Rizzology
Welcome to "Rizzology" - The Podcast That Unveils Authentic Stories.
Step into a world where authenticity reigns supreme. In the "Rizzology" podcast, your host Nick Rizzo sits down with an eclectic mix of individuals, each with a unique journey to share. This show is a captivating tapestry of life's remarkable stories, perseverance, and new learning experiences, all interwoven with fun and laughter.
Whether you're seeking inspiration, motivation, or simply a good chuckle, "Rizzology" has you covered. Tune in for a rollercoaster of emotions, from the heartfelt and motivating to the side-splittingly funny.
Join us on this unfiltered journey where authenticity and raw honesty take center stage. Every episode is a testament to the real, raw, and wonderful stories that make life so fascinating.
Ready to dive into the human experience like never before? Subscribe to "Rizzology" and uncover the beauty in life's genuine tales.
Rizzology
#67 | Dr. Marina Cortese | The Will to Survive |
Are you ready to journey into the world of resilience and self-advocacy? Our conversation with Marina, a cancer survivor, will lead you through her triumphant story of facing adversity and finding strength amidst the trials. Marina shares her heartrending journey from discovering her diagnosis, the 11 biopsies she endured, and her decision to undergo a double mastectomy. She emphasizes the vitality of genetic testing and the power of advocating for oneself, which goes beyond her personal experience, to strike a chord with anyone touched by this disease.
But it's not all about serious talk. We punctuate our discussion with delightful chats about our furry friends - Kenji and Gino, the pups. Their amusing quirks bring an element of levity and laughter to our conversation. We also navigate through intriguing topics such as the intriguing complexities of egg labeling, the questionable marketing tactics employed by brands, and the potential health benefits of raw milk.
As we draw our discussion to a close, we venture into the grander themes of life's challenges and triumphs. From unearthing the fascinating world of numerology and its Native American roots to highlighting the significance of positivity and resilience during turbulent times, this conversation is packed with inspiring stories and enlightening discussions. So, come join us for a deep-dive into Marina's empowering narrative of overcoming cancer and finding strength in adversity. It's not just a conversation, it's a testament to the power of resilience, self-advocacy, and the human spirit.
https://www.instagram.com/marinaaabinaaa/
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We've been here for two hours already.
Speaker 2:I can't believe, I really can't believe that we've been here for two hours. That is shocking. That is so crazy that we've been here for that long and we've just not-.
Speaker 1:And did not start the podcast.
Speaker 2:We didn't start the podcast at all Like. This is the first that we're starting-.
Speaker 1:Wait, did it start.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we're starting. Oh okay, I just started. I think that thing's rolling Okay, kenji, I don't even know. Is there a red light? Is there a red light on that? I don't even know if there's a red light on that.
Speaker 1:Wait on that or that. Yeah, there's a red light on that.
Speaker 2:Oh my god, it's exhausting. I gotta get it, I gotta buy another monitor. Two hours I mean Two hours. Let me just say, let me fill people in on the conversation of topic. You don't get to fucking know. Okay, a whole lot of a lot.
Speaker 1:Okay, a whole lot of a lot, a whole lot of a lot. You're right, that should be the title of the podcast. A whole lot of a lot A whole lot of a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't, yeah, just the world and-.
Speaker 1:It's a scary place.
Speaker 2:Digital pimps and yeah, just the motives and people and human nature, and I finally got her to crack a rain.
Speaker 1:Even though there's Nevermind, I'm not gonna go there, that's okay.
Speaker 2:But yeah, she was just like you know what? Fuck it. We've been here for two hours. We went back to my Got the dog, oh yeah she's great.
Speaker 1:Kenji is now part of the podcast. He's actually the main event. Oh, yeah, the main event, I mean people Just licking his own private areas right now, licking his jams.
Speaker 2:People come and hang out with me, really because they want to hang out with Kenji, but they don't realize that he's just gonna lick his jams and go hang in the corner.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm sure if we could all lick our jams it would probably be cool.
Speaker 2:I mean he knows what he's doing. He knows he's like I have fucking man, y'all missing out. That's what he's saying. He's like you know, right, geno, right, geno, geno doesn't Geno be licking the jams Way too much. Yes, yes, we're on, dog jam licking.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:My Shiba was like the worst offender, because it would be in the middle of the night.
Speaker 1:You just hear her in the corner that you just the lick. Oh man, the nonstop lick. You just hit her with a pillow. You're like I can't do it. I think that's a meme out right now and I was like, wow, that's me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just throw the pillow at her. You're like cookie Cookie. You gotta stop, sweetheart, please. It's too late for this shit. Three in the morning, it's great. The urge just hits and she's just like fuck it. No one else around.
Speaker 1:Geno does this thing where middle of the night he figures out he has to go to the bathroom, even though let him out right before we go to bed, everything else and he just puts his face on my face. So I feel like I'm suffocating at like three, four o'clock in the morning and it's just dead weight.
Speaker 2:He just puts his head and just sits there and I'm like Wrinkle boarding. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. It's wrinkle boarding. It's just, you get half a half a, I'm just a half a pus. Oh God, we're off to a start. Half a pus right on the face Pause.
Speaker 1:And just like sitting there and I'm like what is going on and then if I don't get up right away, then the paw starts coming in Like a claw. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the raptor claw, and then you have a scratch retina. It's too much. Yeah, it's too much.
Speaker 1:I'm already blind, hasn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, me and you both, we're looking at the cameras like I'm looking, I was like is this on?
Speaker 1:Is it too bright? Is that me? Well, marina welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker 2:I'm super happy to have you. It's been in the making for a while. I know we did our initial episode a while back when I first started the show Fresh out of surgery.
Speaker 1:Fresh out of surgery.
Speaker 2:And I know you had said multiple times that you wanted to come in talk about a lot more things that had gone on, that you experienced, that you realized after the case and you said you got a lot of questions after that podcast episode.
Speaker 1:It was amazing. I mean, you don't well? People need to be a little more open, I think, about such serious topics because people are embarrassed. It's listen? It's well, we're talking about breast cancer. That's obviously what we're talking about. It's an intimate conversation. Not everyone wants to just be like, yeah, I have my boobs got chopped off or, you know, my boobs tried to kill me or whatever it may be. It's a sensitive topic. So I think the more you talk about it, the more people feel comfortable speaking or having questions, whatever it may be, and you can help more people that way.
Speaker 2:Do you find that most people are timid in broaching the subject, that when they first either find out or they're thinking about getting tested and whatnot, yeah, so, basically backtracking a little bit, since I was 19, I believe it was I started developing you know, I went to the gynecologist, did a breast exam.
Speaker 1:she felt a lump, sent me for ultrasound and when I went I will never forget that day she the tech was like you know, do you have anyone here with you? And I said my mom's in the waiting room I was 19 or 20 years old at the time and she was like you need to probably go get her and we're going to bring you into the office to speak with a radiologist. I'm like this is just- this does not seem like a great day.
Speaker 2:This isn't a great start, right.
Speaker 1:So I go to get my mom and I'm like mom, you have to come with me, we're going into the office. She's like why? I was like I don't know. The radiologist wants to speak to me. She sits down and she goes listen, from what it looks like, it does look like breast cancer. But we have to, you know, biopsy and make sure that everything, whatever it is 19 or 20 years old, never even understood what a breast biopsy is at that point. And she goes we should do this immediately. So I had to go in the next day and I had to have three biopsies in one sitting.
Speaker 2:So now, if you can, I know and I'm going to ask you to emphasize on certain things even though we did this episode like I said. I want to make it almost as if that we never did Absolutely so. A biopsy consists of, for those that don't know, yup.
Speaker 1:So it's basically a guided ultrasound. So it's a needle and with an ultrasound and you're awake. So my positioning was like this the whole time. I will never forget, staring at the ceiling with a dusty chandelier and I'm just looking at the dust, and I was like I wonder if the dust is going to go into the opening of the incision. Like you know, you start thinking all these crazy things.
Speaker 2:Just to try to distract your mind, just do anything but focus on that, right.
Speaker 1:Your arm goes numb and you're just sitting here. You're like this seems a little inhumane. This is like not the most normal procedure. Okay, loud noises Noises Crazy. First experience. So I got three done in one shot and the radiologist thought that they were definitely cancerous. Thank God ended up being benign, but I was on a watch every three to six months. I had to go for further testing because I do have a strong family history, so at that time we were just basing it off of family history and because of these lesions Ended up being benign.
Speaker 2:And when you say family history, what does that entail? That means genetics in terms of the gene.
Speaker 1:Yes, so father's side, heavy breast cancer, pretty much. Breast cancer runs very heavy on my dad's side. So every three to six months when I would go more biopsies so from 19 or 20 years old till 26 was when I got the double mastectomy I've had 11 biopsies and it gets to a point where you're just like enough is enough. You know, because you have to remember, you get used to it after a while, like you're like, all right, the biopsies are not the end of the world. You kind of routine which is sick that that becomes a routine throughout your 20s. But you start realizing like this is taking out so much of my life because it's a constant fear. You have to wait for the results for about two weeks for the results to come back in, and you're just constantly in this like worry state. It's not normal, you know.
Speaker 1:So that all happened and then finally I got genetic testing done and that I think is like a huge part of this podcast or at least should be because so many people are so afraid of getting genetic testing done. Because of course you don't want to hear that you are linked to a predisposition of cancer or that you can get. You know you're 60% more likely to get this cancer versus that cancer. Of course you don't want that labeled on you, but I think that the more knowledge you have, the more power you have, so you know how to look for things. So I got genetic testing and it ended up being that I have it's called the ATM gene mutation. Now, in a normal person, the ATM gene actually helps fight cancer, so it helps with repairing DNA, damage DNA. So when there's a cancer cell, the ATM gene actually helps fight that cancer. So mine is mutated.
Speaker 2:Great, so, great, so, so, so, so so mine's acted up Right so.
Speaker 1:So mine's just like you know, a little FU to you and we're going to make sure that you have to go through a little few hiccups in the in your life just to make sure that you're on your toes. Yeah, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so had another set of three biopsies done. It was like that Thanksgiving before I found out that I was okay. You know what I'm going to make the decision to get a double mastectomy. Same thing came back benign, thank God. But I'm like this is just, this is enough. I have a gene mutation that I know increases my risk tremendously. I've had 11 biopsies. At this point I was like, take them off, I'm not doing this.
Speaker 1:So I went in for a prophylactic double mastectomy, which means it's a preventative measure. When they did that, they test, you know, the breast tissue that they removed. Lymph nodes were removed and it ended up being that in the same breast that I had all the lesions, I did have atypical cells found. So they were all pre-cancer cells that were found in the same breast tissue. So the actual tumors that you would call it, were benign, but in the breast tissue I did have atypical cells which were in the process of turning. It could have been a couple of months, a couple of weeks, a couple of years, who knows, but it was going to become cancerous. So you know, saved my own life, I guess, with that, and then it was the best decision I ever made was to have the double mastectomy.
Speaker 2:The decision going into it, though, is obviously a tough one.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:It's something that I mean as a male. I can only associate with testicles.
Speaker 1:Right, and at least those are hidden. Yeah, not for nothing, but you know these are like out-center.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's like and breasts are a big part of womanhood and a girl's sexuality and motherhood and stuff like that. Yeah, and it's not just to obviously not only use, but fun parts too for couples.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's just there's a lot that goes into it. So it's you think about something like that, and I feel like there's a lot of people that either opt to just not get it done because they don't want to feel, quote-unquote, less of a woman type of a scenario. I mean. What am I right in thinking?
Speaker 1:that You're so right. I mean it was a really difficult decision, but I think, after so many of the biopsies and the fear and everything else, and I can't wait to be a mom one day. So it was for me my whole decision-making was based on I want to be a healthy mom as best as I possibly can. I mean, I live a very healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, the genetic mutation does increase my risk for certain things, but I would feel much more comfortable knowing that when I am a mother, my risk of developing breast cancer is very, very little. I don't want to be you know where, something that I had some control over, and I think that's where I go back to. I really think it's so important for people to get genetic testing if you have a strong family history of something because, yes, knowledge is power, but it's also so scary finding something out like that. But if you, for me at least at first. So my sister doesn't have the gene mutation, my mom does not have the gene mutation. It came from my father's side. You know I will never forget.
Speaker 1:The doctor told me my oncologist was like well, you kind of got like the short end of the stick. Okay, great, you know Great and it's true, and sometimes your first reaction is like, oh, poor me but or like, why did this happen to me? But at the end of the day, you kind of have to reverse that and do a little spin on that because no, it's not poor me, it's wow. Thank God I found this out because, you know, many people develop cancer without having a gene mutation and they're just it's just sprung on them out of nowhere and they're already stage three, stage four. My heart goes out to those people. I was blessed, in all honesty, with this genetic mutation that allows me to at least stay on top of things and get proper screening and, you know, go from there.
Speaker 2:Now the genetic testing. Is that something that they, you feel like they offered you too late, or was it on?
Speaker 1:time, so I pushed for it. So I you would think it would have been given to me prior.
Speaker 2:Well, you'd hope so, because you'd like to catch things like this way in advance but, it seems like the medical system just does everything at the ninth hour. Yeah, ninth hour. 10th hour, 12th hour, 11th hour, 15th hour. Whatever you want to say, yeah, 15th hour, that sounds about right.
Speaker 1:So we're talking about breast cancer. I'm not even going to go too much into this next topic, but I was actually diagnosed with cancer this past June, went through two major surgeries lymph node removal, everything else. It was invasive cancer and I am cancer free, yes, thank God. But it was misdiagnosed for quite some time and I was having symptoms and it no one was taking me seriously because the main scans and main tests were coming back normal and I knew something was off and it is linked to the genetic mutation that I have.
Speaker 1:It is one of the cancers that is linked to it and I just know that if I was not in this field I mean for anyone who doesn't know that, I'm a doctor of integrative medicine and acupuncture and if I didn't know some of the warning signs of certain cancers and everything else, I probably would have just listened to the first doctor and I would have said you know what? You're right, I'm probably overreacting or I'm in my head because I'm paranoid because of the genetic mutation or the double mastectomy and everything else. So I pushed for further testing and I had to fight for this further testing.
Speaker 2:Don't you feel that that's crazy? It's insane that you actually have to fight to go. I feel something's off and I'm so in tune not even if you're not just in tune with your body, but I know my body and I know something is not right. This isn't just what you're saying. Why can't we test XYZ just to make sure? It's the battle between the doctors and the insurance companies.
Speaker 2:It's the insurance companies who doesn't want to foot the bill and listen to that. It's pretty fucked up, because how many people do we lose to misdiagnosis? Like that, and then you don't even know you have no idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's scary because, like I said, you have to be your own advocate or at least have people in your circle that will ask questions for you If you have to bring someone with you to your doctor's appointments to kind of take mental notes for you, because if it's a very sensitive topic, sometimes you almost black out in these appointments because you're overwhelmed with information. So if you have someone that you know is in your corner and they can sit there for you and listen to everything and take down notes, jot down questions that you want to ask, never be afraid to ask five million questions. And if the doctor doesn't want to answer your five million questions, then find a new doctor, because it is so important that you know everything that is going on with your body and you have to know your body, you have to be in tune with your body. That was the first thing for me. I knew something was off it tells you your life.
Speaker 2:It's not just your body, it's your fucking life.
Speaker 1:Right, Right. So, long story short, ended up going to an oncologist that I trust and love more than anything. So I got certified through Sloan Kettering Memorial. Sloan Kettering I work with a lot of oncology patients myself, so I wanted to see this one specific oncologist more than anything, because I just knew that something else was going on and no one was taking me seriously. He took me on as a patient and the funny thing is so you have a portal right that you have all your test results and everything. I was working, I was treating patients and I knew that my test results were coming in any day. So, of course, that anxiety of waiting and everything else and everyone keeps telling me you know, it's probably nothing, it's probably nothing. So it's. I got a phone call, a missed call, from the doctor's office and it was probably around five o'clock.
Speaker 2:Oh, of course, right at the end of the day, right when the office closes. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:I'm busy at work. I don't even have my phone on me when I'm at work. I leave it up in the front with my receptionist and every time I go to the front I'll check on my phone. Right, I was like, oh God, I missed the. I missed the call. So I continue work and I go on to my portal. I have a couple. I think I had six to eight patients left for the day, so I still had patients to treat, right? I opened my portal, I said you have new test result and it came up. And unfortunately, I think, because I can read my test results- yeah, you can actually read it it was more devastating and it said invasive cancer with lymphascular invasion.
Speaker 1:And it was real, it was. So everything that I thought was going on was going on.
Speaker 2:And how did you mentally deal with that, especially being coddled for how long?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Dragged along like no, no, no, it's normal, it's normal.
Speaker 1:I walked into my gym which is, as you know, in the same in my building and had a little mental breakdown and, wiped my eyes, went back into the reception area and I said I have to continue the day and I'll tell my parents after. I don't know how I can. You know, my patients really do mean everything to me and I think it helps me knowing that I'm helping other people that are going through similar issues. Whether it's an autoimmune disease, oncology pain, everyone suffers with their own issues. So my promise to everyone that are my patients, my responsibility is to treat them right and I care about them more than anything. I think, because I'm an integrative medicine, you develop a much more like a deeper relationship with these patients. I'm in that room with them for a full hour. They're like my family, right. So I was like I need to finish my work day and then I will deal with this after. There's nothing I could do about it right now. So I could-.
Speaker 2:The diagnosis, the diagnosis, and we'll take a precautionary step in the right direction of where we have to go now.
Speaker 1:Right, so I continued my work day, finished my work day, told my parents, had to wait until the next day to speak to my oncologist, and he obviously apologized on the phone and was like this is something that I have no control over.
Speaker 1:I didn't even see your results yet and it was the radiology department, signed off on it and it got uploaded to your portal and unfortunately this is also a problem in the healthcare system. So whatever tackled that had the two surgeries cancer free now, thank God. But my whole thing with this is please be your own advocate and don't feel stupid, because you know your own body and I hate to say it, but a lot of these doctors have never had cancer themselves before. So when you hear that word cancer for the first time and it's your diagnosis, of course you're gonna be a little bit more paranoid with certain things, and that's how it should be. You should be a little more in tune with your body at that point. Yeah, so you have to be your own advocate and don't feel stupid for asking 5 million questions. Someone should be there to answer those questions for you.
Speaker 2:Well, you'd hope so, but unfortunately, like you said, sometimes it takes a couple of doctors to shift in and out and this one wasn't really giving me the right answers, or? This one wasn't really giving me any answers or any testing that.
Speaker 1:I asked for, and a lot of times you don't even know what to ask for.
Speaker 2:You don't know what tests you should be asking for, so it's like, okay, now you know genetic tests. That's one test out of how many, though?
Speaker 1:that you probably need, and what genes are they even really testing you for? It depends? You know what I mean. So yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 2:It's been a road.
Speaker 1:But I will tell you that if there's anyone listening to this podcast that just needs to have someone to basically bounce ideas off of or ask questions, DM me or anything.
Speaker 2:Email me, dm me. I'll make sure I put your Instagram in the show notes and in the handle of the YouTube video too.
Speaker 1:Because sometimes you just need someone that understands a little bit more, especially on a personal level, and I think that's where it comes back to. I look at everything that I have been through and I really, truly believe that it is not even that bad. I really don't, because I'm alive. Number one, the genetic mutation right was a blessing in disguise. I truly look at that as a thank God moment, because I now know what to be looking for and I can be ahead of the game and be on super surveillance you know what I mean Whereas other people don't have that opportunity.
Speaker 1:I'm extremely healthy, I take care of myself and that's another thing I'm sure. Actually, I got a DM from someone not too long ago asking she had colon cancer terrible. And she said did you ever have anyone ask you, what are you doing wrong in your life that you're developing cancer? Like you're so young? And I was like, actually funny thing you say that because there's always ignorant people out there that are like, well, you must be doing something in your diet is causing this. I'm like people. If you only knew, I am probably 90% healthier than most of the population. Like we were talking about the seed oils and reading every label and everything else. My worst habit is chewing gum.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you almost start to consider you just go. Am I actually insane?
Speaker 1:Because I'm just going to and no one seems to care as much as I do.
Speaker 2:It's like I look at every package of food. Every package. But I'm like, why are there so many fucking?
Speaker 1:ingredients in this. If there's one ingredient, go for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it doesn't make any sense why this bag of granola has 500 ingredients. Shouldn't it just be oats a? Couple of walnuts, like whatever is in here, but it's not. I don't and I've never really mentally grasped why companies do like okay, profit, great, you do it for profit and you do it because it's cheaper to make it like this versus using the whole foods or whatever it might be Whatever I got you, but when you go home at night and you without question bring some of it to your family, you're just feeding your family, that shit knowing that
Speaker 2:it's chemically engineered and all this bullshit. You're just giving it to your family and you're just like, yeah, just take it, whatever. That's always a thought process that I have and I'm just like I don't know how y'all do it, like putting roundup on crops and all this stuff and glyphosates and this, and that it's like, first off, as a politician, that allows this type of stuff to go through and poison the country, how do you do that?
Speaker 2:Number two as the person that sprays the crops or the company that engineers it To know that this is what it does.
Speaker 1:Yep, you're part of it. I know you're not making billions but you're making a lot of money. So it's like is it really worth it?
Speaker 2:dude Like is that is that, is that the profit margin is really worth giving everybody cancer?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I guess they are to them Just. There's always gonna be evil people, but to me that's always been so strange.
Speaker 1:Well, because your morality like where are your morals? Where does that good versus evil come into play. Because you should feel some type of way, knowing that your job has such a big impact on people's lives like that. Yes, everyone.
Speaker 2:And mostly families that are in lower income. That's the sad part. The sad part is they can't afford the healthcare to begin with and the treatment options and all the stuff and all the food that they're just. They're trying to just get by, especially nowadays, just trying to get by as best they can, make a couple of price cuts here and there at the grocery store, and the food's actually way worse than them if they just spent the money on that. So it's like you're setting yourself up for failure down the line.
Speaker 1:And it's sad, you know that even goes back to like I mean, everyone knows I can't wait to be a mom one day. Right, that is like my love kids, everything else, and it's like everything that I have gone through has shaped me into. I thought I was healthy before, but even being healthier, like I said, being so strict with like labels and everything else, but creating these healthy concoctions that I'm like, wow, my kids are gonna be eating. You know a healthier version?
Speaker 2:of A real full roll up, right, exactly, yeah, exactly, instead of this bullshit that's made with red color, number 40 and all this shit.
Speaker 1:Oh, please don't even get me started.
Speaker 2:Yeah, never understood that. Yeah, Just look at some of this stuff in the fitness industry Just like, oh really, that's y'all.
Speaker 1:I don't even know what went on with the fitness industry.
Speaker 2:I don't either, and I'm done with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what I owned a gym and I'm very happy that I closed that gym down, because it was good while it lasted.
Speaker 2:Let's make it a meditation space. Yeah right, let's make it a meditation space, you know.
Speaker 1:I do miss it because that was like my first baby, but going the more medical route was necessary and also the fitness industry just went to shit. To be honest, I'm good on it.
Speaker 2:It's oversaturated with a lot of different things and the people in it I'm just. I stick to the people that I know my people and I call it a day. I'm good on it. I was saying last time to Jamal I think it was Andre will come in for a podcast and he'll start talking about fitness competitors. He'll start talking about men's physique competitors.
Speaker 2:He'll be like yo, this dude's coming up and this guy. I'm like I don't know what these people are, I'm just nodding. I'm like yep, yep. And then he'll be like and then I'll be like who's competing at the Olympia?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm out of touch with it now.
Speaker 2:Because it doesn't my goals, my mindset, everything has shifted Like I'm not a bodybuilder anymore. I don't wanna train like that anymore.
Speaker 1:I wanna train more functionally. I wanna be healthy, exactly.
Speaker 2:I wanna feel good and be good, and you know.
Speaker 1:Longevity, not just short term.
Speaker 2:I'm the nut job paying almost $10 for a carton of fucking organic pasteurized eggs First off. Let me go on record right now, real quick. There are too many egg types. Okay, egg farmers and all this shit, y'all are assholes. Because there are way too many types of eggs where it should just be pasture raised or organic pasture raised. Those are the only two types of eggs that we need.
Speaker 2:We don't need cage free, farm fresh. All these, all these different. What's the other label? I need to know what the other labels are. How many types of eggs are there Like?
Speaker 1:I don't even know. You're gonna find the answer, thank you.
Speaker 2:How many types. I don't even know where I would sit, what I would Google, how many types of eggs. Oh, what grades, colors, labels, I guess grades right Grades yeah. How many types of egg grades it's gonna be a chicken with like an A plus.
Speaker 1:A plus B C.
Speaker 2:It says that there are three consumer based. There's too many. Still no five grades of eggs. Oh no, now it's giving me AA or B. I don't know what that is.
Speaker 1:AA, I didn't even know that was a thing.
Speaker 2:Them teeny, tiny eggs. I didn't sorry. I'm so curious, I need to know Egg classifications.
Speaker 1:Who created this?
Speaker 2:This is what I'm saying. The hard part is to just get an answer Right. Yeah, we're back to USDA grade AA. The freshest and highest quality eggs will receive a grade AA. Usda grade A very high quality will receive a grade A.
Speaker 1:Damn it. I'm eating just the high quality. I'm not even eating the best quality. I'm not eating AA.
Speaker 2:I didn't even know that existed. I've been chewing on batteries.
Speaker 1:Oh my, I'm very disappointed.
Speaker 2:USDA grade B grade B eggs are usually used for breaking stock liquid eggs and baking.
Speaker 1:I'm pissed right now. They're shell qualities. Maybe I should tell everyone that's why I got cancer. I wasn't eating AA. Yeah, this is the reason.
Speaker 2:This has to be the reason. This is it, but this goes to prove my points. Here's what 10 different egg carton labels really mean.
Speaker 1:Maybe this is it Well, also if you look at Nutella right.
Speaker 2:Look at this picture. How fucking ridiculous is that. How fucking ridiculous is that? That's the problem. That is so ridiculous. Eggs are riddled with more labels like Omega 3, farm Fresh, pasture Raised and many more. This is the article I was looking for. We rounded up 10 egg labels and figured out what they really mean. I'm going to have to link this article. It's from insidercom. All natural is just marketing, go figure. Cage free doesn't necessarily mean cruelty free.
Speaker 1:Great.
Speaker 2:Free range hens have access to the outdoors Access. Interesting Farm Fresh is also a marketing tactic. Organic eggs come from free range hens. An Omega 3 label doesn't mean the eggs contain enough of the fatty acid. A vegetarian diet may not be good for hens and chickens. Pasture Raised hens graze naturally. There it is. That's the only egg we need. Why are we Yo?
Speaker 1:Double A. I still can't get over that I'm not eating double A, I mean that's one part.
Speaker 2:Now you got to make sure the pasture raised Now it's pasture raised and double A eggs. It's insane. It's insane. Why, why are the?
Speaker 1:You know, it's just the vicious cycle.
Speaker 2:That's all I got to say. It really is. I'm just. I'm flabbergasted looking at that picture of all the eggs, because every time I go into the grocery store, that's my thought process. My thought process is why are there so many eggs? As a consumer and as a company, I would assume that you would just want here's the best quality, and if that price goes up, the price goes up. But this is it Organic pasture raised eggs. There you go. We didn't put chemicals in the chickens. They ate bugs and they ran around outside.
Speaker 1:Here's the eggs. But also going back to even I hate to say it's where we are, because when you go to Italy, like if you look at Nutella there versus here, two completely different ingredients, completely different Even the way that they're, you know, listen, that's a whole different situation with, like, the healthcare system. Obviously, we are much more advanced in many ways, but I did part of my residency in Italy and I was doing clinical rounds there and it was amazing that every single person in the stroke unit was receiving acupuncture. Like it was just. It was just the thing. Everyone was receiving proper care and that was it.
Speaker 2:They have their own downfalls, I'm not saying that they are like you know, but you're saying that they're actually using alternative uses of medicine, as opposed to just saying well. This is what I learned in the textbook.
Speaker 1:And that's the only way to be. And their ingredients.
Speaker 2:sorry, I'm sorry, it's okay, everybody hits it at least once. You're good, punch it again, it's okay.
Speaker 1:But the ingredients in there. Well, they just got rid of synthetic, synthetic food in Italy. Fricking amazing, it's amazing.
Speaker 2:But you know, there's so many people that write blog posts and post content and say I traveled around Europe and I traveled around here and there and I ate 10 times more than I did in America.
Speaker 1:And they don't gain weight, and I didn't gain any weight.
Speaker 2:And there is some validity to that. It's very crazy how much extra shit we put in our food over here. I was drinking raw milk for a while. It's just a pain in the ass to get out there. To get it you have to go all the way out. To like Matatuck.
Speaker 1:Interesting and.
Speaker 2:I just wanted to try it because there's a lot of people that said raw milk is really good and there's a lot of health benefits to it and this and that and.
Speaker 1:I tried it.
Speaker 2:I don't drink milk so it was like weird for me. But I'll tell you what it tasted better than regular milk, from what I remember, and it tastes way better than almond milk.
Speaker 1:Well, almond milk is not even good for you. It's not good for you.
Speaker 2:It's all synthetic shit. I like the memes. Almonds don't have titties. Yeah, it's the truth.
Speaker 1:It's a scoop. I want to know where their double A's are.
Speaker 2:Just squeezing the nut milk, pause. Pause. So you said Nutella. I actually looked it up. So, compared to European Nutella, american Nutella is generally described as lighter in hue, more chocolate and sugar-forward in flavor. Yep, shocking.
Speaker 1:Whereas in Italy it's more hazelnut right.
Speaker 2:And oilier oilier, oilier and thinner in consistency than its Italian pier. Italian Nutella is often described as darker and richer in both taste and texture and with stronger nutty flavor notes Yep, yep. Yeah, I remember we. I traveled around Europe for a while and I was just every fucking breakfast spot was like breads and croissants.
Speaker 1:And I was like what are you eating? And you think you're eating so unhealthy. Yeah, and you're like, but it's just so different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I would just get a plate of protein when I was in Germany. I would just get a plate of protein. I would just stick to that and that was really it. And I ate burgers and steaks and sides and I didn't gain any weight and I was like what's your weight?
Speaker 1:And you're also walking everywhere. Yeah, you don't realize how many steps you're getting in.
Speaker 2:That's why I live in Huntington, so I just walk around everywhere over here, and then I don't have to drive anymore and sit sedentary in my car.
Speaker 1:So funny story. I had the old iPhone for like the longest time. I recently just finally got like a new iPhone.
Speaker 2:You got the 15?.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I don't even know which one I got. It has all the cameras on the back. The other ones did not. So I leveled up a little bit.
Speaker 2:Okay, let me see which one did you get. Did you get the pro? Yeah, you got the pro. I think, you got the newest one. Oh, you got my phones. You got last year's phone.
Speaker 1:Oh, great, so I'm not up to date. Great, wonderful, thank you. Thank you Sorry.
Speaker 2:You got my phone, we got the purple one. Great, yep, yep.
Speaker 1:So anyway, wait, there was a point to the story.
Speaker 2:Damn it.
Speaker 1:Sorry, where was I going with?
Speaker 2:this I don't know. You said I upgraded my phone for the first time in a long time.
Speaker 1:Man yeah.
Speaker 2:I fucked you up.
Speaker 1:You fucked me up.
Speaker 2:I know, I just wanted to see what phone you had. I had it over tech.
Speaker 1:Where was I going with this?
Speaker 2:We were talking about Germany and walking everywhere.
Speaker 1:Oh there we are. Thank you, you brought me back.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 1:So about talking about steps right? So my old phone was like it was shit.
Speaker 2:No, pedometer feature.
Speaker 1:No, there was nothing. I mean I had a crack on the screen. My friends were like I mean, come on, rena, when are you going to finally get a new phone? So I have this new phone right, which is clearly not the newest.
Speaker 2:It's a new if.
Speaker 1:And it, I guess, tracks my steps on its own somehow.
Speaker 2:I didn't sink anything, I don't me, and tech is not they do not go hand in hand, I wouldn't put too much thought behind it.
Speaker 1:But, but it made me realize how many steps I get in just within a couple of hours of being at work. You know what my treatment rooms look like. They're all close together right In that one hallway. Just from going from room to room to room by 9 am it tells me I, you know, hit my goal. I was like, wow, that's great yeah. You know you got to be careful with those, though because, oh, I'm not using it as like yeah, you're just, you're just checking it.
Speaker 2:I stopped wearing the watch. Actually, I was wearing the watch all the time. I was wearing it to bed and this and that. But you start hearing different stories about not only radiation and the tech and whatnot. Like that, I try not to keep the phone in my pocket anymore.
Speaker 1:I tell everyone please, especially men, do not put your phone in your pocket. Yeah, I didn't cook your balls.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah I don't know if I'm not to, but it's, I put it in my back pocket.
Speaker 1:It's the truth. I don't know if it's any better. Maybe it's going to cook my butt?
Speaker 2:I have no idea.
Speaker 1:Listen, I'm not trying to put, I'm not going to put all of his business out there, but someone that I'm extremely close to in the family. Well, it's my he's. He's open with it, but my sister's boyfriend had to stick to their cancer recently.
Speaker 1:And same side that the phone was on right and it was the same side that he always puts his phone in that pocket and he had to go through hell and back with chemo. I mean, the poor guy really was bad. It was really bad. And he's like how ironic, I put my phone in that pocket every time.
Speaker 2:My mom's friend, donna, who was very close. We were very close to the family. She passed away a couple of years back from a bad brain tumor. She was on her phone constantly, I mean pressed to the head. You know I do speak her a lot. I hold my phone away from me.
Speaker 1:The AirPods are the worst thing for you.
Speaker 2:AirPods are bad for you too, you know you look through the tissue, I mean you just there's so many things trying to assist you in life every day but also kill you at the same time. It's really strange. It's really strange that this technology and once again you go back to like these companies. It's like Tim Cook, apple oldies guys you know, your family definitely wears AirPods. Y'all know what this does.
Speaker 1:Right. There's no way you don't Right right A hundred percent.
Speaker 2:Come on, there's no way, you don't know. Yeah, okay, the radio radiation level is acceptable to, but to what standard? To just the standards that are given by government officials, right? That, oh, this, and lower is fine, right? Or it's standards for humans to actually have you in contact with us on a daily basis. I mean, these are still new devices. We, we, they've only been around theoretically since the 80s. Yeah, right, real, like cell phones, have only been around since the 80s, 90s, they started coming out to consumer levels.
Speaker 1:Well, just think about it's crazy. I had my surgery in June right For the cancer, and while I'm waiting for my results to come back to make sure that my margins were clear and I'm cancer free, you know anxiety through the roof, trying to wait for results and everything else recovering, my parents' house burns down.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And guess what survived the fire.
Speaker 2:What survived the fire?
Speaker 1:My little tiny flip phone, my first flip phone. Yeah, yep, and all bedazzled and everything else, but it's amazing how far these phones have come.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well now, I mean, the new phones would have been disintegrated in four and a half seconds. Yeah, they're not built like they used to.
Speaker 1:No, they're like what the hell is that? And it was my very first flip phone. Yeah, survived. Pretty crazy yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know, I don't trust these things, I don't trust them anymore, and so I don't wear the watch anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've never, it's an $800.
Speaker 2:Apple Watch. There's been reports of people that get motion sickness and feel vertigo and dizziness from having it on the pulse all day, constantly.
Speaker 1:That's also an acupuncture point, yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know I try to minimize wearing them. Now I try to minimize the phone. I don't keep the phone in the bedroom anymore.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I try not to Like every now and then I'll fall asleep with it. You know if I'm bored and I'm scrolling on.
Speaker 1:What do you have? An alarm clock?
Speaker 2:I have a home pod in my room, so my home pod wakes me up every day. If I'm doing the 6 am class, I'll wake up at 445. I'll walk Kenji and then I'll leave at like 530. But my phone stays in my living room.
Speaker 1:Good for you.
Speaker 2:It stays in my living room on the charger and on sleep mode and the only person that can come through on sleep mode is my mom for a phone call, so it's like silent and then I put a sleepcast.
Speaker 1:I can't get over the Martha thing. Sorry, Martha thing right.
Speaker 2:Martha, yeah, hospital storage with my mom, and then I'll put a sleepcast on and I'll just doze off, I'll chill, or I'll say, you know, s-i-r-i. I don't want to say it because it should wake up Right Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. So I'll listen to white noise. So it's nice, it's just to keep it ton as mitigated as possible, and for a while I had my watch charger above my head. On the rest, saying where my? Phone would charge and I'm like I can't be good at that, right above my head.
Speaker 2:And sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night. I'd wake up with the phone directly under my pillow and I'm like oh great, you're just cooking my head while I sleep. That's perfect.
Speaker 1:So now I just Basically what's happening.
Speaker 2:In the living room. In the living room and you know we don't really know what this tech does to us. Incredibly. Like everything, all electronics give off frequencies. And you know electromagnetic frequencies and all these different receptions. I mean the 5G towers they just put up. Everybody automatically accuses people of being quacks and being conspiracy theorists and this and that when they say stuff like we don't know what these 5G towers do to us, they could accelerate cancer, they could trigger things, they could oh, you're just being fucking crazy, either or not. Why?
Speaker 1:Why are we not allowed to question Usually the ones that we always point the finger at, saying that you're the craziest? Is there's some truth to them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot of truth to it. So it's like these new towers that came up. I remember those towers went up and everyone started having headaches. Everyone started feeling weird. I don't think that that's a coincidence. I think that's a new frequency that's hitting your head. That's consistently around you. Think about it. We may not get cell phone reception, but it's around us at all points of the day, on top of, like, wi-fi routers everywhere. You ever just open up your phone and look how many Wi-Fi routers are around you Scary.
Speaker 2:And then think about the ones that are in your house. For years, when I was at my mom's house, my bedroom was the main Wi-Fi router area, that thing just blasting me 24-7. That can't be good for you.
Speaker 1:It can't be good. It's sad because I don't think our parents ever I mean, first of all, it's all new for all of us, but especially our parents. I mean they lived a whole different world back then. Now we're being a little more open to the dangers of different things, but even diets. Back in the day no one knew any better and ironically, the diets back in the day were clear yes, because there was less Right. They were eating bacon, they were eating butter and I actually eat more like that.
Speaker 2:And I've been healthier than I ever have been. I find that funny is that I usually do the quintessential bodybuilder diet all the time Oats and fish, and I've been eating more red meat than I ever have in my life and ironically you feel the best, I feel the best. I cook, and butter. I don't track any butter. I track every food that I eat. I don't track any of the butter I cook in. Sometimes I do like a huge chunk, make pancakes with it. I'll make steaks with it. Theoretically, I should be fat. I should be dying.
Speaker 2:My artery should be hardened up. I should be killing over in front of you right now.
Speaker 1:It's like this, is it? And you look the best you've ever looked.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying. So it's like where's the misinformation, Where's the who is incorrect? And it doesn't even have to be misinformation. It could be. We just didn't dive into this the way that we should have.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:We'll give it the two cents, absolutely. I just Googled because I was curious. I just Googled health issues this one when I got the iPad, I'm ready to go Health issues from wireless routers and, of course, the first thing out of Canada no, no, no, First thing out of Canada who actually just passed or is trying to pass.
Speaker 1:if somebody knows an, I'm incorrect in thinking that trying to pass laws that they can regulate podcasts and what they're allowed to, and not like to say Wait, did you just tell me this or did someone else just tell me this? Someone told us probably told you that, okay, yes.
Speaker 2:So you know, I really believe canadaca their website but it says there are no health risks from exposure to radio frequency EMF from Wi-Fi devices in your home, in schools or other areas accessible to the public. These devices must meet standards to ensure they do not exceed radio frequency EMF exposure limits.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, we know that's a load of bullshit, is it?
Speaker 2:safe to sleep next to a router? As long as you don't sleep on top of the router, you're not in any danger. Could you imagine?
Speaker 1:I'm just hovering over it, yeah.
Speaker 2:That reminds me of that's fucked up. But Randy Marsh from South Park, you ever watched South Park?
Speaker 1:No, okay, I'm sorry, I'm just going to show you the clip.
Speaker 2:It's actually very fucked up and funny. He finds out that if you have cancer you can get legal marijuana, medical marijuana.
Speaker 2:So he starts trying to do everything to get cancer. So he puts his nuts in a microwave, so that's what it reminds me of. It's like sleeping on top of the router. It's like that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to get cancer, yeah. But then you have the NIH, which I also don't really trust, but they have Wi-Fi technology and human health impact. A brief review of current knowledge, I mean, and the studies are out of Belgium and Greece.
Speaker 1:Hmm.
Speaker 2:Wireless standards yeah, they go over 2g, 3g, 4g and 5g, with 6g already announced.
Speaker 1:That's good Wonderful, that's good great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do we really need it? Because I gotta be honest with you, with 5g I thought I'd have cell phone reception everywhere and my shit's struggling, my shit is struggling in the middle of fucking Long Island it all of a sudden you just look at the cold drop calling dropping, but I had full bars in the middle of the desert in Dubai.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting. I get into full-blown arguments with my mom on the phone because it's like you going back and forth. Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's exhausting, yeah and then there's the yeah, don't get me started with technology today.
Speaker 1:We'll just go on forever.
Speaker 2:It's, it's so great. I mean the article, the, the article just goes on and on and on of this health study and just with Variables and contingencies and all this different shit. It's like can you just tell me, does it give me cancer? Does it cook my brain when I put the phone up to my head?
Speaker 1:You know, just give me an idea. You would think even let's go back to even just like the cancer topic. You would think that the Medical system would at least prepare you for everything You're probably going to deal with after some of these surgeries. Even yourself You've gone through surgery recently.
Speaker 1:Yep and it's like you have no idea what you're about to expect, because no one really prepares you for anything, and I think that that's why Not to circle back to what I was saying before but I Truly believe that everything that has happened in my path so far was a blessing in disguise, because it also opens up a whole new door of empathy for other people, because everyone is struggling with something right. So I look at my patients and I'm like I Can't say I know exactly what you're going through, because maybe they had a different form of cancer, they have, like I said, an autoimmune disease or something that's different than what I've gone through, or they're going through rounds and rounds of chemo that I didn't have to go through. So Everyone has their own journey. But to know that you struggled, I struggled and I, we can have a common ground and know that after surgery it sucks, or coming out of so many times anesthesia, so many times it sucks the recovery, to constantly get kicked back down when you're a very active person and you have to get back to you know you're starting ground again, it sucks. Yes, there's a lot of things that suck in life, but it could always be worse, especially in my case I'm like you know what. I was very fortunate. It could be so much worse. I caught things pretty early on and if I can give back as much as I possibly can to other people who are struggling, then I did my job. And if I can communicate as much as I can about things that I've gone through, I did my job. If it can help one person, great. I hope it's more than one person. But I'm actually made a diary, so every time I've had surgery, which gone through many of them, I literally have a book at home and I write everything down that I, you know, suffered with after surgery and I say to myself, okay, I can't be the only person going through these issues, right, so I'm having this symptom or I'm feeling this. So I write everything down and I say to myself now Can I create some sort of a protocol or a method To then treat other women or patients going through this perfect example courting. A lot of people don't even know what courting is.
Speaker 1:It's called axillary web syndrome, right? It's where they remove the lymph nodes and the lymphatic vessel becomes extremely hard and it looks like a rope-like structure sticking out of, like your armpit, and it goes way, far beyond the scar site. So it could go to your bicep almost all the way down to your form. It depends on how severe it is. It usually develops within weeks or months after the surgery. It restricts your range of motion. It's painful Even now. Like I still have some range of motion issues. You can see where one arm goes up a lot higher than the other Left arm goes higher.
Speaker 1:And this is the side that I have all the courting.
Speaker 2:And so it. Just what does it just feel like it's pulling on you.
Speaker 1:It looks like an extra ligament is sticking out of my arm.
Speaker 2:Oh, it sticks out of the skin, oh yeah and you can.
Speaker 1:Actually it looks like a guitar string just sticking out of my armpit. Yeah, you know it's annoying and it's something that people don't talk about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you had mentioned that on the podcast originally and I did want you to. I did want you to get into, obviously, going into the surgery, what you expected versus what actually happened, yeah. And then, of course, you dealt with things after the podcast. So like after our podcast, I believe you had another infection that you dealt with so it's just like I mean, if you could shed some insight on it.
Speaker 2:I mean, realistically, I wanted to I had it written down that I wanted you to To explain how you coped with the physical and emotional challenges immediately after the surgery. That was something that I did want to cover.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you could just, you know, kind of go into like the surgery and then afterwards some of the things that you experienced, like the courting, and then how you dealt with it.
Speaker 1:So, going in, I will never forget my last shower before the surgery. It was the day before and you kind of you're looking at your body like, well, this is my last time seeing my boobs, you know, and it's such a weird feeling like you're kind of like I remember even like touching my boobs. It's like I'm never gonna feel this again, you know, and I don't know what I'm gonna feel after. You know, usually they tell you that you know all your nerves are being cut and breast issues be taken out. So who knows what you're gonna feel after, who knows what I'm gonna look like after? I could look completely botched. It could be a great, you know, a success after. Who knows, who knows what issues they're gonna run into if my body will even accept the implants. You know there's times where your body rejects the implants, which is what happened to me. But yes, I will never forget my first, my last shower, I should say, with my full body.
Speaker 2:Well now you had said you had implants prior as well. Yes, okay.
Speaker 1:So I did that, knowing that I was getting a double mastectomy.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 1:So I that was basically my version of expanding my skin. I had smaller breasts to start with. I had bees I'm gonna put that out there now. They were bee breasts. And when I saw my plastic surgeon he said we can? You know, usually we'd have to do expanders and at the time there was no rush for me to do the double mastectomy until they found more lesions. And then it was. Then I found out that I had the ATM gene mutation and it was just like a snowball effect of like holy crap, this is just a never-ending issue. But my skin was then stretched and it worked out in my favor for that reason, because I did not have to have expanders.
Speaker 2:So and the expanders. If you don't mind me asking, the expanders would just stay in temporarily to expand the skin, yes, or they would just be permanently.
Speaker 1:So it depends. Majority of the time they insert these expanders and over time they start pumping them up, okay, so it slowly starts stretching your skin after double mastectomy so they can fill the implant in there, gotcha, or place the implant in there without you know the skin needs to stretch. So yeah, that last shower was pretty crazy, a crazy feeling. Then you go in for surgery. Scary time it was during COVID so I was by myself, I couldn't have any visitors during the time, which was a little frightening, and woke up from the surgery. It was a nine hour surgery. They did the double mastectomy and reconstruction all in one so it was with direct implant. So they breast tissue removal. So two separate teams. It was the breast oncologist which was my breast surgeon and my plastic surgeon. So it was a very long surgery and it's basically four surgeries in one because one breast had two surgeries, other breast had two surgeries. So four surgeries total in nine hours is a lot on your body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now did you have to have transfusions and blood?
Speaker 1:No, no, so you wake up I had four drains coming out. I was on IV antibiotic because, well, that happened after. But I started developing an infection pretty early on and my whole chest was bright red, high, high fever. It was not fun and you know, after such a large surgery like that your risk of infection is up there. But my body was most likely either rejecting the implants, the trauma. Who knows what the main cause was.
Speaker 2:Is he sleeping? Yeah, I was just looking at him. He was just stretching. Yeah, you're good, you're good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so IV antibiotic it was just. You know, it's a never ending process. Finally, I'm good to go. Then I had to have more reconstruction done, where they did fat grafting and they had to place it back into your breast because it looked very I don't want to say disproportionate, but I had areas where it looked extremely flat. Then you could see the implant and it just looked a little botched which happens.
Speaker 1:I mean, you basically just got gutted, you know. So they do a fat grafting, where they actually place your own fat into your breast, and it also helped with my infection because your body starts reacting to the fat grafting. It was a whole big thing, but yeah, and then after that I was recently diagnosed again and it was another surgery. Yeah, it's been a road.
Speaker 2:So now, after that initial don't mistake me you dealt with the infections and then you dealt with cording. The cording, yeah. And what else were you dealing with?
Speaker 1:The cording was probably the worst part of it. So when I made my little diary of everything that I was feeling, I said to myself, okay, I need to figure out a way to treat this, because I was sent to physical therapy for it and this is no diss to any physical therapist out there but unfortunately, the physical therapist that I went to was placing ice on the cord and basically leaving an ice pack on my cording, and she didn't know what I did for a living. She was a sweetheart sweetheart of a woman. But I said to her I don't think ice should be placed on the cording. She said, yes, it's inflammation. I said, no, it should be, if anything, a heating pad. I said but this needs to be broken up. You should not be putting ice on this.
Speaker 1:We got into a little bit of an argument over it. I never went back, started treating myself, which is not easy because you're in pain, limited range of ocean. I started needling myself, I started using the grass in the gua sha tool on that area, manipulating it, doing my own exercises, and I created my own protocol for it and I now treat all my post-op double mastectomy patients with this method and it's been a huge success and the cording has been one of the main things I treat now.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, I mean, I can only imagine if you didn't have that background. And you didn't have the knowledge base to just believe the physical therapist, you would think that that's the best way to treat it. You wouldn't know to I mean, most people wouldn't know what grass done is, so they would sit there and they'd just be like, well, just the best way, and you also have to be careful for lymphedema, which is the whole other. What is that?
Speaker 1:It's basically where, for example, the an arm right where they take out the lymph nodes. A lot of times you can develop lymphedema where the whole arm starts to swell up. It is extremely difficult to reverse.
Speaker 2:Oh, so the arms stay swollen then yeah, they usually have to wear a sleeve.
Speaker 1:It's a nightmare and my heart goes out to anyone who's dealing with that, but that is something that you can start treating directly post-op. So if I could put anything out there is to just make sure, yes, obviously, that you have a good oncologist, a good surgeon, everything else, but that you also have a post-op team that will take good care of you and will be looking for these things, because your head is so filled with so much information and worry, anxiety and pain You're not thinking straight. So if you know that you're going to someone who will at least look for those warning signs for you and be able to treat you, that is the best advice I can give. And just have good people in your corner that will ask the proper questions and look out for your best interest.
Speaker 2:Do you find that, when going through difficult procedures and diagnoses, that some of the family members or friends can get a little bit distant or weird with it? Or what was your experience with that?
Speaker 1:I have to say my core people are amazing. They were definitely there for me. But my personality from an outside, looking in, I think everyone always thinks I'm fine because I put on that shield. So when I was in the first few days of recovery, I don't really like people being around me besides my mom or my dad, and then after that my friends have been great. But I'm definitely one of those people that likes to kind of close myself off a little bit Until I feel more like myself, which I don't know if that's right or wrong.
Speaker 2:But it's your way. It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong. It's the way that you feel like you can recover successfully, and people not only have to be respectful of that, but you have to be understanding of yourself, or that too and not beat yourself up.
Speaker 1:But I will say that if you're going through a tough time and your friends are not there for you, or your loved ones, or whatever it may be, which is also a tricky topic, because I'm sure it can be uncomfortable for other people to not know how to really Approach you on certain topics and how to properly be there for you, but they should be there for you.
Speaker 2:Those are your people. You're right, you're right, you're right.
Speaker 1:And I'm beyond thankful for my core group. They're amazing people.
Speaker 2:I mean, I would only hope that you have that support circle at all times, because it's difficult. Not only difficult, but the physical side of things, but the emotional side.
Speaker 1:My patients are actually part of my core group. They have been, oh my gosh, I can't say enough about them. I mean sending me stuff to my house Trying to come over, and these are my patients. That boundary is just like we are one big family. It really is the most amazing thing, and I think that's where I look back at my journey and I'm like I'm actually really, really grateful Because I'm lucky. I'm very lucky. You can turn any bad situation and you can find something good that came out of it, no matter how bad it is, whether it's personal growth, things that you learn from it, how it helps other people, but you can always turn a really bad situation somehow into a positive.
Speaker 2:Were there any times that you double thought the double mastectomy decision. So, Were that you questioned it.
Speaker 1:Going into it. Yes, it was a constant back and forth. I might never even develop breast cancer. Am I doing this too premature or I'm not going to be able to breastfeed my kids? And that was a hard. That was super difficult Because I was like, again, can't wait to be a mother and now I can't breastfeed, and that's a very big part of a bonding experience Between you and your child. But then I always had to remind myself that having breast cancer is way worse and I want to be as healthy as possible.
Speaker 1:Now, finding out that I had atypical cells that were found after having the double mastectomy when they test all the breast tissue, it definitely made my decision, it validated it, because I was like, wow, you know what? I made a great choice. But that also goes back to the women who had prophylactic double mastectomies and their breast tissue came back totally normal. I hope to God that they never second-guess their decision, because they made the best decision for themselves and for their future families, for their future children, their spouses, whoever's in their life that cares about them. You just lowered your risk tremendously so that you and your loved ones do not have to go through that. So I hope that they never second-guess that if their pathology comes back completely normal After a prophylactic double mastectomy.
Speaker 2:I could only imagine that would be pretty tough To then see the results.
Speaker 1:And majority of the time, that's what comes back.
Speaker 2:And everything's fine and you're just like, wow, I just went through all that. And did I really need to? We second-guess ourselves constantly Work, life, everything, and having a major surgery that changes your entire body, your mentality. Everything gets affected.
Speaker 1:Working out.
Speaker 2:I can't even do chest.
Speaker 1:So you see me in the gym. I do my own workout in the corner sometimes, because when they're doing chest presses or anything that's chest dominant.
Speaker 2:She just doesn't want to do the burpees.
Speaker 1:I'm just like I'm just gonna do more shoulders, more shoulders, Crazy shoulders. Hey, I still do the burpees.
Speaker 2:Oh, the burpees suck. I fucking hate them.
Speaker 1:I always fuck my shoulder off the burpees and I'm not gonna lie, I was one of the last ones to hold my plank.
Speaker 2:Were you, I was.
Speaker 1:So you know what Double mastectomy that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but don't there was a question that. That I saw kind of like a trend. I did a little bit of research, just looking up things and seeing what Some people were either questioning themselves about or questioning other people on the internet. And one question came up, and it was how has your experience as a cancer survivor and a mastectomy patient influenced your relationship With loved ones, which we just got to? But how did it change your self-image and femininity After the surgery? Was there a change and if there was, how did you combat it?
Speaker 1:Huge change because I'm numb, I don't feel anything. Actually, that's a whole other topic. The feeling after double mastectomy Is definitely different. You don't feel like yourself. You know it's a foreign object in you and you just lost something that was part of you, that's even hormone related. I mean the glands and breast tissue. That's all part of you that was just removed and now it's skin and an implant. So, yes, am I thankful that plastic surgery Is where it is today for reasons like this? Absolutely, but it was, definitely. It was different. But I think knowing that you Took charge of your health, it helps you get over the fact Of more of the image, part of things, because boobs or boobs, you know, everyone shows them off these days anyway, asks, cheeks are everywhere, boobs are everywhere.
Speaker 2:I know what 90% of the girls on the internet look like naked, so Right.
Speaker 1:So I'm like. You know what. All my scars tell a story and at first I was extremely embarrassed of my scars because I was like you know, you wear a certain shirt, you see the scar come up all the way up to my armpit. But that's who I am, it's part of me and I saved my life. They found the atypical cells and again, I'm not saying anyone who did a prophylaxis that will mastectomy that their breast tissue came back normal At some point. The likelihood of them developing breast cancer was very high.
Speaker 2:Do you know what the percentage is by chance?
Speaker 1:It depends on the gene mutation, gotcha, so for your situation.
Speaker 2:If yours had come back normal, what would roughly be your percentage of developing?
Speaker 1:Anywhere from I believe it was 60 to 70 something percent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not in your favor.
Speaker 1:And including my family history. So, and the 11 biops I mean I was a ticking time bomb, to be completely honest with you, when it came to my breast and then to have cancer, you know, three years later that was associated with the ATMG mutation just goes to show that, yes, it is a real thing. So I'm so happy I did the double mastectomy. But body image wise it's different. You kind of get used to it after a while. This is who I am now. I think the hardest part for me is I still have restrictions when I'm working out. So you know how much I love to work out.
Speaker 2:It works out like a savage. Works out like a savage.
Speaker 1:Part of my life, so to not be able to do certain things. Thank God I can still box with Jamal. That is my main thing. As long as I can throw my punches, I'm good to go.
Speaker 2:And the only person I can hold the pads is Jay Money.
Speaker 1:Yeah right exactly.
Speaker 2:That's the only one. I can hold the pads with that fury.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. You know you get through it and I think your scars tell your story and no one should ever be ashamed of your scars. And you're alive. So you look at those scars every day. As much as it. Yes, it's a reminder of a bad time. You overcame some badass stuff. So, you know, walk with those scars and know and keep hold your head high, knowing that you got through some crazy shit. Honestly. And going back to not so much just appearance wise, I had the Jones Beach breast cancer walk last Sunday. Now breasts have been numb since the double mastectomy, almost to the point where it's a very odd feeling, numbing feeling. I don't even know how to explain it because I'll feel like I have an itch. I go to itch it and it's almost like you can never itch the itch. A fan of itches it's yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:And what that is. It's nerve pain. You know they cut the nerve endings so it's like little like rapid fire, nerve endings trying to send signals which it can't. And I was at the breast cancer walk and I felt something different and I was like this is weird, right, cause I don't feel anything. So the fact that I'm even feeling something is odd, right. I go home that day the next morning I'm an excruciating amount of pain, to the point where think of like frostbite, but when you have frostbite, someone's cutting you at the same time on the frostbite.
Speaker 1:That is the best way I could describe it. It was cold for the first time in a while right and I was walking for a few miles and I guess my chest wasn't insulated properly.
Speaker 2:It froze the twins.
Speaker 1:Right, the twins were very cold. It froze them, yeah, and I couldn't feel that, but my nerve endings were, I guess, feeling it. And let's just say, even till this day I am still feeling these like crazy pains, and that is the only thing that changed was the temperature, and my body is trying to still readjust. It's a pretty wild feeling that nobody prepares you for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So and you said one of the things you had said on the first podcast was you went to the sauna, I went to the sauna. You were like cooking from the inside.
Speaker 1:Yes, it was like my chest felt so hot, whereas the rest of my body was. Yeah, of course, it was hot and sweating, but this was like.
Speaker 2:It was like a burning sensation, that I and that's one of these lava, I said these lava saunas.
Speaker 1:It's funny when you go to you know your oncologist or your breast surgeon, they always tell you be careful of water temperature when you're in the shower, because if it's too hot and it hits your chest first, you won't be able to detect the temperature. So you could actually just burn yourself because you don't feel anything.
Speaker 2:It's like me when I eat anything and you know what Skin on my roof. My mouth has been gone for years. It's over.
Speaker 1:You're so hungry, just shove it right in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'm callusing my palate. I'm just like fuck it man, just burn it all off, so I could just eat everything hot scalding.
Speaker 1:I saw this one article and I was like I was like I always wanted to be a superhero, right? So-.
Speaker 2:What'd you want your powers to be?
Speaker 1:I would love to be invisible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:I would love to just creep on people and like-.
Speaker 2:Invisibility would be great. I've always wanted to do teleporting.
Speaker 1:Oh, that-.
Speaker 2:Because I usually Irish exit. So if I could just-. Oh, so nice, so just be right in your bed. That's it Right in my jam jams. Yeah, yeah, Got it right home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good one. Okay, well, that's good but Never have to Uber. It's great Nice.
Speaker 2:If you can go to the party, go to every party you go to every party pop in and you can just be like oh, it's beat, teleport right back home, like okay, whatever, like where's Nick? I just saw him. Nah, he left.
Speaker 1:He left, he teleported, he teleported, he teleported Two seconds, he's home already.
Speaker 2:I go to parties in California. Ah nah, it still sucks out here, Peace.
Speaker 1:You have your own teleport app. Yeah, you just press the button. You're gone. Yeah, gone, gone.
Speaker 2:I'm trying everywhere. Just go back to New Orleans. Nope, place still sucks.
Speaker 1:Hey Kenji, hey man, Do you have a special power?
Speaker 2:Yes, powers to stress me out.
Speaker 1:And to have so much fur. Yeah, you and your fur bowl, you and your toe go, come here, come here.
Speaker 2:I know you haven't been to the podcast for a while, I know hello bubble.
Speaker 1:But going back to my special power, okay, listen to this. So I read an article that someone got shot that had implants and the bullet got stuck in the implant.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:Now, whether this is a real story or not, I'm gonna pretend it is, because if there's a problem, you put me first.
Speaker 2:I will make sure to hold you up like a human shield.
Speaker 1:I will guard you Like you know what from Austin Powers when they have like the things coming out.
Speaker 2:I like it when she blows up and he goes machine gun jubblies, that's me.
Speaker 1:How did I not see that? Yes, that's me. So just know, you're bulletproof, I'm bulletproof, you're bulletproof just there.
Speaker 2:Just there, just there, yeah All right, so we'll have to get you actual bulletproofing for the top of our underrules, yep, and just leave this open, just that open. Hold her. They're still firing you good up there. Yeah, I'm okay, I'm just chilling, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm bouncing off the mask. I did wanna say what I really found was awesome was that your last event, the pink aid event at your office.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, the turnout.
Speaker 2:first of all, Not only was the turnout awesome, but it was really great to see all the other survivors come out and I feel like that.
Speaker 1:People also that I met for the first time that just followed me.
Speaker 2:That's an amazing thing to you, all have a similarity. You all have this thing, that kind of bonds all of you together and you're able to share your experiences with one another and, although similar, very different, but it's almost like a sisterhood or you know, you feel for one another and it's like a support circle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's crazy because the more you talk about these things, the more people you meet and you don't realize how many people you're actually helping by being vocal about it. You know, and some people are not comfortable speaking about it and I say to myself you know what, screw it, I'll be one of the people to speak about everything and anything. I'm a very open person. So if I can talk and I don't know, share some even embarrassing moments of the process, if it can help someone just understand that it's part of it and you're not alone in it, then that's all I could hope for. I mean, it helps.
Speaker 2:Without question it helps and I do wish that more people would be open with it, Just like I told you, my booty surgery.
Speaker 1:I tell people.
Speaker 2:I talk about it. Fav and Jamal were laughing because he's like I put a clip out and I said, listen, I've had a lot of trauma lately the booty surgery, this that. And Fav was like yo crazy, you just throw it right out there I said you know what, you know what. Because it's so common and so many people don't speak about it and it's. And yeah, dude, stop looking at yourself, man, he's choking again Bro you got mad hair son All these hairballs.
Speaker 1:I know I gotta brush him tonight.
Speaker 2:I know and you know, by not talking about it not only does it seem more rare, but then people don't get your experience on it. Because, although it could be a similar thing, that everybody went through your experience with it could be very different than mine. It's so different than right, right, and you could go oh, or you're just starting in the intro stages of having something like that and you're like, oh wait, that's what this might be.
Speaker 1:But also how difficult it is going through any sort of like a trauma situation, right? Whether it's cancer or not cancer, any surgery Listen, someone could have a hernia and think it was the worst day of their life, right? Because to them that was traumatic, whereas someone next to them is, you know, unfortunately battling stage four cancer. So everyone deals with their own thing, their own way, and if something is traumatic to someone, they're allowed to feel that that's trauma. You know, everyone deals with things differently. So also realizing that trying to live your everyday life through this is very difficult, whether you have a job I mean, I would hope you have a job or owning your own business, or just you have kids that you have to take care of while you're fighting cancer, post-op patients that need to get back to their job as quick as possible because they need to make money. It's not easy, like it's not just finding out that you have a cancer diagnosis, it is also dealing with everything else that comes with it and still trying to be normal.
Speaker 2:And there's a lot that comes with it. It's not just one thing.
Speaker 1:It kind of hits you all at the same time.
Speaker 2:All the responsibilities it's tough. I did wanna ask. Many people do find strength and inspiration in stories of resilience, so what message or insight would you have for others listening that either are too scared to get tested or potentially in the intro stages of going through this, or in the post-op stages of now dealing with the other side of it? You know, what type of inspiration would you have for them?
Speaker 1:Stay true to yourself. Find your own piece. So you have to find your own little bubble of peace and if there's anyone that's in that bubble or anything that's taking that piece away from you, you have to cut it out like a cancer, because they're removing cancer from you, right? They're doing everything they can to kill this cancer. You have to kill anything that's in your life that is bringing negative or toxic energy to you. You also have to realize how strong you are, no matter what you're going through, because if you can find strength through the really dark times, you don't even realize the strength that you have within you. And when it comes to moving forward, trying to look at the present and not staying in the past, because you might have had a shitty day the night before or the day before, a week before, but that doesn't mean tomorrow has to be as shitty. So constantly try and figure out your next game plan to make the next day better and for the testing purposes.
Speaker 1:It is a scary thing. You should know in yourself that knowledge is power. If you can get tested and you can have it covered by insurance, you have a strong family history. All power to you to please get tested, because you will be ahead of the game. You will know what cancers are associated with that gene mutation. You can have proper screening, you can be under surveillance, you will know more than most people and, as scary as it is, you can use that to your advantage and be the healthiest version of yourself.
Speaker 2:Couldn't agree more. I really couldn't. It's scary when it comes down to it, and it's a prize on fears of mostly death.
Speaker 1:I would say, of course, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'd say when people hear a cancer diagnosis they automatically think mortality and it's over and that's that. And one of the things that I've had to battle over the years mentally is my father has MS. So, it's not technically hereditary, but I'm sure my chances of getting it are increased.
Speaker 1:And they're still learning about genetics. You know what I mean Every day.
Speaker 2:So it's tough and you start thinking down that rabbit hole. But I like what you said, with the next day doesn't have to be shitty if you're having a bad day, and one of the Dr Aiman tips that I've tried to, I try to remember. See, the issue is, I take all this information in. I take all the things that I hear and I read and I try to incorporate. You're not gonna change overnight.
Speaker 1:First of all, that's the other thing. If you can make little baby steps each day to be a better person overall meaning mentally, emotionally, physically then you're doing something right. You do not have to change overnight into this completely different person. Just take baby steps to doing better for yourself and you will feel so much better.
Speaker 2:With all the tips, it gets tough because you start the ideal morning routine.
Speaker 1:It's like if I did everything that I was fucking told you never leave the house.
Speaker 2:I never leave the house and I wouldn't have been able to actually do anything. But that. Dr Aiman tip is when you lay your head on the pillow at night, you lay there and you just go. What went right today?
Speaker 1:Even if it was a shitty day.
Speaker 2:What went right today? And you start to catalog and go well, this went right, my mom's healthy, or this happened or I feel good about this. I have a new client or I'm cancer-free, finally Things like that you get excited about. And these are the little victories that you have to celebrate, because we can get so consumed with the negative and the negative can just cloud our head.
Speaker 2:Even when we're trying to stay super positive. I mean, there's been plenty of times where I give A1 advice on the podcast from things that I've read, things that I've heard, things that I've seen, and my mom will listen to the episode. She'll be like you have to practice that more.
Speaker 1:I'm like, I'm trying, I really am.
Speaker 2:But it's like I know what I have to do and then sometimes you just get caught up in the minutia of just everything that goes on in a day. But little baby steps of figuring out what went right during the day.
Speaker 1:And try not to be a why me person. The less you say why me and you say this is me. So this is what's going on. You can't change a diagnosis, right, but you can change the way you approach it. You can change your mindset through it. Listen, I'm not saying that is easy, because going through chemo and all these different things, I mean you are really. I think that is one of the worst things someone could possibly go through. So again, my heart goes out to every single person that has battled cancer. But to be able to come out on the other end and say I overcame that, I mean you're untouchable. What more can you not handle? Right, you can handle everything at that point.
Speaker 2:It has you feel like you're clam-dever-ist Right and it makes you.
Speaker 1:That goes into all aspects of life. Even now I became such a calmer person with my reactions to certain things because you get thrown these words at you like cancer. You have no control over that right, but you have control over who you are and your reaction to it. Not saying that the reaction is always how you want it to be, but you can be more mindful of it. And it has helped me so much in my everyday life because all of a sudden I'm like the calm person where usually I have that type A personality, where it's like that fight or flight and type A and everything else, and it's like, no, if I don't have any control over this situation, I'm just gonna make the best out of this situation that I possibly can, and not everything needs such a crazy reaction. I think it's funny because this is my last little story.
Speaker 2:No, it's okay you're good.
Speaker 1:I went to Colorado recently and we were at a Jets Broncos game right, sitting next to another like it was this random couple that we were sitting next to and the guy starts talking to me about the score Jets One right, and he starts talking to me about numerology right. And I'm like interesting, I don't know how we're getting onto this topic in the middle of a Jets Broncos game, but cool, I'm all about it right when something like that happens to me, I just look at people and I just go go on.
Speaker 1:Well, I was intrigued.
Speaker 2:I was like where is this going?
Speaker 1:Because maybe this means something right. So he starts telling me about being Native American, which, by the way, is that even the right term anymore? Native American, american Indian, you can't even say Indian style crisscross applesauce, whatever it is, I'm part Native American.
Speaker 2:Are you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, chalk torture.
Speaker 2:I was just saying oh, wow, I know, I know. Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know. One of the originals was in my presence, my great, great great grandfather was Chief Oaxaca actually. Really yes, yes, what did you use 23 and May?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but also my.
Speaker 2:All the way from Italy to Native American.
Speaker 1:Well, deadside is purely is very Italian. As you know, the accent Mom's side is part Native American, which is pretty amazing. So this guy starts talking to me about numerology and being Native American. I was like, oh my God, so am I. And he was Cherokee Twins. Yeah, I'm like we just became best friends. He's Cherokee, I'm Choctaw. Anyway, talking about numerology, he's like you have to find your life path number. I said what the hell is my life path number? Right? And here I am. Now I'm super intrigued. Yeah, oh wait, there's a whole site for it, for being Native American and everything.
Speaker 2:I don't really I have to find Do I have to be Native American at my life path number?
Speaker 1:I'll give you my Native American-ness, so you'll be Native American from the Choctaw tribe, cool, perfect.
Speaker 2:I'm an inductee. Am I gonna get hazed to get into it? They're gonna tie me to a horse and drag me around. Yes, it's just fucked up. I don't even know.
Speaker 1:Just don't say Indian style.
Speaker 2:Not bad.
Speaker 1:Say criss-cross applesauce sir.
Speaker 2:You can't say you're an Indian giver if they give a gift back. Oh my God sir.
Speaker 1:So long story short. Here. I am going off topic again.
Speaker 2:No, we always do, it's okay. I'm looking at my life number while you're talking.
Speaker 1:Don't give me your life path number yet. Okay, I won't. Can I get it?
Speaker 2:Yes, all right hold on.
Speaker 1:Do you want me to look up the website?
Speaker 2:No, I'm on numerologycom.
Speaker 1:Is that a real one? I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know, Don't they all aggregate the same way?
Speaker 1:I'm sure yeah, but this one was like a native American one, so it was a little cooler.
Speaker 2:I'm not gonna get a reading on that one.
Speaker 1:You're right, oh it's tokenrockcom Type, that bad boy in.
Speaker 2:Doing it right now. I typed Tuken Sounds like a street fighter, token Rock.
Speaker 1:So he goes, pull this website up. Right now, in the middle of the game, I'm like, okay, I was like all about it, so I pull this up. You have to put your birthday in.
Speaker 2:I see it on the side.
Speaker 1:And anyone that knows me knows that my lucky number is anything with three in it and 11. So corny little thing. Every night, at 11, 11, I try to text my mom at 11, 11, and I say I love you. And we make a wish at 11, 11. Almost like a little prayer, which super corny, I know, but that's our thing, right. So 11, 11 is like really important to me. So 11 and anything with three, okay. My life path number is 11. Now the comfortable circle here. You know how I said that I truly believe that my genetic mutation was a blessing in disguise.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So the ATM gene is associated with chromosome 11.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 1:Yes, no-transcript. Wait, it still comes full circle. I'm trying to get there. I'm getting there Now.
Speaker 2:There are some people that don't believe coincidences that are rolling their eyes right now.
Speaker 1:But I 100%. You know what I don't care.
Speaker 2:Guess what Fuck exit, exit stage left. We're good on y'all, we believe in that shit. Go on, you know what?
Speaker 1:If this is not a coincidence, 11 means something to me.
Speaker 2:Yes, it does.
Speaker 1:My mom does readings, my Tara reads it Really, so she does all that. Oh my gosh, I would love for her to give me a reading. She'll do a reading for you. She does all that. Wait, I'm not kidding, I'm all about this stuff, whether it's real or not, makes me feel good. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Stop shitting on everybody, random people that don't believe in shit.
Speaker 1:Exactly so.
Speaker 2:I bet you believe the world is round right. Have you ever been to space? Really, that's what I say all the time, whenever people battle back and forth, they go well, it's not flat. I go, have you been up there? They go no, oh, okay, so I guess you don't know. I mean I don't know, so just keep your mouth shut. I don't know if it's round or flat.
Speaker 1:Right, right right.
Speaker 2:Anyway, so 11.
Speaker 1:11. So chromosome 11 is what is associated with my gene mutation. Crazy right. 11. 11, 11. Between my mom and I, that's our thing. Super corny, that's our thing. Then, if you see your life path number, it gives you a title of like what I'm looking at mine. So it basically gives you a title for your character, traits and everything else and who you are as a person.
Speaker 2:Very ironic. Guess what mine is what?
Speaker 1:Like, based on what you know of me, what do you think I would be considered? It's?
Speaker 2:bad vague.
Speaker 1:Like if I had a title.
Speaker 2:I don't boss.
Speaker 1:Okay, boss, I like that, I do like, boss, I do like that, thank you. But it's the healer. How crazy is that. That is that is and it says that I find peace. Peace and what I say about finding peace. You have to make your own little peaceful bubble, right. I find peace in helping other people.
Speaker 2:That's amazing.
Speaker 1:And that my profession should be something like a charity worker, a doctor a nurse. So I said you know what this numerology shit is something.
Speaker 2:It is something. Yeah, do you want mine?
Speaker 1:Yes, I do you ready. Oh, are you showing us me or saying it? Oh, my God, wait, hold on, you're my lucky number.
Speaker 2:Three, three the creative and you wanna know something crazy.
Speaker 1:That's ironic, Wait you wanna know something else is really crazy. I do 1111 is my mom, so that's between my mom and I, right, yep, her life path number is 22. 1111, for anyone that doesn't know that what that adds up to is 22.
Speaker 2:If y'all don't know math, if y'all don't know how to do the math, it's 22,.
Speaker 1:Okay, my father. What is my other lucky number besides 11?
Speaker 2:is three.
Speaker 1:My father is a three Three, the creative that's weird.
Speaker 2:What do I do for work? That's creepy.
Speaker 1:You're a pretty creative guy.
Speaker 2:People with a life path. Three are the most artistic in the bunch. You find ways of creating the most beautiful things in this world, such as art, music, literature. You breathe life into culture and make it seem so simple because of your natural gift for expression.
Speaker 1:There we go.
Speaker 2:This explains why the entertainment industry is chock full of life path threes as we do a podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank God for the threes out there. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:Your mindset will do well by ignoring any cynics or defeats you may come across. And boy do I. Stay strong with your creative outlet and true to your goals. And they will often pay off personally, financially or both. All of life path threes tend to enjoy life and all that they can get out of it. The extraverted threes love being in the spotlight and showing off their talent. On the other hand, introverted threes lean more towards solitary creative pursuits that can garner them a following without being in the spotlight, such as artist or writer.
Speaker 1:I think you're like right in the middle of both extremes. Yeah, because I'm big on the jam jams and getting away from everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the ironic thing is my favorite number is 29.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:What does that add up to?
Speaker 1:Let me think, hold on.
Speaker 2:It's okay. Hit the fingers, get the fingers.
Speaker 1:You're mine and you're my lucky number. Yep, well, I'm no, I'm your no. No, I'm your lucky number. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then 29th is my birthday. I'm August 29th.
Speaker 1:See, and why is three my lucky number? I'm 33193. Things come full circle here. Numerology is real. Yeah, look it up.
Speaker 2:Not Scientology. Look up Numerology, not Scientology. We're not part of a weird cult. No, we are not. We're gonna start a numerology cult. We have to.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna go around to every single person I know and tell them to go on to. What is this? Token Rock, Token Rock, Token Rock.
Speaker 2:You know we have to make our own site. It's gotta be our own site.
Speaker 1:We should make our own tribe.
Speaker 2:Okay, you can say that I can't say that I will. My YouTube account that just got a thousand subscribers will go to zero. They'll be like Nick wants to start a what?
Speaker 1:Criss Cross. Abelsoes, criss Cross.
Speaker 2:Abelsoes, hold on ready, I got it Is he all right? Yeah, I don't know. This is us right now with the numerology. Gotta figure out how to make money on this. I really want to.
Speaker 1:Well, you know we were maybe debating a foot only fans. Yes, this, I think, is much better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no one's. I just wanna make it very clear. No one is buying pictures of my feet, nobody.
Speaker 1:No one. There's some weird people out there. I don't think you're gonna buy pictures of these dogs. No, not even the pinky toe.
Speaker 2:Oh no, my pinky toe is fucked. It is over for that.
Speaker 1:pinky toe Does it look like a little macaroni. It looks like it just. It doesn't look good. Okay, it just. I don't know what it looks like. Maybe we should just amputate it. Yeah, why?
Speaker 2:not right. That'd be good for Jiu-Jitsu.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who needs that? Why is Nick on balance all the time?
Speaker 2:He keeps falling over.
Speaker 1:Like it was for my only fans. Yeah, it was for the Tony fans.
Speaker 2:It was for the Tony fans. Oh my God, I gotta cut that.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, the Tony fans. We're on tokenrockcom finding our life path numbers and you just created a Tony fan.
Speaker 2:This is literally what we're doing at 630 on Saturday night.
Speaker 1:So I also think I found I figured out a new word Go on. I'm not sure if it's already out there or not.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna look it up.
Speaker 1:It's Scoville.
Speaker 2:Scoville units.
Speaker 1:No, no, so you know when you go get your nails done.
Speaker 2:Go on. Yeah, I just got them done, okay.
Speaker 1:So you have like a square shape, an oval shape.
Speaker 2:Scoville.
Speaker 1:So I made a Scoville.
Speaker 2:Okay, how would you spell that?
Speaker 1:S-Q-O-V.
Speaker 2:Oh, a Pokemon came up, s-k.
Speaker 1:Which, by the way, I used to have a lot of Pokemon cards back in the day and they all burned to a crisp.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's a word, so it's your own word.
Speaker 1:Oh cool, I should put that in an urban dictionary. Let's do it. Scoville units.
Speaker 2:I have to find all my Pokemon cards. Still, I wanna-.
Speaker 1:I don't even wanna talk about it because I feel like I could have been a billionaire, probably.
Speaker 2:And I could have as well, and I just don't know where they are. I think they got flooded away during Sandy at my dad's house in.
Speaker 1:Freeport yeah.
Speaker 2:Why they were down there. I don't remember.
Speaker 1:I had a whole book. I was weird, I was like-.
Speaker 2:Sounds kind of awesome to me, yeah, I have magic cards all over my kitchen table. As a 32-year-old man, that sounds pretty cool. I'm gonna put my hand in the show notes. But how can people get in touch with you? Dm me anytime. Marina Bina with three A's after the A, marina, and three A's after the Bina. That name always kills me.
Speaker 1:You know it's been my name for the longest time. I'm like I'm not changing it.
Speaker 2:No, no.
Speaker 1:And now you have to stick to it Right Cause Just like, if I ever wanna get rid of Rizzles, it's never happening.
Speaker 2:No, it is Rizz or you could email me at infoatmovemedrxcom, which is my business name. I'm a big fan of Rizz. I'm a big fan of Rizz. I'm a big fan of Rizz.
Speaker 1:I'm a big fan of Rizz. I go at movemedrxcom, which is my business email, and I'm here to help. I know that, like we go off tangents a lot of times, but my one thing that I want everyone to take away is everyone has their own scars, whether they are physically seen or you're wearing emotional scars, whatever it may be, everyone has their own scars. Embrace it, move forward and be human and be kind to yourself.
Speaker 2:Be kind to yourself. That is the message right there, because I am definitely too hard on myself. I think we're joining the time. I'm horrible to myself.
Speaker 1:If you only heard things I say to myself on a daily basis, I'm like Marina. Stop bullying yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, just in a professional environment, in a physical environment like just to. I mean, I yell at myself when I roll at Jiu-Jitsu. I'm like you, stupid bitch. You got caught in the same fucking move and then I'm getting smothered.
Speaker 1:I'm like.
Speaker 2:God damn it.
Speaker 1:But you know what's crazy? Okay, I swear this is really my last story and then just cut me off.
Speaker 2:Cut me off like throw something at me, I got you, I got the dog, I got rain, I got coffee. I'm chilling right now we're good.
Speaker 1:We're good, Cool, cool. It was a great Friday night, by the way. Saturday.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, shit, it's okay Okay.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's all right, it's been a long day. It's been a long day. It's been a long week. Anyway, Saturday night what month are we?
Speaker 2:in. That's that I can't help you out with, because it feels like it's still December of last year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, seriously, I feel like we're still in like 21.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, I think we're still in 19,. To be honest with you, I don't think we ever left 2019.
Speaker 1:Agreed, I think it's just been a little bit blur. I would love to go back like I don't wanna be 30.
Speaker 2:Why?
Speaker 1:I like being 30. Yeah, are you?
Speaker 2:30? I'm 32. Oh shit, yeah, I'm 32. All right, I got some mileage.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:That's why everything hurts.
Speaker 1:Well, if you would only let me needle you, I'm gonna let you needle me. You at least went and donated blood.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was tough, so that was good. I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1:I'm very proud of you. But going back to my last and final story, I swear this is it Last and final story. I think a big part of who I am as a person and how it helped me is my father, Because, well, my mom too. Obviously my mom is my best friend.
Speaker 1:That's not what I'm saying but my dad, when I was younger, has always been the guy that I think he thought I was his son, to be honest with you. So he treated me like a son more than a daughter, which helped me out so much later on in life. Right, so he started. He came to America without a penny in his pocket from Italy. Everything else Started off as a cleaning company, and this is another thing. You better love and respect the person that you end up marrying and have kids with, because that is your partner.
Speaker 1:My dad wouldn't be who he is without my mom. Vice versa, they created this amazing business together. But he started off as a cleaning company, right, Literally cleaning office buildings in the city, Now developed into a huge construction maintenance cleaning company. But back in the day, when I was six, seven, eight years old, we were struggling, right, and you would like a normal kid would probably go hang out with their friends or normal things that a kid would do. I want to go to work with my dad in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and it would be a school night and my dad would take me with him and I would have my own vacuum and I would be dusting, vacuuming everything with my father till late at night, and it was one night. He loves to tell this story all the time, but we left the building and we were not in the best area and it was downpouring, like downpouring, Like we're like.
Speaker 1:The wind is taking the rain and it's coming from the side and I was like dad, we have to take a cab. He's like, no, we don't. You have two legs, he goes. You have two healthy legs which we are walking to the subway. And I was like, oh my gosh, like you know and it was he put a garbage bag over my head and cut out little eyes. He'd be like that.
Speaker 1:And we walked. And boy did we walk to the subway. And it sounds something so stupid, Like the story seems so insignificant, but at a young age you're like no, you're right, I have two healthy legs. So take, never take anything for granted, because when you're physical, what you can do on a daily basis, especially physically, is taken away from you from surgeries, diagnosis, whatever it may be. It is a huge slap in the face and you constantly have to find a way to crawl yourself out of that hole and that's another thing I just hope that everyone takes away from.
Speaker 1:This is never take anything for granted and I know that that sounds so stupid coming from such a stupid conversation and story with my dad about walking in the rain as like a six year old after cleaning buildings. But that one statement you have two healthy legs, You're right. So utilize things and be in the present and be thankful for what you have, because one day things can take a quick turn and when you're grateful and you're appreciative of what you are and who you are and what you have, it makes you that much stronger to wanna get back to that, yeah.
Speaker 1:I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2:There's been many days where I didn't wanna go to the gym and I've said this in other episodes before. But there's been plenty of days where I did not wanna go to the gym. I did not wanna train.
Speaker 1:I didn't feel like doing anything.
Speaker 2:And I thought about my dad in a wheelchair. I thought about my dad who used to play basketball and he's got MS and he can't walk and he's just. He's stuck to that thing until he leaves this planet. So and then I think about all the other people that would give anything up as an ex athlete especially, most people give anything up to just dribble one more time down the court.
Speaker 1:Like I said, it can always be worse. People have it so much, 10 times worse than anything that we've gone through. And sometimes I almost feel guilty when people ask me questions about cancer or anything that I've gone through, like as if, like, I've gone through something so traumatic which, yes, it is very traumatic, that's not what I'm saying and it did change me as a person. It made me stronger and everything else and I've gone, I've hit my lowest of lows and had to get back out of it and everything else. But sometimes I almost feel guilty because I'm like I don't look at what I went through as the worst of the worst at all, like there's people who have gone through 10 times worse than I have. So I hate even saying that I went through anything traumatic, because I know how much worse it could be and I'm just thankful to be here and where I am in life. And that's why karma is a real thing and you just want to constantly give back and be a good person, and that's what it comes down to.
Speaker 2:I can. There's nothing further that I can even add to that. That's just like the perfect way to segment the episode.
Speaker 1:And find your life path. Number.
Speaker 2:Yeah, find your life path and then comment below what your life path number is.
Speaker 1:Yes, if your life path 11.
Speaker 2:Or three.
Speaker 1:Or three. You're pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, highlight us Cause you could join our tribe.
Speaker 1:Our tribe, our numerology tribe. Yes, our marina. No More Nick Marizel, marizelology. Yeah, there you go, there you go, oh my God.
Speaker 2:There you go, and actually I'm gonna start paying. If prices keep going up like this, I'm actually gonna start paying in Wampum anyway. So it's perfect, I'm gonna start collecting shells and beads and start using that as currency again. I'm going backwards.
Speaker 1:We can start doing rain dances, and you wanna know why we could do rain dances. Wait, this is real.
Speaker 2:Is it cause it rains every weekend now?
Speaker 1:No, because my boobs, my fake boobs, I feel like can tell the weather. I know when it's gonna rain, I know when it's now freezing.
Speaker 2:Okay, I know. So what are clear indications that it's gonna rain?
Speaker 1:Tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Do they point due north? Is that what happens?
Speaker 1:No, they start hurting a little bit. Oh my God, I'm like oh, that's rain coming. No, it's the frostbite.
Speaker 2:The frostbite, the frostbite.
Speaker 1:The rain, oh my God but you know what I'm gonna start going out there and you know when you look the finger and you go like this for the wind or whatever, it's gonna be like this you just gonna go like this and just like this.
Speaker 2:You just go like this, like this. The meteorologist breasts.
Speaker 1:And I'm gonna be like you know what I could tell the temperature, the weather forecast. I mean, I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2:She's a barometer. We're gonna hold her outside the house.
Speaker 1:Let's say what is one of the best jobs to have is a weatherman. Why? Because it's not wrong.
Speaker 2:That's true. I actually don't even know why they still employ it. I have the weather on my phone.
Speaker 1:And I don't watch the news. So technically I could be a great weather woman.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but your number doesn't line up with that, your numerology number.
Speaker 1:Right on my healer, your healer.
Speaker 2:So stick to the healer, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my patients would be very upset if I told them I was leaving to become a weatherman.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a woman, a woman, A woman, a woman, a woman, a woman, a woman A woman, a woman, a woman, a woman, a woman. A woman, a woman you wanna get in contact with, marina. Do not contact her about her barometer breasts.
Speaker 1:Don't do that no.
Speaker 2:So just real questions. Yes, real questions, but as usual, I always love talking and chopping it up with you Same. I mean, we did two and a half hours before we even checked the podcast on.
Speaker 1:Oh, I thought you meant wait. How long is the podcast so far?
Speaker 2:About an hour and 40 minutes.
Speaker 1:Oh god, yeah, it was okay. At some point you gotta kick me out.
Speaker 2:No, I got enough hard drive space. We're gonna be good. We'll do another episode soon again, yeah, and it'll be more just us hanging out and talking Perfect. But I appreciate the transparency and I know you're cool that because you wanna help others and I know that it will and does help others. And yeah, you're a rock star. You went through a lot and you smile, and so have you? Yeah, that's not like See.
Speaker 1:See what happens when you Not like you, though, but it's different, I know, but still.
Speaker 2:But I appreciate it. Listen, we all go through a lot in life and it's just about exactly what you said having a positive attitude coming out the other side and just staying on a higher note.
Speaker 1:It's tough, just being true to yourself and allow yourself to go through whatever emotion you're feeling, and that's it.
Speaker 2:That's it, Listen. I appreciate y'all fucking with us. This is episode 67.
Speaker 1:Ooh, good numbers.
Speaker 2:Yes, with Marina Beena.
Speaker 1:Three A's Numerology 11.
Speaker 2:I appreciate y'all and on that note, peace. Kenji says bye too, just saying Kenji just said bye, but he says woof, I appreciate it.