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Sun Smart, Skin Safe: Discussions about Melanoma
106 Plays5 months ago
Some quick reminiscing about Essence Fest 2024, a quick off key "Get Fly" interlude, AmiJo MD's colonoscopy caper (#Isurvivedmyprep), reminder that the Bubonic plague and chickenpox are still in full effect and our main topic about Melanoma!
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts
00:00:17
Speaker
Hey, welcome everyone. So another episode of chocolate with a side of medicine. um It's me, Dr. No-No joined with my three lovely co-host, Amy Jo MD. What's up, y'all? Dr. Chris. Hello. And Dr. Sunshine. What to do y'all? All right, so sorry I missed you all the last time. Life got in the way, but glad to be back. ah So I guess we just- We're happy you're back. Yes, we are happy you're back. Thank you. We like when you save lives, but we also like when you're here, so. I do too. I need a little iny in between. ass always guys It's always good to catch up with you guys every time we get on.
00:00:57
Speaker
um So, you know, readers, we were like or listeners, I guess. We always do like an hour-plus catch-up session before we start our recording. I know. We gotta do better. Uh, a partner is making fun of us. Like I will never record on time. I'm like, yeah, you're right. But you know, it's, uh, we need to talk and get stuff out before we start. So it's always helpful. You know, the funny thing is like, it's not like we don't spend that much time talking to each other. So it's like, we always like got to catch up. Like we haven't talked to each other in like five, six months, but it was like, didn't I just talk to you like two weeks ago? Like, why do we have, what do we have to talk about? Yeah.
00:01:37
Speaker
I mean, there's a lot of life being done in between, like, episodes. So that's why we have all this new material. So there we go. A lot of life being done. And some people, uh-uh-uh, Dr. Chris, be traveling like crazy. Oh, yeah. It was fun. I know. I went to SS Fest, though, so that counts.
Travel Adventures of Dr. Chris
00:01:57
Speaker
Oh, you did? Wait, this year? Yeah. Oh, how was it? You saw Janet? I didn't see Janet. I should have stayed to see Janet because the journey home was American Airlines was on some bullshit. let me just As always, yeah. ah I was supposed to get home at four. I got home at like one in the morning. What? Oh, yeah. You could have drove that. I mean,
00:02:24
Speaker
Wait, was it because of the storms? It was a series of unfortunate events, okay? Oh, shit. Like the movie? It absolutely was. My flight was scheduled for nine. So I, you know, trying to be a good responsible traveler and, you know, not be out here in these streets knowing that I was at Essence Fest. I scheduled through my Uber for 7 a.m. in advance, so I wouldn't have any problems. All done. Wow. um Adulting. At 6 a.m., they're like, ooh, so about that flight. Yeah, we can't do it. We got to reschedule you. Your flight is now at 3.03 p.m.
00:03:09
Speaker
WTF, okay? And so I'm like, well what am I supposed to do? So I wasn't by myself. I went with my line sister. So I gifted that ride to you know the other person that was with me, because her flight was on time. I do get to the airport. Of course, we did not leave at 303. We left at like, 445. Now, when I'm in the airport in New Orleans, I'm like, this ah flight you've put me on from Charlotte to Columbia, yeah, that's not gonna happen. That's gonna get canceled. It's coming in too late. I've seen this happen too many times. That flight is gonna get canceled. Cause of course that flight was gonna get in at like 1208.
00:03:51
Speaker
Oh, no, it'd be fine. Blah, blah, blah. And I was already thinking, you know, I'm not waiting four hours to catch a flight from Charlotte to Columbia. I want to find a way to get get back to the career. But, you know, whatever. So as I touch down in Charlotte, um now the storms have hit. So we touched down in Charlotte. There's been a lightning strike. The planes are all grounded, so nobody can leave the gate. Nobody can um get off the planes. The planes can't you know park. The planes that are in the gate can't leave. We're there. I get a text message saying, oh, yeah, that flight that we had you on, that's canceled. Hope we have rescheduled you to an 830 flight. But it's 7 o'clock right now, and we cannot go anywhere. Needless to say.
00:04:40
Speaker
I get off of the plane at 8.20. And the 8.30 flight is in another um term terminal. oh yeah So you know, I was like, I'm not about to sprint to to the terminal just to find that the gates just closed. I was like, I'm good. So I ended up getting a ride with someone who I saw in the airport. Um, that was like, Hey, I drove, you know, you can drive with me, but the storms are horrible. Um, we look for my bag. We cannot find it. We go down. I sit in, so I knew I was going to miss the flight. Once I got, you know, once I'm walking out of the gate at eight 20, I go to customer service. They were t totally useless. Um, they're like, Oh yeah, your bag is downstairs. Okay.
00:05:27
Speaker
And I go downstairs, I don't see the bag. I get in another long line. They're like, your bag is not, it's here, but it's not coming out because it was supposed to go to your final destination. And so it's going to go to your final destination. I mean, you can ask for the bag, but it's going to be about three hours before the bag comes out. Okay. fine yeah So you know in the meantime, my app is like, pick up your bag and baggage claim C3. And I'm like, well, that makes no sense. So you're like back in line asking again, because I don't want to leave. And they say, well, why would you leave your bag there? Because if you saw it in the app, right? Because that's what they'll do if you don't get it. So I was like, OK, y'all are sure that the bag is not coming out this fine. I drive um in the storm home.
00:06:07
Speaker
um with a good friend we had great conversation on the home but it's it's storming and so my car is at the airport so i have to go to the airport and while i'm in there i stop in at american airline baggage claim she puts a claim in for me they deliver my bag um the next day and of course they broke you oh they broke my So then I am trying to file the claim online, but because it's been more than 24 hours, my reservation number doesn't come up. So now I have to drive back to the airport and she's like, scan the QR code and do it online. I'm trying to tell this woman like, I can do it online. I've tried that. My code doesn't work. So she reluctantly puts it in. um And yeah, that's where we are.
00:06:53
Speaker
Um, I sent they, I did get a call back from customer service because when I got into customer service line, I called to see if it it would be shorter. They was like, yes, about a four to five hour wait. The man did eventually call me back. And what he told me was is to put this whole story in the email, which I did. because I paid for a flight, a leg of a flight that I didn't get to take for no reason of my own. So while I wasn't expecting them to refund me, I definitely thought they would give me like, you know, like cash credit back so that I could apply it to another flight at some point. I'll use it eventually. Man, when people hit me up like, I'm so sorry, here goes some points.
00:07:29
Speaker
Y'all, if you don't get them points out my face and give me some credit, like, what the hell? So I'm um'm a little hot with American. um In fairness, and and to be even, you know, I like being even most times. I've never had a whole lot of problems with American, and we fly them pretty often. So it's not when you don't have problems, because people be like, I never had any
Essence Fest Reflections
00:07:51
Speaker
problems. I agree. when When everything goes well, it's fine. But when it is not going well, American is doing a terrible job at trying to figure out. It just requires too many phone calls. I have called American at least six times in two days to get answers, right? And if you don't get the answer right, if they do something, they don't make it easy.
00:08:12
Speaker
on getting back in touch with them. So you're kind of right back into this queue all the time. So I'm very frustrated with American. I would have rather miss my flight and listen to Janet sing than do that. But I didn't see Janet. I did see ah Cash Money. So as I saw everybody listening. Hey, Cash Money on Friday was the business, okay? And it wasn't just Cash Money. It was Cash Money and Friends. So it was T-Pain. It was Bun B. It was... I would have flown out just for T-Pain, honestly. Representing for the 99 and the 2000s. So, because you know, I was like, man, it didn't dawn on me that Bumby was going to come out because, you know, first they hit me with, so I typed a text to a girl I used to see. And I'm singing. I'm like, oh, that's awesome. And so when he came out, like, my bitch is choosing. Yeah, I was like, that was great.
00:09:14
Speaker
Wait, there was this thing. ah wasn't um It was, ah I think it was like a recent news, but Busta was like yelling at the audience for, I guess. Oh, Busta Rhymes is great. During the performance or something? Yes, Busta Rhymes is great. Now, here's now you know i i'm not I'm not really criticized. it i love I was there early enough to see everybody perform. Because I figured if you paid all this money to see all the performances at SFS, then I want to see everybody. cause unlike Unlike a regular concert where you're like, okay, we you like movement we all went to Beyonce. So we knew what time she was going on. And so we were trying to make sure we released in the stadium before she would go on. And we knew that there would be some performances, but we kind of figured out that unlike other shows where there's going to be some big stars come out, it's going to be a DJ, maybe some small performances. And so everybody dragged drags their feet and we get there when we get there.
00:10:04
Speaker
For Essence Fest, I was like, no, we need to get there when it starts, because there's actually going to be some pretty dope artists that you will love, that you're going to see that just aren't the headliner. So we got there early. Busta went first. What? I thought you were closer towards the the main ad. I would have thought so too, but no, he went first. And so, you know, he went, he was like first. and So there's no crowd. People are still getting dressed, right? They're just, you know, they're crawling in. um Now, I think Busta had a great show and eventually the crowd was into it, but it was a really small crowd. So when he first got out there, he was like, hell nah, y'all ain't finna give me this energy. Put them phones down, we're going home soon. Yes, he did. He definitely did that. um But I loved Busta. It was a good show. ah He was great.
00:10:54
Speaker
yeah i like he bus ah Yeah. I mean, I think Method Man also was like, I think he said he wasn't going to perform anymore because he's like, no, these people know who I am. They're not giving me the energy. That wasn't from Essence. That was from that was so much yeah yeah it was a different concert, but um he did perform. Yeah, yeah. But it's it's just kind of like the energy of, I mean, Essence fans is mostly like mal older millennials and Gen X. I think it's it's a mix still. It's like a mix, yeah. I think Gen Z and these alpha people probably aren't as big up in us music than like then what we are. But I definitely think the energies would be a lot different for the younger crowd for for those two guys. I don't think they had anything to do with it. They both went early.
00:11:39
Speaker
People aren't there yet. No, I totally understand what you mean by that, because when I went last year, of course, you know, I'm always late, but I also was late. So I did miss some of the- Why the hesitation there? You're always late, girl. I thought she was trying to figure out another word to describe something else. I'm like, oh, tardy. Yes, you were always tardy. Late. Yes, correct. ah Yeah. It's all good. It's something. The casual I do know they didn't answer until 2 AM. So for people who know that that's how it's going to go down, they don't want to be there at seven, right? So some people are not pulling up till 10. But that means you've missed you know a lot of performers that went. So I'm not mad about that. It's just that if you go early, it's going to be a small crowd.
00:12:25
Speaker
Now, the people in the crowd were definitely into it, but you're in the Superdome, and, you know, the seats are not full at all at seven. So you're gonna get what you're gonna get. But even with that, I thought Busta had a great show, and people were really into it. So, you know, that just was what it was. But then when you get there early and you're there till the end, that's a long time. It was a long time. Listen, my legs hurt so bad. Right. It's a long time. So it's kind of like... cause you know but you had a But you had a seat, right? thing yeah Yeah, you haven't had a seat, but then you had a seat. You're standing the whole thing. It's like Beyonce. You stand up the whole time. No, no, no. I didn't know she was on the floor. I don't know if she was on the floor or she had a seat. I was 100 level, so you know I was up high enough that I could i could sit down. um But you don't sit down. like You keep getting up.
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah. I was up for Busta. Like, I like Busta. I was rapping all the words. Yeah, Busta's known for having good stage presence. Like, he's also putting on a good show. Yeah, he put on a good show. Because when I went, I was always standing up. Yeah, I stood up the whole cash money. And you know, people ready to go home. Like, it was like 12 o'clock. And the stage got a little dark. And folks started, like, walking out. And I was like, man, they ain't play still fly. So I know we ain't leaving yet, because I ain't heard my song. So it got to be something. And all we heard was, oh, g up yeah no, oh it was over um was over. I was like, Lil Wayne is coming out. So people started running back. Oh my God. So he came out. He was out there for another hour and a half. So yeah, Lil Wayne performed by herself. He was not on Facebook, baby. And Manny was out. Manny was there, but Lil Wayne came out by himself.
00:14:09
Speaker
Nice. he went He was out there by himself. I would have lost my every time. But it was 2-8. And 2 of them, I was still singing, get up, booze, put the fence down, goop, jee-jee-soo. Ain't got no job, but I stay shy. I stay shy. They pay my rent. Oh, my God. OK, OK, OK.
00:14:36
Speaker
We are too far away in the nation to harmonize. Because what's happening in South Carolina, Chicago, North Carolina, we can't harmonize properly. But yeah, it was good. so so yeah so yeah we know i was i was um country Dr. Chris was out here in these outside country streets. Oh, yes. It was nice. It looks good though. I saw a couple pictures. Thank you. I saw you posted to your Instagram for the first time ever. So do you think I really did that? No, your sister did that. No, you were tagged in someone else's post, so I get it. Your sister for sure did it. Yes. Yes. I still look good. I really like that white dress with the side cut out. That was really cute. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I went to a winery in
00:15:29
Speaker
What is it in Spain? It was great. I had a great time and I bought wine. I spent a lot of money. It was awesome. but
00:15:41
Speaker
Got tan, got like mosquito bites on just one arm. Don't ask me how that happened. i mosquito but Mosquitoes love you, though. I learned that in Houston. I learned that in Houston. I did not know that about you at all. I did not know that. You are not alone. I do not know what it is. what What's your blood type? I'm not even sure. I'm not even sure. I don't even remember what my blood type is. But they if they if I'm there, they're there in the vicinity, they will find me. They get my my ankles. I still have marks from previous ah mosquito bites that I've had.
00:16:17
Speaker
i don't I know at Dr. Sunshine's wedding, the groom was passing out these bracelets or something that were supposed to ward off the mosquitoes. I don't know if those, did those work for you or not? Cause i I just took my chances. i I have old negative blood. I don't know if that makes a difference, but I didn't really get bit up as much ah when I sprayed some bug spray and I was like, oh, I guess I'm good. Dr. k Chris, did you find yourself an Italian man or no? Oh, yes. Did you? Robert De Niro type.
00:16:48
Speaker
No. Oh, no, I did not. But. I went on vacation with my father. I love him, bless his heart. But you know, you can't can't, you know, do as much as I would like to do. So I didn't get to do a lot of venturing off as I had a rich woman plant. But that's okay. That's okay. Because I'm going to take a sip of it.
00:17:25
Speaker
There's always next time. them as a town did But you didn't get the bond. But you got the bond with your dad. I did. I got to bomb with my damn Barcelona was great. I did. I really liked that place. I think um if things in the States don't work out, um like I would hope they will around election time, that might be someplace I might. ah I just got to learn Spanish. Okay. It'll come to you. um Yeah, because I realized i realized when i went to when I went to Spain, I'm like, I really need to learn Spanish because there are some beautiful people there. Very. And I'm like, man, wish I knew some words that I could put together.
00:18:14
Speaker
but know I'm not going to make that mistake next time I go. I actually have not been to Barcelona specifically. I need to go there. I think I only went to Madrid and Alco Cebre, but we never got to go over to Barcelona. I want to go see the Sagrada defend the church that they were building in for like 200 years, something like that. I think they are close to finishing it. I heard it was really pretty.
00:18:45
Speaker
ah Yeah, Sagrada the Familiar. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't get to go to that because you need to get tickets well in advance. Yeah. So I got to see it and like say hi. Of the church. Now that is interesting because in other countries, like the church really gets to go, you know, i open to the public. Yeah, that's interesting.
00:19:11
Speaker
Even the Vatican was open to the public. And I was like, Lord Jesus, this is a lot. I'm sorry, Lord Jesus said the same thing. It was a lot. Man, listen, it was a lot. But it was still open to the public. You just needed a ticket because they were trying to control the traffic. How many people got in, right? I think so. Because they said you can go there and look outside. You just can't. I think it's a type of thing like that. You can't just go in without a ticket. Because even with the Vatican, we got inside, but I had a tour guide. So we were able to skip the line. And we saved like two hours because we had tickets and all of that. Yeah, we were just tour guides when we tried to go see the Louvre. I was so highly upset.
00:20:03
Speaker
Well, I'm going to bring us I'm going to bring us back to the States because I have the trending topic and it's going to bring us back to the United States. Sorry. You know, I try that's before you do your training topic. Because I promised before you do, a drink I promise people I would tell this story.
Colonoscopy Chronicles
00:20:22
Speaker
um Our next episode in this section. So I had a colonoscopy. Oh, right. Let me get my popcorn. Listen. The colonoscopy was fine. Okay. So ultimately colonoscopy was fine, but that prep almost took your girl out. Do you hear me? Oh no. So in context, two weeks before I'd watched my sweet husband have his colonoscopy, he was, you know,
00:20:52
Speaker
we needed to get him in because there were some things going on. And so he had something called ClinPik. And so the ClinPik kit came with a little bottle of whatever it is and a little cup that he had to drink five cups of, you know, any fluid of his choice, any clear fluid of his choice. And then, you know, so many hours later, he did the second bottle, followed up with his five cups of water, and he was done. So he drank his bottle of, you know, his, you know, Klintpick and was off to the races. Like, just wonderful. Like, oh, it's so great. I'm getting all clear. No problems, right? I'm like, okay. So my turn rolls around, and I don't get Klintpick. They give me mirror locks.
00:21:39
Speaker
So MiraLax was, you know, four, so at 4 p.m. you do your four laxatives and then at 6 p.m. you start your MiraLax in 64 ounces of fluids. So I take my laxatives and I start my MiraLax and I'm about 40 ounces in and it's nine o'clock and I am not moving anything. And I'm like, okay. I'm pretty sure I'm slowly moving by now because at this point, it's nine o'clock. We started this at four. And so of course I'm looking it up. I try to call the office, but they're taking too long to answer. he So of course I'm seeing like, you should have been moving hours ago. Here's some recommendations. Of course you could poo bomb yourself with some magic trait that did not sound ideal to me at all.
00:22:33
Speaker
Or I could do a laxative. ah um And so I opted for suppositories, and I got some more MiraLax. So OK, this has definitely got to do with suppository. I get a little bit of movement. Nothing tragic. I'm like, OK. I know I have not had a lot to eat in the past two days, but I surely, I wanna poop like this man is out here pooping, right? I wanna feel like, you know, like my colon is clean. Like this colon is clean. I want that. I want all of that. And I'm getting none of that. So now I'm like, okay, what am I gonna do? So I go back and get another bottle. First of all, I keep sending my husband back. And so he is hilarious. He was like, I know these people are looking at me like, what are you about to do?
00:23:16
Speaker
to your colon that you gotta clean it this month, right? And he was like, you got me out here looking crazy. um But I was like, listen, I love you. Please, bring me some more. So I get another bottle of your life. Oh, no. Two? And I am. And I am drinking. Yes. I'm like, I'm going to drink this next bottle of your life because I'm not, I took the, I took the day off. Yeah, you got it. last I am not, I gotta be clear, right? And I'm scarred from our days of counting when somebody, some patient wasn't clean, they come back down mad, you know, not clean, start over, NPO for the next 24 hours. And they're like inadequate, inadequate prep, inadequate. All right. Right, inadequate prep, NPO today, liquids for liquids for the next two hours, the NPO for the rest of the day, repeat cleanse, like no. So I proceed to, um
00:24:08
Speaker
re-concentrate my current fluids that I have left because this point is nothing's moving my belly's a little tight. So I'm like trying to get these last, you know, 20, 30 ounces in. So I get the next 20 ounces in. Okay, I'm fine. I'm like, I just need like 30, you know, 20 more ounces. So it's 11. Okay. And I'm like, I got to get this in because of course they say nothing else after midnight. So I'm determined to finish this last drink. I do. I get done at about 11 30 and I thought, okay, great. Not only has to do is move down, move down about 11 40. I got a non-specific warning from my body that I didn't understand.
00:25:00
Speaker
Just a little bit of. oh you that's all i hurt and Maybe the doctor in me, you know, I should have read it better, but I was like, I don't know what that is. I'm just going to stand up anyway. I don't know which way this is going to go. I don't feel like I need to move or anything. And by the time I turned my corner to go look at the bathroom. projectile vomit starts to shoot from my body at a trajectory that I cannot even understand. Like I'm still hitting, I'm hitting the bathroom curtain from the hallway. That's how violent this vomit is coming out of my mouth, okay y'all? And it is nothing but Gatorade. And I'm like, oh my gosh, cause now it's like 11.50.
00:25:44
Speaker
Justin is in the front sleep like and I'm vomiting the other 40 ounces of liquid that was supposed to clean my colon out. And it is everywhere in the bathroom because I keep trying to like stand up because I want this really to not stop coming out. I want it to stay down. And of course, every time I stand up to look at the ceiling, I start to vomit again, which sends it shooting through the sky and back down crashing to the floor, okay? It's ridiculous in my house. So i am I'm like a damn ah Buckingham fountain, like I'm just... And ah jewish I'm like, what the hell is happening? Y'all, I proceeded to be a whole fire hole sprinkler until all the liquid in my belly was gone, like all I could taste was vial. And so I guess it went on long enough that it eventually woke him up. And so he comes to the back and he is looking and he's like looking around, he's like so quiet.
00:26:41
Speaker
because I have proceeded to vomit over every surface area in the bathroom at this point, because I'm a little water hot, you know, just, you know, sprinkler system. He looks around and he's like, that was the wrong end. I know.
00:26:58
Speaker
So, it's midnight. You ready for it? You ready for it? Jeez. Yo, it's midnight. I'm like, I'm going anyway. I'm shaky, you know, my glucose is low, so I'm feeling a little... Amy Jo, you were a whole mess. Why didn't they give you Go Lightly? Go Lightly is a new list. Oh, you took two bottles of that? Oh, okay. Yeah. I feel you. I would have gone to like, listen, we're going to go. I'm going. I don't know what's going to happen. I took the day off. We're going to figure it out. I took the day off. They got to send me home. They got to put inappropriate cleanse. They just have to put that in my chart. I refuse to not go at this point. So I get a little bit of movement at like two, three in the morning, right? I have a couple of sessions and I'm like, you know,
00:27:50
Speaker
I don't know what it's supposed to look like at this point, but I'm going to go. All I know is that it's liquid. I'm going anyway. so I tell everybody, because I'm like, I don't want to get in there. Y'all start talking about me. I tell the nurse, and they're just like, don't worry about it. Sometimes we can just kind of flush you out a little bit if it's not terrible. We should be fine. All right. I tell the team as we're rolling back, my my GI doctor and the anesthesiologist were the two people that rolled me back. so while we're going back and I'm like just so you know just so you know here's what happened to me last night and um if I'm not clean i can that's right and uh he's like nah I'll be fine I'll be fine so I um
00:28:37
Speaker
I had the coat. I had it. It was fine. First of all, as soon as they put the medicine in, you know, some people be trying to stay up. Like my husband was like trying to stay up. He was like, I counted down to 70. And I'm like, I highly doubt that, but whatever. So when he like, cause you know, everybody wants to see how long they can stay up before they fall asleep. Listen, that was not me. So when he, when I saw him put that medicine, I was like, I feel that and thank you and good night. I'm just going to lay here. I'll see y'all a little bit later. Okay. Put my head down. That's the last thing I remember. Like there was no countdown for me and I was like,
00:29:09
Speaker
I woke up in a recovery room. He said I was clean. I read the note. It said adequate to prep. So he said I was clean. I had no polyps. I will see y'all in 10 years. He did tell me to eat more fiber because I had some mild diverticulosis. We should talk about that one day on the episode. But other than that, I ain't doing that again. Next time we get in the cold guard. girl you almost that well the way no the way your bowels move it, you might not really be able to get it over. Like, you wasn't getting nothing out. But that's the thing. I'm a gut pooch, you know what I'm saying? i I love it. like Now we're talking about how you're a gut pooper. Yes, I poop daily. Like, I don't have any problems. I'm not constipated. like And then I was thinking maybe all this time I had been constipated and I didn't identify it. So maybe there's like a
00:30:04
Speaker
you know, a chunk of poop sitting high up in my colon that I can't identify. I mean, we don't as I think in our diet, like we usually don't get enough fiber just at baseline. um Like that's that's no, I mean, that's true. That's true. But you know, some people I know, like with the, you know, with nutrition and the American diet, Western diet, you know, fiber is not like a big thing that's part of our, you know, daily food intake and whatnot. So it could be an issue for people later on, but I mean, yeah, but I can't believe it's coming out both ends. Oh my God. That was clear. Now I got him just well maybe five writers. Please come out of both ends. So yeah, I was like, all right, y'all, you know, I did it because I tell my patients to do it, but it almost took me.
00:30:57
Speaker
So now y'all know the story, because I definitely posted, like, I will put in our next episode. Now you know what I know. Go get your colonoscopy anyway. Write me back about your story. I'll share it one day. Right. But you survived, though. I wish you'd do that. Hashtag, I survived my prep. Wow. Yeah. Ask for Clint Pick. That's all I can tell you. If you're going to have a colonoscopy, ask for Clint Pick. Don't give it your luck. Holy smokes. Well, we can actually skip my trending or I could just make
Bubonic Plague in Colorado
00:31:27
Speaker
it super short. I could do it in like 30 seconds. The only thing I was going to listen, the only thing I was going to bring up is the fact that there's been cases of the bubonic plague in Colorado. um And many people would know about the bubonic plague basically from the 1700s to 1800s where it wiped out populations in Europe and Asia. It's like a third of Europe. like that Yeah.
00:31:49
Speaker
um So long story short, there's cases in Colorado. um I was just going to say that when you hear about it in the news, it is kind of just as crazy as you think it is. But it doesn't happen often, and usually it's well contained. so The way that you can avoid getting this plague, because it's actually not easily given from person to person, the way that you can avoid getting it is that you actually get it from a rodent flea. So it's basically an insect that has bitten an infected mouse, like either it's like a prairie mouse or an actual rat. And then that flea bites a human.
00:32:24
Speaker
and then the human gets infected. So the easiest ways where you can just avoid this is if you stay away from any dead animals that might be infected. So stay away from you know prairie dogs, rats, things of that nature. um Also make sure that if you have any dogs that you make sure that they are flea free because that's the way that it's harbored like into households is that the flea will be on the dog, the dog bites the human. I mean, not the dog, the flea on the dog bites the human. um A dog bite would eat be even worse. Well, I don't know. The plague is pretty bad too. But anyway, you know what I'm trying to say. And the other way to avoid it is if you make sure that you are not living in a place that harbors a lot of rodent activity um where there can be lots of mice, rats, things like that. um
00:33:07
Speaker
which can be hard in some neighborhoods because some people live in really poor neighborhoods. And sometimes there's rats and things in the building, and they might not know, stuff like that. um But ultimately, that's how you get it. um It can be cured with antibiotics. The problem is that a lot of the symptoms of the bubonic plague are very similar to the common cold, similar to COVID. One thing that kind of makes it stand out a little bit more um is that you get these the big bubons, as they call it, basically like really inflamed lymph nodes prominently like in the neck. in the ah pelvis region. I was going to say inguinos, but the pelvis region, for those that don't know what inguinos are. um And they end up getting like really, really big. like The size of like golf balls, like four to five inches in diameter, yeah. That's something that tears it apart from COVID and some of the other illnesses. um Not that you can't get inflamed lymph nodes from COVID, because you can, but that's one thing that kind of makes it stand out a little bit.
00:34:03
Speaker
it's important to get treated quickly. And once you get treated quickly, the treatment is antibiotics and it could be cured and all that good stuff. But I'm just letting you guys know that the plague is here. It is in Colorado. And it actually has made some appearances over the last couple of decades, but it usually is in the Southwest region. So there's been cases in like New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona I think um over the last like 20-30 years but that's just a trending just let you guys know be aware stay away from the things don't get the plague okay okay
00:34:37
Speaker
It is crazy that in 2024, we're still talking about the bubonic plague that happened in 1400s. Yeah. It's a thing. I think prairie dogs was a big deal for the, the, there was a mystery diagnosis, you know, I used to let that show and and they talked about it in the same area. This was like years ago and, um, the prairie dogs were the, the vector because they were carrying the the fleas that eventually, you know, did it. And and this couple had just been out hiking because they lived in the area and they came back and they did. It took them a while to figure it out because they were like, oh, it's the cold, but they were really fatigued. They were tired. And it wasn't until they started having the, um, the Boule, is that the board? Um, I think it's Boobles. What's the plural for both those? the s booboos I don't know.
00:35:31
Speaker
No. So when they started having the boobos, that's when they were like, do you have the plague? And when they tested them, it came back positive. I think so. I said it was really good. But it can be treated, but just, you know, just throw it out there. We're not going to get to plague proportions and like medieval Europe because we have basic hygiene practices now. um You know, people were like shitting in the streets and stuff. So that was probably another vector for transfer. I don't know. I just can't do New Orleans. Stop it. Don't do New Orleans like that. I love people in New Orleans. Don't do them like that. I mean, I love New Orleans, too. But somebody definitely did shit in the streets, I'm just saying. I was like, so that's what we doing. We're just doing the move. Nope, nope, nope. They couldn't make him to the bathroom. Maybe they were crediting for their colonoscopy. You don't know their life. You don't know their life. I mean, it probably was. Maybe they asked them what they knew, right?
00:36:29
Speaker
They started moving. They took their muralex. there some other than murla Excuse me, sir. How did your bowels move with such urgency? I just want to know. I'm just saying. they could have been A lot of people are prepping for the colonoscopy on Bourbon Street because that's that's a lot. they but yeah they And they don't even know it. But yes, that was my trending. It's come, it's gone. We could go into the main topic. Look, I want to keep the topic short and sweet, right? Because I don't want to drag it out a little bit. I just want to have a conversation.
Melanoma Awareness and Discussion
00:37:03
Speaker
And I'll tell you all like where this came from. One, we've all been out here in these vacation streets. So um do not be fooled by the conversation about New Orleans and ah Spain because the other two docs on this phone have definitely been in these streets as well.
00:37:19
Speaker
out here in the sun, sun's out, maybe some buns out, I don't know. They were at least at the beach at some point in time. So I'm just let letting you know that we were not the only two people traveling. They were out there too. um So travel gravel travel definitely kind of prompted this a little bit, but i have it's actually prompted from a sad story as well. So I have a patient that um has had a chronic history of some skin issues, nothing major, but just enough to have always wanted to have a ah dermatologist, did routine skin exams, you know kind of always did things who presented with some pelvic pain.
00:38:06
Speaker
and you know some soreness when running we did some you know but it's time I saw him he rested a little bit and the pain had gone away but while out on another run heard a pop and so we thought okay what is that and so at that time we were thinking okay maybe something musculoskeletal but we didn't see anything on any x-rays you know nothing you know was really that so after about a week and a half we did not find anything we went ahead and did a CT. And a CT came back with a pelvic mass that they that they requested that we get you know worked up, which we did. So we sent that on to oncology and it came back at stage four, ah metastatic melanoma.
00:38:49
Speaker
And we didn't have any any record of any skin lesions. not not in my charts and I went back in with stuff like that goes you just go back to look to see if you can find something that may have like you know been something that would have been the hint to to lead you down we had nothing um and so and it was everywhere so this is this is like really like late stage you know melanoma so i i think about um this person um because I've talked to them since you know diagnosis and just really had a long thoughtful conversation and you know just really made me a little sad that you know that this was here. And so I was like, you know we should talk about it, especially from an African-American standpoint, because you I don't think we talk about melanoma a whole lot. Nope, not enough. And we don't talk about it enough. And you know I just thought that there are things that people should know. So that's how we got here.
00:39:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's a myth. I think among black people that we don't need sunscreens or melanin will protect us. That is not you. We all still need sunscreen like that is that is a given. I guess another uncommon spot for melanoma is like under the nails. um That's I think that's how Bob Marley died. They found melanoma under his like a toenail or something. But um anywhere like skin cells proliferate, which is under your nails is a another spot where you can get melanoma. Yeah. So here's the, you know, so just a little bit of data, I'm not gonna, you know, drag it all down. But, you know, malignant melanoma counts for about 75% of all skin cancer deaths.
00:40:32
Speaker
Um, and is potentially curable if you identify it early. So in African Americans, melanoma is rare. However, when we do get it, our prognoses are worse than Caucasians, um, when we, when we have it. So if, you know, and of course I know a lot of things are like that, but I think, you know, one of the issues is that, um, the When you look at the numbers, melanoma is probably one of the most deadly cancers. It does not kill a lot of people, but for you know the death rate that occurs when it does happen, it is it is quite it's quite deadly.
00:41:13
Speaker
um malignant melanoma is. um So you know I think about one in 70 people end up developing a melanoma in their lifetime. That does not seem like a whole lot but the percentage of people that end up dying from it is actually one of the higher percentages than what we really see in any of the cancer. So you think about that it becomes really important because like you said we just don't talk about melanoma um in African American, you know, communities, you know, it it doesn't come up as probably as often as it should, you know, in offices and everything. And I think for African Americans that do end up with malignant melanoma, it is quite deadly. Yeah, because mostly you're catching it like in the late stages. And, you know, that's part of when you catch it on stage four, it's a lot extremely hard to treat um versus catching it like, you know, the early stage one or two. But yeah,
00:42:07
Speaker
Yeah. i think I think another issue is sometimes, especially with African Americans and ah different skin colors, like some um skin disorders present or look different depending on ah the skin color or ethnicity. So I think a lot of times, sometimes um that's a little bit harder to diagnose or they diagnose it later because they don't think that that's what it is. um But a lot of times what they say what I've, because I went to a conference and we talked about melanoma and how it would present in like African Americans. They said a lot of times it presents in the places where you don't think where there's least amount of melanin kind of like in the solos, with your feet, palm of your hand, those places. And also probably some of the places that you don't think to look
00:42:57
Speaker
And that's how some of these things could get missed. Because I have a patient, I actually had a patient, African-American patient that was diagnosed with a melanoma, but it wasn't stage four, I think they called it like two or three and treated, had done chemo, you know, and is doing a lot, a lot better. yeah Right. So Yeah. So that brings up an interesting point. So, you know, some of the literature suggested that, you know, there's lots of different subtypes of melanoma. I'm not going to get into those because I think the point that we want to drive home is that melanoma is still a thing in African-Americans. And I just want people to be aware and make sure they're doing the things we'll get to some of those things. But cutaneous melanoma, you know, primarily occurred, which is the is which is one of the most common.
00:43:43
Speaker
um happens in the six or seven decade of life, so 60s, 70s. And white people is most commonly on the trunk, right? Like 34%, 35% is found on the trunk of the body. But in African Americans, 56.1% is actually found in the lower extremities. So you, you know, where people are typically looking for melanoma, you don't find it as often in African Americans, you typically find it on the lower extremities. and It's probably because we'd be sitting under the umbrella, but we'll eat that we'll let these legs hang out.
00:44:20
Speaker
in the sun, but we ain't trying to burn the face. And so African-Americans is present with deeper tumors, which is a problem, because if it's deeper, then the chances that I'm going to see it in the office or that you're going to see it is going to be you know a little bit of a problem. So that becomes the issue. And there's a higher rate of like more advanced age disease, so more ulcerations. more positive lymph nodes than our white counterparts. So the the five year survival rate is lower um for both cutaneous and the subtypes. And um it just tends to be, you know, if it's going to have, you know, any sub subtypes, those are things is going to happen in African-Americans. So that, you know, just really becomes a problem. So
00:45:11
Speaker
You know, it when you start to actually look at the literature, you're thinking, man, we really should, like like Dr. Sunshine said, we should talk about it more because there is a chance that it's going to be more deadly in African Americans. There's also a chance you're going to miss it in African Americans because you're not going to be looking for it. And if you're looking in the lower extremities, if it's a deep tumor or a deep cancer, you may not see it immediately. And I don't think we think about, you know, stuff like that. I want to take this time to give a quick shout out. um So when I was working in the Bay, um basically there is a skin of color program in the Bay. So basically it's through UCSF, like University of California, San Francisco.
00:45:55
Speaker
And there's a doctor there, her name, black woman, awesome. She's Dr. Jenna Lester. And she founded this clinic through UCSF that specializes in skin conditions in black and brown people. And she was featured in NPR. She's featured in New York times. Like if you just type in like skin of color program, it'll pop up immediately. And basically, what she was doing in the Bay is trying to bring light to what Dr. Chris was saying, all these different skin conditions that present differently on skins of color, because it's very different than the way that we learned it in and medical school. And of course, since then, people have tried to put out more literature, kind of just featuring like skin conditions, especially the cancers and how they present on black skin on brown skin.
00:46:36
Speaker
And she's kind of starting an initiative in the Bay and hopefully it'll transition nationwide to kind of just get more people just aware of doing skin checks on black and brown people and what dangerous things may look like and not to dismiss it because you might not know what you're looking at. um So, yeah, just a quick shout out. But I think it's extremely important. I think Dr. Chris made amazing points. I think Amy Jill is making amazing points. And the fact that it's more malignant with us, if we do get it, is a great reason why we're discussing it right now. Because you know what I mean? Because a lot of times, usually I have my white patients come to me and tell me that they want like a skin check. And I don't even think I've had one black patient come to me and say like, hey doc, can you check my skin? Can we do a skin check in addition to my physical? I don't even think I've heard that even mentioned once from any of my black patients. I have to bring up to them about like,
00:47:29
Speaker
Oh, summertime, the sun, sunscreen, things like that. And it's just kind of like general maintenance. But rarely do we hear someone of color come in and say, hey, can I get a skin check versus people who know that they're fair skinned. They ask for skin checks all the time, twice a year, three times a year, moles removed, stuff like that. And it's just different. It's a different type of maintenance that they just automatically do. But black people don't necessarily do that.
00:47:53
Speaker
Now do you send your, like I don't do my own skin checks because I don't want to miss anything. um I know, I know we brag a lot about family medicine and we know everything and we do know a lot, but there's some areas that I'm like, I don't want to miss this. So I will, I will send out my skin checks to dermatology so they can get a head to toe skin exam. um I can only, I can only send them to, well, the system I was in, I can only send them to Durham. If I identify something that I want Durham to specifically look at. So in the referral, it'll ask like what part of the body, how big is it and what is the concern? And you have to like itemize it. So for some patients, they have a lot going on. So I'd be like, listen, the whole upper right limb of the arm, they got a lot going on there, but um I can't just send them without doing an initial.
00:48:40
Speaker
an initial assessment. I do an initial one. like I'm not like, oh, don't my eyes are closed. Go. But I just feel better when that exam is further supported by Durham to say, yeah, you're right. I didn't see anything. Or that one little spot that you that you said that it's probably benign. It really is benign. I don't want to do it. Because I'm sometimes a little bit surprised when I see patients back. They're like, oh, yeah, they biopsy this little spot right here. And I'm like, huh. Okay. So I feel like they're a little bit more aggressive than I would be, which is why I like it. Yeah. Eventually, eventually they'll usually end up in der- Oh, my bad. No, no, go ahead. I was going to say eventually they'll likely end up in derm, but our dermatologist, like our head chief dermatologist works heavily with like primary care. So sometimes she'll even want us to write in what we think it is. Like likely an SK, but assessed for a biopsy. Likely, you know, whatever I think it is.
00:49:38
Speaker
Nevis, like mole, but assess or whatever. But I think that's more so so they can plan what appointment slot they need to be in. Like, oh, we need a longer slot because this is big. We might need to biopsy versus like, oh, it's just a skin tag. We'll take that. So I think that's more so for their planning personally. Yeah. Yeah. I am, you know, not that we've scared you all half to death. Let me.
Detecting Melanoma: The ABCs
00:50:04
Speaker
okay find how to look so now in fairness melanoma is not the most common thing so when um sunshine said you know sk it reminds me that it's not the most common so so i don't want you to think that every time there's a skin cancer it's going to be melanoma it's not but it's important to talk about this because when it is melanoma there is a sense of urgency to get it right or to identify it real fast so
00:50:28
Speaker
When you talk about what to look for for your melanoma, you got to know your ABCs, right? So when you're looking at a a mole, and you can Google and download. So the American Academy of Dermatology has a body mole map. It's a really cool download that anybody can choose, and it shows you how to look and identify your skin. It also gives you a little table so that you can write down what you find. And you can bring that to your appointments, whether it be with your PCP or whether it be with your dermatologist is so that you can tell us what you see. Because sometimes we you know so you can miss it. So sometimes people are like, yeah, it was right here. Or they say, I found something. And you're like, well, where is it? And they're like, uh, uh, I think it was, oh, I don't know. Oh, I missed it. I don't know where it is. So I think a body mold map is great for um identifying and recording your spots.
00:51:24
Speaker
and figuring out what that looks like. So I liked the handout that um that was there, but let's talk about your ABCs. So A is for symmetry. So if you're looking at a mole or a dark spot on your skin and it looks like one half looks different than the other, then that would be asymmetry. That's the point to to make note. The second one is your borders, right? So most people's moles, and we all have moles in age spots and stuff like that. They typically stay pretty round. They have a regular border, right? You can tell what shape it is.
00:51:59
Speaker
But if your borders are irregular or it's not defined, like you can't really call it a shape or a scalloped, meaning it's kind of got like some rounded edges, that might be a concern. C is for color. So if the color is all kinds of different textures or different tones rather, that is an issue. So if you got some tan with some brown, with some black, or you got some red or some blue, depending on your skin pigment, that might be a concern. And D is for diameter. So, you know, we don't use pencils anymore, but if you had a pencil, a pencil with the old school eraser is about six millimeters, anything larger than six millimeters is an area of concern.
00:52:44
Speaker
um Now the American Academy of ah Dermatology took it a bit further and and added the E and the E is for evolving. So we've all got a little spot, but if you're if you come in, and typically you come in and tell me, this spot has been growing on me. I've been looking at it. It started off as a little dot, but now it's developing into something different. Even if you don't think it meets the ABCs, I want to know the E because in an evolution of a thing needs to be worked up. it Anytime you've got one of those ABCs in place, there is a high chance that I'm going to send you to dermatology and there's a high chance that they're going to biopsy that um lesion or that mold to make a decision about what's happening. I agree. And that's all.
00:53:32
Speaker
And that's all change the body man change in size, change in color, or it wasn't ever painful. Now it's painful. Any changes evolving in any way. That's that's how I view that evolving all across the board.
00:53:46
Speaker
correct so you know that's what you gotta know that's what you gotta look for and then of course you know how to protect yourself it's really about you know your sun exposure so and you know as black folks and i am guilty is as well. We stay not having sunscreen on. I don't know what it is we got against sunscreen, but we don't like it. We don't put it on. um You know, some of us don't even think we burn. So sunscreen um is helpful, you know, trying to stay out of the sun when it's at its highest, you know, you know height. So I typically tell people if you're going to be outside at noon or one o'clock and you live in the south,
00:54:29
Speaker
or you live in a a state that gives you lots of sunshine, that is a good reason to have on a hat, especially for our fellas that, you know, rocking the ball with the beard. Y'all cute, but please cover your head. Or put sunscreen on your face. um Or if you've got to be out, you know, there's these days now there's lots of longer sleeve things that cover the skin, but also provide lots of, you know, aeration that keep you cool. so you do have to protect yourself from the sun and at least once a year or even twice a year you should do your own skin check so if you want to download that body mold map and do a skin check and kind of make note of it and you can keep those printouts so you know sometimes people come in and say i notice a spot one of the questions we ask people is well when to start and they're like i don't know but if you got a record of your body mold checks you might say this was never on my list i did a checklist twice a year and it didn't pop up till
00:55:21
Speaker
December 2023 and now it's July and I'm seeing that, you know, I think it's grown. I didn't write that it had grown. And that helps a whole lot, you know, and they get you to a lot of different places. So I think awareness and sun protection is probably the primary things that I will tell you. um And, you know, just protect your skin, y'all. Black people, please do it.
00:55:48
Speaker
I think that's a great topic. That was really good. Because I think that is... it's And it's on time. It's the summertime. Summertime. It's It's someone who stayed outside long enough to burn, but I earned it. I was like two weeks straight in the sun. I was like, I'm going to get all the sun. And I did use sunscreen, but when when I burned, it dawned on me. And I was like, man, we should do a skin issue. Now, there is... and People who burn easily have a higher risk of malignant melanoma, just so y'all know. So I'm not talking about if you've ever had a burn. like Sometimes if you've been in the sun for 10 days straight, you get home and you're like, goodness gracious, I think I burned a little bit. That's probably gonna happen. We're talking to the people that say, and they and we think of this as a white person only thing, but it is not, y'all. There are black people that say, I cannot get in the sun.
00:56:38
Speaker
If I'm out there for 30 minutes, by the end of the day, tomorrow, I'll need jail. I'll need aloe jail. I'll need all kinds of stuff because I'll start to burn. So we do have fair skinned African Americans, or we have African Americans that maybe be even a little bit more brown, but admit that they burn easily. If you're one of those people, then you are at a heightened awareness that you should have your skin checks more often because you do have a slight increased risk of um skin cancer.
00:57:07
Speaker
So yeah, bet. Good job. But enjoy that sun though. Yeah, that was a good topic. I don't do screening because you're all coming into the hospital for other stuff. But if I do see something suspicious, then I will definitely point it out and send a referral dermatology. Point that out. but um um I guess another thing like the I know a lot of people don't typically like to wear the sunscreens because they leave like a white cast and I get that super annoying to have to deal with you have to like rub it in and never like completely goes away. I've honestly started using black girl sunscreen.
00:57:42
Speaker
I could put goops of that on my face and rub it all in. And it's there it's like nothing is there. So not we're not sponsored by Black Girl Sunscreen. But I'm just saying, it's the one sunscreen that does not leave a white cast if you have to put it on. There's lots of different, like yeah, there's Black Girl Sunscreen. There's also a lot of um different makeup lines that have started including s SPF as part of their makeup. like There's a lot of new innovations in terms of sunscreen for people of color. So there's a lot out there. Yeah. Yeah, you just got to put it on. You just got to remember to put it on. I think that's the yeah that's the whole issue. You forget because it's not if it's not in your daily routine, you've got to be out in the sun and you'll be sitting there like two hours in like, dang. I've burned before and it's not. Every sunshine is right. You've got to look. Yeah, I've burned before too. Yeah, it's not fun.
00:58:34
Speaker
But Dr. Sunshine is right, because there yeah there are some um there are lots of lines out there. Ironically enough, I was at Essence Fest. I saw Serena Williams, who looked amazing, by the way. That's all in the conversation. um She's got a makeup line coming out. And one thing she talked about was her tinted moisturizers also have s SPF in them. Because when she was coming up on a tinted circuit, she would be trying to figure out how to you know have both makeup and skin and protection. And so she would be at at home mixing her own like you know, sunscreen and her you know in her you know makeup to make a essentially what wasn't what we now know is a tinted moisturizer. So she has one. I like Supergoop. I think it's amazing. um You know, I think there are lots of them coming out and it's kind of cool to see, you know, more women of color making makeup lines than they also have been, you know, considerate to
00:59:28
Speaker
you know having tinted moisturizers with you know SPF protection. um Because when you're you know when you got this chocolate skin, regardless of how chocolaty it is or is not, there is nothing worse than putting on um a sunscreen and now you look new. And i have I have seen all kinds of variations. I'm like, this is yeah crazy. I will not name the the the product that had me looking like the blue man, but I was like, I can't do this. It was so bad. So I get it. But I still want you to put your sunscreen on. And don't forget about your body, too. So you know I'm a little unbiased when it comes to like what I put on everywhere. I will you know give me a sports one. I just don't want to wear off when I sweat. But on my face and my neck, I get a little bit more particular. That's just me, though. I don't know about y'all. Oh, for sure. Yeah.
01:00:19
Speaker
Okay, y'all. I guess it's time for the question. Well, I have some questions. Wait, do we have some questions? Hey, y'all, y'all sending questions? We have some questions, but I don't think we have time for a lot. We just got just one. he's Okay, so I think this. um So this question is what is the difference between chicken pox and shingles?
Chickenpox vs Shingles
01:00:45
Speaker
You know, I find this to be so interesting because kids nowadays don't even get chickenpox. Talk about a whole nother moment in time where I actually got the chickenpox. I was sent to get the chickenpox on purpose with my cousin. Chickenpox parties. Yeah, exactly. Like, oh, this one got it. Oh, your other cousin got it. I might as well all get it. Oh, just, uh, like, what? The whole concept is crazy. Which the CDC was like, please stop doing it. But we were in 1989, 1990, they ain't care, whatever. this This just seems wild to me that you would bring your kid to purposely get a very infectious disease so that they hopefully don't get it again. It was so, since wait, have you been, where you, did you have the chicken pot? I did not get the chicken pot. I did get the vaccine.
01:01:38
Speaker
Okay, so you don't understand. Oh, you don't understand. I just know it's the youngest of us, so she does not understand. It was so contagious that it was really not a matter of if, it was a matter of when, and ain't nobody mama had time to be planning no days off. Listen, that's going to get the chicken pox out of the way right now. So parents were like, if you're going to get it anyway, I don't want to be surprised. um definitely have visitors to my house when I had chicken pox. Like, hey, y'all. It was a time was had. You had so much company. Like, oh, your cousin's coming over. They're coming to get some chicken pox real quick. And they just let you play. They be sitting in the front like, I think that's enough. You should sit there tomorrow.
01:02:17
Speaker
on it was It was crazy, but I think parents are just trying to have a little bit more of a controlled infection rate so that they could, you know, plan their time off. It was serious, but the CDC definitely was like, that um think I think they stopped anybody. They stopped no one, okay? um but to answer your question listener um the the the difference in but the difference between to simplify it the difference between chickenpox and and shingles is really more of a timing thing so this is a herpes virus that we're talking about um i believe it's a double strand dna herpes virus but that's getting a little bit too technical but i'm pretty sure that uh chickenpox
01:03:01
Speaker
and she was a double strand DNA ah virus that you can contract. So when you get chicken pox, it's actually a respiratory transmission. So I know it's highly contagious, so you can get it if you touch it, but technically it is a respiratory virus. in chicken pox form. Once you get chicken pox, you can never give it back. It hangs out um in your nerve bundles, and it's just waiting for a time when they can come back and rise again. Typically when it gets reactivated, they call it a milder version of chicken pox, but I don't think I'm gonna say that out loud, because I don't want nobody who's had shingles to come look for me, because they don't describe it as mild. If you reactivate your chicken pox, we call it shingles,
01:03:46
Speaker
because it presents in a completely different way. Because instead of you getting a rash all over your body like you do with chickenpox, your rash follows what we call a dermatome. Think of yourself as got like a little ocean map. If you've ever seen the ocean map, that's what your dermatomes look like. And it will activate along one particular nerve bundle and give you the worst rash that is horrible, itchy, burning, people are miserable. That is shingles. So the difference between your chicken pox and your shingles is when you got it. um And so you can it will you recover from both of them. But unfortunately, shingles can happen over and over it again. But shingles is a reactivation of your chicken pox virus long after you recover it from the chicken pox. It can also be
01:04:33
Speaker
Yeah, one but the same things that trigger a herpes infection would be the same things that might trigger like a shingles outbreak. Like for example, if for some reason your immune system is not strong as if like, if you're under a lot of stress, you're not getting a lot of sleep. If your immune system isn't great, you're not eating well. Or if you got COVID or any, there's a lot of things that could trigger your immune system just be a little weaker than normal. And then that's usually when a shingles outbreak has the potential to happen. um And also with age as well, because as you age, your immune system isn't as strong as it was before. That's why we also have the shingles vaccine that's out. um So yeah, it's a reactivation.
01:05:15
Speaker
Yeah, and some younger people can also present. Girl, I saw it like crazy during COVID. I saw it like crazy. Yeah, and you were like, I don't know what. You're like, dang, it looks like that's what you got. You got shingles. And you're like, did you have chickenpox with your kid? They're like, yeah. And I'm like, there it is. So I saw a family of family with kids who the kids end up with chicken pox. So so grandma got shingles and the kids were young enough and and grandma kept the kids. They didn't realize grandma had shingles and the kids were were young enough to not have had their first M.M.R. and they all got chicken pox. And nobody nobody remembers it because people like Dr. Noah and younger ain't ever i'm like My sister had it really three years apart.
01:06:02
Speaker
She had chicken pox, but she didn't get the very same. I didn't experience the party. I am sorry. I am sorry. You didn't experience the misery. Most young people have not seen chicken pox, so most of you going through medical school and most of you going through residency training have never seen chicken pox. So I say, I have to say that these people got checked in and roomed and, you know, set up and I walk in this room and I immediately closed the door like, wait a minute, see, ain't nobody see this? And they were like, see what? And they were like, we don't, we don't know what it is because my staff is young. So they didn't even, like, as soon as I looked at this kid, oh, cute as a button, full of chickens. I was like, that's chickenpox. I know chickenpox from a mile away. And here she's sitting and I was like, dang,
01:06:52
Speaker
All of you have walked these kids in, sat them down, took their vitals, all this kind of stuff. And nobody knew what it is. They just thought, oh, you're going to see a patient with a rash. And I was like, that ain't no candy kind of rash. That ain't any kind of rash. Yeah. I was like, you need restory. Because I think people don't think about it. you know It's funny to see things like that. I guess the benefit of going back to school late is that um you almost have to remind yourself. So you know when I opened the door, um they were like, well, let's go back in. And I'm like, we can't. It's a respiratory contact precautions.
01:07:28
Speaker
Respiratory, yeah. as I was like, you had to put on Respiratory Precautions. They were like, oh. So it's been that long because most people get vaccinated. We don't see it. But yeah even more weight to getting vaccinated because see you don't have to deal with this. We're actually seeing a resurgence in some of those. We had a measles outbreak not too long ago, actually, because people stopped getting the vaccine for it. So chicken pox is one of those things. Yeah, please get vaccinated. be helpful. We did it. That's it. Good question. Yeah. That's a great question. Sound more like that, please. and I know that was awesome. I can tell. Dr. Doe, can you tell the people where to find us? All right, y'all. So check us out on our website at www.thechocolatemds.com, where you can send us questions, check our our board for any upcoming events, speaking engagements, the like.
01:08:24
Speaker
Um, also feel free to check us out on our social media. The handle for all of them is at the chocolate MDS or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and spill and threads. So feel free to send us your questions and also to our email, which is the chocolate MDS at gmail dot.com. All right, my loves it's been real. We will see you next episode. Bye.