Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / SMNTY Interview: Kristin Nobles of Close to the Chest

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SMNTY Interview: Kristin Nobles of Close to the Chest · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I've never told your production of I Heart Radio, and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: today we are so so so excited to be joined
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: by Kristin Nobles of the new podcast Close to the Chest. Hi, Kristen,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Hi both of you. This is incredible. Thank you, thank
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: you so much for being here. I'm talking, Lie. I'm
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: sitting here staring at your background. I'm like, is that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: tu Buck? It is? And I'm I'm an artist, so
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: oh this is this your world? It's amazing. I love that.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: So sorry. I had a moment I'm sitting here talking
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, wait, yeah, see I looked at the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: art beforehand, and there's some Carrie Fisher art. A huge
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Carrie Fisher fan. This is very exciting for me. Yeah,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: well we were. We're sending it to you because we're
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: doing actually the she wrote collection. And I have a
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: dog named Leia after Princess Leiah, so oh my god,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: you're speaking her language. You are never going to forget
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: this moment if you were to get to Oh my goodness,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I like literally waping my hands at my cheek right now.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited at this prospect um. So yes, We're
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: very excited to have you. Thank you for joining us
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: from California, uh to Urany, Atlanta in our home podcast studios. So, Kristen,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: could you tell the listeners a little about yourself and
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the show. Well, the short version is I was sick
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: for over twenty plus years. I had debilitating illnesses from
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: you know, inability to digest food, to epilepsy and all
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: sorts of strange symptoms that I found out came from
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: a reaction my body was having to breast implants, so
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: my heart stopped twice. I was losing organs limb. It
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: was pretty unbelievable, and that's kind of how the art
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: came into play, because it was a way to deal
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: with my pain and just something you can do at
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: home without freaking other people out. And about three years ago,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: a doctor came in and said to me, and I
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: see you. I was suffering from a terrible brain infection
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: and she said she believed I was having an immune
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: response to implants. This was something they were just really
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: starting to understand more about, but was not even like
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: a formal medical disease yet. So we ended up doing
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a surgery. I unfortunately chose to do something called to
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: swap out and I found out later that was the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: wrong twice, and I went from horribly sick to almost dead.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: And I went to a good friend of mine, Christine Torres,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: who we have a lot like you guys, and just
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: really went to her as a former prosecutor, and said,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: how did this happen? What can we do? And she
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: had turned filmmaker, and long story short, we decided to
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: create Close to the Chest because they were starting to
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: recognize b I I, but I didn't want women to
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: take that left turn into the wrong treatment in protocol
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: like I had, and I really wanted to create kind
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: of a resource guide when it started for women to
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: be able to no matter where you were at, if
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: you just found out or if you were a post explant,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: to get real facts because there was a lot of
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: you know, quote fake news out there on the issue.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: And as we learned more, I started to meet hundreds,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: if not thousands of women that were not only going
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: through this, but there was not real coverage financially for it.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So then I got piste off and passionate about using
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: it as a platform to build some sort of a
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: program to help women. So we started the podcast We're
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: halfway through the season, and she has been incredible to
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: be part of this and help me really research and
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: understand it and attack the problem, not the people. And
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I'm proud to report we're meeting incredible advocates, doctors, you know, survivors,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: drivers in recently. Last week, the FDA created a warning
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: that will be issued to women, so hopefully it's working.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Oh wow, so it was you've been just last weight
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: there now just approved to put that warning. That's oh
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: my god, that's infuriating. And you said b I I.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: So that stands for breast implant illness. Correct. Yes, Like
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: we talked about at the beginning with names. When I
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: first put I am b I I on LinkedIn and everywhere,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I got all sorts of pride stuff because they thought
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: I came out of No, I'm not that exciting, I wish.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: So how long did it take you to get actual diagnosis?
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: And then you said that when they were talking to
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: you about it was fairly new. So how long did
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: this process did it actually take for you to get
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: this diagnosis? Twenty one years? Wow? Until then you were
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: just going through testing after testing trying to figure out
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: so they were pretty much just figuring out symptoms rather
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: than the actual problem. Yeah, and it was creating permanent disease,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: you know, affects in the body. So it became very
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: much my I would walk into the offices and it's
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: my diagnostic and then they look at me and they'd
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: be like, you're walking or you're this because you end
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: up with so many issues or misdiagnosis. Is So when
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: they finally came to me and said this is the problem.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: At that time, they also really were just starting to
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: understand what to do because there was this dogma that
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: breast implants are completely safe. These plastic surgeons were being
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: taught that there's no way this was really happening to me.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: So when ender chronology and oncology was saying this in
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: rheumatology and all my other allergy dudes and ladies, plastic
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: surgery was saying uh. And so that was the real
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: battle was to find It took me a long time
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: to find the right doctor to offer me the right treatment,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: and it ended up being a hand surgeon. Wow, that's incredible. Also,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: you said swap out. Can you explain what that is too?
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: I am very much a novice in this whole world
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: and so I'm like, I need to know what this is.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: So what exactly is a swapout? So about ten years ago,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Allergant identified that certain breast implants could cause cancer. So
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the f d A did a voluntary recall with them,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: I believe it's what they called it. So they issued
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: an offer where they would give you new implants in
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: towards your surgery that costs much more than that, and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: they called it a swap out, but with that you
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: would waive any future rights. So I did not take
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Allergan's money to do the swap out, but I did
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: talk to a doctor who was like, no, no, it
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: was just those these are new and improved. And that
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: was a really terrible mistake because if I had not
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: done that, I'd probably still have both my hips, you know,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't have some of the permanent damage that happened
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: from that point forward. Oh my gosh, that sounds like
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the beginning of lawsuit movies, one of those. I'm sorry. Well,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: you have been called the Air and Rocket bits of boobs, right,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: you have a document going on about this, so it
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: really is. What's fascinating is I was in the film
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: business last you know, I was lucky to have really
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: amazing people around me who actually I didn't want to
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: make We're an impact production company, and I joked that,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: you know, I didn't want to be out there talking
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: about my breasts. And I started to share this and
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: people were shocked. And then with Christine Torres, the co
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: host of the show, we were really looking at this
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: from a you know, documentary industry issue, you know, freakonomics
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: standpoint of how did this perfect storm happen? And then
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: I met through the podcast this woman, Sibyl gold Rich,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: and I watched Two Small Voices, which was done twenty
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: years ago because she won the Dow implant case. And
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: when I met Sybil, I felt a responsibility to carry
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: the torch into honor her sacrifice and what they accomplished
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: in in meeting the attorney on the class action suit
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: that we filed, like the most important thing for us
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: not to go on and on was to give people
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: this full disclosure as to the risks and to get
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: plastic surgeons to really understand and if a documentary, a
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: podcast meeting other women, you know, however, they get the
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: quote proof they need. That's where we started to be compassionate.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So I joke. I'll talk about my boobs in any format. Yes,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: And um, you're so open on your site and in
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the material you create, which is it's really really moving
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: and we're going to get into two some of those
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: things that you've tackled in a minute. But um, just
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: to step back, I feel like it's maybe not obvious
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: is the right word, but we've been pretty clear what
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: it is. But could you talk about what breast implant
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: illness is exactly? Absolutely? So you know, the way I
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: explain it in non medical legal terms is that you
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: know your body is having an autoimmune response to these implants,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: which can convert eventually into cancer. So a lot of
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: people hear about B I, A, L C L, which
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: they think is the worst part, but what's really important
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: as breast implant illness is identified as a group of symptoms,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: which I posted the other day, and I was like,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: what if you had these hundred symptoms, what would you do?
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: That's and unfortunately, for a long time they were able
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: to say, you know, it's because you're older. Oh, it's
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: because you're you know, you have this underlying condition. But
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: what started to become predominant in the communication of other
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: women on Facebook and Instagram and other platforms. Was yes,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: there was this group of symptoms, but there was also
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: this commonality of implants. And then what they're starting to
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: realize now it's not you know, silicone isn't every implant.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: So the other big misunderstanding was, oh, my implants are sailing.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: This can't be what's causing it, and doctors saline, we're safe.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: And it's really important to understand that all implants are
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: encased in silicone and a lot of other toxic chemicals,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and then what's inside it varies, but they're seeing evidence
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: of b I I in both silicone gel filled and
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: sailing filled implants, texturized or non texturized, which that's a
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: whole other gross conversation. And what's happening is women are
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: getting everything from fatigue, weight gain, their hair falling out,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: losing their vision, headaches, migraine, seizure, diarrhea, quoating, like the
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: list goes on and on, and then many times they're
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: diagnosed by either their endercnologists, a rheumatologist, or an integrated
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: medicine doctor who's been able to do what we call
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: a process of elimination and do every known medical test
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: they can to rule out every possible cause that they
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: know of other than your implants. So by the time
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: they get diagnosed, god knows what they've spent in son.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Right now, what's exciting is the Plastic Surgery Association and
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: the FDA and other you know, stakeholders are trying to
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: work together to create a protocol in a process to
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: treat us. But there's still really not even a way
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: to define the disease or put it in to get
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: it covered by insurance, because it still doesn't have its
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: insurance I dcode right, there's a lot of impactors in that.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: One of the things that I was interested in when
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: I was um researching this beforehand was you you were
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: talking about kind of your the difference between like a
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: cosmetic surgeon or a plastic surgeon versus an actual doctor,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: and sort of the attitude behind it. That's almost like
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: trying to sell you something. I don't know if you
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: could expound on your thoughts around that absolutely. I recently
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: wrote a letter to a major hospital with a recording
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: of a plastic surgeon telling me that I do not
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: have b I. I that it could not exist, and
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: when I explained I was diagnosed in his practice by
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: his colleague and treated by him. Then he pivoted and said, oh,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: I mean it does exist, but now you're fine because
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: you got new implants. And then I said, no, no,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: these are recalled him. We're not fine. And it ended
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: up being this moment where it was like my rise up.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: That's where I got really mad. And this was over
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: a year ago, and it delayed my healing. And what
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: I found most interesting is instead of him being apologetic
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: or wanting the information or wanting to understand this, it
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: was almost as if he felt he had to protect
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: his practice, his business, his colleague, and it became very personal.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: And when I talked to many women, it's in their families.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: It's that attitude that can be the cliff for many
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: women because we're raised not to question that, you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: do what the doctor tells you. And then also when
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I really committed to going out and finding another doctor,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I met with several people and got the range of
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: you know, people like him, two people offering me other
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: procedures that were fifty to a hundred thousand dollars, and
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: then their assistance trying to give me financing options from
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: getting a boyfriend to borrowing against my assets. So I
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: talk you with you' getting a boyfriend as a financial assistance?
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: That's interesting. Don't you ask someone who can happy? Like
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: you don't get no man? You want to invest in this?
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: It's like a car a lot or just like what
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: do I have to do to set you up with
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: a man? Exactly? Well, that sounds a lot like as
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: we've talked about before on the show, when just women
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: in general are not believed and then therefore they're just
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: dismissed altogether. And I can't imagine what that would look
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: like when it comes to especially as the stigma with
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: plastic surgery and and brest them plants, like how many
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: battles and uphill like moments where you're like, this is enough.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: I've had enough because I couldn't imagine this. Okay. So
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I live in Los Angeles and I've spent a lot
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: of time in this one hospital, and this doctor came
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: in and not from New York, right, so I gotta
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: and he's telling me you just want drugs, it's you're fine,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: and I'm literally like having seizures and projectile vomiting and
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I'm probably not okay. So I looked him up on
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: social media and I was like you'll never surf again.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: And I met because I was going to go block
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: him out at trestles right the security and security came
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: in and I was just crying. And it was interesting
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: because that security guard or the nurse, you know, they
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: really just they got to know me. They spent a
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: lot of time with you. And another time, my daughter
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: I was again seizing and I would have a weird
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: reaction to other medicine, and I remember waking up and
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: seeing my daughter just in tears, probably aren't twelve years old,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: talking to a doctor and she was winning, which I
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: was impressed, but tragically sad. And I remember thinking at
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: that moment in my head, like, you know what, if
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: I'm just gone, she can go back to me and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: a kid. You know this, this and this, and so
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I think for a lot of us, we have moments
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: where we start to question our worth, our value and
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the burden because you know it lasts forever. And then
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: you just somehow, through like the right support system around
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: me and a great doctor I had for ten years
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: as a primary, she just didn't quit and they checked in,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and so my friends created a safe space, and then
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: we started to make jokes about it. So I have
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: like my brand sick Ditties, because you know, it's hard
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: to talk about and like you said in a podcast
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: I listened to recently, laughing about it because it's so hard,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: became easier and I made a lot of friends. You know,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: some of the nurses and doctors that did defend me
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: are you know, really close friends and resources. And I
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: just kept hearing my mom say, you know, not everybody's
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: it's the golden rule, you know, treat people how you
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: want to be treated, attacked the problem, not the people,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: and fight. And so I think through meeting other women,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: I have found my fight. That's yeah. I love seeing
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: other women supporting other women. UM. I do think that's
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: incredibly powerful. One of the things, as you mentioned, like
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: the f d A is only just kind of released
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: something about this um and then on your site you
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: have a link to to some numbers and statistics around
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: all of this. I mean, do you have kind of
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: a understanding of how many people are impacted by this,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: because you're also there's a lot of misinformation as well.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Are people who are not getting the diagnosis? Absolutely, And
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: you know we talk in the community and activists about
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: there's really three ways to stop this one is education,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: and I think through this site in social media, I'm
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: grateful to get messages from girls who in women who
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: really read this in an eighteen to sixty five can
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: understand the financial, emotional, and physical impact this can have
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: in frankly investor capital in other ways, right like they
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: can invest in themselves in such different ways. Or you know, Second,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: is this full disclosure plastic surgence being required to identify
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: this disease as a potential outcome for women in education?
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: I can tell you that in the community to destigmatize this,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I don't care if you've got the implans for breast
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: cancer or you wanted to be Pamela Anderson. The reality
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: is we were not told this information and I think shame, guilt,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: and fear has been used a lot to really keep
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the third thing, which is women get implants every year.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: You know it's going to continue to happen. Breast cancer
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: centers offer these implants as a solution. And so what's
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: most important for me and the community is there's millions
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: of people suffering and never once has someone contacted me
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: and said it's not me and you know I don't
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: have this, you're crazy. And if they come back to
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: the community. The community doesn't punish them, they welcome them.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Because this isn't you know, anything other than this perfect
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: storm of manufacturers not being required to tell information, plastic
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: surgeons being courted and sold details in a business that's
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: really profitable, and women wanting to buy into this perception
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: of beauty unfortunately, and that's changing. And I think through
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the advocates and the women that share their stories. I joke,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: that's your full disclosure. Like you google hashtag b I
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: I and start to see thousands, if not now millions
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: of women stepping been saying this happened to me. It's facts,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: mm hmm. And one of the things you touched on earlier,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: and you've been very open about that, I found very
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: very upseting, Like there's no insurance code for it, right,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: and it is extremely costly, like the whole all of it. Yes,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: could you go into that a little bit. Yeah, And ironically,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I have a certificate and impact finance from MEW. I've
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: managed investment funds and financing this treatment has been the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: hardest thing in my life. It's nearly bankrupted me um
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: At times I wasn't sure what to do, and so
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: for the average woman, the diagnostic process can range from
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: ten thousand to hundreds of thousands, depending on the course
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: they take, because there's summer eyes, colonoscopies, et cetera. And
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: with insurance. Recently, I've been invited by a company to
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: join a patient advocacy board and talk about the fact
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: that providing the fourteen to thirty four thousand dollars to
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: remove breasts and potentially reconstruct them in a safe way
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: is so much better than keeping someone sick for ten years.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: And so when we started to look at the economic impact,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: also there are insurance companies that will now refund the money.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Insurance companies are now taking them out under other codes,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: so like back pain, you know, masses because like people
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: have CIST. So thank god mine was recently covered by insurance.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: My last procedure cost my thousand, six twenty eight dollars.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: That is a lot of money. And for women out there,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: they carry so much shame because they don't want to
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: put their families through that. They don't want to take
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: money out of their kids tuition and other people finance
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: putting them in. So there are programs where you can
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: go into debt to get boobs, but you can't go
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: into debt to get them out, and I don't think
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that's right, and we've been searching for a partner to
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: help us fix that because economically and as women, you know,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: we tend to feel like we want to self sacrifice.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: That's what makes us a good mother. And the longer
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: we wait to have this procedure, the more damage that
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: happens to your body and you lose valuable healing time.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: And so from a finance standpoint, insurance companies are motivated
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: now to treat this as more data comes in and
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: we eventually get peer reviewed studies. But until then, you know,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I've seen women do such creative, cool stuff to raise money.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: I had a Kickstarter once and I went to a
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: meeting and a guy's like, you're here to finance a company,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: but you're raising money for boobs. And I have looked
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: at him and I was like, I'm raising money for
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: lots of boobs, but and so he really kind of
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: judged me. But then I talked to him and later
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: he's like, oh, Tony, because it's about education, Nobody really,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: you know, understands this. And like you've talked about a
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: lot on your show, is there certain things that are
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: so hard to talk about. And you know, I was
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: at parties before the pandemic, obviously, but grabbing. You know,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: we were touching each other's boobs at parties during the
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: me too movement, trying to figure out like do you
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: have them? Do you have them? And speacame very quickly
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: a conversation that through you know, social media and such
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: honesty where now three years later, people are talking about
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: this a lot, and people are curious versus judgmental, which
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: is nice. I mean, I still get those posts where
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I did this to myself go away, but I just
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: you know, we want to educate, we want to empower people, right, Yeah,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: that's so infuriating, just to know that it's a blame
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: game when you're absolutely correct. I did not know of
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: these implications. I've heard one or two cases of things
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: going wrong, but essentially being told it's safe, it's safe,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: They've gone through years of procedures and they know what
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: they're doing. Now these products are FDA approved, literally being
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: told that throughout my life, not that I could afford
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: any of those things, but just as an outsider, that's
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: what I knew of it. And then being stigmatized because
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: your body is like, no, this is not good. They
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: lied to us, and they made so much money off
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: of this, and now I want to save face and
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: not wanting to come back and be like, oh, this
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: is problematic. We need to care for them and take
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: care of that. And I'm wondering in the back of
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: my head of like how many women were misdiagnosed, died
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: and never knew this was the complication because so many
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: other things were being said or told to them, and
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: or that shame factor of like it took so long
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: for people to accept the fact that this is about
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: a woman's self esteem and if they want to do it, great,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: This is not about you, this is her body. But
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: then coming back to be like, yeah, but you lied,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the the creators lie, or they didn't know they were wrong.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Now it's times for them to face the facts and
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: needs to be corrected instead of having a moment of
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: being supported being told well, sorry, you're a woman who
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: was vain about this and this is your fault. Even
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: though there's so many out there who absolutely advocate for
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: these things and or get to see the effects. And
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: a lot of times I've seen where women are manipulated
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: into going into these types of surgeries as well. There's
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: so many avenues of why, but yet the women are
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: mainly shamed point blank, and I could not. I just
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: want to throw something right now. Well, and here's the
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: thing on that note, the education, the impulse is like
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I got these at twenty five years old. What the
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: hell did I know? I was at lunch with a
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: hot model fresh off a bad divorce with a baby,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: and I was raised nobody wants that, so I thought, Okay,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: I'll get boobs that'll fix everything. I didn't even think about,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Like they're going to rip my chest off and shove
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: some toxic ax under my muscle and we're gonna hope
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: for the best. She was in Cosmo, this doctor. I
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: trusted her and she didn't know. And so when through
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the process, you're right, And then the anger. What I
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: found is the women that are advocating and lobbying for
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: things like the Medical Device Safety Act, the full disclosure
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: laws that are being passed, the f d A actually
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: taking meetings with women to say, okay, you're not hysterical.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: But there's also a book by a friend of mine
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: who I don't want to cry, but she died, and
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the book is called you know, a mother's nightmare dealing
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: with breast and plant illness and the opiate crisis, because
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: a lot of these them and fell down the pathological
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: whole of we're going to treat her pain, her symptoms,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: and then we're going to label her with fibro mayalgia,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: drug seeking, We're going to make sure that she's a
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: frequent flyer, you know, all these terms, and then eventually
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: social work and all these other areas get involved because
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: as a mom, a woman, a sister, a grandmother, you know,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: all that hat you wear. And I do think it
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: was really important when Sybil Goldrich did what she did.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: She and another woman did amazing things to really take
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: on dout to ask these questions. But what happened was
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: there was never follow up on these peer reviewed studies.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: And so the only way to be the change we
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: need to see is to show them the studies. Go
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: look at Instagram and now I think what's happening is
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: this conversation and women speaking up. I joke, they're all
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: a little you know, we're like Helen ready, it's hear
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: me roar. And it's so empowering because their teachers, real
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: estate agents, nurses, doctors, you know, everyday women and celebrities
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: and thought leaders that are all coming together and there's
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: no racial you know, spectrum, it's every type of woman
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: out there, and that's the change. And then also there's
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: plastic surgeons that are now saying, you know what, I'm
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: going to lead this change, and those people need to
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: be recognized because imagine what their conferences are like, Yes, well,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I did want to ask the plastic surgeant that you
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: actually got them to change their tune to be like okay, okay,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: we we do uh have they changed their practices at all?
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: As in like informing So what's interesting is I the
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: one who wouldn't treat me. I was able to get
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the CEO of that hospital's email and I sent him
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: the recording. I filed a complaint and I reported my
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: adverse event directly to the f d A working with
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: patient affairs within the hospital. I wrote a letter recently
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: that I would, you know, pay to take all these
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: surgeons to dinner just to tell them this is real.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Meet me, Hi, I have this, and here's a thousand
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: other ladies that like to talk to you and men.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: But until then, I think what's going to mandate real
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: change is losing business women, you know, speaking up for
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: each other. And what I requested in my most recent
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: letter was tell the truth because you are a teaching
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: hospital and I think as other surgeons are stepping up,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: they have whole practices dedicated to this. I've interviewed some
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: incredible doctors on the podcast and they're putting their foot down,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: as is the Plastic Surgery Association. They really included B
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I I this year in their conference, and so we're
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: starting to see change. And I think the most common
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: thing with all of us is see we're not crazy, right,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Like that's my next T shirt one me just believe us,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: thank you and know that you know, hysterical women is no,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: it's not a thing. We don't wake up in the
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: morning and want to be crazy, right, you make me
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: that way. That's I mean, there's so many things on
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: there that they just are so infuriating and upsetting and
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: that we have talked about. But yeah, like not believing women,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: not believing women's pain, are dismissing it. It's clear like
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: women are seen as like not a priority and if
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: it's there it's a women's issues, then we don't have
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: to deal with it. But we love stories of women
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: supporting women in like finding that community and then being
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: able to make change in that way. Can you talk
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: about the community you found and maybe any like common
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: threads that you've heard or anything that's really brought you together. Absolutely.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: I got a message from Maria Dmitro, who is on
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: the podcast and done such incredible work. Um, she's with
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: a company that has a technology solution that will allow
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: us to track our implants or any device I've learned,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: like my new hips and my other things. But she
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: sent me a message the day we got the announcement
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: from the f d A, and I know in my
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: head there were women in dorm rooms to board rooms
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: to you know, their rocking chairs, just taking that deep breath.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: And she messaged me and you know, she asked, did
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: you ever think we would be part of something that
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: would change the world? And and and knowing her the years
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: I have, I wrote her back and said, excuse my
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: French because they're strong, you know, from Eden Sassoon, who
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: has been such a supporter, and she comes out of
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: the beauty industry to stand up and say, if you
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: know these don't feel good, I don't look good, get
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: them out of you too. You know. The Reverend t
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Towanna Davis, who we interviewed who's incredible and what she
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: talked about. To Christine Handy who's a cancer advocate and
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: a b II survivor and is changing the breast cancer
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: space to educate women. The common thread with each of
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: them is they believe in right. They believe in you know,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: fixing this injustice, and they are attacking the problem, not
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: the people. And they're coming at this in a way
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: where you know, Maria calls it a gymnastics team and
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: you know, to lobby, to educate, to post, to empower.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: What I love about this community is it's never one
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: but a competition. It's been you know, you're good at this,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: you're good at that. How do we advocate here? How
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: do we find this person? How do we get to
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: that person? And they're determined and they don't quit in there,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: you know, doing this on their dying, which is impressive
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: to me. You know, they're investing in saving other people
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: and making sure that people know that. Maybe it's your implants,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: but here's the process you take and here's someone you
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: can rely on that can give you directions because she's
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: done it. I love it. I love that so in
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: being a part of this, you know, changing the world
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: and seeing some things slowly change. Is there anything else
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: that you all are targeting that we should keep an
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: eye on. Um my colegislation wise, are just information wise.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: So I've been working. One of the big misnomers in
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: this disease and in the world is, you know, people
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: mistaking sickness with an appearance versus a feeling. And a
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: lot of times we hear in the community, I don't
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: care you know which of my nineteen diseases I have.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Now you know, the common thing is you don't look sick.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: And so the idea of this is sick in humanizing
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: what women go through and you know, creating something that
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: I you know, have a working title on called the
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Ability Fund, And we need to dis disability and we
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: need to really bring awareness through events, campaign social media
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: posts that this is sick. These are the human beings
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: that are suffering, and as you both know, here are
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: the real world problems they face. There's a big misnomer
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: that when we get sick, we just rest. Well, who'll
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: pay your rent, who walks your docs, who brings you groceries?
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: How do you make money? Right? And so the entrepreneurship
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: within the industry of women who have become in the
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: solution space is key, but creating a platform and a
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: place for them to safely share their stories, to protect
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: their identities. And then what I hope happens is that
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: the class of legal action opens up beyond the cancer
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: class but into women with breast implant illness and they
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: have the right to sue for the damage that was
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: done to their body by that odd immune disease. And
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: that's when I will feel that the manufacturers will be
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: held accountable, the doctors will have to acknowledge and treat this.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: And the last thing is that will stop this gridlock
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: and innovation because the women we deserve to be reconstructed.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: We deserve to have options. But if you're settling on
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: this is the standard, then we're not going to get there.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: So my hope is that by getting peer reviewed studies,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: providing the FDA with data, and opening up the class,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: the manufacturers are going to have to say, you know what,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: we're going to doll with this out, bankrupt ourselves and
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: we're gone, because that's when things will change. But until then,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: it's all about education and finding fun ways. Like you guys,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: do to speak up and speak out and maybe get
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: people's attention in the format they weren't looking for it.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: So if you come to one of our fashion shows
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: and see all the women are actually just say, you know,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: in your mind disabled, but they're beautiful, We've may change.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: And I think you know, not dismissing women as looking
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: fine when they feel like crap. I mean, that's such
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: a pressure to rights as women to not like calls
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: problems or rock the boat. Is you want to present
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: this image of no, I'm fine, it's fine, even though
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: it's not fine right, as well as the fact that
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: we talked about the pandemic, like they're not allowed to
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: be sick, as you said, like we have to keep going.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: We whether you're being a mother and so you still
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: have to raise a child, you still have to feed
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: them as well as yourself as well as take care
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: of the house well, make sure that bills are paid.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: And you don't have time to pause and even if
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: you do look okay, why are people judging you saying
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: you're not sick enough? Excuse me, excuse me? Why are
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: you the judge of how sick I am? It's a
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: well and I this is not statistically necessary, but like
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of women that I know have a pretty
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: high threshold for pain in general, and because they have
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: to maintain like, it's not because they want to, it's
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: because they have to. Point blank, I'll tell you a secret.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Right now, I'm sitting on a heating pad this week.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: I yesterday I was told I have a fractured back,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and I go to the spine surgeon at one And
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: in the work I do and on Instagram sometimes people
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: will post like she was just at a podcast, now
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: she's hospital, and I'm like, welcome to sick And the
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: reality is this sense of purpose and what you said
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: about pain, you know, I joked that we embraced the
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: suck to almost the point of instinction. And I've been
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: reading so much by incredible women that are really looking
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: to eradicate self sacrifice is this trait of strength, so
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: you know, the Radical Awakening and all these great books
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: of No, if you take care of yourself, you're a
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: strong person. If you treat yourself bad, no, that doesn't
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: mean you're you know better or stronger or you know, no,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: and more lovable, I think is the end result and
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the last and then the last thing is this idea
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: of beauty. I've seen it change to such a positive
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: space where you being authentically you is it's beautiful, you know,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: And especially the men in my life lately have all
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: come to me and I don't like them anyways, Like
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: really quickly, how do you post that? Like? Because I
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: think we you know, we perceive what men and women
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: think are beautiful versus actually asking people and instead of
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: going into this you know, marketing concept of beauty, you know,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: really looking at sick is a feeling health as a
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: form of wealth and self preservation as something we do
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: because we're loving people to ourselves and not selfish. And
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: you have been practicing art for a while, now, how
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: did you get into it? You were saying that you
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: did this as a way of like coping, but how
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: did you get into it? Because I think one of
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: the big things that we talked about is, yes, self care,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: what do you do for yourself, especially when you feel
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: like everything he's falling apart? How did you get into art?
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Is that part of that process? I joke with my
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: um now disease mom that I was never an artist
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: because I didn't want to starve, and then I became
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: an entrepreneur so now I'm an artist, so I don't
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: starve UM. And you know, for art with me, I
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: was a single mom and early on, you know, being
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: home alone taking care of my daughter after a long
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: days at work. Art was a form of therapy. I
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: did it in high school. And then when I started
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: to have epilepsy UM, I started to have these really
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: vivid images and experiences. And it was a nurse and
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: one of the hospitals who encouraged me to paint as
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: a form of therapy. And I started to realize also,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: like you said, it was something I could control. So
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: I didn't have to get twenty people to produce a
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: movie or to finance it. I could buy a canvas,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: make place of art, put it on the wall, and
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: it was cool, and it just became, you know, a
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: real passion of mine. And then I started to meet
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: and credible artists like you know, Shepherd Fairy and all
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: these iconic people that were creating pop art that were
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: changing the world. And so I originally used to joke
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: that when I was at a party raising money for
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: a project, I would never introduce myself as an artist
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: if I introduced myself as an investment banker and I
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: happened to do art, I was cool. But if I
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: was the artist, they couldn't think I could do math.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: And so that was you know, the dynamic thing, like
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: they say, left brain, right brain. And it was recently that,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: through needing to finance treatment, a friend of mine said,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: why don't we drop some of this art and sell
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: it as a way to raise money, and I, you know,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: thought about it. I was really afraid I sucked. Um,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: I don't. It's so intimidating to me the art world.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: And then I got with the right group of people,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: and now I continue to use it as an outlet
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: to create images of people that inspire me. Um that
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, are quote noble. And through researching
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: a lot of the people I paint, I have learned
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: such inspiring things about you know, the men and women.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: And I noticed there was a common theme. You know,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: they were all people who overcame injustice, adversity and stood
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: for something that was really meaningful to them. From you know,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: the animal that's a wolf I paint to the owl too,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: you know RBG. Those are the really important iconic people.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: And I was lucky. So it's been true therapy. But
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: it was thank God for a nurse who brought me
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: paint into a hospital room. I think I was there
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: for twenty two days and I was climbing the walls
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: and she said that's color. Yeah, for good nurses exactly.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's I'm a big proponent of that. You
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: never know what things, that kind or thing you do
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: that can really impact someone's life. You really don't, absolutely,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: and the nurses are the heroes here. You know, that's
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: an important thing to bring up. I know obviously both
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: of your backgrounds, and you know, health care is evolving.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: It's a industry that we don't know what we don't know.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: And I think what I took away from all of
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: this is that you can't approach any thing in life
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: with absolution. There's always going to be unnes And as
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: we go forward as women sharing and being open and
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: being vulnerable versus posing and posturing and hiding things, that's
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: being tough, you know, telling people what's really going on.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: That's hard. It's easy to get on Instagram and pretend like,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: you know, my three dogs and I are living life.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: It's hard to get on there and be like, um,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: I just put my pants in the elevator. But people
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: actually like those stories better. So it's a testimony where
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: we're headed honesty. I like people appreciate well speaking of
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: kind of you do. Like we mentioned you've got a
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: documentary coming out TV, Like, what what is on the
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: horizon for you? Well, I'm you know, it's interesting because
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: I made a big change in my company in the
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: last month and I run Benoble Media Group. We've done
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: some great projects and we will continue to make some
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: really cool movie etcetera. But I had started the website
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: sick Titties dot Com, and I started to see that
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: what we really needed were three things. You know. One
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: a way to connect directly with accredited doctors who were
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: within the protocol that we understand right now to be
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: working right which is an expan et cetera. Two is
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: a financial services program to allow women to finance and
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: grow their business. And then lastly was a way to
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: host a community that was confidential. Unfortunately, when I opted
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: in too, you know, pursue my rights legally, I started
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: to see there were some bad actors that were paid
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: to come after women to disqualify them from the case.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: So what's really important to know is if you quote
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: identify is having BII not diagnosed identify. So say you
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: post on your Instagram, I think I have b I
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: I two years ago, but then you don't think about
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: it again for a year and it comes out now
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: that data can be presented to disqualify you with certain
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: statutes from doing a claim. So I also wanted to
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: save space to connect women and to allow them to
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: do things that would help them help each other. So
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: a store full of great products that these amazing women
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: are creating, health coaches, and this whole industry of b
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: I I concierge has emerged, and so I wanted to
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: create some sort of technology and community to connect patients
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: with advocates and then lastly lobby and registration. Because from
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: a technology standpoint, if we have all these women's stories,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: it's data they opt in. We can provide that to
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: the f d A, we can provide that to different
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: organizations and allow them to see while this is a
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: quote cluster or a class of women with common themes.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: And so what we're now doing is expanding the company
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: and then through the movie, through the book, and through
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: you know, any other platform we can get on. We
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: really want to drive people to this community. And then
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: also create women driven products that you can buy, to
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: support people in the industry, to create that connectivity and
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: you know there's a new you. The last thing I'll
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: say is that, you know, I always say this is
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: for my daughter, you know, as a twenty three year
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: old woman. I want her and her friends to know
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: that the best thing they can buy is not boobs.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: So integrate that safe space, I think is really important. Yeah, yeah,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: I mean it's it's it's one of those things. So
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: many times on this show we'll talk about something or
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: someone and everything they've done and advocating for themselves and
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: for their community, and it's like so inspiring, but it's
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: also so infuriating because like so much work and you're
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: not really getting paid for it, and it's just like
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: to be healthy because you were allied to, were not
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: given the information and it's like on you two to
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: go to the government and be like, wait, right, there's
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: a problem here, so that younger people don't do the
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: same thing right well, And it's it's shocking how hard
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: it is to tell people that you've had an ingest
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: this in any capacity, right, It's difficult, And I think
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: you know, there is a segment of female empowerment and
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: human empowerment where it should be your body, your choice,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: and it should be an educated decision, not the best guess.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: And you know that's the future. And I think just
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: disclosing the cost, like if someone told me I would
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: have to spend all my money for the rest of
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: my life to maintain these suckers, I would never have
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: done it right, right, I mean just in fact, we
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: also talked about on our show often that there are
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: things out there it finally comes to the point that
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: a woman has to say, well, I'll do it myself.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: I'll create this myself. I'll do this space myself. And
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: the fact that you're having to do this is both infuriating,
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: really encouraging to and inspiring at the same time. Um,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: and to see that as you're talking obviously things have
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: continued to change as you've began this process to today
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: and talking about how you're having to rearrange like, oh,
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: I see a need for this, so I'm having to
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: create this. And it's both encard again and infuriating, but
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: also knowing that someone is actually fighting and actually working
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: to make sure people know what's happening out there. And
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: the mere fact that you have to raise money and
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: do crafting to be healthy. It makes they have a deep,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: deep moment of like Clutiel is going to have their
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: own at sea someday. And here's the thing, like you know,
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: my mom, poverty breeds invention. Like you know, action is
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: intention and you know the Golden rule, and I think
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: you know out of this will be burst this, you know,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: like as you hear, I'm sure right now the impact world,
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: you know, it's all about impact and sponsoring change. And
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: what I'm excited to report is that as we're approaching
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: corporate partners, for instance, I heart I literally wrote an
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: email that said, let me do a podcast. It will
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: say women's Life's talk about the kids are killing them
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: And within seven minutes like out of response, right, And
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: to have that merge into the producers hopping on, the
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: marketing team helping us, all the support we've gotten, it's
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: soalidating that, like you were saying, if people want to
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: make a difference and if you can help them, help
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: you help us, then it works. But it's definitely this
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: attitude of action and change. And that's one thing about
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: this community. I have yet to meet a woman who
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: yes they're mad, Yes they recognize ingestice, but they will
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: not be a victim, and you know that is important.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: And I think, you know, and listening to your podcast,
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: like I listened to the episode about the beer, and
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: now I know you need to think about where it
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: comes from, right and educating yourself. So then I wanted
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: to be here for the sick titties because I was like,
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: that's me right, exactly, like CBD for it, and you know,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: and now I'm exploring all these partners and you know,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: I joked with someone last night and I was serious
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: because I came from the cannabis space and I'm like,
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: We're gonna have smoking sick titties if it kills me.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: Because also, like the alternative medicine side of this and
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: what I've learned and the education and the companies who
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: stepped up and really wanted to help, So that part
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: of this has definitely been inspiring. And then also I'm
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: forty eight and I get to interact with women of
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: all generations and I see this really great change in
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: you know, support and advocacy versus competition and you know
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: a little bit of cruelty. Yeah, well, that's that's wonderful
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: to hear I'm glad. I feel like we've kind of
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: experienced that as well in terms of the people who
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: are interacting and sort of the general vibe as they say,
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: towards issues that we bring. Like I feel like several
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: years ago I would have gotten much angrier response to
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: certain things we've talked about as compared to now where
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: people are more like, Okay, yeah, we should talk about this.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: I did want to ask do you have any um
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: resources that you want to shout out for listeners to
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: to check out? Absolutely, I think it's really important to
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: go to the f d a site and read what
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: they're publishing in real time because that's the truth. One
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: of the important things to know is there are you know,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: definitely hashtags you can follow. There's amazing people on social media,
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: but the FDA is publishing in real time information that's
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: you know, pretty compelling, and they also give out data
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: for the recall um. There's a great organization that's working
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: hard to create a registry called track my Solutions, so
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: you can look up and see if your implants are recalled.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: But the FDA right now is our go to and
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: when you research their announcement last week and these hearings
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: that they're holding. The other thing is, you know, share
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: your story hashtag at brest Implant Illness hashtag at b
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: II journey, because you're going to start to follow and
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: connect with other people. And then in most cities right now,
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: there's a plastic surgeon that's registered on the Plastic Surgery Association.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: Go there and look at accredited doctors and doctors that
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: are part of these panels about rest implant illness, because
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: those are some of the thought leaders that are publishing things.
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: And then also ask other patients if you're looking for
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: a doctor, get referrals, get reviews, and message people online
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: because women who like what they've experienced post it, but
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: women who don't like it also post it, and it's
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: important to reach out to them. Yes, absolutely, thank you
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: so much Kristen for being with us today having this conversation.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: Come back any time. We would love to have you
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: happy hour. I want to come to Atlanta. We're gonna
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: do some beer and Carrie Fisher well, I'm not to
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: have to come to buy one of these Michelle Obama
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: mugs for sure. I'm like, oh, my collection, I will
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: send you. I will send you guys some stuff. I mean,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: thank you so much, and you know, please continue what
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: you're doing. Like I listened to the show all the
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: time and it's so incredible. I'm learning so much in
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: a fun way. Thank you and you as well. You
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: as well, Um. And speaking of where can the good
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: listeners find you? So, I am on Instagram at Kristen
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: underscore e Nobles and I'm also at sick Titties dot
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: com which is an ever growing site. And I'm also
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: on um Facebook under Kristin Nobles and we have a
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: Facebook support group that's b Noble on b I I yes,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: and I always love I have to do this with
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: podcasts or sometimes you also have a podcast podcast Sister Podcast.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: You can also find us on Close to the Chest
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: with Kristen and Christine and that's on I Heart Apple
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Yes, and definitely go
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: check it out, listeners. Thank you again Kristen for being here.
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: If you would like contact us, you can or email
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: us Stephieu Mom and stuff at I hurt media dot com.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: You can find us on Instagram and Stuff I've Never
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: Told You or on Twitter at moms Podcast. Thanks. It's
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: always to a sup producer, Christina, Thank you and thanks
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: to you for listening. Someone over toldly distrected I Heart Radio.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: For more podcast on my Heart Radio, see on radio app,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.