Ignored by Doctors: How Pushing for Answers Saved My Life

[00:00:00] Welcome to Gut Punch, the podcast that explores life-changing moments. Hosted by Kathryn Lancioni, a seasoned educator with personal insights into resilience. Kathryn shares how life can change in an instant, shaping our path forward. Each episode features inspiring guests who face their own gut punch moments. Guests share their journeys through loss, upheaval and triumph. What to expect, honest conversations, lessons in resilience, inspiration for growth.

[00:00:30] Join Kathryn as she highlights courage and perseverance in every story. Gut Punch is a reminder that there is always a path forward. Be part of the conversation. Register now to join Kathryn for today's journey. Kathryn Lancioni Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Gut Punch Podcast. My name is Kathryn Lancioni, and I'm your host for today's show. Today we're joined by Tiffany Jenowitz, who is definitely someone who has a pretty set of pretty recent gut punch that

[00:01:00] I think is going to probably be relatable to so many people listening to this conversation. And so, Tiffany, first of all, welcome. Thanks for being on the show. And thank you for being, I don't know, just so comfortable sharing with us what you've been through. And I know having someone who's been through her own medical challenges, I think what you're going to share with everyone today is really going to resonate. And a lot of really important takeaways that we'll talk about at some point in our conversation.

[00:01:30] Kathryn Lancioni Thanks for having me, Kathryn. Kathryn Lancioni My absolute pleasure. So why don't you share with everyone a little bit about who you are, what you do, and then we'll get into the gut punch. Kathryn Lancioni Okay, perfect. Well, I am a personal and business development coach, and I really coach people around the concept of infrastructure as a whole. We look at the personal side and your personal foundation as far as your habits, your mindset, your skill set, and everything like that. And then that bleeds into the success of business, right?

[00:01:56] Kathryn Lancioni And the business infrastructure, building, scaling, all of that kind of stuff. So that is what I coach around as a whole. But my principle and why I got into that was through my own journey of development. And that has been something that has rewritten itself over and over and continues to redefine as identities do.

[00:02:16] Kathryn Lancioni And, of course, as you referenced, my last two years in my health journey has really solidified my why of why I'm in this space and why I feel a great responsibility to share with others and pour into others in hopes to save others. Kathryn Lancelin No, and I think as everyone's going to hear from Tiffany's story, the importance of asking questions and the importance of listening to yourself. Because as you'll hear from Tiffany's story, sometimes when things don't feel right, they aren't right.

[00:02:45] Kathryn Lancioni So Tiffany, I don't want to steal your thunder. So let's just share your story with us. Tiffany Okay, perfect. But well, I'll just, I'll make this as condensed as possible. But to really put things into perspective, we rely on other people in their professional setting to guide us in different directions, right?

[00:03:03] Kathryn Lancelin And specifically in the healthcare journey, right? When we are feeling anything, we rely on people in their special industry to be able to go to an advice and feel like we're getting the truth from them. Kathryn Lancelin SME is the acronym, you know, subject matter experts. Kathryn Lancelin Yes, exactly. And what I found was, I was the true SME of my own body and my own self as a whole.

[00:03:29] Kathryn Lancioni When I went to go to, you know, to different, so I'm just going to, I'll go through the journey of this. Kathryn Lancelin I was experiencing some pain in my left breast several years ago. As a woman, we have hormones and I have a little boy, I've nursed him. And so there's a lot of things that have physically happened to my body over the several years. But I started paying attention to that and really listening to my inner voice. Kathryn Lancelin Closed the margin of error of what could be happening for myself.

[00:03:59] And what I mean by that is I really paid attention to my habits, my lifestyle, the decisions I was making externally to input into my body. Outputs and inputs, they matter, right? And I was really closing the margin of error there. And as I went to go express some of these concerns to healthcare professionals, they were just being dismissed. And I was being told that I was fine several times. And that ended up being, that word fine ended up being like the F word that we don't say in my home any longer.

[00:04:26] Because that is truly the root of something bigger. And through my own courage to speak up and to press past the word fine and to push for more, I was actually diagnosed with breast cancer through a matter of different tests and everything like that. But when I was relying on the standard tests and the blanket procedures, it was telling me I was fine. But I just had that hankering for myself that it wasn't. So let me interject in here.

[00:04:55] And this is from someone who does everything the doctors tell her to do as far as tests and all that. So you went for a mammogram. I did. Nothing. And you're going on the schedule that we're told. Like once a year, you go for your 3D mammogram. And did you do a sonogram as well? I did a mammogram and then they did an ultrasound instead. Okay. And they did it on both sides. So they would have a reference point of like, okay, I'm having pain in the left side. And then an actual lump formed there as well.

[00:05:23] So they wanted to look at the tissue type and everything. And they did that on the left side versus right side. But to your point, I was just told that it was dense breast tissue. Wow. And that's because, you know, what someone at Tech once described, you know, the whole process. He says, if one has dense breast, trying to find a thing, a formation, a tumor, whatever word we want to use.

[00:05:48] And given that it just snowed in New York, this is a really appropriate analogy. Trying to find a tumor in a breast is like trying to find a snowman in a snowstorm. Because the tumors are white and the dense breast tissue is white. So, and normally, normally what they say is you go for a mammogram. And then if you have dense breast tissue, you go for a son, you do for the ultrasound and a sonogram. You did that. And they're still telling you it's dense breast tissue. Yeah.

[00:06:18] So, but you were like something inside of you told you that was not right. Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. I was just like, that just doesn't really sit right. And I will tell you, when I started this journey and I decided that I was going to really like figure out what was happening. And this was past hormone, the hormone level and everything. I was talking to the nurse practitioner in my OB office and she's ultimately the one that saved my life and really encouraged me to self-advocate for myself.

[00:06:45] Because she looked at me and she said, Tiffany, during this journey, if any time the answer does not sit well with you, there are, then push for more. Never settle if the answer does not feel true to you. Right. And so I held on to that and when the answer didn't feel right and they were like, it's just dense breast tissue. Come back in six months. I was like, I don't think so. So, all right.

[00:07:08] So normally from personal experience, we know that you go for the mamma, you go for the ultrasound and you weren't happy with the ultrasound results. So then what happened next? Take us through that. Yeah. So I got the call from the tech and she was like, I'm calling to go over your results. It's just dense breast tissue. So we're going to schedule you in six months and then we'll do a comparison at that point. And I said, I'd really like to schedule with a breast surgeon. And she said, can you give me a reason why?

[00:07:34] And I said, because it's my body and I can feel that there's something bigger here and I want to push for this. And so she was a little reluctant at first, but she scheduled. And when I got to the breast surgeon, she looked at the differences between the two images, the left and the right side on a sonogram. And she was like, there's different tissue types here. When I really look at this and see, she's like, I'm not happy with just saying, okay, let's come back in six months.

[00:08:01] And so she was like, I want to do a biopsy. And that's when I went in for the biopsy and I got pushed back again. After the biopsy? No, when I went in to get the biopsy, when the biopsy was even ordered, the radiologist came out and he was like, he looked at me and he was looking at the order and he was like, your mammogram was fine. Why are we doing this? And that's when it just reaffirmed to me, like I am my own advocate here and I'm going to have to continue this pushback.

[00:08:28] Well, for anyone who's listening, it's not like you can just snap your fingers in order a biopsy. Like it's a process because it's like thousands of thousands of dollars. You have to write referrals and it's not like I can walk in and be like, I think I want to do this example. Take a large needle and yeah, no, you can't do that. So you get pushback on doing the biopsy. And, but they obviously, they did it, I'm assuming. Am I right? Yes, they did it. Results came back. Hypertrophic cell, everything looks normal.

[00:08:57] So for those listening that maybe don't know what a hypertrophic cell is, that's just a fast growing cell. And so when we're looking at cost versus pushing for more, the risk to reward ratio of going in for more testing for someone that just is looking at hypertrophic cells, they want to shut you down at that point again. Right, right. And so I said, there's got to be more we can do. I know that this isn't right. And my breast surgeon said, okay, then we'll keep pushing.

[00:09:26] And she ordered a contrast MRI. Wow. And for someone with small breasts like myself, that to your point, trying to find a snowman in a snowstorm, that's exactly how she, she described it to me too. She said, your mammogram, when we look at that, it's like holding up a white piece of paper. You don't see anything. It's not telling us anything. Yeah. And so an MRI is more sensitive, but less diagnostic. But that's all we needed. That's all we needed was something to say there's more here.

[00:09:54] And so she ordered that. I went in for that last December. So December of 2024. And those results lit up like a Christmas tree. Wow. So what did they find after the MRI? So during the MRI, that's when, because it was a contrast MRI, my entire left breast was lit up and my right side was totally black. And so that told us something is wrong here.

[00:10:20] But again, to my great surgeon, Dr. J. Swal, she was like, now we have to repeat some tests. So they did a repeat biopsy in two different angles that went deeper. And so again, it was just gathering more cells in there. And I did get a little bit frustrated. I was like, if we know something is wrong, then why are we doing a biopsy? Why don't we just go in and get whatever this is? And she said, I hear you on that one. I did feel like at this point I was being listened to.

[00:10:50] I was finally in the right hands. And she said, from my perspective, if there is cancer involved, my surgical cut would be different. And that's all I needed was like, OK, that makes sense. So we just needed some explanation. And so they did. They went in. They did the biopsy in two different angles, went deeper. And those confirmed there's breast cancer. And let's just like add in there, going for a biopsy is not fun. Like this isn't like a walk in the park, you know. I mean, how did you?

[00:11:18] I mean, I know that, you know, I understand the motivation because you know there's something wrong. I think there are times where you know there's something wrong. And you know, like in this day of quote unquote modern medicine. And I do find that phrase of ironic. That isn't what I've been through. I mean, it's more of a cake medicine. But that there has, you know, there has to be something else, right? There has, you know. Yeah. Um, how did you like just girl up to like go back for the, I mean, because the biopsies are not pleasant.

[00:11:48] How did you girl up to get to go back and do that? Like, well, I, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you're so right. The biopsies, they're, they're terrible. They hurt. I mean, and they also like when they do a biopsy again, more for education for those who are like, I don't understand even what this entails. When they do the biopsy and they take the tissue out, they actually insert like a metal clip where they've done these biopsies. I didn't love that concept at all. I don't want something else foreign just sitting in my body.

[00:12:17] So there is, there are different viewpoints that you have to think about. Like, okay, if I'm going to keep pushing for this, I know now I'm walking away with three metal clips in my left breast at this point, right? So there are angles that you have to look at it. But my, my reasoning for it was really like sat in the dark with it. And I looked at like, if this is, let's take this at worst case scenario. What is going to be the repercussion if I don't use my voice? And it would have cost me my life. Death.

[00:12:46] I would have left my four-year-old little boy without one of his moms. I would have left my wife without her wife. There would have, I mean, it's a, it's a multiplier, right? And I would. I mean, the repercussions are just, yeah. I mean, death, like that literally is what it is. Yeah. Truly. Yeah. And, and it really was like a, I mean, it was a very spiritual experience for me to sit in the dark in that and wrestle with like, what could this be?

[00:13:12] There's a lot of unknowns in that space too of like, okay, I'm also pushing to uncover something that might be really scary and we might be in for a grueling journey. And I've been asked that before, like for some people that are like, oh, I've like felt this thing, but I don't know. I don't want to know what it is, you know? And again, it's like when I'm sitting there weighing the choices that, that was what would make me push back and say, we've got to get to the bottom of this. And I knew in my heart, like, I'm not done on this earth.

[00:13:41] I have a lot to do. I have a lot of work to do. And that also kind of solidified, like, maybe I meant to help people and find their voices in these scenarios because I'm having to push so hard to use mine. Well, and I, I, I have had girlfriends who have two very, very, very close girlfriends. Part of my, like, if I had to pick three women in the world to be on an island, these two of the three, um, and they both had breast cancer.

[00:14:06] And you know, one of them, it was found very early and the other one was found very late. And just seeing how the treatment protocols were so different given early stage versus late stage. So we're talking like stage one versus stage three, right? Very, very, very different, very different process, very different recovery path and very different today in terms of what they've both had to go through. Absolutely.

[00:14:36] And, and so when they discovered yours, what stage was it? One. I was, I was in stage one, which I'm so grateful for. There were a lot of things that were coming up that if, if I wouldn't have caught it when I did, I mean, for, to be totally transparent, we were getting ready to have another baby. And I am the one who carries our babies in this, in this beautiful life that we have. And if I would have gotten pregnant and nursed again, I mean, I would have shut this down

[00:15:05] for two years minimum and imagine. Yeah. Easily. Yeah. Easily. So I'm grateful that we were able to catch it in one. Well, and I'm grateful that you were able to ask questions and you got, you know, that your intuition was right. And I think, you know, lesson one from this conversation is like, everyone's listening, whether you're a guy or a girl, you got to listen to your, your intuition. You know, when something feels off, it usually is. Yeah. And that is something I know for myself. I know.

[00:15:31] And I know just like you did, like asking questions, you know, really changed the course of my treatment plan with what I went through. And had I not, like my life today would have been very, very, very different. So, all right. So take us through. So stage one or very early stage, what was your treatment that you had to go through? So, so when we, when we went through the different options of like what we could do, I elected for a double mastectomy. She did offer like, you can do a single or a double.

[00:16:00] For me, I would have felt like a ticking time bomb if I didn't go for the double. There's many, many reasons behind that. But I was just like, you know, let's get these out of here and get all of the risk that we can. Let's mitigate it, you know, as much as we can. And so I went in last March, I went in for my double mastectomy and they checked the lymph nodes on the left side while they were in there. And by miracles, the lymph nodes came back clear. So when we, I'm going to rewind a little bit.

[00:16:27] When we got that second biopsy, the markers that came back showed both introductory carcinoma, which is just like DCIS is a term that you'll hear often in the breast cancer world. And that just means like that the cancer has stayed within the ducts in the breast. That is best case scenario. If you're going to get a breast cancer diagnosis, that's the one you want. Right, right, right. When we move to intravasive, that's when it's moving out of the ducts. That's when bloodstream can get involved and spreading starts.

[00:16:57] My second biopsy was showing both. Wow. And so when we went in for the mastectomy, I was prepared for like, this could be a lot. This could be treatment for a long, long time. This could be chemo. This could be radiation. A number of different things. And when they ended up doing the, when the biopsy or when the mastectomy came back and the results from everything came back, everything was contained in the ducts still. Oh my God. You were so lucky. I was so lucky. I was so aware of that, which.

[00:17:26] It just like, because if you had waited a little bit longer. Yeah. It sounds like it was on the cusp of spreading. My, my breast surgeon was like, if you wouldn't have kept pushing, this would have been wildly different so quickly. Wow. Yeah. So that was when I was like, I am meant to share this message with as many people as I can share it with. And what's been really beautiful about that part, like that journey of it, Kathryn Lancioni, is like connecting with lovely individuals like yourself, right?

[00:17:55] And we get to share our health journeys of, you know, everybody is going to have their moment of something. It's not breast cancer. It may not be cancer. It may not even be medical, but there will be a moment in your life when your life is going to come to a screaming halt and you're either going to make room for that voice to talk to you or you're going to shut it down. Yeah. There's sink or swim. I mean, you know, we, we talk a lot about that on the show. You know, you've got two choices or you have a choice, path A or path B. Path A is move forward.

[00:18:24] Path B is curl up in a ball and don't move forward. It is that simple. 100%. What was it? So, you know, I, I share your fortitude. I know when I was at my lowest, when I woke up in a, from a coma, I didn't know where I was and couldn't talk and couldn't move. I, my, my, you know, after the thought of like, like what has happened? Like, what is this? You know, once I sort of, it took me a couple of days to kind of figure things out.

[00:18:49] But I, my motivation, and I've shared this before with other guests to get better was mink. Right. I, I, so silly as it sounds, I would look at my LinkedIn picture and I was like, I need to get back to being that person. So my motivation was myself to get better. And, and it was all in me, right? I could still be in that hospital bed, you know, barking out orders, but, but I'm, I'm not, I kind of got tired of the food, honestly. But anyway, but only so much grilled chicken one can have. But for you, what was your motivation?

[00:19:19] You know, cause yours is two parts. One is the quest for knowledge, right? And two is the, I mean, a mastectomy again, for my, my friends that have gone through it, like one is bad, but two, a bilateral, like that's a lot. What kept you going in both instances? So a lot of things kind of, for me, fell into place mentally. When you're laying in a bed and you can't use your arms for weeks and weeks, you have a lot of time to sit in your head, right? When you are a segment, a lot of things you're having to rely on others.

[00:19:49] And for high performers like ourselves, this is a very humbling thing to go through. When I'm the one who is usually pouring into others, I am a giver by nature. I love serving people. And to have that, that script flipped and to be the one having to accept the help. And, um, it, I, I, I learned a lot. Let me just chime in here. It's not just accepting the help. It's asking for the help.

[00:20:16] I mean, I was so weak at one point, I couldn't even push the button on the remote. Right. So, and to your point, you know, I'm someone, you know, that normally is like dancing around doing all this stuff. You know, I do more in one day than people do in a week. And like, you can't even change the channel on the television. Oh yeah. I can't open, I can't open the chapstick lid. No. I mean, it is 100% taking you down to mandatory stillness. Yes. Don't do well in still. I'm the same.

[00:20:45] I'm like my plate full. I'm going and not in a bad way. I'm just a high performer. I wake up and I get a lot of things done from sunup to sundown. And then we do it again. And, and, and I love that space of it, you know, but to that point, I'm, you know, when you lay in bed and you have that time to think and reflect, a lot of things fell into perspective for me. And a lot of pieces kind of like the puzzle started coming together for me of, it was no

[00:21:13] coincidence to me that I had spent the last year and a half doubling down in my habits and my mindset to prepare me for a moment I didn't know was coming. And I was mentally and physically the sharpest I've ever been going into a battle like this. I cannot imagine being in a physically unfit situation, walking into a double mastectomy. And I know people do it all the time.

[00:21:41] And I, I, I have a really hard time wrapping around, wrapping my head around that aspect. It is an athletic event. Well, well, you and I talked about that. I, I, um, you know, I too am very focused on my, on my health and fitness. Yes. And when I, apparently, when my husband got to the hospital, the doctor asked him, you know, said, tell, tell me some stuff about your wife. One of the things that he said was, you know, she's very focused on fitness and health. She's a runner. And the doctor took a deep breath and said, thank God. He goes, our runners can always, our runners always come through. Yes.

[00:22:10] And of course, the question is why? Well, with running, your heart is used to going up and down, you know, vacillating. So when I got to the hospital, my heart was apparently at 10%, although I still have conscious. But apparently, because it was used to, I'd run for 20 years, because it was used to that, you know, that stagnation up and down, it was still able to pump blood, to pump blood. Not efficiently, but somewhat pump blood at 10%. So it is, you know, so anytime no one does this anymore, prior to getting sick, people are

[00:22:38] like, you know, you work out too much, you're too focused on your health. That literally is what saved my life was my, to my fitness. And it sounds like- And likewise, because if I wouldn't have been in the physical shape that I had been in, then I could have chalked up, oh, this pain in my left side is due to some inflammation because I'm not doing X, Y, and Z. But those are the, those are the margins that I'm talking about that I got to toss those all out the window because I was so focused on my physical health.

[00:23:07] And, and I share with people all the time, like the physical aspect of like the payoff of a fit body or whatever, that's the cherry on top to me. The physical part is exactly what you and I are talking about is when your body is jarred, because it's not an if for people, it's when, when an event comes up, how is your body prepared to handle something like that? And building on what you're saying, you don't know when I went running into bar class the day before I was put into a medically induced coma, right? Literally.

[00:23:36] So you never know when, when something weird is going to happen. Absolutely. And you just have to hope that you are physically able to handle it. Yes. Yeah. And I think that that's why, you know, when people are like fall in love with the process, fall in love with the preparation, that's really what we're talking about is like get consistent and fall in love with the monotonous daily habits that will save your life when that moment comes, right?

[00:24:06] Whether it's mental or financial or physical, whatever the habit is, it may not be the most shiny thing and fun thing that we're talking about. But if it's something that's maintaining your health overall, you're, you're just dropping coins in the bucket of like, you're preparing yourself for the event. And it's unknown. You know? She froze. Alas, are you there? You're still there. Tiffany, are you back? There you are. We can, we can, we can, we'll splice. Don't worry. Okay. So go ahead. Do what you were saying.

[00:24:35] I was just saying like, that's what's so important about falling in love with the monotonous habits. You know, is there, it's, it's just dropping a daily coin in the bucket of your preparation. And so anyways, you know, circling back to laying in, you know, in my bed and, and really having time to reflect. It was no coincidence to me that I had spent the time double down, you know, doubling down into those habits, into the mindset of that.

[00:25:00] And then that solidified again to me of the importance of that gave me the ability to use my voice. That gave me the ability to listen to that and then use it. It gave me the ability to so much and now I feel this great responsibility to share that with others and the importance of why did, why is this important? Why do we need to take those steps to trust ourselves and to feel in line with ourselves? How, okay. So one of, and I love all that you just said, and I want to build on that.

[00:25:30] So one of the guests we had on a few weeks ago, we were talking about this concept of well-being, right? And how it really, it's not, you know, for a long time, everyone just talked, talked about physical health, right? Now, thankfully, we're talking about mental health. And what she and I got into was this conversation of wellness and how wellness is the marriage of physical health and mental health. You were like I in great physical health when you went in.

[00:25:58] And I think, you know, the difference between what you went through and I went through was like, I woke up for being in a coma, which I'm not going to say it's any better, right? You had a protocol. It's getting a protocol that you had to follow. So you went in and knew what you had to do. I just kind of like was pushed out of an airplane and was like, what? Like, what did I do? Okay. But how mentally, like, so mentally what got me through my thing was like, I woke up in, I'll just say it, a pretty shitty situation. And no, still no one knows.

[00:26:28] No one knows how I got there. I just did. So I was like, okay, this pretty much sucks. And it can't get any lower than that. So we'll just go up in there. But you, you knew what you had to do. And it wasn't just the physical thing, but it was also a mental thing. Yeah. How did you push yourself through it? Because I'm sure you had times where you were sad and I'm sure you had times, especially after each doctor said, no, no, no, you're good.

[00:26:56] Where you were like, I want to be, I want to listen to them, but I know I'm not. Like, what was it that got you through that? Well, I think it boils down to, we have a choice. You have a choice to brush it under the rug and continue feeling fine. And ultimately, this is where I came up with like my fine to freedom method, because it was a choice to either brush this under the rug and be like, okay, maybe I am fine. Maybe I'm, maybe I am okay. And maybe I need to like shut this down of what keeps resurfacing.

[00:27:25] Or do I take those micro steps and continue listening to myself, you know? And ultimately, obviously that got me to the diagnosis itself. But then when I'm laying in my bed and I'm recovering and everything, it was again, a choice of this situation sucks, you know, to, to your point, like when you wake up and you're like, man, I stood in front of the mirror and I'm like this body that is unrecognizable to me in many different ways. And I had another choice.

[00:27:55] Am I going to wallow in this? Or am I going to look at how lucky I am to be standing here? And again, in those moments, because of the work that I had done with mindset before this, I knew the power of my thoughts also. And I knew the energy that my body needed to heal. And it wasn't going to heal if I'm sitting there going, oh my gosh, I look like an alien right now.

[00:28:24] Well, and I'm just like, you know, you saying that it just brought back a memory that I, that I had that I think is so relevant to this. So I had to go to rehab after I got out of the hospital because I had been, you know, laying in bed for weeks and I had to not learn how to walk in, but kind of learn how to walk in. Yeah. So I was at Kessler, which is in New Jersey. It's actually the one that Christopher Reeve went to. And one day I was in the gym and I was talking to my PT and I heard this woman come in big, booming voice laughing, you know, and I was doing what I was doing.

[00:28:54] And I, it was one of those days where I was just like, oh, this is not really where I want to be, but here I am. And I turn around and I see the woman and she is smiling, beaming and she's in a wheelchair and she has no legs. And I felt like such a horrible person because earlier that day, the night before the day before whatever, I had felt so sorry about for myself, right? That I had been through this. I lost the top of my thumb, blah, blah, blah.

[00:29:20] And here is this woman who comes in, in a wheelchair with no legs, like amputating from above the knee down. And she was the happiest person in that room. And everybody in there was feeling sorry for themselves until she came in. And she had everyone smiling and laughing. I remember, I remember, I just remember turning to her and I was just like, God, I wish I was you. Yeah. She's like, it could be, just smile.

[00:29:47] And you know, it was for me, it was people like that, that I met along the way, that helped me appreciate kind of what you're saying, which is like, what is our why? Right. Because we are all going to get, you know, I used to get the word gut punch so much, but we're all going to get, you know, things handed to us that just like, just draw, suck all the energy. I mean, deflate you with, you know, it's like a balloon pops, right? And it's popped. You can't get it back.

[00:30:12] So how is it that you were going to, you know, I can't really piece the balloon back together. So how is it that you're going to, you know, in the balloon scenario, I guess, pick your new color and inflate it again. And how big do you want it to be? And what size do you want it to be? But if you're a wife, like, how are you going to lead it? And, you know, as we're both saying, we've both been in that position and you have this choice. And, and it sounds like, correct me if I'm wrong, I know for me, there was no choice except to get that. Right.

[00:30:41] You know, not just because I'm productive, like that's not the way we roll. I was like, okay, like this is a forced break, much longer than snow day. Um, but you know, we'll just, we'll just deal with this for a while. And it, it was, it was definitely longer than I thought it was going to be. I remember like COVID, like when that first happened, I was like, oh, it's two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, two years, you know? Yes. Yes. And, you know, I gotta say like on March 24th is my two year mark for my whole thing.

[00:31:11] And I'm, I would say I'm, you know, kind of finally on the other side of it, but like it takes time. Uh-huh. And I think that to exactly what you just said, it takes time and no one's clock is the same. Yeah, that's right. And so I think that's one of the, one of the most important things of when your gut punch comes, you are on nobody's time clock except your own. Your healing journey is going to look entirely different than the person next to you.

[00:31:38] So, and I think honoring that and layering that with making the choice of, you know, honor the shitty days, they're going to come. And that's part of like being handed the trial, right? There were not all glory shiny days in my healing. And there were days when I really had to dig deep into that mental space and like, fine, like, why am I pushing through this? And, you know, what am I doing this for? And, and what's going to get me up in the morning?

[00:32:06] And then there were other days when you're like, I just connected with three people that just told me they went to get their mammograms because I spoke up about my story and they all caught something. Those are three lives that I just got to help nudge and point in the right direction. You know, I mean, it's just. It's amazing. And all you did was share your story, right? All you did was share your story. How has, how has this whole thing changed you? When we talk about a moment like this, and again, everybody's magnitude is going to be

[00:32:35] different, right? But you've heard the saying true perspective breeds discipline. And that truly has defined my journey through this is it has put so much perspective into things that both matter and the things that don't. Yeah. The little things that we really can just let go of or the things that I, it's really put into perspective, like the alignment that I want to stay in, you know, in line with. Where am I going?

[00:33:05] How hard am I going to drive? Because we never have enough time. We never have the time that we think we're going to. So we all need to work a little harder and faster. Not in a bad way. But like, you know, action is going to get us where we need to go, whether that's saving our life or whether that's our next business venture. You know, I mean, there's just there's so many different realms of this, but it's the perspective for me. And it's also the small things of not taking things for granted, which we have a very like

[00:33:32] gratitude is one of the foundational cornerstones of my home already. But to magnify that and feel that presence every day is really special when we get to tuck our little boy in and he is the first one that says, my favorite part of my day is this. And this is what I'm most grateful for. I'm like, I have done something right. Amazing. I have to share with you that I, I think I was very similar to you for my whole thing.

[00:33:58] It was like, I always appreciated the little things like that was, you know, and I was always pretty efficient, like organized and all that. But it was just funny to mention the time thing. My sense of needing to get stuff done, like it's kind of on steroids right now. I feel a little bit too much actually. But, but, you know, you realize, you know, to quote someone else, everybody has an expiration date.

[00:34:24] And I, you know, I pushed mine, you know, you pushed yours, like I was supposed to, you know, and I, I guess, you know, the, the, the number of the deli line got screwed up when it came to both of us, but thankfully it did. But, you know, you just never know when it's your time to go to the next stage. And I think for me that that has really, I don't know, it's, it's just put things in a perspective. I know for myself, like when I got through my experience while going through it, I, there was a nurse in the hospital and I, she walked in and she's like, why are you here?

[00:34:53] Cause I was like sitting there watching the Today Show, you know, it's like no tubes, nothing hooked up to me, but I was recovering the surgery that I had. Why are you here? And I told her what happened. And she was like this tall Jamaican woman. She heard my story and she looked at me and she said, God chose you. And three words, God chose you, you know? Yeah. And then she paused and she's like, so what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do with this gift? Yeah. And that was like, oh my God. And I'm like, oh, much pressure.

[00:35:19] It was like, I'm like, how dare you say that? You know, and I thought about it and I was like, all right, I wrote a blog cause that's what I do. I write. And then that wasn't good enough. I did a webinar. And then this idea for the podcast came up and I, and I, I, I don't know. I didn't know what it was going to be. It just started. And, you know, I have learned so much from being, from having this program and so much from talking to other people.

[00:35:47] And that was very unexpected. You know, sometimes you start down a journey and, you know, I, I coach like you do and you know, you start down a journey with someone and, you know, they always say to you, you know, you coach the person, not the problem. Right. And, and the problem is the, the entryway into the, into the person, which is wonderful. Sometimes the person you discover is not who you thought they were going to be and that's okay. But, you know, it is, life is so unexpected.

[00:36:16] And sometimes like I started this podcast just because I needed to do something, but I didn't think that it would take on the life that it is. And I'm very, very thankful for that, you know? And also I think as you're shared with telling your story, like, you know, I've shared mine now. I feel like I talk about it constantly, which is fine because it's helping other people share theirs. Yes.

[00:36:43] And it is so important in this time when there's so much noise, so much noise on the world and, you know, you turn on the TV and it's just like, well, then you turn it off, hopefully, because there's so much going on. Real conversations about real things that we all go through are really, that's, that's the best medicine is sharing and sharing, you know, what we went through. And as we were talking about with you, like how you got through it. So I asked this, everyone, I asked everyone this question on the show is, you know, we have a lot of people listening who may feel stuck.

[00:37:12] What are your words of wisdom for someone who listened to your story and is just enamored with what you did, but they're still feeling stuck? What's your advice? Oh, I have so much advice with that. But, but truly my, my biggest advice with that is if you are feeling stuck, I challenge you to get creative with the questions that you're asking. Stay curious and continue to ask questions. It's a similar concept to like my four-year-old little boy right now.

[00:37:41] We are not at a lack of questions that are happening in our home right now. But when I look at the development of the questions he's asking and the amount he's learning right now, I mean, I would love to be a four-year-old little boy right now and be asking those questions because the lack of inhibition and just the, you know, the concept of staying curious is serving him so well with everything that he's learning. And if we just apply that to ourselves of there's always a different route, there's always a different way.

[00:38:12] There's no one set way for anything. So if you are feeling stuck, maybe you've been stuck at looking at it in one particular way. So get creative and just like step outside the box and just ask more questions and being brave enough to ask those questions. Yeah. And, you know, I think the simplest question is one word. Why? Ask why a thousand times. Ask why, get that answer and ask why to that answer. Yeah. Going like to the nth degree of the why. Oh, let me forget.

[00:38:42] Back to my tale of rehab. In that same place, not on that same day, there was an older gentleman that came in and he was driving his PT nuts because he just kept saying, why? Why? Why? Why are we doing the fight? And finally, his PT said to him, you know, you got to stop with the questions to which he of course said, why? But it was awesome because it's such a simple question and it's so easy to say. Three letters. But like it warrants such an enormous amount of information.

[00:39:09] You know, I think for anyone listening, as you and I are both saying, like anytime anyone, whether it's a doctor, a lawyer, anyone, any asking me that you go to for advice, if you don't think it's right what they're saying or agree, say why. Challenge it. Yeah. Absolutely. And I will say that like when we think of that concept of challenging it, especially when we're talking about someone like you're talking about, like someone in that place of authority that we're brought up to listen to that opinion, to not challenge it.

[00:39:39] You know, innately, well, I shouldn't say innately, but we're brought up to more so look outward than inward. Yes, that's right. Right. But if we can flip that, if we can change the lens and look inward, then the concept of like feeling that, you know, scared to push back is a little less if we're just looking at it like I'm doing this for me. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And, and building up that courage. It's just like when we're talking about physical training of any sort.

[00:40:08] We're not talking, we're not thinking about running the Boston Marathon if you haven't put running shoes on before. We're talking about maybe lacing up your shoes and going for a walk around the neighborhood first. Right. And just thinking the first steps. And then when you find out that walk felt good, speaking up for myself felt good. Then we can talk about increasing that distance. And it's just putting the reps in brick by brick by brick.

[00:40:34] And now we're talking about a solid foundation of using your voice. So you just, you have to dial it back. Make it simple. Start small. Love that. I'm going to, I have nothing to say except I love that approach. That's fantastic. Tiffany, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being on the show. I loved the conversation. And I just, I, I just do it such a pleasure to have you on. If people would like to get ahold of you, what's the best way? People can get ahold of me through my website. It's just tiffanyjanowitz.com. I throw a little wrench in the spelling there.

[00:41:03] So it's Tiffany with an IE and not a Y. I'm also on Instagram and I'm active over there. So DM me anytime. Truly Catherine, that's my favorite part is this connection that we do get to connect, share our stories, give others the courage to share or find theirs. And that's to me what it's all about is that connection. And so I love that space of being able to help others. And so if you find yourself in that place where you feel stuck, I'm here to help you. Let me help you. Love that.

[00:41:32] Thank you so much for being on the show. Such a pleasure. Thank you for having me. Likewise. Well, everyone, thank you for listening to another episode of the Gut Punch podcast. We look forward to you chatting with you next week. Bye-bye. That's it for today's episode of Gut Punch. I hope you found inspiration because no matter how hard life hits, there's always a way forward. Make sure to follow or subscribe to Gut Punch on your favorite podcast platform. If you know someone who could use a little inspiration, share this episode with them.

[00:42:02] Thanks for listening. And until next time, stay strong. See you in the next episode.