The salient point of this podcast episode centers around the profound resilience and adaptability inherent within the disability community, as exemplified by the inspiring narrative of our esteemed guest, Dena Peterson. We delve into Dina's extensive journey, encompassing her experiences with various disabilities, including scoliosis and a recent tibial plateau fracture, all while she navigates her roles as a single mother and a dedicated student of recreation therapy. The discussion illuminates the often-overlooked intricacies of living with multiple disabilities, highlighting not only the physical challenges but also the psychological fortitude required to confront them. We further explore the transformative power of community support, as Dina shares her aspirations to create accessible wellness programs that empower individuals with disabilities. Through Dena's story, we reaffirm the critical importance of amplifying the voices of those within the disability community, illustrating that despite adversities, there exists a path toward hope and healing. . In the latest episode of "Walk and Roll Live," hosts Doug Vincent and Addie Rich engage in a profound conversation with Dena Peterson, a remarkable individual who navigates life with multiple disabilities. Throughout the discussion, Dena shares her journey, beginning with her childhood diagnosis of scoliosis, which led to significant medical interventions, including the use of a back brace and surgeries. Her candid reflections on these experiences illustrate the emotional and physical challenges she faced, accompanied by the unwavering support of her family and friends. Doug and Addie contribute to the dialogue by sharing their own experiences, creating a rich tapestry of narratives that resonate with listeners and highlight common struggles and triumphs within the disability community. As the episode unfolds, the conversation shifts towards the societal perceptions of disability, emphasizing the need for greater awareness and understanding. Dena's pursuit of education in recreation therapy becomes a focal point, as she discusses how her lived experiences have fueled her passion for helping others facing similar challenges. The hosts and Dena delve into the importance of self-advocacy, reflecting on their encounters with healthcare professionals and the often-overlooked need for empathy and validation in medical settings. This exploration serves as a critical reminder of the power of shared experiences in fostering connections and promoting inclusivity. The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to engage with and support the disability community actively. Doug, Addie, and Dena emphasize the transformative impact of storytelling and the importance of creating spaces where individuals can share their narratives without fear of judgment. By promoting understanding and solidarity, this episode encapsulates the spirit of "Walk and Roll Live," demonstrating the resilience and strength of individuals within the disability community as they navigate their unique journeys.

Takeaways:

• This podcast episode emphasizes the vital importance of amplifying the voices within the disability community, fostering a platform for their experiences and insights.
• The speakers, Doug and Addie, share their personal narratives of living with disabilities, illustrating the unique challenges and triumphs they encounter daily.
• A significant focus of the discussion revolves around the necessity of understanding and addressing the multifaceted nature of disability, including both physical and emotional aspects.
• Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the resilience displayed by individuals in the disability community and to recognize the shared human experience that transcends challenges and adversity.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• AGUAIR
• Casa Colina
• Triumph Foundation

The following is a productions original series.

Hello and welcome to Walk and Roll Live. I'm Doug Vincent, joined by Addie Rich. Our podcast is dedicated to amplifying the voices that of the disability community.

I am Doug and you know, I'm a polio survivor. And this is Addie.

Hi, I'm Addie. I have cerebral palsy. Welcome to our podcast.

Yeah. So how was your week?

My week was good. I felt productive. And the weather is like fully spring.

And I'm not going to talk too loud because it's not like it has a blip of hot during the day, but it's not insane. I can go sit outside after work and the mosquitoes have not shown up yet, so we're still in the prime of. I like where I live.

Good, good.

How about you?

Does it cool off at night?

Yeah, yeah, ish.

It does.

Like, I mean, yesterday was pretty even during the day. In the morning it was pretty blustery. Like, I let the dogs out was like, oh, I need a sweatshirt.

So, I mean, Mother Nature is kind of playing a little bit of peekaboo, I think. And like, my sister calls on her way in sometimes, and last week she had a day in the. At least one day in the 20s. I mean, it's April.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's mid April. So what about you?

Is that way when it gets deeper into the summer, does it still kind of. You get some relief at night? Yeah.

No, no.

Then it's.

No, it'll hang at like 74, 75.

That's the coolest it gets over.

Yeah, yeah. Once it fully hits. But I mean, I know you got. You get pretty hot, so.

Yeah, but it, it'll cool off nicely here. You know, just enough of that. We're close enough to the coast. I mean, it's a good.

Probably 45 minutes an hour to get there, but it's close enough to where at night it still cools off pretty significantly. Yeah. Yeah. My. My brother lived in Sacramento for years and I remember being up there and it was like noonish and I.

And I thought, well, you know, at least it'll cool off in a couple hours. He's like, no, he says at about, you know, it keeps like going up and up and up until about six or so. He says.

That's what I was gonna say. 6. Like when it's summer here, 6 o' clock is like the peak of like, as hot as it's going to be.

Yeah. Here it's more like two o' clock and then it. It's like hot Hot, hot there. Until you miraculously wake up in the morning and it's like, chili, chili.

It's like, when did that happen?

Yeah.

Yeah. So anyway, enough weather talk. I want to say thank you to Dan Fernandez for joining us last week. That. That is, that is. That is his.

His accident was my, you know, my fear that it's going to become a reality because I, you know, I'm driving on the freeway and I'm not grandpa over in the far right lane going 45. You know, I go 70, 80 sometimes when the flow of traffic and these people that go by you like you're standing still, like.

Like you don't know what somebody's going to do, you know, they may not stay in that lane or. Yeah, go ahead.

That's the scariest part.

Right.

Because 90% of driving is driving for the idiots around you. Like, I. If I just had to control me, I could probably drive because I've just got to control me and I know what I'm going to do.

But, like, it's the anticipation of people's idiocy and, like, blind spots and just deciding, oh, that's my exit. I gotta go over four lanes at 70 miles an hour.

You know, or, you know, they just don't. They're not who they think they are. They're not Mario Andretti or something. And they.

And I. I know some horrific stories where somebody has been clipped. Kind of like what happened to Dan? You know, one gal, she.

She survived the clipping and spinning and was on the phone calling her dad to let her know and that, you know, she needed some help and got run over by a semi on the side of the freeway. Yeah. I mean, it's just.

No.

Well, those are the things that happen when you drive stupid like that, so please stop it. I know that's not gonna do any help. I feel better for saying it.

Right, you feel better?

Yes, yes.

We want that little freeze button where there's like a real idiot. Like, you hit the pause button on them and then you go put a sticker.

That would be fun. You know, I want to mention something, too, that we've changed our publishing platform where the show is delivered to all the different platforms.

And hopefully it's a much more in depth kind of an experience. There's chapters and transcripts and, you know, all those. Yeah. And.

But I've noticed that even though all the episodes are there, it transfers them and, like, starts a new. Like on Spotify, both were there.

I don't think the other one is probably there because I. I canceled the other service, but so you have to go looking. And the. The links that I give QR codes that are out there may try to take you to the old one, which isn't there anymore.

So you may have to just do a search to find us again. And any episodes that from now on are the links you get are going to be to the new version of it. So may have to refollow if you followed before.

I would appreciate that. We would appreciate that. So. And let us know what you think. All right.

Yeah. Only Doug appreciates it. Of course I appreciate it.

And then for whatever reason, we had kind of a. A bunch of letters lately, so I thought we would do this, which we haven't done in a while.

We get letters. We get letters. Oh, so, so many letters. And it's time to share them with you.

Yes, we'll share them with you. So first one, thank you and Addie once again for the opportunity to be interviewed. Not sure if I'm an electrifying guest speaker, but I had a blast.

Your both are so easy to talk to. I'm not going to identify anybody with these. Just. Okay, I'll let you guess next one.

I just wanted to say a genuine thank you for having me on Walk and Roll Live. I'll be honest, I was quite nervous before beforehand, but you made the whole experience feel really comfortable and easy.

I really appreciated the space you created for such an open and honest conversation.

So that amazing.

And this is what, I get a variation of this every week from this gentleman. Oh, wow. Awesome.

Oh, wow.

Usually two, maybe three words. Yeah, every once in a while, but yep. So we appreciate him for listening. Thank you for sharing this.

Lyra's story to check truly is truly powerful and inspiring. I really appreciate the work that you're doing with Walk and Roll Live, consistently highlighting voices and experiences that need to be heard.

I'll definitely take some time to listen to the episodes. And then the final one. It put tears in my eyes. I think you're gonna get that. This is one of our guests. It put tears in my eyes.

It's the first time I could look at my own life from other people's perspectives. Thank you for all you do. So, yeah.

Oh, my God, I love it. I wanna. If people could watch us because we use video.

Yeah.

Doug can probably tell also because he knows my personality.

Like the 15 times through someone's story that I want to reach through and like, touch them or hug them or just tell them it's gonna be okay or just thank them for being brave. More often than not, that is, like, where my heart goes. Because you.

You see in here, in their voice, the fear of, like, if I say this out loud, this is my reality. I'm accepting that this is me. And I personally know that that is so hard.

Yeah.

So hard.

And a lot of times people are doing it for the first time here. I've found out, you know, they've never told their story. And.

And I, I find that out because when I talk to them, they say most my family and my friends are. We're learning things that they had never heard before.

They.

They told me, you know, so they don't even share them with those.

It's a lot of responsibility. Right. Because we. We want to do justice to their stories. We want to give them space and comfort to do it.

So these letters coming in and saying that it makes my little soul happy.

Yeah. Yeah. And hopefully it encourages some of the people that I reached out to that are still a little nervous about doing it.

I. I continue to nudge them and hopefully we'll get them on, because some of them. I know. All right. Don't forget to, like, subscribe and share. Don't forget to, like, subscribe and share. And we would appreciate that.

Coming up today is an interview with Dina Peterson. You know what, There was one other thing I wanted to talk about. What was it? Just. Just a highlight.

Trying to think, oh, went to the Bacia ball tournament. Did I talk about this before?

No, you were going.

It all runs together. I apologize. But yeah, went to Bacia ball tournament, so I couldn't play, but I wanted to kind of check it out.

And I learned a lot about it, met some great people, and I think at the Triumph Sports Festival this coming weekend, I'm going to check it out. Yeah. Actually get to play. Yeah. So it'll be fun. You know, it's low impact, so it's not going to jack up my shoulders.

You know, too much, won't cause me so much pain there, but very competitive and I've learned some strategy. So, yeah, we'll. We'll try them out, let you know how it goes.

All right, we'll be right back and hear more from Dina Peterson after we get a word from Aguair professional training.

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From the AGH Yar Professional Training Studios, you're listening to Walk and Roll Disability Stories.

Morning light spills across the floor. I take a deep breath and think about what's ahead. Most days I'm moving without a hitch.

Sometimes my body taps me on the shoulder and says, slow it down for a while. Life is good. I've got people I love and people who love me back.

All right. Welcome back to Walk and Roll live. We have got an another guest for you this week.

And to tell what just early indications are going to be a fascinating story, we have Dena Peterson here. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, Just a brief introduction, then we'll do the deep dive.

So currently I am proudest to be a single mom to my amazing 18 year old son. So taking care of him has been my life's joy.

I'm currently a full time college student studying recreation therapy at Cal State Long beach and I'm living with multiple disabilities and mobility limitations.

Well, welcome to Walk and Roll Life.

Thank you for having me. Very happy to be here.

So as we do here, we're going to start with your kind of your early years, what your interests were and that kind of thing. And then now, just to let people know it's not one event for you, I don't think. Right.

It wasn't, you know, because sometimes we get people on who've got to, you know, a condition that they were born with or came to recently or of course others that come to it later in life. But yours started and kind of compounded it seems like. But we'll get into all that. So what were the early years like for you?

So early years for me were pretty typical. Southern California kid, family of four, had a younger brother and two amazing parents. We did typical things, camping, hiking.

I was a girl Scout really early on, very active. And around the age of 10 is when my mom noticed some curvature in my spine.

Her sister had had spinal surgery and so she was very familiar with what scoliosis was and she noticed we were actually on a family vacation and I went to get my first training bra. And so as mom was helping me get the bra on and I was bent over, she noticed the unevenness of.

Her, she Was like, wait a minute, that doesn't look.

Yeah, that doesn't look exactly right. So we went to the doctor and they started with a back brace, a relatively restrictive 22 hour a day back brace at age 11.

So puberty, you know, getting strong and. But again, when I look back on that, we made the best of it. Friends of mine started calling me Turtle. You know, I had.

It was one of those fiberglass, one of those fiberglass, like wraparound that you cinch down with some Velcro. And we would trick kids. You know, I would knock on my tummy and people would think someone was at the door or something.

Yeah.

So we had a lot of fun with it. Friends were very protective and so was family because they didn't want me to get injured.

Prior to discovering the scoliosis, when I was actually back in like kindergarten, I would have these episodes on the playground where if I would turn my head, usually the right side of my head would lock up and just send this like electric shock. And so they attribute all that to the scoliosis. So the back brace didn't do the trick. And I had kind of grown out of it and was still too curved.

I had an S curve and my head was no longer plumb with my pelvis. So I was starting to get vertigo pretty bad.

Yeah. Which heads are heavy. If people don't know heads are heavy. So if you're out of alignment.

Yes.

The balance issues get weird because you can't. You're tipsy already. And like you say, it can create like vertigo and weird stuff because your body's like, wait, where am I? In space, basically.

Even though that sounds crazy.

Right. And it's just even a. A slice, you know, millimeter of difference and you'll hear more. What I mean further in my story makes a huge difference.

Yeah. And so how long were you in the brace? So we.

About two years.

Okay. So we tried for two years to.

Fix way from about 11 to 13, and then at 13, the decision was made that we needed to do surgical intervention. My only question at that. At that time was, would I still be able to have children? And I have my baby whole.

Another story about how he came to be and what's going on there. But he's here.

Let me ask you a couple of questions at this point, Dina. Do you. Did they say why it happens? I mean, is there a reason why one person gets scoliosis and another doesn't? Is it environmental? Is it.

You know, at that time, we very. We were very convinced it was genetic. My mom's side of the family. And then I had a cousin on my dad's side of the family that never had surgery.

He's a male and was dealing with the scoliosis. Men. Males seem to get the kyphosis a little bit more, which is kind of the hunching of the upper spine, which my brother has very slightly.

So it was just assumed that it was just genetic, and I got it from both sides, and that's just the way I was born.

Yeah.

Which that's. That is the case. And there's. When we get to the end of my story, you'll see, too, though, that it's all. It all started from that, I think from birth.

So the other question I had. So the theory is with the braids that you would, you know, because you wore 22 hours a day, so you're.

That whole time you're growing, and it would grow straight. So they were kind of trying to.

Manipulate it, push it into submission with a brace.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There were, like, you know, two pressure points on one side in the middle, one on the other side, and they were trying to counter.

Counterbalance the way the spine was already grow.

Yeah, Sounds comfortable.

Yeah. And the hot heat of the summer.

Right.

And there. And, you know, my parents, I, you know, bless them for being there and supporting me through that.

I know it broke their heart, too, and I know it was really hard for them to have to watch me go through that.

Yeah. Well, that's such a pivotal time. Right. Because. So when I had a dorsal rhizotomy, and I had it at the end of sixth grade, so it was 12.

It was the summer, you know, it was basically like, school got out, and five days later, I went, oh, you got.

You got five days for us, school was out on Friday, and then on Monday, we're in the hospital, you know?

Yeah. I remember mine was July 7th, so I had a lot of fun on July 4th. And then it was like, okay, now you're going into.

Okay, now you're done.

Dun, dun, dun.

Yeah, but I can relate to, like, that age.

Right.

Because you're, like, in that weird. Your body's weird anyways, because you're kind of a teenager. And like.

Yeah.

And then we got to go do this thing in a hospital where you become, like, a patient and a number, and you don't have, like, privacy. That's when privacy counts, too.

Right.

Like, so I can. I can relate to 13 and being,.

Like, golly funny about that is. I was so concerned going in. I don't want my gown to open in the back. I don't want anyone to see, mom, Mom, I don't want this. I don't want that.

By the time they finished the surgery, I didn't care. I said, I don't care if you walk by and see my butt, you should kept moving. I don't care.

Yeah. And for me, I was in a teaching hospital, right. The my surgery. I was like the female vers of the surgery when they did it.

And there was a male version, so literally everybody was coming in on rotation and they were literally like. And this is a blah, blah, blah, Right. So you're like, you aren't. You aren't a person, you're a thing.

And then it's talking about like, well, let's see how that comes out. So that can also be challenging. I get where you're like, yeah, my butt's out. What can I do? Because I mean, you do get in that way.

But at the same time, I do also understand you're a girl when it.

Feels like you are the height of your modesty, I imagine at that age.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And again, that's where, you know, mom was right there. And. And it was really interesting story.

I. I was at the hospital for, I want to say like seven or eight days.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And she brought me a Game Boy, but she had crossed off boy and written girl on on everything.

I had a. We had a family friend that brought me a Bugs Bunny so I could say, what's up, doc? Oh, I love it.

He had been in the LA area, so he brought it to the hospital. And that's like one of my memories of like still being highly on medicine and whatever.

But I remember that and I probably still have it in my closet somewhere.

Yeah, I still have. One of the nurses made me literally just out of like probably a cereal box and glitter and markers. And it said it's a spoil me rotten kind of day.

And I still have it. And I actually recreated it in one of my rec therapy classes. A few. A couple within the last year or so.

That's so fun.

You know, we used to terrorize the nurses because my brother and I would go in together for surgeries first couple of times. And you know, we were there for two weeks. So they would have the surgery, put us in a cast and then we, you know, today you'd go home most likely.

But they had us in there for two weeks in our cast, and then they would take our stitches out, and then we could go home, but they put the cast back on, and we go home and wear that thing for six, eight weeks. But, you know, we got so comfortable there because we were there for two weeks. We're racing our wheelchairs down the. The aisle.

You know, the nurse would come out of a side door with a, you know, some steel. Stainless steel plan or whatever, tools and jump. And they go all over the place. They're like, settle down in here.

Those.

Vincent voice they're like, no, that's right.

But you're being kids now. Does your brother have polio as well?

Doug.

Interesting.

Yeah, I was a year. He was a little over two. So he was at that age where he's riding a little trike, and I'm just starting to kind of figure out.

How to ride little hellions. But you're.

Yeah.

Yeah, I bet. Well, it seems like that continued, right?

Yeah.

You know, you were still kids. Being kids, you gotta. Gotta be a kid.

I remember one time waking up for surgery, and, you know, they take you to the. What do they call it? Where you wake. There's a room where. Like a room where they take you from surgery before they take you back to your room.

So you wake up. Recovery room.

Yeah, yeah, like recovery.

And as a kid, you know, you start to wake up and there was probably some pain involved, you know, if you. My, sir, my incisions were like a foot long on either side of my knee. And, you know, so. And you don't care. You know, you're just.

You're yelling out of the hospital, you know, and I forget what I was yelling, but the nerves are, like, you know, quiet. Quiet. But, yeah. Memories, memories. So, Dina, we're here to talk about you, but.

Well, I'll share two real quick from that hospital stay that I think are relevant. The first was my father. He was working at the time, and his office was real close to the hospital.

And so it was like my second or third day after surgery. And he came by that first thing that morning, and like you said, on medication. You know, I didn't know what day it was. I didn't know they were.

Still had me, like, where they would raise the bed to, you know, move me, where I was kind of like, still strapped down to the bed, pooling. Yes. And he came in and he says, okay, honey, I. You know, I just came to tell you good morning. I love you.

I have to go to work, and I'm going to be back as soon as work is over. Well, he tells the story that he couldn't even get out of the hospital and was like, yeah, I'm not going to work today, and came back up to my room.

And as soon as he walked back in, I looked at him and I said, is the day over already?

Yeah.

Right. Like, because it literally could have been the whole day, and I would not have remembered.

Yeah, right, because you're on meds part of it, right? Yeah.

Yeah. But I just love that story because my dad couldn't leave me.

Yeah.

He's been a huge part of supporting me, especially most more recently as well.

But, Addie, when you were talking about, like, kind of being the experiment that everyone wants to come and see, when they were getting ready to discharge me, they sent a nurse in to start taking out my staples. Now, my scar goes almost all the way up to the top of my neck, basically, and almost all the way down to a couple inches above my bottom. Right.

And then I have a good size one on my hip where they had gone in and taken bone to graft over the rods that they put in my lumbar and thoracic spine. So I'm laying there on the side of the. On the bed, and my mom's in front of me, and I start. I'm crying, and I'm like, this hurts so bad. And it. You.

And my mom's like, dina, I've had staples taken out before. They're not supposed to hurt. Like, calm down. What's wrong? You're just. You're anxious about going home. Just relax.

And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Mom gets up and looks over. This nurse is prying the staple up with a plier, cutting the middle, and then prying it out on either side.

Yeah. No.

Like, yeah.

And my mom. Stop.

So, you know, they have a staple remover just like the kind we use normally. You put it in and, you know, push the button, it releases the staples, and they come out. This woman argued with my mom.

My mom, you know, let's go to the nurse's station. We have to talk to your supervisor. The staple remover was in the packet that she was using.

She just chose to torture me for the first four or five staples.

Yeah.

Which created thickness in the scar and sensitivity and all kinds of other issues. And so that, I think, was my. Well, that and being 11 and being poked and prodded with them with a brace were my first lessons of having autonomy.

Right. And having. Learning how to graciously control Your medical experience for sure.

And that's still something I'm honing and learning and changes every day. But that was nurses like that, Nurse.

Ratchet, my mom, My mom there was apparently one that was a real witch during my whole stay. And she would always say, oh, it's Nurse Ratchet. Nurse Ratchet.

You know, we always had a, a good experience, you know, at the hospital, you know, other than, other than waking up with the pain and all that kind of stuff.

But, you know, so when things like that would happen, you know, I had my foot fused at one point and, and I, you know, they didn't tell me anything, you know.

Yeah.

And by the time I had my, my foot pinned, I must have been a, you know, like maybe around your age, 13, 14, something like that.

And I remember going in to get them removed, you know, I just going in for a follow up appointment to me, you know, and my mom's in the room and, and then I hear them talking about the pins, you know, that they're going to remove the pins. And so that's the first. I know there's even pins in there.

Yeah.

And yeah. And so I'm like, is that gonna hurt? You know, removing pins from my ankle.

And the doctor says, well, you tell me the first one's out already, you know, and you couldn't feel a thing. You know, they just.

And then they were literally, you know, because I don't know what you're imagining right now hearing pins, but they were maybe the thickness of a, of a paperclip. Yeah. You know, and that's all it was a straight piece of metal with a little 45 or 90 degree angle in it. You know, I had them for a long time.

I don't know where they are, but. But yeah, that didn't hurt.

And then I remember the first time getting a cast off when I was old enough to get a cast off, you know, and they start that saw and you can see the blade, it's got all these little teeth on it. And I'm like, you know, you're gonna get down to the skin, you're gonna cut me open. He's like, no, no, no.

And he says it just vibrates and he puts it on fire.

I'm telling you liars, I know you.

Had a bad experience, but that's what I'm saying. I had a good experience. He put it to his hand to show me that it wasn't going to cut and it didn't. But you had all different experience.

I had a whole different experience. And I kept telling him, it's too hot, it's too hot. You're cutting.

Does get hot. Yeah.

And they're like, no, no. And then when they pop the cast off, I had to get stitches because.

Enough to get stitches. Wow.

Yeah.

Yeah. You wouldn't be too happy with the hospital or ever going again.

You lucky girl. Never had a cat.

Yes. Really?

No.

Okay, so moving your story along. You get done with that. You get done with that, and the.

Final surgery happens, and life pretty much goes on. Right. Like modified pe. I did dance instead of pe but everyone just kind of everything's back to normal. Just go about life, which I did.

So once everything healed up, no pain, you had good range of motion and all that.

Yeah. Relatively still pain and the cold definitely caused lots of pain. But I was still pretty young, and it was. It didn't slow me down.

It didn't, you know, impede with life at that point.

Yeah.

So went about the regular teenage years.

Had a car accident at about 17, and just I was driving, you know, fender bender airbags did go off, so just a little whiplash and more tension and pain. And, you know, the cervical is all I have really available. So that's where all the pressure goes and all the. Any movement from my spine goes.

I remember around, you know, my early 20s, going to the gym and wanting to take a yoga class and recognizing very quickly that my body couldn't do a lot of the things that they or everyone else's bodies were doing. And that was one of the things the doctor said after my surgery. Know, you know, how you sit on your tummy to watch tv.

He's like, you can't do that anymore.

Yeah.

And so kind of fumbled through that, trying to figure out how to fit into some of those spaces and how to care for my body the best possible. And then I got pregnant. Then I had my son. And interestingly enough, and I do think this is connected to my ultimate diagnosis, I.

We didn't find out until I was pregnant that I have an interesting shaped uterus. I have a heart shaped uterus.

You have a bifurcated uterus.

I do. You're familiar with that. That's amazing.

I am.

Do you have personal experience, Addie?

I have people that have a personal experience, so, yeah. So it's a very small place for a baby.

Yes. It basically just crowds them out and leaves little room. I had started losing all my fluid when I was 29 weeks pregnant.

And so he actually came at 29 weeks. He was 2 pounds and 13 ounces.

Yep.

But he's a foot taller than me now and perfectly happy and healthy and, you know, little tough first year or two for him, but I was a little fighter. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. He came out with fists, and he. Because I had no fluid, he had actually bruised his face on my pelvic bone on his way out.

Yeah.

So he came out with a black eye and fist.

Yeah. Ready to go.

But he's. Honestly, he's the sweetest boy. Like, he's just a sweetheart, you know, tender, tender, loving kid.

And so, you know, dealing with that, I eventually got the fibromyalgia diagnosis, which I disdain. You know, I've. It's just the whiny woman diagnosis, and that's how I. Why I feel it was given to me.

They couldn't figure out what was wrong, and so that's what they give you, you know?

Yeah.

And then the way you're treated after that diagnosis is very, very different. Um, there were many instances where I was treated drug seeking because I was in so much pain.

This last visit to the emergency room, the amount of relief I felt when the emergency room doctor just believed what came out of my mouth should, you know, you. And you guys know what? I'm preaching to the choir. But. So just, you know, working through those years to manage all of that.

Stopped working full time, largely due to the pain and fatigue, and had the opportunity to be home with my son and homeschooled him for a few years, which was amazing. Brave. Yes. I hope I learned a lot.

I used to be. I taught middle school, and after I taught middle school and got done there, I homeschooled kids professionally, and I was like, no.

Yeah, we had a good network.

They're not my own.

So I.

You know, it's a different experience than when you're yours and you could.

Yeah, that might make it easier if they're not your own. And we did a lot of that.

We were in a learning community, so I'm not the strongest in science and math, so I can send him to another mom to learn that, and they can send their kid to me to do art and yoga.

We were living in Central California, moved back down here to Southern California. And while at my brother's home with his now wife, a friend of hers had come over.

My sister in law was in cosmetology school so they were exchanging care products and stuff. This woman was apparently terrified of my sister's and my brother's dogs. They had two small chihuahuas.

And this woman's five year old son was intrigued and wanted to see the dogs. So they came in the house. Sister in law had put the dogs in her bedroom, saying hi to the woman. This is my son. This is my son.

The little boy goes back with my sister in law to the hallway. And of course, what do dogs do when there's people in their house? They're going to jump up and go crazy and run out of the room.

This prompted his mom to hop onto a couch and then to jump on top of me.

Oh no.

Piggyback style. And she outweighed me by at least £20, if not more.

Yeah.

My son heard my left knee break and we fell to the ground.

Yeah. Holy.

So, yeah. And I. Yours is a back not.

To jump on no matter what. And then your body is not as strong look. So your knees like forget it.

Right. Not to mention, these are two dogs that you could have just right. I mean, you know, they're the sweetest, most harmless dogs.

Huey, one of the dogs was mine first and we had given him to my brother. And so that resulted in a tibial plateau fracture. So this is an injury that a lot of football players, snowboarders and skydivers sustain.

Yeah, because it's just direct impact and it caused the tibial plateau to do a green stick fracture. So it almost just. Yeah. And then comes down there.

Ouchie. Ouchie. I did that when I was little. I stepped in a gopher hole. Apparently I have no recollection, but I know what happened.

But golly, that's because the impact of her jumping on you, basically, and. And the fact that your body couldn't maintain her weight. Yeah, that was the fight or flight in her. She just went squirrel on the wrong person.

Yeah.

So that happened.

So that was my first ambulance ride. That was interesting.

I was wondering. Yeah. How you got to the hospital. Ambulance. Okay.

Yeah. Prior to that though, I had read an amazing book called Miracle Mindset.

Okay.

Blanking on the name of the author. She's a wellness like diet guru type person. Her son had been hit and left, hit and run. And she talked about actively forgiving.

And so in her case, they never knew who hit her son.

And so she describes imagining a Person in a chair across from her, you know, they're in a room alone, and she's just apology, you know, accepting their apology and forgiving them. And so when they loaded me in the ambulance, that's the first thing I started doing for this girl.

Right.

And the reality is it was for me, and it was selfish, but it was to keep me. My energy pure, to keep me ready to deal with what was about to come.

Right, exactly. Energy is finite, so you might as well clear it.

Right, right. And so that resulted in emergency surgery. This is a really fun part of my story.

The surgeon who did my knee surgery, this was again, emergency surgery in Fountain Valley. And luck of the draw, I get Dr. Grant Robichaux.

And by August, the news of him being arrested had become public.

Wow. So the universe is like. And another one and another one.

I just knew this story was going to be interesting.

This is the one my dad and I love telling, and especially when it was closer to the time and most people in the medical world know the story.

That name was familiar when you said it.

I know. I was like, why do I know that name? We watch all those crime shows. Doug. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, and he had been on like a reality TV show. My sister in law was with me in pre op before they put me under.

And, you know, the anesthesiologist checks in, the surgeon checks in, and my sister in law leans over to me. She's like, Dina, he's like, really cute. And he's our age. And he was right. And I'm like, yeah. And he was a great surgeon.

Everything, all reports I heard was nothing. He didn't do anything clinical. He was very supportive in helping me manage the pain after the surgery because that was a major problem. Right now.

Did they try to fix your knee or did they do a knee replacement?

They tried to fix it. So they basically went in, they put in a kickstand screw, which is just literally looks like a kickstand.

Yeah, it almost looks like a Lincoln log down the leg. The top of the tibia shattered. So he had to kind of go in the other side and build that up a little bit. Yeah.

And then the rod Goes about halfway down my calf.

Like with the rod in your spine. Are those both still there or do they. So the rod's still there?

Yeah, everything. Yeah, everything's still in my spine.

Right.

So the left knee joint was more rigid and the right knee joint was still hypermobile. So I was basically walking in a hole for two years. Right. Which was then. And then with the rigid spine, the rigid lumbar and thoracic spine.

Spine, it was basically kicking up my right shoulder.

So going back to those little kind of micro differences. Yeah, they make a big difference.

We were trying not to go to the hospital and stuff as much and was doing physical therapy. But a really good friend offered to help train me. And he had broken his back and his foot. Foot and his shoulder in a motorcycle accident.

Yeah.

About five or six years previously. So he understood what I was dealing with. And so we kind of diagnosed the leg length difference.

Had a great physical therapist that I went to and said, hey, this is what I think is going on. And he did the measurements and said, Yep, you have a 3, 8 of an inch leg length difference.

Yeah.

So the two years of walking around like that started to cause arthritis in my hips and shoulders. And I started wearing, getting my shoes corrected so the insurance would cover me for like two pairs of shoes every six months.

Shoe shopping changed a little. Right. Can't have every pair of shoes modified, but I started getting modifications and kind of went about life.

The left leg was a little small and wasn't operating as strongly as the right, but tried to just keep going. Right. Still was experiencing a good amount of pain.

Yeah.

And I got to start school from home. And this is a huge part of what made it accessible for me was that while we were shut down in Covid, I could take every single class online.

And have live interaction, live instruction. And so I did that for two and a half years before I returned to campus. And then physically returning to campus started bringing on more symptoms.

So those included burning down my legs when I would walk. If I would, like, walk into class, after I'd sit for a few minutes, my legs would just be on fire.

We're getting to the end, guys. I promise.

No, it's all right.

So the rheumatologist sent me for. To the neurologist. First neurologist was like, it's carpal tunnel.

Go home.

It's. Thank goodness my rheumatologist did not agree and fought for another second, you know, second opinion.

And so that's where I was like, okay, what does that mean?

Yeah. So I started surgery in my future.

Right. And just what is. What is the. What do the cerebellum tonsils do? What do you mean herniated and all these things?

And so after researching and seeing a neurosurgeon, I've confirmed that I have a Chiari type 1 malformation.

And so that is where the cerebellum, the backmost part of the brain that's responsible for cornel coordination and things like that, it herniates through the frame and magnum, the portion of the skull that's open to the spine. And so mine is an 8.44 millimeter herniation.

And while I don't have any syrinx, which is the CSF backup in the spine, I just confirmed a couple weeks ago that I have almost no posterior CSF flow. So they did a cine mri, which is where they record the mri. And you can see in the front, the CSF is running beautifully, but in the back, it's.

Now, is that an acronym cfs?

I'm sorry. Yes. That's for cerebral spinal fluid.

Gotcha. Okay.

Yeah. So the cerebral final fluid in my. In my head.

And so the neurosurgeon has explained to me that that might be because of that Chiari herniation. It could have caused damage to the occipital nerves.

Yeah. Which would make sense.

Right.

So they can't do that. They can't do like a shunt or something to help it flow better.

So that. So the first step that we're looking to do is pain management and occipital trigger point injection.

I already get monthly trigger point injections in the traps and SI joints and some other like anti inflammatory medications. If those injections help, they can win. We'll then discuss putting in an internal nerve stimulator.

Okay.

To just numb that out. Right. Basically counteract that nerve firing. If that isn't successful, then we would talk about the shunt.

If the shunt is not successful, and for those that don't know, a shunt would be put in my brain and drained to my stomach to help relieve that excess pressure and pain. And then if that isn't sufficient, we would then talk about brain surgery.

The benefit of having the shunt in place before potential brain surgery, they call it a fascial decompression surgery where they actually do go in and take off a piece of the back of the skull to create space for that cerebellum to kind of hang more like it should.

Right.

And then you'd have good flow.

That would be the hope. That would be the hope. It sounds like a very complicated surgery.

They, they are concerned that it would involve replacing one set of symptoms for another set post ops. Mm. And so, and this again, this all is just a couple weeks ago that I got this final bit of information.

So there's still a lot of processing going on. Looking forward to those appointments.

I have a follow up with the neuromuscular specialist as well and still just trying, you know, I'm currently in an internship working at Casa Colina Hospital, finishing my internship and recreation therapy. And yeah, that's, that's what's going on.

You found your yellow pick road at least. I mean, you were looking for the Emerald City. Now we got you on the right road, so. Yep, that's one point.

Yep.

And how do you, how do you keep the attitude?

Because, I mean, obviously you're telling the story and it's all like serious and lots of things that will People would make people, like, throw their cards on the table and be like, forget it. How. How do you. What is your secret? To be like, I got this. I got this. If I don't know what's going on,.

I allow myself those moments right there. You. You are. There are those moments of throwing the cards on the table and just being like, huh?

And then you come back together and you keep moving, right? And what other choice do I have? That's how I look at it. I've been dealing with pain for so long.

I've, you know, haven't been able to work as much as I'd like to, as successfully as I'd like to, but I still keep pushing because there's still a human in this shell, right? And I think that was one of the biggest blessings from the knee accident is it literally just stopped everything in its tracks, right?

If I'm not the hustling single mom, taking my son everywhere, doing everything, what am I? Right? And that gave me a lot of time to really delve into those things. At the time, I was doing my yoga studies as well.

But knowing that I have value and I'm worth contributing to the world and I, again, I have that choice. I can curl up in a ball and be mad at the world, or I can have a good attitude, laugh at myself, because what else is there to do, right?

And, you know, have some relevance of a good life is. Is the hope.

But that's amazing. That's a choice, right?

Everybody's. Absolutely.

But I. You can see the light come through you sitting here. I mean, they don't see the video. We do.

So, I mean, I know that there is choice in that every day to say, today this is what I can do, tomorrow it might be different, but.

Here we are, kind of goes hand in hand with what we talk about a lot here, is that.

That, you know, we're talking with the people who do make that decision, you know, And I, you know, I don't mean any disrespect for the other folks, but there are people who just, you know, kind of curl up into a ball and.

And don't keep going, you know, and people, their loved ones are around them, trying to encourage them, and they just don't have what that takes yet, you know, hopefully, you know, my hope is that they'll find it someday. They'll get to their, you know, I guess it's equivalent of a rock bottom and then say, okay, I can't take this any longer.

But, you know, so when you say, you know, What a choice did I have? You had lots of choices, and you made one to fight back. And I think a lot of the people that we talk with here are those people that.

That choose to make the best of, you know, whatever, as my friend here says, you know, the cards that are dealt. Right. Yeah.

And I think in some ways, not having answers kind of forced that as well. Right. If you.

I knew the amount of validation I've been having over the last couple weeks, too, and the amount of gaslighting I've dealt with in the medical world and even friends and family, I've. You know, I have. I've lost friends because they don't understand. I've lost relationships because they don't understand.

And the reality is those aren't the people I want in my corner.

Yeah. Yeah.

So I move on. Right.

Weed out those people.

Yeah.

And you just have to be who you truly are. And there's. There's a lot of checking in, and there's a lot of. I've also been doing it for so long that I know there's another side to it. Right.

Like, I've had a really tough couple weeks. I've been home, I've been isolated. I missed the abilities expo, which I'm super bummed about, but I'm coming out of it now.

Yeah.

And so I know there's things waiting for me on the other side, and if I let that energy just deplete me, and some days it does. Yesterday I went to acupuncture, had a horrible interaction with someone and was like, oh, I'm not fully ready to be.

Out in the world.

That's why I have two more days before I go back to my.

I'm going back and. Sorry, people. Yeah.

And using those clues as ways to just treat myself the best I can. I think that's also a big part of it, is I can't push myself because then I will crash and burn.

Yeah.

And as a mom and as a student and just as a person, we don't want to do that to ourselves.

Right.

And so trying to be gentle and this is, trust me, years of therapy and working to get to this point, but just ultimately wanting to not make things harder on myself.

You know, the people that aren't judging you, do they ever, you know, try to get some advice from you on how to kind of maneuver this. This landscape?

You know, I mean, just what you've learned alone and how to advocate for yourself is valuable information that you could share with other people.

Yes. And I. And I do as Often as I can.

I've had a few instances where I've had friends receive significant diagnosis like lupus and reach out and say, oh, my God, Dina, I didn't understand what you were going through until now. Thank you for showing me how you did it. Thank you for. You know.

And this is when we were like, in our early 20s, and so she's like, I used to just think you were a dork because you didn't want to come to the bar. You didn't want to stay hanging out. But now I fully understand.

Yeah.

Talking the biggest thing over, you know, I've started becoming a regular wheelchair user as of July of last year. So I didn't even tell you about the second knee injury. I'm sorry. I thought I was done.

Darn it. You're trying to cheat us in July.

So because of the leg length discrepancy and the size discrepancy and things of that nature, I basically developed osteoporosis, I think mostly in the left leg, because I didn't check the postmenopausal box. They weren't treating me for that, even though we knew I had the osteoarthritis.

So with family at the community pool, I literally just stepped out of a one and a half foot pool and my femur on the left leg completely shattered.

Yo.

And I fell back into the pool. Thank goodness I did not smack my head on the edge or the bottom of the pool.

Thank God there was water in that.

Yes. My poor son was right there. Didn't hear the break this time, but was right there again.

And so now I have a second set of hardware in my left knee that again, they. They wouldn't do a replacement. And I don't know at this point if they will be able to do a replacement. They want me to wait as long as possible.

I'm 45, and they don't want to have to be replacing a knee at 75. But that extra hardware and all the other stuff is what ultimately has me sitting my butt in a chair, which is great.

Living in a throne. I'm trying to. I'm speaking it that way nowadays.

Well, that's what I tell people. You know, it's like when I transitioned because I was losing so much agility walking on, you know, crutches with my braces.

And I got to the point where when I got into the chair, I felt that agility again. So it was more on what I was. I focused on What I was getting, not what I was losing. So that kind of helped me transition.

But I try to share that for those people that are struggling with doing that.

Yeah, my body doesn't hurt as bad at the end of the day when I'm in.

Yeah.

Now, explaining that to physical therapy and a few doctors has been interesting because they just want you to walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.

And same Doug, like, I can walk with a cane or with a walker, but the amount of tension that that brings to my body because of the way the muscles and nerves are firing and trying to make sense of how this body stays together. And so the whole point of bringing all that up is getting connected with programs like the Triumph foundation and Costa Collina have been.

There's a part of me that wishes my family would have helped me kind of accept my disability earlier on because I would have not missed out on all this amazing community and camaraderie. But I'm super grateful for it now. And I think that's a huge way.

Having conversations with people like you and Bobby and not having to explain a lot of things, that's where I feel that relaxation and comfort.

And I've learned over the years, too, that if I'm in a conversation where I feel like I'm having to justify myself, it's probably not the right conversation for me to be in.

Not the right people to be around. Yep.

Yeah.

Or at least share that part of you.

Right, Right. Yeah, exactly. There's.

Yeah.

Not everyone gets. Gets access to depth.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Right.

I'm curious as we listen to your story, you know, go back to my scorecard here. I think you got. You have five or so things that you're dealing with, each which brought their. Their own pain.

So I'm just wondering, you know, now when they. When they give you a shot or something, they'll. They'll pinch another part of your body. Have you had that? And. Yeah, because your.

Your mind can't focus, you know, on the pain of the shot, so they do a little pinch over here to take it away. Now, do you. Do you have that sensation or do they. Are they all going at once or. Because you have one here than the other one, you.

You don't feel as much or.

No, it's all going at once. It just depends on the severity. Right. It just depends on. And there's so many factors, like whether how I sleep. Right. With the.

With the head pressure, I'm learning that sleeping elevated is better than not. And also, that's a big part of it too is learning not to be.

I could do everything right and my body is still going to say, we're mad at, you know, we're going to give you something.

Not today.

So being. And that's where the gentleness comes in on myself as well.

Like, okay, well, maybe I slept wrong, but I can't control what I do to my body and my sleep.

Sleep. Yeah.

You know, I struggled with that for a long time because I would ask myself, I wanted to know where, because I think, guys, it's just kind of episodic, my pain, you know, a lot of times or if I don't move at all, I don't have any pain. But you know, you can't do that. But there are bad days and good days.

But I, I would always try to figure out did I do something the day before, do I, did I go on a longer walk than I normally do or a longer push in the wheelchair. But it, I never could tie it together. There were days when I was. Did something strenuous and there was no pain the next day.

Times when I didn't do anything and there is pain the next day. Times where, you know, it was just always all over the board. So I could never connect the two or the weather or anything.

You know, it was just random same.

And you can't predict it.

And I've learned and I think again, when I was younger and the family was helping me learn things, there was that protection of, okay, well if you don't feel good after doing this, you can't do it again. And now I'm able to say I actually went hand cycling back in January right before I started my internship.

But that also included a three hour drive round trip. Right. An hour and a half there, hand cycling, an hour and a half back. Had a horrible pressure episode that evening.

But I immediately was like, because the way we speak to ourselves and let our minds work affects so much. And so I immediately was like, I'm not going to attach it to hand cycling.

You know, I'm not going to attach it to the drive, I'm not going to attach it to the weather. It's a minute combination of all those things, right?

Yeah.

And I had a blast. I had fun on the hand cycle, I had fun on the trail, I had fun with the people I was with.

And that to me is outweighs dwelling on why did this happen or what did I do wrong.

Yeah.

Now I haven't been hand cycling since and I'm going to be more aware the next time I go yeah, there you go. But those are the kind of things and the thinking that has to change in order to.

And I think the result of that is being less isolated, being less cautious and scared of something happening so that you can have that joy, you know, and just living life.

You know, one of the things you said a while ago, talking about. I think maybe it was around when you talk about the whiny diagnosis and. And people not believing you or, you know, it can't be that bad.

Just try harder, whatever. You know, I. I think about these conversations that we have on this show, and if.

If people, especially people that don't have a disability, if they listen to this, it just sounds like we're whining a lot of times, you know, And I just want to take a moment to say that this really is representative of the whole picture of us. This is. This is a thing we don't share. This is the thing we really don't share a lot to. To our family and friends and.

And, you know, amongst ourselves. Not even a whole lot, you know, except we're at a specific support group and people start sharing their stories and then.

And then it's great because you don't feel alone. You know, it's like that thing that you think is.

Is so unique to you, you know, there's three or four people in the same room that, you know, experience the same thing. So. Yeah. So, you know, I just. This kind of a safe space, I guess, to.

To talk about those things, it helps us, and I think it educates and makes people aware of, you know, kind of what we go through and every. Goes through something, you know. You know, we're not unique in that, you know, it.

You know, maybe ours is the pain or the loss of mobility, whatever it is, and. But everybody goes through something. Nobody gets out of this world without tough days. We're all. Yeah.

And I think that's something that is another joy of having these experiences is it gives us more compassion. Right. It helps us understand. One of the. The sayings that I came up with after my first accident was, you just don't know what you don't know.

Yeah.

Yeah, right. And a lot of people, they just don't understand. And I think you make a good point, Doug. And I think I'm always dropping in.

You know, I'm a single mom and I'm a student, and I do. I'm running a yoga studio because there's so much more to disabled people.

Right? Yeah.

And it is very easy if you're here listening into this, especially if you live a pain free life to understand the duality of. I have to manage this condition. I have to experience what it brings and I have to embrace that in order to have these things over here.

Yeah.

Right. And you know, while I'm getting all this diagnosis, I'm also progressing in school and I'm, I'm building a new career.

I now am going to be stepping into a new career as a recreation therapist. Helping people in my situation.

Right.

And using the things that I've used since I was a kid to feel better. And so that's one thing I love about your show and the community is learning that depth of people with disabilities.

And it makes me in awe because where most people are handling this, we're handling this and this. And it doesn't, like you said, it doesn't mean it's not hard for everybody.

Well, good place to kind of take a turn because we want to kind of start to wrap up. But, but you know, I want to hear about what your plans are to, you know, you just kind of alluded to it.

What, what are you going to do, you know, post education. Yeah.

For the future. So currently working to finish up my internship, which should be done in about probably May, late May. Graduation will be May 19th.

Yes, I'm very excited about that. And then my son's graduation will be about a year after or a month after, sorry, a month after mine.

And so I have to pass the national exam to become a certified recreation therapist. That's first on the list. And then I'll be looking for employment, hopefully something close to home.

I feel like I've been completely spoiled in my internship at Costa Kalina because. Yeah, I know. You know what I'm saying?

Because we love those people.

It's amazing. It's just an amazing program, an amazing place.

Let's put it out in the universe that maybe something will open up in Casa Colina.

Yes. And I have been putting that out.

Yeah.

My first interview for the internship and I'm going to be back as a volunteer. Either way, like they're not getting rid of me.

But I do have to now work on paying back the minimum loans that I have from school and getting my son to college. So that is the plan. Looking for a career.

Starting to really recognize that working a 40 hour, 8 hour a day week in this body is probably not very sustainable. Right. So that's where my training in the wellness modalities that I work with, yoga, meditation, Reiki and sound healing will come into play as well.

I'VE been able to bring those things with me to Casa Kalina and help create a wellness program, including breathing techniques for the clients. And so that is kind of the core of how I will be practicing recreation therapy. And my hope is super cool.

I like the blend.

I love.

Yeah.

I can tell you into, like, some of the energy stuff. Addy. And. Yeah, same.

And so just combining those things and maybe what I'd really love is to have an accessible, you know, wellness center, a physical space for everyone that wants to come in and heal in that way or learn. And those things, to me, are also very empowering because. And we.

You've probably had a lot of these conversations, but we're looking at, like, Eastern versus Western modalities. And a lot of the, you know, Eastern and more traditional modalities put the control in the person. Right.

The healer, not the outside physician, which is a big part of what drew me to these modalities as well.

If nothing else, I would love to see surgeons or not surgeons necessarily, specifically, but, you know, the whole medical world, when you go see a doctor, listen to what I'm telling you that I've observed about my body a little bit more, you know. Yes, let's have that.

That would be amazing.

Yeah.

And I think so. I think with what. That, when. That.

When you encounter that from a physician, I think it's more of an indication of how in touch that physician is with their own body.

Yeah.

Right. A lot of, you know, a lot of people that don't live in pain, they're not aware.

They're not aware that they turned their head and something happened and things like that. So when we explain those things, I think, again, you don't know what you don't know.

And a lot of times it's more an indication of their own comfort in their body.

Right.

All right, well, you got a lot of updating to do for us here in the next.

Updating.

Yeah, things are. Things are definitely going on. You're going to graduate. You can start your wellness career. So we want to hear all about that.

Absolutely.

Well, thank you for coming on Walk and Roll Live and sharing your story. An eye opener.

Thank you for letting me. I know I can. I can definitely talk. I appreciate you guiding me through and listening.

You know, I. I have a much shorter elevator version for people and recognize when they start tuning out each week on Walk and Roll Live.

That's what we like. We like the lower open stories of.

People living with a disability. I like to joke that I'm like a 90 year old grandma. Because I feel that way sometimes. Just, just really feeble, trying to get around.

But I've had times, like, I mean, I ran a half marathon and I didn't walk three days before that. And so it's just, it's a really, really crazy disease. Join us weekly for another powerful episode, Walk and Roll Live. Wherever you get your podcasts.

Life Limitless. Subscribe now from the Ugyar Professional Training Studios. You're listening to Walk and Roll Live Disability Stories.

Another Tuesday, another great story here on Walk and Roll Live. What'd you think of Dina?

So I've I1, I love Dina's spirit. I continue to, like, like, even after our sit down and talk, to Text and just say hey, because she's the same kind of bubbly, like, bright energy.

Yeah.

And I, all the time, you and I, we interview these people and go, I don't know if I could live that life. And it's just so crazy to me. Like, the spirit in so many of our guests and most of our guests. Right.

Whether it kind of ebbs and flows, but who doesn't ebb and flow in, in life?

Things hit you and it hits a certain kind of in a way, but like to not have answers and then have her have all this crazy, like, physical stuff happen, like her knees and like all this. That's because the knee thing, I mean, it sounded like. And I could be wrong, but through her telling her story, it's related but unrelated. So.

Yeah, it's just one of those things. You could never be sure, but exactly.

So it's just crazy and so cool that she's, you know, pushing herself through school and getting done with that and, you know, finding her passion with her yoga stuff.

So got plans beyond. Yes. All of that. Looking forward to seeing how she does here in the future.

And she's, you know, that's all fairly relatively, you know, recent for her, too. So. Yeah, she's remarkable with that spirit, that's for sure. So coming up next week, we've got a little bit of a change from what we normally do here.

A lot of times we're talking to individuals and we appreciate those stories.

And the other thing too is, again, we're talking to people that have made that transition, they have accepted it and, you know, her turning the corner and, and, you know, starting to thrive, that kind of thing. But there are people out there we know that are not, I mean, we don't know them, but we know there's got to be those people.

We know they exist.

They're Isolated and withdrawn and, you know, if you're a loved one, if you're a family member or a friend and you just know this person is, is still struggling with this new part of their life and no matter how long it's been, I mean, I know people, you know, 10, 12 years and they finally find a support group or something and it just changes their whole outlook.

And so, and I don't mean this to be self serving, you know, but encourage them to listen to a few episodes here and maybe that'll be the thing that is the key that unlocks, you know, where they're kind of know.

What it's going to be.

Yeah. So hopefully you can help us out that way. So next week we've got. Am I saying this right? Datability app. The ability. Yeah.

And another, you know, great guests. They're just, they're so refreshing. It's a couple of sisters, so the interactions between them, everything, it was just, it was awesome.

No, it's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing. And we all know. Well, we all know, most of us know everybody's dated.

No matter your abilities, you're neurodivergent, you're, you know, whatever it is, you're on a spectrum of some kind. Dating sucks. Like that is just the general consensus, may we say it.

And these sisters, you know, kind of got into the humor of it sucking but then also at the same time being like, no, we're going to do something about it. And they did something about it.

I like that. Yeah.

Dateability is what they kind of did about it.

And it is an app that helps people find potential dates that, where you can or don't have to disclose immediately what's going on with you and just kind of creating a level playing field where it's not the elephant in the room.

Yeah. You don't have to play that guessing game inside your head. Right. I can see you. I can see a vibe skit on that, you know, with Kai.

Oh, God, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. But these sisters are awesome. They remind me of Amanda and myself.

The humor and the way they kind of volley off each other and are definitely like, you know, definitely can read each other's minds and love each other endlessly. And a product of loving each other endlessly is like holding this dream and trying to make a place for, for it to be quote, unquote, like more fair.

And so we're going to help tell the story of what they've done.

Yeah, it sucks. The dating sucks. But you know what? That's what makes it so incredibly wonderful when it works. Right? But.

Well, yeah, a thousand percent.

Yeah. But this will help it suck a little less.

Yes, it will help it suck a little less. And it's the human experience. I think that all of us say, like, dating sucks. It is also what unites us.

But those of us with different containers or, like, challenges do have to kind of deal with what other people don't of. When do I say this?

Because if Doug is a voice on the radio and I'm sitting down, you don't know we are different until we go to mobilize in some way that matters.

And more and more with online dating. Right?

For sure.

Yeah. Because you can send a picture that doesn't show that or never mention it in your communication and have that. That argument in your head.

Should I, when do I. Should I, Should I not? Yeah. Yeah.

And who is the onus on? Right? So this app kind of removes some of that to, like, hey, let's take out the complication.

Let's make a pool where it's already kind of understood you're here because you're in the right community.

And then, yeah, much better start. All right, well, we're gonna let you go. Thanks for listening.

I'm your host, Doug Benson with Addie Richard from the Aguyar professional training studio. This has been walk and roll Live disability stories Life limitless.