March 25, 2026

**SPECIAL REPEAT ** I Would have Never Believed My Story if I didn't go Through It - with Special Guest Tiffani Zeleny

**SPECIAL REPEAT ** I Would have Never Believed My Story if I didn't go Through It - with Special Guest Tiffani Zeleny

Send us Fan Mail This special repeat episode from 2023 is about resilience, faith, and an unbelievable medical battle that turned a mother's life upside down. One of our longest and most popular episodes, you won't want to miss it! Sam sits down with Tiffani Zeleni, a fellow gym member whose story sounds almost impossible—except she lived every minute of it. What started as what seemed like a simple case of pink eye quickly turned into a rare and devastating diagnosis: Acanthamoeb...

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Season 7

Send us Fan Mail

This special repeat episode from 2023 is about resilience, faith, and an unbelievable medical battle that turned a mother's life upside down.  One of our longest and most popular episodes, you won't want to miss it! 

Sam sits down with Tiffani Zeleni, a fellow gym member whose story sounds almost impossible—except she lived every minute of it. What started as what seemed like a simple case of pink eye quickly turned into a rare and devastating diagnosis: Acanthamoeba keratitis, a parasitic infection that attacked her cornea and threatened to take her eye—and possibly her life. 

Over the course of months, Tiffani endured relentless pain, hourly medicated eye drops around the clock, multiple infections, repeated trips to specialists, and the real possibility that her eye would have to be removed. At one point she lost vision, lived in darkness for weeks, and traveled back and forth to Iowa City for aggressive treatment while battling exhaustion and fear. 

Against overwhelming odds, Tiffani eventually underwent a full cornea transplant made possible by an organ donor. The surgery saved her eye and changed her life. Through it all, she leaned on faith, family, community, and an unbreakable mindset—continuing to show up at the gym even when she could barely see. 

In one of the most remarkable twists of the story, just months after this ordeal, Tiffany returned to competition and finished in the top 10% worldwide in the CrossFit Open for her age group—a testament to perseverance, mindset, and the power of community. 

This episode is about courage, gratitude, organ donation, and what happens when an ordinary person faces an extraordinary challenge—and refuses to quit.

Support the show

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WEBVTT

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Welcome to Cowboys, not Eggheads.

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Home of the brave, not home of the fearful.

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The world needs more cowboys and fewer eggheads.

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We're everywhere podcasts are found.

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So tell your fellow cowboys.

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And let's keep the conversation alive on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Remember to subscribe, rate, review, and share.

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And now, Cowboys, not eggheads with Sam Fisher.

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Well, we want to welcome Tiffany Zelny to the podcast today.

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Another uh guest from the gym.

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I know everyone can't believe that, but uh I do know very unique and great people because of the gym.

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And Tiffany's somebody I haven't talked to in a while.

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Honestly, she and I started out, or at least I started out at the gym years ago at the 9 a.m.

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class.

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And I used to go to the 9 a.m.

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class with Tiffany and all the other mothers, and they would hand me my Derrier on a daily.

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And um, she is a phenomenal CrossFit athlete, but we're not really going to talk about that today.

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We're gonna talk about something that happened to Tiffany last summer that made national news because I Googled it and like you're on like it's national news.

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So welcome to Cowboys Not Eggheads, Tiffany Zellany.

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Did I say that right?

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Tiffany Zellany.

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That's it.

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Sweet.

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Thank you.

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You're welcome.

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Uh tell me what happened last summer.

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Last summer, I remember it was the end of June.

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Um, my first symptoms, um, I would go to bed at night and have an itchy eye, which wasn't uncommon in the middle of June, as I have allergies.

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What was odd, it was just the one eye.

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Um, but after three or four nights of that, I woke up in the morning and it was red and pussy.

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And I the pussy part was concerned me.

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I've I've had itchy eyes and I've had red eyes, but I've never had a pussy eye.

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Yeah, which having you know raised four daughters, young kids, I thought I have pink eye, because that's what pink eye does.

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So I dig through my medicine cabinet and there's some pink eye drops.

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So I'm sure they were expired, but nonetheless, I self-diagnosed myself with some pink eye.

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And I started using drops, which pink eye goes away very quickly.

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24 hours, you're feeling a lot better.

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But after a couple of days doing eye drops four times a day, I my light sensitivity was getting pretty severe.

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Which means were you getting headaches or were you you just wanted to cover you just wanted to cover your eyes?

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Yes, just it was very bright.

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Is your left eye or just my left eye?

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Your left eye.

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My left eye was getting very bright.

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And we were going into uh 4th July weekend, and I my niece was getting married on July first Friday, July 1st, and I knew Tuesday morning when I woke up thinking it was pink eye that I going into the long weekend, I should probably be seen by a doctor by Thursday.

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So I called the optometrist, and she got me in on Thursday, June 30th, and she said, Oh, yes, you have a really large ulcer in your eye.

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Ulcers aren't good, it's an open wound.

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But she gave me more antibiotics, oral antibiotics, antibiotic eye drops, um, and said, Come back tomorrow because I want to make sure it's getting better.

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So I went back the next morning, July 1st.

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I do hair for a living, and I had my niece's wedding that day and all these busy bridesmaids' hair to do and wedding hair.

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But I went in early that morning, Friday, and she goes, Oh, now your ulcer's gotten bigger, and uh it looks like herpetic fingers are kind of coming down out of the ulcer, which would be shingles or a herpetic virus.

00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.400
No, if I can just stop you right there in your story.

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What is going through your head when you're hearing these things?

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Hey, it's gotten worse, and this now we think there's the ulcer has fingers.

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Yeah.

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What were you thinking?

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Well, I just think there's more, there's more eye drops.

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They're just gonna give me more eye drops.

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It's gonna be fine.

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What did you do?

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Were you still itchy?

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Was the itchiness and the sensitivity light continuing to get worse?

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And and painful then at this point, it wasn't just light sensitivity and it's so painful.

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Uh uh, we've described on this podcast is there's pain and discomfort.

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To me, discomfort is something that you can just kind of fight through if you have to.

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You don't really want it.

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But pain is like the only time I can remember pain in my life, what I would describe as pain, is when I was tased as a police officer in training.

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Like I want that to stop right now.

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So this was on pain.

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Okay, this was this July 1st, I would say discomfort.

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Severe discomfort.

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Severe discomfort.

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Because this has to do with your eyes.

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Yes, real close, yeah.

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Anything in your head, pain-wise, I think it just like makes it worse.

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Uh, but yes, very discomfort.

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Um, but I just thought we live in a really fast fix world.

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Everything is fixed fast.

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So I was thinking more eye drops for another week.

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It's fine.

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It all and so she she did prescribe me more uh viral meds, oral meds, and viral eye drops.

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And she said this will be better by the weekend.

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So I did all these eye drops.

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Yes, it's Friday morning.

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Fourth of July was on Monday, so I figured by fourth of July I'll feel great.

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And I did not.

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And I continued- It's getting worse.

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It's getting worse.

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I continue to the discomfort growing towards pain now.

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It is, it's definitely growing towards pain.

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Um, 4th of July, I was miserable to the point that I was I just stayed insane.

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No one likes their eyes, and my my wife freaks out about eyes.

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She's always saying, I don't touch your eyes, or don't rub your eyes, or all this stuff.

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And eyes are sensitive things.

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So I can only imagine, I think, were they they're itchy.

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Like, did you want to itch them?

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Did you just want to soothe them?

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Like, did you want to rub your eye?

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Did you did you just want to hide in a dark cave?

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What did you it was it's what's hard about eyes is they work as a team.

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And when one isn't working well, it wants to be closed.

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Well, your eyes both want to be closed at the same time.

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Right.

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So my left eye wanted to be closed, but I was forcing my right eye open because I have to live.

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Uh so that you know caused issues also, but you're your my left eye just wanted to be closed because of the pain, the light sensitivity.

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And did it even help by shutting your eye a little, but not much?

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I mean, yeah, the pain, the discomfort was still there.

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Discomfort growing to pain.

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Pain was still there, uh, most definitely.

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So I would, you know, I didn't even know yet until July 5th.

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On July 4th, I called my optometrist and said, I uh you have to do something.

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Like this, it's not better.

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And she kind of said, I'm done.

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You need to move on.

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So she gave me an ophthalmologist phone number, which I didn't know at the time, is also a cornea specialist.

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So I called there and they got me in on July 5th, and he looked my eye and said, You have acanthamoeba keratitis.

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But then he had to do several scrapings.

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Now, let's back up again.

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Ain't and can't acanthead.

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We practiced this before the podcast.

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Acanthamoeba keratitis.

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Yes.

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Now that is an amoeba.

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We don't want that amoeba.

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It's an ugly, ugly foreign object, amoeba.

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And it's there's been news obviously about brain-eating amoeba.

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Now this was not deadly.

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Is that correct?

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It's the same microorganism, but it attacked a different organ.

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Okay.

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So if I attacks your brain, you're probably screwed.

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Yes.

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If I left it untreated and didn't get medical attention, it could have gone into my optic nerve and into my brain.

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Yes.

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Which that's why most people die from uh brain eating uh amoeba, because the you can't my doctor said to me, you know what?

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Um amoeba have been around for a million years.

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Do you want to know why?

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You can't kill them.

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It's like the cockroach.

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It's a parasitic.

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It's a cockroach of microorganisms.

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They're the last ones to go.

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You can't kill 'em.

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So when they attack an organ, there's uh you can do all the medicine, all the treatment, but you they they actually turn into double-sided cysts.

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And they can live that way for three years.

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They go dormant.

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And if they're dormant, you cannot kill them no matter what you're doing.

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So you want to keep you want to keep them alive.

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Yes.

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Which is a problem.

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So you have to keep it alive, but you want to kill it.

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Yeah.

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That's a weird deal.

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Yes.

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Okay, so now I will check in on Tiffany here just for a second.

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Let's interrupt your story again.

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No, you're good.

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Uh, what's Tiffany feeling now?

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What were your feelings about this situation?

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I still didn't think that anything was serious.

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I love that you think and you don't feel because I again everything is uh we have in Omaha, Nebraska, we have amazing medical facilities.

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Right here we are.

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Yeah.

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You come to Omaha, Nebraska for Ebola, and we're gonna cure you of Ebola.

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Um, but I found out you don't come to Omaha, Nebraska for amoeba in your eye.

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But I had a I did have a wonderful doctor here.

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Um, but he took scrapings on July 5th.

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Whoa, whoa, whoa.

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Now there again, scraping.

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She took scrapings of your eye.

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Now, how does that go?

00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:40.879
Um you what does that mean?

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It's exactly what it sounds like.

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Do they dead your eye a little bit so you don't feel the scrapings?

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Yes.

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The numbers.

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Is it still unpleasant as they take the scrapings, even though you can't technically feel the scrapings?

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You can feel the pressure that they put up against your eye to take these scrapings to send in to the lab to verify.

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What kind of instrument do they have?

00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:06.639
Do you see the instrument?

00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:08.480
Yes, do you see everything coming up?

00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:11.679
That's exactly what it was.

00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:13.039
A scalpel.

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Some dude has got a scapel to your eye.

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And and multiple.

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And he's trying to frickin' save your eye, but he's scratching your eye.

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Scraping, excuse me.

00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:23.360
Scraping your eye.

00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:23.840
Yes.

00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:24.960
Yeah, how's that going?

00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:25.679
About four.

00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:26.639
Did you enjoy that?

00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:27.039
Did you?

00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:27.759
Yeah.

00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:32.159
I mean, thankful for numbing drops because that was nice.

00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:32.720
Yes.

00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:33.759
It was unpleasant.

00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.279
And I think your eye regenerates pretty quickly.

00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:38.799
I mean, if scratch.

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If they do it right.

00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:40.320
Yes.

00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:40.799
Yeah.

00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:47.039
So um some dude has a job out there to scrape another human being's eye.

00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:48.639
It's amazing.

00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:49.440
Yes.

00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:51.039
It was interesting.

00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:52.159
But he had to do it.

00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:53.039
We had to know.

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I I mean, he could tell.

00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:57.600
I'm very thankful that um he diagnosed me.

00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:02.879
I mean, the second he saw me, he knew I had this horrible diagnosis.

00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:07.519
Which then he just proceeded to tell me, you're gonna be on a lot of eye drops.

00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:08.879
Okay.

00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:11.279
Like, what's that mean?

00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:13.840
Like what three weeks of eye drops?

00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:16.559
Like once a day eye drops.

00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:18.480
Every minute on the minute eye drops.

00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:19.120
Yeah.

00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:23.519
And so he wasn't super vocal about that.

00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:25.120
He couldn't tell me how long.

00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:26.559
He couldn't tell me how many.

00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:28.639
He couldn't tell me anything that.

00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:30.240
Did you get the sense from this guy?

00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:33.440
I mean, doctors are amazing people, and they're just they're like everybody else.

00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:34.879
Everyone's they're all different.

00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:39.279
Some are, some are they they act differently.

00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:43.360
So was this guy just like, hey, here's what we're gonna do, here's the plan.

00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:45.679
Was it like you're screwed?

00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:49.759
I mean, it I mean, obviously, no doctor would do that, but well, I should be surprised.

00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.159
But um, you're just like, here's the plan.

00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:54.000
Here's what you're gonna have to do.

00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:55.519
Yes, he was calm.

00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:03.919
Um, I did you get the sense that you were kind of special that this is like because this is a one in a what million situation we're talking about.

00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:07.200
I think one in three million.

00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:09.919
One in three million is I think is what I mean.

00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:13.120
Man, I bet you bought a lottery ticket that day.

00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:15.039
Maybe I should have.

00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:30.639
Um yeah, it was kind of the perfect storm, but it I guess from then I didn't start feeling like he was pretty calm, just said you'll be on eye drops, which at that point I hadn't lost any vision.

00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:36.879
I just was again, discomfort was getting worse and uh light sensitivity keeps getting worse.

00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:40.320
Listeners, I have my my we'll get a camera in here someday.

00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:43.279
I have my hand going up and she's nodding at me.

00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:58.960
So and then he's what was interesting is he said, uh, the medication that I'm gonna put you on is compounded, and no one in the state of Nebraska makes this medicine.

00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:03.039
So we need to find out where we can get it from.

00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:05.919
So that was interesting to me.

00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:15.120
That this isn't obviously a very uh Well, if it's one in three million and there's only 1.5 million people in the state of Nebraska, it's yeah, they don't make it here.

00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:15.840
Yeah.

00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:27.440
So uh University of Iowa uh was the closest place that made that these made these compounded compounded eye drops, which are actually pool cleaners.

00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:33.519
There's two types of pool cleaners, is what you use to treat.

00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:35.840
Now, does that burn going in?

00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:40.240
Well, yes, and you have open wounds on top of it.

00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:40.879
Yes.

00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:52.320
These parasites, the reason I had it what the optometrist thought was an ulcer and um shingles was because um it's a parasite, so it mimics other things.

00:14:52.799 --> 00:15:01.279
So, yes, that's why she thought it was an ulcer because this parasite mimics ulcers or mimics shingles of the eye.

00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:07.919
Um so that was interesting to yes, dump every hour.

00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.080
You have very kind diplomatic words.

00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:11.519
Yeah, that was interesting.

00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.720
It was were you frustrated, Tiffany?

00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:24.080
Um, frustrated on what was frustrating was every hour, every hour you were administering eye drops.

00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:25.679
Multiple eye drops.

00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:27.759
This is now only July 5th.

00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:33.360
So you're talking I only have like two eye drops starting in July 5th.

00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:36.399
And I was doing that around the clock.

00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.799
Um, so all night long hourly.

00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:40.879
All night long.

00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:45.440
And I do So how does that again I hate to interrupt you, but I'm curious.

00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:47.039
Do you like to sleep at all?

00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:48.399
Oh, I love to sleep.

00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:49.279
Isn't it wonderful?

00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:51.440
Now, how did that how did that work out?

00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:54.000
So you set your alarm and did did you ever get alarmed?

00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:58.720
So did you learn how to sleep 59 minutes out of the hour, or how does that work?

00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:03.840
Yes, and then eye drops have to be administered five minutes apart.

00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:15.519
So when you have multiple eye drops, multi, you know, uh at times I was doing four, five, six eye drops every hour, but those that was five minutes around the clock.

00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:16.639
Around the clock.

00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:18.240
And they're all refrigerated.

00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:20.480
It's a bit of an inconvenience here.

00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:21.440
A little bit.

00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:22.320
A little bit.

00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:26.240
Which little I mean, this is again still July 5th, early July.

00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:28.240
Yeah, we have to sort of tell the story.

00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:33.679
Maybe I should shut up because it's gonna take three hours the way I keep holding you up.

00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:42.480
So, yes, so I started pool cleaners, um, which again, those just really irritate the eye.

00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:44.879
I was going I would imagine that it's acidic.

00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:48.399
I mean, it's right, I mean it's yeah, it's like dumping acid in your eye.

00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:51.200
You're putting acid in your eye on an hourly basis.

00:16:51.360 --> 00:17:00.879
Now, after you do that, you just like, you know, you just close your eyes and went back to bed, uh, or or or during the daytime, you just close your eyes and go on with your day, huh?

00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:02.000
Yes.

00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:07.599
I mean, I very quickly did I it didn't take long.

00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:17.519
It probably probably a month into the diagnosis, I was and less than that even, uh I was pretty much stuck in a dark room.

00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.279
I I could not bear light.

00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:21.680
Light.

00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:24.640
I couldn't have lights on in the house.

00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.839
My children could not have blinds open.

00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:30.720
It was everything was so bright.

00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:32.079
Yes, awful.

00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:40.079
And I understand that from the perspective of years and years ago I had migraines, which I always thought was a figment of someone's imagination.

00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:41.279
There's no such thing as migraine.

00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:47.920
Oh, baloney, you get one, and you the first thing you want to do is go to a dark, cool place.

00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.880
So I I'm picturing it to sort of sort of be like that.

00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:51.119
Yes.

00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:54.480
Like you just found a nice, dark, cool place where it was quiet.

00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:54.799
Yep.

00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:58.160
Because noise also probably irritated the heck out of you, right?

00:17:58.400 --> 00:17:58.720
Right.

00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:02.000
Other than that, I love to hear my kids' voices.

00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:14.160
So my cool, dark place right away was uh we have a ranch house, and I wanted to hear my kids, but I couldn't bear to stand in the kitchen or to be in the living room.

00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:18.720
It was just too bright with all the blinds closed, no lights on.

00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:37.279
Um, so I my first daughter's the first room in the house in the hallway is my daughter's room, and I would bunk her down in there because she had darkening shades, it was quiet, but yet I was so close to the living room and kitchen area that I could hear my family.

00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:55.279
But after five days of being in there, and this was probably the early July, about probably July 12th, after being in there for about five days, I came out of there one evening and I said, I can never go back to this room.

00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:00.720
It is the most depressing, saddening thing.

00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:02.960
There's nothing for me to do in this room.

00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.880
I can't watch TV, I can't look on a phone, I can't read.

00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:11.440
It's dark, and there's nothing for me to do.

00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:14.640
Alone by yourself with your thoughts.

00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:15.279
Yes.

00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.279
Not very many people get to do that.

00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:22.240
No, and no a lot of people can do that, particularly in today's society.

00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:22.799
Correct.

00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:26.400
So you were challenged, and after five days, you're like, enough of this.

00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:38.079
Yeah, I just said I have to learn to be able to because imagine going from a dark black room to going to the kitchen to get yourself something to eat.

00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:40.400
It was you couldn't, I couldn't acclimate.

00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:45.759
I could could not acclimate, and I lost my vision by July 9th.

00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:52.000
Um on July 5th, my doctor did say I had a very mild case of acanthamoebocitis.

00:19:52.240 --> 00:20:00.559
By July 9th, I had a horrible, severe case in just four days.

00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:07.200
I woke up July 9th, had another niece get married, and had 12 updos to do that morning.

00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:07.920
Oh my.

00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:11.519
And I woke up that morning in the in pain.

00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:12.160
Pain.

00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:14.559
I want this to go away now.

00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:15.759
I'm done with this now.

00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:19.119
And I lost my vision overnight.

00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:24.480
Um if I can text so where's your temperature now?

00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:27.839
Are you angry, scared, frustrated?

00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:28.640
Where are you at?

00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:32.000
Um frustrated and scared.

00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:34.480
I mean, you lose your vision.

00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:37.200
It's a scary and just one eye.

00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:45.119
My so obviously I still had my right eye to see, but you lose your peripheral vision also.

00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:48.079
Which we don't take for granted until it's gone.

00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:49.039
Yes.

00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:51.920
And when you first again, your eyes work together.

00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.559
So when you first lose vision in one eye, talk about migraines.

00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:00.880
That is horrible pain.

00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:02.160
Horrible pain.

00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:02.400
Yeah.

00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:08.960
Because you're it takes a while for your body to migraines, or you yeah, it causes you to have a lot of people.

00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:10.640
Oh, so you had migraines as a result.

00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:10.960
Okay.

00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:13.039
Because then you have no depth perception.

00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:13.519
Right.

00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:23.680
So eat walking, it I would hold on to my daughters walking downstairs, or um, I had I had doctor's appointments every three days.

00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:25.759
Everything was a chore, too.

00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:28.160
I mean, brushing your teeth became a chore.

00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:32.720
Um, going to the refrigerator to get something to eat became a massive chore.

00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:34.480
Everything slowed down.

00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:38.480
Everything uh and it's July 9th, so this is like a week.

00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:40.160
This now we're in the first week.

00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:40.880
Yep.

00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:45.839
So then I just had kept going to the doctor every three days, two to three times a week.

00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:50.000
I was again getting in the car, going to the doctor And I could not drive.

00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:51.359
No, go heck no.

00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:54.319
If you're in pain, you can't see, you didn't know.

00:21:54.559 --> 00:22:07.440
And the light sensitivity, I would drive my daughters, my husband, family, uh Members would drive me to the doctor's appointment so I would have a blanket, a coat over my head.

00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:11.279
I couldn't even wear just sunglasses.

00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:17.119
Somebody had given me uh the cataracts sunglasses, the great big ones.

00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:18.720
Yeah, that was great.

00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:20.559
But even those weren't good enough.

00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:22.079
I would wear those in my own house.

00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:22.480
Yeah.

00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:24.799
That's how dark it needed to be.

00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:27.039
And that wasn't enough either.

00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:31.039
But uh getting two appointments was a chore.

00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:41.279
You know, I just I I couldn't walk into a building hardly without, you know, with steps and things because my depth perception was so thrown off.

00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:54.319
Um, which that that does adjust after a few weeks, your brain adjusts to um only one eye and adjusts to light sense or uh the uh depth perception.

00:22:54.559 --> 00:23:00.720
But going to the doctor, every time I went, I was just told how much worse I was getting.

00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:10.079
How much every three two to three times a week, the whole month of July was you're just getting worse, getting worse, getting worse.

00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:17.519
Um finally that that's after the exam, they're taking pictures of your eye, or they're taking a picture of the of the amoeba and all that.

00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:23.359
You can't see amoeba with um the microscope.

00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:25.119
Does not see amoeba.

00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:27.519
You can only see the damage they've done.

00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:29.200
They are that microscopic.

00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:29.839
Unbelievable.

00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:39.599
A confocal microscope is it's kind of like a video camera that kind of took a it slid over my eye to take a picture.

00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:45.119
But there's University of Iowa has one, but no one in nowhere in Nebraska has one.

00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:50.319
So like my doctor couldn't do a confocal microscope to see these amoeba.

00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:54.960
He just could see the damage that they had done.

00:23:55.279 --> 00:24:07.920
So by I think it was August 12th or 13th, um, my ophthalmologist here in Omaha kind of washed his hands and said, There's uh it is so bad.

00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:10.079
There's nothing more I can do for you.

00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:15.039
And that day in particular, he was digging dead tissue out of my eye.

00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:16.079
I'm sorry, what day was it?

00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:17.200
August 19th, did you say that?

00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:18.559
August 12th or 13th.

00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:20.240
Okay, okay, middle a month later.

00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:24.000
Yes, but yeah, six weeks, five weeks, five weeks.

00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:29.279
Um, and he finally just said, there's nothing more I can do for you.

00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:33.759
So I'm gonna send you on as an emergency case to Iowa City.

00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:51.599
So um August 16th was my first visit to Iowa City, and we found out there that I also I had acanthamoebacitis, I had a fungal infection, which is what the parasites were feeding off of.

00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:54.799
That is why I was not getting any better.

00:24:54.960 --> 00:25:03.599
Yes, and I did have shingles, um, and the eye, the stress, the trauma of the eye would cause, you know, shingles.

00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:13.039
So I had three things, and on that day, uh my doctor who I love in Iowa City, Dr.

00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:19.839
Greiner said, You there's a very large chance I am not going to be able to save your eye.

00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:26.799
So from that moment on is when I knew this was serious business.

00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:27.759
Yeah.

00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:31.200
More fear, more anxiousness, all the emotion.

00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:32.160
All the emotions.

00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:33.680
Yo, rainbow effect.

00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:34.319
Yes.

00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:38.160
I I cried quickly, briefly in the room.

00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:40.160
Did you cry out of your left eye?

00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:40.880
Right.

00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:41.759
That's sort of funny.

00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:44.240
It still teared.

00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:59.759
Um, but if you once I got once I heard that so many times, again, now I was traveling to and from Iowa City two times a week, um, four and a half hours each way.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:01.200
Again, I can't drive.

00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:02.640
And the whole trip is miserable.

00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:03.039
Right.

00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:05.680
Oh, very blankets over my teeth.

00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:07.279
Yes.

00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:09.200
I can't watch what's going on.

00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:10.559
I can't look out the window.

00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:13.279
And I'm still have hourly eye drops.

00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:15.200
Yeah, on the road, you're doing drops.

00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:15.599
Yeah.

00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:20.319
But now we're up to eight eye drops.

00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:21.920
Uh on the hour.

00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:29.440
Uh like one, like I think four were four or five were hourly, some were every two hours, some were four times a day.

00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:30.559
Did it get confusing?

00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:32.640
I would imagine it'd get confusing after a while.

00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:39.039
Um, yes, I think that I was in, it was pretty much my full-time job was to do eye drops.

00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:39.359
Right.

00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:40.079
That was your D.

00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:46.319
I I did have to quit working for quite a long time because I could not see it.

00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:48.160
I assumed that you were working.

00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:49.039
Good grief.

00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:55.839
Um, so my full-time job was knowing which eyedrops I had to do when.

00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:58.799
Um, and I finally I did get smart.

00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:10.480
I would pack a small cooler with me in the even or at nights when I would, so then I did only have to roll over in bed and throw an eye drop in.

00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:10.880
Yeah.

00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:16.000
But yeah, I I mean all this time you're just sleep alarm, sleep alarm, sleep alarm.

00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:16.319
Yes.

00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:17.039
Um I.

00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:17.599
Yeah.

00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:18.720
That got old.

00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:20.480
Fighting this amoeba man.

00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:21.279
Yes.

00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:29.440
And going so after I guess my doctor had probably told me every visit that I was gonna lose my eye.

00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:34.720
And you know, you get told something that often, you you believe it.

00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:45.599
And so I just got to the point where I knew I was gonna lose my eye, and and I was okay with that because I knew my pain would go away.

00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:51.759
Yeah, that it was like we were willing to trade your eye for the pain to go away because everything would be better at this point.

00:27:52.000 --> 00:28:00.240
It had been, you know, six weeks, eight weeks, whatever, of chronic pain, non-stop pain, light sensation.

00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:03.519
Yes, and want that to stop right now.

00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:07.359
Yes, yes, horrible, horrible pain.

00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:12.319
But it's it, I mean, I kept going.

00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.920
I said it would be better than losing a limb.

00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:18.960
That like somebody else has it worse.

00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:24.640
I always said to myself, my I get to stay at home with my kids.

00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:34.880
I may not be interactive with them right now, and I may not be able to cook them dinners and things like that, but I got to be home during my illness.

00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:43.119
A lot of people when they're ill are hospitalized or in nursing homes and things like I or rehab.

00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:50.559
I I got to be at home, and that was that was huge in healing, yeah.

00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:52.960
Just being in your own home.

00:28:53.599 --> 00:29:05.680
Um, and I started lots of oral meds when I went over to Iowa City also to help uh attack these amoeba um and infections.

00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:08.400
I just had so much infection going on.

00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:12.319
And um, I did ask my doctor, why can't you just cut it out?

00:29:12.559 --> 00:29:16.799
Just cut it out, cut the infection out like it's no big deal.

00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:17.279
Yeah.

00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:22.000
And he said, you can only cut a cornea out of an eye.

00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:26.319
You cut any deeper, any wider, you no longer have an eye.

00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:39.039
So uh the infection was so deep into my eye and so wide spread in my eye, there was no cutting out the infection.

00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:44.640
Uh either had to give up your eye or continue on or get a cornea transplant.

00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:47.759
Well, that wasn't even at that point, that wasn't an option.

00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:57.519
It was not an option because my it my infection was so deep into my eye and so wide that the a cornea transplant was not even an option at that time.

00:29:57.839 --> 00:29:59.599
So we're in the middle of August here.

00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:00.480
Yes.

00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:06.640
And it was it was not a it was a dark time, literally and figuratively.

00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:08.720
Yes, it was.

00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:12.720
Um so what what's next?

00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:13.759
I mean, what what's next?

00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:23.279
I continued to travel back and forth twice a week to Iowa City, and again, got the same news that I ever got from like it's getting worse.

00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:23.839
It's not getting better.

00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:25.680
It's getting worse, it's getting worse.

00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:27.599
No one ever said it's getting better here.

00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:28.319
It's getting better.

00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:29.119
Nope.

00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:35.039
Um, and finally, my doctor said, Hey, there's one more thing I can do for you.

00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:36.640
And this is very end of August.

00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:38.960
I received the eye drops September 6th.

00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:43.440
Um, but he said, There are some eye drops you need to find.

00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:45.119
I can't prescribe them to you.

00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:48.720
They're not FDA approved in the United States.

00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:51.839
So you need to get these Brolyan eye drops.

00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:57.359
And he sat there while me and my aunt were scrolling online for these eye drops.

00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:04.079
They're sold over the counter at a far at a whatever kind of store they have in Europe.

00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:08.960
A drug store in Europe sells them over the counter for eight dollars a bottle.

00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:15.119
My uh American eye drops were anywhere from$100 to$500 weekly.

00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:15.839
Eeeha.

00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:19.279
Um, because they're called compounded.

00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:21.680
And my insurance didn't cover those.

00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:24.079
Uh so what do you get on a plane?

00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:26.559
Go to Europe or uh right, and then a lot of things.

00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:30.400
So you have to go over there and buy it.

00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:31.920
Well, yes.

00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:36.079
I finally found a pharmacy that would ship to the United States.

00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:41.920
So I ordered three bottles, two or three bottles of Broline to be sent to me.

00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:43.440
16 or 24 bottles.

00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:44.559
Exactly.

00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:46.079
So they arrived.

00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:49.680
It took you know a little over a week to get them, but they arrived.

00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:52.960
And I bet you would have paid a thousand dollars shipping for that, wouldn't you?

00:31:53.200 --> 00:32:06.000
I would have, because finally, uh about three weeks, two weeks, three weeks after using the Brolyan eye drops, which you cannot find anywhere now.

00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:09.839
They're like not even where you're no.

00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:16.799
Um once I started using those every hour for two to three weeks.

00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:24.799
Um, my doctor finally said, I think, I think we see a little improvement.

00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:28.880
Um so And I bet that was a good day.

00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:31.119
That was a fabulous day.

00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:40.559
And he mentioned perhaps because of this broline, you will eventually get your cornea transplant.

00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:48.640
So after another few weeks on the Broline eye drops, uh mind you, along with every other eye drop I was on the colour.

00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:56.960
We're still on pool cleaner and freaking oral minutes and every other hour, and you're still up there all night long giving yourself eye drops.

00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:57.680
Yes.

00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:00.480
Um I take that back.

00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:02.720
Well, no, that was September 12th.

00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:06.160
I went in September 12th, so I got the eye drops September 6th.

00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:18.960
September 12th, I went in, and my doctor had noticed um he could see first time he's ever seen this in his career, exposed nerves in my eye.

00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:31.440
And because of that, you're he said in order to continue with these eye drops, we have to heal your eye.

00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:34.559
I mean, open wounds in your eye.

00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:40.880
Your your nerves are my nerves were exposed in my cornea, my eye.

00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:41.759
Pain.

00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:43.200
That's pain.

00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:44.480
That's pain.

00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:55.759
Um so he had he had said, we need to put this corneal bandage in your eye, which is amniotic membrane from somebody's placenta.

00:33:56.319 --> 00:33:58.079
And I said, Sounds great.

00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:00.480
It dissolves into your eye.

00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:02.079
Sounded great.

00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:06.160
So I said, yes, I'd like to continue on with my eye drops.

00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:12.719
So put this corneal bandage in, and we'll we'll see how see if it helps heal my eye.

00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:18.480
So the process of getting this corneal bandage in was not pleasant.

00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:23.280
Um, he failed to mention that they have to clamp it into your eye.

00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:30.480
Like it's not just a contact lens that sets in your eye and dissolves, it's clamped to your eye.

00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:32.559
Clamp means pinched, folks.

00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:35.440
Like it reminded me of a slap bracelet.

00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:39.199
Like when you slap your bracelet, it kind of wraps around.

00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:39.679
Right.

00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:50.239
So he lifted up my top eyelid and like slapped this um lens into my eye, and then you know, I'm looking up and he's pulling down.

00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:52.239
I mean you feel this.

00:34:53.199 --> 00:34:54.239
There's no numbing to any of that.

00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:54.639
No.

00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:57.280
Was he like this is gonna suck for five seconds?

00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:04.159
Five, four, three, two, one, or yeah, it I mean, it took a few minutes to put into my eye.

00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:04.880
Yeah.

00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:12.400
Um, and I don't know why, but by the time I mean, we got it in, whatever, we left.

00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:23.679
Um, and there's a I mean, it's a it's a clamp, so it's yes, the the con the lens itself dissolves, the amniotic membrane dissolves, but the clamp does not.

00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:25.920
So, I mean, it was it's thick.

00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:29.920
So you now have something thick clamped to your eye.

00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:30.559
Clamped.

00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:32.480
So you can feel this.

00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:35.920
Um, it's I mean, contact lenses you don't feel in your eye.

00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:36.079
Right.

00:35:36.320 --> 00:35:37.760
Oh, this you could feel.

00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:43.599
And by the time I had gotten home, four and a half hours later, my whole entire left eye was swollen shut.

00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:44.239
Oh imagine.

00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:48.960
Um, so I had to leave that in for five days.

00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:56.800
And I that that was a rough five days week of my life.

00:35:56.880 --> 00:35:57.199
Yeah.

00:35:57.599 --> 00:35:58.639
It was horrific.

00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:02.400
I can't say I I don't remember getting out of bed.

00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:07.840
I don't were you absolved from uh giving yourself eye drops though, because it was clear shut.

00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:09.039
No, you still had to do it.

00:36:10.719 --> 00:36:14.719
Oh yeah, those eye drops seep through that bandage.

00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:15.440
Is that right?

00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:16.000
How nice.

00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:18.239
Yep, seep right through it.

00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:28.480
So when I went back on Friday, um they took out the clamp and they said, Oh, that's that's healed up pretty nicely.

00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:30.079
We'd like to put in another one.

00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:35.760
I was just gonna say, well, it better damn well where it freaking hurt my hurt for a week.

00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:36.960
Now we're gonna put in another one.

00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:39.039
And I well, this one we'll put in for 10 days.

00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:39.360
Yes.

00:36:39.440 --> 00:36:41.440
And I said absolutely not.

00:36:41.599 --> 00:36:42.079
You said no.

00:36:42.480 --> 00:36:43.360
No, I could not do it.

00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:44.159
You called a no.

00:36:44.320 --> 00:36:44.639
I couldn't.

00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:45.840
You said nope, we ain't doing it.

00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:46.639
Do that again.

00:36:46.719 --> 00:36:49.679
I I'm not I don't remember eating that week.

00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:51.280
I don't, I know I never got out.

00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:52.400
I never got a bed.

00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:54.639
I don't know that I showered that five days.

00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:56.880
Oh, who cares about showering at that point?

00:36:57.039 --> 00:36:57.760
I mean, who cares?

00:36:58.159 --> 00:37:03.360
Literally, my kids would come in, hold my hand, tell me goodnight, talk to me.

00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:06.159
I I physically could not open my eyes.

00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:06.719
I could not.

00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:08.239
So you called kibosh.

00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:11.519
This is the one procedure they recommended where you said no.

00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:12.880
No, I couldn't do it.

00:37:13.039 --> 00:37:17.920
I could not, the pain was that severe, I just could not do it again.

00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:19.440
Or I needed a break.

00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:24.480
Like, yeah, give me a two-week break, and then maybe we could try it again.

00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:25.119
Yeah.

00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:34.639
But that is what essentially it did heal my eye enough to continue with this treatment to be eligible for.

00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:39.519
And then a few weeks after that, it was beginning of October.

00:37:39.679 --> 00:37:53.039
Um October 10th-ish, maybe October, anywhere between October 3rd and October 10th, is is when he said to me You're very good at dates because these were significant dates to you.

00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:53.760
Yes.

00:37:54.400 --> 00:37:55.039
On the same way.

00:37:55.199 --> 00:37:56.079
I just find that interesting.

00:37:56.159 --> 00:37:56.719
I'm sorry, go ahead.

00:37:56.880 --> 00:37:58.239
Yeah, no, so I'm the same way.

00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:00.320
Yeah, I October 10th at 2 p.m.

00:38:00.559 --> 00:38:05.119
I mean, you I mean you're not going to be able to do everything because this is a monumental part of the story.

00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:06.239
I mean, yes.

00:38:06.559 --> 00:38:15.039
And he um in October, early October, he had said, Um, you are ready for a cornea transplant.

00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:17.760
We're going to attempt a cornea transplant.

00:38:17.920 --> 00:38:24.159
However, he told me on October 16th, I was there for like five hours.

00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:30.639
And one of the things he said in that five hours when I was with him on August 16th was October 16th.

00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:31.360
No, sorry.

00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:32.880
Uh my very first visit with him.

00:38:33.199 --> 00:38:42.800
August 16th was you, the absolute worst-case scenario, you are going to need 14 days of infusions.

00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:52.239
They'll get a PIC line put in, you'll go to a cancer treatment center, and they'll infuse you for 14 days of an antiparasitic med.

00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:57.199
And then after that, you will receive a cornea transplant.

00:38:57.440 --> 00:39:00.480
But that is like worst case scenario.

00:39:00.719 --> 00:39:02.320
It's not very often.

00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:03.679
And I said, okay.

00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:06.079
We said, well, it's been worst case scenario all the way through here.

00:39:06.159 --> 00:39:06.559
Who cares?

00:39:06.960 --> 00:39:11.679
So early October, he said, you know, it's it's time for a cornea transplant.

00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:16.320
You are going to need 14 days of infusions.

00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:19.599
I'm sorry to laugh, but I mean good grief.

00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:20.400
Yes.

00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:30.480
So, um, and he told me, he said, I hope you can make it seven days on this medicine because it's horrible.

00:39:31.840 --> 00:39:34.880
After all this stuff, now I tell you, this is gonna be horrible.

00:39:35.119 --> 00:39:41.519
Yes, and mind you, in this illness, you're like, I've lost are you at this point, you're like, I don't care if it's horrible.

00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:48.079
I there's nothing can be more horrible than those previous five days with that bandage where you were just like, okay.

00:39:48.559 --> 00:39:50.639
Yeah, I mean, I had I had to do it.

00:39:50.800 --> 00:39:51.599
I had to do it.

00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:55.280
If I wanted to save my eye, I had to do it.

00:39:55.519 --> 00:40:02.079
Um, and again, in the back of my mind, I always knew somebody else has it worse than I do.

00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:11.519
So this is somebody else would love to have my diagnosis and my pain and my suffering over what they're going through.

00:40:11.760 --> 00:40:14.079
So I I just kept that in mind.

00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:17.679
Somebody else is doing cancer treatment, somebody else is terminal.

00:40:17.760 --> 00:40:20.239
I'm not you can say that to yourself, but did you believe that?

00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:23.840
I do did you truly believe that?

00:40:24.159 --> 00:40:29.440
Yes, I did because I know that somebody else clearly something got you through this.

00:40:29.599 --> 00:40:30.000
Yes.

00:40:30.159 --> 00:40:34.400
I and no, I knew that I needed from day one.

00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:46.639
I read something along the lines that this is one of the most um depressing diagnosis you can get because it forces you to be in a dark room all alone.

00:40:46.880 --> 00:40:52.639
Yeah, it can be very mentally just break you down.

00:40:52.880 --> 00:40:53.280
Yes.

00:40:53.519 --> 00:40:57.360
So no, I did believe, I I truly did believe that somebody else has it worse.

00:40:57.519 --> 00:40:57.920
You know what?

00:40:58.079 --> 00:41:01.679
What's a 14 days I I can count down.

00:41:01.840 --> 00:41:07.360
I've never been given a in three weeks, you're gonna be better, in six months, you're gonna be better.

00:41:07.679 --> 00:41:10.880
People go years with this diagnosis.

00:41:11.119 --> 00:41:15.599
People will lose their eye after six years of fighting to save their eye.

00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:24.480
This is not I had a very fast, I also think I had the best doctor for this diagnosis.

00:41:24.719 --> 00:41:28.719
Well, due respect, your doctor had one hell of a patient.

00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:31.039
Well, thank you.

00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:32.400
You're welcome.

00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:36.320
Um he had a positive patient, that's for sure.

00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:40.960
Um, and I would I would never want anyone else to ever go through this.

00:41:41.119 --> 00:41:44.079
Like I did Did you ever complain, Tiffany?

00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:46.000
Oh, I'm sure I complained.

00:41:46.400 --> 00:41:47.119
You had to have.

00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:48.400
I'm sure I complained.

00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:50.320
I I feel I look back now.

00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:52.559
Maybe we should have them on, we'll ask him.

00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:53.360
Yes, yes.

00:41:53.519 --> 00:41:57.920
No, I think my family would um I mean, by the way, you're entitled to complain.

00:41:58.159 --> 00:42:01.679
Yeah, I think my husband probably got the worst.

00:42:01.920 --> 00:42:06.239
My husband or my mom probably heard the most complaining that I had.

00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:06.719
Sure.

00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:09.199
But honestly, I have four young daughters.

00:42:09.360 --> 00:42:11.039
They're they're watching everything.

00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:12.880
How old are your daughters, Tiffany?

00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:16.320
17, 15, just turned 14 and 10.

00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:17.119
Wow.

00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:28.719
So I knew a lot of eyes and ears were watching everything I was doing and how I responded to everything that was going on and what I was being told.

00:42:29.039 --> 00:42:35.119
Um that I know we're all gonna go through hard times, and every hard time is gonna look different.

00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:45.679
And I just wanted my daughters to know like that you can choose we can't choose our hard times, but we can choose how we react to them.

00:42:45.920 --> 00:42:49.199
And so I I would like to think, and I I have regret now.

00:42:49.280 --> 00:42:56.159
I'm like, I know somebody texted me at some point, and I was like, I'm doing horrible, I'm in so much pain.

00:42:56.400 --> 00:43:00.000
Well, first of all, I would never text you because I wouldn't expect you to read my text.

00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:02.079
I mean, I mean my God, you don't like it.

00:43:02.320 --> 00:43:03.039
I do feel bad.

00:43:03.280 --> 00:43:06.559
I do feel bad if I ever sent someone a text message.

00:43:07.039 --> 00:43:13.199
I I didn't want it to come out like that, but I know I I typically said, but it's okay.

00:43:13.360 --> 00:43:15.039
I'm going to be okay.

00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:18.159
Um, so yes.

00:43:19.039 --> 00:43:20.239
But back to my infusion.

00:43:20.559 --> 00:43:22.880
14, so we're back to the 14-day pick.

00:43:23.199 --> 00:43:24.320
14-day, yes.

00:43:24.559 --> 00:43:26.000
I gotta get a pick line.

00:43:26.159 --> 00:43:28.800
The infusions were two and a half hours every single day.

00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:29.599
You're in the hospital.

00:43:29.760 --> 00:43:30.320
Saturday, Sunday.

00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:31.280
Iowa City.

00:43:31.679 --> 00:43:33.760
I I was able to get these in Omaha.

00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:35.519
Okay, so you're in the hospital in Omaha.

00:43:35.679 --> 00:43:35.840
Yes.

00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:36.159
Okay.

00:43:36.320 --> 00:43:38.800
Um, but I just was there and could leave.

00:43:38.960 --> 00:43:40.320
You know, I showed up in the morning.

00:43:40.719 --> 00:43:41.440
Oh, oh, you were there.

00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:42.079
Oh, okay.

00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:43.039
So at least you're at home.

00:43:43.119 --> 00:43:43.519
Okay, okay.

00:43:43.760 --> 00:43:44.000
Correct.

00:43:44.079 --> 00:43:44.800
I just had to show up.

00:43:45.119 --> 00:43:50.400
But still, folks, like going home and coming to the hospital is no picnic.

00:43:50.480 --> 00:43:52.559
It's not it's difficult.

00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:53.440
Yes.

00:43:53.679 --> 00:43:56.559
And then they they wiped you out.

00:43:56.800 --> 00:43:59.760
I mean, it was it's I I've never had kids.

00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:13.119
So I can't say it was similar to chemo, but perhaps how people describe a chemo treatment is possibly how I think perhaps it felt.

00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:18.480
Um, just exhausted that horrible taste in your mouth.

00:44:18.800 --> 00:44:20.559
Um it's poison.

00:44:20.719 --> 00:44:30.000
Yes, I was being poisoned without a break for 14 solid days before I could have surgery.

00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:36.719
And mind you, in this time of being sick, I had lost 20 pounds.

00:44:36.960 --> 00:44:47.920
I was so weak, I was so frail, I could barely I mean I some days it took everything I had to get up and move just move.

00:44:48.159 --> 00:44:48.400
Right.

00:44:49.119 --> 00:45:04.639
But um these infusions didn't like I was more I was sicker going into surgery than I, you know, like that was the sickest point I was was going into surgery.

00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:10.400
No one wants to go into surgery that sick and weak, right?

00:45:10.559 --> 00:45:16.719
It's like it's it's not it's not ideal on your body to do that.

00:45:17.440 --> 00:45:24.960
So um, and this was uh it was called a therapeutic corneal full corneal transplant.

00:45:25.280 --> 00:45:37.920
So he cut as deep into my eye and as wide into my eye as he could to remove, like he said though, if I if he left one amoeba, one, that's all it took.

00:45:38.159 --> 00:45:39.840
It only took one to get into my eye.

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.960
If he left one in my eye, we would start all over.

00:45:45.280 --> 00:45:45.519
Yep.

00:45:45.679 --> 00:45:47.440
He didn't want to do that, you didn't want to do that.

00:45:47.679 --> 00:45:51.280
No, it's that's why we cut around the mold on cheese.

00:45:51.760 --> 00:45:52.880
You go way around it.

00:45:53.519 --> 00:45:56.559
Yes, and you never want to cut into infection.

00:45:56.880 --> 00:45:58.320
Actually, I never eat cheese with mold.

00:45:58.480 --> 00:45:58.639
Okay.

00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:02.639
No doctor wants to cut into infection.

00:46:02.800 --> 00:46:05.280
It's it there's so much risk with that.

00:46:05.519 --> 00:46:06.159
Go around it.

00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:12.239
But my doctor had said there's that at this point, this is the last thing he can do.

00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:18.480
But he's going to attempt something before he would enucleate my eye, you know, remove my eye.

00:46:18.639 --> 00:46:20.960
He's going to attempt something.

00:46:21.360 --> 00:46:28.559
And um I went into surgery on October 31st and had a Happy Halloween.

00:46:28.719 --> 00:46:32.000
Yes, therapeutic full cornea transplant.

00:46:32.239 --> 00:46:35.760
Um I had an infusion during surgery.

00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:37.679
Surgery went fantastic.

00:46:37.840 --> 00:46:39.199
I'm here, it was here.

00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:39.920
It was in Iowa City.

00:46:40.159 --> 00:46:40.800
It was Iowa City, okay.

00:46:41.039 --> 00:46:41.599
Iowa City, yes.

00:46:41.920 --> 00:46:42.880
Your doctor over there, okay.

00:46:43.119 --> 00:46:43.440
Yes.

00:46:43.760 --> 00:46:49.199
So um everything was, I mean, it went flawless.

00:46:49.280 --> 00:46:50.400
The surgery did.

00:46:50.639 --> 00:47:00.960
He I have 16 stitches in my eye, and if you saw a picture, they are so perfectly hand sewn into my eye.

00:47:01.119 --> 00:47:02.480
It's impressive.

00:47:02.719 --> 00:47:03.360
Yeah.

00:47:03.599 --> 00:47:07.280
Um and it'd be hard not to work for a patient hard.

00:47:07.440 --> 00:47:11.119
It'd be hard not to work pretty damn hard for a patient like you.

00:47:13.840 --> 00:47:20.559
I find I one day I said to him, he's like, uh it was when he told me I was amoeba free.

00:47:21.199 --> 00:47:23.199
Um, and he said it was a miracle.

00:47:23.280 --> 00:47:25.440
And I said, But I don't I deserve this?

00:47:25.599 --> 00:47:28.159
Like I feel like I deserve this.

00:47:28.320 --> 00:47:30.880
You telling me this, because I did.

00:47:30.960 --> 00:47:32.159
I tried so hard.

00:47:32.559 --> 00:47:33.039
You earned it.

00:47:33.599 --> 00:47:35.119
Uh everything, yes.

00:47:35.440 --> 00:47:39.519
Um, and so he, yeah, surgery is a success.

00:47:39.599 --> 00:47:41.119
I went back the next day.

00:47:41.360 --> 00:47:43.519
Um, no, no, no, no, no.

00:47:43.760 --> 00:47:44.719
Surgery was a success.

00:47:44.800 --> 00:47:46.400
So when are you able to like open your eye?

00:47:46.639 --> 00:47:47.039
Hey, I can see.

00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:51.519
Okay, so it was just patched that night, um, taped up and patched.

00:47:51.679 --> 00:47:54.559
So um, I it was it was closed all night that night.

00:47:54.639 --> 00:47:57.039
So no eye drops for for that evening.

00:47:57.519 --> 00:48:01.760
The evening of surgery, Halloween, I got off scot-free, no eye drops.

00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:18.719
Uh November 1st, I went back in for my checkup the next day, and excuse me, he said, um, took the patch off, looked in my eye, and said, you know, everything looks good, but you have to do seven more days of infusions.

00:48:20.079 --> 00:48:25.280
And go ahead and continue all your drops every hour.

00:48:25.599 --> 00:48:31.760
In this now, but you're probably motivated, a different motivation for you at this point, though.

00:48:31.840 --> 00:48:32.400
You're like, okay.

00:48:32.639 --> 00:48:32.880
Yes.

00:48:33.039 --> 00:48:33.280
All right.

00:48:33.440 --> 00:48:34.559
Yeah, yes, okay.

00:48:34.880 --> 00:48:35.199
Yes.

00:48:35.519 --> 00:48:37.360
Been doing this for freaking three, four months.

00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:38.800
What's another seven?

00:48:40.079 --> 00:48:40.639
Exactly.

00:48:40.960 --> 00:48:44.559
So um I did I did, I started now.

00:48:44.639 --> 00:48:46.239
Mind you, the wounds are different.

00:48:46.480 --> 00:48:55.679
It's a it's a healthy cornea now that I have, but I have it's been it's somebody else's cornea that's been placed in my eye.

00:48:55.840 --> 00:49:03.679
So you have a deeper wound, um, you know, where he cut around the incision wound.

00:49:03.920 --> 00:49:08.239
So again, eye drops don't feel great.

00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:22.239
Um, I typically, people, when they have cornea transplants, they get on a steroid eye drop right away, which that helps the inflammation, you know, the pain, everything just immediately feels better with a steroid.

00:49:22.320 --> 00:49:29.679
Um, well, I couldn't because steroids feed fungus, steroids feed amoeba.

00:49:30.320 --> 00:49:33.199
So I was a lucky one, had this surgery.

00:49:33.599 --> 00:49:35.599
Here's some battery acid tip, put this in your eye.

00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:36.239
Yes.

00:49:36.400 --> 00:49:38.159
So I got I got to do that.

00:49:38.320 --> 00:49:39.519
Um I hate to laugh.

00:49:39.599 --> 00:49:41.440
I'm not laughing because I'm not laughing with you.

00:49:41.840 --> 00:49:42.320
We have to laugh.

00:49:42.800 --> 00:49:43.519
We have to laugh about it.

00:49:43.760 --> 00:49:45.199
It's an unbelievable story.

00:49:45.440 --> 00:49:45.840
Yes.

00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:51.360
And then um I went in, I told him, Well, I can't do an infusion tomorrow.

00:49:51.440 --> 00:49:53.840
I'm taking my daughter on a college visit.

00:49:54.079 --> 00:50:00.639
And he peeks his head around the microscope and says, I'd figure out a way to get your infusion in tomorrow.

00:50:00.800 --> 00:50:05.760
And he comes back and it's like, I am so sick.

00:50:05.920 --> 00:50:10.320
Like I was just, I my body was giving up.

00:50:10.480 --> 00:50:16.159
My like these infusions are pumping poison poison straight to your heart.

00:50:16.719 --> 00:50:18.400
It was not pleasant.

00:50:18.559 --> 00:50:21.360
So what that next morning, I showed up.

00:50:21.679 --> 00:50:22.400
Seven days.

00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:26.559
Showed up, and honestly, I did have to quit.

00:50:26.719 --> 00:50:30.559
Um, I got 17 of 21 days in.

00:50:30.800 --> 00:50:33.920
My kidneys, my liver, my body was shutting down.

00:50:34.079 --> 00:50:35.599
I was swelling.

00:50:35.920 --> 00:50:41.840
Um, I could no longer, I could not drink even anymore.

00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:45.920
Like I could not, I could not eat, I could not drink.

00:50:46.239 --> 00:50:49.280
My body had had enough.

00:50:49.519 --> 00:50:52.480
It yeah, to the to the point it was a Thursday.

00:50:52.639 --> 00:51:04.239
I had gone to my infusion that Thursday morning, and I just I just knew for my health, I could not go Friday morning to an infusion.

00:51:04.480 --> 00:51:09.599
I just couldn't, my body was not gonna be able to take it.

00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:09.920
Right.

00:51:10.079 --> 00:51:13.039
I I don't know, I feel like I wouldn't need to be hospitalized.

00:51:13.199 --> 00:51:14.639
Like that's the feeling.

00:51:14.880 --> 00:51:22.400
If I went one more day, I was gonna be hospitalized because I just I I could barely walk.

00:51:22.559 --> 00:51:31.599
I could barely, I mean, again, I just retained, I was retaining all this fluid, which is a sign of your body shutting down.

00:51:32.079 --> 00:51:34.239
I was not not happy.

00:51:34.639 --> 00:51:35.519
We knew it was infusion.

00:51:36.800 --> 00:51:37.199
You feel it.

00:51:37.679 --> 00:51:38.079
Yeah.

00:51:38.320 --> 00:51:39.519
So I quit.

00:51:39.679 --> 00:51:47.760
Um, and my doctor that Thursday got my pathology report back um from my cornea transplant.

00:51:48.079 --> 00:51:57.360
And he said, Well, everything was wrong with your eye, but um, all the amoeba, I had no, you had six layers of your cornea.

00:51:57.440 --> 00:52:02.639
Um, my fifth and sixth layer were just missing um when it was sent in.

00:52:02.800 --> 00:52:07.760
So all the clusters of amoeba were they were still alive.

00:52:08.079 --> 00:52:14.480
They were found in the third layer of my, in the center of the third layer of my cornea.

00:52:14.639 --> 00:52:22.000
So those uh infusions, they were to bring um, he can only cut six layers deep.

00:52:22.079 --> 00:52:26.559
So if they were still in the sixth layer, there was a chance he was not going to cut them all out.

00:52:27.039 --> 00:52:38.079
So um it brought the amoeba to the center and to the front of my eye, to where he could cut, you know, under and around them.

00:52:38.320 --> 00:52:40.159
And that's exactly what he did.

00:52:40.719 --> 00:52:50.320
And he pretty much knew that Thursday that I was that God had healed us or healed me.

00:52:50.400 --> 00:52:57.440
God had healed me, gave him all the knowledge, the wisdom to this was Thursday what day?

00:52:57.599 --> 00:52:58.960
Thursday, the November.

00:53:01.920 --> 00:53:16.559
But I I didn't believe it um because he didn't tell me I was amoeba-free, but reading the pathology report, it would you would suspect, but I don't know medical terms.

00:53:16.800 --> 00:53:21.599
So I was like googling every other word because I don't know what all these 25 cent words are.

00:53:21.920 --> 00:53:30.400
But this it was about five paragraphs long, my pathology report on acornia, six layers of acornia.

00:53:30.559 --> 00:53:40.000
So I had to look up about every other word, and I finally I was just like, I I I can't like I'll continue all my eye drops, these meds, whatever.

00:53:40.159 --> 00:53:43.599
Um, and I was still in a lot of pain.

00:53:43.840 --> 00:53:57.199
The pain took about six weeks post-surgery and the light sensitivity post-surgery before I felt better better, not best, but better.

00:53:57.840 --> 00:54:00.159
Making progress in the right direction for months.

00:54:00.880 --> 00:54:11.360
So November 29th, I had a post-op appointment, and that is when he told me my cornea was beautiful.

00:54:12.079 --> 00:54:17.440
I had been healed, it was a miracle that he saved my eye.

00:54:18.159 --> 00:54:23.519
Um, and I could finally start a steroid eye drop at that point.

00:54:24.800 --> 00:54:26.000
So unbelievable.

00:54:26.239 --> 00:54:30.639
It was about two weeks after that that I could tell I was feeling better.

00:54:30.960 --> 00:54:33.280
So these eye drops, we're still on them, huh?

00:54:33.440 --> 00:54:35.679
I'm still on eye drops for your entire life.

00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:37.920
Um, I'm not sure yet.

00:54:38.239 --> 00:54:39.760
How many are you still doing hours?

00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:41.599
Are you still are you still for my god?

00:54:41.679 --> 00:54:42.239
Are they still hours?

00:54:42.639 --> 00:54:42.880
No.

00:54:43.039 --> 00:54:47.280
Um one eye drop is four times a day, and one eye drop is twice a day.

00:54:47.519 --> 00:54:48.239
So you can sleep.

00:54:48.400 --> 00:54:49.119
So I can sleep.

00:54:49.360 --> 00:54:50.960
Effective November 29th.

00:54:51.440 --> 00:54:53.920
Um yes, well November ish.

00:54:54.320 --> 00:54:54.800
Yes.

00:54:55.039 --> 00:54:58.079
I didn't have to wake up in the middle of the night and get take eye drops.

00:54:58.239 --> 00:54:58.559
Correct.

00:54:58.719 --> 00:55:07.599
And and those hourly eye drops did eventually go down to, you know, a f a few times a night to to not at night at all.

00:55:07.760 --> 00:55:13.519
First thing in the morning, last thing you did before bed, but I could, you know, wait a little bit.

00:55:13.760 --> 00:55:14.880
Today you took eye drops.

00:55:15.039 --> 00:55:15.679
Yes.

00:55:15.920 --> 00:55:17.280
And I'll take more when I get home.

00:55:17.599 --> 00:55:18.480
Pretty good at it, huh?

00:55:18.880 --> 00:55:19.039
Yes.

00:55:19.519 --> 00:55:21.360
Now are they are they, but they're not painful anymore?

00:55:21.599 --> 00:55:23.360
They're not uh they sting.

00:55:23.599 --> 00:55:29.440
Um they sting a little, but not the I don't have an open wound.

00:55:29.519 --> 00:55:32.960
Uh cornea does take 12 to 18 months to heal.

00:55:33.119 --> 00:55:38.400
Um, but I don't think that's I think I just think they they just sting naturally.

00:55:38.559 --> 00:55:43.440
And I have like feeling more, almost more feeling now.

00:55:43.679 --> 00:55:48.079
Your eye kind of goes, it's it was never numb because everything hurt my eye.

00:55:48.239 --> 00:55:48.480
Yeah.

00:55:48.719 --> 00:55:55.599
But when you're doing that many eye drops, it's just I don't know, it's it's different than it is today.

00:55:56.320 --> 00:56:01.679
So but you can see is your visual acuity the same or better?

00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:06.079
Um, or I would say it's it's worse than it was.

00:56:06.400 --> 00:56:08.480
I you know, I can't see close up.

00:56:08.639 --> 00:56:10.719
I can't also can't see far away.

00:56:11.039 --> 00:56:17.440
So, you know, as we age, we can I've never been able to see far away since I was in third grade.

00:56:17.519 --> 00:56:26.960
I've worn glasses or contacts, but close up uh before this all happened, I could read you know, it was never one of those to hold anything.

00:56:27.039 --> 00:56:29.679
I mean, I could sleep flawless close up.

00:56:29.840 --> 00:56:31.599
It was distance that I had trouble with.

00:56:31.760 --> 00:56:38.880
And now in my left eye, I couldn't read menus and no, not if I closed my right eye.

00:56:39.039 --> 00:56:45.360
I can't either, but my right eye is kind of compensate, you know, it's still dominant.

00:56:45.519 --> 00:56:45.760
Yeah.

00:56:46.000 --> 00:56:49.280
I don't, I don't know how he'll fix my vision.

00:56:49.360 --> 00:56:54.480
He told me you'd give me it's a special contact lens because my eye is not the same shape.

00:56:54.960 --> 00:57:00.639
And so you are gonna go, and so theoretically, we have no idea how you got this amoeba.

00:57:01.599 --> 00:57:06.480
The theory is that you were wearing your contacts and you got maybe, maybe you're you don't know.

00:57:06.639 --> 00:57:07.280
Nobody knows.

00:57:07.519 --> 00:57:09.519
No, big guy knows, but I mean Right.

00:57:09.840 --> 00:57:18.000
85% I think it's like 85% of amoeba, acanth amoeba keratitis diagnosis are waterborne.

00:57:18.320 --> 00:57:25.679
So you know that you were in a vote sometime or shower that was not my doctor truly thinks from showering with contacts in.

00:57:25.920 --> 00:57:26.559
With the contacts in.

00:57:26.960 --> 00:57:28.239
Are you ever gonna shower with contacts in?

00:57:28.480 --> 00:57:29.039
No, okay.

00:57:29.199 --> 00:57:29.360
No.

00:57:29.519 --> 00:57:29.760
All right.

00:57:29.920 --> 00:57:30.880
Um not showing.

00:57:31.119 --> 00:57:31.599
No one should.

00:57:31.840 --> 00:57:34.719
I'm not trying to be sarcastic at all.

00:57:34.880 --> 00:57:37.199
No, my tone is probably inappropriate.

00:57:37.519 --> 00:57:38.400
No, we have to laugh.

00:57:38.960 --> 00:57:44.159
Um But you're but but but but but you're willing to put a contact in your eye again.

00:57:44.400 --> 00:57:44.960
Yes.

00:57:45.199 --> 00:57:47.360
That's that's that's crazy.

00:57:48.239 --> 00:57:53.039
So to to to improve your visuacuity, you have to but you glasses won't do it.

00:57:53.280 --> 00:57:54.320
A contact will do it?

00:57:54.559 --> 00:57:57.119
Um, I just I'm really active.

00:57:57.280 --> 00:57:59.920
I don't love wearing glasses.

00:58:00.159 --> 00:58:01.920
Um I don't.

00:58:02.159 --> 00:58:05.360
I just I never have been a fan of glasses.

00:58:05.599 --> 00:58:10.719
Um and everyone's like, oh, you shouldn't, you should be so scared to wear contacts.

00:58:10.880 --> 00:58:20.960
And you know, I should be scared then to drive here because the more people die in car accidents on the way home from work or going.

00:58:21.280 --> 00:58:24.320
You know, it's like I can't live in fear.

00:58:24.480 --> 00:58:31.119
I can't think that, oh, if just because I put a contact in my eye, I'm gonna get this again.

00:58:31.440 --> 00:58:34.159
Um I'll obviously be more cautious.

00:58:34.239 --> 00:58:40.320
Obviously, I won't be no one ever told me as I was purchasing contact lenses since the third grade.

00:58:40.559 --> 00:58:41.360
Don't wear this at the lens.

00:58:41.679 --> 00:58:43.440
Do not wear these near water.

00:58:43.599 --> 00:58:45.519
No one said don't shower in them.

00:58:45.679 --> 00:58:47.360
Um, no one ever told me that.

00:58:47.519 --> 00:58:53.599
No, and to be honest with you, it's not even printed on the box of contacts anywhere, not in the pamphlet.

00:58:53.760 --> 00:58:59.440
I I belong to a Facebook support group now for Acanthamoebocitis, and they are how big a group is that?

00:58:59.599 --> 00:59:00.400
Uh, not very big.

00:59:00.559 --> 00:59:04.960
Yeah, I mean just pretty much it's worldwide, and last I checked, it was 248 people.

00:59:05.280 --> 00:59:07.039
248 people worldwide.

00:59:07.840 --> 00:59:11.679
So, but the support very tight fraternity over there.

00:59:12.239 --> 00:59:13.760
It's pretty rare, pretty rare.

00:59:13.840 --> 00:59:20.159
Um, even my doctor said, and he specializes in this, he gets 10 cases a year.

00:59:20.480 --> 00:59:24.239
Um, but uh mine was just um pretty severe.

00:59:25.119 --> 00:59:29.840
As severe as yours was, the result is phenomenal, I am assuming.

00:59:30.400 --> 00:59:30.639
Yes.

00:59:30.960 --> 00:59:43.920
Like if it's if one in three million cases you get the or you know, the odds you get this, the case the the as how severe yours was, I would imagine it's one in a thousand that the results that you got.

00:59:44.000 --> 00:59:44.719
I mean correct.

00:59:45.039 --> 00:59:47.280
I mean, so it's truly miraculous.

00:59:47.599 --> 00:59:47.920
Yes.

00:59:48.079 --> 00:59:50.320
I told my doctor he saved my life.

00:59:50.480 --> 00:59:52.239
He said, No, I saved your eye.

00:59:52.480 --> 00:59:53.119
Saved your eye.

00:59:53.280 --> 01:00:00.639
I said, No, you saved, I had no life while I was sick with this parasite.

01:00:00.800 --> 01:00:03.360
I I had no because it just took everything down.

01:00:03.519 --> 01:00:07.519
Yes, it's it's just amazing how life how life is so fragile.

01:00:07.760 --> 01:00:09.920
Um, but that's that's what happens.

01:00:10.079 --> 01:00:13.760
I mean, I I both my parents had very, very rare illnesses.

01:00:13.840 --> 01:00:22.559
I mean, same kind of odds as your one and like my dad had a tumor inside his heart, and not only was it inside his heart, it was cancer, so it's even more rare.

01:00:22.719 --> 01:00:26.639
I mean, just very strange things, but anyway, it takes everything.

01:00:26.880 --> 01:00:30.639
My point is it I understand how it like it's more than that.

01:00:30.880 --> 01:00:37.920
It's like being able to get up and go to have something to eat, or it's being able to get in the car and be able to enjoy the ride.

01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:40.480
It's all these things, it just takes it all away, right?

01:00:40.719 --> 01:00:41.840
And that's the hard part.

01:00:42.000 --> 01:00:44.559
I mean, you know, you could have dealt with it, it was just the eye.

01:00:44.880 --> 01:00:45.760
Right, right.

01:00:46.159 --> 01:00:54.480
I I just never knew I could an eye could make your entire body feel the way it did.

01:00:54.719 --> 01:00:55.119
Yeah.

01:00:55.360 --> 01:00:57.280
Um, I had no idea.

01:00:57.519 --> 01:01:05.440
But I also would have laughed if someone told me that uh a cornea transplant could be life-changing.

01:01:05.760 --> 01:01:12.079
Because now I know a heart, a new heart, a new lung, a new kidney could be life-changing.

01:01:12.239 --> 01:01:14.239
A cornea, I would have laughed at you.

01:01:14.400 --> 01:01:20.400
But I will tell you, hey, cornea transplant was absolutely life-changing for me.

01:01:20.800 --> 01:01:22.239
Absolutely.

01:01:22.559 --> 01:01:26.639
Um, so do you know who donated your cornea?

01:01:26.960 --> 01:01:28.000
I don't know who.

01:01:28.239 --> 01:01:32.880
I know um they were 24 and they died October 25th.

01:01:33.119 --> 01:01:33.920
Bless them.

01:01:34.159 --> 01:01:34.559
Yes.

01:01:34.880 --> 01:01:36.079
Are you an organ donor?

01:01:36.239 --> 01:01:36.719
Absolutely.

01:01:37.039 --> 01:01:37.679
Were you before?

01:01:37.840 --> 01:01:38.079
Yes.

01:01:38.320 --> 01:01:38.880
I was too.

01:01:39.039 --> 01:01:40.639
Uh well, I never was.

01:01:40.800 --> 01:01:46.880
Someone told me, um, someone said, Well, if you're not an organ donor, then you shouldn't be eligible for an organ.

01:01:46.960 --> 01:01:50.400
I'm like, Oh well, if you put it that way.

01:01:50.719 --> 01:01:53.199
Well, yeah, that that was that's good.

01:01:53.599 --> 01:01:54.480
That's really good.

01:01:54.800 --> 01:01:55.360
It's true.

01:01:55.599 --> 01:02:06.559
I became an organ donor when I um started having children because my mentality was, what if my kid needs a new heart?

01:02:06.800 --> 01:02:07.039
Right.

01:02:07.199 --> 01:02:08.800
Well, somebody's gotta donate it.

01:02:08.960 --> 01:02:09.280
Yeah.

01:02:09.599 --> 01:02:14.480
So was I gonna probably give my organs to my kids?

01:02:14.800 --> 01:02:19.360
No, that's probably not very often does that happen.

01:02:19.519 --> 01:02:23.119
However, um I just kept thinking of my kids.

01:02:23.280 --> 01:02:29.519
If they were in trouble and they needed, you know, some some health tobacco that they needed new organs.

01:02:29.840 --> 01:02:30.480
It's a no-brainer.

01:02:30.800 --> 01:02:32.000
But I also didn't realize that.

01:02:32.559 --> 01:02:36.559
Boy, receiving receiving one would have been just a profound deal.

01:02:36.639 --> 01:02:37.360
I mean, yes.

01:02:37.440 --> 01:02:47.039
And now that I am an organ recipient recipient, I I would love to spread the word more about people becoming a donor.

01:02:47.360 --> 01:02:47.679
Yes.

01:02:49.119 --> 01:02:50.000
It's a no-brainer.

01:02:50.159 --> 01:02:53.119
I mean, I if you if you truly want to be selfish, I suppose.

01:02:53.280 --> 01:02:55.360
And I yeah, I'll just say it right now.

01:02:55.519 --> 01:02:57.760
You're you're being selfish if you're not an organ donor.

01:02:58.079 --> 01:02:59.679
What good are these organs when we're gone?

01:02:59.840 --> 01:03:00.079
Yep.

01:03:00.239 --> 01:03:00.880
What good are they?

01:03:01.440 --> 01:03:02.400
They're life-sustaining things.

01:03:02.480 --> 01:03:04.079
So why not sustain life for somebody else?

01:03:04.320 --> 01:03:16.800
And a cornea, um, there is a there's a poster um at the University of Iowa Hospital that uh a 97-year-old man has don't donated his corneas to somebody.

01:03:16.960 --> 01:03:20.480
Um, so your corneas are good for a long time.

01:03:20.719 --> 01:03:21.039
Yeah.

01:03:21.280 --> 01:03:22.000
A long time.

01:03:22.320 --> 01:03:22.800
That's awesome.

01:03:22.960 --> 01:03:27.199
Um, and they can they can um procure them and hold them.

01:03:27.280 --> 01:03:32.800
So my surgery wasn't until October 31st, and the person passed October 21st.

01:03:32.960 --> 01:03:35.360
So it wasn't terribly hard to to to find them.

01:03:35.440 --> 01:03:37.920
I mean, uh other organs obviously are more difficult.

01:03:38.320 --> 01:03:39.119
You're on the waiting list.

01:03:39.360 --> 01:03:41.039
Um, yeah, there's no waiting list.

01:03:41.199 --> 01:03:42.719
I asked my doctor that too.

01:03:42.800 --> 01:03:44.960
When when would I be eligible for this?

01:03:45.119 --> 01:03:47.280
And he said, You're my first priority.

01:03:47.360 --> 01:03:48.800
You're my you're my top patient.

01:03:49.039 --> 01:03:50.880
You're you're my first priority.

01:03:50.960 --> 01:03:51.199
Yeah.

01:03:51.280 --> 01:03:51.760
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:03:51.920 --> 01:03:52.400
When it was time.

01:03:57.199 --> 01:04:06.000
So what was crazy to think was when he told me I was going to get a cornea transplant, and it was going to be three weeks from now.

01:04:06.559 --> 01:04:08.480
I looked at my husband on the ride home.

01:04:08.719 --> 01:04:10.320
Mind you, four and a half hours.

01:04:10.480 --> 01:04:17.039
It's a long time on the ride home after you've been told you're eligible for surgery, which you've kind of been waiting for.

01:04:17.280 --> 01:04:22.559
Um, I said, My donor isn't even dead yet.

01:04:23.599 --> 01:04:27.440
And that's like that hits that really hits you.

01:04:27.840 --> 01:04:28.320
Profound.

01:04:28.559 --> 01:04:39.760
Now, if you know, if you're doing surgery in a week or surgery in three days, perhaps they were, but I it was three weeks and I just said, you know, you it gets you thinking, you think deep.

01:04:39.920 --> 01:04:40.239
Yeah.

01:04:40.400 --> 01:04:47.199
When you're when you're receiving, you know, an organ, it it's really touch.

01:04:47.440 --> 01:04:49.280
I mean, you think deep.

01:04:49.519 --> 01:04:50.800
I wouldn't be able to understand the feeling.

01:04:50.960 --> 01:04:53.119
I mean, I think it's a pretty unique situation.

01:04:53.360 --> 01:04:54.000
Yeah.

01:04:54.480 --> 01:04:58.559
So that family, I've I've written, I've written to the family.

01:04:58.800 --> 01:05:02.000
Um, I would love to meet them someday.

01:05:02.159 --> 01:05:08.079
Or yeah, um, I have just such a unique story that, but they're they're part of my journey now.

01:05:08.320 --> 01:05:12.480
I mean, they they're I would love to know more about my donor.

01:05:12.639 --> 01:05:14.000
Absolutely so that I could share that.

01:05:14.239 --> 01:05:15.440
And maybe someday I will.

01:05:15.599 --> 01:05:15.760
Yeah.

01:05:15.920 --> 01:05:17.280
And they're grieving.

01:05:17.760 --> 01:05:28.480
Um their pain and suffering was much worse than maybe they'll hear the podcast and hear your full story, and it'll it's it's that more impactful uh in the sense of boy, what a gift.

01:05:28.559 --> 01:05:29.199
What a gift.

01:05:29.440 --> 01:05:31.440
Yes, a true gift.

01:05:31.760 --> 01:05:34.880
Yes, and they were a true hero, for sure.

01:05:35.199 --> 01:05:39.519
So after all those, after that, is there anything else in the story you'd like to add?

01:05:39.679 --> 01:05:59.760
Uh there is one part of uh I I I guess one of the things that I think has been very important to you, or very um something very positive that's happened to you recently was we T Tiffany I and I go through everybody goes through this thing called the CrossFit Open, which means that you are basically being judged by everybody in the world.

01:06:00.159 --> 01:06:01.360
In your age group.

01:06:01.599 --> 01:06:04.079
And Tiffany, for the first time, right?

01:06:04.239 --> 01:06:04.480
Yes.

01:06:04.719 --> 01:06:08.239
For the first time, made the quarterfinals in the CrossFit Open.

01:06:08.320 --> 01:06:08.800
What does that mean?

01:06:08.960 --> 01:06:13.360
That means that she is in the top 10% of her age group in the world.

01:06:13.679 --> 01:06:21.039
So how is it that Tiffany, who for months and months was sick and now she's strong enough?

01:06:21.119 --> 01:06:22.320
I mean, you have to be strong.

01:06:22.400 --> 01:06:24.559
I mean, and I I know of Tiffany, I've seen her.

01:06:24.639 --> 01:06:26.400
She whipped my butt any day.

01:06:26.480 --> 01:06:41.440
I mean, she's very strong, um, very athletic, but still, uh, you know, you described how your body went through all this stuff, and yet a few months later, you're in a top 10% of the world for CrossFit athletes, your age.

01:06:41.679 --> 01:06:42.159
Yes.

01:06:42.400 --> 01:06:43.920
What is that all about?

01:06:44.639 --> 01:06:49.440
I there's a few things I can chalk this up to.

01:06:50.000 --> 01:06:55.760
Um, perhaps uh nutrition leading up to an illness.

01:06:56.000 --> 01:06:57.280
Obviously unexpected.

01:06:57.360 --> 01:07:05.760
I wasn't expecting this illness, but my nutrition was good going into um an illness.

01:07:06.159 --> 01:07:09.199
So I feel like that I was healthy.

01:07:09.440 --> 01:07:12.960
Well, just you know, I was healthy before I got sick.

01:07:13.199 --> 01:07:13.599
Very.

01:07:13.840 --> 01:07:19.360
Um, I'm sure that was very beneficial to me in my healing.

01:07:19.599 --> 01:07:23.039
Um, however, we know how weak and frail I got.

01:07:23.519 --> 01:07:25.440
Umity.

01:07:26.480 --> 01:07:29.840
I there's I have several communities.

01:07:30.079 --> 01:07:34.159
Um, but for instance, the CrossFit community.

01:07:34.719 --> 01:07:42.079
I knew that when I was diagnosed, remember in the beginning I had discomfort, not pain.

01:07:42.320 --> 01:07:45.760
So in the beginning, I knew like I could still work out.

01:07:46.079 --> 01:07:50.960
We have discomfort in the gym every darn day today, for instance, was big time discomfort for Sam.

01:07:51.360 --> 01:07:52.559
Big time discomfort.

01:07:52.800 --> 01:07:53.199
Anyway.

01:07:53.440 --> 01:08:09.760
So I knew I had, I knew there was discomfort, but I knew that for my mental health, emotional health, that it was gonna be smart for me to continue to do something normal in my day.

01:08:10.079 --> 01:08:17.359
Because most of my day was not normal doing eye drops, laying around in dark rooms.

01:08:17.680 --> 01:08:21.279
I had to get up and go to the gym.

01:08:21.600 --> 01:08:27.840
I got to see my people, I got to see friends, I moved for one hour.

01:08:28.079 --> 01:08:34.960
One hour a day, I was standing upright because the rest of the time I was not.

01:08:35.600 --> 01:08:40.720
The rest of the time you were in somebody else, something else had control, but you probably felt in control.

01:08:40.960 --> 01:08:42.319
Yes, you were empowered.

01:08:42.640 --> 01:08:47.840
One hour a day, I didn't really think about my eye.

01:08:48.319 --> 01:08:51.600
Now, mind you, I couldn't drive for four months.

01:08:51.760 --> 01:08:59.760
Um so my community, my CrossFit community, would pick me up every day that I could go.

01:08:59.920 --> 01:09:02.239
I was driving to literally they're driving you.

01:09:02.560 --> 01:09:02.800
Yes.

01:09:02.880 --> 01:09:03.279
Yes.

01:09:03.520 --> 01:09:07.760
And I had appointments twice a week in um Iowa City.

01:09:07.920 --> 01:09:10.560
So that was, you know, certain days I couldn't make it.

01:09:10.720 --> 01:09:14.319
Saturday mornings, I didn't bother anyone to pick me up to take me to the gym.

01:09:14.399 --> 01:09:16.640
So maybe I was going three or four days a week.

01:09:16.880 --> 01:09:20.159
Three or four days a week, my friends would pick me up.

01:09:20.399 --> 01:09:27.119
This community would pick me up and take me with my blanket over my head or a sweatshirt over my head.

01:09:27.279 --> 01:09:30.079
They would drive me and take me to the gym.

01:09:30.319 --> 01:09:41.279
Where in the beginning, I was like, you know, I I was used to working out, so I could still do pull-ups and I could do all the things until I lost my vision.

01:09:41.600 --> 01:09:43.199
I had no depth perception.

01:09:43.520 --> 01:09:43.920
No balance.

01:09:44.079 --> 01:09:46.800
I could balance hard.

01:09:47.039 --> 01:09:51.439
I couldn't do box jumps, I couldn't run because I could hardly walk.

01:09:51.840 --> 01:09:55.680
Like everything just looked so Most people can't do box jumps.

01:09:55.840 --> 01:09:56.560
You understand that?

01:09:56.960 --> 01:10:02.960
I I do my wife looks at it and she, I mean, she wouldn't, she doesn't even conceive of being able to do it.

01:10:03.279 --> 01:10:03.600
Yeah.

01:10:03.920 --> 01:10:04.399
Anyway.

01:10:04.640 --> 01:10:08.960
So yeah, so I just knew I just kept showing up.

01:10:09.199 --> 01:10:13.359
So um obviously I think I got so weak.

01:10:13.439 --> 01:10:23.840
I mean, it was to the point where I I could I had one eye, and I was in so much pain that I just I modified everything.

01:10:24.000 --> 01:10:29.119
If I did step-ups or on a six-inch box, or I did bandwork.

01:10:29.359 --> 01:10:31.279
Um all the stuff I do, yeah.

01:10:31.520 --> 01:10:31.840
Yes.

01:10:32.000 --> 01:10:33.520
And then so I just modified.

01:10:33.680 --> 01:10:34.800
I modified everything.

01:10:34.960 --> 01:10:37.119
So did was my heart rate getting up?

01:10:37.279 --> 01:10:41.039
Not really, because I'm used to lifting heavy, moving quickly.

01:10:41.199 --> 01:10:41.520
Yeah.

01:10:41.760 --> 01:10:43.439
Um, did I sweat?

01:10:43.600 --> 01:10:46.399
A lot of times, no, but I was there to move.

01:10:46.560 --> 01:10:47.840
No, no, no, you're moving.

01:10:48.000 --> 01:10:51.760
So that means you were you're walking from point A to B is movement, right?

01:10:52.159 --> 01:10:52.560
Yes.

01:10:52.800 --> 01:10:58.880
So after surgery, October 31st, I had three months of restrictions.

01:10:59.119 --> 01:11:04.560
So all of November, I could lift 10 pounds and could not hinge at the waist.

01:11:04.720 --> 01:11:07.199
My head could not go like below heart.

01:11:07.760 --> 01:11:11.359
So you tell me what you do for a workout with 10 pounds.

01:11:11.920 --> 01:11:13.600
You get pretty darn good at lifting 10 pounds.

01:11:13.680 --> 01:11:13.760
Yeah.

01:11:14.079 --> 01:11:14.640
That's what you do.

01:11:15.039 --> 01:11:15.359
Yes.

01:11:15.680 --> 01:11:23.279
So my coaches, my community continued to pick me up, continued to push modify everything for me.

01:11:23.520 --> 01:11:28.720
Well, the next two months, then all of December and all of January, I could lift 20 pounds.

01:11:28.880 --> 01:11:31.359
No burpees, no running, no jumping.

01:11:31.680 --> 01:11:33.119
Well, what's so bad about no burpees?

01:11:33.680 --> 01:11:34.720
Well, I agree.

01:11:34.960 --> 01:11:36.000
That's a good thing.

01:11:36.239 --> 01:11:40.560
So February 1st, I was lifted from all restrictions.

01:11:40.800 --> 01:11:43.840
I could go to lifting 200 pounds if I could.

01:11:44.319 --> 01:11:45.520
Absolutely no restrictions.

01:11:46.239 --> 01:11:48.720
How was it getting back into some of that weightlifting?

01:11:49.039 --> 01:11:54.560
Um, well, obviously, February 17th, the first open workout came out.

01:11:54.800 --> 01:12:00.560
Um, it is I would never believe my story if I didn't go through it.

01:12:00.880 --> 01:12:01.359
Right.

01:12:01.760 --> 01:12:16.399
You it's unbelievable what came back, how quickly it came back, and what I retained, even though I lost 20 pounds and gained 20 pounds back in this eight-month.

01:12:16.560 --> 01:12:19.680
I mean, it had been eight months by the time February 1st rolled around.

01:12:19.920 --> 01:12:26.880
It had been eight months that I had modified, missed, was in pain, chronic pain.

01:12:27.279 --> 01:12:40.079
Um I and I don't, it was just it's mind-blowing that I'm in the top 10% fittest wim females in my age group in the world.

01:12:40.319 --> 01:12:44.960
Are you thinking like, hey, I could be in a top two percent of a stupid eye thing, but I did say that.

01:12:45.119 --> 01:12:59.760
And I said that to Coach Kyle, and he said, you know, it the your story wouldn't be as like making it to the games or not to the games to qualifying for in the top 10% wouldn't be near as a good it wouldn't be a good story.

01:12:59.920 --> 01:13:00.159
Right.

01:13:00.319 --> 01:13:13.199
It wouldn't be it's like this is a good story because of what I went through for eight months and literally had 17 days where I could have no restrictions before the first workout came out.

01:13:13.359 --> 01:13:15.199
And I was hesitant on signing up.

01:13:15.359 --> 01:13:28.640
I did not sign up until and I was out of town the week before I did the first workout on a Sunday morning all by myself with Holly coaching me, um, or uh judging me.

01:13:28.960 --> 01:13:34.000
And after I got done, I was like, I think I have zero expectations.

01:13:34.319 --> 01:13:35.920
I was just sick for eight months.

01:13:36.159 --> 01:13:37.920
I have zero expectations.

01:13:38.640 --> 01:13:40.000
And look what happened.

01:13:40.159 --> 01:13:40.399
Yeah.

01:13:40.560 --> 01:13:43.760
It's it's it's still unbelievable to me.

01:13:44.079 --> 01:13:44.399
Magic.

01:13:44.560 --> 01:13:47.840
I mean, yeah, it's it's unbelievable.

01:13:48.880 --> 01:13:56.000
But you retain, obviously, you retain and maintain a lot more than I realized.

01:13:56.319 --> 01:13:59.920
Yeah um, especially my weight fluctuation being so.

01:14:00.479 --> 01:14:01.680
You tell your doctor this.

01:14:01.920 --> 01:14:04.000
Um, I haven't because I haven't seen him.

01:14:04.079 --> 01:14:04.960
I go in two weeks.

01:14:05.199 --> 01:14:10.800
Well, you'd I if and if if that knucklehead doesn't understand the implication that you can have him give me a call.

01:14:10.960 --> 01:14:11.600
Yeah.

01:14:11.920 --> 01:14:14.880
Um that's it's it's it's it's it's remarkable.

01:14:15.039 --> 01:14:15.920
It's remarkable.

01:14:16.079 --> 01:14:17.359
And congratulations, by the way.

01:14:17.520 --> 01:14:17.760
Thank you.

01:14:17.840 --> 01:14:18.239
That's awesome.

01:14:18.399 --> 01:14:18.720
Thank you.

01:14:18.880 --> 01:14:19.359
It's awesome.

01:14:19.600 --> 01:14:20.239
It's cool to see.

01:14:20.560 --> 01:14:23.680
And your age qualifying workups are coming out this weekend, I think.

01:14:23.920 --> 01:14:25.600
Yeah, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

01:14:25.920 --> 01:14:26.640
Enjoy yourself.

01:14:26.800 --> 01:14:32.800
Um, they'll probably have you juggling chainsaws for balance or something.

01:14:33.840 --> 01:14:48.800
Anyway, uh, so I do have uh uh some questions that were submitted to me by Mike, because I, as I mentioned to you before, my copywriter Gary Reid, copywriter friend Gary Reed, who's been on this podcast.

01:14:49.039 --> 01:14:54.159
Um I just sent him the Channel Six news story, you know.

01:14:54.399 --> 01:14:57.439
And and within three minutes, he had seven questions.

01:14:57.680 --> 01:14:57.920
Okay.

01:14:58.239 --> 01:14:59.840
So these are Gary's questions.

01:15:00.399 --> 01:15:00.640
Awesome.

01:15:00.880 --> 01:15:04.720
Where do you put yourself on the pessimist, realist, optimist scale?

01:15:05.600 --> 01:15:08.079
Um, dummy that down for me.

01:15:08.880 --> 01:15:11.039
Well, pessimist, you're not a pessimist.

01:15:11.199 --> 01:15:11.359
No.

01:15:11.600 --> 01:15:14.560
I think everyone that's just listened to this knows that you're not a pessimist.

01:15:14.800 --> 01:15:15.279
Correct.

01:15:15.520 --> 01:15:21.279
Uh a realist, uh, optimist is someone who's like, oh, everything's gonna be, you know, a little more Yeah.

01:15:21.920 --> 01:15:27.600
Well, no, I mean, no, a realist is someone like, hey, I could lose my eye.

01:15:27.920 --> 01:15:33.760
Optimist is like, well, if I continue to do what they're telling me to do, I've I'll live to see another day.

01:15:34.079 --> 01:15:34.399
Right.

01:15:34.640 --> 01:15:35.920
I would say you're optimist.

01:15:36.000 --> 01:15:37.279
So where are you at on that scale?

01:15:37.840 --> 01:15:38.399
Yeah.

01:15:38.800 --> 01:15:45.279
I mean, you there were some very realistic times like during this illness.

01:15:45.359 --> 01:15:47.520
I mean, telling your family.

01:15:48.319 --> 01:15:50.239
There were the two hardest times in this whole thing.

01:15:50.560 --> 01:15:57.359
Um, the the corneal bandage, yeah, pro caro lens um rough was horrible.

01:15:57.760 --> 01:16:04.399
Telling my family, telling my daughters that mom is going to lose her eye.

01:16:04.640 --> 01:16:04.960
Yeah.

01:16:05.199 --> 01:16:09.039
Um and that you put it to them to them in those terms.

01:16:09.439 --> 01:16:09.840
Yes.

01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:11.840
And then we laughed and joked.

01:16:11.920 --> 01:16:15.840
So I the there's a little cartoon movie called Sing.

01:16:16.319 --> 01:16:24.800
In this cartoon movie, the um lizard receptionist has an eyeball that falls out all the time.

01:16:24.960 --> 01:16:26.239
She's kind of back.

01:16:26.960 --> 01:16:31.199
Yeah, she's got an apple in there sometimes, and she loses her eyeball all the time.

01:16:31.279 --> 01:16:32.399
It's a fake eyeball.

01:16:32.560 --> 01:16:34.800
And so her name is Miss Crawley.

01:16:35.359 --> 01:16:41.920
And my husband, uh, my nephews were very worried about me at one point, and they're younger.

01:16:42.000 --> 01:16:48.159
And my husband said, Oh, we're just gonna call her Aunt Crawley, just like this lizard.

01:16:48.880 --> 01:16:53.119
And and so my nephews thought that was the funniest thing.

01:16:53.359 --> 01:16:57.359
And then it was just uh all the eye jokes you can imagine.

01:16:58.319 --> 01:17:02.560
I've heard them from but laugh, like laughter is medicine.

01:17:02.880 --> 01:17:04.239
Humor is unbelievable, isn't it?

01:17:04.399 --> 01:17:04.960
It's medicine.

01:17:05.119 --> 01:17:09.760
My I mean, still to this day we tease because I'm like, well, I couldn't see it, you know.

01:17:09.840 --> 01:17:17.600
Like if I missed something or couldn't find something, I just say, I still only have one eye, okay, one good eye, okay?

01:17:17.760 --> 01:17:31.359
Like I I did not lose my eyeball, but um, so I was realistic in the fact that I was thinking, I am going to lose my eye, but this, but I was also so optimistic.

01:17:31.439 --> 01:17:32.640
I'm like, this is okay.

01:17:32.720 --> 01:17:37.279
I'm not losing my leg, I'm not losing an arm, I'm not losing my life.

01:17:37.600 --> 01:17:40.800
No one once told me this was terminal.

01:17:41.039 --> 01:17:46.960
So, like, I you just you have to keep going, you have to keep fighting.

01:17:47.199 --> 01:17:50.079
There is no movement without friction, right?

01:17:50.640 --> 01:17:53.920
So I just kept going.

01:17:54.000 --> 01:18:02.560
And I had to tell, I mean, again, I I'm a firm believer that if you wake up and say today's gonna be horrible, your day is going to be horrible.

01:18:02.720 --> 01:18:02.960
Sure.

01:18:03.199 --> 01:18:07.039
And so I knew that I couldn't think that way.

01:18:07.279 --> 01:18:09.600
I just had to keep plugging away.

01:18:09.680 --> 01:18:11.920
So definitely not you're optimistic.

01:18:12.319 --> 01:18:17.119
It was scary to me to think of seeing myself for the very first time with no eyeball.

01:18:17.439 --> 01:18:28.960
That was probably that was going to be very, very hard because you don't get an uh fake eye, a glass eye, like instantly.

01:18:29.039 --> 01:18:32.960
You have to heal, which I know it would have been bandaged and you know, covered.

01:18:34.319 --> 01:18:48.880
But you take that off to shower, you know, there would be a time where I would see myself with nothing in there, nothing in there, and I I feel like I'm a beautiful person, and I just thought that was going to be scary and hard.

01:18:49.039 --> 01:18:49.359
Yeah.

01:18:49.520 --> 01:18:52.560
However, once I got the fake eye, you can't even tell.

01:18:52.800 --> 01:18:53.039
Yeah.

01:18:53.359 --> 01:18:55.680
No, I've been I've been looking at her the entire time.

01:18:56.000 --> 01:18:57.199
Like, your eye looks fine to me.

01:18:57.680 --> 01:18:58.000
Yeah.

01:18:58.319 --> 01:19:04.960
So um that was those were a few of my like scare, you know, that was what bothered me the most.

01:19:05.119 --> 01:19:12.800
I I threw out right away that I was any like showing up to gym, showing up to CrossFit.

01:19:12.960 --> 01:19:17.600
I just knew right away that I was not there for my physical needs, I was there for my mental.

01:19:18.239 --> 01:19:18.880
Absolutely.

01:19:19.039 --> 01:19:24.640
Um, but hindsight, I've learned I was very much there for my physical needs.

01:19:25.119 --> 01:19:25.920
Unbelievable.

01:19:26.079 --> 01:19:26.640
Yeah.

01:19:26.960 --> 01:19:29.279
Tell me about the spiritual Tiffany.

01:19:29.520 --> 01:19:31.920
What has this ordeal done to your faith?

01:19:32.319 --> 01:19:35.199
It's actually, um, I'm glad you asked this.

01:19:35.359 --> 01:19:39.199
It has actually brought me so much closer to God.

01:19:39.680 --> 01:19:44.399
I have been, I mean, I know there's a God.

01:19:44.479 --> 01:19:48.640
I pray, and I prayed for patience uh more times than not.

01:19:48.800 --> 01:19:55.119
More time, more than anything, I prayed for patience because this was long, it was a long ordeal.

01:19:55.439 --> 01:20:04.239
Um I know that everyone in my in all these communities that I have, everyone prayed for me.

01:20:04.479 --> 01:20:11.359
And that is their their support, their prayers, and by God's grace, he healed me.

01:20:11.520 --> 01:20:22.640
Um was I mean, honestly, what got me through my faith that I actually I like joined a Bible study now, and I just I want to dive in deeper.

01:20:22.880 --> 01:20:34.800
Um, I was asked on multiple occasions if I was mad at God for doing this to me, or um, you know, what was I ever angry with him?

01:20:35.119 --> 01:20:36.560
Did I question him?

01:20:37.119 --> 01:20:50.399
And I never once did because he didn't do this to like he's gonna help me through it, but he like this was not like his agenda to make me sick.

01:20:50.720 --> 01:20:51.840
Let's mess with Sydney.

01:20:52.479 --> 01:20:54.479
I never once questioned him.

01:20:54.720 --> 01:21:06.239
I thanked him every day that it was me and not a loved one because I could not imagine watching someone go through what I went through.

01:21:06.479 --> 01:21:15.920
My family, my husband, my children, and I I I can't even imagine what what they went through.

01:21:16.079 --> 01:21:20.800
My kids have never seen me sit down, lay down, sleep for months on end.

01:21:20.960 --> 01:21:25.920
Yeah, all I wanted to do was sleep my life away for you know, because I was in so much.

01:21:27.439 --> 01:21:30.720
Yeah, yeah, exactly, till the next timer went up.

01:21:30.880 --> 01:21:39.119
Um, and so yeah, it's actually brought me closer to the Lord, and I just I want to know him more and I want to learn more.

01:21:40.319 --> 01:21:43.119
But uh I yeah, don't know until you ask.

01:21:43.439 --> 01:21:46.560
Um what does your eyesight mean to you?

01:21:47.199 --> 01:21:50.720
Well, I definitely took it for granted prior to this.

01:21:50.960 --> 01:21:55.359
Um, but I probably took a lot of things.

01:21:55.600 --> 01:22:01.760
Um again, you can choose to get through this one way or another.

01:22:02.079 --> 01:22:10.479
And I've chose to become not that I was ever a truly negative person, but I don't I don't have to work.

01:22:10.640 --> 01:22:13.119
Like I get to work now.

01:22:13.279 --> 01:22:15.920
Like I used to work, I and I love what I do.

01:22:16.079 --> 01:22:19.600
I absolutely it's social hour for me all day long, you know.

01:22:19.760 --> 01:22:26.239
Um, I'm friends with all my clients, and it's just it's so rewarding to be able to do what I do.

01:22:26.640 --> 01:22:33.279
But um I I used to say, Oh, I I can't, I can't go to dinner because I have to work.

01:22:33.520 --> 01:22:35.920
I can't do this because I have this.

01:22:36.079 --> 01:22:40.479
And it just makes you think much differently.

01:22:40.720 --> 01:22:51.039
Um my my eyesight is I'll I'll never take it for granted again, but um it's it's not definitely not what it was.

01:22:51.199 --> 01:22:59.439
Um, I don't know that it'll ever I'll ever be able to see that well again in my left eye, but I thank God that he gave us two eyes.

01:22:59.600 --> 01:23:00.159
Yeah.

01:23:00.399 --> 01:23:11.279
I s I see fantastic I to me this is seeing pretty dang normal, just with I see 2020 with one eye and 20, I don't know, 600 with another eye.

01:23:12.079 --> 01:23:15.920
With um, you know, glasses or a contact.

01:23:16.239 --> 01:23:16.800
Right, right.

01:23:16.960 --> 01:23:20.079
Um but yeah, your eyesight is very important.

01:23:20.319 --> 01:23:21.760
Yeah, very important.

01:23:22.000 --> 01:23:29.119
And uh some people that get this actually get it bilaterally, so they will go blind.

01:23:29.680 --> 01:23:38.880
Yes, and a lot of people don't come out without eye, I mean with their own, or they may come out with their own eyes, but they can never see again.

01:23:39.039 --> 01:23:44.000
Right because the damage is it's so bad.

01:23:44.399 --> 01:23:54.640
And the scarring, you know, these amoeba were deeper than my cornea, so they're scars deeper into my eye than what you can what you think.

01:23:54.880 --> 01:23:57.840
So wow, yes, your eyesight is very important.

01:23:58.319 --> 01:24:04.880
Do you see this crisis as the dividing line in your life before the infection, after the infections, for instance?

01:24:05.680 --> 01:24:18.399
Dividing line as in as in uh dividing line to me would be this is Gary's question, not mine, but I think what he's trying to say is is it was a crossroads.

01:24:18.560 --> 01:24:20.000
Was it a crossroads in your life?

01:24:20.079 --> 01:24:22.720
Well, you know what a crossroads is, so same kind of a thing.

01:24:22.880 --> 01:24:23.119
Okay.

01:24:23.359 --> 01:24:25.840
Was it was it like the line in the sand?

01:24:26.319 --> 01:24:26.560
Right.

01:24:26.960 --> 01:24:31.039
You could have you could have you could have not crossed that line, but you chose to cross that line.

01:24:31.359 --> 01:24:31.520
Yeah.

01:24:32.079 --> 01:24:33.520
But do you do do you see it that way?

01:24:33.760 --> 01:24:35.359
I mean, do you see it as a crossroads?

01:24:35.439 --> 01:24:45.119
Do you see it as like a monumental event that was Yes that that that that you came out on the other side and absolutely um it's made me a better person, I think.

01:24:45.840 --> 01:24:48.239
Um because of everything.

01:24:48.399 --> 01:25:03.359
I mean, I think I've if you talk to most people that knew me going through this, that were close to me going through this, they would tell you some pretty amazing things that they witnessed me do.

01:25:03.920 --> 01:25:11.119
That's even though I mean I wasn't doing this for a show or I I just I only was doing what I knew.

01:25:11.279 --> 01:25:16.960
And it was I had to be positive, I had to persevere, I had to keep going.

01:25:17.359 --> 01:25:26.880
Um, I think the one of the best things that helped me, I had to leave my house sometimes.

01:25:27.119 --> 01:25:38.000
Like I I couldn't, so I would force, I would take pain meds and I would force myself out of the house because it was good.

01:25:38.399 --> 01:25:44.079
It may was it may have only been for an hour to the gym, or maybe it was an hour to watch my kid play volleyball.

01:25:44.560 --> 01:25:49.680
You cleared your head, yes, and you you have to like get out.

01:25:49.840 --> 01:25:54.079
It is not normal for someone to be locked in a dark room for five and a half months.

01:25:54.319 --> 01:25:55.760
No, and not opening blinds.

01:25:56.159 --> 01:25:57.199
Unless you're a prisoner of war.

01:25:57.920 --> 01:25:58.319
Yeah.

01:25:58.560 --> 01:26:02.000
I mean, my whole the kids' whole summer, the blinds were shut.

01:26:02.319 --> 01:26:04.880
You should read have you read uh here we go.

01:26:04.960 --> 01:26:11.600
I'm sorry to get on a tangent, but if you read like John McCain's story, no, uh you it might you might find it interesting.

01:26:11.760 --> 01:26:16.239
I mean, these are guys, and I I you know I I knew Senator McCain.

01:26:16.319 --> 01:26:23.840
I and I also knew uh another guy by the name of Jerry Coffey, who was uh the longest POW in Vietnam, longer than McCain, like I think it was eight years.

01:26:24.000 --> 01:26:24.159
Yeah.

01:26:24.319 --> 01:26:45.359
Where they were locked, I mean they were locked, but they had they they were they were locked up or tied up or whatever in these these these cells in Vietnam and they couldn't talk to each other, but they they found ways to communicate through knocking, and they were they became so busy just to keep occupying their minds.

01:26:45.680 --> 01:26:54.960
Yes, they became so busy they keep they came up with a knocking language and they were they would like do plays or do baseball games or whatever through this communication.

01:26:55.279 --> 01:26:55.520
Wow.

01:26:55.680 --> 01:26:57.199
I mean it gets that's incredible.

01:26:57.439 --> 01:27:00.319
Yes, yes, you might you might find those interesting anyway.

01:27:00.399 --> 01:27:02.800
Sorry, that's off yeah, but I just thought you'd find that interesting.

01:27:02.960 --> 01:27:04.479
Yes, but I mean to me it'd be the same thing.

01:27:04.560 --> 01:27:11.199
If you're if you if you're locked in your head and you're in a dark room, you better find a way to keep your mind active and sharp.

01:27:11.359 --> 01:27:11.760
Yes.

01:27:11.920 --> 01:27:13.920
Um, or you will not survive.

01:27:14.239 --> 01:27:14.800
Correct.

01:27:15.039 --> 01:27:23.199
And I knew, again, thankful I was the one with this, because I knew mentally I was going to be fine.

01:27:23.520 --> 01:27:25.680
Mentally, I had this.

01:27:26.000 --> 01:27:40.880
Um, and I know a lot of people like I know I think of people in my life, and I think, thank God that it was not them, because I'm not sure how they how they would have gotten through this, or if they had the community I had to get through this.

01:27:40.960 --> 01:27:41.119
Yeah.

01:27:41.359 --> 01:27:43.279
Or the faith that I had to get through this.

01:27:43.439 --> 01:27:46.720
Like, did they have what it took to get through this?

01:27:46.960 --> 01:27:54.239
And honestly, I um just I just knew mentally I was fine.

01:27:54.800 --> 01:27:55.600
I was fine.

01:27:55.760 --> 01:27:59.760
I I just but again, it's made me a much better person.

01:28:00.319 --> 01:28:01.039
Coming out of the state.

01:28:01.199 --> 01:28:02.640
Well, I thought you're a great person beforehand.

01:28:02.880 --> 01:28:05.920
Because when I heard this happen to you, I'm like, what a bunch of crap.

01:28:06.079 --> 01:28:06.479
Right.

01:28:06.720 --> 01:28:09.920
I mean, not that I would want this to happen to someone I didn't like.

01:28:10.000 --> 01:28:10.079
Right.

01:28:10.319 --> 01:28:10.479
Right.

01:28:10.720 --> 01:28:13.680
But no, I don't want anyone to go through this.

01:28:13.920 --> 01:28:15.359
Uh, I yeah.

01:28:15.520 --> 01:28:17.039
Well, that's a that's a great statement.

01:28:17.600 --> 01:28:19.359
Like I said, you're a great person to begin with.

01:28:19.439 --> 01:28:21.840
So if you're better, wow.

01:28:22.079 --> 01:28:24.000
Influences me to get better, that's for sure.

01:28:24.239 --> 01:28:27.680
Um what uh how has this changed you?

01:28:27.760 --> 01:28:29.199
Obviously, we've talked about that quite a bit.

01:28:29.279 --> 01:28:32.319
You don't have to answer that, but what what have you learned about yourself?

01:28:32.479 --> 01:28:33.520
That's a good question.

01:28:33.840 --> 01:28:36.479
Well, I've actually learned a lot about myself too.

01:28:36.720 --> 01:28:50.000
Um like just reading our bodies and also like I've never been very good um at saying this makes me feel good, this doesn't make me feel good, and do it any, you know.

01:28:50.079 --> 01:28:57.840
I just I've gotten better about figuring out like whether it's nutrition, working out.

01:28:58.560 --> 01:29:06.239
Um I mean, a few days ago, what was it, 120 wall balls and 120 meter or calorie row?

01:29:06.399 --> 01:29:13.680
And I came in that day and I was just like, I I my body does not feel this.

01:29:13.920 --> 01:29:14.800
So I scale.

01:29:14.960 --> 01:29:18.319
I scaled, I just I jogged through this workout.

01:29:18.479 --> 01:29:19.039
Yes.

01:29:19.359 --> 01:29:20.319
Scale like a boss.

01:29:20.479 --> 01:29:23.039
I have a shirt that says scale like a boss, slab.

01:29:23.119 --> 01:29:26.560
And I just see me put on the scoreboard slab, that's what that means.

01:29:28.000 --> 01:29:30.079
And I love those shirts when people wear them.

01:29:30.239 --> 01:29:33.680
So but I left feeling great.

01:29:33.840 --> 01:29:36.239
I didn't kill myself that day.

01:29:36.479 --> 01:29:39.359
Um, you know, for whatever day, I my body was tired.

01:29:39.760 --> 01:29:40.239
Scale today.

01:29:40.560 --> 01:29:41.680
No, you crazy person.

01:29:42.079 --> 01:29:42.399
Right, right.

01:29:42.560 --> 01:29:44.000
It was a 10-minute workout, right?

01:29:44.319 --> 01:29:47.680
Well, you you you m you you beat the time cap today.

01:29:47.920 --> 01:29:48.159
Yes.

01:29:49.039 --> 01:29:49.760
I just, yeah.

01:29:49.920 --> 01:29:52.399
I mean, I came in today and I didn't have any eye problems.

01:29:52.479 --> 01:29:57.359
I just I'm just an old man with hip and I'm grunchy, but yeah, I did a lot better than I thought I was gonna be, honestly.

01:29:57.439 --> 01:30:01.439
Um, I didn't hit the time cap, but I'm also freaking 20 years older than you are.

01:30:01.680 --> 01:30:05.600
Um I looked at your time today, I'm like, I'm gonna talk to her later.

01:30:05.680 --> 01:30:06.399
I wonder how she's doing.

01:30:06.479 --> 01:30:08.399
She's doing just fine, boys and girls.

01:30:08.640 --> 01:30:09.279
Yeah, I understand.

01:30:09.359 --> 01:30:12.960
I mean, you you came in the gym and you didn't you so you scale, and it's fine.

01:30:13.039 --> 01:30:15.119
And you got a stimulus, it was fine.

01:30:15.359 --> 01:30:15.680
Yeah.

01:30:15.840 --> 01:30:19.039
And and that's to me, maturing in that gym.

01:30:19.279 --> 01:30:21.199
Sorry, I'm going down my story now.

01:30:21.279 --> 01:30:26.079
But I mean, everybody has a different stimulus, and the way you get it, the way I get it, who cares?

01:30:26.239 --> 01:30:26.399
Right.

01:30:26.560 --> 01:30:28.640
You're we both broke a sweat today, did we not?

01:30:28.960 --> 01:30:29.520
Yes, we did.

01:30:29.760 --> 01:30:30.239
All right.

01:30:30.479 --> 01:30:40.800
And I think another thing that's uh changed me a little bit is or made me more aware of um like I'm trying to be more motivated.

01:30:41.039 --> 01:30:44.000
Um just everything.

01:30:44.720 --> 01:30:50.399
Just everything, whether it's oh, I'm tired, I don't want to do the dishes.

01:30:50.560 --> 01:30:51.279
Like, no.

01:30:51.600 --> 01:30:54.720
Get like it just feels so much better to have them done.

01:30:54.960 --> 01:30:55.680
Finish the job.

01:30:55.920 --> 01:30:56.479
Finish it.

01:30:56.560 --> 01:30:57.760
Yeah, just do it.

01:30:58.000 --> 01:31:00.640
Um I want to say yes more.

01:31:00.880 --> 01:31:08.239
Like, I don't want, not saying like, oh, my kids can be naughty or something, but I want to, I I lost a summer.

01:31:08.399 --> 01:31:12.960
I lost six months of my life in due to pain.

01:31:13.279 --> 01:31:17.680
I don't want to regret not doing.

01:31:18.159 --> 01:31:21.760
So when a friend says, let's go to breakfast, go to breakfast.

01:31:22.000 --> 01:31:26.960
Like that's what I've learned because it was all taken from me in a flash.

01:31:27.279 --> 01:31:28.479
And it can be, it's fragile.

01:31:28.560 --> 01:31:30.319
It can it can be taken from you in a flash.

01:31:30.560 --> 01:31:31.600
So enjoy what you got.

01:31:31.680 --> 01:31:32.000
Yes.

01:31:32.079 --> 01:31:35.439
Don't don't live the life the fullest, don't have any regrets.

01:31:35.680 --> 01:31:35.920
Right.

01:31:36.079 --> 01:31:40.960
I'm trying to live less feeling less guilty about doing things.

01:31:41.119 --> 01:31:45.359
So I would feel guilty if I didn't get all the laundry done and folded and put away.

01:31:45.439 --> 01:31:48.079
And is laundry the most important thing in your life these days?

01:31:48.239 --> 01:31:48.800
I would hope not.

01:31:49.039 --> 01:31:53.840
No, no, but I I'm just saying it's the small things though that add up to big things.

01:31:53.920 --> 01:32:00.880
So if you if you don't do the dishes and don't do the laundry and and feel guilty about this and not doing that, like it attacks you.

01:32:01.119 --> 01:32:05.039
And I mean, you're just and then you have a breakdown or something.

01:32:05.119 --> 01:32:07.039
And I I just don't I don't want that.

01:32:07.119 --> 01:32:09.359
And I want to say yes more.

01:32:09.520 --> 01:32:12.319
I want to not say yes to more laundry.

01:32:12.560 --> 01:32:13.199
Yes, yes.

01:32:13.359 --> 01:32:15.840
Well, and just be be glad that I get to do it.

01:32:16.000 --> 01:32:16.159
Yeah.

01:32:16.319 --> 01:32:24.479
Because there was a time to do it where I it took everything I had to unload and load a dishwasher, and then I took went and took a two-hour nap.

01:32:24.640 --> 01:32:24.800
Yeah.

01:32:24.960 --> 01:32:25.760
Uh and then I would get up.

01:32:26.319 --> 01:32:27.520
59 minutes plus 50 MS.

01:32:28.000 --> 01:32:28.239
Yes.

01:32:28.399 --> 01:32:35.680
And then I would get up and switch over laundry and then go sit back down for an hour because it was exhausting.

01:32:36.079 --> 01:32:38.720
So I I just want to.

01:32:38.880 --> 01:32:45.359
I've tried, and and that's something I'm working on is just being uh happy to do everything.

01:32:45.600 --> 01:32:45.920
Yeah.

01:32:46.239 --> 01:32:46.880
You know.

01:32:47.760 --> 01:32:48.399
Awesome.

01:32:48.640 --> 01:32:49.760
That is phenomenal.

01:32:50.000 --> 01:32:52.960
Um you've gotten a that's a great question.

01:32:53.039 --> 01:32:56.640
You've gotten a lot of advice, some trite, some inspiring.

01:32:57.119 --> 01:32:59.439
What comment do you remember the most?

01:33:00.479 --> 01:33:01.359
That's a good one.

01:33:01.760 --> 01:33:02.640
Good question.

01:33:02.960 --> 01:33:12.960
Um I'd have to say some of the best comments I've heard were from my friend Connie.

01:33:14.319 --> 01:33:16.399
Um can I say her last name?

01:33:16.800 --> 01:33:17.680
Connie Omquist.

01:33:19.039 --> 01:33:19.840
Connie's great.

01:33:20.000 --> 01:33:20.399
Yes.

01:33:21.279 --> 01:33:23.359
She's somebody I hadn't seen in years, and I saw her in the gym.

01:33:23.520 --> 01:33:24.640
Like, is that you, Connie?

01:33:24.880 --> 01:33:25.359
Connie, yes.

01:33:25.520 --> 01:33:26.239
She looks different.

01:33:26.399 --> 01:33:30.560
Um she is very understanding.

01:33:31.119 --> 01:33:32.319
I I should say this.

01:33:32.479 --> 01:33:37.359
Obviously, my family is, I mean, that you know, family is family.

01:33:37.760 --> 01:33:40.960
They're in there day in and day out, and they're always gonna love you.

01:33:41.039 --> 01:33:46.800
And that goes to aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, sister-in-laws, nieces, nephews.

01:33:46.960 --> 01:33:48.640
That's all considered family.

01:33:48.880 --> 01:34:04.640
So I I say this, I step aside from family from everything that they uh you wouldn't, it's unbelievable how many messages I've received from family and friends that just that is how you get through it.

01:34:04.960 --> 01:34:19.600
But Connie said she was driving me to Iowa City, and I said, Connie, I just have so much mom guilt that my kids are making dinners, my kids are doing all the laundry, the dishes, the cleaning.

01:34:19.840 --> 01:34:32.960
Not only that, they're becoming better human beings, they're going to school every single day, or in the summer they were going to work, but some of them didn't work, so they were entertaining themselves for hours upon hours during the summer.

01:34:33.279 --> 01:34:33.680
It's okay.

01:34:33.920 --> 01:34:38.560
And she looked at me and said, Tiffany, you've trained your kids for this.

01:34:39.119 --> 01:34:42.319
This isn't the first time they've done laundry.

01:34:42.800 --> 01:34:45.680
This isn't the first time they've cooked a meal.

01:34:46.159 --> 01:34:49.840
This isn't the first time they drove each other to school.

01:34:50.159 --> 01:34:53.439
This isn't the first time they've ran and grabbed you groceries.

01:34:54.079 --> 01:34:57.279
You trained them for a time like this.

01:34:57.600 --> 01:35:04.479
So when a time like this happened, it's almost like my kids were unaffected.

01:35:05.840 --> 01:35:17.199
Other than that, they saw their mom laying down all the time, which I'm sure mentally was di difficult for them, but they never expressed that.

01:35:17.359 --> 01:35:24.000
But they you know, that was like huge hearing that from Connie.

01:35:24.159 --> 01:35:24.399
Yes.

01:35:24.640 --> 01:35:24.880
Yeah.

01:35:25.039 --> 01:35:28.720
Well, they believe it or not, they became better too.

01:35:28.880 --> 01:35:30.000
Yes, because of this.

01:35:30.319 --> 01:35:30.880
Yes.

01:35:31.199 --> 01:35:35.119
And I I tell them they too will go through hard times.

01:35:35.279 --> 01:35:35.439
Yes.

01:35:35.600 --> 01:35:36.159
And they too.

01:35:36.479 --> 01:35:37.279
You have to be prepared for that.

01:35:37.680 --> 01:35:40.239
And their hard times are gonna look different than my hard times.

01:35:40.479 --> 01:35:41.039
Correct.

01:35:41.279 --> 01:35:51.439
Um, but it's all in how you so yes, the mom guilts, just someone taking me down a notch and saying, no, you don't have mom guilt.

01:35:51.680 --> 01:35:52.159
Good for Connie.

01:35:52.319 --> 01:35:53.119
Yeah for Connie.

01:35:53.279 --> 01:35:53.680
That's awesome.

01:35:53.840 --> 01:35:55.199
What a great, what a great friend.

01:35:55.359 --> 01:35:56.239
Yes, that's awesome.

01:35:56.479 --> 01:36:02.239
And obviously, again, everyone, I I just I go back to this whole communities thing.

01:36:02.560 --> 01:36:07.920
They are having a community of people.

01:36:08.479 --> 01:36:10.640
I know I have wonderful people in our lives.

01:36:10.720 --> 01:36:26.640
Um, my husband and I are are good people, we have amazing people in our lives, but you don't realize how good everybody is until you go through something that where you physically need them.

01:36:27.039 --> 01:36:30.880
I needed them physically, mentally, emotionally, financially.

01:36:31.039 --> 01:36:39.600
Like I needed all these people, and it has been the most incredible thing to witness.

01:36:40.000 --> 01:36:45.199
Uh, my husband's one of nine, so that family alone is a community.

01:36:45.359 --> 01:36:45.840
Yeah.

01:36:46.079 --> 01:36:47.920
With all the nieces and nephews.

01:36:48.079 --> 01:36:49.520
Um that's an army.

01:36:49.760 --> 01:36:50.079
Yes.

01:36:50.319 --> 01:36:53.840
He was born and raised in what was a small town.

01:36:53.920 --> 01:37:00.319
It's a big town now, but his community of people, being born and raised in a small town, is endless.

01:37:00.479 --> 01:37:10.800
I mean, that the the town of Gretna just everyone in there just blessed us more than we could ever thank people for.

01:37:11.119 --> 01:37:17.039
Um, my kids no longer go to Gretna, they attend a smaller town of Utan.

01:37:17.199 --> 01:37:22.880
My kids went to school in the town of UTAN for one year prior to me being sick.

01:37:23.039 --> 01:37:24.560
Not even 10 months.

01:37:24.960 --> 01:37:27.279
We were known in that community.

01:37:27.520 --> 01:37:31.359
And the meals, we had meals for over three months.

01:37:31.600 --> 01:37:33.119
People I didn't even know.

01:37:33.359 --> 01:37:34.800
People we did not even know.

01:37:35.119 --> 01:37:37.760
One of my best friends is from Utah, so yeah, that's a good place.

01:37:37.920 --> 01:37:41.279
Um, and it's just like that's another community.

01:37:41.520 --> 01:37:46.319
Um, and every teacher knew that what I was going through.

01:37:46.479 --> 01:37:54.560
So my kids would go to school and they get extra hugs or you know, extra love on them that day, or it just during this time.

01:37:54.800 --> 01:37:59.119
Everyone stepped up to help or offered to take my kids here.

01:37:59.359 --> 01:38:01.840
They need do they need a ride someplace?

01:38:02.000 --> 01:38:03.760
Um, do you need groceries?

01:38:04.000 --> 01:38:12.960
Uh then we have, of course, the CrossFit community that just went above and beyond, they still are.

01:38:13.279 --> 01:38:15.520
Everyone is gone above and beyond.

01:38:15.680 --> 01:38:19.760
I have my clients, all the hundreds of people I do hair for.

01:38:19.920 --> 01:38:21.199
That's another community.

01:38:21.439 --> 01:38:34.960
So if you just have, I mean, I encourage everyone to have a community because that is, I mean, just people came out of everywhere to help.

01:38:35.359 --> 01:38:44.640
And I mean, there was a time, I think the only time my husband and I argued during my illness was he said, we have too much food.

01:38:45.520 --> 01:38:45.760
Yeah.

01:38:46.000 --> 01:38:46.720
Too much food.

01:38:46.800 --> 01:38:47.119
Yeah.

01:38:47.359 --> 01:38:49.760
Do not let anyone else bring us more food.

01:38:50.319 --> 01:38:51.680
We're getting weight over here.

01:38:51.920 --> 01:38:52.239
Okay.

01:38:52.640 --> 01:38:56.479
But you know, like, that's not a bad problem to have.

01:38:56.640 --> 01:39:00.479
Like, there's four kids, I wasn't eating a whole lot.

01:39:00.800 --> 01:39:03.199
People would just show up, they would text.

01:39:03.279 --> 01:39:04.079
I dropped off.

01:39:04.159 --> 01:39:05.199
I went to Costco.

01:39:05.279 --> 01:39:07.359
There's a bunch of food on your front porch.

01:39:07.680 --> 01:39:10.399
Um it's endless.

01:39:10.560 --> 01:39:15.760
The people left checks, people left gift cards, people, you know, just on they didn't want to bother me.

01:39:15.920 --> 01:39:17.920
I couldn't come to the door, I couldn't see them anyways.

01:39:18.399 --> 01:39:20.079
But you knew you were there.

01:39:20.720 --> 01:39:21.039
It's awesome.

01:39:21.520 --> 01:39:27.840
So loved by, I mean, I could never repay, but that's another thing it's taught me.

01:39:28.079 --> 01:39:28.640
Give.

01:39:29.039 --> 01:39:29.439
Give.

01:39:29.680 --> 01:39:36.960
It doesn't always mean financially, just give, give your time, make a meal, do good.

01:39:37.520 --> 01:39:38.479
Make a call, say hi.

01:39:38.640 --> 01:39:39.359
I mean, whatever it takes.

01:39:39.760 --> 01:39:40.479
Send a text message.

01:39:40.640 --> 01:39:40.880
Yeah.

01:39:41.039 --> 01:39:49.199
Like some of the text messages, as hard as it was for me to read sometimes or respond, um, it just it kept you going.

01:39:49.359 --> 01:39:51.439
It it it would lift you up line.

01:39:51.680 --> 01:39:57.119
Either put a smile on your face, make you feel loved, something for for the day.

01:39:57.279 --> 01:40:03.359
I mean, but the the support we have had has absolutely been endless.

01:40:03.920 --> 01:40:08.239
The prayers, the I I mean, everything, everything, the rides.

01:40:08.479 --> 01:40:13.920
I mean, people, people that took me to Iowa City, you know, it was an entire day.

01:40:14.079 --> 01:40:16.560
It was 12, 13, 14 hour day.

01:40:16.800 --> 01:40:17.039
Yeah.

01:40:17.279 --> 01:40:20.079
My aunt and uncle live in Iowa.

01:40:20.800 --> 01:40:22.720
They knew it was very important.

01:40:22.800 --> 01:40:24.479
I was prescribed a new medication.

01:40:24.640 --> 01:40:26.720
Of course, it was made in Iowa City.

01:40:26.960 --> 01:40:32.960
It was it was coming into the weekend, and they knew I wasn't gonna get it, and they knew I needed it now.

01:40:33.199 --> 01:40:47.359
So they got in their car at like 7 p.m., drove to Iowa City three hours away, drove all the way to Gretten, Nebraska, called me at 2:30 in the morning to tell me they were there with my medication, and then drove an hour and a half home.

01:40:47.600 --> 01:40:48.399
Yeah, wow.

01:40:48.720 --> 01:40:54.079
I that's the type of people that we had in our life, like during all this.

01:40:54.239 --> 01:40:56.479
How how do you not come out on top?

01:40:56.720 --> 01:41:05.520
How do you not like want to be your best after being surrounded by all?

01:41:05.680 --> 01:41:15.039
I mean, I just I go back to the CrossFit community again, and all these amazing people, I mean, positive.

01:41:15.760 --> 01:41:19.119
They want the best for them and they want the best for you.

01:41:19.279 --> 01:41:23.520
And you're just surrounded by that mentally every day.

01:41:23.840 --> 01:41:25.439
Well, now you know where this old grouch goes.

01:41:25.920 --> 01:41:27.199
It goes every day, yeah.

01:41:27.520 --> 01:41:28.159
Yeah, I have to.

01:41:28.319 --> 01:41:29.760
Because they're so good for us.

01:41:30.079 --> 01:41:41.279
They're so everyone there is so good for each other that I just hope that everyone has a community like I've got to experience.

01:41:41.680 --> 01:41:42.239
Blessed.

01:41:42.560 --> 01:41:53.279
Well, you've just answered number seven, so I'm not gonna make it, which was in the times of crisis, find out you find out who your real friends are, who are yours, and you just said, you just named it.

01:41:53.439 --> 01:41:55.279
So hundreds and hundreds.

01:41:55.439 --> 01:41:55.920
Lots.

01:41:56.159 --> 01:41:58.800
I mean, literally hundreds.

01:41:59.279 --> 01:42:02.319
Tiffany, is there anything we haven't covered that you'd like to?

01:42:02.880 --> 01:42:05.439
I'm sure there's something, but I've probably talked long enough.

01:42:05.920 --> 01:42:07.199
What a story.

01:42:07.680 --> 01:42:10.880
What a story, and a shout out.

01:42:11.439 --> 01:42:16.800
I'd love to tell you that, folks, I'd love to tell you this is my idea to have you, but it wasn't.

01:42:17.199 --> 01:42:24.079
It was uh Breeze, aka C N G, Coach Nice Guy, aka Briebert or Brigert.

01:42:24.640 --> 01:42:29.600
Um, and uh I just I really appreciate the thought.

01:42:29.840 --> 01:42:31.279
She's like, You gotta have her on.

01:42:31.359 --> 01:42:32.079
She's got a story.

01:42:32.239 --> 01:42:33.920
I'm like, oh my, yeah, you're right.

01:42:34.079 --> 01:42:34.399
I do.

01:42:34.640 --> 01:42:35.760
So thanks, Bree.

01:42:36.239 --> 01:42:37.439
Thanks, Tiffany.

01:42:38.000 --> 01:42:38.960
Thank you.