There is no question that there is a link between physical health and mental health. What do we do, or what can we do, when one informs or impacts the other? Karen Rothstein Pineda, founder of Multicultural Counseling Associates, and our Resident Therapist, leads this discussion on what to look for in therapy as a patient if we are having physical challenges, if we are a caretaker, what might feel like hopelessness, and finally where there is always hope. As always Karen does not disappoint with her charm, her understanding, and her insight. We are lucky to have her on the I Am Speaking team, and she always comes through for us. 

October 21, over a decade ago: Peter Vishneski was driving late at night with friends and became tired behind the wheel. He nodded off. He woke up in the ICU two days later unable to move his fingers properly. 

You will fall in love with Peter, or Mr. Vishneski, as his students call him. The once-physical-therapy-student-turned-HS-Biology-teacher has lessons for his students beyond composition of starch in a potato or backing up essays in Google Drive. To listen to Peter is to learn the strength of resilience, the power of overcoming grief, and the truth that sometimes kids just get it better than adults. 

Your lovely cohosts had the privilege of seeing Peter as the brilliant Professor X in the OPRF HS premier of X-Men: Mad Ave (the musical), and we just had to have him on the show. To see him perform, to hear him sing, to hear him speak about his recovery and renewal, and to learn how to be a better ally and champion from him, you definitely understand what he means when you he says that life after his spinal cord injury has been “a net positive.” 

We know you will fall in love with Peter Vishneski as we did. And for goodness sake, hold the door open for people, for everybody. It’s just good manners. 

“Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” - Michael J. Fox

Life, in all of its challenges, came at Dana Blanchard, hard and fast in 2020. Ready and packed for a big move to Australia with her husband and two kids 9 days before the world shut down, things started to go sideways. When those plans got put on indefinite hold due to the pandemic, her husband, Wells, started falling ill with unexplained sores, extreme pain, fatigue and full body aches for which doctors could not agree on a diagnosis. 

Three years later and Dana’s life is not what she imagined it might be. She has become the caretaker for her husband, the sole breadwinner of their family, and their move to Australia went from indefinite hold to canceled. But Dana is not one to be down and out. Fighting for answers for her husband’s health and always with her glass half full, Dana continues to find love and gratitude in the every day (and sometimes she admits that things are hard and things can suck).  

In October 2019, Teresa Janik found herself in excruciating pain. She could barely focus, took her work home, and told her husband “take me to the ER right now.” What she didn’t know what that by entering the ER, she’d be entering a whole new part of her life. A severe bout of diverticulitis led to sepsis which led to a literal live-saving surgery. But that wasn’t the end  

She came out of surgery with a stoma and ostomy bag, which was kept in place for more the seven months. She also left the ordeal with a rather new outlook on life, and the people in hers. 

What happens when people don’t go to the doctor “until they are dying?” Does the bar change once that scenario is actually experienced? Why do we wait so long to go to the doctor? And what happens when we do go on death’s actual door? 

All these questions are answered by Teresa herself. She takes us through why she went to the ER, what her in-hospital stay was like, and what insight she’s gained since she thanked her stoma in the mirror. 

We don’t expect to face our own mortality until we are “old”. What do we do when that timeline is pushed up?

Teresa Janik is brave and proud, not because she faced death, but because  she’s willing to expose her vulnerability, share her fear, show her scars and find joy in her recovery. 

Jennie has spent years as an Operating Room nurse, counseling her patients, holding their hands through the pain, hearing their fears and seeing the heartbreaks. Then, one fateful day in 2022, the tables were turned and Jennie became the patient who needed counseling, some hand-holding, whose fear and heartbreak became palpable. 

Jennie Ebmeyer was diagnosed, at the age of 39, with Stage I breast cancer. Within days, after a PET Scan, the diagnosis was changed to Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Being told she had limited options, and “we’ve done all we can” after some harsh chemo, the medical institution was ready to usher her to the “Stage 4 Pasture”, as she calls it. But Jennie wasn’t done. She just needed to advocate for herself  

And her story still isn’t done. Her advocacy isn’t done. She is meant to write the story of a Stage 4 metastatic  breast cancer THRIVER and that is exactly what she’s doing - one page at a time. 

Vickie spent her life building armor that she believed would save her from emotional pain. After decades of surgeries, medical appointments, dental procedures, scarring, braces, and bone grafts, Vickie thought her emotional armor was pretty solid. Then, her daughter came home from school in 1st grade and told her about a bullying situation that happened. After seeing red and having a “disproportionate” reaction to the situation, Vickie came to realize her armor had some chinks in it.

After working on herself, unpacking her trauma and focusing on healing and self-acceptance, she has found her purpose in life - helping the cleft community, and parents of cleft individuals, build resilience and pave their own paths toward self-acceptance and love. 

“Vickie Stolle is the founder of the company Dragonfly Paradigm – A Cleft Resilience Community. She is a writer, speaker, pianist, general aviation pilot, relentless list maker, book lover, strategy builder, and is also a woman born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Vickie knows from firsthand experience the emotional challenges one goes through living with a facial difference. As a result, she has built a community wherein she shares strategies and tools for building and maintaining emotional resilience for cleft affected individuals as well as parents and caregivers of cleft affected children.” 

www.dragonflyparadigm.com

Hearing is different than listening. 

Dr. Matthew Kircher is not only a talented surgeon, a brilliant doctor, and an all-around good person, but Shailushi and Kosha also are lucky enough to call him family. He is married to their cousin (and previous guest on IAS) Sheetal. He sits in the Speaker’s Chair this week to discuss his work as an ENT surgeon, how an ear functions, and why Q-tips should never go near your ears.  

Matthew L Kircher, MD is currently an Associate Professor of Otology, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center. His practice includes the medical and surgical treatment of patients afflicted with ear disease. 

What a freaking fun and interesting conversation. 

Marijo has been making the world more accessible, one conservation at a time. For over 30 years, she’s been signing her way, being of service to the deaf and hard of hearing community. 

Marijo Fiacchino’s resume is lengthy and her credibility is solid - she has her Certification of Interpretation (CI) and Certification of Transliteration (CT), she is RID (Registry of Interpretation for th Deaf) Certified. She has a Masters Level license in Illinois, and is qualified as an Illinois Master Mentor. So, we know she’s capable, she’s educated, and she’s driven.  

But until you speak with her, or shall we say, let her speak, you wouldn’t know how passionate she is for this work that she loves, how much compassion she is for her deaf and hearing clients, and how much she views her life’s work as service to a marginalized community. 

The world needs more people like Marijo. And she’s hilarious, to boot. 

Holy Crap. There is a reason Kosha isn't the "main host". She lost words. But Shailushi found the words. And Kosha come around eventually.

Violet Turner is the most self-possessed teenager you can meet.

Violet has a significant stutter. It does take a few moments to get into her vocal cadence, but STAY WITH US because her words and her sentiments will change you. This young woman is on a trajectory to change the world. We cannot do that by ourselves. And to close out of this conversation would be to "other" Violet for her stutter. But I promise. her voice is worth listening to.

"Violet is an example of what is possible as a young person." - Shailushi

In this episode, we spoke to one of the most self-possessed young women I have ever met. The fact that she is 16 years old simply makes the story more beautiful. 

Listen to this story. Violet Is Speaking. And what we figured out in this discussion is that when Violet speaks, everyone should listen.

Paul Varghese did his first comedy set in June 2001. Four months later, the world got very scary and very dark for brown people. Twenty-two years later, he continues to take the stage, kill with eloquently crafted jokes, and use his Indian-ness as a source of pride and humor. 

Several months ago, one of Paul’s jokes (the iPhone icon joke) went viral. Kosha saw it and showed it to everyone she knows. Paul’s YouTube special dropped and your cohosts decided that this guy has got to be in our Speaker’s Chair, he’d be an amazing guest. And whoa boy, were we right. 

Paul is incredibly funny. But he’s also incredibly thoughtful, incredibly confident, and incredibly humble. He won’t go for the easy lay-ups, because he knows there’s more to unearth that will be ten times funnier if you put in the thought and the work. 

It was an honor and a privelage to have this amazing stand-up sit down with us for a couple hours to tell us his story. We encourage you to listen to the episode, then watch his YouTube special, and do a deep dive into his Instagram where he posts bits and jokes multiple times a week. 

And if you are anywhere near where he’s performing, do yourself a favor and go see one of his “programs”. And sit in the front row without fear, this dude doesn’t do crowd work. 

As I Was Saying: https://youtu.be/2AWY8YDO-yI

Instagram: @paulvcomedian