Transcript
smandere1: Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Mom Tabulous. I'm Sharla Mandare, and with me today is Rhianne Sittik, car girl and storyteller. I love it. She is racing through books, motherhood, chronic illness, and life one apex at a time. Rhianne is a kindhearted and silly storyteller and book connoisseur. She has a no -nonsense attitude mixed with a little bit of, oh, no nonsense American attitude mixed with a little bit of Mediterranean warmth and charm. I love that. Rhianne loves to race cars and unicorns and is fairly certain that coffee flows through her veins. She drives a stick in stilettos, appreciates good food and great company and smiles when the birds sing outside her window.
smandere1: She's a reformed award winning financial professional, and her first book sprang to life while navigating a debilitating chronic illness, which we're going to talk about using two of her biggest passions, cars and her children.
smandere1: She released her first children's book in 2023. Welcome, Rhianne. I'm so excited you're here.
Ryanne Siddiq: Thank you so much.
smandere1: Yeah, so okay, tell us more about this. And like, I know we were talking about about in the pre call, like the chronic illness and in you this children's book, which is just so adorable. So tell us all about
Ryanne Siddiq: Thank you. So it it was a journey. And and i I like to say, you know i'm I'm a reformed financial professional. um I worked for a really wonderful firm and I did enjoy my job. But with COVID,
Ryanne Siddiq: A lot of the federal regulations, they wouldn't allow someone in my position to work from home. So COVID hits, kids are home from school, I have to be home from school, or from from work, and I ah couldn't work.
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: you know Our firm just didn't have the capabilities. you know It was against regulations. so Here I am, I'm at home and I'm with my my daughter who started first grade and she was a rock star. It was like, she'd be up in the morning, she'd be dressed, she'd be logged in. I would check on her and she'd be like, mom, go away. And so it was like, okay, she's she's got this, right? And then with my younger one, trying to have a four year old do virtual learning
Ryanne Siddiq: and And he has ADHD, which we've known since he was in utero. um he It was one or both of us ended up in tears every single day. um So you know a lot of stress factors, all of that. And once we actually contracted COVID, afterwards I was having a really, really hard time recovering. um I ended up with really bad hand tremors.
Ryanne Siddiq: And you know I was going through all kinds of testing. you know Do you have MS? here's you know Do um MRIs? Do you have Parkinson's? like What's going on? and And nothing was coming back. These tremors are really bad. like I can hardly write. um you know I'm dropping things.
Ryanne Siddiq: um and it starts to affect you mentally. And it it's like, you know what what's wrong with me? you know So not only do I have these peace you know these tremors which are causing problems, it was like the shaking would just suck my energy. So now I've got these kids at home, I have you know no time to rest because I have to be with them pretty much 24 seven.
Ryanne Siddiq: um And so, yeah, I mean, when i when I say one or both of us was in tears every day, like no joke, it was it was rough.
smandere1: Hmm. Hmm.
Ryanne Siddiq: And I ended up, um my doctor said, you know, the timing on this, let's let's try like an after COVID protocol. So put me on this cocktail of meds that completely knocked me out.
Ryanne Siddiq: And after the two weeks, the tremors go away. So it's like, okay, yay. it was It was, you know, long haul COVID stuff. It was not long haul COVID stuff. um Apparently the cocktail of meds that they put me on also was a treatment for Lyme disease. um So we did not find this out until we contracted COVID again, about a year after the first time. um So,
Ryanne Siddiq: I was on a bucket list weekend with my husband. We were at a Formula One track in Austin. We were supposed to be racing our car, and I'm having you know cardiac issues.
Ryanne Siddiq: The tremors are back in full force. like i' My brain is telling the car to go in one direction, but my hands and my body are not making it go in that direction. like I was dangerous.
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: ah had to I had to take myself off you know out of the car. um I was dangerous to myself. I was dangerous to others. And I get back and I'm talking to my doctor and I'm like, I you know i don't understand what's going on. like It was a complete out of body experience. um and And it triggered for him. He's like, well, now that you're having the cardiac stuff, this really sounds like Lyme.
Ryanne Siddiq: And I had been tested for it before because I've had symptoms kind of for many, many years, um and it mimics things. This is the problem, Lyme mimics autoimmune disorders. um You know, my thyroid wasn't functioning, so I'm being treated for a low thyroid. um But, you know, even though my thyroid was well managed, I'm still having all these other things.
Ryanne Siddiq: And so finally, um we send my blood work off to a specialized lab in California. It's not covered under insurance. It's a thousand bucks a pop. And the thing lights up for Lyme like a Christmas tree. So now I finally have an answer. And I i cried not because I had Lyme, but because I had an answer.
Ryanne Siddiq: And I knew it was gonna be a rough journey. I didn't realize quite how rough. And the treatment for Lyme is basically take a bunch of meds that are gonna make you feel worse before they make you feel better. And you have to cycle through them. So once you're finally starting to feel better after the first one, then you start the second one, which makes you feel worse again. um So it was,
Ryanne Siddiq: It was pretty insane. It was intense. um I have been poked and prodded by needles so much. Like I need to dress up like a tomato and, you know, go as a pincushion for Halloween. um That's kind of how I feel like.
Ryanne Siddiq: ah But I, so there's a, I'm a car girl. So I'm going to give you a car quote. There's a quote attributed to Mario Andretti.
Ryanne Siddiq: And the quote is, when life throws you a curve, downshift and take it aggressively.
smandere1: Hmm.
Ryanne Siddiq: And so here I am. I have this kind of life -changing diagnosis. um you know i'm I'm feeling horrible. Treatment's making me feel even worse. And it was it was a huge curve in my life. And I feel really fortunate that even though I was going through all of this um suffering to feel better, that one of the few things I was able to do was read. And I read voraciously, like it was, and I'm not talking like self -help books. I did not read read like, you know, books on how to heal yourself from Lyme. No, I read like the escape books because I,
Ryanne Siddiq: I couldn't be touched. I couldn't, ah you know, no bright lights, no noise and the smell of food cooking. I couldn't eat anything. Like I couldn't be present for my family. And, you know, obviously there's, you know, the whole mental health side of that, but my escape was I was able to read. And as I was reading, these ideas started coming for books that I could write. And so I tell everyone that I'm the car girl who got too sick to drive the fun cars, so I wrote about them instead.
smandere1: ah but I mean, your story, you're speaking such a story that so many people ate during COVID. Tears every day.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes.
smandere1: Tears every day. There was us two here, us two. Tears every day. And not being able to work on having that shift, but then what...
smandere1: I mean, obviously life altering, I feel like that sounds so cheesy and duh to say, but life altering. you know like thing to have happened and to have this diagnosis.
smandere1: I know so many people during that time post COVID being diagnosed with other things too, right?
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes.
smandere1: I had like three or four friends whose kids were diagnosed with diabetes after they got, and there was like, was like was there and all of that?
Ryanne Siddiq: Wild. Yeah.
smandere1: And so oh you know speaking you know speaking to that, and I'm sure there's people listening going, oh my God, yeah, I was diagnosed with this thing in the middle of all of that. like you know just insanity, but to take it and turn or turn it around into these books.
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
smandere1: So, okay. When we spoke, I didn't realize that you actually drove the car. So you drove the like formula one cars to like, okay.
Ryanne Siddiq: No, no. So not a Formula One car, but on the Formula One track. So it's a famous track.
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: um It's a very high speed, um you know, very challenging track. and And yeah, that was, it was like our bucket list weekend.
Ryanne Siddiq: It was, you know, our fun time away, my husband and myself. And and here I am, you know, like sucking the fun out of all of it because I felt so horrible.
smandere1: Yeah, maybe that's so cool.
Ryanne Siddiq: So yeah.
smandere1: That's so cool, though. Like, i I don't know if I could drive a car that fast. I don't know if I could do it. And that's my best.
Ryanne Siddiq: I like to tease my husband. um I like to tease my husband that my life goal is to beat him on the racetrack. So, and it's it's not even, you know, we don't actually race like in races. We race against like our own personal best times. We race against each other's times. um So, you know, I mean, we do it for fun. Absolutely. But it was, yeah, that was, it was so disappointing. Like you spend all this money to go there and do that and and you can't.
Ryanne Siddiq: you're You're dangerous, you you have you cannot do it.
smandere1: yeah And it's got to be so scary, for sure.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: I will say we have out here the like, little racetracks with the cars with the like tires on the side, right? And and you're it's like a tire little course or whatever the like the teenage boys like to do.
smandere1: And I will kick my husband's butt like I'm like, do you not understand what the gas pedal is for? Why? You're so far back there. I don't know. I'm like, you're supposed to go fast here.
smandere1: Go try to beat me. I'm super competitive. He's not, it's you know, it is what it is. And so I just win. I win every time I win. We had a couple like date nights with like friends, you know, and it's like, it's kind of funny how the women are beating the guys.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes.
smandere1: Girl power, girl power. Why wouldn't we?
Ryanne Siddiq: Absolutely.
smandere1: Why shouldn't we? I'm not saying and say it's kind of funny because I should say obviously the women are beating the men because we're just way more, we're more badass.
Ryanne Siddiq: ah
Ryanne Siddiq: I love it.
smandere1: um So, okay. So in all of this, like you had this idea for this book.
smandere1: And like why, I'm just right, why a children's book and not like an adult novel with cars where a woman's a bad -ass or like why a children's book?
Ryanne Siddiq: So I actually, I did start with the idea of a novel um with a badass female character who drove cars, but there was just something, there was just something that said no, you need to write the children's book.
smandere1: yeah
Ryanne Siddiq: um I don't know where it came from. It was just there. And it was like, this this is the direction that I need to go in. um so So back to that quote, I downshifted and I took that curve aggressively. And um so here is my first book, Speedy Phoebe.
Ryanne Siddiq: And the second one, funny talking about girl power. So the the second book will be about, you know, her friendship with one of the other Carlites and, you know, how they have to work together and um they run up against a problem and how they solve it. And it's just, you know, it, and I have a female illustrator for my second book too. So it's, it's my little girl power moment and I'm just really excited about it.
smandere1: I love it. I love it so much. That's awesome. and Speedy Phoebe. She's cute. She's got lashes. If you're not seeing it, you cute a little red car with lashes.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes.
smandere1: like You can make her a Halloween costume. It's cute. um Awesome. And so so in in all ah in the middle of all of this, right I bet the book was like a bit of an escape.
Ryanne Siddiq: Absolutely.
smandere1: We're right, right? Because you're advocating for yourself now in the medical system, which is
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: a maddening process to be able to do. And like you said, like nothing is covered. you know we're going through like We were talking a little bit about like my younger one. I've said a few things on on episodes here and there.
smandere1: And you know it's it's you know dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, all of that, but the testing and the services and none of this is covered by insurance.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: I feel like anything that's gonna actually help you ah right, is not covered. Anything holistic, anything natural, any, you know, even therapists that, there are the some that take insurance, they seem to be still all booked, so everything's out of pocket for that, right?
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
smandere1: um So advocating for yourself in the middle of all this, like talk me through how you, I know you finally got a doctor that was like, oh, light bulb, right?
Ryanne Siddiq: so So I've actually worked with this doctor for years and he's wonderful. And it was, you know, um so he's the one who manages my thyroid. And we kind of always were looking for something else. And like I said, I had been tested for it before. um And there were just no obvious symptoms.
Ryanne Siddiq: you know Because, again, Lyme mimics all these other things.
smandere1: Mm hmm.
Ryanne Siddiq: And so it was, well, you we know you have thyroid issues. um you know And maybe it's you need this vitamin. Maybe it's you need more sunlight. Maybe it's you need all this other stuff.
Ryanne Siddiq: But it was when COVID hit and now it's debilitating, like I cannot get out of bed. it's you know i'm I'm dropping things and I cannot hold a pen correctly.
Ryanne Siddiq: um you know these were big triggers that Covid brought out and it was it was beyond oh you know maybe we need to tweak this or that it was oh something's wrong something's wrong and and he did he worked with me until we found the solution um now prior to him you know there's all the doctors that um you know oh you have um
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: you have fatigue, well, just exercise more. um Oh, you're getting you're getting older. Like, shut up. Like, that is not what I need to hear. Like, I'm i'm tired, yes.
Ryanne Siddiq: But it's it's beyond just getting out and moving. It's beyond just having more vitamins.
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: It's, you know, beyond all of this.
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: is This is not a normal, I'm a mom, I have kids, I'm tired.
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: This is like, I cannot. function tired. um
smandere1: This is the thing that you're speaking to, right? It's like listening to your body because nobody knows your body as well as you do. And I say this all the time as a health coach of like, women come to me and they go, how do I get more energy? And I go, well, talk me through your energy, first of all, because the energy is a, like a I don't want to say determining factor, but the energy is is the biggest clue that there might be something else going on.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes.
smandere1: Now, are you a mom of a but kid that isn't sleeping through the night? are you you know how How many hours are you sleeping? Are you waking up? Are we in perimenopause? Are we waking up with hot flashes in the middle of the night?
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: are we you know ah and cetera Do we have a sick kid? Is this a temporary? How long has this been going on? Asking the questions right to be able to go into the doctor and go,
Ryanne Siddiq: Exactly.
smandere1: blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And this is why it's not just exercise more and eat healthy. Is exercise more and eat healthy? Are absolutely my go -tos. They're answers for things. And I talk about this all the time.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes.
smandere1: If you follow my social media, I am exercising. I'm going doing cleanses. We're we're eating protein and clean and all of that.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes.
smandere1: However, if that's not working and it's not moving the needle even a little bit that you need to, it's it's a good opportunity to look deeper
Ryanne Siddiq: Right.
Ryanne Siddiq: Correct.
smandere1: When you go have a conversation, if you're not being listened to by the doctor, if they're blowing you off, or it's also what you're speaking to is the, like, the knee bone is connected to the back bone is connected to the shoulder bone thing, right?
smandere1: Of like, we forget that our whole body is connected.
Ryanne Siddiq: Absolutely.
smandere1: And I had an experience right before I got pregnant with my oldest, who's 15. And I was having like, I was having, this is gross, but I was having like yeast infections inside my ear.
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah.
smandere1: and and I was dizzy and lightheaded and I was super tired and I had this cough that every morning I'd wake up and cough for like an hour and and had to cough stuff up and there's all this stuff was going on and it was like okay here's some drops for your ear okay here's this here's that and I finally went to like a natural path and he was like oh you have candida like pretty strongly And then I was like, what's that?
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
smandere1: And then I looked it up and was researching it and all of this. And like, then I had to do this whole elimination diet thing, which, you know, fine.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: And then, um, really cleanse things out of me. Candida is hard to get rid of, but is used over taking your body.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah. It is.
smandere1: But there was a lot of things that I was like, why am I dizzy? Why am I coughing? Why is my ear constantly itching? And there's like, it's gross. and you know like And there was other stuff happening too, but like being able to go, oh, that's right.
smandere1: It's all connected.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: ah That was actually what started my journey into like health coaching.
Ryanne Siddiq: and And it's so wild to me because, so the main treatment for Lyme disease is like heavy antibiotics. Well, guess what? Antibiotics kill good and bad bacteria.
Ryanne Siddiq: And if you don't counteract that, then the yeast will ever grow. So then, you know, now you're dealing with the candida on um that side as well, which also makes you feel horrible.
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: So it's like, to me, it's it's It's like it should be a basic thing that a lot of doctors just don't even think about. And so that's where I'm really fortunate that my doctor that I've worked with for so long makes those connections.
Ryanne Siddiq: And it's like, I know I need to do another candida cleanse now. And he's like, have you done it yet? And I'm like, no, I have not. Because it's rough, you know, I mean, again, it's one of those you feel worse before you feel better things.
Ryanne Siddiq: um But it's just so wild to me that, oh, I'm a doctor. I'm going to prescribe you heavy antibiotics for so long. But most of them would not make that connection with, oh, heavy antibiotics, you're going to have a problem over here because of that.
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: So I'm glad you found out.
smandere1: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, your gut controls everything. So yeah, it's for sure. And so, so how do we like, how, how did you really advocate for yourself in that?
smandere1: Like, and, and get him, so you'd worked with him for a while and you had a relationship with him, but he didn't piece it together. How did you finally get him to piece it together and advocate?
smandere1: Right? Like how do how do women go to a doctor and go, Hey, knock, knock, knock, like right? like We got to figure something out, right? And like, we got to know when it's time to maybe change.
smandere1: But if you have a doctor that you, you know, my mom had this doctor, my mom's passed away now, but she'd had this doctor for her back and she had permission for me to talk to him.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah. Yeah.
smandere1: And I'm, you know, I don't, I'm not a spine specialist and I don't know all this stuff, but I kept saying like, there's gotta be something more.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: She was in pain for a long time, and she was getting the the epidurals in her back, and she was getting cortisone shots, and she was getting all this stuff.
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
smandere1: and and um I kept saying to him, like those and he kept going, there's nothing more I can do. I've done everything. and He was the head of the back at this hospital in the Bay Area.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: and I was like, you sound like you're giving up. And I'm not going to let you give up or you need to refer her out to someone else, please, because she's in pain constantly.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: And like, you know, so then she had come down to San Diego and her back acted up and we spent all day in the yeah ER and ended up making an appointment with the doc, a doctor here. And within he, because she was new to him and he was just a younger, like kind of just ready, he was asking a lot of questions and he was like, you know, I think your bursa might be an issue.
smandere1: And I mean, the bursa is on the side of your thigh, right?
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: He pressed on one leg, it was fine. He pressed on the other and he had to catch it. She crumbled in pain. And he was like, okay, I'm going to give you it because I just got to get you to be able to go home.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: So I'm going to give you a shot.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: I'll do in the back, the lower back. I can't do the full epidural thing. Cause that's a quote, quote, surgery and takes more time. But he gave her a shot in the bursa and gave her a shot enough to just get home.
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
smandere1: And then. It was another two years before that doctor in the Bay area said, I think I'm going to test her bursa. And I had mentioned it to him. I had, we had had conversation.
smandere1: I told my mom to mention it to him this, you know, and I kept telling her like, you've got to go to someone else.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: She kept going, he's the head doctor at this hospital. There's no one else, but I'm like, doesn't matter if he's the head doctor, there could be someone under him that's newer that maybe wants to think a little differently.
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: You're new to them, right?
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: This was the same medical system. just northern california southern california same medical system and this guy in southern california in one visit was figuring it out and i spent years talking to this head of this department up there trying to advocate for my mom it was maddening and meanwhile my mom was in pain you know
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah. yeah
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: Right. So i think I think a lot of it depends on the doctor. You know, is your doctor willing to work with you? Is your doctor willing to, you know, try to figure things out with you? And and like you said, think outside the box. Or is your doctor kind of shutting you down, you know, making you feel like it's in your head?
Ryanne Siddiq: um You know, that kind of doctor I walk away from almost immediately.
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: and And it's the ones that are willing to work with you and, you know, to to validate you and make you feel like, okay, I'm not crazy. There is something wrong. It's just taking a little bit of time to figure it out. and it And for him, it was that cardiac piece that finally he said, okay, now knowing all of your history,
smandere1: Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: from when I've met you until now with the thyroid stuff, with the tremors, with the brain fog, the fatigue, and now the cardiac piece. That was his light bulb moment.
smandere1: you
Ryanne Siddiq: And instead of sending blood work off to the normal, you know, going to Quest or LabCorp or whoever, and it, you know, follows the CDC regulations, we won't even, don't get me on that soapbox.
Ryanne Siddiq: you know, it it had to go to this this lab in California that had, you know, more sensitive tests that had, you know, a wider variety of um tests available to them for it to come back positive.
smandere1: Hmm. Hmm.
Ryanne Siddiq: And it and it wasn't even that the CDC tests were coming back negative. It's that their criteria was, oh, um, For Lyme, in order for us to send a positive result to your doctor, we need five or more what they call bands.
Ryanne Siddiq: So basically five or more yeah of their little tests to come back positive. I have four. I have four.
smandere1: right?
Ryanne Siddiq: So to me, if if I didn't have Lyme, I would have zero.
smandere1: Right.
Ryanne Siddiq: But i I have four. But now the report that they send the doctor just says negative. It doesn't say they had four out of five come back positive.
smandere1: Yeah, it's not so detailed, right? It's just like, A, is it true or false?
Ryanne Siddiq: Right.
smandere1: right on it on the Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: you know And we would we do this stuff for our children. I feel like I've heard of parents switching pediatricians and this and that. And we when my oldest was born, she was newborn, and she was so colicky. And I remember sitting in that office, crying I was crying, and Delia started screaming.
smandere1: And this pediatrician, who was an older lady, looked at me and goes, Well, I'm glad she's going home with you and not me. And I was like, I mean, if ever I wanted to hit a doctor, I was like, and I went home and I was like, we're switching.
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
smandere1: We're switching.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: I'm not. I'm not that judgment. And by the way, help me figure out why.
Ryanne Siddiq: Right.
smandere1: She won't stop crying all the time. I hate the write off of its colic.
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
smandere1: Its colic, just write it off. And I was like, there's got to be a reason. She sounds like she's in pain. And I think she, I did another elimination diet.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: So that made it something I'm eating because I was nursing her.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: And when I did this elimination diet, she stopped.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yep.
smandere1: So there was something. And then when I added foods back in, it was eggs.
Ryanne Siddiq: It was eggs for my son too.
smandere1: like Yeah, but that was ours.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yep.
smandere1: It could be something else, right? But like I was like, maybe if I eliminate, because I'm nursing her, maybe if I eliminate something from my diet that she's getting through me, that was my thought.
Ryanne Siddiq: Right.
smandere1: Again, I was starting to look into health coaching.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah. Yeah.
smandere1: I was trying to figure out this like holistic whole body approach to things. and so You've got to do a lot of advocacy for yourself. You've got to do a lot of research. We have the benefit now of of Google and and social media to ask questions and people to follow on Instagram and hashtags to look up and all of that.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes. yeah
smandere1: and Maybe there's something in there that sparks a light bulb for you that you can find ah just information and then maybe we go down the rabbit hole.
Ryanne Siddiq: Absolutely.
smandere1: As moms do, we go down the rabbit hole.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: Don't go to a negative place. right of like The world is going to implode and we're all going to die. right But like you can at least have information. You can print out or write out or put in your notes app and just take to the doctor to have questions to ask.
smandere1: And if you don't get answers that you feel listened to and supported and like they're going to do the work for you and work with you, then maybe it's time to look for someone else.
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
smandere1: right And you can write a book.
Ryanne Siddiq: Absolutely. If if they're really...
smandere1: And then you can write a book.
Ryanne Siddiq: There you go.
smandere1: hang Yeah, so where can people find You and find the book if they want to get it's a super cute book if you didn't see the if you're not on YouTube and you didn't see the the um cover feedy phoebe ah distance yeah like got je so you you speedy
Ryanne Siddiq: i I'm, it's, it's in the works. I'm, I'm, yeah, I'm trying to, you know, there's, as an author, there's so many things on the list of things to do that is one of many.
smandere1: you
smandere1: yeah Yeah.
Ryanne Siddiq: I'm, I'm working on it. T -shirts, you know, like we've got the fun shirts that, um, that I'm hoping to get out soon. So, you know, it's, it's coming. It's coming.
smandere1: She's so cute. She's so cute. I can see kids like zooming her around or something.
Ryanne Siddiq: I love it. Yeah.
smandere1: um Okay, so where where can people find the book? Is it on Amazon?
Ryanne Siddiq: It is on Amazon. It's also, you know, online and most major retailers, Barnes and Noble, um ah Books A Million. So you can find it in a lot of places. um It comes in hardcover, paperback, ebook. um So I've had a lot of friends and family download it, um and even not friends and family, but just, you know, readers download it for their kids so that when they travel, they have it on their tablet so they can, they can read it on the go to.
Ryanne Siddiq: um So yeah, um and you can find me. I'm on Instagram. I try to post some fun things about cars, about what inspired the characters, you know, what inspired the book. um And, you know, it's, there's a lot of me and one of my cars in the character Phoebe. um So, you know, that I think was a cathartic part of the journey as well.
smandere1: Love it. I love it. Yeah. I mean, writing, journaling, anything like that is so cathartic, is so releasing all of that and and putting it, putting, I think any author puts a piece of themself, right?
smandere1: Even like, I would think even Stephen King with it or whatever, there's gotta be pieces of him in there, right?
Ryanne Siddiq: yeah
smandere1: Like, I think any author you're putting a piece of your soul into your work. And so it's super cute. I'm so glad that you got that like, right? If we can take something such a hard journey and get something positive out of it, then it kind of gives it more of a purpose, right?
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: And like, okay, okay, I made it through, and now here's the this thing that came out of it, right?
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes.
smandere1: That it is for my daughter, with all the struggles we've been through with all of that, we found Ariel Silks, which is her sport, and she hangs 30 feet above, then spins herself down and does these drugs now, and it's...
Ryanne Siddiq: Like, I'm so in awe of that. That's so awesome.
smandere1: It's, she's crazy strong and she's found this thing that she loves and is so passionate about. And we found it through that whole, that whole period.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: It was, it was, it was one of those like, without having gone through that, we may have never found this for you.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: I think that if there's a reason.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yes.
smandere1: for the struggles, it's this. And I can't wait to see where this goes for her. And I can't wait to see where these books go for you. And I'm excited for book two. I'm excited for the second one too.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah, I'm, I'm just, I can't wait until, and until it's ready. Like I'm getting illustrations back from the illustrator and it's just like, Oh, it's getting closer. So it's, it's very exciting. And I, I appreciate you having me on and having the discussion. And, um, you know, I, I hope that somebody is able to, you know, just advocate for themselves and, you know, understand the difference between a doctor who's willing to help and, and one that's not so
smandere1: Yeah, for sure. Well, thank you for sharing your story and your heart in the book. And listen, we're recording this in October, 2024, probably going to release um this episode in like January, February of next year. So maybe by that time book two is ready and we can link it in the show notes.
Ryanne Siddiq: that would That would be amazing. So I'm hoping for a December release.
smandere1: was
smandere1: Okay.
Ryanne Siddiq: um ah ah The ebook might be available prior to, but it it all just depends on how quick these illustrations come back. And I'm just, I'm so excited to to be able to share with everybody and, um you know, hopefully those stories resonate with people too.
smandere1: Yeah. I love books that have the lesson and the meaning in it that like parents and kids can appreciate together.
Ryanne Siddiq: Yeah.
smandere1: and yeah So if there are any car enthusiasts out there, this is a good one for your kids. Thank you so much for being on and sharing your story. I really do. I think it's going to help a lot of people and appreciate you being on and spending time.
smandere1: And we will see you in the next episode.
Ryanne Siddiq: Thanks, Charlotte, I appreciate it.
smandere1: Bye.
