More Than a Voice: David Ploss on Resilience, Reconnection, and Finding Love | Conversations with a Chiropractor - Conversations with a Chiropractor

Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Hi, this is Dr. StephanieWatir and I'm the host of
Conversations with a Chiropractor.
This is not a health how to, butrather a conversation with some
amazing people I've had the pleasureof being with on my journey of life.
Think of it more like Tuesdays with Maury.
A fireside chat orchicken soup for the soul.

(00:27):
Grab a cup of coffee.
Sit back and enjoy thisconversation with a chiropractor.
Dave, thank you so muchfor being on this podcast.
Oh my goodness, Stephanie,I am, so honored to be here.

(00:48):
little old me, you know, it's, kind ofoutside of my wheelhouse a little bit.
I'm not usually on thisside of a microphone.
You're on the other side of themicrophone, because you are my producer.
that's true.
This podcast would not.
Be where it's at withoutyou, you're the lifeline.
You have, it's
a blast.

(01:09):
I mean, you really do a fantastic job.
So being able to tune into all, I'mreally excited that I get to be the
first person who hears every singleepisode that you put together.
It's really fantastic.
Mm. The
inside scoop.
Yeah.
Right.
Where I wanna be.
And then you get to make thingssound nice and take out anything bad.
Oh,
you make it super easy on me.
So you're not only a podcast producer.

(01:31):
You are a voice actor, you are a musician,you are a former radio personality.
That is how we first met.
Yeah.
I wanna go all the way back tothe beginning of your life because
this is a really unique thing.
Yeah.
So you were born with somethingcalled Hemi-facial Microsomia.
That's
right.
Tell me a little bit about that.

(01:52):
So, interesting
stuff.
I mean, Hemi-facial Microsomia is a, a,
Genetic, congen, I congenital,I think is the word.
Mm-hmm.
The one something that you're born with.
I, I think that's theright phrase, but Yeah.
Yeah.
genetic condition that I. Inherited,it's actually a mu a mutation that I
believe a mutation based on my researchthat my grandfather picked up during

(02:13):
his service during the Korean War.
Wow.
got to interview him in high school,about his military service, and I
ended up being the first person heever talked to about his, top secret
service that he did with the AtomicArtillery Program in, New Mexico.
Yeah.
Wow.
So he was exposed to quite a bit ofradiation, both in trenches and stuff

(02:38):
while they tested literally atomic.
tipped artillery shells.
Are we talking likethis Oppenheimer thing?
in the fifties,
a part of this whole, in the,
he was more of a soldier.
Mm-hmm.
in that role, not really somebodywho was in charge of a program.
more somebody who was ordered to be apart of the program in different ways.

(02:59):
But yeah, it was a program that apparentlynever really came to battlefield fruition.
It was something that was only everin test and evaluation type phase.
Turns out that.
launching artillery shells withlittle atom bombs on the tips of
them is not really the best idea.
So, according to my research and familyresearch and conversing with him,

(03:21):
potentially, it's a genetic mutation.
I have no family history of itoutside of me, so I'm the first
one to have been born with it.
Okay.
but it's a specificgenetic mutation, which.
Leads to the underdevelopment of onehemisphere of the body, specifically
localized to, the head in most cases.

(03:42):
Okay.
So.
the Hemi facial mm-hmm.
Being one hemisphere in the face.
Microso being a, a somatic,condition of, of, of shrink,
underdevelopment or shrinkage.
I had a very mild case of it.
really my, the only part of my facethat was underdeveloped was the outer
was part of the middle and outerear of my right side of my face.

(04:06):
Mm-hmm.
So I was born with.
No ear canal, no outer ear, just a littleear lobe that had started to develop.
So the only original part of what yousee today is, is an ear, is the ear lobe.
everything else is is reconstructed.
Wow.
at
very young age.
And if anyone sees you, they would, nobody

(04:26):
really has any idea.
no one has any idea.
more like a cauliflower ear, like Iwas a wrestler, or into some sort of
combat sport or something like thatdoesn't, I mean, it's ultimately,
I guess so,
yeah, so it, it.
Most people, I, you know, as akid it was a different story.
Mm-hmm.
Children are vicious and brutal things.
Oh, they are.
But yeah.

(04:46):
Let's talk about that a little bit.
So you're, you're born with this anomaly.
Mm-hmm.
and your folks, when is the firsttime that you see a specialist?
Or where do you go?
Well,
you know, my parents were very proactivein the understanding treatment and,
Exploration of this condition for me.
we, I grew up in Illinois,little north of Chicago.

(05:10):
And, they had access at that time inthe early nineties to, a program run by
the state of Illinois called DSCC or theDivision of Specialized Care for Children.
Wow.
And they applied, forcoverage under DSCC for me.
Um, to try to address the thing.

(05:32):
So they ended up paying very littleout of pocket to, I mean, it was
still a quite a hefty financialburden for them, but Oh, I'm sure.
Um, the majority of it, and reallythe amount that it took to get it
done was, provided on behalf of thatparticular specialized coverage.
I had.
Multiple surgeries.
the number that's always beenin my head is like seven.

(05:54):
Wow.
But
I don't think, I don't, I don'tnecessarily think that's right.
I don't think that's correct.
It's probably five, six,something like that.
But for some reason the number that'salways been in my head is seven.
My mom has poo-pooed then a fewtimes over the years, a number
of reconstructive surgeries from.
The inside out, it started withmostly cosmetic work to construct

(06:15):
me an outer ear, visually.
Mm-hmm.
at, children's MemorialHospital in Chicago.
Before that, it's nolonger children's hospital.
It's something else downtown.
So it's still, child oriented.
But it's not named quite the same thing,but lots of memories from those halls.
I cannot even fathom it.
it's almost like, you know, formonths out of every year I was in

(06:39):
and out of, you know, hospitals,checkups, treatments, follow up visits.
Bandages being changedand, and things like that.
'cause you're doing, I mean,pla it's plastic surgery.
Yeah.
And the risk of infection isso high whenever you're dealing
with skin and, skin grafting
the main structure of my earis actually one of my floating
ribs from when I was a child.

(07:00):
Wow.
You wanna feel
Sure.
Yeah.
Get in there.
Sure.
Okay.
I'm feeling Dave's ear.
Get in there.
It's hard.
Get in there.
Hard push.
is, yeah.
Push, wiggle.
Yeah.
It
is very much like a classic ear.
It's just,
it's bony.
Probably a little bitmore stiff than, oh yeah.
You know.
it definitely doesn't come awaylike, from the side of the head.
like a ear cartilaginous ear would,

(07:21):
yeah.
and I, I, you know, Ididn't have an eardrum.
I didn't have an ear canal.
I, I, the, the ear, your hammer,your anvil, your stirrup, the
three inner bones of the ear
Yeah.
Are
still slightly fused together.
They are.
that was kind of where thedevelopment stopped and then
didn't really progress past that.
my left ear is entirely normal.

(07:41):
it's done most of the heavylifting my entire life.
in terms of that.
Do you
have any hearing from the right side?
I do now.
Yeah.
You do now?
Mm-hmm.
And a classic traditionalear canal was built?
Yes.
So they did build one.
It's not necessarily classic ina traditional sense, it doesn't
produce any of its own wax.

(08:02):
Mm-hmm.
it's constructive skingrafts from different parts.
some skin was harvested fromthe inside of my right bicep,
the
arm.
There's a patch there.
I remember at one point,some tissue was harvested.
I'm not even sure of the layers of theskin in their technical names, but I
have a long scar on my, left groin wherethey went down a few layers and harvested

(08:25):
some of that tissue to use there.
And then, there was some cartilageharvested from the left ear.
And moved to the right ear to get this.
The little bump thingthat everyone's AirPods
tragus maybe?
What is that called?
I honestly
I'd have to look it up.
I know it's
been so long since,since I've looked at it.
But that, that little part thatthen everybody's AirPods, you know.

(08:48):
Oh, yes.
Get held in by, pulls
that in.
Yeah.
That part.
So, it's not nearly as pronounced, but itis, you know, they did their best with it.
And as a result, did restore some hearingto my right side, I would say at this
point in my life, 30 plus years later,

(09:08):
It's still a prettysignificant hearing loss.
it's maybe 30% useful.
Okay.
whereas the other ear is probablystill in, I would say about 90% useful.
It's because of all the heavylifting I've put it through.
It's, it's, it's, here's less.
It does.
Mm-hmm.
I definitely do have, I cantell that I'm missing some.

(09:30):
Frequencies
really in my
good ear now because oflike, after this many years,
damage to the eardrumdamage because of, I'm
sure it's just due to soundsaturation and things like that
and just over usage and mm-hmm.
sound pressure levels and, the typicalthings that you pick up with a lifetime
of listening to loud music and notexactly taking care of your hearing.

(09:51):
Right?
Yeah.
Mine, mine in a little bitmore so, because it's the.
Only one that I've leaned on.
I
don't really know what theworld sounds like in stereo.
It's never really been a, it's, I hadhearing aids a couple of times throughout.
You did, you did?
Yeah.
I did try messed around with those.
before they really took, I mean,I, I would probably, probably

(10:13):
gonna get back into 'em as a, as anadult in my forties, but we'll see.
yeah,
prices have come down, right?
They're not five to $8,000 a pair now,So the outlook for that is hopeful
and I'm sure there'll be, more useful.
But, at this current time,it's kind of out of the.
Price rate still.
You're managing right.
And you're managing.

(10:34):
I lean on lip reading a lot.
You do.
for additional context and clarity.
I ask for repetition a lot as well.
I have to, I always have.
Yeah.
So thankfully I got one normal ear.
my eyes are sharp as eagle's eyes.
I'll tell you that though.
I got like 20/13 vision in one eye, 20.
I always, um, it's thebottom row of any chart

(10:55):
Wow.
is a hundred.
So, yeah, I guess there's atrade off somewhere, right?
Don't they say that when one of someone'ssenses is diminished for whatever reason,
the other senses become more amplified?
I've heard that before for sure.
I don't know if that's true.
I don't know if it holds or
not in my case, butI'll take it, you know?
You know what's so interestingabout like how we're born in,
in different, like factors?
Mm-hmm.

(11:15):
Like you, you can trace thatback to your grandfather in that.
Yeah.
Atomic.
Unfortunate, weird situation as a soldier.
My grandmother, my mom's mom wasvery nauseous during her pregnancies.
And this was back in the time where theywere giving, women thalidomide and a lot
of babies were born with missing limbs.

(11:35):
Oh, wow.
Or different other.
Congenital anomalies.
Now I have two uncles, my mom'stwo biologic brothers mm-hmm.
Who are both born deaf.
Wow.
And, they suspect that the onlyreason my mom wasn't born deaf
is because my grandmother vomitedthe medicine like that it Oh, wow.
That she never digested it.

(11:56):
So Interesting.
My oldest uncle is 80.
My younger uncle is probablyin his early seventies, And
they went to special schools.
And, you know, I think a lot about thediscrimination that just even an average
kid, unfortunately has to go through.
And then I think about like my unclesand what they had to go through

(12:17):
and probably what you went through.
Yeah.
I mean, there were many years in myschooling where I went to school with,
head wraps and bandages on just whitegauzy things wrapped around in a giant
cup over my side of my head with avial sticking out of it and tubes
and things
You, you look like a halfwrapped mummy sometimes.

(12:37):
And you know, at the time, I lookback on it now and I go, oh, that's.
That's legitimate trauma Isuffered at the hands of my peers.
Yeah.
know, emotional trauma, et cetera.
Right.
With the, with the name calling and,and the questions and the, mm-hmm.
And the constant, you know,you know, grossed outlooks
or things like that, right?
Mm-hmm.
I don't hold that against them.

(12:57):
these are, at the time theseare underdeveloped brains.
these are youths who really don't knowbetter, aren't necessarily, it was
a time and a culture where differentwas way more weird than it is now.
and this we're just talking mid nineties.
Mid,
mid to late nineties.
mean, that's such recent history.
I was born in
89, so Really?

(13:19):
Wow.
Up through there.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
You're so young.
Yeah.
it's
just, it's, it's, it was interesting,but I look back at it now and I go,
oh yeah, that was, that was, you know,I guess innocent, innocent trauma.
They were inflicting on onsomebody that they didn't know.
I did my best with it.
But I definitely knowthat that affected me.

(13:41):
And probably still affects me.
I mean, I'm shopping for a therapistcurrently just because it's
something that needs to happen.
I have done it before.
It's time to jump back in Andwork through stuff, right?
Yeah.
up meditation in my, in mythirties now And really enjoy that.
That's given me a lot of peace.
But, Yeah, I definitely,
how can it not, right?
Like, how can it not, during thosedevelopmental years for your peers,

(14:05):
teasing you and being mean to you?
Like, how can that not affect yourself-confidence in that developmental way?
Like,
yeah, not only, and not onlywas I, you know, Differently,
different looking in terms ofsymmetry and, and things like that.
For, even though it was just an ear, um,I was also taller than everybody else.

(14:26):
Mm-hmm.
So you have that, I had thatgoing against me as well.
There was a lot of, you know,where I'm just looking, I'm looking
for acceptance from my peers.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, friendship andstuff, and I would find it, In some
of the more, outlying corners of.
the social structure in school, but, neverreally gained a whole lot of acceptance
from, those groups that you would call.

(14:48):
the more popular crowd orthe more, mainstream groups.
I was very much on the, like the athletes
or the cheerleaders or the Right,
right.
And I did like what is
like classically in thosecategories of popular
Yeah.
I never felt that it was really forreal, that it was genuine, per se.
It was more of a performative.
Acceptance, more of a dancemonkey, dance kind of, thing.

(15:11):
they enjoyed my presencewhile it entertained them.
I had a lot of acquaintanceswho enjoyed my silliness or my
goofiness or all of the differentthings that I was doing to try to.
Gain acceptance, right?
I did so many masks that I woreat that age to deflect from things

(15:32):
that I didn't like about myself.
I think we all struggled with thatto some degree and those masks
played their part, but almost.
In some sense, self-sabotage tokeep people at an arm's length too.
I didn't want people to get too close.
Mm-hmm.
did everything I could to distractthem from the things that I

(15:53):
thought they wouldn't like.
Hmm.
And, you know, but what do you do?
did you have peoplecoming over to your house?
did you have playmatesand things like that?
Or was that not something Not
I didn't have a lot of, schoolmateswho would come by the house.
we lived in a subdivision, and myfriends were, the kids that I hung out
with maybe a year or a couple yearsyounger that lived in the neighborhood.

(16:17):
we weren't exactly themost, affluent family.
we didn't have access to a whole lotof capital at that point in time.
lived very modestly just got by,took trips as families to, Milwaukee,
public museum and things like that.
Mm-hmm.
zoos and family tripsand things like that.
But, I didn't really have, and most ofthe friends that I had from school were in

(16:40):
some sense, likewise fringe kids as well,whose families didn't have a whole lot of
money or came from poverty or understood.
Understood my kind oftrauma and differentness.
And also couldn't do a whole lot.
So maybe I would go over to theirhouses or something like that, or,

(17:01):
yeah.
but the people I was arounddidn't have a whole lot of means.
So we didn't, we didn't reallyget, nobody was burning the gas
to take kids across town to.
Yeah.
You
know, to do that.
She couldn't afford it.
like we think about now in the luxury,and I thought about this the other day.
When you have a child who needs medicalcare or a special accommodation of

(17:26):
any sort, one of those two parentshas to make the decision to not work.
Like, I mean, my mom
was a substitute teacher.
Slash stay at home Mom slashtupperware, sales lady slash you
know, jack of all trades, made,made due with what she could.
My dad's a, a landscape architectwho's worked in, in that area for,

(17:46):
you know, almost 40 years now.
And, and, it's, yeah.
We didn't have a whole lot.
We had
enough to get by.
Mm-hmm.
And we made it through, you know, theoh 7, 0 8 recession, this type of thing.
Right.
This was Late nineties,early two thousands.
We, my parents Had done prettywell in establishing that sort of
nest egg to get themselves through.
And, it can be tough for sure, andwith all of the doctor's appointments

(18:10):
and, surgeries and all these things.
Dad had to work, mom had to take.
But yet they still kept us in sports.
They still kept us doing, youknow, my sister, bless her heart,
she's, she's an absolute delight,deserves all the blessings.
she was a three slash four sport athlete.
You know, she did figure skating,she did all these things.
She's five years, four and ahalf years younger than me.

(18:31):
So, you know, she, I did a littlebit of, basketball, a little
bit of volleyball, mostly bandand music and things like that.
So my parents kept us inthese things and I developed.
Different groups of friends andfriendship circles, but there wasn't
a whole lot of people coming over,coming by, this type of thing.

(18:54):
it was, if I wasn't with the kids in myneighborhood, I was, hanging out with
my sister or hanging out by myself.
Hmm.
music, I think for so many people is suchlike a comfort and such a creative outlet.
So, post.
Post high school.
Yeah.
What, what are your thoughts?
What are you gonna do?
Where do you decide areyou gonna go to college?

(19:14):
How does that
look?
So post high school, I did,you know, I pretty severe A DHD
as well, so I diagnosed at avery early age with that too.
Probably 11, 12 years old.
I had the benefit of, again, attentiveparents who saw something mm-hmm.
and went to seek.
Advice and information on the thing thatthey were, they investigated further.

(19:35):
Nice.
mother always paid attention to thethings that we were experiencing.
my parents are bothvery fantastic parents.
I just got, I get so lucky I don't talka whole lot when people are bringing
up, like family woes and things.
I don't have a lot to offer becauseI know very well that I really
lucked out with the quality ofthe individuals in my family.
Very much so compared to some folkswho, you know, I've known throughout

(19:58):
the years or, you know, all thestories one would hear about,
oh yeah,
I didn't have that at all.
I had the opposite.
I had very attentive, very,compassionate parents.
And, I really look back on that and,you know, have said thank you many times
over the years for that kind of, Love andencouragement and all of those things.
post high school though,I wanted to go to college.

(20:20):
I wanted to major in music performance.
Mm.
trumpet player for all through.
That was the first instrument I picked up.
It was, and I played it allthrough elementary, middle
school, and high school.
I picked up guitars in highschool, picked up, I. And I've
been doing guitar ever since.
I can still work my way around a trumpet.

(20:42):
It would take me a couple years toget chops back to where they were,
but you know, in fact, one of mytrumpets just went to my, nephew.
Kidding?
In, in with my, uh.
Uh, on, on Katie's side of the family.
Okay.
her nephew, my nephew in-law.
her sister's son just got one ofmy silver trumpets for his, new
foray into music performance.

(21:04):
and Katie played trumpet inhigh school and band with me.
you guys knew each other?
we did.
she was a year ahead of me in school.
Oh
my God.
And that's a whole story in itselfthat, came up during the pandemic
as well, so I think why a wild step?
Yeah.
I mean, tell me how you andKatie connected romantically.
You grew up together, youboth played the trumpets.
Yeah.

(21:24):
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's funny, we,um, Katie, my now fiance, ran
in slightly different circles.
we were both in band together,both played trumpet in high school.
Both were in the same sectionand near each other in chairs.
she was a year ahead of me in school.
We were acquainted, but not, Iwouldn't say we ran in the same, we

(21:46):
didn't have the same friend circles.
I knew a majority of her friends.
And they knew me, but we never, weweren't, we didn't date in high school.
We weren't really, we were bandmates And friends in that way.
Mm-hmm.
But not, we didn't really hang out.
We didn't hang out.
We didn't, I, I crushed pretty hard.
wondered, I was gonna say, didsomeone have a crush on someone?

(22:10):
I did, for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Right.
But, um,
the older girl in the trumpet section.
Yeah, yeah, of course.
Talented, beautiful, gymnast as well,and you know, oh yeah, absolutely.
So, absolutely admired her, from afar,and then she graduated in oh six.
I graduated in oh seven.
she goes on to do other things.
We didn't.
Mm-hmm.
We don't, we don't, don't, uh,

(22:32):
run into each other.
Yeah.
No.
Don't she moved.
You're not in the same college.
She goes to college
at NMU.
up here in Marquette.
She, um, um, yeah, she goes abouther life, lives in lower Michigan
for a while, works at a wineryfor a while, does all the things.
And, I, I moved to, to Indiana in,in 2010 and, yeah, two, yeah, late

(22:54):
2009, 2010, something like that.
And, and, live there till 2021.
I get married, I get divorced.
I have two, step kids fromthat relationship that I
still talk to, to this day.
Um, but.
We, that's a, it's a wild story.
It really is.
We reconnected on all inall places, uh, on TikTok.

(23:21):
Yeah.
So this was in 2020.
We were in the throes of the pandemic.
I had seen so many people just.
Everybody was doom scrolling, right?
Mm. Everybody was on TikTok.
Yes.
Yes.
Everybody.
It was the new hot thing.
And we were all locked in our homes andthere was nothing we had the opportunity
to do other than just sit there and scrolland, or make videos and talk to our phones

(23:45):
and interact with people that way, so,
mm-hmm.
I saw a bunch of people singingsongs and singing, sea Shanties.
And this was a wild trend at that pointwhere people were just singing pirate
songs and then people would stitchinto other videos and sing harmony
parts and do all this kind of stuff.
So I jumped in on that.
It's like, you know what?
Some people are making money doing this.

(24:05):
Lemme see if I can make anymoney doing, I love singing.
Yeah.
I sing,
yeah,
I, play instruments.
so I started singing.
Sea shanties and wouldn't you knowit, one of those sea shanties that
I did, I amassed a following ofabout 17,800 followers on TikTok.
gosh.
Yeah.
that's really huge.
Um,
from singing songs anddoing fun stuff like that.

(24:28):
I think I've made atotal of like 16 bucks.
I can take that off thosecheap ass 70 in followers.
Yep.
Yep.
Still not near what otherpeople were getting, but you
know, it was still pretty cool.
it was the, you know, the mostfollowers on any platform.
I bet I'd ever,
my gosh, gotten at all.
Yeah.
And
still it's still that number,like it hasn't gone down.
I just checked.
I checked.

(24:48):
But, one of our sea shanty, anothercreator and I had sort of stumbled upon
and invented this sort of sub genre of seashanties, if there could be such a thing.
that we were calling Pop shantieswhere we were taking pop songs and
turning them into sea shanties.
Wow.
Where you just slappingyour leg and you're,

(25:12):
you know, so we did a, we, we.
I don't even remember the artist now.
it's on the tip of my tongue.
Anyways, the song was called Wet Ass
Okay.
Called WAP.
That one.
That, okay.
It was a, a really popular pop songat that time, and I, I can't, I can't
believe I'm forgetting her name.

(25:32):
Uh, who, who did it, but is
Rihanna?
No, no, that's not right.
I'll look it up for sure.
Okay.
Cardi B Cardi B did WAP So, andwe did a sea shanty version of WAP
that went viral on TikTok and peoplemade their own video versions of it.

(25:56):
They did all kinds of stuff.
I mean hundreds of thousands ofplays and views one of Katie's
friends up here at the time.
Uh, just unironically sent her that video.
Hmm.
Like, look at what this guy is doing.
She doesn't know you.
Yep.
She doesn't know that youand Katie knew each other.

(26:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I can.
In fact, I'll probably,I'll pull it up here.
We'll find it.
Uh, it's definitely Oh, okay.
17,600 followers.
Now that's, wow.
That's, but there's the,there's the profile.
Um, yeah.
So,
so for our listeners, soDave, how tall are you?

(26:38):
I'm seven feet tall.
Seven feet tall.
Yes.
And you have kind of a reddish beard.
You could be a pirate.
Yeah.
That you could be a viking.
Yeah, you could be.
That's true.
In any movie you would fit thepart That's so that is what
this profile picture looks like.
That's me just staring down at my phone.
I'm trying get it very, yeah.
Very good.
Love it.

(26:58):
Flopsy picture of, of my hair.
Um.
Let's see.
Anyway, so, well, while I'm tellingthis story, I'll keep scrolling forward.
Okay.
We can maybe we, we willplay a few of these.
And I was gonna say,
you actually wrote a song about,well, it's called the Coronavirus
Song, which we are going to play.
Okay.
But we have to find out whathappens when Katie sees the video.
So her friends goes, oh my goodness.

(27:21):
Listen to this guy's voice.
It's so deep.
and I, she, she goes,well, fuck his voice.
I know that guy.
Like, holy cow.
Like, um, how, you know, howdid you, and so anyways, she
reaches out to me to say hi.

(27:42):
And, and we end up reconnecting that way.
Hmm.
And it
was a, a really a beautiful momentwhere I didn't, you know, expect
anything to come out of that per se.
It was just, um, just two peoplewho went to high school together
going like, Hey, oh my goodness,you're on TikTok doing this thing.
Guess what?
My friend sent me this video of you.
Like, that's, it's awesome thatyou're doing that and awesome.

(28:03):
Congratulations like.
It's so needed.
Like, you know, this thing's going viral.
And I'm like, yeah, who knew?
Right?
Like, and so we just, uh, just caughtup with each other, um, and I. And we
had, I had another friend on TikTokas well, somebody that we'd both
gone to high school with as well,who was in there, who we were both

(28:24):
mutual friends with on the platform.
And I was
like, oh my God, Hannah,you're never gonna guess who,
who I just reconnected with.
Like, oh my goodness.
It Katie from Katie.
It's Katie.
So, uh, you know, all those oldmemories come flooding back from,
from high school and, and, uh.
The, the unrequited nessof the whole thing, right?
Mm-hmm.
And the, just the joy and the,the, the good memories of, of

(28:47):
laughter and, and friendship andcomradery and all these things.
And, and, uh, I end up, uh, I have, youknow, I have to say something about it.
I have to say something about it, and I,I. Bring up the fact that I, you know,
crushed on her really hard in high schooland, and we just get to know each other

(29:08):
more and start talking and it just, itreally comes together very organically.
And little do I know, I findout later that Hannah is playing
both of us against the middle.
I. And kind of just eating popcorn alongthe way and watching things come together.
And she's, she's, she, she'sfielding conversations from both
of us about the other person and,and this whole, this whole, she's

(29:31):
just the, or she's orchestratingthis, this meat cute or this thing.
And, uh, it's, it's so great.
So I, I, I shoot my shot uh, anduh, and just, and, you know, make.
My desire is known and, and I just go,you know, I would, I would love to see
if we can make something outta that.

(29:52):
I don't know how you feel about it, butlike it, you know, and, and she agrees.
And we, we, we get to know each othermore and we're talking and we're talking
on the phone for hours at a time.
And, uh, she's, you know,it's after work for her.
We'll talk from the moment she gets off ofwork to the time until she falls asleep on

(30:14):
the phone, in bed work, I. And then I'm,I'm, I'm like reading stories to her and
I'm doing all these things and, and itjust, it, it came together so beautifully.
And, uh, in 2021, we're both.
In our, you know, creeping up on ourmid thirties, 33, 34 years old, this
type of thing going, like, we've,we've dated so many times together.

(30:38):
Mm.
You know, we've
dated so many times.
It was 604.4K plays onthis, this original video.
Oh my gosh.
That,
that went viral.
I have not checked thosenumbers in quite a while.
That's a lot.
Um, that
is a lot,
but.
Uh, yeah.
It just, it comes togetherreally beautifully and, and we,
we sit down and we say, Hey,

(31:00):
we don't really need, we, if we'regonna do this, let's, let's do this.
Let's,
yeah.
Jump right in.
Yeah.
We we're, we're not, we, neitherof us like the idea of long, of
a long distance relationship.
Mm-hmm.
Neither of us really relished dating.
We'd done plenty of dating.
Mm-hmm.
We feel something very special with this.

(31:23):
Let's just send it andcommit and see what happens.
And so she invites me to move fromFort Wayne, where I was at, at Indiana,
all the way up here to Marquette.
I break the lease on my apartment, paythe, the $1,700 to do that nonsense.

(31:45):
Right.
Uh, I had sold a home the previous year,so I had a little bit of, of cushion
money and, um, and I, so I break mylease, pile everything up into a U-Haul.
From my apartment that I'm living in,I throw my car on the trailer on the
back of the U-Haul and drive eighthours from Fort Wayne to Marquette.

(32:08):
Mm-hmm.
I had come up in, I hadcome up in May of 2020.
I. One May of 2021 for a visit.
I drove up, uh, and then, and'cause we were like, well,
let's, let's get together.
Let's hang out.
Let's see if this, you know,because who knows, right?
I gotta meet, I'm meeting friends.
Like, so I hung out with friends.
We hung out together.
We, you know, see if thechemistry's there, right?

(32:30):
Yeah, sure
was.
It sure was.
Oh, the chemistry was absolutely there.
and it still is to this day.
She's my absolute favoriteperson on the planet.
Mm. Um,
she's my.
She's my, my savior, my watcher, myprotector, my guide, my North star.

(32:51):
She really is everything to me.
And, um, I won TikTok.
I won.
I had not been on the platform since.
Uh, I stopped uploading videos.
I beat the game.
I think I beat the game.
I'm pretty sure I beat the game.
You didn't get, you didn'tget the financial reward?
No, but I got way more than that.

(33:12):
Aw.
The
value of what I got out of, of my timeon TikTok is, uh, and I, is that $60?
I have $60 just sitting in my, I
Oh, I
do.
Anyways, who knew?
I, I, the taxes on that is gonna beoutrageous, so I'm never gonna collect it.
Uh, the, the, it cost me almost $300to file that $16 I got from TikTok.

(33:34):
So it was not.
Not worth.
So we'll see.
But, uh, uh, you can see after somany years, it's still only six.
Crazy.
But, um, it just shows you howmany views you really need on
that platform to make it money.
Right.
It's, it's insane.
That's whole nother, that's insanity.
Whole nother conversationwe could have, but, um.
My goodness.
Yeah.
So I, I beat the game.

(33:56):
I think that that is the mostbeautiful tribute I have ever heard
a partner describing their partner.
Oh, I mean, really?
That is so beautiful.
Well,
thank you.
I mean, she is, she isjust, she is the greatest.
Mm-hmm.
She'd be, I tell you what, she,you wanna talk to somebody who's
super unique and super, whoselife story is really interesting.

(34:18):
I mean, and she, who'sgone through ups and downs.
I mean, my goodness, she just.
We just lost her mother, Sue at the endof August, beginning of September 20, 24.
Mm. The grief journey she'sbeen on has been, you know, uh,
and her mother must have been fairlyyoung, if you guys are actually, she
had older parents.
Okay.
Her parents are, uh, both were,you know, both in their seventies.

(34:40):
Hmm.
Um, so yeah, late, late kids.
Okay.
Uh, for
them.
But, um.
Yeah.
It's so, so sudden, um,from pancreatic cancer.
Ooh.
Uh, very sudden.
Uh, we're talking weeks.
So
Oh my gosh.
From diagnosis,
gosh, to, uh, to the end,
uh,
it was very sad.
Still is.
Mm-hmm.
You know, a very heavy subject in ourhome and her grief journey is ongoing.

(35:03):
Yeah.
Um, but it's been, you know, it'sbeen amazing to be her partner.
It's funny, I get, I get alot of questions from people,
especially in this area.
Uh, are you, are you gay?
I get that a lot.
They say that to you?
Yes.
You know why?
Why?
Because I refer to Katie almost99% of the time as my partner.
Okay.
Because she's the only personon this earth qualified to stand

(35:27):
directly next to me in this life.
We liter we're, we're I, she is, Iwould, she qualifies as a partner in
every sense of a CEO or a law firm.
she's, uh, she is my equal in everyway and I. I can't think of no
better phrase for her wife seemsto possessive, fiance, seems to,

(35:54):
what's the word?
Uh, dismissive almost.
Um, partner through and through.
Absolutely.
Uh, she is, uh, so smart,so kind, so loving.
Mm-hmm.
So empathetic.
Uh, just one of the bestpeople you'll ever meet.
And, uh, I, I do, do not know whatmy life would look like without her

(36:18):
or will look like if I go after her.
I'll tell you that.
knows?
but, uh, she is absolutely fantasticand, uh, I couldn't, couldn't ask for
a greater soul to spend the rest these.
Rotations with, you know,
how beautiful.
I just, I couldn't, I mean,
really this is, this is herbirthday Valentine's Day present

(36:39):
maybe Christmas present too.
I mean, this is a prettyspectacular accolade.
Yeah.
I'm telling you of another human.
I just, she's just absolute best.
She's an organ right now.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, seeing Hannah and her family,
my gosh.
she's
out there for a concert fora group called Spitalfield.
Mm.
And she's been a big fan of sincehigh school days when they, I guess,

(37:00):
I think when they formed around,but we were in high school, so got
some Chief Frankenstein, some OGconcert t-shirts together and flew
out to Oregon and is hanging outthere right now for a little while.
They got, oh my goodness.
They all got a, a beautifultribute tattoo for Sue.
All three of them, so.
Katie, Hannah and, and, Hannah'spartner, Sean, uh, all got the same.

(37:23):
They, sue taught them a game thatthey all played together as youths
high school and into college.
Through college.
When they were, they would cometogether to play this called Rummy Cue.
You ever heard of this?
It, it's a tile.
It's got tiles and you matchsets of numbers and things.
So they got.
Rummy Q tile tattoos,
oh my gosh.
Of the joker face of the face.

(37:45):
And then in the little, uh, de tentthat's underneath it, they got a
heart and an s in the middle of itall is a tribute for Katie's mom, Sue.
I love that they
would send me pictures of those.
So she's having a fantastic time.
She travels.
She, she just, she's the best.
She's the absolute
best.
How beautiful.

(38:05):
I. I, what I love about thisconversation is that we never
really know where it's gonna go.
Yeah, right.
We, we, we know how we're gonna start.
We, it's organic, it's natural,today like tribute to Katie.
I love it.
I, I wanna end with Sure.
A little bit of your music.
Oh, okay.
I would love to play theCoronavirus song if I may.

(38:29):
You can, then if youcan find the other song.
Sure.
I have got, I've got a bunch here.
We could probably, uh, yeah, wecan probably put together and,
because I'll be editing this.
Uh, later.
Yes.
And cutting out all the partswhere I sound like a dova.
Um, uh, I'll, I'll be sure to put, I'llput the, um, the whole song at the end.
Okay.
And, and a, and a link in thedescription if people wanna listen

(38:50):
to it as well in, in, in the high,you know, the higher quality style.
And
so, should I not
No, no, please go ahead.
Absolutely.
Okay.
All
right.
Here we go.
We're gonna listen to theCoronavirus song by Dave Plus.
I know that you are scared to catch it.
I know that brightens you, but in the endof it all that nothing we can really do.

(39:21):
Social distancing is helpful.
Wash your hands and wear a mask.
I like a comedy song in a sense, right.
Mindful and just try to.
Even if I

(39:44):
be, even if I.
Too funny.
That is amazing, Dave.
Funny.
Well, Dave, my producer,

(40:04):
the producer of this Conversationswith the Chiropractor podcast,
I am so grateful for your time.
I'll tell you.
So grateful for you to.
Oh, absolutely.
Give
us your story and um,
I'd love to come back.
Keep telling you, I'm telling youwhat, that's this, this is fun.
I was way more, way more at, so atease when we're talking to you, I,

(40:24):
how everybody else feels when theycome into this office have a chat
on this, uh, fantastic podcast.
It's really a blast, Stephanie, to be apart of it and, to be able to help you
put together such fantastic content.
I just, I look forwardto so many more episodes.
gonna be great.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, Dave.
Absolutely.
I'll
happily come back soon.

(40:44):
Let's keep chattin'.
Absolutely.
Let's do it.
Oh my goodness.
Tell you what, thanks again.
You are so welcome.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you've enjoyed this podcast,would you please rate it,
review it, like, or subscribe.

(41:05):
You can find me on social media, atWautierWellness.com, Dr. Stephanie
Wautier on Instagram, or Wautierwellness, chiropractic and massage
on Facebook, and I'm so curious whereyour next conversation will take you.
One two of 1, 2, 3, 4.

(41:44):
Boy, that's.
Sound familiar.
I know that you are scared to catch it.
I know that it frightens you, butin the end of it all, nothing weak.

(42:06):
Can really do socialdistancing is helpful.
Wash your hands and wear a mask.
Whatever you do, be mindfuland just try to remember that
everything gonna be alright.

(42:27):
Even if quarantine.

(42:52):
We have to try to stay calm,let professionals do their job.
If you have to go out and buy things,don't behave like a swollen mob.
Check on how your neighbors are
on.

(43:14):
You can put some gas in car and just.
Repeat to yourself thateverything's gonna be alright.
Even if I quarantine tonight, everything'sgonna be, even if I got quarantine.

(43:49):
Thank you to the doctors and nurses andall of those truckers, too truckers.
This world would certainly grind toa halt if it weren't for all of you.
We would do well to remember a sacrificesthese people have made, have made to keep

(44:11):
the shelves stocked with toilet paper.
And try to keep this virus atBay COVID-19 may be the spark
that burns this system down.
We must take our leaders totask from mayor to crowd.
Well, brothers and sisters stay healthy.

(44:35):
It's up to.
Together we can save our worldso long as we spread the message.
Everything
alright.

(45:08):
Alright.
Singing?
Yes sir. Get in it.
Hey Donald Trump.
Don't you worry buddy.
We got it from here.
Don't you worry.
You pretty orange face.

(45:29):
That Tangerine Palpatine.
We got it, don't we?
Brothers and sisters?
Yes.
If
everything,
even if quarantine, everything.

(46:00):
Yeah,
that's what I'm talking about.
Oh, for sure.

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More Than a Voice: David Ploss on Resilience, Reconnection, and Finding Love | Conversations with a Chiropractor

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}More Than a Voice: David Ploss on Resilience, Reconnection, and Finding Love | Conversations with a Chiropractor