Happy 4 Year Anniversary, A Look Back On Our Journeys

In this anniversary episode, Brianna and Beka reflect on their four-year journey of hosting the podcast 'Those Girls with Arthritis.' They celebrate their growth, the community they've built, and share personal stories about their experiences with arthritis. The conversation highlights the importance of connection, advocacy, and the challenges of living with chronic illness, while also looking forward to future aspirations and continued engagement with their audience.

We encourage you to get social with us on social media by liking our Facebook page, “Those Girls with Arthritis”, and following us on instagram @thosegirlswitharthritis. Send your questions to us on Instagram or to our email thosegirlswitharthrits@gmail.com.

Don't forget to subscribe, so you won't miss future episodes!

Disclaimer: Those Girls with Arthritis was created by two friends hoping to share their personal experiences and learn from others. We are not medical experts. Please contact your health professionals before making any choices to change your medical plan.

Transcript

Brianna Ramos (00:01.614)
Hey guys, welcome back to those girls with arthritis. As always, this is Bri and I'm here with Beka.

Rebekah Nicola (00:09.737)
Hey y'all, it's Beka. Once again, I lost my voice, kinda. Sorry, you guys have to listen to me. I promise I don't sound like this all the time, but I feel like every time we record, I sound like this. It's just, my God. Well, it could be my mic, it could be I just woke up from a fat nap. I haven't napped in a while. It was so good. I needed it, it was amazing. And it could be, whenever the...

Brianna Ramos (00:22.092)
I wasn't sure if it was your mic or if it was your voice, to be honest.

Brianna Ramos (00:35.862)
I feel bad.

Rebekah Nicola (00:39.187)
Weather goes from like 60 degrees to 40 degrees to 20 degrees whatever my throat always like gets affected.

Brianna Ramos (00:47.149)
Yeah.

Brianna Ramos (00:50.828)
Is it super cold there?

Rebekah Nicola (00:53.203)
yeah, yeah. I think it was like 40 something, so it's super cold, but cold. Good times. But hey everyone.

Brianna Ramos (00:58.37)
Yeah. Yeah. I know. Okay. I can't believe that this is, this is like our official anniversary episode. not our, I don't think this will come out on our official date. I think that was a few days ago you texted me, but, four years. Like, right. That's crazy.

Rebekah Nicola (01:20.797)
And now I keep singing. I was going happy anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary. There you go. You're welcome everyone. I was ready for it.

Brianna Ramos (01:29.966)
Okay, you're making you made a you were very excited. You were very excited about the anniversary to be honest. Yeah, I was not prepared but now now I'm here for the anniversary. So it's just crazy. So we were looking over like some of the things we've done through the years and all of that of course. So I was trying to count all the Warrior Wednesday episodes. It's somewhere in the 20s.

Rebekah Nicola (01:40.885)
Okay, there we go. Keep singing that song in your head.

Brianna Ramos (01:58.062)
It's above the 20 mark, so that's super cool. And I know we already have a bunch more planned for this year. It's like one of our favorite types of episodes to bring other warriors on and have them share their stories. But obviously, there's a lot more logistically that goes into it. So it takes more time for Beka and I to get it all planned out with warriors. But I think we're definitely going to try and do more and more of those this year. And also, they're like...

easier for us to record, feel like, Beka, because we don't have to think too hard. We get to talk to someone else about their story. And it's just a little bit more of a fun one for us to do. But yeah, we've done 107 episodes, which is crazy. I know. And we've just been like growing this community so much more. feel like it's definitely shining through on our social media.

Rebekah Nicola (02:39.605)
You

Rebekah Nicola (02:46.261)
crazy

Brianna Ramos (02:56.206)
having more comments and more engagement from people, more messages. I love that so much. And then like our last relationships episode, getting the voice messages from everyone. think it was like, it was a cool new layer added. And I think it sometimes I feel like it's just Bekah and I talking and we'll like talk about questions from other people or things like that, but actually having the voice message.

just added like a level of depth that I really enjoyed in that episode. I usually don't listen to our podcast. I edit it, but I don't listen to the whole thing. And I actually listened to the episode and I enjoyed it. yeah, definitely one of my favorites.

Rebekah Nicola (03:39.093)
that episode was so cool too. I really I can't wait to keep doing stuff like that.

Brianna Ramos (03:45.26)
Yeah, same. definitely want to keep trying to find some different ways to do the voice recordings and get more people engaged. So yeah, but so for this first three episode, it's been well over a year, maybe two years since we did our Warrior Wednesdays, like Beka and I's Warrior Wednesdays where we shared like the entirety of our Threatest Journeys up until that point.

So I felt like for our anniversary episode, it would be good to do a little refresher, I guess. Not as long and intensive. We'll give like the 10 minute pitch, but not pitch, but 10 minute overview of like what our journey has been so far with arthritis and kind of where we're at today because, yeah.

I just think it's nice to do a refresh for everyone and if there's any new listeners too, this is a good starting point.

Rebekah Nicola (04:47.261)
definitely, feel like also I have not listened to our Warrior Wednesday episodes in quite some time. So it's probably good, like you said I do, a little bit of a refresh. Do you want to go first?

Brianna Ramos (04:51.862)
I know.

I know. Same.

Brianna Ramos (04:59.662)
I know I want to go back here. Yeah, I can go first, but I was gonna say I also want to go back this year and listen to some of like our early episodes because like our first season we were just like getting used to it and we were honestly still like getting to know each other too. So the they're just so funny for me to listen back on compared to today. But yeah.

Rebekah Nicola (05:21.301)
think that's a good point. I don't know. I guess we'll just talk now, then dive into our Wednesday episodes. when we first started this podcast, we were friendly. I wouldn't say acquaintances, but I wouldn't say as close friends as we are now. I met you through arthritis events. I guess I dreamed about you enough to suggest that we should do this podcast together.

Brianna Ramos (05:32.941)
Yeah.

Brianna Ramos (05:38.562)
Yeah, definitely not.

Rebekah Nicola (05:50.078)
You were kind of already doing your that girl with arthritis stuff. I remember even as trying to brainstorm names and I'm like, can we do just those girls? Yeah.

Brianna Ramos (05:53.646)
See you next time.

Yeah, we were trying to brainstorm podcasting. I know I was walking into a target and I think like we were both like, we were both thinking it like, should we just do those girls with arthritis? And I was like, let's just do it. Like it works. Like it's just flows well. but yeah, it's so crazy, but yeah, I can go first. So this is, I feel like I should have taken, made notes or something, but I'm not, I did not. So I'm just going to fly. I hope it goes well.

Rebekah Nicola (06:08.445)
Yeah.

Brianna Ramos (06:27.022)
Okay, so I was diagnosed in 2010. I was 13 years old. I was very tired, was having some pain, didn't feel like I could keep up with other people my age. I was losing weight and not able to gain weight. And there was just like a few other things I started to notice.

Raynaud's phenomenon in my hands where their circulation gets messed with. We turned purple and white with quick temperature changes. And my parents took me to just my general doctor. They did blood work and they were like, you should go to rheumatology. Then I went to rheumatology and it was a really long appointment. They did, I think, more blood work there.

We had some x-rays and stuff from before that they were able to look at, but it was, I think like three or four hours, the appointment like total, but I was kind of lucky in the sense that the diagnosis happened quickly from like, it was really just that appointment where it all happened. wasn't back and forth seeing multiple rheumatologists doing anything like that. And we were also lucky to be near Philadelphia where there's like a lot of.

pediatric rheumatologists there. So we saw a pretty big team. They diagnosed me then with mixed connective tissue disease, which is an overlap kind of disease. And for everyone with it, it looks different. And it can be overlaps a few different things. For me at the time of diagnosis, it was juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and scleroderma. It's since

changed a little bit, but it's, and I've gotten stuck into the weeds with it a lot about like putting the name on the diagnosis and nailing it down. But at the end of the day, it's about the symptoms and the treatment that works. But I can talk about that closer to today. So I went through a lot of changes after my diagnosis. I was going into eighth grade, I came back that summer after

Brianna Ramos (08:51.754)
a few months on like 80 milligrams of prednisone. My cheeks were huge. I gained weight. I just like literally did not look like the same child. So going back to school was scary. And I went through a lot of changes there. I've talked about my challenges with cheerleading, with getting accommodations at school, trying to get accommodations with my cheer sport at the time.

and having a lot of difficulty with that. And that was like a really big part of my story. Like when I was first diagnosed and was like one of the things that was really hard for me was trying to get the help that I want, like needed to succeed and not being able to communicate it properly or have people understand it was really hard.

I feel like I'm blabbering. Am I okay? Yeah, okay. And then I just went through high school, decided to go to the University of Tampa. Warmer weather was better for my joints and all of the things in general. I went to college, got into a good place where I was pretty much in remission. I don't know if they ever...

officially said the R word, but I was like not in pain, was living my life. My friends didn't know I had arthritis for like over a year because I didn't tell them because I didn't need to and I was not on any crazy meds. I was on like one pill. So it was like a very different place. And then as soon as I graduated college,

basically and moved out onto my own. Everything came back full swinging. I don't know if it was like the stress of life and changes or it could have been a million different things. But since then, my disease has been on a roller coaster ride. Now it's really like a mix of lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Brianna Ramos (11:13.938)
so you could, we still call it MCTD, but it's really just a mix of those two things. I'm a rheumatologist and I've had conversations about this, but like I said, it's like not as important for me, I guess, at this point to have the perfect title on it. I'm worried about finding the treatment that works best, to keep it managed. So yeah. so I.

graduated college, flared like crazy, had to find an adult rheumatologist on my own and start new treatments on my own and figure out what was working. It took a while to find something that did and like we all know with biologics, it's like back and forth for so long. It takes time for them to start working but.

I guess I'll fast forward. I'm trying to like do this in a way that makes sense, but just talking about like health and the disease. Right now I'm in a good place. Last month I was like got perfect labs. I'm on medication that seems to be working well. Like physically I'm feeling better. Energy has been better.

Yeah, I like I feel weird, but. Does anything else?

Rebekah Nicola (12:44.285)
Now I feel like that was a really quick synopsis of everything.

Brianna Ramos (12:47.118)
Yeah, I really tried. just kept it like diagnosis focused. I guess like outside of my arthritis diagnosis. I haven't talked about it much on the podcast, but was diagnosed with PCOS in 2020, 2021. I think it was 2021. And I have been trying to manage that more recently as it's become more prominent in my life. So.

Honestly, that's taking a pretty big focus, trying to get that back to normal and working with a whole different team of doctors and things for that. But then also trying to get them to work with rheumatology. So yeah, that's my diagnosis overview, I guess. That was really fast and I left out any parts of my actual life. But medically, that's where we're at. So yeah.

Rebekah Nicola (13:44.487)
see if I can do it in that same amount of time. Everyone knows I talk a lot. So

Brianna Ramos (13:49.262)
I want to welcome back to this and be like, what were you doing? But OK.

Rebekah Nicola (13:53.318)
No, it's I think it was great. So for me, I was diagnosed back in 2001. So it's been a little over 20 years, which is crazy to think about. I was diagnosed when I was in third grade. I just remember at that time feeling very achy and everyone just telling me, it's just growing pains. It's just growing pains. was a super active kid.

I did summer swim team, did basketball, I did soccer, I did everything and everything in between. I was actually at a basketball practice and one of my teammates' grandfathers came over to my parents and had me run kind of up and down the court and he suggested that I go see a rheumatologist. So that's what we did.

My mom made an appointment and we ended up going to see a rheumatologist who confirmed I did have juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, the JRA, which I know now it's called J-I-A. So it was very confusing at that time because we were like, what is this? I remember this was like really before the internet, which is weird to think about. I like was looking up stuff in like my family's encyclopedias in the middle of the night.

And just like being so confused what this was. I remember being so nervous and scared to tell people because they made it seem like not necessarily that I was dying, but that it was just the end of the world for me. They were very adamant. I wouldn't walk by the time I was 20. They were very adamant that this was progressing very quickly. But then at the same time, they were kind of like not chill, but kind of like

this might be hormonal and we're gonna wait until you like go through puberty to see if you still have it. So I remember getting on like Celebrex right away, methotrexate right away, which I hated. It before the shots too. I had those little tiny pills which my parents used to like hide in my food so I could take it because they were just so gross. And you know, as I ended up

Rebekah Nicola (16:14.677)
getting puberty was still there and I feel like it was a lot more aggressive. Started getting kind of deformities in my fingers. It was really affecting my day to day, my walking, my mobility. So we started doing some biologics. So fast forward, this was like end of middle school, early high school. So everyone knows biologics when you do them, they could end up leaving some bruising, some red, et cetera. So it was really hard.

for me to kind of explain to people what those bruising was on like my legs, because I would always rotate between my legs. And it was kind of hard to cover up. I was just, it was very hard for me to explain to people what it was, because I didn't want to ask a lot of questions. I still didn't truly, really know what it was. I mean, I was going to doctor's appointments and seeing other kids in the waiting room, but I didn't really know anyone.

who was impacted by it. I refused to go to camp, which I still regret to this day. I just kind of did whatever I needed to do to not complain too much. When I went to college, I remember switching over from the pediatric rheumatologist to an adult rheumatologist, and then having a little bit more of an aggressive approach, if you will, too.

and me just like fighting back because a lot of the medicine they wanted me on, I wasn't supposed to be in the sun. I was going to school in Florida. They didn't want me drinking on it. And hello, I was in college and it was just a very like almost fight with my doctors because I'm like, still want to be a normal person. And it just sucks that I had this diagnosis as well.

And I remember a lot of the side effects. were like, oh, this could affect you having kids one day. And I've always wanted to have kids. And I had to kind of learn how to be my own advocate and really listen to my body and figure out exactly kind of what I needed. A few years later, after doing some infusions, finally feel like I got, again, I don't want to, like you said earlier, I don't want to necessarily use the word remission, but I definitely feel like

Rebekah Nicola (18:38.697)
my arthritis wasn't progressing. It was kind of not stagnant. That's not even the right word either, but it was kind of just out of place that it wasn't getting worse, but it also wasn't getting like drastically better. It was just kind of like there, if you will. So, you know, where I am right now is it's like there. I feel like I'm doing like maintenance for it and still doing like my anti-inflammatory every day and things.

of that nature. However, a year or two ago, I was talking to my doctors and me and my husband want to try for kids and for me personally, I don't want to be on any kind of biologic. It just makes me a little anxious and nervous. And again, that's me in my body and my mentalness, mentalness, is that even the right word? But right now I feel like I'm like on a maintenance plan. Like I'm just okay, how can I

still be comfortable during the day. How can I make sure if for some reason my arthritis does become very active again, like we're able to kind of jump into a plan to make sure again, I'm feeling okay. So quick, quick diagnosis for me as well. Feel like, did I hit everything?

Brianna Ramos (19:58.926)
I think so. You hit a lot of it.

Rebekah Nicola (20:04.315)
It's hard for us, I feel like, go backwards because we both were diagnosed so young. So there's so many emotions being diagnosed as a child and having your parents advocate for you and then growing older and you're having to learn how to advocate for yourself and then introducing friendships and relationships and now husbands into the mix. It just adds another layer of complexity.

Brianna Ramos (20:09.782)
Yeah.

Brianna Ramos (20:20.493)
Yeah.

Brianna Ramos (20:26.712)
Yeah.

Brianna Ramos (20:30.484)
Yeah, and I totally agree. And I think, like, if you have been listening to the podcast for a while, like, you know, like the differences in our stories and our journeys, like, as kids and all of that. And it's like, even now, like, what Beka does, I might do differently and all of that. So like, it's, we like having the multi perspectives too. Which is cool.

one thing you forgot was your surgery. Did you mention her surgery? I don't think you did.

Rebekah Nicola (21:02.965)
God, no, I did not. I don't know why I always forget that because it was a very traumatic experience. when I ended up getting hand surgery on my right hand, which is my dominant hand, because it was so deformed. like, oh, I guess I'm like kind of showing my fingers. My fingers were pretty deformed and I couldn't even close them into a fist. And it was affecting my day to day, my dressing, my grooming, my

you know, school, everything. So my dad was talking to me one day about he was playing golf with the hand surgeon who works on Atlanta Braves baseball players. And I just casually mentioned like, I've been kind of looking into maybe getting surgery on my fingers. And he reached out to him and his doctor, like his office was like, yeah, we'll help. So I was able to kind of get plugged in over the summer when the Braves were.

on a break and was able to do the surgery and they ended up putting pins inside of my fingers and kind of reshaping the joint, if you will. And I had to have pins in my hands for a few weeks. And then my pinky was so deformed, they ended up putting a permanent metal screw in it. And so I had a split and had to do intense PT. They did take the pins out.

and then did intense PT, but my God, it was like night and day difference. Pre surgery to post surgery definitely still have kind of the deformity in the fingers. You can still actually see some of the scars, but they healed pretty nicely. But, being able to grip a little bit better, being able to do my day to day task a little bit better. can almost do pretty much a full fist now.

Oh my God, I can't believe I forgot that part. I did it. Yeah, no, it's I feel like because it happened during college and I literally did it over college break after my first year. And I like came back to school with this like splint and everyone's like, what is this? And I was in Florida. So I would joke like, oh, it was a gator bite or it was a shark bite or we kind of would all make up stories about it because again, I

Brianna Ramos (23:03.694)
I wasn't sure if I like zoned out and missed it, but I was like numb.

Brianna Ramos (23:13.165)
Yeah.

Rebekah Nicola (23:30.185)
did not want to talk about my arthritis, which is crazy because now we've had a podcast for four years where that's all I talk about. So.

Brianna Ramos (23:39.95)
Okay, so that was like our, I guess our, diagnosis overview. I think in a Warrior Wednesday episodes, we do our stories. We go into more of it. We did one episode for me and one episode for Beka, so we were able to like really flush them out and talk about a lot of different things and ask each other questions. But we're trying to keep a nice overview for this anniversary episode in case you're new or in case you forgot.

where Beka and I started and how we ended up having a podcast where we talk about this.

Rebekah Nicola (24:13.395)
And we'll make sure to link in the bio of this episode, both of the Warrior Wednesdays, and you guys can listen and compare and see if we forgot anything important.

Brianna Ramos (24:17.154)
Yeah.

Brianna Ramos (24:23.702)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay, so we're gonna do some hot topic questions for the both of us around what we were just talking about and just some other things too. So the first one we have, actually I'll save that one. Let's start from the bottom. What's the hardest part of life right now?

arthritis related or not.

things we might not talk about.

Rebekah Nicola (25:00.575)
think for me right now, I'm in the point in my life that me and my husband want to start a family. And it's hard for me to see how easily some other people, it seems like through social media, have it to get pregnant and to start a family where for me, there's just so much planning that has to go into it.

I'm like, plan everything in my freaking life and this should be something that, you know, I don't like have to plan to like a T, you know? I know I talked earlier about how I'm not on any biologics now so that we can like be trying and not have to worry about getting on and off medicine and everything like that. So I feel like we'll be at a place soon that we can do that, but.

Brianna Ramos (25:38.99)
Yeah.

Rebekah Nicola (25:56.65)
I like that's the hardest thing right now for me is obviously very happy when I see friends and family and strangers get pregnant. That's amazing. But selfishly, I'm always like, okay, come on, when is it gonna be my turn?

Brianna Ramos (26:13.964)
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. I know. We've talked about that before. I think it just like so like, Beka has her plan. Max and I were have been in these conversations recently. And like saw like a specialist to talk about like medicines and all that. So if you are also in that stage.

highly recommend you talk to your doctor if you're even thinking about it for the future, just to figure out what you want to do with like staying on medications and coming off of things and all that. There are like I know there are some medications that stay in your system for a really long time that you have to like really plan to come off of and there are other ones that it's really just like you can stop when you're

trying or whenever you think you're gonna get pregnant sort of thing. definitely like if you're in that stage of life. have had some moms on to talk about that. I think in Megan's Warrior Wednesday, she talked about it a little bit. And I think in Kate's too. We really love having people like that on to talk about their experiences because obviously Beck and I haven't been through it yet.

But it's something that a lot of our community is always thinking about because just as women, like a lot of us, like that's our next stage that we're thinking of or family planning or future planning. So we try to really touch on that with the podcast, but yeah.

Rebekah Nicola (28:00.244)
Yeah, and our very, very first Warrior Wednesday, Kelsey, she actually had Crohn's and she was able to kind of give that perspective of her kind of struggle with getting pregnant, starting a family and everything too. And I know it's definitely a little bit mental as well as physical. I get it, but I don't know, just kind of a hard part of my life right now.

Brianna Ramos (28:15.086)
Mm-hmm.

Brianna Ramos (28:27.53)
Yeah, no, that makes sense. think like this age, it's like, it's just so much of that, like on social and stuff. So, okay, well, I don't really want to follow that because mine wasn't going to be that. I was just saying like time, like I just am trying to grow so many different parts of life right now.

Rebekah Nicola (28:44.991)
Dramatic, sorry.

Brianna Ramos (28:57.472)
work, the podcast, my Instagram, like stuff I do with the Arthritis Foundation, my marriage, our family, our home, like all of these things. So I am personally really struggling right now with it being like a balancing act and trying not to burn myself out because I've done that before where

And then I'm just like, I can't, I can't do anything extra. Like I'm just work and wake up work life. Like that's it. I don't want to reach that point. So I'm trying really hard, I guess trying. But yeah, that's where I'm at right now.

Rebekah Nicola (29:45.493)
Yeah, I wish we had more time in life. Wish we had less working days and more personal days for sure.

Brianna Ramos (29:49.294)
Yeah

Brianna Ramos (29:57.176)
Yeah, same.

Rebekah Nicola (29:59.25)
What would you tell yourself 10 years ago if you could go back in time?

Brianna Ramos (30:05.326)
Mmm.

Brianna Ramos (30:13.902)
This is like a long dramatic pause. I'm trying to think.

Rebekah Nicola (30:17.299)
Okay, I'll go first because I know what my answer is going to be. I know, again, we talked about this. was just reflecting on our time together and four years ago when we first started the podcast, I remember you had this quote and it was something along the lines of there's power in sharing. And I think for me 10 years ago, I still was not very comfortable talking about my arthritis. I didn't want to talk about all the questions that come along with it.

Brianna Ramos (30:19.16)
Okay, if you haven't, you're hired.

Brianna Ramos (30:36.045)
Mm-mm.

Rebekah Nicola (30:46.141)
I didn't want to talk about the fact that people would compare to me with their grandparent who had arthritis. I just, didn't want to deal with it. And looking back and thinking how far I've come and how, again, it's crazy to think that I'm on this podcast with you, sharing my story. I think 10 years ago, I would tell myself there is power in sharing. Like every time we share, we connect with another.

Brianna Ramos (30:55.843)
Yeah.

Rebekah Nicola (31:16.201)
you know, chronic illness warrior, they may or may not have arthritis, but they might be going through similar things that we are going through. It kind of justifies my feelings, if you will. It justifies my mental feelings, my emotional feelings, my physical feelings, just all the feels. And it's just nice to know it sucks to know that other people are going through similar struggles. But then again, it is nice to know that other people are.

Brianna Ramos (31:23.352)
Mm-hmm.

Brianna Ramos (31:27.651)
Yeah.

Brianna Ramos (31:35.022)
Yeah.

Rebekah Nicola (31:45.27)
because you can see a lot of other success stories, a lot of other really cool stuff people are doing. Like I know we had someone on the podcast that was talking about how they adapted their snow skiing and how they still are able to do what they love. it just makes me just get in all my feels.

Brianna Ramos (32:11.95)
Yeah, I love that. And I thought you were going to be like, yeah, Bri said that four years ago and I'm still like, F that. No, it really is. It's true. And I try to say it to people because people are like, why, why, like, why are we, why are you an open book? Why are you telling your story? like that literally what you just said is exactly why. Because of all the people we've connected with, all the people we've educated, all of the things. So good for that.

Rebekah Nicola (32:19.461)
No, I love it! I love it!

Brianna Ramos (32:41.878)
Yeah, that was, that was good one, Beka. I was just going to say that I would love to tell myself 10 years ago that everything was going to be okay. like 10 years ago, I thought my whole world was crashing in on me. And like you were saying, like, it really felt like that. Like when you were in your teenage years, trying to manage this, trying to figure this out. yeah, I felt like the end of the world and it was really, really hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And obviously there's still days where I'm like, where is the light at the end of the tunnel? Like, how am I going to get through this? But I think overall I've reached that place of like general acceptance and I know everything is going to be okay. So I wish I could go back and tell myself that because I was stressed and anxious out of my mind just about the future alone, let alone like worried about what was going on my day to day. So yeah.

Okay, are there any topics in the disability, arthritis, invisible illness community that you are passionate about or thinking about right now or anything like that you hear our followers talking about?

Rebekah Nicola (34:02.975)
I think outside of the pregnancy and wanting to be a mom, feel like that's all I'm focused on right now. But I think a hot topic right now, I think just spreading awareness and letting people understand kind of what we go through. I feel like that's very broad, but everything that's going on in our country right now,

Brianna Ramos (34:22.595)
Mm-hmm.

Rebekah Nicola (34:30.245)
normally not into politics, normally not into understanding the why behind that stuff. But I feel like that is, again, like a hot topic right now with people trying to understand, am I still protected with my not protected, that's not the right word, but are there still combinations that are going to be made for me?

Brianna Ramos (34:44.908)
Yeah.

Rebekah Nicola (34:56.947)
What can I ask for to help my day to day? I definitely will say I'm not that knowledgeable about it, but I want to be because I see other people in our community that it impacts a lot more than myself and I want to know how I can help. So I feel like that's kind of where I'm at right now. What about you?

Brianna Ramos (35:19.756)
Yeah, no, think my answer would be the same thing. think the world of politics, everything is really stressful right now. There's a lot going on. And just thinking about it makes me overwhelmed. So I really appreciate people who are like, this is what's going on. And here's what you can do. Because feeling like I can't do anything really sucks.

So like, being knowing I can email someone or call someone about something going on is really helpful for me. I think right now I'm just looking to like, just like, there's just so much.

separation, like anger, like confusion and misinformation out there right now. So I just like really hope we can be more empathetic moving forward. And like, obviously, for years, decades, we've like as a community have been like fighting for accommodations, fighting for these things. So

Um, and I feel like I don't, I'm just like scared of just going away in like the blink of an eye. Um, so like so many years of work and advocating and things like that. So I'm just hoping people can be more empathetic right now and think about the community and how like other people are affected by things, um, outside of their circle. But yes, accommodations and things like that are very important right now. So.

Rebekah Nicola (37:05.727)
All right, our final question. It's been four years of the podcast and why do we still have this podcast? Bri, you specifically, no, just kidding, for us both to answer what keeps us going with it and then what's our why?

Brianna Ramos (37:09.39)
Thanks

Brianna Ramos (37:13.422)
.

Rebekah Nicola (37:25.909)
There was like five questions in that one question, but.

Brianna Ramos (37:26.094)
There is, I know, sorry. We started the podcast with the hopes of connecting with people. I think like, that's really helped Beka and I along the way is like we had a very specific why we were starting the podcast and not really hasn't wavered. And it's like definitely kept us grounded in this journey because it's not easy. Like, Beka and I both feel like

crap sometimes and we don't feel like recording and it is lot of work and but we still do it because of this community we've created because we like talking to each other we like sharing our stories we like hearing other people's stories I think

I think it's all just, it all just comes back to community and I guess too, like we hear from listeners, like we hear from moms who listen, who like their kids have arthritis and they're just trying to understand their life better. And that like always gets me choked up because I just think it's so incredible. And I think back to like when I was in high school or in college, we didn't have these resources then.

Like if we had found or come across a podcast like ours, how impactful that would have been in your and I's life. Like I just, like when we knew no one with arthritis, we didn't know anyone else. We didn't know what the future would look like with arthritis. We didn't know all the things. So I think about that too.

Rebekah Nicola (39:08.853)
Yeah, I 100 % agree with you. So not trying to copy your answer verbatim, but definitely I feel like that's kind of what keeps me going. Selfishly, I love you. I've loved our friendship that we've built even outside of friendships and community that we built with other people. But I've really appreciated getting to know you more and kind of having a friendship, like a judgment free friendship, which is so nice.

Brianna Ramos (39:13.774)
I

Brianna Ramos (39:36.258)
Yeah. Yeah.

Rebekah Nicola (39:37.394)
It's hard to find those, the older you get especially. I feel like I've had a lot of friends over the years and I definitely have a core group of friends who there is that judgment free, but I feel like you were like pretty much my first like real like arthritis bestie and no pressure, but that's a big title to have. No, just kidding. I just really appreciate my time with you.

And like you said, just hearing from other people, I will never forget one of our best compliments I feel like we got was someone like left a review. It like, feel like I'm listening to like two besties having coffee together and loved that. And I'd like there's not this pressure for us to like deliver the perfect content or do this or that. I feel like

there can be some pressure. Let's make sure we get an episode out. we answering our messages? Are we doing kind some of this day to day stuff? But it ends up every time we do do it, it ends up being very rewarding and fun.

Brianna Ramos (40:49.41)
Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah. It just sounds like a goodbye episode now that we're like talking about this. It's totally not a goodbye episode. but I just like reminiscing and I think it's like cool to get into Beck and I's heads a little bit, outside of what we normally talk about. So yeah. but I think that wraps up today's episode. If you want to hear more about our journeys, we'll link our Warrior Wednesday episodes.

Rebekah Nicola (40:54.535)
No, it's not. Goodbye.

Brianna Ramos (41:19.886)
And I just, thanks for a cool four years, Beka. I can't believe it.

Rebekah Nicola (41:26.057)
I like our fifth year anniversary, need to go on a trip. I would prefer a swim up bar like always, but I feel like we need to do a trip for our five year anniversary.

Brianna Ramos (41:29.83)
yeah.

Brianna Ramos (41:36.724)
Yeah, we should do like a giant like spoonie chicks with spoons where you at trip that would be so fun. But yeah, so thanks for, everything and thank you to everybody who's listened, who's come on the podcast, who's asked us questions, who's been engaged. we're excited for the next few years and to keep putting out content for you guys that you love and can come back to.

Rebekah Nicola (41:48.703)
Thank you.

Brianna Ramos (42:05.186)
And we want to keep being your besties in the car wherever you're going. thanks, y'all. And we'll talk soon.