When Holiday Cheers Turn Into Hospital Fears

In a heartfelt episode, Meg navigates through a series of medical challenges that surfaced due to gallstones, requiring potential surgery. She recounts dealing with intense pain during what was supposed to be a celebratory time, stressing over delayed hospital treatments, and how lifestyle stressors exacerbated her condition. Meg also brings up cultural aspects, pondering how her adoption influenced dietary choices that contributed to health issues. Her story is a journey through physical pain and identity discovery, illustrating the complex and often hidden interconnections between personal health and adoption.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:19

Hi, this is Meg.

Speaker 2 0:21

And this is Billy.

Speaker 1 0:22

And we are.

Speaker 2 0:23

The Adopt Twins.

Speaker 1 0:27

Meg and this is Billy, and we are the Adopt Twins. Welcome to a podcast from two adoptees who are navigating life loss, moving on and growing up.

Emergency Room and Gallstones

Speaker 2 0:32

For our adopted friends we hope to bring you a familiar point of view and for our friends who aren't welcome to the complicated jungle of how we get on so I know I've mentioned previously about not being able to have children anymore, not going to korea because of health things and stuff.

Speaker 1 0:53

Again, adoption comes to rear its ugly head, so I spent the christmas holidays in the hospital okay happened.

Speaker 2 1:05

When did you start to feel like something was off? What did you feel?

Speaker 1 1:10

So in November I got a really, really, really bad pain in my abdomen and it was in my back and I was dying in pain, I was in tears and I didn't know what to do and then in a couple hours it just went away and I said, okay, that was weird. And so I talked to my PCP about it and she gave me like medicines for like back spasms.

Speaker 2 1:34

Okay.

Speaker 1 1:35

And so then it happened again and I said this is not good. She had thought that I should have some tests done, so I did, and apparently I have gallstones.

Speaker 2 1:48

Okay, and for the uninitiated what are gallstones?

Speaker 1 1:52

So your gallbladder is a little sack, it's very, very tiny and it holds bile so that your body can break down fat. So it's an important thing that helps so that when you eat like fatty foods and stuff, it goes in and does its job and starts breaking all that down. When you get gallstones, they're little, actual stones that form in your gallbladder and what can cause the pain is when one gets into the duct that goes from your gallbladder to your liver. The gallstone can get stuck in there and until it gets out of there you will be in pain, massive, massive amounts of pain. And so I was to meet with a surgeon but the surgeon couldn't get me in until February. So I was hoping and praying that they did not act up while I was like on the flight to Disney or on the flight to Korea for 14, and somehow, with God's help or something, I went. That whole trip of Disney and Korea with eating what I wanted, because I knew that I was probably never going back to either of those places at that point in my life is how I felt and eating whatever I wanted and not having any issues, thank God.

Speaker 1 3:20

And I flew home a week before Christmas and Christmas holidays come, and had a lot of stress with personal things and apparently stress can set them off.

Speaker 1 3:32

And so I ended up in the ER and I had to call an ambulance. And I had to, and I sat in bed for a while contemplating it, as I did the time before, and I ended up last time that that had happened, to not calling the ambulance. But this time I did. But then I also had to call my son's father. He didn't pick up, so I called his fiance.

Speaker 1 3:55

She luckily picked up and I said I am going to the hospital, so you need to come get the kiddo. And the ambulance called the police because when they got there his father wasn't there yet. So the police came and stayed with the kiddo and the ambulance called the police because when they got there his father wasn't there yet. So the police came and stayed with the kiddo. And then I went to the ER and I stayed in the waiting room crying and bawling and wailing until about seven in the morning when this was 1.30 in the morning until they finally brought me to a room and by the time someone saw me about an hour and a half later the stone had passed.

Speaker 2 4:24

Passed the stone in the ER, naturally.

Speaker 1 4:28

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 4:28

Yeah, oh, wow. Yeah. You know people talk about how it's like I really got to go see the doctor, but as soon as I get there I'm going to feel fine. That is just a supercharged version of that. It's like I'm going to get there, I'm not going to have any stifles, my sore throat's going to go away. It's going to be a wasted trip, and for you I mean great that they passed right, but also could have had some help a little beforehand.

Surgery Delays and Complications

Speaker 1 5:01

Yeah, it would have been nice. And then they were like, well, why did you come here if they know about it at your PCP, who's affiliated with Yale? And I was like, well, because this is my local hospital, this is the closer one, and I felt like I was dying.

Speaker 2 5:14

Yeah.

Speaker 1 5:15

So then they gave me oxys to manage the pain if it happened again.

Speaker 2 5:20

Okay.

Speaker 1 5:21

And so I followed up with my PCP after the holidays and I spoke with the surgeon finally in February and I used the oxys as needed and I went back and forth the pain came back after they passed. Was it just? Yes, because you'll pass the one that's stuck in the duct, but it doesn't mean you don't have more in your gallbladder. But if they're just hanging out in there they don't really cause pain.

Speaker 2 5:51

Okay, gotcha.

Speaker 1 5:53

Yeah. So I went back and forth on surgery because the pain went away for a really long time and I was like, well, you know what, I don't need to do this. And I was managing it well. And the first time I canceled it was because they wanted to do it the Friday before Easter and I said that's not going to work for me. So then it got moved to. I think it was like the day or two after Mother's Day.

Speaker 2 6:18

Great.

Speaker 1 6:20

Yeah. And so I talked to her the week before and I was like, no, I haven't had any pain for a couple of months, I don't think I'm going to do the surgery. And then that, not that day that I talked to her, the day after that night, I had the pain again and I called her back the next day and I said, okay, let's schedule the surgery, man, but do you know what keeps your gallbladder healthy?

Speaker 1 6:43

Profound amount of opiates know what keeps your gallbladder healthy? Profound amount of opiates. Well, it doesn't keep it healthy but manages the pain well.

Speaker 2 6:52

But vitamin C. Oh, okay yeah.

Speaker 1 6:53

And do you know historically what group of people has had the lowest rate of gallbladder issues?

Speaker 2 7:01

Hold on, let me just. Is it Koreans, east Asians, so it's East Asians in general.

Speaker 1 7:07

Mm-hmm. And do you know what a lot of the old helminies carry around with them all the time?

Speaker 2 7:13

Chewable vitamin C tablets.

Speaker 1 7:16

Actual oranges. Oh yeah, oh yeah, okay, bags of oranges. So I'm like, oh cool, if I was in my home country, I probably would have been eating more vitamin C and I wouldn't have ever had this issue Great.

Speaker 2 7:33

Fun. That's really not something that they teach predominantly in the public schools.

Speaker 1 7:40

No.

Speaker 2 7:41

I don't remember that lesson ever.

Speaker 1 7:44

No, I don't remember that lesson ever yeah, so yet another thing adoption took away from me. It took my gallbladder.

Speaker 2 7:52

So what's the recovery for that? Look like, is it?

Speaker 1 7:56

So it is not lifting anything over a gallon for I think it was a couple weeks, okay, and then not lifting anything or pushing or pulling anything over 20 pounds for six weeks, and then it's also, you know, watching what you're eating and all this other stuff too.

Speaker 2 8:16

So how understanding was your son about these limitations?

Speaker 1 8:31

these limitations. So, uh, he wasn't the happiest about it, but the picking him up had been getting less and less as far as like how long I could hold him for anyways. So he, he dealt with it. Okay, he did. He did, luckily, like he wasn't happy about it, but he didn't cause tantrums or anything, luckily. That's great. I had no stretch marks or anything from when I had him, but now I got these four fun cuts on my tummy. That's fun.

Speaker 2 8:57

Nice.

Speaker 1 8:58

They sliced open my belly button. That was one of the cuts. I don't even know what that looks like anymore, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 9:10

That Friday, the 21st, June 21st, I had my surgery. But that Monday I woke up and I had a stiff neck. I'm like, well, I've got to drive my kid 40 minutes on 95 in rush hour traffic to camp Great. So I did that. And then we stayed at a hotel for a couple of nights and that Tuesday my neck was still stiff. That Wednesday, both sides of my neck were stiff and I'm like, well, this is not good. And then Thursday, the left side of my neck then really, really hurt. I decided that I should get a massage. I was like, maybe I'm super stressed about the surgery tomorrow, Maybe I'm just like I thought I slept wrong, but it's continuing, so let's go get a massage. Yeah, that didn't help at all. And then I'm looking at my neck and on my left side couldn't see my collarbone. Whoa, that's how swollen my neck was.

Speaker 2 10:02

Whoa, that's how swollen my neck was and you could just tell between the two sides like that is wrong.

Speaker 1 10:11

Yeah. So I left the massage and I went to the urgent care and by the time I got there and seen it was close to 6 pm and they said you need to get an ultrasound stat. And I said, well, it's 6 pm, can't do that right now. And they're like, well, then you need to go tomorrow. And it's like funny story, I actually have surgery tomorrow, not for this. So two weeks later I finally got my ultrasound and there's this thing. I don't know if they have it there. There's probably something similar, though. If not, it MyChart.

Speaker 2 10:47

Are you talking about in Chicago? Yes, there's. Depending on your provider, there's an app that you can access anytime that tells you everything about yourself, if you've had a recent panel of tests.

Speaker 1 11:02

Okay. So yes, that is very similar to MyChart. So, mychart, it's great that you have access to all of this stuff. What's not great is that you have access to all of this stuff before you talk to your doctor. Oh, it said that there was a mass and I needed to get a ultrasound of my chest. Whoa Right, but what is this mass? What are you talking about? What do you mean? I need to get another ultrasound. What is happening to me?

Speaker 2 11:30

Oh gosh.

The Mysterious Neck Swelling

Speaker 1 11:30

So this all happened during 4th of July. So I got the ultrasound and then the next day my doctor was like, well, before you move on with another thing, let me see you first. So I went to see her. So then the next day I was able to get the ultrasound of my chest done and that said that, thanks to my chart, said I needed to get the next test done. So I had to drive an hour and a half because it was the only place that had availability and I was there for all of five minutes for the test. And then I got my results again on my chart. Yay, and those results said that I needed a biopsy or a PET scan.

Speaker 1 12:14

And so it also had a voicemail from the on-call doctor. And the on-call doctor said call me and let me know what time we can speak. And I said oh, okay. So I call and the woman who picks up on the after hours thing which on weekends it's always going to be the after hours person picking up and I say I'm looking to speak with Dr So-and-so. Well, what's this about? Well, he sent me a voicemail that said to call him and let him know when I was available to speak about the test results. And she says well, it says right here not to bother any doctors about test results and you can talk to him on Monday.

Speaker 2 12:54

Great.

Speaker 1 12:55

And I said but he literally left a voicemail saying let me know what time we can talk. So she's like, yeah, no, I can't do that. So I had to go through Saturday, sunday and then finally, on Monday, speak to someone. And I spoke to my doctor and she's like well, you could do the PET scan or we can just go straight to the biopsy. And I said, oh, biopsy. She's like because, depending on what the biopsy says, you'll probably need the PET scan anyways. I said, great, so we went and did the biopsy and my chart, coming through once again, got my results back and I said this does not sound good at all. So I was able to talk to my doctor.

Speaker 1 13:41

Finally, I had to leave in the middle of Minions not even the middle, it was like 10 minutes into Minions. And I had to leave because I saw my doctor was calling and I'm talking to her out in the lobby of an AMC movie theater. She's like so did you see my chart? And I said yes. And she's like did you do some Googling? And I said yes. She's like what did you learn? And I tell her some things? And she's like well, that's actually all correct, and so it's a good thing that you did go to the urgent care because you do have cancer. Oh my God, yeah, so that's been a journey.

Speaker 2 14:24

So you have cancer.

Speaker 1 14:26

Yes, classical Hodgkin's lymphoma. So I now have a hematologist.

Speaker 2 14:32

Okay.

Speaker 1 14:33

And the hematologist is a doctor who deals with blood cancers, which I guess lymphoma is a blood cancer. Okay, it has a really high cure rate, so that's a plus.

Speaker 2 14:45

Cure rate that's fantastic.

Speaker 1 14:49

Yes, and so I got the PET scan and it was in two areas. One was very large and he asked me at my follow-up he's like, have you been having trouble breathing? And I'm like yes, and he's like okay, Because it's literally pushing on the airway.

Speaker 2 15:09

Wow.

Speaker 1 15:10

Yeah, so it's like closing the amount of space in the airway, is it?

Speaker 2 15:14

like shortness of breath or just hard to breathe in.

Speaker 1 15:18

There was like pain or Like going up a flight of stairs. I'm winded.

Speaker 2 15:23

Damn.

Speaker 1 15:26

Just gassed so. So a care plan has been put in place, which is chemotherapy, and I had to have a port put in, which I'm very upset about it, because they said that they were putting the port in so that I didn't have to get pricked with needles all the time. Well, every time I go to get my chemo through my port, they stick me with a very big needle through the port.

Speaker 2 15:48

Well, you can't trust doctors Meg. No, they said you had back pain and it was cancer. Well, you can't trust doctors Meg. Yeah, they said you had back pain and it was cancer. I mean, it wasn't it was gallstones then, but it's probable cancer was kind of I'm guessing it's not your gallbladder went out and you're like well, we got to replace the mass somewhere.

Speaker 1 16:07

But what's interesting is what I've learned about this is that the numbers of liver cancer spikes within the first six months after gallbladder surgery.

Speaker 2 16:18

Fascinating. I'm pretty sure liver cancer is a bad one to get.

Speaker 1 16:22

Yes, I don't need a second cancer coming up.

Speaker 2 16:25

Yeah, no, he needs a second cancer that is that is truer words have never been spoken.

Speaker 1 16:32

So, provided all this chemo stuff goes well and things go in the right direction, I should be done with chemo at the end of January, which is right when my six months is up for my gallbladder.

Speaker 2 16:44

So in a way it's almost preventative maintenance.

Speaker 1 16:50

It's like getting an oil change.

Speaker 2 16:52

Yeah, it's just like you know, know, this is going to help a great many things to deal with this one thing. So if we want to look at the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that's. That's the eternal optimist viewpoint on that, I guess.

Speaker 1 17:11

Oh yes, I love it, love it. So there's all different kinds of medicines that fall under chemo.

Speaker 2 17:18

Okay.

Speaker 1 17:19

So I'm on four of them.

Speaker 2 17:21

Vitamin C.

Speaker 1 17:24

You would think but no, that's a whole separate thing.

Speaker 2 17:27

Okay.

Speaker 1 17:28

But three of them were set. The fourth one, they were undecided between two different medicines and he's like well, I mean because this medicine works better, but if you have a family history and you carry it, it can cause the autoimmune diseases to activate. So what's your family history?

Speaker 2 17:50

Oh my gosh, but, doctor, I am the great Pagliaccio.

Speaker 1 18:01

So that's fun.

Speaker 2 18:03

Love that for me, love that for you, love that for them. They're just like oh well, this will be routine. Tell me about your parents and, like you, know what happened when they were getting on in age. Why are you just sitting there smiling like this deep-water smile? What's happening right now?

Speaker 1 18:22

Why are your eyes doing this twitchy and glassy and I don't know what's happening?

Speaker 2 18:27

You are full-on weeping right now. This is the first question. This is the easy one.

Speaker 1 18:36

Did they die of an autoimmune disease? What happened?

Speaker 2 18:40

Just Elmo GIF shrug. Just keep showing them that one with every single question. Oh, that's also a great question. Let me see what I have for that. There it is.

Speaker 1 19:00

Ma'am, you just showed me that.

Speaker 2 19:03

Yeah, oh yeah. Let's put it on the big board. Let's loop it. Can we loop that?

Speaker 1 19:10

Great.

Speaker 2 19:15

I'll just point, because I'm too weak to do anything else Just in spirit, not in body, just in spirit.

Speaker 1 19:23

So what they decided to do about this. Well, let me ask you what do you think they decided to do about?

Speaker 2 19:29

it. So they had the option of the thing. That'll work, but it also could wake up the scaries or they go with something that's safer that doesn't work as well. That's what the options were.

Speaker 1 19:40

Yes.

Speaker 2 19:45

They went with option B, I'm guessing.

Speaker 1 19:48

They decided to wing it and give it a try with the one that works well.

Speaker 2 19:52

They have a diamond elite status at Mohegan Sun. They're like let it ride. We got big money on black. It's been black all day. Look at all those numbers in the black. It's going to be black again. It has to be Okay. How did you feel about that? Did you have a say in your preference, or did they kind of convince you that it was probably going to be fine? Or was it just like, nah, nah, nah, we really should do this one.

Speaker 1 20:27

It was basically. This is what we're going to do. Do you have any questions? And I said I have so many questions, but none of them are actually related to this. Who are my parents?

Speaker 2 20:40

Good it's spread to the brain.

Speaker 1 20:44

How old am I?

Speaker 2 20:46

Good, good, this is quite good. These questions are good. Where was I born? All right, let's call the psychoanalyst in here. You might be staying the night in a new type of resort, wow, yeah.

Speaker 1 21:04

So I get asked very often if I have any numbness in my limbs or tingling. So I guess that's a sign.

Speaker 2 21:14

That's a sign of the perma-throst thawing.

Speaker 1 21:24

It's coming.

Speaker 2 21:25

Okay, man, those glaciers, they're going away quick. Huh, what sweet hell lies beneath. We'll find out, or we won, who knows, probably won't. Hopefully won't speak it into reality. Nothing bad will happen ever again oh, that's not a phrase.

Speaker 1 21:48

Adoptees understand.

Speaker 2 21:50

No, it's not Okay. So ongoing process right now, yes, and is it a thing where chemo gets introduced and there are immediate effects for relieving the symptoms and the cause, the symptoms and the cause or is it we're going to have to wait and see for a few months to see what has been affected?

Speaker 1 22:21

Good questions, so excuse me.

Speaker 2 22:26

You just get to vomit in your mouth every 15 minutes. Yeah, it's working. The toxins are leaving my body every 15 minutes.

Chemo Effects and Remission

Speaker 1 22:32

It's working. The toxins are leaving my body. Yeah, it's great. So I never felt sick from the cancer, I mean, besides that whole neck stiffness. But you know what's weird? When I woke up from my gallbladder surgery, no pain in my neck, whatsoever, all gone Great, and it stayed gone, not like just because I was hopped up on drugs, like it never came back. Besides that, never felt sick or hurt or anything from the cancer. I mean I couldn't really run well, but I just thought I was out of shape.

Speaker 2 23:02

Yeah, yeah. So then they give me this medicine to get rid of the cancer, and this medicine makes me feel really bad feel really bad, like on a scale of that, that was a little bit too much to drink last night, versus having a child in your womb that's developing in terms of, like quote-unquote, morning sickness where's that morning sickness and I didn't throw up from yeah, I'm drinking until I was in my 30s. See, if you had just paced this a little bit more and just had the bad feelings, you wouldn't have cancer.

Speaker 1 23:44

I shoved it all deep down and I was good, Not deep it was in your neck, you didn't shove it.

Speaker 2 23:50

Let's be fair. You didn't shove it that far deep, you shoved it to the side. Oh, no, thank you. You said you didn't say. You said no, thank you.

Speaker 1 24:05

Just go over there Go will be honest, as horrible as I feel at times, it's not as bad as I thought that I would. Good yeah, but I still feel horrible, like the days after. It's horrible, I'm tired, and what really sucks, though, is for the first 72 hours after is when all of the chemo is leaving your body.

Speaker 2 24:38

Okay.

Speaker 1 24:39

So it comes out through, obviously, like urine and saliva and stuff and all of that, but also through anything. So through sweat, through tears, through whatever thing. So through sweat, through tears, through whatever. So my child can't like be around me, but we've finally flipped the weekends so that he's with his father on my weekends. Where I am dealing with this Is your child licking your forehead? No, but like hugs or whatever kind of stuff Like it's just anything.

Speaker 1 25:14

It's just too close with all that, because apparently when the chemo leaves your body, it comes out 90% in its pure form.

Speaker 2 25:21

Whoa, I didn't know that. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 25:27

Right.

Speaker 2 25:28

So it's a nuclear bomb going off in a small town.

Speaker 1 25:33

Yes.

Speaker 2 25:34

Okay, no-transcript, and just kind of like putting it back in the hole in you that you have now. I mean it's like all right, we got still 90%. Pure is pretty good. Let's get back in there and like just let's just recirculate this until we're at 10% and then we'll go get another dose.

Speaker 1 26:15

That would be great. I wonder if we can look into that. Maybe that's something we can invent.

Speaker 2 26:20

I am positive, that's they've. They've looked into it, they've had to.

Speaker 1 26:26

Well, maybe they haven't figured it out yet, maybe the people have not been smart enough.

Speaker 2 26:31

We need smarter people in the world. Let's go out yet.

Speaker 1 26:33

Maybe the people have not been smart enough. We need smarter people in the world.

Speaker 2 26:39

Let's go, not finding them here.

Speaker 1 26:40

Yeah, how many rounds have they prescribed? How many have you gone through? So it's confusing to me because a round is two doses. So I have six rounds and 12 doses, but I thought I was going to have eight to 12 rounds. I'm confused, but it looks like it's only going to be six as of right now.

Speaker 2 27:01

Okay.

Speaker 1 27:03

I think so, but I get nauseous, and so what helps? My nausea is eating.

Speaker 2 27:11

Good.

Speaker 1 27:12

Orange specifically is eating good, so orange specifically right but, most people lose like five to ten percent of their body mass when they have chemo okay I have never been heavier, except for when I've been pregnant. I've been gaining weight.

Speaker 2 27:28

My body can't do anything right I was gonna have a hot girl summer Cancer. Well, okay, thanks doctor, we should have gone with the other option. Obviously, it activated my latent obesity gene.

Speaker 1 27:57

I did have my two month pet scan.

Speaker 2 28:02

Okay.

Speaker 1 28:03

And clearly I must have not read it right, like I read that there were things there. They were not as many things or they were not as big things or something, but he told me I'm in remission.

Speaker 2 28:16

Yeah, great, yes, so woohoo, Congratulations.

Speaker 1 28:21

But he said we want to cure it. And I said well, what's the difference between remission and curing, like what he's like? Well, that's a good question. And remission is when we can't see anything on the scans. Curing is five years of not seeing anything. Oh, okay, okay. So how come, if I'm in remission, I have to do this until January? And he said well, we can't see anything, but it doesn't mean that it's not still there, lurking, waiting to grow bigger again. So though I never felt sick from the cancer, and though the cancer is, as far as the eye can see, gone, I get to continue feeling sick for the next few months.

Speaker 2 29:09

Well, if things go well, that is, I think, an appropriate toll to endure if things go in the direction of being cured right. Yes, I say this as a man, a without cancer and B, having just watched my wife throw up literally every meal while our daughter was gestating inside her for months. So a real armchair, you'll be fine, it's for the best. It's just a little I can't eat anything. I'm so sorry, meg yeah it is, you know.

Speaker 1 29:57

I just wish I could have asked if this was in my family history, you know?

Speaker 2 30:06

Ah, but you know, they know, but you can't know, right, I'm not allowed that information. You're not allowed that information. Man, I'm so glad that our conversation is taking a turn towards the things are looking like it's going to be okay, as opposed to you're still working on it.

Speaker 1 30:35

Yeah, yeah, that that is a plus. You know, I don't know, I don't have any other PET scans scheduled, so I'm not really sure, like how they'll know, or if we just finish up in January and that's it. I mean, obviously, you know, I know people go for checks every you know however many months, or whatever it is. I just I'm like how are we actually going to check?

Speaker 2 30:58

yeah, if I start losing weight, is that bad? Yeah?

Hair Loss and Moving Forward

Speaker 1 31:02

if I don't know, yeah, but you know I haven't lost all my hair yet. You lost some of it. I have, I lost a lot of it, but like now the cancer's gone and now I'm going to lose all my hair.

Speaker 2 31:15

Yeah.

Speaker 1 31:16

So I'm like this isn't fair.

Speaker 2 31:19

No, it's in. The shaved head look is in.

Speaker 1 31:22

No, not for me.

Speaker 2 31:24

Not for you, no.

Speaker 1 31:26

One of my best features was always my hair.

Speaker 2 31:29

It is great hair.

Speaker 1 31:30

Right.

Speaker 2 31:31

I had deep resentment towards you because of it.

Speaker 1 31:34

Right, everybody did yeah. And now everybody's like, haha, look at you, go get your oil changed. Oh, look at you finally, but it's you know, it's supposed to come back. Everyone's like it'll come back, but it doesn't for everybody, so it's supposed to come back.

Speaker 2 31:58

Yeah, maybe you'll just be completely unrecognizable. Or you can buy a wig, I don't know.

Speaker 1 32:04

Wigs are hot. I have some, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 32:08

You got like a bob.

Speaker 1 32:10

I've got a long curly one. I've got a short brown wavy one. I've got two that are attached to like headbands. So that's cool, it's still hot, though. I have one that's attached to like a winter, like beanie hat.

Speaker 2 32:27

Oh good, yeah. Yeah, you have one of those that's like a ball cap and then it's just like a real long mullet in the back.

Speaker 1 32:33

Not yet.

Speaker 2 32:35

Oh hot.

Speaker 1 32:37

Keyword being yet.

Speaker 2 32:44

What a choose. Your own adventure, yeah. And so your son? When you had to break it to him, did he understand the implications? Was it something that he's been very supportive for? Is he kind of like oh you know, I still have to worry about school and everything is whatever?

Speaker 1 33:05

He's very much kind of everything is whatever except about my hair.

Speaker 2 33:09

Great.

Speaker 1 33:12

He keeps asking when I'm going to be bald.

Speaker 2 33:18

Oh okay, he keeps asking when I'm gonna be bald. Oh okay, well, at least he's excited about that, as opposed to the possibility of it never growing back again.

Speaker 1 33:21

Oh, I think he'd like that oh, okay he seems to think it's going to be hilarious when I'm bald and he really wants to see it and he doesn't understand why I'm not bald yet give it time, kid that'll be my birthday gift to myself.

Speaker 1 33:37

Yay, I don't know when my birthday is, so my government issued birthday myself. Good god, yes, yay, so that's been my health journey and adoption. If only we had that information, we wouldn't be rolling the dice on so many things, but that's the way it is for a lot of us, I guess.

Speaker 2 34:03

Yeah, that's yep, I mean it's. I hope the doctors their guess was educated, just looking at the rest of your chart, seeing if there are any indicators of any potential dormant things and they were able to be accurate with their prognosis and what they were doing with it.

Speaker 1 34:26

You mean my chart that says that I've been seeing a neurologist since 2019 trying to figure out if I have MS or not.

Speaker 2 34:33

That's the one.

Speaker 1 34:34

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 34:35

Yeah, guess it wasn't MS, just regular cancer. Sweet delicious cancer God.

Speaker 1 34:46

I just hope that in the future adoptees don't have to go through this not knowing thing and we can really get some better regulations going on.

Speaker 2 34:58

Yeah, for the longest time I had it as a sort of badge of pride that I had absolutely no idea what could go wrong with me, because I've known too many people who were intimately aware of their family medical history and were living terrified just as time passed.

The Adoptee's Medical Unknown

Speaker 2 35:22

That does this mean? Does this mean, while for my entire existence I've just been like, well, maybe that's fine, or maybe it's not, who knows, let's just see if we can write it out? It's always been okay, but having that option of this could really fuck you up. But you need it. You could use it to get better from this immediately. It's just something that I had never really put any thought towards as being so scary.

Speaker 1 36:01

Yeah, it was not a fun or easy thing to hear, and I feel I think I was on the opposite side of the spectrum from you. Every little thing I got worried about when I'd get something wrong with me because I didn't know, I didn't know, so I'd always be running. And I think this time, though, it did come in handy, like okay, I had a stiff neck, whatever, but I went, and they were able to find it when it was stage one almost stage two, I guess, but still technically stage one.

Speaker 2 36:36

Great.

Speaker 1 36:38

So that is my PSA, is that if you feel like there's something that might be wrong with you, just go check it out.

Speaker 2 36:44

Run to the doctor say give me oxys and Get a prescription for oranges, if you can. I am going to be texting all of my friends of East Asian descent to just start every day piling those vitamins into your mouth and getting them down there, because no one wants to go through that sort of pain. And, yeah, I'm glad you're feeling better. Well, no, you're feeling worse, but I'm glad that things are looking better.

Speaker 1 37:17

Right. Internally they're looking better, Not your hair.

Speaker 2 37:20

Not your hair, gigantic girth. The state of Connecticut is starting to send letters about the potholes down your street. We deal with our sad feelings with humor, da-da-da-da-da-da.

Speaker 1 37:40

If you liked this episode of the Adopt Twins, I urge you to pull over if you're driving, or stop what you're doing and take one minute to take out your phone and text someone you know that you think would also like the Adopt Twins. Send them a text that says hey, I've been listening to this podcast and I think you'd like it. Let me know what you think and send them a link to the show. Word of mouth is the best way to spread the hilarity of the Adopt Twins, so stop gatekeeping us and let someone else know We'll catch y'all soon.