episodes ideally short and sweet. This is already getting long, so moving forward, I'm gonna try to keep them shorter in like the 10, 15 minute range, potentially 20 minutes.
Um, so yeah, so that is sort of the story with my surgery and with my health. Um, I learned so much from going through that. Um, a couple things I learned. Basically taught myself how to rest better, which is hilarious because I talk about this with clients all the time, that yes, we need a strength training, but we also need to remember to rest, relax and heal.
Um, but I was basically forced to rest because even just going up and down the stairs was exhausting. Um, so for example, to like fold laundry, I would carry the laundry upstairs, be so outta breath that I would have to like lay on the bed and relax for 10 minutes and then get to the rest of my laundry.
Um, laying down between clients. So yes, talking, you know, with my clients is a big part of my job. So when I was working from home, I would just lay down and relax between clients, um, and then basically just doing the bare, bare minimum with. Workouts and exercise. So I was still going to weightlifting.
'cause I find, at least with weightlifting, it's like you lift and then you rest, you lift and then you rest. So that was very doable, but I was quote unquote only doing that once a week and then walking. Um, everything else just felt so, um, overwhelming for my system that I just cut it down to that. So really truly practicing what I preach and I remind clients all the time about.
You know, as your life e ebbs and flows, um, allow your exercise routine to ebb and flow with it. So truly was practicing that during that time, um, and trying to continue that now. So recognizing that, you know, even if I don't have health conditions happening necessarily, still rest is key, right? So still reminding myself that I need to rest, I need to do that combination of doing and being, um, I learned that through.
My friend Emma, um, through one of her, um, group coaching classes of, we can't just be doing, doing, doing all the time. We need to also, um, put being in there too. So do be, do, be do. So trying to remember that and practice that. Um, I am very grateful. Like I said earlier, the Canadian healthcare system for sure is very flawed in a lot of ways.
Definitely needs to be revamped in so many ways. I totally validate that and recognizing that. I am so thankful for our healthcare system. My doctor was really on the ball with getting testing done for me, referring me to the necessary specialist, and then from there, that specialist referred me again to have tests done.
Referred me to the surgeon. Everything happened really quickly. Again, I think because it was breathing related. So very thankful for that. Also, very proud of myself, to be honest, for continuing to speak up and advocate for myself. So when the puffers weren't working, you know, I, part of me was like, oh, I'll just keep trying it or I'll try different ones and, but something in me said, no.
Like, this is not right. It's not helping. I could honestly, like intuitively feel that it wasn't my lungs. I could feel there was like something in my neck. And again, my probably the fear led me to like, not push it sooner, but I was for sure terrified I had a tumor. Um, so, but so thankful that I did push and I did continue to advocate for myself to find out what the root cause was and what was actually happening.
So, sort of, I guess, message for all of you is if you're noticing any changes in your overall health, things just don't feel right. Intuitively, you're feeling something's up, you know, advocate for yourself. Continue to speak up and talk to the necessary, um, people in your life to get some answers. Um, request second opinions if you're not getting those answers.
I know it can be so frustrating and we just want our doctors to know all the things. Um, and again, just because our healthcare system is the way it is, sometimes you do need to push for more information and seek out guidance from additional healthcare professionals, um, even if that's not your doctor, right?
So thankfully in our Canadian healthcare system, we have access to a lot of different professionals. Physios, you know, osteopaths, naturopaths. If you have the means, and I know there's barriers here too. If you have the means to seek out additional healthcare, um, I definitely highly recommend that. So yes, thank you for listening to my, my Health update.
Um, important for me to share, just speak because again, I think, you know, explaining, I don't need to explain this to you all, but I wanted to sort of give a background as to why I stepped back and where I'm at today. And just as you know, putting it out there into the world, if there's anyone listening that might be dealing with some breathing stuff.
Yeah. Just to see if, you know, if there's someone listening that's like, oh wow, this is exactly me, and maybe you can get, um, some help and figure out what's going on from there. Um, so yeah, we just wanted to share that. Um, in terms of life, uh, things are really great. So Sadie and Teagan are, um, Sadie's eight, te, almost eight.
Sadie will be eight, Teagan's almost six, and they are having a awesome summer so far. Um, doing a couple weeks of camp. We're doing a bunch of camping in our trailer. So that'll be a lot of fun. Um, just trying to juggle the, um, impossible task of managing kids at home with, um, working, um, and trying to figure out where I'm gonna fit everything into my life.
So. Adding this podcast. I dunno why I'm doing it, but I'm excited to do it. So, no, just kidding. I just am excited to be back. But for sure it's a lot of balls in the air, um, trying to juggle. So like, like I said earlier, trying to give myself grace and just have it be realistic and sustainable as I continue.
Um, yeah, we have a dog Luna's here and so that's keeping us busy as well. So yes, lots of things going on. Um, in terms of work life and business life, um, I was so excited to join the team, the amazing team at Encompass Health and Wellness. Um, at the end of 2024, so I think it was November of 2024. I started there on Monday, so started with one day a week, and I was so grateful for my schedule to fill up pretty quickly there.
Um, so when I'm there, I am for sure continuing to focus on my niche of return to fitness. Postpartum is sort of like the big overarching, um, area that I work in. And it was honestly such a nice change to be able to see people in person again, um, connect with people on that different level, being in person, definitely Luna snoring behind me.
Um, being in person definitely just has a different feel to it. Um, when I started my business back in 2020, it was fully virtual, so I did fully virtual care, um, for basically four years. Um, three and a half I guess. 'cause I started midway through 2020. And yes, I was surprised in, in a way. Um, I knew I was craving some in-person stuff, but really surprised how much I loved it and how much I just wanted to be there all the time.
And so when, um, my schedule filled up really quickly, thankful for that. Um, in January of 2025, I decided to add another day there. So I'm now at Encompass Health and Wellness in Kitchener. On Mondays and Thursdays. So helping people get back into fitness, postpartum, post-injury, post time away for whatever reason.
Just giving you that encouragement and guidance to ease back into fitness at a pace that feels good for you. Um, yeah, and I feel like doing, getting back into in-person care, I think is a big spark as to why I wanted to start up the podcast again because. Yeah, I'm just seeing more people having more conversations, um, and just recognizing how much of the information that I, um, teach people about is still brand new knowledge for a lot of people.
And so just recognizing that, um, a podcast is a great way to get that message out there and educate, um, a broader scope of, of humans. So, um, yeah, it's been wonderful. So basically what my business life looks like now. I'm adding Encompass on Mondays and Thursdays. I still am doing virtual one-on-one, physiotherapy fitness coaching on Tuesdays and Fridays, so if you're looking for virtual care, still doing that.
Wednesdays I go to Olympic lifting in the mornings, which I'm still loving and always excited to be there with my friends. Um, Wednesday afternoons, uh, still doing some PDF services for other healthcare professionals. So if you are looking for help with some Canva projects, I would love to help you with that.
Um, yeah, and that's basically it. So I am going to try to fit my podcast onto my Tuesday afternoons. Um, my schedule's not fully, fully booked on Tuesdays, so I'm gonna try to squeeze it in there. Um, yeah, and see how this goes. So if you are looking for support in your return to fitness journey, I would love to help you out.
So I'm going to as always, post some links below with how you can work with me. Um, and yeah, if you have any questions or if you have any topics that you would like me to discuss on the podcast, I would love to hear from you. Um, send me a DM on Instagram. So again, at Rhonda Chamberlain, pt and I'd love to hear from you.
If you are a health or fitness professional and you'd love to be on my podcast, I'd also love to hear from you as well. Um, I'm going to. Try to do more solo episodes again, just to keep them short and sweet. But I do love doing the interviews as well. So yes, reach out to me if you're interested in chatting.
Um, I think that's everything for today, so thanks for tuning in. I'm excited to be back. Thanks for listening to my story, and I hope it helps any of you. Maybe just feel less alone if you're struggling with any health conditions, um, and trying to figure out what's going on. Just continue to advocate for yourself and reach out for that support that you do need to figure that out.
So thanks for being here and I'm excited to keep chatting. Thanks so much for tuning in today. I hope you picked up something helpful or encouraging. If you enjoyed this episode, I would be so grateful if you could share it with a friend. Leave a review or subscribe to anywhere that you've listened to your podcast.
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