Life Lessons From a Surgeon That Will Change You

A phone call from the White House, separating conjoined twins, and a mother working all hours so her kids could see grit in action, Dr. Ben Carson’s story goes beyond headlines.

We talk early awe in the OR, why steady role models matter, and what separates survival from real success. Dr. Ben shares lessons from medicine, faith, and parenting, plus practical wisdom for longevity: whole foods, daily movement, real sleep, and purposeful community.

If you want habits that stick and a fresh perspective on mentoring or health, this one’s for you. 

Follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

A Radio Spin-Off And Nerves

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Okay, so welcome to our podcast. This is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio. I gotta say, I'm I'm really intimidated by this interview. Uh I say that because I've done I do a radio show. I've done a radio show for 30 years, and this podcast is kind of a part of that radio show. Um, but with the radio show, I talk to musicians and actors and actresses. You know, you're like a real person.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

I don't know. Actors are pretty real.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Yeah, but if I make a mistake talking to an actor or something like that, it's just a human mistake. If I make a mistake talking to you, I didn't do my research. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Uh we'll forgive you if you make any mistakes.

Medal Of Freedom Moments

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Okay, good. So I have so this so let me start off with this. I I I I know you're getting the presidential medal of freedom, or you did get that, or you are getting that. All above. All of the above. So you got it before and you're getting it again? Yes. So you can get it more than once.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

There have been two other people who've gotten it more than once.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Who's that?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Uh one was Colin Powell, and uh one was a diplomat from way back. Uh name it's me at this bunker. Bunker was his last name. Elsie Ellsworth.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Oh. Are you getting yours tonight at the at the State of the Union thing? Or so somewhere when do they give it to you?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

No, they'll probably be in June. Late spring. Oh, later.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

You know, so I I'm curious. I mean, I know I know a I have this weird rule on my podcast where I don't like to do a lot of research. I just try to do it like whatever's in the top of my mind. I look at it like if we were sitting next to each other on an airplane and we had an hour of flight, and we're just kind of shooting the breeze, and we've learned a lot about each other in that flight. Um, but I do know lots of things about you because you're such in the huge in the public eye for so long. But I know you've held a human brain before, probably many, many human brains, correct?

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yes, and I I was always awe-stricken when I opened the skull and looked at the brain. Because I said, this is what makes this person who they are. It's not his skin, it's not his hair, it's not his nose, it's not his eyes. It's this thing right here.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

The same pounds of matter. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Is there anything now that relates to that in normal life that makes you nervous? I mean, you know, because you haven't probably cracked open a skull in a while, have you?

SPEAKER_00 2:57

No, it's been several years. Uh I would not be willing to do it now after all these years. But a lot of times I look back on my operative notes and I say, What? Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_02 3:12

But what about in everyday life today? Is there anything that we're that's that that's that nerve-wracking in your everyday life? Or do you go, I've held the human brain, I can do this?

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Well, you know, I I never cease to be amazed at all the different things that I see. I'm I'm amazed by the psychology of being a human being. What makes different people act in different ways? Why do they grow up in certain ways? Why do some people live in horrible environments and manage to come out and do spectacular things? Why do other people who live in the most luxurious environments end up being total slops? You know, what goes into that brain to bring those outcomes? I find that fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Have you got any answers?

What Shapes Character

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Uh I do. I do have opinions, absolutely. Like everybody else.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

So then what are your opinions? Why does somebody in the slums come out to be uh a well-rounded person and successful or versus a wealthy person that grew up with everything they have turn out to be a serial killer?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Because I think some people are able to see role models. You can see good role models and you can see bad role models. But it's very unusual for somebody who has good role models in their lives to turn out to be a slot. And it's unusual for somebody who has a bunch of bad role models to turn out to be a decent person.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

I I have that same theory uh uh I've been working on it a little bit. I feel like the opposite sex parent has to be a very, very important role model in someone's life, the opposite sex parent. Because I was thinking about this, I brought this up on my radio show many times. How if you think about every woman in your life that was, let's just use the word crazy, they always always had a bad relationship with their father. Always. It's never not happened. Would you agree?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

I don't like to say never, but I would say generally you're right.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

I mean, they can have it like a lot of women that that message me when I talk about this that say, Well, hey, my father died when I was young. I'm like, okay, but you you probably had another strong father figure that stepped in, like a good stepfather, an uncle, an older brother. And those anyway, that's just my own little my own little thing.

Role Models And Parenting

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah, well, you know, my father exited early in my life. And my mother tried to play both roles, but she realized that she fully couldn't do that. So she would try to set us up with very good role models. Uh whenever she discovered somebody who was willing to uh let some boys hang out with them, who were solid figures, who believed in hard work, who believed in God, who had ethical foundation. She would try to make sure that we could spend some time with them.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

But you were very close with your mother?

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yes. Yes, I was. In fact, um, you know, both my brother and I worked very hard to try to please her. Because we knew how hard she was working. And she would work two and three jobs at a time, leaving the house at five in the morning, getting back at midnight, going from job to job to job because she wanted to maintain control over her own house, and she didn't want to be dependent on the government. And a lot of people thought that was strange. They're always saying, Oh, come on, you government will give you this and that and that. She really wasn't interested.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Do you have do you have any daughters?

SPEAKER_00 6:57

I do not. I never I never had sisters, I never had daughters.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

How many boys do you have?

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Three sons.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

So do I.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

So do I. And they all got married in 2011.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Oh, they did? Oh my gosh. Oh. Mine are all in college right now. All three of them.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Um, you being a nurse, so side note, because I know you uh I what was it? You separated twins that had the same brain? Is that uh is there there's a word for that, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Or is it they were occipital occipital craniopagus, which means they were joined at the back of the head. And uh that's a very precarious place to be joined because all the drainage systems for the brain come through that way, which is why it never worked before.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

And what year was that?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Uh 1987.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

And are the are they it was successful? They're still around?

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Well, it was successful in that they survived for many years. Oh. Um, I don't consider it fully successful because uh because I have seen a fully successful case, case that we did in South Africa, uh, and they were what we call type II vertical craniopagus. They would join at the top of the head facing in opposite directions. There had been 13 attempts to separate twins like that before, none of which had been successful. But some of the things we learned from the other cases made it possible to separate twins, and they're adults now, and they're perfectly normal.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

That's fantastic. My when I tell you I had three sons, my wife and I actually also had twin girls, but they were they were joined by the they were sharing a placenta and they had what's called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, and uh it was terrible. It it didn't, it one they one was born stillborn, and the other one lived nine days. They couldn't. Yeah, it was a disaster. But when I hear about the successful separation of twins, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Well, it's it still hurts when you think about those babies.

Conjoined Twins Breakthroughs

SPEAKER_02 8:58

It does, especially because it was on Valentine's Day, right? Every Valentine's Day, uh my wife is uh it's an emotional roller coaster of a day. And I try to I try to focus on the three boys to let her know hey, look, we wouldn't have these if it wasn't for that. I and and it's just it's just a tough time. Another thing speaking to brains, my mother, my mother uh had a GBM. How terrible is that?

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yeah, that's about the worst thing you can get.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

I know, right? It was a it was a level four. She lived 18 months.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

That's a long time for a grade four, clear blessing.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

That's what I hear, yeah. And that was in 2011. And then now you hear, I now hear all these things. I mean, they're still 18 months, it's still a long time, but there's all these trials, and there's all I saw this thing on TikTok that was like nicotine gets rid of GBMs. I mean, is that is that can't be true, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

No, that's not true. But uh, I mean, I think we will eventually have a solution. It probably will not be a surgical solution. It will probably depend on the immune system. I found I'm sorry, being able to detect and destroy uh at an early stage.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

I found this clinic in Cancun, Mexico. They're called it's called Immunoscene is the name of the clinic. And I guess they can do a lot of stuff there they can't do here. And one and I interviewed one of the doctors um, and they tell me this makes sense if I'm saying it right, but they can come up with a vaccine specifically for that human being that has cancer for their for their tumor, and they inject the tumor with whatever, and there's like an 80% success rate. It's very expensive, but it it gets rid of the tumors. Familiar?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Uh yes, I've heard about that. Um it could have some merit. It's obviously gonna have to be something that can be duplicated and shown to work widely. Uh so I'm always a little skeptical uh when people say they have these great cures for things, because if there was all that great, it would really get out there pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Yeah, true. What's your take right now? I think one of the biggest things, I saw this thing about status symbols now in in life, or uh, you know, it used to be Ferraris and it used to be floor seats to a Lakers game, but now they're saying it's longevity. It's uh and there's all these biohackers that are out there now. What's your take on that stuff?

Grief, GBM, And Cancer Hopes

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Well, you know, I think uh it doesn't really matter how long you live, as long as you lead a successful life. And uh because it's quite frankly, against the backdrop of eternity, if you're here for one day or 100 years, it's about the same.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

I guess you're right. But while you're here on this planet, so you can live a healthier life, is there anything you recommend? I I saw this guy. What what what do you got?

Longevity, Biohacking, And Meaning

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Uh well, as you know, uh the current administration's been working very hard on the food pyramid and uh on the dietary guidelines, and it makes a huge difference. Uh you know, we have all these things going on in our country, uh massive increase in uh autism, uh ADHD, uh a whole bunch of chronic illnesses, uh, diabetes, much more so than people have in other developed countries. And one thing that we're finding uh that we allow that they don't allow is a lot of highly processed foods. And uh we take a lot of the God-given natural uh nutrients out and replace them with artificial colors and artificial flavors and artificial what, that, this, that, and the other. That's not doing our people any good. I have a very good friend who has a difficult case of diabetes. And uh so last year he went to Italy uh to a villa on the Amalfi coast, and he spent three months there. His diabetes completely disappeared. What? Completely. But he was eating fresh fruits and vegetables right out of the garden at the villa every day. Uh very little in the way of processed foods. Uh exercising, drinking plenty of water. If we did those things, in fact, I'm very fond of saying if if if everybody ate three well-balanced meals, drank six to eight glasses of water, exercised regularly, got regular sleep, and didn't put harmful substances in their bodies, most people in medicine would be out of a job. Wow. Having said that, medicine is a very good occupation because they're not going to do it.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Right. Is there any kind of special foods that you eat that you treat yourself? Do you do you ever have a uh a soda? Do you eat ice cream with chemicals in it, or you eat it a clean eater?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

I try to stick to a healthy diet, but I will occasionally submit to a donut or something.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

There you go. Okay. So you are human.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

I'd say you gotta die of something.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

The guy that went to Italy, I've heard about those stories before where you go there and like you they eat bread, they eat pasta, they eat all the stuff that we wouldn't eat here because it's like that's bad for you, but they eat it there and it works because there's no chemicals in the food.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Exactly. Uh they're tasty. I mean, have you been to Italy?

SPEAKER_02 14:37

A long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Oh my goodness, some of the food is unbelievable.

Food Systems And Processed Risks

SPEAKER_02 14:41

I know that's actually why every every year uh my family takes a trip somewhere. We were in London and Amsterdam over the summer, and I tried to make it an active trip so that we're out, we're walking, we're hiking, we're doing something, and they all want to go to Italy, and I'm afraid because of the food, because I love to eat and I just don't want to be, you know, get that carb tiredness, you know. I've lost a hundred pounds in my time and I don't want to gain it back.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

I see very, very few fat people over there.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Right? It's pretty wild.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

But you know, they walk up and down the stairs. You see 80, 80-year-old women carrying heavy packages, 100, 200 steps, and it doesn't even win them.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

I know. I saw I saw that documentary on Netflix, everyone's eating the purple potatoes.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

But you know, there are you you've probably heard of the blue zones.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Yes, that's why I was watching the documentary on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yeah, I mean, there are seven of them in the world. One of them happens to be in the United States of America.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Where?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Uh Loma Linda, California, San Bernardino County. Really? Yeah. You have a lot of people there who live to be a hundred years old or more. Because that's a stronghold for Seventh-day Adventists. Oh. Who have a tremendous emphasis on diet and healthy living. So you actually learned that in medical school. All first-year medical students learned that there are certain communities in our country that live for a very long time and it's related to lifestyle. And it helps doctors to realize that that's a major part of health as lifestyle.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

And community, like having friends and eating right.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

There's this guy, uh, Brian Johnson. Have you heard of him? He's trying to live to be like 400 years old. Have you heard of this guy yet?

SPEAKER_00 16:35

No. 400 years old.

Blue Zones And Lifestyle

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Well, he's trying to live, he's trying to live like hundreds of years old for real. And he he um he does blood transfusions, he does the TPE, he takes all the blood out of his body and uh for all the chemicals. He does hyperbaric chambers, he does all these different things. He's all he's all over the news trying to live for it. He took he took his son's blood, his 19-year-old son's blood, and put it in his body. And he did all these different things. I I think he's the guy that invented Venmo, so he sold it for like two billion. So I think he spends about two million a year on his life to try to elongate it and he's like 40 something. And he says there's two things that he he all these studies he said, if he could do one thing, he recommends olive oil, like a tablespoon of olive oil every day. Like if he says everybody can do that. Do you agree with that? Is that healthy?

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Well, I agree that olive oil is a very good substitute for some of the fats that we use to cook with. And you know, for salad dressings and a whole bunch of things. Uh, I don't know about all this other stuff. Um well, but but if it makes him happy and he can afford it, I'll tell it to him.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Well, that and then he said the hyperbaric chamber, which is very expensive. He does he does uh 90 minutes a day, and it he saw all kinds of benefits from a hyperbaric chamber.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Yeah, there's a there's a place here in Florida uh that's very much like uh it was built as a resort, and it has the hyperbaric chambers, it has all kinds of heat and massage things, various types of diets, exercise, and uh people seem to love it. They do very well, but it's very expensive.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Yeah, I've done it a few times. Um so you're getting when you get the presidential medal, freedom of honor medal, is that is that a phone call? Is that a text message? Like how how how do you get that information?

SPEAKER_00 18:31

How do you find out when it is going to be or what?

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Yeah, like when you when you find out you were getting it, who did somebody someone say, hey, make sure you're by the phone, say, and is it the president that calls you? Who calls you?

Hyperbaric Hype And Wellness Resorts

SPEAKER_00 18:41

The first time I got it, uh, I found out I was in Indianapolis. We were we were doing something with our scholarship program, the Carson Scholars Fund with the Indianapolis Colts. And uh I get this phone call, and they said, This is the White House, and we want to speak to Dr. Ben Carson. And they said, You're going to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I I said, Excuse me? I said, no, this is Ben Carson, the the neurosurgeon. I said, You sure you got the right person? Um, but they were sure. Well, uh a very good friend of mine who is a physician had gotten it the year before. That was Francis Collins. I said, but I can see him getting it. I mean, he unraveled the human genome. Why would they want to give it to me? But that happened uh back in uh 2008. And then for this one, uh I found out along with everybody else, uh President Trump was giving a speech. And he said, you know you're getting the presidential level of freedom.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

Wow. Do you just do with the president do you guys text?

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Uh we talk uh from time to time and text also.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

But like if you had to call him, you just call him from your cell phone and he picks up, or is it do people intercept it?

SPEAKER_00 20:21

No, he's he's very responsive. But a lot of times he would he'll call you back at 11 30 or 12 at night and say, Are you awake?

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Well, and and do you have like is he in your phone as President Donald Trump or just Donald Trump?

SPEAKER_00 20:37

No, I have it coded in case somebody finds my phone.

White House Calls And Honors

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Do you really? That's wild. Is it is it you give him like a name like Bernie or something?

SPEAKER_00 20:46

So or something, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

Well, you don't have to tell me the name, but you can see it's is it is it a person's name that's not him?

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

That's wild. See that that that's a good story. Wow. So you're also, I saw you're playing yourself in a movie.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Uh I made a cameo appearance. Are you talking about stuck on you or are you talking about gifted hands?

SPEAKER_02 21:10

No, I'm talking about um the the 250-year anniversary. It's like I think it's a oh that's coming up.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Yeah, Star Spangled Adventures to that's it, that's it. Star Spangled Adventures the 250th uh anniversary of our founding.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Wait a second. You're on Stuck in You? Stuck on You, that movie?

Cameos, Fundraisers, And Films

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Yeah, with Greg Kneer and Matt Damon? Yeah, yeah. They were conjoined twins. They were conjoined twins. And I I I was kind of taken aback when I got the call. Uh would you appear in a movie about Siamese twins and being a doctor who separates them? I said, wait a minute. Uh I said I usually don't do things like that. I said, where are they joined? And they said, at the liver. I said, but I'm a neurosurgeon. We deal with the brain. They said, that's okay. And I said, uh, well, what's the storyline? I said, two brothers uh stuck together. I said, are they identical twins? I said, no. I said, Sami's twins can only be identical twins. And I'm a pediatric neurosurgeon. They said, that's okay. I said, let me read the script. I read the script, it was pretty funny. And I said, I will do it if you will have the premiere in Baltimore, and we can use it as a fundraiser for our charities. Wow. And uh Matt Damon and Greg here and some of the others came to the fundraiser and we raised uh over$500,000.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Yeah, it was cool.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Yeah, you don't really do that kind of stuff. That's great. That's a great story. You know, when I I was telling you, I don't really like to do a lot of research, right? And would and I'm very nervous about talking to you, but I guess you're the people that helped schedule this texted the people on my side versus your side, and they and they they they said they called you DBC, right? Have you ever heard that before? DBC?

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

And when I I was DBC, I was like, oh, and I said to myself, I go, Dr. Ben Carson. But wait, but then but then I go, you ever remember the fugitive with Harrison Ford? Did you ever see that movie? Yes. I remember that when when uh Tommy Lee Jones is like, all right, we're looking for a fugitive, and his name is this, this, and this. His name is Dr. Richard Kimball. And I just heard Dr. Ben Carson in my head. And I was like, Come in here, I'm shaving, come in here, and I'm going, Dr. Ben Carson. And then I went, DBC. It reminded me of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan, Ben Carson.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Dr.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Ben Carson. Obi-Wan.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Anyway, so my wife has a great sense of humor. And sometimes she's calling me or somebody's calling me, and I don't hear them. And she says, Dr. Carson. Oh, oh, he heard that. But she always, always used to teach me about the babies because I could never hear the babies crying at nighttime. It would never wake me up. But the beeper, boom, instant wake up.

Sleep As Brain Fuel

SPEAKER_02 24:27

The dad can sleep through the babies. I remember those times. Well, I'm grateful that you took the time to sit down and talk to me, Dr. Carson. I'm very nervous still. But a couple quick quick more questions. Is there something that we do every day that Americans do every day without knowing it that is something that's really bad for the brain? Outside of like smoking or something? Is there something simple that we do every day?

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yeah. Not get enough sleep. The brain needs sleep. It needs those times. Even dreaming is revitalizing and allowing a lot of conflicts to work themselves out without you even knowing it.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Is there a minimum amount of hours you think we need?

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Well, you know, there are people like Trump who never sleep.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

And other people who, as soon as they sit down, they're asleep.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

Um like I wear I wear the uh the a whoop to monitor everything. I wear an O ring at night. I got that sleep eight mattress. So I do a radio morning show. So for 30 years, I've been getting about four and a half hours sleep. And in the last two years, I've been really focusing on my sleep, and I've gotten myself up to seven hours now.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Is is do you think seven is good? Six is good?

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Seven, eight, or nine is good.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Do you monitor your sleep?

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Um I try to keep, I try to go to bed early enough so that I can get the requisite amount of sleep.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Do you go to bed at 10? Do you go to bed before that?

SPEAKER_00 25:56

It depends on when I have to get up the next morning.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

Are there any TV shows that you must watch?

SPEAKER_00 26:03

No TV shows that I must watch, but my wife and I sometimes look at uh Family Feud. Family Feud? It's so funny.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

I mean, you tell me there's not, you don't get on Netflix and watch a serial killer documentary or watch one of those shows that are just popular on Amazon Prime or something?

SPEAKER_00 26:20

It's pretty hard to keep me awake with a movie.

SPEAKER_02 26:23

What about books? Are you reading any non-medical books?

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Well, we always uh end the day reading from the Bible.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Oh, I start the day reading from the Bible.

From Knife To Scalpel

SPEAKER_00 26:31

I start today with it, uh it gives me a lot of confidence and a lot of strength, particularly the book of Proverbs. You know, I I started reading that when I was a teenager, uh, after I had almost stabbed someone. And uh I locked myself in the bathroom and I started thinking about my life. I had turned things around academically. I'd gone from a horrible student to a straight A student, but I realized I would never realize my dream of becoming a doctor with the temper that I had. And I just prayed that God would take it from me and there was a Bible there. I picked it up, opened to the book of Proverbs, and there are all these verses about anger and the trouble that it gets you into. But there are also verses about people who can control themselves, how a man who can control his temper is greater than a man who can conquer a city. And I stayed in there for three hours reading and contemplating and praying, and I came to an understanding during that three hours that the reason I got angry so often is because I was selfish. Because it was always about me, myself, and I. Somebody did this to me, somebody's in my space, I want this. And if you could just take yourself out of the middle of the equation and put someone else there, it would solve the problem. And it did. That was my last angry outburst. And people who know me now can't believe I ever was like that. But it it changed me. And what's really cool about that story, uh, I think God has a sense of humor because who wrote the book of Proverbs? Solomon. My middle name is Solomon. Wow. And when Solomon became the king of Israel, remember the first thing he did that brought him great acclaim? Two women claimed to be the mother of the same baby. And what did he advocate? He said, divide the baby. Give one half to one and one half to the other. Well, when did I become very well known? When I divided babies. I think he has a sense of humor.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

Yeah. Um, who is the person you were almost going to stab?

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Uh, just a schoolmate.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Well, what's his name? Maybe he's in the Bible too.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Uh I I don't.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Goliath?

SPEAKER_00 29:11

That's you wouldn't call him that.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

What how close did you get to stabbing him?

SPEAKER_00 29:17

He had on a large metal belt buckle under his clothing. And a knife blade struck that and broke.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

Oh, wow. Oh, so you did stab him, but it broke.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

If it hadn't been for that belt buckle, my life would have gone in a very different direction.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

So but but here's here's what's also cool. I'd I'd say there are all these little god winks in your life.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

I bel I believe it.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Because uh he took the knife from an angry teenager meant to take lives and replaced it with a scalpel meant to save lives.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Man, you are hitting me with some big stuff today, Dr. Carson. That's amazing. That's beautiful. Is this you have this all in your books?

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Uh it's in various of my books, yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

So for you now, whenever you you you don't have any other outlet for anger, it's not boxing, it's not running, it's not lifting weights. Like, is that also an outlet for anger?

SPEAKER_00 30:16

It's very hard to make me angry. I just I just let it roll off my back.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Having three boys, there was never a point where they took you to a level of anger?

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Very, very few situations where that happened. Tell me the one who could get under my skin the mouth if she wanted to is my wife.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Your wife? What was the last time you guys got into a fight? What was it about?

SPEAKER_00 30:40

We've been married for 50 years, and it's been a very long time, many, many years.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

I've been married 30, and we just got into a fight the other day because she made a she made a calendar appointment on her phone and she got the date wrong and the time wrong and got mad at me.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

That sounds like fun. That's a fun app.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

So wait, being a dad of three boys, you gotta have a story about your boys and something, something that had they snug. I had my youngest, we found out at 16 he was going out the doggy door and going to a girl's house. We had to track him down. Gotta have a story like that.

Daily Habits, Caffeine, And Exercise

SPEAKER_00 31:17

Well, we got a lot of stories, but uh my middle son actually uh in elementary school was a loan shark, and we didn't know that. He would make friends with all the big bad guys, and then he would uh loan people money, and they would have to pay it back. That's crazy, but you know, he he has always been uh very facile with with money, and once he was doing an interview in a magazine, they said, uh, how did you get so good with money? And he said, Because my parents would never give me any. Now it's not true that we didn't give them an allowance, but they had to earn it. We didn't just give them stuff because I was very afraid that they would be spoiled. And both my wife and I grew up poor and our kids grew up just the opposite, and we didn't want to take the chance of them becoming spoiled little rotten kids.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

So we did everything we could to avoid that. But uh but that son has become extremely successful uh financially, and he has three kids of his own now.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

What line of work is he in?

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Uh mergers and acquisitions.

unknown 32:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

What a story, what a success story. How about the oldest? I I I I worry about all three of my boys because they're all in college right now, and I don't know what they're gonna do. You know, it kind of freaks me out a little bit. Did all three of your boys go down a good path?

SPEAKER_00 33:04

They all did. Uh the oldest uh became an engineer and then more recently switched to IT, and the youngest one is an accountant.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Wow. Does he do they all do they work with you at all ever? Like does he do your books?

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Uh no, my books are very complex. And you know, my accountant has been with me for 30 plus years.

Screening Anxiety And AVMs

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Well, what's your day like? Do you get up in the morning and go for a walk? Do you have breakfast? Do you fast? Do you drink coffee?

SPEAKER_00 33:36

No, I don't drink coffee. Um because, you know, as a neurosurgeon, I did a lot of work under the microscope. And the little tremors that caffeine causes are magnified significantly under the microscope. And I just got used to not drinking it. So I after I stopped operating, I still don't drink. But I can't say but I do get up and exercise every morning.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

I can't tell you how terrible that is for me because my doc I just started drinking coffee like two years ago. Because my doctor was like, this will help you fast and curb your appetite. So I drink two cups of coffee in the morning at 6 a.m. and I don't eat till one. I fast all day. So now I would thought for sure you're gonna go, coffee's great for your brain. Now you're just totally thrown up. Now I'm gonna gain 100 pounds again.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

I'm sure you can you can exercise the weight off. You know, people are always saying, well, I don't eat that much, but I just keep gaining weight. And they say, I got a gland problem. I say, Yeah, you got a gland problem. That's a salivary gland. Because you cannot gain weight if you burn more calories than you take in.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

You're right. Right. There's a you know, there's this getting back to the quick um the longevity thing. I had the opportunity a couple years ago to do one of those full body MRIs. Have you heard about those things that would check yourself? And and and I always my sister would be like, if you go to these things, they're gonna find something, right? But I was my dad died of a heart attack at 66 years old, so I wanted to make sure that I was around for my three kids. So I wanted to do everything, and he was in great shape. So I got this full body MRI. Everything was fine, except they find out I have this thing of these veins right here. What's it you know it's called something? Yes, yes, and they say I could have had it my whole life or I could have just got it. But it it could just make you go like that, right? Like it's bad.

ADHD Labels And Simple Prescriptions

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Yeah, and then now you're gonna worry yourself to death about it.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Exactly, right? So this is since we're like zooming, it's like telemed. You can give me some advice. How serious is that is that on my head? Is it bad?

SPEAKER_00 35:47

Well, usually what they will do is do serial scans to make sure it's not changing, make sure it's not growing.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Yeah, every year I have to go get a scan.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Yeah, if it's changing, then you have to start talking about maybe doing something about it. But if it's staying exactly the same or even shrinking, you don't have to worry too much about it. But there are certain activities that you would want to stay away from.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Like?

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Like raising your blood pressure, things that raise your blood pressure.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

Okay. If there is something you have to do about it, uh maybe I come see you in Florida, you go in, take a little off the top.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

Where are you now?

SPEAKER_02 36:24

In Phoenix.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Oh, you've got the Barrel Institute there.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

They they they are excellent when it comes to arterial venous malformations.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Okay, good. Well, I'm gonna save this tape. Uh Dr. Carson, thank you so much for jumping on this podcast with me. It was a pleasure, Ty. I was so how how do you think I did, okay, so for not ever doing an interview in a real person, famous person?

SPEAKER_00 36:50

I found interviewing with you to be most enjoyable. For real? That's awesome. Excellent. That's awesome. It was very good. I like it. Uh the spot the spontaneous the spontaneity is a very nice feature.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Would you say if you could you would I be diagnosed with an ADHD or no?

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Uh I haven't seen enough of it yet. I was I haven't seen any evidence of it.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Good. Because I went to go see a psychiatrist with Tom. He told me I had it, and he put me on the, he put me on. Check this out. He gave me this Adderall, right? So I get on an airplane, I take an Adderall. I've never taken drugs in my life. I take an Adderall, I get on the plane, I was finding it at LA for something, and I couldn't move. I couldn't, and I was in the emergency role, and they're like, we need you to verbally. And I was like, uh, so they put me off Adderall and they gave me something called Vivance. So I take this Vivance stuff. And I mean, I was like really focused, but then the ratings on my radio show started to dip. And I was like, I'm getting off this stuff. I just let my brain do whatever it does. So I'm I'm this is only about six months' worth of stuff about 10 years ago. So now I've been totally clean.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Yeah. Fresh fruits and vegetables, not a lot of highly processed foods, six to eight glasses of water, good sleep, and good nutrition. You'll be fine.

SPEAKER_02 38:05

That's it. That's my prescription. Thank you, Dr. Carson. Thanks for your time, sir.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Thank you. Take care now.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

Okay, so welcome to our podcast. This is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin off of our radio.