Welcom to the Sick & Good Cancer Podcast

 

Colin

You know cancer has had a large impact on my personal life and from a young age. My my dad died of cancer just after I turned None he was diagnosed in December of ninety three and. Was a very quick progression of that that cancer and he ended up dying in February of the next year um you know and from my recollection I really only remember him having treatment as far as ah, you know. Exploratory and emergency surgeries I don't think he actually had an opportunity to have chemotherapy. Um, he was going to have treatment at the city of hope and coincidentally the the day that he um. But scheduled for a doctor's appointment. That's when the um oh shoot the Northridge Northridge earthquake hit um so they ended up going down to the city hope that day and there was like no one on the road. Ah, but yeah, he ah he had a very short and ah battle with ah that cancer and you know obviously being thirteen years old I had just turned None affected me greatly as to not having a father in my life. um and um I was then diagnosed with my cancer on my father's birthday so that is a coincidence there. That just seems more so than a coincidence at the time I was ah going to a local junior college and leaving fairly close to my my parents um and had just this ongoing. Cough my mom had called it like a tow nail rattling cough like just forceful and probably pretty gross sounding. Um, and so ah, what had really kicked off my. Cancer treatment and ah my my diagnosis is I was living or renting a room going to going to college and as college kids will do I was using. Ah my parent's house as a place to do laundry and maybe get a meal.

 

Colin

And so I was going to carry the laundry to my car to go over to my parents' house to do that and just from needing to pick up my laundry from my room. And carry it to my car I had to stop to catch my breath 3 different times. Um, and that just really cued ah me into that there was a problem. Um, yeah, earlier that week I had um. Seen my primary care physician and unfortunately was just misdiagnosed with bronchitis and I think even given maybe even like a Cpac or just an an antibiotic I think of that case. Um. But at that time when I was taking the laundry to my car and just needing to and stop so many times I knew that I needed that further medical assistance and needed to really go to an emergency room. So when I went to the emergency room. Um. Did a chess x-ray and the technician just kind of came back into the room a little puzzled. She's like I don't know what this means at all but the media so dynum the distance between the lungs she had shared that mine was thirteen centimeters when it's. Typically about None centtimemets for maybe a male my age at that time. So I remember then asking um or having them ask me to lie down so they could do some more tests and. As I was lying down then I was starting to get short of breath and I remember really being scared at that point like this isn't good like I can't even breathe with when I'm lining down so I was then diagnosed ah rather. Admitted that day and diagnosed with cancer that day but it wasn't necessarily that they were able to provide my actual diagnosis until um, a while later my cancer was a t-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma was an aggressive tumor that was in my chest cavity pushing my lungs apart and wrapped around my heart. Um, and I was told that because of its ah rapid growth and just aggressiveness that I would.

 

Colin

Need a bone marrow scienceplant. So um I was ah then initially ah treated for chemotherapy and um was in the hospital for oh gosh. Um. Maybe six weeks for my initial diagnosis. Thankfully I was able to get the chemotherapy because they said if I had not gone in that day like I would not have made it and they told my parents several different times that we'll we'll start chemo if he makes it through the weekend kind of thing. Um, and then after I was released from the hospital I had some outpatient chemotherapy while I had my siblings then test to be. Ah, a donor for a stem cell transplant or a bone air transplant in particular and as it were and certainly lucky for me my my older Sister Melissa was a perfect match. Um, and. So I was able to then have her be my then donor for my bone air transplant and the only hitch there was that Melissa was pregnant with my niece sydneyney at the time so I had to and wait for her to have Sydney. Ah, before I could have my bone Mar Transplant um so this was ah 2001 and ah my sister Melissa ended up going into labor early quite early for for Sid Cindy was supposed to be born I think it was like almost around the time that they had circled for a bone Mar Chinas plant the beginning of may I think her original due day was maybe late April sidney decided to come into the world. Ah. On February Eleventh which was the day that my dad died which is another just coincidence there. Ah for me, it really? Ah I think speaks to that he knew of my treatment. He knew what was going on and um. In in ways was ah the universe was was speaking to to me but having those specific dates align and um so I was able to then have a bone mar transplant on may eighth

 

Colin

And 2001 at the city of hope and through several different complications ended up being in and the hospital for none and then having to really learn to walk again. Um, try to get back in this the swing of being a young adult I mean at that time I was ah twenty years old um so it was several years before I was able to comfortably return to school and um, yeah, that's ah. My personal experience with my own cancer treatment I've since had you know lots of people around me that have been diagnosed and had and opportunities to just provide a listening ear or support or kind of just share. Those same lived experiences with others but dusta and I'd love to hear how cancer has ah affected your life.

 

Dustin

Ah, yeah, thank you for sharing all that Colin I you know that's a lot of coincidence is those 2 coincidences. Ah you know on your dad's birthday that you were diagnosed and then your sister's child was. Born on the day your father died you know some big ah coincidences there and also some of your sharing is actually as I start to share my story a little bit. There's a lot of similarities like I was also diagnosed with bronchitis um, prior to being diagnosed with cancer. Also mine was a media cyanum cancer and also would received a stem cell transplant as well. Which I'll get into in my story. Um, and I think probably the reason why you know you and I met is you know when I none met you? Ah, there was. Some of those similarities I think that drew us to each other at the time. So for me personally the first time I ever heard about cancer was when I was fourteen years old my cousin actually died from cancer. It came on real fast I think we heard he had. Ah, skin cancer and within I think a year he had passed and at the time I remember thinking about cancer as just such a a foreign idea it was like something that happened to older people. Um, and even my cousin at the time I think he was in his. He was 41 when he died it was. He was super young so to me at the time I remember my family saying like oh this is you know, very uncommon cancer's uncommon. It just seems something that could never happen to me leading up to being diagnosed I was. For about a year in and out of the hospital. Ah and we my mom was putting a lot of pressure on our medical care providers to get me an mri and it just a lot of pushback. You're a young guy. You know we think that some of your shortness of breath that you're experiencing is just related to bronchitis. Um I had also been getting these bad migraines where I'd go blind in the left eye but also was met with well you know none of young people get migraines. Here are some medication to help you with your migraines. Um, but you know my mother's intuition I think prevailed she just kept on pushing until we eventually got the um mri despite kind of the ridicule from my primary at the time. Um, and we finally got.

 

Dustin

Got through and after the mri actually I was pretty much immediately admitted into the hospital and within about a week doing chemotherapy um the doctors at the time realized that I was pretty much on my deathbed. Um, it was I was also experiencing some of that shortness of breath I remember I was working at the time as a host at a restaurant and just remembering just getting out of breath easily. Um I was getting these terrible migraines and feeling. Um, a lot of nausea at the time and I remember putting in my my sick leave at the time and being treated at the time like I was lying cause I was young. So no one thinks like a young person could get sick. Um, so it was it was a very troubling time and once. Doing the chemo. There was a lot of complications I actually had within my first cycle of chemo I had like a complication with my small intestine. Um you know and obviously I came out okay, but every time. There's a complication. It's always really serious when you're doing chemotherapy I think in my experience personally um I ended up doing 4 cycles of aggressive chemo. Um, and then after actually being denied a few times I got accepted to do stem cell transplant. Um. Which I remember being very scared of doing the stem cell transplant at the time and prior to I think prior to going is when I met Colin to in kind of that shared shared what you shared. At the time Colin was very helpful I think just because it was going into this place of like the unknown and doing heid do's chemotherapy to follow. Ah, follow that period of time was pretty scary and the stem cell transplant is what I received after doing the treatment. To help rebuild my tissues. Um, and then yeah, having to do some other surgeries to remove some of the cancer. It was you know all of my treatments were over the span of a year and a half but there were some you know, just a lot of stuff that come up during that period. Um I definitely took. A pretty good amount of time off school during that period almost all of it but I was just obsessed with getting back to school I needed something to pass the time other than just watching like a None movies. Um, so I would say that that's you know how cancer has impacted my life at this up, you know up.

 

Dustin

Through that period which was all in like 4008 11008 not 4007 through 2008

 

Colin

You had a gammonive radiation too. Didn't you.

 

Dustin

Oh yeah, you're reminding me I had yeah I had gammon knife radiation that was I think on my break you know you you have these like little breaks um between your chemocycles and. They're like okay, well now we're gonna do gamma knife radiation to 2 parts of my brain. Um and and then actually later on they actually did do a brain operation into the frontal lobe. Um, because I was having headaches later on after I had completed all the chemo. Um. And it ended up just being like you know they're like okay actually there's no cancer here. The gamma knife radiation. Did it all so you know whoops we didn't need to do this surgery but you know and I ended up being fine I just couldn't watch Tv for like a month after during the surgery and I guess I also had. Thoracic surgery um to remove the leftover cancer after and they removed the tumor that was in the media stinem which was like the size of like a baseball um and then after that I was you know cancer free after that was like done after that last surgery. Anything else I'm leaving out Colin that you you remember me saying.

 

Colin

Oh gosh now? Um, but ah, it's funny how over time and we just sort of forget about our our own experiences and for me now it's been you know over 20 years since I had my bone marrow transplant. Um, but what I wanted to speak to is ah kind of ah my role on the podcast and and my credentials. Yeah and really kind of just speak to how my cancer experiences have shaped my career. Prior to then being diagnosed my my thought was I wanted to be a marine biologist I was just getting my general education out of the way and and. My thought was ah you know I'm gonna start taking some biology courses and and that that would be my my path now with my my cancer treatment taking me out of school for I think I did go go back to school for 3 years um and having these ah side effects and and late effects of treatment specifically having had a diagnosis of congestive heart failure interstitial nuumonitis I think is that the term I might. Have that? um maybe confused I'm not sure what the the latest ah diagnosis if if it's pulmonary ful but fibrosis at any rate just having a um, limited air capacity. Having a foot drop from nerve damage in my foot. Really it was ah um, a wakeup call that I wasn't able to really do the things that I thought and marine biologist would be doing or I would be wanting to do to. Um, to go on scuba dives or to just be in the field. So from there like our turned to school and and took a introduction to psychology course with some friends. Um, when I had opportunities to return to college and kind of fell in love and and found my passion and being able to feel like I was able to to help others None aspect of my treatment I find that was particularly.

 

Colin

Um, driving me in the course of my career is that as a young adult I really did feel like I was um, kind of in the middle. You know there's ah more patients that are diagnosed with childhood cancers and and older adults. And then I was you know 19 when I was diagnosed 20 when I was got my bowme transplant and really kind of felt isolated and didn't see anyone my age and kind of felt ah that I needed um to talk with other people's that. Are there people that were my age that have had similar experiences so from there I Yeah wanted to continue doing research with adolescents and young adults specifically.

 

Colin

Psychosocial interests and I recently completed my doctorate in clinical psychology from California lutheran university and I've been working in a healthcare system and. The South Bay in California I work primarily as a general then clinician and the adult psychiatry department but I have ah just carried on that interest and um. And having research done with the cancer population and and I'm hoping to continue that research into my current position. None thing I'm actually looking at having. Introduced in the service area is looking at a group intervention using telehealth specifically for cancer survivors and managing chronic pain. But I'd love to hear um your role on the podcast Dustin and and kind of just what has led you down the path for your career.

 

Dustin

Thank you Colin Ah yeah, so ah, you know my cancer experience has definitely shaped my career a lot I'd say you know prior to being diagnosed with cancer I kind of think I saw myself going in like. More of like a musical direction which is something I did try to pursue for a little bit after my diagnosis I either saw that direction or maybe like sociology or something. Um I did contemplate nutrition a little bit after taking um a health class in my first semester. Of Jc and but then like everything is like chemistry and like biology and physiology and just being more of a creative type person. It just didn't seem in the cards at the time but after doing all of like the the treatment and the chemo then it was like well you know. If I can survive that then I think I can just push through some biology and chemistry courses in order to get to like the nutrition courses which are like down the line. It's like None years of just these science classes that I didn't want to take at the time. Um. And then you know again to the nutrition but you know actually I realized pretty short after taking a few courses that I actually really enjoyed all all the science. Ah surprisingly enough and I still do play music but it just isn't a career. It's more of a hobby. I like to write vitamin nutrition songs and I have music videos on ah Youtube about nutrition you know. So if you're looking for a really good vitamin d video I've I've got a song all about vitamin d um, so and um. Yeah I think not long after that is you know after college then I did my supervised hours. Ah and none I also prior to my nutrition bachelors I had an associates with an emphasis in social behavioral science also had some interest in becoming a therapist. Um and I have still very interested in psychology to this day. Ah something I have played around with um. But you know my role in this podcast is more to ah, provide kind of that nutritional side of things I do work in Southern California I got my license well it's actually in the state of California called a registration. So emerge your dietitian nutritionist past my exam back in December Two Thousand and nineteen

 

Dustin

And I've been working in Southern California in healthcare settings since so I just hope to continue to provide kind of that nutritional angle when it comes to cancer. Um, so with that I'd like to provide. A little bit of what I envision this podcast purpose to be and then you know Colin you can hop in and share kind of like what you envision as well. So for this podcast. You know I just hope that this can be an opportunity for you know, calling myself to share experiences of cancer. Have conversations with health care ah professionals promoting wellness while also incorporating you know, um, my area of expertise as rests your dietitian nutritionist.

 

Colin

It It doesn't I think that's well said I really wanted to just maybe reiterate that it I'd like to have ah us explore cancer related topics with those Healthcare professionals and my my role would really just be to then. Maybe approach it for my lens or area of expertise as a psychologist here. Um, and you know.

 

Dustin

So after sharing about you know my path. Um and what has shaped my career and my credentials I think this would be the best time for us to discuss you know what we envision the purpose of this podcast to be so for me. This podcast will be an opportunity to share my cancer experiences to have some conversations with health care professionals promoting wellness while incorporating my area of expertise as arrested Dietitian Nutritionist um and Colin how about you.

 

Colin

I Think that you put that well and the purpose for the podcast really be an exploration of these cancer related topics with Healthcare professionals while also bringing in our. Our our lens of Expertise I am currently a psychological assistant so it would be then having that kind of ah.

 

Dustin

Ah, yeah I hope so yeah, after you know, explaining a little bit about my career path and my credentials I think that this is a good segue to discuss. Ah what we envision as the purpose of the podcast. Ah, for me personally, this podcast will be just you know an opportunity to share mys my cancer experiences to have some conversations with health care professionals promoting wellness while incorporating my area of expertise as a rested dietitian nutritionist. Um, but what about you? Colin what. But do you feel like the purpose of this podcast is.

 

Colin

I Think you put it well in saying that it's an opportunity to explore these cancer related topics with Health care professionals and I really want this to be a place for some education or information. Perhaps even inspiration. And having our shared experiences of cancer treatment. Well also looking at ah the topics through the lens of ah my particular area of study which is clinical psychology.

 

Dustin

Yeah, that's that's really important area Colin I think that we could use some more psychology when it comes to cancer.