Surviving Peritoneal Mesothelioma

A routine surgery turns into a life-changing phone call, and suddenly you are the rare case no one around you has seen before. We sit down with Julie Russell, a nurse and nearly 20-year survivor of peritoneal mesothelioma, to tell the full story of how an incidental pathology finding led to a diagnosis, a scramble for answers, and a decision to travel for the right care when “close to home” was not enough.

Julie walks us through what it’s like to hear specialists speak bluntly, to face radical surgery, and to go through intraperitoneal chemotherapy while trying to protect your quality of life. She also shares a pivotal moment: listening to her body when her kidneys started taking a hit, and choosing to stop chemo one treatment early, a decision later validated by nephrology. It’s a powerful look at patient advocacy that stays honest about uncertainty, risk, and the pressure to follow a protocol when your gut says something is wrong.

We also dig into survivorship after mesothelioma, including CT scan frequency, lung nodules, and the anxiety that can come with long-term surveillance at Dana-Farber. Along the way, we unpack possible asbestos exposure sources, the growing conversation around talc, and even a surprising lesson about cosmic radiation from flying that reframes how we think about exposure and risk.

If you or someone you love is navigating peritoneal mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma, or any rare cancer, this conversation offers practical guidance and real hope. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more families can find support.

MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. For a free consultation, visit Dandell.com.

Transcript

Welcome To Miso And Today’s Guest

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You're listening to Miso, the Misothelioma podcast, where support, education, and outreach come together for families facing misothelioma.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Hey, good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to introduce our um our guest here today. Uh, we have Ellie Eric, well, we call our Ellie, it's Eleanor Erickson, Lisa Barrett, and we have a special guest here today to uh talk to us about um mesothelioma.

SPEAKER_07 0:34

And that is surviving.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

And surviving, that's the most important thing there is surviving mesothelioma. We have Julie Russell. And what I wanted to do is have Ellie introduce her, because Ellie has a little long um uh relationship with with

Ellie And Julie Reconnect

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Julie. And so Ellie, can you tell me how you met Julie?

SPEAKER_04 0:56

I met Julie many years ago at one of my at my first nursing job, and Julie made a big impression on me because as I remembered her decades later, 30 years later, she was she was very sharp, she was very smart, she was tall, skinny, blonde, who had a great sense of humor. Yeah. So we worked together for a few years, and then um I think it was 2012, um she called because uh there was uh she called the office number here, and there was no uh that she uh was working at Leahy at the time, and uh she liked she had heard about us and she wanted to see maybe she would like to be doing something like this. So we had this long, great conversation, and then I told her about our work with me uh with Dr. Sugar Baker and the mesothelioma program, and there was silence on the phone, and she said, I have mesothelioma.

SPEAKER_06 2:00

And I said, Yes.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

You know, you couldn't, you know, that it's very rare. And she said, I do. And then um she's then um we went on and I said, you know, you just sound so familiar. So it was only it was after like a 20-minute conversation. We realized that we had worked together and that we knew each other. So that we reconnected then, and that was in 2012, and we've been connected ever since. Um but that then she told me about her journey with peritoneal measles and how good she looks, and you know how you know how good she's done. And she's still you know, and looks good and looks good, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

And and still does debatable. Well, that's debatable. Old age is getting in.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

And you know, is still working and you know, so we've just kept in touch over the years.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Yeah, that's that's just amazing. Um and so um uh Julie, can you tell me? Because I know you're you know, we've heard similar stories about mesothelioma and how people uh, you know, found out that they had it, but yours is a little different. Can you tell me how you found out you had mesothelioma?

Diverticulitis Surgery Leads To Diagnosis

SPEAKER_05 3:14

And mine was kind of an incidental finding. Um I had had to have diverticulitis um surgery, have a resection, have my sigmoid colon removed just because I was not a compliant diverticulitis patient, and he kept telling me, You're gonna perf, you're gonna perf. And I was like, No, I'm not. I'm a nurse, I know what to do. But I perffed and needed to have a sigmoid resection. And, you know, being a nurse, knowing all the docs, um, he said to me, you know, Jules, this this is the colon rectal surgeon. He says, you know, while I'm in there, you want me to take out your ovaries? He says, that way you'll never have to worry about ovarian cancer because you'll have them taken out. So I was like, Peter, that's been my in my life. You know how you have a gut feeling what you're gonna die from? You always do, everybody does. Mine was I'm gonna have ovarian cancer. I just know it. So he says, Well, excellent, Peter, take him out. My ovaries out, takes my sigmoid colon, resects it. Post-op, it's like a week post-op, and I get a call from Peter on the weekend. And I'm like, was he calling me on a Saturday? And he calls and says, You know, Jules, and he's hasn't and he's and he says, There's a problem with your path report. And he goes, you know, I just don't trust the doctors here. I'm sending it to Mass General. I says, No, Peter, what's the problem? You tell me what where's the problem? It's it's not in my sigmoid, is it? And he goes, it's in both of your ovaries. So anyway, make a long story short, they send the path the pathology slides to the MGH, and MGH has some head pathologist who took a long time in diagnosing um peritoneal mesothalioma with metastasis. So it had spread from one ovary to the other, which over time, you know, apparently it just spreads like, you know, it's my exposure was when I was a kid, you know, to asbestos. So with that, he was like, I I don't know what to tell you. I've never had a case before. I'll send you to oncology. They sent me to oncology at l at my hospital, and the doctor was there. She never had a case. So she says, Well, I don't know. We can do a tumor conference and discuss this. And I was like, uh, so it was like kind of now on my shoulders to figure out where I'm going, what I'm doing. Um, I did research. I found out that there were 122 cases in New York. So I called New York. I called New York Presbyterian Hospital and um made an appointment with an oncologist and I started my journey there.

Finding A Team For Rare Cancer

SPEAKER_07 5:52

Wow. You were you were treated at Dana Farber, though, right?

SPEAKER_05 5:56

No, no, Dana Farber um had lost their protocol for intraperitoneal chemotherapy. That's true. So, I mean, here's Dana, the one of the world-famous cancer institutions, they said there's nothing they could do for me because they couldn't give me the chemo. They could do the surgery, but then I was still gonna have to find a place to have uh my chemotherapy. So I ended up going to New York. It was a three and a half hour ride and having radical surgery. Um the surgeon, I will say one thing for these docks in New York. I mean, they may be very good in their specialty, but they do lack that communication skills or the um, they just looked at me and they go, You're a very sick girl. And I was like, you know, like you here I am. I just drove three and a half hours to get you're a very sick girl. And he goes, You're a nurse, you should know better. It's metastasized from both from one ovary to another. You know what that means, don't you? And I'm like, looking at him like, oh my God, where's my support here? You know, like there isn't any, there's none. Um, and he just said, I need a radical surgery to be followed by putting ports in underneath your ribs, uh, right side, left side. And then they would infuse a chemotherapy after the surgery. So that was my journey. That's what I ended up doing.

SPEAKER_06 7:24

What years actually?

SPEAKER_05 7:26

That was I was diagnosed in 2007. That's when I had the diverticulitis surgery, but they couldn't go in and do any surgery uh for six months. So I had my surgery in April of 2008.

SPEAKER_06 7:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 7:40

You know, you just kind of and that's like sitting on pins and needles waiting, okay, is it gonna metastasize some more while I'm sitting here? You know, journey's tough. I mean, you know, you just have to stay positive. That's the biggest thing. And don't let these negative people come in. Like some of the nurse friends of mine would come up to me and go, Oh my god, I feel so I go, no, no, no, no, no. Don't I don't I don't need the pity. You know, it's like you can't. You can't sit there and pity yourself because you that's you're gonna sink. So it's kind of like you've got to fight and just go for it. And I just said to people, I'll be fine. I will do this and I will be fine. And that's what I did. And it's almost 20 years.

SPEAKER_07 8:15

That's right. So you started treatment and then something kind of funny happened along the way. Uh, go ahead and tell us what happened about your treatment and how it ended.

Stopping Chemo Early To Protect Kidneys

SPEAKER_05 8:25

Well, the treatment, um, I don't know. Like I ended up having the treatment, going back and forth to New York um for chemotherapy, didn't tolerate the chemo very well. Um, was not happy. I had this gut feeling that I needed to stop the chemo, which I I mean, it's kind of like you don't really say that to people because you say you gotta follow what the doctors tell you. But I just had a bad feeling that I was just getting sicker and sicker on the chemo. And I said to them, um, I went to the um mesothelioma conference in New in Washington with ports in. I said, I've got to go, I've got to meet some other doctors that I can pick their brains. So I got on a plane and I went to New York's mesothelioma conference, you know, that I think it's Moth that does that one. Is it Moth? Yeah. Um, so I went to that and I sat with a doctor from Maryland. I don't know how he was just sitting next to me, and people were talking about, you know, and he said to me, he asked me how I was doing and what I was doing, and I told him about my chemo, and he said to me, What's going on? And I said, Oh, my kidneys are taking a hit. You know, I'm I'm my kidneys aren't functioning as properly. You know, because the chemo, you you it's a direct hit on your abdomen. It's great that it's not systemic because you don't lose your hair. My mop is still here, but you do take a hit to your kidneys. Oops, I'm out I'm out here. Oh, you're here?

SPEAKER_06 9:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:57

You're here. Oh, my things, my screen went blank. So anyway, so what I did is which I shouldn't have done, but I did. I did stop my chemotherapy one treatment ahead. Uh like I was due to have one more. I had to have six, was the protocol. But they poured hot chemotherapy into your abdomen on the when you're on the operating room table. So you have that dose of chemotherapy. Um so I ended up cutting my therapy. I gotta I gotta just put my charger on. Um, so by one dose, I did stop it. So but I still survive and I'm still here. So is that what you were is that what you were talking about, Dave? Or was it right?

SPEAKER_07 10:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, no, they were doing a trial, right? And they wanted you to continue. You were like, nah, not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_05 10:45

I just I just had that gut feeling, but I don't want to tell people to do that, you know. Like, that's not what I wanted, you know what I mean? Like, I I don't want to tell people to stop their chemo when they really shouldn't. I mean, I kind of shouldn't have done what I did, but I kind of had that gut feeling that I needed to stop. And I was told I did see neprology at Dana Faba after that, and nephrology said it is a good thing I stopped because my kidneys would just would not, I'd be on dialysis now. Because it it does take a hit, you know, your kidneys take a hit. Um, so you just gotta follow your gut, you know, and just like say, even though I'm gonna stop it one treatment ahead, I'm gonna be fine. You know? Yeah, you gotta think positive.

Why Specialist Experience Matters Most

SPEAKER_03 11:28

One of the important things that you said earlier was that you did your research on the doctors that you know you looked at how many mesotheliomic cases someone had taken. And and what we try to tell individuals is that it's really important that they do that. Um, you know, to find the right person. We we hear it all the time, you know, oh, I'm gonna go to the one closest to me because it's convenient. Exactly. And it's not, you know, in all honesty, it's not always because they don't have the experience. And, you know, when there's so few people diagnosed, and I say that um one person is too much, but based on you know the numbers that they show uh on how many people are diagnosed in a year, uh there's not a lot of people diagnosed with mesothelioma, whether it's peritoneal, pleural, or pericardial, um you know, there's not a lot, but but it's really, really and it and and we like to stress that it's really important that you do your research on who's going to be taking care of you. And you know, one of the great things about you is you're in the medical field and most people are not, and they don't know what to do. And so we, you know, try to guide them uh in the best way that we can. We we talk to them and um you know try to get them in the right place. Um, and you know, that's how we met uh Lisa and Ellie. Um, you know, they're the facility that they work at was, you know, besides having a a great physician, they had the nurses taking care of them. Um and so that was, you know, a big plus when we sent people to Boston. Um, not saying that Boston's the only place, but right, you know, you you you did your research, but you knew also, did you know a little bit about mesothelioma, or was it research that you did when you found out you had it?

SPEAKER_05 13:25

I mean, I've I had uh taken care of patients with plural mesothelioma, but I never even heard of parent nail mesothelioma. And the oncologist at my particular hospital, my local hospital, was willing to take me on. I think they just was like, oh, it's a new case. You know, we've never had one of these before. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Like I don't I'm gonna be number one. No, that's not happening. That is not happening. And it was interesting because in Moth, you you met with a lot of people, and I was talking with girls from the Midwest um who went to local hospitals in their own Kansas. And I, you know, I'd be talking to them and I'd say, well, maybe you should get another opinion. No, no, I'm good. And they would have their treatments there. It it's really sad because just exactly what you said, it's local and it's convenient. Well, sometimes you have to go out of your comfort zone. You think I wanted to travel to New York? Traffic is I mean, sometimes it'd be six hours just to get there. I mean, no, I didn't want to do that, but I knew there was no other chance for me. Um, Boston didn't at the time. Dana Faba couldn't administer the chemotherapy. Crazy.

SPEAKER_07 14:38

I would have loved to have been in the room when you told Ellie that you had miso, and she said, No, you don't, because it's you know, having worked in this, we hear it all the time. I've I had mesothelium about five years ago or six years ago, and you're thinking, Okay, here we go. Craig, cray. But um how many questions did you have to ask Ellie before you figured out she was right on?

SPEAKER_05 15:02

I don't know, Ellie. Ellie's shop. She knew.

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Oh, well, I I remember that she was she Julie's very smart, and I was thinking, well, if she's saying it, then she must have it. But that's so weird.

SPEAKER_06 15:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

So strange.

SPEAKER_05 15:19

Now, Julie, you know, for that's it really interesting because you figure since 2008, well, 2007, I was going to Dana Farber.

Lung Nodules And Scan Anxiety

SPEAKER_05 15:29

I still go to Dana Farber. And my oncologist and I, you know, we lock cons because I'm saying to him, You're radiating me way too much. I'm having CAT scans, chest, abdomen, and pelvis, every year. So I once, about three years ago, got advanced to every two years. But the scan showed I have now lung nodules, which as a nurse, many people have lung nodules. Many, many people have lung nodules. Oh, but because I've had plural peritoneal mesothelioma, I could have pleural mesothelioma now. So we have to evaluate my nodules every year now. Because they have to make sure that they haven't grown, that they stay the same size. But if I was somebody without mesothelioma, they would just look at these nodules and say, Oh, yeah, she's got some nodules, they're small, they're staying the same, this round, they're that the figuration is fine. But so we had this argument, and I said to him, I'm done with having this. This is ridiculous. It's a slow-growing tumor. Why do I have to come every year? And this part of it's interesting because what his response was was, Do you know how much radiation you're getting when you fly in an airplane? So I go, Oh, please, you know, you know, the attitude comes, right? Because I have to defend myself, right? So he goes, if you fly from Boston to LA, that is equivalent to having a chest x-ray. And people don't know it's cosmic radiation. When it reaches 30 to 40,000 feet in elevation, you then are susceptible, because the atmosphere's not protecting you anymore, you are then susceptible to cosmic radiation. So he's he and I are like Loch and Horns, and now on what am I gonna say? I never even heard of cosmic radiation. I'm like, oh. And he goes, So think about how much people like pilots, they're flying. Do you really think they're worried about how much radiation they're getting? I

Cosmic Radiation And The Airplane Argument

SPEAKER_05 17:34

said, Well, they should be, obviously, if you're telling me one chess x-ray is from Boston to LA, that's that's significant. So, in the further north towards the poles you go is more radiation. Whatever the, I don't know what the reasoning, but he had it all figured out for me. So he says, You think about that. And it's really interesting if you Google, like European and South Korea, those countries are much more, they take it much more serious. Their pilots, um, they do flight data on computerized flight data on where they're going, how much radiation is there, on, and their amount of radiation that they're occurring. And if they want, they can wear the badges. You know, just like rad techs at the hospital. Rad techs wear little badges to see how much radiation. Well, they um don't mandate it, it's not legal, but a lot of them are wearing um badges to count the radiation on flying. So we say to me, you know, Julie, you know, you're going and you're having these every year. So what could I say? I don't even know possible the radiation. You know what I mean? I was done.

SPEAKER_07 18:38

I actually watched a lecture on this not too long ago, and that's very true. So a trip to the moon would be equivalent to years of heavy, heavy cigarette smoking. Because it's not only radiation, but it's the worst kind of radiation because when it hits our atmosphere, it's knocked down and and diminished a little bit or diverted around the poles where you see the uh the northern lights. So I better shut up or Anna kind of elbow me.

SPEAKER_05 19:07

I did you know that? See, I didn't I didn't know any of that, you know?

SPEAKER_03 19:10

Yeah, absolutely no idea about this radiation thing. And maybe it was better that I didn't know because then you know now I'm not gonna fly somewhere. So um, I mean, you were, you know, being in the medical field, it was very helpful for you, but most people that we deal with um don't have that type of education and they're they're basically lost. But one of the things, um, so I you know, I I'm so glad, you know, you're still here with us, and I'm so glad to be able to talk to you about all of what you did. Um, and maybe uh when someone hears this, they'll understand why we say it's important for you to do your research um and find the right person. And um when you um you said one of the things you mentioned um was that you went outside of just the medical field because uh we I've talked to someone before in the uh about you know health, mental health.

Support Gaps And Low Cost NYC Housing

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Um you had or you did seek help in that capacity as well, am I correct? Uh mental health?

SPEAKER_05 20:27

No, I had no support system, nothing. No, it was it really was sad that New York, I mean, where I didn't live there, they they were support systems there if I lived there that I could have gone to. Um they New York offers you uh Oprah Oprah Winthree supplies a house in Manhattan. Oh right in Times Square that she will allow you to stay in while you're going through your treatments. And she tried you can just there's a box that just says offering. And it's it's really nice to be there. You're with everybody who's in getting chemo at at New York Presbyterian. So it's it's it's a good, it's a healthy, it's healthy, it's good and it isn't. Um, because some people are really sick, and I try to sit there with them and support them. So then I feel good that I've helped them, but then I'm more depressed because then I'm worried about them. You know, but it it is a good opportunity. People that don't have any money that you can stay in New York for uh whatever whatever you want. You could throw 20 bucks in the thing um for a night stay. And it's a it's a condo that has three bedrooms, and we all share the same, and that's what I did.

SPEAKER_07 21:44

You know that was my social work. Did you have any social workers or anything like that in your own notes?

SPEAKER_05 21:51

I had not no, I had nothing.

SPEAKER_07 21:53

I had Ellie, is that unusual? I mean, most patients have that support there in Boston, right? I understand she's in New York at different Playing field, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:01

I mean most of the places have a team, but the you know, peritoneal is, you know, rare. Yeah. So that's I can see where I can see where you wouldn't have had anyone.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

Well, I think if I lived in Manhattan or r lived in New York, they would have set me up with someone to follow. I would think they would, you know, but where I was going back, they probably just assumed my PCP or somebody would set me, you know, but I wasn't seeing them. All I was seeing was New York, I was doing was going back for uh chemotherapy. Right. Maybe if you could diagnose that from the jump, maybe it would be.

SPEAKER_07 22:36

I wanted to go back to what you said earlier. You had nodules. So nodules are an indication you have asbestos in your lungs and uh you know your body is wrapping calcium carbonate around it, just like a pearl, right?

SPEAKER_05 22:46

But where where nodules, nodules are just they they don't not from they're not from asbestos. My nodules, they're just they can be from inflammatory processes. Oh really? Nodules don't have to be from asbestos. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_07 23:00

You know, they're just a lot of time asbestos victims will have those patients of that. So what was your exposure?

Asbestos And Talc Exposure Possibilities

SPEAKER_05 23:09

Well, my exposure to mesothelioma, what I think.

SPEAKER_07 23:12

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_05 23:13

Is that what you're asking? Um, so when I was a kid, I lived in the city right outside of Boston. Um, I in a town that it was um some of all it's the houses were like right on top of each other. So the house next door to us were they were putting on asbestos siding. And there was, we were the only ones. We had a small driveway, and one of the build the guys putting it on said to my dad, Hey, can we cut the asbestos in your driveway? You know, the shingles, cut the shingles because they had to fit them to size. So my father goes, Oh yeah, you can use our driveway. So I sat beside the machine that was cutting. You know, it's like a saw that cuts the shingles and all the powder. And I'm sitting there making little houses with the shingles. You know, I was like probably seven, eight, nine, somewhere around there. And I sat there and I made these little things. So it would be in my mouth, you know, and but I didn't know what that stuff was. I'd go spit it out, not a big deal. But I must, they think I swallowed it and it got into my GI tract that way. That's just one of my ways. I worked as a nurse in this hospital that was really run down. There were asbestos pipes, and we had to cut through that to get to um the cafeteria. So cutting through that area, there it was you could it was all asbestos. My own my own house had asbestos in the basement.

SPEAKER_07 24:37

What about talcum powder? Did you use any talcum powders? Always.

SPEAKER_05 24:42

Always. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 24:46

About 40, 30 to 40 percent of our clients now are people that had almost no exposure, but they use talcum powder. So it's kind of that's kind of a shift over the last 10 years, yeah. So Anna had some other

Staying Positive And Moving Through Treatment

SPEAKER_07 25:00

questions for you.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Well, no, I just um so you've you've kind of mentioned where you are now, um, you know, your your annual visits with uh is there anything else or is or or maybe I should ask the question, what what advice would you have for others that are diagnosed with mesothelioma, whether it's peritoneal pleural or pericardial?

SPEAKER_05 25:22

Um I would just tell people it's a tough road, but you have to stay positive. And I really think when you get down, you just have to, you can't, you just it's real hard. I mean, there were times when I mean it's it can be really hard, you know, some of that chemo, but you you just have to think through this tunnel. You're gonna get through this, and there's light at that end of that tunnel. And you know, I don't think sometimes I think nursing, being a nurse, has its setbacks. You know, you might think, oh, well, it's great to be a nurse because you can figure things out and you know the signs and symptoms, but you also become more of um, you know, you get your lab reports back, and I look in my sodium's like in the tubes in the 120s, and I'm like, oh my God, why is my sodium? You know what I mean? Whereas some people would say, oh, oh, I should just have a little salt. So my mind then takes it to the next level. So nursing isn't always an am at positive asset. You know what I mean? Like I look at my sodium level and I'm like, oh my God, why is it this low? What's wrong with my kidneys? Why, you know what I mean? It's like, oh, this isn't good, you know. Then you become like the little crazy lady. You do?

SPEAKER_07 26:37

So so Lisa and Ellie, you probably haven't had a lot of opportunities to talk to somebody who's 16, 17. It's been 17 years, 16 years, 19.

SPEAKER_05 26:46

19 years.

SPEAKER_07 26:47

Wow. Wow. Uh that that's this far. I mean, it's kind of cool doing that. What what is your is it kind of surreal a little bit? Or I mean, how many times could you say this has happened, right? Somebody who really had miso, not one of those people that had, you know, symptoms or whatever.

SPEAKER_05 27:05

I think and it had spread. So you got metastatic.

SPEAKER_07 27:09

Metastatic, absolutely, right, right.

SPEAKER_05 27:11

It means that a little, you know, that's another plus there, you know? Creditors do here, you know?

SPEAKER_02 27:18

I think the most impressive thing about you, Julie, is you are so upbeat. Like, I feel like that's just so inspirational, and that's what people have to hear.

SPEAKER_06 27:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

I uh couldn't thank you enough for sharing your story today, because really I I it's unbelievable. And I actually just went to the gym the other day. I was telling Ellie, and uh a friend of a friend has peritoneal meso. So I'm actually gonna tell her to watch this video.

SPEAKER_05 27:40

Really, like I just you really do when so much people start that pity stuff, you know. Oh, I'm so sorry. No, you're like, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want to hear that. I'm like, I'm gonna beat this, and you really have to believe that. Yeah, and I truly believed it. I believed I was gonna make it. You didn't had no negative, and I didn't allow people to be near me that were negative. You just have to stay positive. And I believe it. It does something to your brain, and I don't know what else it does to you, but it makes you go through.

SPEAKER_07 28:08

You know what we ought to do on your I gotta run, you guys. On your 10th anniversary, we should send you a can you hear me?

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Hi, Lisa. Bye.

SPEAKER_07 28:17

Wait, wait, Lisa, wait. What? I gotta run. We don't want you on here anyway. Hey, I think we should do is uh is uh get your get her a cake and some flowers, right, and then celebrate her 20th, right? We should try why not? I yeah, but you know buy champagne or something.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

But you know, you hear this all the time that you know you have to have a positive attitude, and you know, sugar baker used to preach it all the time, you know. Ants, no it no negative thoughts are allowed.

SPEAKER_06 28:48

You can't, you really can't. It's really, really true.

SPEAKER_07 28:50

But you it's oh we may have that's 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_06 28:57

But it shouldn't stop.

SPEAKER_05 28:58

29.58. Yep.

Helping Other Patients And Closing Thanks]

SPEAKER_04 29:00

Yeah, we so I think I think we should have you recurrent. You know what I mean? Like have you know, connect you with other patients.

SPEAKER_05 29:08

I would love to help other people. I would do it in a heartbeat. No problem. If there's someone that needs to talk to me, uh just give them my phone number. I would truly mean that. I will talk to them.

SPEAKER_03 29:20

Well, yeah, we definitely love that. You have a saying, um, I believe. It's it's uh follow your heart, follow your gut, and don't forget to go out and dance. Do Zumba. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:33

That's what I did. I danced Zumba weekly. I went to these classes sometimes and I couldn't even bend over. They gave me a chair, but I was there. The music, you listen to that music, and I was there. And I didn't care who looked at me or who laughed at me. I went there and I could move my arms, I still went.

SPEAKER_06 29:53

Good for you. Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 29:55

That's wow, what a positive uh thing to talk to us about. Listen, we're we're so excited. And I I I think Dave has a great idea of celebrating on your 20th uh anniversary. Um who doesn't like cake, right? But uh, you know, it's just so amazing when we do get to talk to individuals that have been diagnosed and they've survived for the number of years, you know, 20 years. I think maybe that's the highest I've heard. Um, and that's just amazing. And and and what you're what you say is you have to have that determination to live. You have to want to survive. Exactly. And I know that there are so many downtimes when you go through all this, you know, the surgeries, the chemotherapy, you know, but just having that positive outlook is what I keep hearing is that you just wanna you you've gotta want to live.

SPEAKER_07 30:52

Well, we're gonna we're gonna go ahead and conclude for today, but definitely we're doing the 20th. And uh Ellie will, if she doesn't cake and champagne, we'll have it, right? All three of us, right? We'll all be drinking cake, right?

SPEAKER_05 31:07

Sounds good to me.

SPEAKER_07 31:08

Well, Julie, thanks for putting up with us, and uh, we'll see you again. And and we're definitely gonna have you talk to some of our clients.

SPEAKER_05 31:14

I would love to. I would love to. Awesome. Do it anytime you want.

unknown 31:18

All right.

SPEAKER_05 31:18

Ellie I'll do it. Thanks, guys. I'm glad she left. Bye. Bye, guys. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Thank you for listening to Miso, the Miso Thelioma podcast. For more information, resources, and support, visit our sponsors, Danziger and Diano, at dandel.com.