Latest / Unbalanced with Cerys Davage / 54. Wellness, PCOS and med school (ft. Fiona Kwan)

Transcript

54. Wellness, PCOS and med school (ft. Fiona Kwan) · Unbalanced with Cerys Davage

0:10
Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Unbalanced
0:13
with Me, Kara Savage, how are you all doing?
0:17
Happy Sunday. I am back with another interview
0:20
episode with another person I've met online.
0:23
Can you believe it? And this time I'm really excited
0:26
to chat to Fiona. Hi.
0:28
Hi. Everyone I'm Fiona here and a
0:32
little bit about me. I'm a medical student, second
0:35
year at University of Sheffield, and I've spoken openly on social
0:40
media about my experience with PCOS, previously having a brain
0:44
tumour and advocating for work life balance within healthcare
0:49
professionals. And I think that's psychosocial
0:53
aspects of having these mental and physical illnesses is one
0:58
that's massively overlooked in healthcare.
1:00
And so that's what I'm trying to promote and advertise and
1:05
advocate for in my Instagram. Amazing.
1:09
And obviously that's how I came across to you.
1:11
I want to know a bit about your studies, what you studying, how
1:15
long have you been doing it? How how long is left?
1:18
So medicine is a five year degree and six of you want to
1:22
integrate like do another degree like a bachelor's or a master's
1:27
in the middle. And a lot of people do that.
1:29
But for me it's five years because I took a gap year.
1:32
So I don't want to do another year out.
1:34
It's currently my second year. So I passed first year last June
1:40
and now I'm here studying for my second year exams.
1:44
Revision is rough, I can't lie. We're currently on
1:48
endocrinology, which is like diabetes, lots of hormone stuff,
1:52
Cushing disease, which is all very tiring, but I'm getting
1:59
through it day by day. So it's we're getting there.
2:04
That's great. I mean, I wouldn't even know
2:06
where to start. Medicine is not my strong point
2:08
at all. And I mean, I know I've got a
2:11
condition and I'm supposed to know all the sites behind it,
2:13
but I'm still wrapping my head around everything.
2:16
And so I can't imagine having to learn about all these different
2:20
types of conditions and how you know how they come about
2:23
scientifically. It's so interesting.
2:26
As a patient, like I think you'll understand this as well,
2:29
when sometimes patients really are the best doctors because in
2:35
a way, like previously, historically, it used to be
2:38
like, oh, the doctor knows everything.
2:40
But as a patient, you do more on these types of research than
2:45
typical GPS do, especially when it comes to rare diseases.
2:49
I know you have a specific type of like muscular dystrophy.
2:54
These rare diseases, not many GPS come across often.
3:00
And so patients really are the best resource that they have.
3:03
They have like support groups for each other.
3:06
And it's just we shouldn't like, as healthcare professionals, we
3:10
shouldn't overlook the knowledge and the understanding that
3:15
patients already have, especially as no one advocates
3:17
for you, you know? So I think that sometimes
3:21
patients do know best and I'm pretty sure you know that as
3:24
well. Oh definitely.
3:25
I mean if it wasn't for me having to research into this
3:29
condition, no one else would and I wouldn't know anything about
3:32
it because I wouldn't know anyone that could give me that
3:36
information. Like you said, GPS, like most of
3:39
the time I have to explain what my condition is to the GPS just
3:43
so they have like, you know, a basic understanding of it.
3:46
But yeah. Is that something that maybe
3:48
inspired you to study medicine? Definitely.
3:52
I feel like, as in, I did like a little publication on a rare
3:58
disease patient who had both deaf and blindness.
4:01
And it's definitely rare in the fact that as healthcare
4:05
professionals, you see that not every part of the curriculum
4:09
you're able to put into your clinical practise because our
4:12
brain can only like withstand so much information.
4:15
That's not feasible for all GPS or primary care practitioners to
4:20
research every single part. And that's why I think it's so
4:25
important for you to have a little community, for you to
4:27
like share resources. And I think that played a part
4:30
in me as well because like I had a brain tumour, which is a
4:33
specific type of like convenous Hemangioma, which is basically
4:37
like a lesion of blood vessels. Like they all burst.
4:42
And it causes like this intracranial pressure, which is
4:46
basically like pressure inside her brain that's like pressing
4:49
on specific parts. So it's like you go blind, you
4:52
have seizures, you have like you could go into like a comb or
4:55
something. But I think having this type of
4:59
like experience is so important in medicine, like lived
5:03
experience and stuff like that. So nurses, like doctors,
5:07
physiotherapists, we can all benefit from having like a
5:10
family member close to us going through the same thing or us
5:13
going through the same thing. And I think that makes us more
5:15
compassionate and more empathetic as providers in the
5:19
future. And yeah, honestly, like there's
5:22
no reason why you as a president can't go into healthcare because
5:27
it's definitely difficult and there are definitely like
5:31
sacrifices you have to make. But it's not inherently
5:34
difficult. It's just that for anyone who's
5:36
watching who's might be interested in like medicine, but
5:39
they're not smart enough or they don't know well enough, it's
5:43
definitely not the case. I got it and it's difficult.
5:46
But if you put the hours in, it's not how difficult it is,
5:50
but like how, how much you're willing to, you don't know like
5:54
sacrifice for it. That's not a nice word.
5:56
It's like you're not really giving anything up, but you're
5:58
like passionate about it. And you have to have a drive and
6:01
like motivation to go for that. It sounds like you're kind of
6:04
dedicating your life to that. And I guess lived experiences
6:07
couldn't match up to science on paper.
6:10
You know, there's just their extra level of like
6:13
compassionate, like you said, and just just knowing exactly
6:16
what that patient is going through the brain to me you were
6:19
talking about. Tell me about how how old you
6:22
were, how you found out about it, your diagnosis process.
6:25
What was that like? OK, so I was 16 and this was
6:30
like GCSE time when I just finished my GCS ES, it was like
6:35
COVID. So no one was really like
6:37
allowed in the ward and the symptoms were very general.
6:41
It was just like I kept vomiting like 5 AM, 6:00 AM every
6:46
morning. So three days later, my mom was
6:47
like, if you start vomiting again, like I'm going to take
6:50
you to the hospital. And this was in Hong Kong.
6:53
So it was like healthcare there is way better than the NHS, for
6:58
lack of a better word, because like people get straight to the
7:02
point. They actually like, it's a
7:04
really good form of public healthcare.
7:07
So we got to the GP because I had headaches, I had like double
7:11
vision and it was just chaotic. But once I got there I was like,
7:16
oh, nothing's really wrong with you.
7:18
Like we'll just check the brain or anything.
7:21
So they sent me to ACT scan and then there was like a tennis
7:25
ball like size thing. And that's kind of where like
7:28
taking taking photos, like I just took photos of little
7:32
scans. I started documenting my patient
7:34
journey because even though I wasn't interested in medicine
7:38
another time I want to do everything else like accounting,
7:40
business, economics, physiotherapy or something.
7:44
I just was really fascinated in this like medical process,
7:48
considering it was like, oh, I'm going it was like maybe I'll be
7:51
interesting or important in the near future.
7:54
I don't know. But after that experience, it
7:56
truly like turn me because through the surgery I had a
8:02
female neurosurgeon who was so like cool.
8:04
I also had, like, a lot of nurses around me, like, talking
8:08
about their experience in healthcare, like they were all
8:10
going through placements or something.
8:12
And it was just really cool seeing like all the healthcare
8:15
stuff. And I was like, I want to be
8:17
part of, like, meaningful change like that.
8:19
And yeah, we're here now. Wow.
8:23
That's so cool. And it's it's so weird that like
8:28
something that can be so traumatic can actually like
8:31
shape who you are now. And not only, you know, not only
8:35
are you more resilient and compassionate, like you said,
8:37
but also like you've chosen your career based off of that
8:41
experience. It's like you never notice how
8:44
the small things like, become so vague in your life.
8:48
Like it's the butterfly effect, you know, like when it flaps its
8:51
wings and then one event could dramatically change the
8:56
trajectory of your life. It's just so interesting because
8:59
like, there must be a reason that these things happen to
9:02
these specific people and that can impact them and the people
9:06
around them, you know? Like, do you ever wonder like
9:10
the life you would be living if you didn't have this?
9:15
I think about this way too much, like, have an existential crisis
9:18
when I think about it too much because I'm like, wow.
9:21
Like, if I didn't give that, like if I didn't give dance up
9:24
as a child, like, would I still be dancing now?
9:26
Would that have led me to, you know, a different career?
9:29
Would that have led me into, like, meeting someone that's,
9:32
like, changed my life? You know?
9:33
Like, it is such a weird thought, but yeah, I mean this
9:38
obviously. You should definitely get back
9:40
into dance. Definitely get back into dance.
9:42
Like I don't ballet. That's so cute but I I just got
9:46
back into it recently like ballet because I stopped after I
9:51
got to like like the pre professional level.
9:54
I stopped and then I just picked it back up and I lost basically
9:59
all my skills. But it's still fun.
10:02
Like you should definitely do it because it helps with so much
10:05
with like work life balance and you just like explore a
10:08
different more creative part of yourself in the process.
10:10
So definitely do it everyone. Says that like dance is just the
10:14
best form of exercise, but also just like making your day so
10:19
much better, feeling so much happier and I always thought,
10:22
well, now I've got this condition like I can't move my
10:24
muscles as well as I used to. Like I probably can't dance now,
10:28
but I'm sure there's a way around it, you know, I'm sure
10:30
the ways, like there's some kind of dance out there that's that's
10:33
suitable. Definitely like I think even in
10:36
my Pilates classes, they have these mind body connect sessions
10:41
for patients with like lower mobility and there's definitely
10:46
ways to go around it. Like they have, they put their
10:49
low like chairs together and then it's just like a group
10:52
session and you're surrounded by people who are similar to you
10:56
and have the same like abilities as you.
10:58
And it's no different to any like other regular session.
11:01
It's quite different now, I feel like, because in the past it's
11:04
like if you have a disability, you're kind of estranged from
11:07
regular society, but nowadays it's so, so different there's.
11:12
There's so much, like there's so many.
11:14
It's so nice to see. And yeah, I, I guess I've only
11:17
seen more of it since like joining like the disability side
11:22
of social media. Like there's so much out there.
11:24
There's, there's wheelchair dance if you look for it.
11:28
Like there's just insane stuff out there.
11:31
And it's just really nice to see that there is something for
11:33
everyone pretty much. So yeah, like I used to go to
11:37
Pilates classes and then I thought like, oh, I can't keep
11:39
up. So I just have to stop out just
11:41
like do my own thing at a different time.
11:43
But I still want to like, challenge myself and go to these
11:46
classes and just maybe find my own version of it or like join a
11:50
class that have people that have similar abilities to me.
11:55
And so I think I was just trying to fit into like the Pilates
12:00
girl kind of, you know, wake up at 5:00 AM and I start again to
12:04
go, you know, hardcore all the time and go for like 5K runs and
12:08
stuff every morning. Like that's just not me.
12:11
So I think I need to find my own version of that.
12:13
You know, like everyone's. Definitely.
12:15
Yeah. Everyone's so different.
12:17
And you don't have to, like, fit into a specific, like,
12:21
Instagram. Like, you don't have to follow
12:24
this person to a team. Like, you can be your own
12:26
person. And in the past, I was like,
12:28
corny as hell. But now it's like, why do people
12:31
care about what you're doing with your life?
12:33
Like exactly the truth. Is no one cares but you, you
12:37
know? Exactly that's.
12:40
That's something you do a lot on your social media is to just
12:43
advocate for people that don't feel like they fit into the
12:47
aesthetics, like you said, and still have, you know, difficult,
12:51
difficult days. And you you do your best to
12:53
showcase that and like showcase the balance.
12:55
And obviously your studies are quite full on.
12:58
Tell us why you got into social media to begin with.
13:01
So believe it or not, I started Instagram when I started on
13:06
TikTok as like a medical applicant, like page.
13:10
So it was like, let me teach you how to do UCAT, like how to get
13:15
through these medical admissions.
13:17
Let me teach you how to like get through the interviews.
13:20
And that was great at first. Like that definitely got me a
13:24
foot through the door. But then on Instagram I was
13:28
like, OK, cross posting doesn't really work because they had
13:31
different niches, so they don't have different audiences.
13:34
So I was like, OK, let's move away from medicine and maybe
13:38
more towards like healthcare as a, as a whole aspect.
13:41
So healthcare, including your mental side, your physical side,
13:45
outside of medicine. So taking care of your health
13:48
outside of healthcare, I guess it's more accessible and more
13:51
relatable for you to relate to a whole group of people rather
13:56
than a small group. But I think in that I actually
13:59
found that my mental health was so largely based on what I focus
14:04
on. So previously I was like, OK,
14:06
let me teach these people how to get into medical school, but
14:10
internally, that wasn't really making me feel good about myself
14:14
because I was like, I have to be set at this high standard.
14:17
I have to wane off the imposter syndrome every now and then.
14:21
I don't think I'm caught up by this role.
14:23
And that was just like the thought process every time I
14:25
posted. And now it's kind of like even
14:28
if people comment like hateful things or negative things, like
14:32
I know who I am and I like the things that I post.
14:35
And it's moved more towards a like focus on yourself, focus on
14:40
your well-being because at the end of the day, you're the only
14:43
person you have. It's going well so far.
14:46
Like I might change up the content like a little bit.
14:49
It's just like depending on what I want to post honestly.
14:53
Like don't take it too seriously and have fun with it.
14:57
That's so nice. Obviously that's how I found you
15:00
just from posting these things. And like you said, you're not
15:02
catering to a small niche anymore.
15:04
You're catering to quite a big group of audiences, even people
15:07
that aren't studying medicine like me.
15:09
Like you're still showcasing the importance of balance in your
15:13
life. And you know, not just the
15:15
aesthetic stuff you showcase like your actual studies.
15:18
And I've left university now, but I know how difficult it is
15:22
to go through uni and still try to live like the best life you
15:26
can. It's do a lot of personal things
15:29
as well as like, you know, not letting your studies take over
15:32
your whole life at that point. Was that difficult and is it
15:35
still difficult to basically be a full time content creator as
15:39
well as being a student I. Think it's so difficult, but
15:43
obviously I'm saying that like knowing full on that there are
15:47
people who do way more than me and work way harder than me and
15:51
put much more effort than me. But I think it's challenging in
15:55
the way that you kind of have two different like sides to you
15:59
like medical student as well as content creator, but then you
16:04
you don't really have time in between to like focus on
16:06
yourself like off time. So I've tried to put little
16:10
pockets of like thing that bring normalcy to my life.
16:13
So for example, at night I watch like 2 episodes of Diaries or
16:19
I'll put off like doing flash cards for a day and I'll just
16:22
take a walk in the park. And being a content creator, you
16:25
never really switch off. So you always feel the urge like
16:29
take your phone out, take a video, like go edit something.
16:33
But it's challenging. But I love the work that I do.
16:37
So I'm not too fussed about it. Like there's no other way that I
16:41
would go about it because I love medicine.
16:44
So there's no way that I can like, quit because I've gone so
16:47
far already. And there's also like a whole
16:50
side to content creation that I really love.
16:53
And it's genuinely become a part of me through these past two to
16:57
three years, being able to interact with people.
17:00
I think like so many people send me like DMS going like, oh,
17:04
you've like inspired this part of me.
17:06
Like I got into medical school because of you.
17:07
Or like, I really want to try this, like class that you went
17:10
to or the studio that you went to.
17:13
Can you like send me the name or something?
17:14
Like those low influences throughout my day genuinely just
17:17
make me so happy. And yeah, it can be tiring
17:21
sometimes and it can be draining, but it's the best
17:25
decision I ever made for myself. I.
17:27
Love it, sort of nice. I'm glad you don't see it as
17:30
work because that would be just really sad and I'm sure it would
17:34
make your mental health a lot worse.
17:36
So content creation is so fun. I guess it's just like always
17:39
coming up with different ideas and.
17:42
Like ideas, Yeah, you have to be seen as like the phone, like
17:47
addict, like just scrolling and scrolling.
17:49
But I think once you get out there and you think of ideas on
17:53
your own, like day in the lives, you can do like a little vlog,
17:56
you can do a voice over, you can do a fun trend.
18:00
You can always like hop on some trending audience or not like
18:04
that's also a trend in itself now, like just not using a
18:07
trending audio and it's just fun like content creation is.
18:11
It's not hard. I'm not going to lie.
18:13
Like the stress of posting cons consistently and every day is
18:17
hard. But once you once you get there,
18:20
it's like you can just have fun with it.
18:23
And I think initially starting up you have something to prove
18:26
with yourself. But nowadays I'm trying to tell
18:29
people that like, you don't really need to prove anything to
18:32
anyone except yourself. I think at the end of the day,
18:35
like nobody cares what you're doing.
18:37
Like in the best way possible, so.
18:40
Exactly. And like you said, it's so
18:42
rewarding when you hear the response.
18:45
Obviously we we ignore the negative comments, but the
18:48
positive comments and DMS is like what keeps me going and
18:53
what inspires me to just keep making content because I know
18:56
that it does help people and relates to people, but also it
19:00
helps me knowing that other people can relate to what I'm
19:02
going through, you know? Yeah, definitely.
19:05
It's so rewarding seeing so many different professions being in
19:10
like being inspired by each other as well because I mainly
19:15
like cater towards like healthcare people, but also like
19:18
health is a part of every person.
19:20
Like regardless of what you do, like what ethnicity you are,
19:24
what age you are, where you're from, there's definitely no
19:27
limit to it. I mean, my audience is like 93%
19:30
women. So that's amazing because I
19:33
always talk about like PCOS and these trivial symptoms that
19:38
always affect women, especially in burnout and work by balance.
19:42
Like that's a huge thing when it comes to being told like you're
19:45
not doing well enough for your role or you're not getting paid
19:49
enough or you're not, your pain is not valid, like that kind of
19:51
thing. It's so demoralising to hear.
19:54
And I always speak about that when catering towards a large
19:59
audience, but also more predominantly towards women.
20:02
So I'm so grateful that I've reached the right audience and
20:07
and that my algorithm is doing well.
20:10
Yeah, because that's difficult, you know, like, you post content
20:13
for a specific type of audience and maybe it would always reach
20:16
the audience. But I'm so happy about that.
20:19
And obviously you're very open about your PCOS journey as well
20:23
that I'm sure a lot of women are very grateful for and, you know,
20:28
just glad they have something to relate to.
20:30
Can you tell us a bit about your journey with PCOS I?
20:33
Would say it's like less of a journey and more of just the
20:36
realisation that over the years these small things are actually
20:40
part of something bigger. But I know that PCOS has
20:44
severity in different people, so different types of severity.
20:49
And for me it's not as strong. So I don't have, you know, I
20:52
don't have male pattern balding or I don't have chest hair or
20:56
any like different hair. But I was always like a very
20:59
hairy like it's just the little, the little things.
21:03
And one time it was because of my periods just coming very
21:08
regularly. Like I had a three-week period
21:10
once and it was absolutely crazy that.
21:13
Sounds awful. No, it was, it was like
21:16
horrible. Just being someone who was
21:18
always a heavy bleeder. I was just like, OK, maybe it's
21:21
time to get checked out. And then a few blood tests
21:24
later, a few ultrasounds later, it was, oh, you have PCOS?
21:27
So I asked him. I was like, what can I do about
21:30
this now? And then he was like, there's
21:32
nothing you can really do. Like if you want medication for
21:36
your symptoms, we can give you like birth control or something.
21:40
And I was just, I was just like, OK, there must be so many other
21:43
people who are being told that there's no like treatment for
21:47
this. And it sucks that there's no
21:49
treatment, but it makes sense in the fact that the symptoms are
21:53
so varying within woman to woman.
21:56
Of course they will treat the symptoms and there's no like 1
21:59
pill that will cover every single person in the right way.
22:04
Especially since PCOS is so diverse in a way and it like
22:08
affects every woman differently and there's different sized
22:11
cysts and there's different like symptoms.
22:14
Like some people just lose their period completely and some
22:17
people have massive heavy periods.
22:19
I understand why medicine is like that traditionally, but
22:24
also it's more about raising awareness for this kind of thing
22:28
and for to prepare women for how to approach like medical
22:32
practises and how to approach like their mental health,
22:36
especially living with PCOS. How to raise awareness for
22:39
androgynism and having that hormonal imbalance in their life
22:43
and just coping with it and being more mindful of heard
22:47
pains and period durations and talking about all things women.
22:51
Yeah, all. Things women.
22:54
All things women. Yeah, exactly.
22:56
And like, the more people that share the experiences and speak
23:00
up about it, the more information there is out there
23:02
for people that maybe don't know what they're doing, don't know
23:06
how to approach this kind of stuff.
23:07
So I guess the more noise we make about these kind of things,
23:11
the better. Exactly.
23:13
Yeah, there's definitely so much like patient information out
23:16
already. But if you talked about it on
23:19
social media, for example, like maybe someone you know also has
23:23
it. And even though they might not
23:24
tell you like that, still gratifying in knowing that
23:28
you're not the only one. Because especially on the
23:30
Internet, like when you see another patient talk about it,
23:33
it might not have the same significance or effect as if
23:36
someone in your own family or someone in your immediate like
23:39
friend group had it. So just talking about and
23:44
comforting other people who might be going through the same
23:46
thing, that's just really important and solidifying these
23:49
kind of relationships with each other.
23:51
Exactly. That's such a nice way of
23:53
putting it. And yeah, the work you're doing
23:56
on social media to raise awareness is amazing.
23:59
Please keep going. And I know that it definitely
24:03
inspires a lot of other women to be open about sharing their
24:06
experiences as well, because it's still a bit of a taboo
24:10
subject and not everyone feels comfortable talking about it.
24:13
So I guess, yeah, the more people that raise awareness
24:17
about it, the more comfortable other women feel in their own
24:21
experiences. That's so great.
24:24
My eyes are tearing because my eyes are dry.
24:27
No, no, because of not you're not emotional.
24:29
I'm so emotional, I. Want to ask what are your future
24:33
plans? OK future plans.
24:36
OK immediate future. I have a lecture in like 4
24:41
hours. I have lectures pretty much
24:44
every day now and then maybe in the future future a year from
24:50
now, hopefully I'll be doing some cool like Cancer Research.
24:53
Especially since I'm applying for a few like teaching, not
24:57
teaching, like being the two student, yes, student
25:01
fellowships for Cancer Research. And that's pretty exciting.
25:06
And then I'm really trying to like hone in on breast cancer,
25:11
especially as someone who's also had like these, like I'm, I have
25:15
tumours everywhere. I had a tumour in my brain and
25:18
now I have like tumours in my breast as well, which are like
25:21
not cancerous. So they're, they're fine, but
25:24
it's just like someone who's really like interested in how
25:29
the genetics and the like pack of Physiology behind tumours.
25:34
So yeah, breast cancer is definitely a really like big
25:38
topic that I'm really interested in.
25:40
And also like in the future, future, maybe I'll be either GPI
25:47
think as a medical student, you're always like, oh, I want
25:50
to explore other specialties. But statistically, 3 out of four
25:54
doctors will be GPS and it's only like 25% that come hospital
26:01
like specialty registrars. So that's that's a really like
26:07
humbling statistic to hear. This signifies like the
26:10
importance that primary care practitioners have on our system
26:14
and how important they are because I think the media like
26:18
always like shows how GPS are taking so much time to do their
26:23
own stuff. They have all this money, like
26:25
80,000 a year and all they do is like like refer patients and
26:30
they can't like they can't, they don't have like time for
26:34
patients And they just like if anything goes too hard, they
26:37
just give up and send you to the hospital.
26:40
But that's not the case at all because GPS have so much more
26:44
scope behind the scenes that you don't understand, like most
26:47
patients don't understand. And so, yeah, potentially AGP,
26:53
that's likely where I'll go. But if not, I might do radiology
26:57
as well because I love like, just interpreting like anatomy
27:01
and interpreting like CT scans, MRI scans, you do ultrasounds
27:05
and all that thing. You can also have your own like,
27:08
ultrasound clinic. So you can be like imaging
27:11
babies and pregnant moms. And that's kind of cute.
27:16
Well, I think I definitely want to start continuing my social
27:21
media. I think there's so many
27:23
prominent like influencers or content creators in the medical
27:26
space, even as their doctors. And definitely I think
27:30
professionalism won't be as big as an issue because especially
27:35
as a patient, like you want your stuff to be confidential.
27:39
So there's no filming in the hospital.
27:41
There's no like showing your day-to-day to day life in the
27:46
hospital as a doctor. But I think once you overcome
27:51
that and you just like show your day behind the scenes and not
27:55
necessarily putting like really confidential patient information
28:00
on the screen and on Instagram and TikTok, like that's totally
28:04
fine. Especially since a lot of people
28:07
have also managed to balance 2 careers at once and just make
28:12
like, was it like just smashing the like traditional an old
28:20
mindset that you can't do social media while doing a really like
28:25
prestigious degree like law and medicine and and hearing what
28:29
you can't like? It's definitely not the case
28:31
now, especially since you can definitely separate them and
28:35
show that you can have a life outside of whatever like
28:42
prestigious degree or job title you're in countries.
28:45
So even though it's going to be hard, doing medicine is going to
28:49
definitely take like 60 to 80 hour weeks and it's not exciting
28:55
for me at all. I'm definitely excited to
29:00
continue social media and show that it's possible to do
29:04
everything at once. Wow.
29:07
It's so exciting that you have so many different career options
29:12
and hey, social media is a great side hustle to do as well.
29:16
So I really hope that you carry that on.
29:18
And it's just so nice to see like people working in medical
29:23
professional fields also raising a lot of awareness and just
29:26
smashing it on social media as well.
29:28
Like, it is possible to do both. It's a lot of work.
29:31
But both cases, like both kind of careers are very rewarding.
29:35
So that's so exciting. Definitely rewarding in
29:39
different like aspects. I think medicine is like you see
29:42
these in person patient interactions.
29:46
And I think for COVID, a lot of doctors spoke about how like it
29:49
was hard to not get the body language of patients, how it was
29:53
difficult to like not be with patients face to face.
29:56
And I think for a lot of doctors, they still do telephone
29:59
consultations, but for larger cases, they do tall come in like
30:04
let's have a chat. And I think speaking to doctors
30:07
during their training, like programmes, they're like, they
30:11
get a lot of like gifts from patients and obviously that's
30:15
allowed, but not like cash gifts or whatever.
30:17
But it's really like, it's really amazing to be with
30:21
someone for, with a patient or like long term like
30:25
relationships. So you have like a solidified
30:29
like doctor patients contracts where it will come in whenever
30:33
and then get to see how they age, you know, like you, you're
30:37
with them for like 1020 years and you get to see their kids as
30:40
well and you get to like treat their kids as well.
30:43
And it's just crazy to have that longevity in your career and
30:49
being able to touch people in a way that's so different from
30:54
everyday like life. So you wouldn't see this in like
30:57
corporate or you wouldn't see this in anywhere else.
30:59
So it's a very humbling and it's a very rewarding job.
31:03
But for social media, I think it's more rewarding sense that
31:08
like you get to impact people online, which is a larger and
31:13
more broad and more generalised scope.
31:16
So you don't have the same like geographical like in person like
31:19
things. But of course, like having these
31:22
online relationships, especially like you and I like having that
31:28
online, like presence and being finding your person or whatever,
31:35
like online because of not having these geographical like,
31:40
restrictions. That's really amazing.
31:43
And yeah, it's the social media aspects of it all.
31:49
Yeah. Just combining these two roles
31:51
is really empowering. And it's also a very unique
31:57
position to be in. And I'm so grateful for
32:00
everything. That's so nice.
32:02
You did mention that you do have tumours still, but they're
32:08
they're not, yeah. So they're no actually.
32:12
I don't know much about that. Can you just explain like, are
32:15
you going to get them taken out? Are they OK?
32:18
Where? They are so tumours can either
32:20
be cancerous or non cancerous. And the way you can measure it
32:24
is just to get like apology. So they stick a needle and you
32:28
take a sample out and then look at it under the micro stroke
32:30
like over a few days I think. And then they'll see like if it
32:34
is metastasize is like so like if it grows or it doesn't and
32:41
benign ones is like they have a very slow growth rate.
32:44
They don't really like change cell types, so they just remain
32:49
the same and that was the case for my brain tumour as well as
32:53
my breast tumours. So since they're not really like
32:57
a danger or a threat to any other place in the body, it's
33:00
totally fine to just leave it there.
33:02
Of course it's annoying because every time I sleep I'd like feel
33:05
it and I just like icky because these are adenomas, so they're
33:09
tiny tumours. So they will like move in your
33:12
boob, which is sounds a bit weird.
33:16
Trust sounds sounds really weird.
33:18
It's just like when I tell people to feel it, it's like
33:20
when I first got it, I was like feel my boot, feel my boot
33:23
lights and the bottom. So it's not really every, but
33:25
I'm that person who's like kind of like show and tell, like guys
33:28
touch, touch the bottom. Like it's super cool.
33:31
But also everyone was like, you know, like, why does it feel
33:34
like that? Like when you push it, it like
33:36
moves away. It's like you're essentially
33:38
trying to catch it all the time, but you can't.
33:41
Yeah, everyone 1st and that will tell you to feel it right now.
33:43
But I have a lot. I have like 3 and then one and
33:49
the other. It's just very strange.
33:50
But of course, like taking it out is definitely like less
33:56
essential because of the NHS. They don't do anything non
34:00
essential. So you just learn to live with
34:03
it. But if it really annoyed me, of
34:05
course you can go private, but it's not really a bother.
34:09
Not a new sense. It's fun.
34:10
Like what party trick or something?
34:13
Yeah, I was just going to say it's a fuzzy trick or like, you
34:16
know, an interesting fact that you can just whip out, you know,
34:18
if you just meet someone, be like, hey, this is this is
34:22
something cool. Do you want to feel?
34:24
Copper feel right now because their new Breast Cancer
34:27
Campaign, so I should probably shouldn't be joking about that,
34:30
but yeah, definitely get a feel get a feel just.
34:36
Wow, OK, that's interesting. I'm, I'm learning a lot here.
34:39
I like to finish my podcast by just asking a nice little
34:43
question to all my interviewees. What is a piece of advice that
34:47
you would give to someone who is struggling?
34:50
Maybe, I mean, in your case, you've got the brain tumours,
34:54
you've got PCOS as well. Like do you have a separate
34:58
advice for both someone who's maybe struggling with a new
35:01
diagnosis or just having a rough time?
35:04
Honestly, like when I was going through the same thing, I was
35:09
always questioning like why this happened to me.
35:11
But also it definitely wastes a lot of time dwelling on things
35:17
that you can't necessarily change.
35:19
And the fact that you can't change the past means that it
35:23
might be a sign to like, progress and obviously like you
35:28
deal with information differently.
35:31
But having the power to change the trajectory of your life,
35:35
whether it was something that's really negatively happening to
35:38
you currently or has happened to you, and you're able to learn
35:44
from that experience and move on in a different way that you
35:47
usually would. Things will definitely get
35:49
better. I know it did for me, and it
35:51
just takes time. I think for the first two years
35:55
after my tumour I went through a really rough patch in sixth
35:59
form, just struggling to fit in and struggling to find a culture
36:04
and a friend group and a solidified like family that I
36:08
could always turn to. But especially everything fills
36:13
with time, everything will get better.
36:16
Yeah, honestly, just don't beat yourself up over not healing
36:21
because that's completely your own path to draw off of and
36:25
there's no like step by step way to like get over it or get over
36:32
a really traumatic event. Like, just make sure you give
36:35
yourself adequate time and space to heal.
36:38
And yeah, honestly, I hope everyone has like a really happy
36:43
career plan that they're happy with because everyone's so
36:46
different. So if I was doing like, perhaps
36:49
your job, it wouldn't be a school feeling, but if you did
36:52
like my job, you wouldn't get used to it.
36:54
So it's just having the right personality for the right job.
36:58
That doesn't really feel like a job.
37:00
But at the end of the day, it is.
37:01
And we're all really fortunate to be in that position.
37:05
A lot of waffle, but. I love I love a waffle.
37:10
Anyone me your business for this podcast knows I love it.
37:13
I love a yap. So this is perfect.
37:16
Thank you so, so much for coming on and just sharing just little
37:19
snippets of your life with us and it's been so nice to get to
37:23
know you and I wish you all the best for your lecture and for
37:27
the rest of the your studies. And I can't wait to see just
37:32
keep following you on socials and see how you grow and where
37:36
life takes you. It's so exciting.
37:37
Thank you SO. Much I'm definitely excited to
37:40
follow you. Thank.
37:41
You so much. That's so nice.
37:43
Once I meet someone, I'm like, I have to know everything and I
37:46
want to just follow you and like just keep getting to know
37:49
forever. No, like that's the life of an
37:52
extra, isn't it? Literally, that is me to a tee.
37:56
But thank you guys so much for listening to this episode.
37:59
If you enjoyed it, don't forget to follow the podcast on your
38:03
favourite podcast platform and don't forget to rate it five
38:05
stars. It really helps me out.
38:07
Don't forget to subscribe if you're watching on YouTube.
38:10
And thank you so much to Cure LGMD 2Y for sponsoring this
38:14
podcast. I will speak to you guys very
38:16
soon in another couple weeks, but until then, bye.