Living with a Chronic Illness (Part 3b): Ulcerative Colitis

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, hello, hello everyone, it's your girl, Gabriel kritch Low.
Welcome to a brand new episode of Hot Topics. Let
me tell you what the show is about. So, this
is the show where we like to have real talk
about real teens. We like to talk about things and

(00:49):
education as we are under my tutoring company, A step
ahead tutoring Services, so we have an educational focus. But
we've done topics in mental health, physical health, We've done
artificial intelligence, We've done talking with tutors, homeschooling, mindset, all

(01:12):
that moshu gushi stuff, but all with the purpose of
having you be more informed and you receiving more information
than you did the day before. So we want you
leaving this show well informed. And today is no different.

(01:33):
So I am looking forward to this discussion. So not
only do I have a repeat topic, but I have
a repeat guest. So let me tell you what that
topic is. So the topic of today's show is living

(01:54):
with a chronic Illness Part three B. So the numbering
is kind of weird, but living with the chronic illness.
So this is the fourth time that I have done
this broader topic, but this is the second time that
I have brought back this specific topic, which is alterative colitis.

(02:18):
That's right, So Living with the Chronic Illness Part three
B al sorrative colitis. So this is the second time
that I have discussed this particular chronic illness. So I
encourage you guys to check out three A. So I
encourage you guys to check that out as well as
the other installments of this series. So make sure you

(02:41):
check out the previous catalog. But well the previous episodes,
I should say, but make sure you guys check it out.
But yes, we are bringing this back alterative colitis. So
any opportunity that I have to highlight chronic illnesses diseases,
I take advantage of that. So there you have it,

(03:04):
all right, And my repeat guest, let me tell you
who that is. So my repeat guest, her name is
Dominique Gates. She was on before talking about homeschooling, so
make sure you check that out. And she was also
one of my panelists for homeschooling one on one. I
believe it was a couple of years ago. So any

(03:25):
opportunity I have to bring my guests back, I take
advantage of that as well. But yes, Dominique Gates is
my guest. Today she is back on a hot seat.
So let me take this moment to remind you about
who she is. So who is Dominie Gates? Well, let
me tell you. So. She is first a child of God,

(03:47):
raised by two awesome parents, Terry and Darlene Wilson, who
taught her the ways of God. And now she's blessed
to be a wife and a wife to a wonderful
husband excuse me and friend Sam Gates. She's a whole
school mom of three blessings, Donovan, Gavin, and Carmen, and

(04:09):
touched with a God given gift of educating children for
over twenty years while being advisor for parents in deciding
the best educational path for their children. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
All right, So, without further ado, I'm gonna go ahead
and bring Dominique to the stage. Hi, Dominique, how's it going?

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Oh it's going good, good.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
We're best. Well, welcome back to hot topics. It's been
a minute, so welcome back to the hot seats. So
this is an interesting turn of events because the last
time I did this topic al sort of coliitis, you

(04:54):
just so happened to be watching on Facebook and and
you were like Hey, I have that too, So I
was like, oh, I didn't know that about you. So
it was an interesting Uh, I don't I don't want
to say collision, but it's a it's an interesting meeting

(05:15):
of the minds, so to speak. So it's an interesting interaction.
So of course I was like, well, you have your
own experience. I want to hear from you.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
So yeah, so I'm gonna hand over the baton. I
would love for you to to tell us your story
of living with alterative colitis.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Right, So, first of all, I want to thank you
Gabrielle for having me on another time, and and I'm
always up to the opportunity to share information because these
things are not always talked about because we experienced so

(06:00):
much physical restrain from it that you don't always feel
like sharing it. So but this condition ulco rate of
colitis is something that I found out. I was diagnosed
when I was seventeen years old and I was a
senior in high school and I started experiencing some pain

(06:26):
and some other some other issues that was keeping me
from just focusing in school and things like that. So
I can remember even earlier than that, though in elementary
school I would go to school every day and experience

(06:47):
stomach pains, like almost every day, so much so that
I ended up in the nurse's office just about every day.
And my parents would think that I was just trying
to get out of being at school because I didn't
really like the school environment that much. So they thought
I was just trying to, you know, pull something so

(07:09):
that I wouldn't have to go to school. And I
can admit sometimes it was that, but other times it
was that, you know, I was really experiencing some stomach issues.
So by the time I got to high school, it
was in a really bad state. And of course, you know,
as high school students, we're not paying attention to our

(07:32):
eating habits and things like that. We're just and you know,
we're just eating what we like pretty much. And at
that time, I was working at McDonald's and I was
overindulging in all the goodies, you know. So once they
diagnosed me at seventeen, I was in the hospital for

(07:52):
quite a while my senior year. So that brought forth
another stress of you know, I'm gonna be able to
graduate and you know other things. So my parents alongside
of me always praying for me. They saw me through
that that time of my life, everything went okay. I

(08:15):
was able to graduate on time. My grades were very good.
I was an average student, so that was you know,
that went okay for that school year. But the condition
at that time, the doctor told us, when I was
seventeen year old, that this is something that does not

(08:38):
have a cure. So they told us also, I think
I was on about nine pills a day, and they
told us that that was something that I would have
to be on for the rest of my life. Okay,
So this hearing this as a seventeen year old, it

(09:00):
was very stressful. It was not encouraging news at all,
So it was but it was my reality. So it
was something that I did try to keep up with
on my own. But again I was seventeen years old

(09:21):
and really not keeping up with, you know, my physical
health and things like that. I was focused on having
fun like any other seventeen year old would be. So
at that time I went on to I was in
college and working full time after graduation and trying to

(09:46):
uphold my physical health, spiritual health all that at the
same time, and it was a bit much. I remember
being a little stressed out and overwhelmed quite often so,
and with ulcerated colijas. You have to you live this

(10:09):
private life behind the curtains of you know, smiling and
trying to live a regular life because you have moments
where you spend a lot of time in the restroom. Okay,
your perception of going out and having fun, the first

(10:29):
question you ask is is there going to be a
restroom nearby? Because that's that's the whole focus of your life.
Your your your fun moments are circled around whether you're
going to be comfortable or not to handle this health
condition wherever you are because the symptoms and things that happen,

(10:55):
they don't come with a warning. Okay, so you don't ever.
I didn't ever want to be anywhere that I felt uncomfortable,
or that I felt like I was gonna have an
embarrassing moment or anything like that to happen. And with

(11:16):
this condition, it was just that serious, Like you know,
you never wanted to be somewhere that anything would happen,
and you always wanted to make sure that you were
prepared in any situation because anything could happen, you know,
like if you ate thrown thing and your stomach starts

(11:41):
to I mean just like you know, any other person,
if you if your lato's intolerant or something like that,
or and you ate some dairy or something by mistake,
and all of a sudden the symptoms start to come,
whether it's a B or C. I don't mean to
be graphic or anything. So follow along with me as

(12:04):
I give all the different code code words and numbers
and all that, because I realized we have a mixed audience.
But uh, just any type of body.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
I'm just gonna jump in. Sorry, but I said it's
it is hot topic. So yeah, they feel free to
be as as graphic as you are comfortable.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Okay, okay, Well I remember being like at amusement parts
and stuff like that, and those type of situations were
very uncomfortable for me. And I was a teenager and
I was trying my best to have fun, but it

(12:48):
was so many instances that I had to stop and
go to the restroom and everybody's like, man, you just went,
you know, because nobody knew what I was actually going through.
And I didn't want anybody to know. I wanted to
be a normal teenager, you know. I didn't want the attention.
I didn't want you know, nobody to feel sorry for

(13:10):
me and all that. I just wanted to be a
normal teenager. I wanted to have fun just like everybody else,
and I did, but with the attachment of this condition,
I just couldn't move around like everybody else. I had
to take a lot of breaks to the restroom. I
tended to not eat much while I was out because

(13:33):
I didn't want to have to rush off to the
restroom when something else fun was going on, I had
to miss out or things like that. It was it
was quite an experience. So I'm telling you, like anywhere
we went, and then you know, I dealt with people,

(13:54):
they made jokes about it because they didn't they didn't
know what I was actually going through. They just thought
it was a thing like, oh, she had to go
to the restroom everywhere we go, Like, make sure she
goes to the restroom, because if not, you're gonna have
to stop. I heard. I got all of that all
because I didn't want to have to explain to people

(14:16):
what my actual issue was, and so I just dealt
with it, laughed it off most of the time, and
just lived through it. I mean, that was my reality.
So even traveling road trips, although I love road trips.

(14:37):
That was a big issue for me because whoever I was,
whoever was driving, would have to stop a lot. I
don't care if it was from from here to Indianapolis.
It's only two hours. And I promise you they had
to stop for me. I don't know how many times,
and sometimes I would just try to hold it because

(14:59):
I I just didn't want the attention, the embarrassment and
things like that. This condition is more mental than physical.
It's all about you know, you have to I don't
know how I could have made it this far with

(15:19):
this condition, and I'm very happy to say that, you know,
I'm not on that many pills anymore. I'm not on
any pills actually, by the grace of God that he's
brought me this far. I am forty five years old
and have dealt with this condition for this long, and

(15:42):
I really feel like through all of that, I've had
three kids, and I did experience a break in the
in the symptoms when I was expecting each time, and
I was just so happy the first time that I

(16:03):
got pregnant, I didn't have any symptoms, and I was
excitingly telling my doctor, you know what's going on. I
don't have any any symptoms right now, and he's like, yeah,
pretty much like the disease goes into remission when you're
expecting for some reason. And I'm like, oh, okay. So

(16:28):
after I had my I got pregnant with my second baby.
Then we decided to have a third baby, and of
course I didn't have any symptoms through all three pregnancies,
but after the pregnancies, it seemed like it came back
with a vengeance. So it was very hard. It was

(16:50):
very hard on me. Things were pretty much there were
times where I could not really least anything but blood
and that was that was really hard on my mental,
my physical everything. I even had to have blood transfusions.

(17:15):
It was it was very hard. This is nothing to
play with and I really totally believe that it all
accounted to my diet. A lot of things, a lot
of physical issues we go to go through is because
of our diet. We have poor habits, eating habits. And

(17:39):
you know, for whatever reason you use food for, it
was meant to nourish the body, and that's it. Food
is not to replace your happiness. Food is not to
soothe and comfort you. You know, although it's it's good
to have good food I love good food, good flavors

(18:02):
and all of that, but it's it's our diet that
that is connected to a lot of physical issues. And
in our community it's not talked about as much, but
more so. You know, we have a lot of parties, celebrations,
get together as barbecues, you know, all that, and the

(18:26):
main attraction is what food. But I believe that God
intended food for the nourishment of the body. And and
so now even with this condition, all I have is

(18:47):
a I have a what do you call it, m
infusion treatment every eight weeks, and I have been off
of all the pills for about three years. Three years.
And that happened because during the pandemic I went into it.

(19:11):
I had a whole lot of hospital visits, overnight stays
in the hospital. And mind you, I have three kids
at home and just leaving them and having to go
to the hospital all because I ate something on and
it triggered the disease. And I mean it was just

(19:35):
it was a lot. It was a lot. Mentally, I
never wanted to leave my kids, you know, even the
times that I did have to go into the hospital,
it was very stressful knowing that they had to go
somewhere else during the time I was getting cared for
in the hospital. And I'm grateful for those people my
village that helped me, my sisters, God, sisters, everybody just

(20:00):
pushed in and help. But it was a lot to
have to do that. It seemed like I was in
the hospital like every six months, staying in the hospital
for four or five, six, seven days even But I
allowed God to show me how to go through this

(20:22):
because I didn't believe. I didn't want to believe when
the doctor said that this was something that I would
go through for the rest of my life. But I
also knew that some people go through this same condition
worse than I did, and I don't want to make

(20:43):
it look like something that is so easy to go
through and and but some people end up with the
colossary bag, which that was that was advised to me.
And I said, no, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna

(21:04):
live like that. I have three little kids and I
need to be active. And I'm sure there are people
that live a great life even in that in that
stance of having a colostomy bad, but I just didn't
believe that was my cup to bear. So I prayed

(21:26):
about it, prayed hard, and so many times I didn't
have an answer, but I just knew that I didn't
want to live my life like that, and I just
believed after that. That was in I think twenty twenty
that I stayed in the hospital until it was about

(21:50):
seven days I spent in the hospital in the month
of February, and as everybody knows the pandemic, we hadn't
received all the infemei in February yet, but when March
hit pretty much that's when everything like shut down or whatever.
But thankful to God that during that time, he just

(22:13):
opened my eyes to changing my diet. And the first
thing that I changed was dairy milk. Actually, because we're
still I'm still on this journey, but at that time,
I just took away the the dairy milk and we

(22:36):
changed over to almond milk, and my kids they were
still drinking regular milk, and just something came to me,
you know, well, if you don't feel like it's good
for you, I just feel like God was just talking
to me through the whole time, like, you know, leading
and guiding me through the steps to make to you know,
make not only me healthy, but to incur urage my

(23:00):
family to do the same. And so while I was
buying two different kinds of milk, he was just like,
you know, it just came to me, like, if you
don't feel like it's healthy for you, why give it
to your children. And so at that time I told
my kids, I said, hey, I'm not buying two kinds

(23:22):
of milk anymore, and I let them taste it. They
were fine with it, and just so happened. I didn't
know how the lactose intolerant type thing go, but I
just knew that we let go of the milk and
from then on they didn't handle dairy too well. So

(23:42):
they became lactose intolerant, unfortunately, but fortunately they became healthier.
They didn't have so many stomach issues and things like
that as often kids always have, you know, little things
going on. But at that time we changed that and

(24:05):
that made a big difference in our health. So as
the years went on, I'm going to fast forward to now,
because back then I was still taking pills, and that
was twenty twenty two, and I believed with my whole

(24:27):
heart that because while I was taking the pills, I
was getting even sicker. I stayed nauseated. I couldn't hardly
eat anything. My weight was I was so small that
people thought, oh, it's something wrong. They kept asking me,
is are you okay? It is something wrong with you.

(24:48):
I see you losing so much weight, and I am
I am five too, so for me to lose a
lot of weight, a substantial amount, it could look like
something is wrong with me, like I'm sick. So because
my normal weight was about one point thirty and I

(25:09):
got down to one nineteen, and of course you know
that that puts things in people's minds like you know,
why are you losing so much weight and things like that. Well,
it was the medicine that had my weight fluctuating. But
at that time, I felt like God was leading me

(25:30):
to just trust him. He was increasing my faith in him.
And when you are able to step out on faith,
it's not an easy road, but it's a it's a
trust issue between you and God, and with that relationship,

(25:52):
you can If you have a relationship with God and
you're able to trust him, he will lead and guide
you every step of the way. And that at that moment,
he led me to cut the medicine. That was not
an easy decision to make because it kind of left

(26:13):
me out there and I didn't know whether the disease
was gonna get worse or get better. And now, mind you,
I'm still I was still taking the infusion and the pills,
nine pills a day. So I did it. And because

(26:34):
I felt like, you know, I didn't have much to lose,
because I was getting sicker with the pills, and I
was like, well, God, I'm just gonna step out on you.
And it was a thing where I had to stay
mentally and spiritually ready for whatever he had for me next,

(26:56):
because I had to pretty much change a whole lot
of things, including my diet. So I asked, I was
asking a lot of questions. You know, well, well, if
I'm not taking the medicine, then what am I going
to do? You know, what if something happens, What if
I have to go back to the hospital. All these
things were going through my head. But I was determined

(27:20):
that I was going to trust God through this journey,
and he led me to get off that medicine. And
when one year, when I hit one year of being
off that medicine, I went back to the doctor, and
my doctor he was looking at my records and he says, well,

(27:42):
I noticed that you haven't gotten a refil for the
medication since last year. And I said, yes, I said,
because I haven't taken it since last year. And he
checked all of my numbers, my levels and everything and
only to find out that I was good without the medicine.

(28:06):
So I was so happy to hear that. And like
I said, that was twenty twenty two, and I have
not taken appeal since for the disease I only I
still have. I still take the infusion treatment every eight
weeks and this is all I do. But along with that,

(28:30):
I have recently, five months ago, I have became pescatarian.
I let go of the meat and everything except seafood.
But I have picked up so many vegetables since then.
My favorite is spinach and arugula and romaine lettuce. So

(28:55):
we but I have been an adventure risks with my
diet because I mean, I don't knock anybody that loves
good food because I do. I absolutely do love good
flavored food. But with that change just five months ago,

(29:16):
it has made such a big difference in my health,
in my life, I mean, and I would encourage anybody
to it causes you to look at food differently. It
doesn't become a like you're looking for comfort foods and

(29:38):
things like that, foods to alter your mindset, or foods
to cheer you up and things like that. You look
at food a little bit different. Yes, I do enjoy
lactose free ice cream cone every now and then, but
it's not so much that if I'm overwhelmed or upset,

(30:03):
I'm grabbing for, you know, a big bowl of of
cookies and ice cream or anything like that. So it
just causes you to look at food differently and be
able to enjoy the food. But know that you have
no guilt behind enjoying your food, and that feels good

(30:25):
to know that you can depend on that food to
nourish your body and not add anything harmful to your body.
And of course, you know we bless our food anytime
before we eat something, we bless our food and ask
God to take the impurities out of it and to

(30:46):
nourish our body with it. But it will cause you
to look at the choices of your food and then
ask God still to take the impurities out of it
and let it be for your body. But then it
doesn't cause any what do you call it residue of guilt,

(31:08):
and I'm learning about that. But that's something that I learned, Like,
you know, a lot of things that we eat, we're like, oh, now,
you know, now I'm feeling sluggish, and now I'm gonna
be sick, and now a too much of that peach
coabbl or in which I did enjoy some yesterday for
the holiday. But and then, you know, it doesn't it

(31:32):
doesn't give you that that big feeling or weight, that
burden of guilt once you start to change your eating habits,
change your diet. And even though you can enjoy those
those sweets every now and then, which I'm trying my

(31:53):
best to monitor even that. And so last yesterday it
was a holiday, you know, you want to enjoy things
like that, but I still stuck with my diet. But
I did enjoy some peachkabbla and some caramel cake and
it was delicious. But I didn't overdo it because I

(32:15):
don't know when the next time, you know, I might
not have anything else sweet until next week, or you know,
I don't eat sweets every day, And that's all part
of just monitoring your diet. You know your body better
than anybody. You know what you can take and what
you can you know what's too far for you, you know,

(32:38):
and you know what it's moderate and what will keep you,
you know, clean as far as your diet is concerned.
But I'm telling you, it was the grace of God
that really kept me and it is keeping me on
this health path that I am trying to get better.

(33:02):
And I see my energy level is much better. I
don't get that full feeling if you ever ate a
lot and you get that like bent over, Oh I'm
so full, I can't hardly move, you know that feeling.
I don't get that anymore. Which it feels good to

(33:23):
be able to eat and be satisfied. It feels really good.
And so I'm just praying that anybody that is dealing
with this condition. I know everybody has their difference, their
different experience. Even with this condition, it does not do

(33:45):
everybody the same. Like I was listening to the gentleman
that Miss Gabrielle mentioned that I just happened to be
looking on. He caught my attention because he was handling
his totally different than and he had a different experience,
and it was just something to hear because I'm telling

(34:07):
you that people with this condition, we don't talk about
it much because it's a it's a very private type
of situation because it deals with you know, your body
bodily functions, your natural bodily functions, but things are not
happening naturally, or they're happeningly, they're happening too much. It's

(34:33):
an overload and it can be very strenuous on your mental,
your physical, body, your social life. You're talking about fearing
that you won't have a social life.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
I mean, this.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Disease will take your mind, like I mean, because the
first thing, you're not even thinking about the fun you're
gonna have, Okay, if you have a social life at all,
You're thinking about, am I gonna be comfortable there? Am
I gonna be able to take care of myself properly there?

(35:12):
You know, because you go into the restroom, you want
to be in a clean facility, that's number one. And
then you want to be in a private facility. And
if you're somewhere that they only have one restroom, that
is not a comfortable position for you. Not with this condition.

(35:33):
It's just so much. And then I had to carry
like a care package with me everywhere. I went, I
had to carry baby wipes with me everywhere, things to
freshen up with me everywhere I went, And I just
made it a habit because I'm coming into my middle
age years now and there's always a need to freshen

(35:57):
up and things like that. But before having this disease,
I could carry a little wristlet and with my ID
and money and stuff like that in it and be okay.
But now I carry I mean even with kids. Of
course I carry a bigger person now, but I always
have baby wipes. And the things that I'm training them

(36:19):
to do to take care of themselves is hopefully to
avoid these type of issues. I'm trying. Of course, my
kids cook all the time, but I'm trying to teach
them healthier ways to cook, you know. And of course
they they eat whatever they want to eat, but they

(36:40):
do take lactate pills when they eat ice cream, or
when they want some macaroni and cheese, or if they
want some pizza or things like that. They eat like
normal kids, but they're able to still know that they're
healthier choice out there, and I'm trying to teach them

(37:02):
that so they won't have to deal with these type
of issues along the way. And I think the more
people talk about this disease and other irrital bow syndrome diseases,
Chrome's disease. I think the more that people talk about
these diseases, that you could handle it a little bit

(37:30):
better if you know, although everybody's experience is different, just
knowing that you don't have to experience it if you
are intact with your diet, and if you have some
sort of faith in God. Because I don't see how
I could have made it through a lot of days

(37:53):
without God. I really don't. I mean, that's just my honest,
my honest opinion. But I had some rough days of
sickness dealing with this disease, and I just don't see
like it was a lonely time because everybody that you

(38:13):
even tell about the disease, they don't they don't really
get it, you know. So a lot of days I
spent just in bed and praying to God, please touch
my body because and especially having kids around, they knew, oh,
mommy's sick today, Like we got to do this by ourself.

(38:36):
We got to do this by ourself. And that was
such a feeling of guilt you got. I got a
lot of mom guilt, being sick all the time, and
I just didn't want to live that type of life.
But until I just start praying and asking God to
touch my body and literally asking Him to heal me

(38:57):
from this. And sometimes, you know, sometimes things that we
go through is not meant for us to be completely
rid of it, but just asking God to relieve us
of the burden of having it, and relieve us from

(39:18):
the pain of having it and help us to live
a normal life, you know, things like that. Just I
don't take it for granted that I'm able to just
ask God those things. And it's because of my faith
in him. It's because I trust Him with my life
that I'm able to freely ask him these things and

(39:42):
believe that He will do it and He is healing
me from it. I just believe that not only this disease,
but it's just so many things that we go through
that if only we would hand it over to God,

(40:09):
and some of it, some of the things that we
go through physically, it is unnecessary because we're trying to
because like this disease, this ulcerat of colitis, or any
other irrito bio syndrome, Chron's disease, it comes on through stress.

(40:30):
And if you have a lot of things going on
in your life and you're constantly overwhelmed and you're constantly
stressed out about it, those type of feelings bring on
health conditions. If you didn't know, it's a lot of
a lot of the times, you know, some people may
have heart attacks, some people may have stomach issues, you know,

(40:52):
just different things like that. But a lot of times
it's because we're stressing and overwhelmed and we're throwing on
our own body into sickness. Those that's how your body
is reacting to whatever's going on in your life. But
and those type of things are going to happen. You're

(41:15):
gonna have issues, You're gonna have struggles, problems, disappointments, all
those things. But if only you could cast your cares
on him, that's what the scripture says that because He
cares for you, you won't feel like you have to handle

(41:37):
all the issues and problems and disappointments on your own.
And you can you can give those burdens over to God.
So that and ask God, you know, don't let these
issues that I'm going through affect my body or my health,

(41:58):
you know. But and that's that's what I'm that's what
I'm working on. Although I'm doing a lot better now,
getting better and stronger every day. Still we're gonna have
other issues, you know what I'm saying. So it's not
just you know, and I'm gonna say people with autoimmune

(42:20):
disease all around. This is something that you know, the
doctors always tell us, that's something you won't get cured from.
We don't have a cure for autoimmune disease, you know,
And so some people just give up on feeling better,
they give up on living a regular life, they give

(42:41):
up on just being able to live a normal life,
all because the doctor said. The doctor is not the
last say, so he does not have the last say.
So we have to recognize that doctors are practicing, although
we go to them because they have the knowledge. God
has given them the knowledge on how to do certain

(43:04):
things to help us. So I'm not knocking the doctors
at all, But doctors don't have the last say. God
made our bodies. He knows our bodies from inside out.
He designed us the way that we are, and I
believe that whatever He allowed to even come in and

(43:26):
attack our bodies, He's able to heal, deliver us, take
it away whichever way he wants it to go. And
sometimes I would say, you know that I've had conditions
temporarily happened to me just to get me to praying more,

(43:48):
to get me to read his word more so that
I can get to know him better, to bring my
relationship closer with him. So every condition in your body
is not meant to kill you. Every condition in your
body is not meant to make your life miserable. But

(44:09):
some conditions in our body is to get our attention
and to bring us closer to God. I know I'm
going on and on and on, but I just have
that passion in me that lets me know that even
I'm living with this condition, but my condition is not
as bad as it used to be when I was

(44:30):
seventeen years old. I'm forty five years old. I do
live a normal, blessed life. God has blessed me this far,
and I'm just believing that He's going to see me
through the rest of the way. The infusions I have
are every eight weeks and that just manages my disease,

(44:52):
but my diet and different things that I just believe
God puts things on my heart to say, oh, okay,
we got to stop eating so much of this, or okay,
that's enough of that, or we need to change this.
So even so, five months ago I came off the meat,
and since May I have started planning my garden. So

(45:17):
that's a very exciting journey that I'm on right now,
just trying to do things better and healthier so I
can continue to live a blessed life. And that's it.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Thank you God. You You've You've given us plenty. You
pretty much get you know, gave us our full episode.
But I well, I thank you for sharing. By the way,

(45:51):
I can imagine you know, this coming on so suddenly
at seventeen years old, yes, and and just having to
go to the bathroom frequently, and you know, and having

(46:19):
to you didn't really well, having to not explain to people,
but just because you're you're with family and friends, and
so you have to like, why do you have to
go to the bathroom all the time. So having the
looks and the stairs and having to laugh at off right,

(46:39):
and just the fear of you know, not being able
to have fun and not be and having to live
a restrictive life and just kind of I could just
imagine and just all the pills and the hospital visits,
and it's it's sort of like your life was. I

(47:03):
feel like your life was snatched from you.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Yeah, in a way.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
And you know, I can imagine, you know, being so young,
you know, not having a you know, normal life, not
having that young adult life that you wanted to have.
So it was I can imagine such a such a

(47:32):
change in you and and such an embarrassment in a way,
right with the constant bathroom tips. And it's funny too.
I mean even if you were okay, thirties forties, people
might understand a little bit more. But you know, but
you know, like okay, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen twenty, Okay, what's
wrong with you? Right? Yeah, So so it's it's a

(47:58):
lot to taken. It's it's a lot to explain to navigate,
and the pills and taking so many pills at such
a young age. And again like okay, thirties, forties, fifties,
you know, taking nine pills is like whatever, But it's
when you're doing it in your twenties, right, It's it's

(48:21):
like it's unexpected and just a lot to process mentally,
as you're talking about and mentally and emotionally, so I
can imagine all that. And then there's a couple of
things that you pointed that you mentioned that you, well,

(48:42):
it's a few things, but one of the I don't
know if it's a treatment, but one of the things
that you brought up was the colostomy bag and you
made the choice not to use one, right, right, So

(49:04):
if you could just dive into that part again, what
made you decide not to use the bag?

Speaker 2 (49:12):
So outside of being fearful, I once doing research on
that and what they sent me so many videos when
they were trying to prepare me, prepare my mind to
do that. They sent me so many videos and I'm
watching these people and they did it so well, you know,

(49:33):
they took care of themselves so well. But I just
in the back of my mind, it was just like,
I don't feel like that's the type of life I want.
And I was fearful, you know, it was just like
I don't I don't want to have to do all
of that. I got kids, I need to move around,
I need to do this, I need to do that,

(49:55):
And that situation just scared me. And I was telling
God every day, like God, please, I don't want this
cup to have to bear, you know, you know, is
it another way? So sure enough, I went back to
the doctor and I said, is it another way we
can do this? And that's when you know, they gave

(50:17):
us more pills of me. I think it was more pills.
Well you can take this, you can take this, you
can take this. Okay, well we'll take that. But you know,
of course that ended up just making me sicker until
until the disease got so bad that I was taking
pills and infusing infusion treatments and I was just like, okay, God,

(50:40):
something's got to give because nothing's getting better. I got
more pills and infusion and nothing's getting better. And that's
when he put it on my heart to just get
rid of the pills. And it was that was a
big faith jump because I was so scared. I didn't

(51:02):
know what the result of that was going to be,
but I was just like, something's got to be better
than this.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
Yeah, So that was definitely a big uh faith jump,
right And yeah, and and changing the diet was a
was a big thing for you as well. Yeah, because
the you know, the foods, certain foods that we eat

(51:35):
make can make things better. Or make things worse, and
you know your occasion was making things worse. So definitely,
you know, diet is a big one, and it's I
think a lot of people don't. I don't know if
they realize it. But in terms of improving any kind
of illness or I mean, one of the things is

(51:57):
lifestyle changes, diet changes and being mindful of the food
that you're eating so right, so that it alleviates a
lot of those symptoms. But yeah, and not even just
medication itself. I do feel paranoid about it, but yeah,

(52:19):
but yeah, it's just like all I can say is
it's a lot. So I mean, I do have to ask.
I know this is gonna be graphic and disgusting, but
you know, I do gotta ask. So in terms of
how you went to the restroom, did you go normally

(52:41):
so you didn't have the bag, so did you go normally?
Did you have the Okay, I win, normally.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
And so the experience of going to the restroom, in
case somebody is wondering, oh, you just have to go frequently,
but well, okay, the experience of going to the restroom
was not just I had to go frequently. It was
that I didn't have like a normal every time I

(53:11):
went it was a vowel movement situation, but it was
not a normal vowel movement situation. It was either and yes,
this is is gross, but it was either going to
be blood and mucus or a mixture of a mixture

(53:34):
of vowel movement, blood and mucous. So even it's so
and and you had I had to be able to
check and see what it was because that's the thing
that gauged how well or not so well I was doing.

(53:54):
I had to be able to tell the doctor what
it was when I went. So you can't it's not like, Okay,
I can use the bathroom, wash my hands and get
out of there. No, I gotta you know, I got
to check it out to make sure that I'm not
doing worse or I'm doing better, or what it looks like,
because I had to be able to communicate this stuff

(54:15):
to the doctor when I go back so that would
make okay. And then just trying to clean yourself up
having no trace of anything. You know, when you leave
out the restroom, you don't want somebody to come behind
you and see any of that, you know, just like
any other time but in your mind, it's like, you know,

(54:38):
I'm in this situation, so I got to make sure
all traces are gone or it's just like a paranoia
type thing. So but yeah, it was a lot. Like
you said, it's just even the memories of doing all
of that so young. It was like, wow, I'm telling you.

(55:05):
And don't get me wrong, I did live a full,
blessed life even in my twenties. I traveled so much.
You know, I did, I did everything. But still in
all of those enjoyable situations, I had to think about
these too people minute things. Where's the restaurant at the airport,

(55:27):
where's the nearest you know, you know those type of
things was going through my head. Other than like normal
people they have to use the restaurant, Oh, I'll just
hold it until I couldn't do that. That was not
an option for me, so you know, I had to
make sure it either we're sitting at the terminal, where's

(55:50):
the restaurom at from here? You know, how far do
I have to go from here? Or I need to
stand by the restroom until it's time to go. Or
it was just it was a lot, but people didn't
understand and I didn't not that they didn't want to
understand or didn't ask me. I didn't want to have
to explain every time. It was like, no, just let

(56:11):
me be normal as I can be. So that was
the biggest restraint, is that I don't want to have
to explain. I want to have to tell you what's
going on with me. Just let me be as normal
as I can be. And when the position, when the
situation presented, sol I'll handle it, you know. So. But

(56:32):
I did live a full, blessed life. I did everything
that I wanted to do. I didn't have my first
child till I was thirty, so I was I mean,
I can only say that God blessed me to live
a full, enjoyable and still is because we're still in

(56:53):
this but it's not as bad as it used to be.
And from then to now, He has blessed me to
live a full, enjoyable life.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
That's amazing. So do you still go to the bathroom frequently?
What are you still?

Speaker 2 (57:17):
No? No, I am. I am to the point where
it's normal valve movements at least twice a day, no
more blood or none of that. And like I said before,
the infusion treatments helped to keep the disease in remission.
So if you could think of like cancer treatments and

(57:41):
things like that, when they take the chemo, it's supposed
to it's after so many treatments, it's supposed to keep
the disease in remission, so kind of the same concept.
So we're in remission right now.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
That's good. That's good. That's good. And I'm just thinking too,
like losing all that blood. Were you anemic?

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Oh, yes, definitely, were still dealing with We still try
to regulate our blood levels on a daily basis because
every time I go to the doctor that is an issue.
Vitamin D levels are always low, so we take supplements
for that, even take vitamin D infusion treatments every well.

(58:30):
I only had it this year, and then probably like
three years ago I had that. So yeah, we work
hard to keep our levels to where they're supposed to be.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
So yeah, yeah, And how was like periods menstruation.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
It's normal, it's normal. It's normal. I don't have any
any issues with that other than the just the regular
fluctuation of dates and stuff like that. But I'm up
to that age now that that's you know, that's normal.
So yeah, it's normal yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
And then how was it early on in your twenties
In the beginning, it was.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
It was pretty normal. So I guess most people is
like seven days or something like that, but I've always
been just five days and done. Okay, yeah, so that's
pretty normal. That didn't really learn, No, it didn't really
affect that at all.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
Okay, yep, okay, all right. So we so if you could,
I mean, what would you have done differently? So, if
you were talking to your what would you say to
your seventeen year old self and about all this? What

(01:00:02):
would you like to tell yourself at seventeen years old?

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
I know this is so very controversial, but at that
time I was working at McDonald's and to a seventeen
year old, free food was like heaven. And at that
time they had these what they called daily double meals,

(01:00:34):
and as good as it tasted, it was not as
good for my body, and to overindulge in it. I
think I might have had one of those meals at
least every day every day. I was working there for
two years. No, I was working there for nine months actually,

(01:00:57):
but it didn't stop there. I didn't stop eating McDonald's,
you know, but while I was working there, I ate
it every day, literally until I got sent to the hospital.
And like I said, food doesn't treat everybody's body the same,

(01:01:18):
So you may not get a reaction a month later,
you may not get anything happen to you a year later.
But if you keep in those bad eating habits, it
will eventually catch up with you. And that's what I
could say. I would tell my seventeen year old, So

(01:01:39):
consider your forty five year old self. If you want
to live longer, then you got to start those healthy
eating habits early. And I would tell parents because a
lot of times us parents, we beat our kids based
on convenience. A lot of things we I mean, you know,

(01:02:05):
we're not that generation that does everything homemade. And in
some days it just feels like I just need to
feed y'all. I don't feel like cooking. I definitely don't
feel like doing anything homemade. But as long as I
know that I fed you today, then that makes me

(01:02:27):
feel good. And to go to McDonald's and buy you
a five dollar meal feels like I did my job right.
But it's another type of generation that's coming up now
that don't know anything about homemade cooking and they don't

(01:02:49):
know about. All they know is the conveniency of and
kids and people are sicker now than they were when
we were raised, you know, so we have to I
would tell my seventeen year old self, consider how long
you want to live and what type of life you

(01:03:10):
want to live, and I mean take care of yourself definitely,
like consider your health even at seventeen year old. It's
just not taught in school. That's not something that's taught
in school. Self care is not taught in school. I
mean they teach you self care as far as you know,

(01:03:33):
skin care, taking care of your skin and things like that.
But eating habits is a big part of self care,
and it's that's something just like financial literacy is not
being taught in school. So somebody has to even if
it's in our generation, somebody has to stand up and
teach are young. And I tell my fifteen year old

(01:03:55):
now eating flame and hets, that's not You may have
a bag every now and then, but if you're gonna
get sick every now and then, your body's telling you
this is not good for me. You know, if your
stomach hurts after you ate the bag, I don't care
if you eat one bag every month, if your stomach

(01:04:19):
hurts after you eat the bag of hot chips, your
body's telling you I don't want that. That's not good
for me. So I'm you know, I'm doing my part
trying to help educate minds on you know, they're eating habits,
cooking how to cook from scratch, so you have an

(01:04:40):
option even if you don't feel like it, at least
you don't.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
So yeah, oh, absolutely absolutely all right. So all right,
so let's let's start to wind things down. So on
hot topics. I like to ask my guests to share
words of wisdom, and you already gave a lot with them,

(01:05:07):
but I don't hold you have any more words of
wisdom that you'd like to share with our audience.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Just simply whatever you do, do it all in moderation
as far as you know eating is concerned, and just
learn to take care of yourself, not just your physical health,
but your mental health, definitely your spiritual health, and that

(01:05:38):
by itself will take you a long way.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
M yeah, oh I would access. So the food that
you were eating, do you think were I mean, is
this a hereditary disease? Did it just kind of come
on as a result of the diet. What makes shoot?

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
I am not all the way one hundred percent sure,
but the thing that I feel that triggered it put it.
Put it like that. I think the thing that triggered it.
When I was seventeen was my eating habits a lot
of fast food. And Mom she did cook at that time.

(01:06:28):
I was working. Some days, I wouldn't want what she cooked,
so I ate McDonald's, so you or I ate. I
didn't do burking. It was mostly McDonald's, and so I
would just be like, you know, because most of the
time during dinner time, I was at work, and I

(01:06:48):
would I would go to McDonald's for lunch too, because
our high school was across the street. So I would
walk over there and get a McDonald's meal, and then
when I get to work in the evening, I ate it.
And then if I was closing that night, I took
some homes.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
That was a lot. Yeah, that was a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:07:09):
And we don't recognize how that's harming our body. And
even now, you know, we don't know what's in food.
So if you don't do anything else, you better bless
your food because we don't know what's in it. We
don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
So, yeah, so now that brings up a bigger issue
about people who work, right, So working parents, working teenagers,
you're working eight hours a day, yeah, I mean, and
you come home and you're tire, you don't feel like cooking, right,

(01:07:49):
and you're working? I mean unless how many people are
cooking and bringing their food to work? So you know,
so that brings up a bigger issue about how do
you eat healthy and work at the same time? So
what would you how would you answer that?

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
So there, it's easier to make an excuse than it
is to actually do it. And that covers so much
right there, because we can we can say I had
to work eight hours, I was tired. But if you

(01:08:30):
want to live a better life, you want to take
care of yourself. That's the first priority. It doesn't matter
if I have to after work, I have to mail plan,
doesn't matter. I'm doing it to take care of myself.

(01:08:50):
And if you look at it from another standpoint, as
your body is your temple and he it's God expects
us to take care of what he gave us. He
expects us to be good stewards over what he gave us.
He gave us healthy bodies. We started off healthy. When

(01:09:13):
we came into the world, we were we were healthy
bodies and it was up to us to take care
of it. So if it just depends on what you
want out of life, you know, it totally depends on
and educate yourself. That's what these hot topics is about.

(01:09:35):
You're educating yourself as well as sharing the wealth of
education to other people. So you know, and and we
educate ourselves on so many other things that don't even matter.
Why not educate yourself on how to take care of yourself.
The Internet is wide open with all this knowledge for

(01:10:00):
something good, how to take care of yourself and your families.
So we can always make an excuse on you know
what I word, I'm tired. The day that you have
a little extra energy, do some meal planning. And I
don't do meal planning all the time, but there are

(01:10:21):
days that I feel like I got an extra ounce
of energy, and I make two meals at one time,
and that may be it for the week because I
don't cook every day, but I definitely use my crackpot,
especially in these ninety degrees something weather, I don't turn
on the oven, so I make a tune of salad

(01:10:44):
and then I make something in the crackpot and that's
for the rest of the week. I'm done. Or I'll
make a whole bunch of containers of salad, and then
as the days go I want to change it up.
I'll add some cram berries to my salad, or the
next day I want to add something else to it.
I mean, you know, you can do it, and it

(01:11:07):
doesn't have to be a long drawn out process. But
the main priority is I'm trying to take care of
myself mm hm, take care of this temple that God
gave me.

Speaker 1 (01:11:22):
Absolutely. So I know we didn't really go into like
what it is and the and the symptoms. I can
put that in a little bit later, but it's one
thing I really wanted to ask you. So one I
just thing that came up about the symptoms is that
and children is a failure to grow according to the

(01:11:45):
Mayo clinics. I was just curious if if you stops growing.

Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
I am five too, but I did never count that
onto uh a lack of growing, because my dad's family
has members that are short and stature, and so I
counted that to that. My mom's family is pretty much

(01:12:12):
on the tall side. So I have three sisters. Two
of us is tall and two of us is short.

Speaker 1 (01:12:19):
So you're genetics. Yes, I just thought that was an
interesting symptom. I was like, failure to grow. What that's interesting?
All right? All right girl, I know you know you
probably got things to do, but thank you again for
coming on topics. Let me let's get your promo out there,

(01:12:40):
all right, you guys, So it is promo time. So Dominique,
she doesn't have much. She got two Facebook pages, so one,
but she has two businesses. So one is Gates of Learning,
which is your just tutoring, I believe.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
Yes, it's an educational page, tutoring, homeschooling, all that.

Speaker 1 (01:13:04):
Yeah, so if you are look so tell us a
little bit about Gates of Learning.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
Gates of Learning is pretty much like a I'm an
advocate for homeschoolers, just trying to lead other parents in
the right direction of educating their children, whether it be
home school, private school, whichever way. But I do homeschool
my children, and I try to document things that we

(01:13:30):
do to help other homeschool parents. But I also tutor
traditional school children as well.

Speaker 1 (01:13:39):
Okay, there you have it, all right, So if you're
looking for those types of services, you know, homeschooling advocate,
tutoring all that her face. The Facebook page is Gates
of Learning. The direct link will be in the description
to make sure you guys check it out. And you

(01:14:00):
also have a second business, which is unique by design,
custom gifts. It's all us about that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
Yes, we are a business that creates gifts for every occasion,
whether it be a like famous occasion like Christmas, Valentine's Day,
or just because birthday, anniversary, whatever occasion. We make gift baskets.

(01:14:27):
We go to different vendor events and set up or
you can contact us through Facebook and we ship gifts
out all the time. So yeah, so you do like
gift baskets, give baskets, gift boxes. We customize gifts as well,

(01:14:49):
So yeah, any occasion for whatever holiday or just because.
Like I said, we just got out of our graduate
and Mother's Day season which was a big time for us,
and we are we are in our down season right now,

(01:15:10):
but like I said, every now and then we'll get
an order for birthday or any other occasion that's going on.

Speaker 1 (01:15:17):
So yeah, all right, so there you go. You guys
need a gift basket, you need a gift box. Maybe
you know you you don't want to buy a present
for somebody. Well, well you start to well, how do
I say you don't want to put the gift together yourself,
You just want to get it and give you know,

(01:15:40):
hit up Dominique. So she has her on her gift service.
Uh so it is unique by design custom gifts. You
could check her out on Facebook. That is.

Speaker 2 (01:15:53):
Huh, there was one more thing. I'm sorry, yeah, one
more thing. We we also set up lemonade stands or
hot cocoa in the holiday season. That's another part of
our business and which I let my kids manage that part.
But we have events that we set up eliminade stand

(01:16:15):
in the summertime and we do hot cocoa bars in
the winter time at vendor events and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:16:21):
So, oh, is that in your local area?

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
That's in my local area. We haven't had the opportunity
to travel yet, but in the near future we hope to.

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
And what what what is your local area?

Speaker 2 (01:16:36):
Our local area is Indiana, northwest Indiana. That's where we are.

Speaker 1 (01:16:42):
All right, So northwest in the northwest Indiana. All right,
So well it's summertime, so you want to lemonade stands? Uh?
You know, you know, probably like a lot of like
like parent events or you know, there's probably a lot
of things happening in summer. But all right, so there
you go. You want to lemonade? Stand you, guys, you

(01:17:04):
want to buy some lemonade? There you go, hit up Dominique.
So she has everything for you, guys. She has everything.
So uh, there's two Facebook pages on the screen right
now for those listening on a podcast. Check out the description,
the direct link. The direct links are there, so make

(01:17:26):
sure you guys check out Dominique and her and her
three businesses. Right, so there you go. All right, So Dominique,
thank you again for coming on Hot Topics. I appreciate
you telling your story. I appreciate you coming back on.
And you know, I'm sure it was a lot to

(01:17:47):
deal with because we're talking pretty much thirty thirty over
thirty years, thirty five years.

Speaker 2 (01:17:55):
Yeah, yeah, of dealing still.

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
All right, and you're giving people hope, like, hey, this
is something that, yeah, this is something there's no cure.
You have to live with it, but it is manageable
and especially doing it with well with limited medication. So
you're you're a unique case. I want to be mindful

(01:18:21):
of what I say, but uh, you know, but there
are ways that you can manage it with limited medication,
improving your diet, things like that. So there is ways
that you can live with it.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:18:34):
So thank you again for coming on Hot Topics. Yeah,
I will let you go now.

Speaker 2 (01:18:41):
So it's good to see you.

Speaker 1 (01:18:44):
All right, lovely lovely, all right you guys. So that's oh,
let me take off this banner, huh, all right. Uh.
So that was yet another episode of Hot Topics, another
episode of talking about chronic illnesses. So before I go,

(01:19:11):
I'm just going to kind of get into kind of
the the disease itself. So I am pulling up a
screen right now from the Myoclinic, So I just wanted
to get into a little bit about what it is

(01:19:31):
before before I go. So all sort of coliitis, So
I'm just gonna read what it says here. So this
is from the mile Clinic. All sort of coliitis is
a type of inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation and
source called ulcers and part of the digestive tract. All
sort of colitis affects the innermost lining of the large intestine,

(01:19:56):
called the colon and rectum. Symptoms usually develop time rather
than coming on suddenly. All sort of colliitis can weaken
the body and can sometimes lead to life threatening complications.
While it has no known cure, treatment can greatly reduce
and relieve symptoms of the disease. It also may bring
about long term remission. I also, I'm not going to

(01:20:19):
read all of it, but I just want to point
out the symptoms as well. It can vary, symptoms can
vary and where it happens, and some symptoms may include diarrhea,
often with blood or puffs, rectal bleeding, passing which is
passing a small amount of blood with the stool, belly
pain and cramping, rectal pain, urgency to pass stool, not

(01:20:43):
being able to pass stool despite the urgency, weight loss, fatigue, fever,
and in children, failure to grow. So that's why I
asked her about it. I remember that from the last
time I brought it up, so I was like, oh, wow, okay,
but yeah, So I just wanted to share that brief

(01:21:06):
description about all sort of colitis and the symptoms as well.
And I should say that if you are experiencing any
of those symptoms, please see your doctor. I should share
that disclaim. Please see your doctor if you are experiencing
any of those symptoms. But yes, there you go. This

(01:21:26):
is what we do here on Hot Topics. We educate
and inform. All right, you guys, So this is the
conclusion of yet another episode of Hot Topics. So let
me take this moment to talk about the forces that
are behind Hot Topics. So the forces behind Hot Topics,

(01:21:48):
it is my tutoring company, a step ahead tutoring services.
So if you are you know Dominique's one tutoring resource,
we're another tutoring source. So if you happen to be
in the New York City or Long Island, Long Island area,
particularly Nasau County, we do offer in home tutoring services

(01:22:10):
where our tutors come out to you in person. So
if you are looking for one on one tutoring, test prep,
college counseling, collaborative editing, and proofreading, those are services that
we provide to you in person. If you happen to
be again in New York City or NASA County, Long Island,

(01:22:31):
we come out to you and we provide those services
as well. For those of you who are outside of
those areas, or even if you are in those areas,
and you prefer you don't really want human contact, that's fine.
We also do virtual tutoring as well, so we do

(01:22:51):
virtual tutoring across the United States. So I encourage you guys,
if you you know, maybe you I don't know, maybe
you're you may have a child that may be that
may have all sort of collidus right who may have
a chronic illness and they had to miss many days

(01:23:12):
of school, or they had to be homeschooled or you know,
night school, or they may have a special academic situation
that the disease is unfortunately causing these changes. And you
know you're looking to supplement the the following supplement the

(01:23:33):
missing academic instruction, reach out to us how tutors can
provide that for you. So that website is below at
the bottom of the screen. But I will also say
it for our podcast audience. That website is www dot
a Step Ahead Tutoring Services dot com. I encourage you

(01:23:54):
to go over to the website to learn about the
services that we provide, the subjects that we provide, the
particular grade levels that we serve. To encourage you to
go to our website to learn more about us. So
if you are looking for supplemental instruction, if you're looking
for homework help, if you're looking for or just someone

(01:24:15):
to be a study buddy, or to just to help
your child focus or to help you focus. Right. It
may be it may be heyr your child is really smart, right,
but they get easily distracted, or you know they're smart,
but they just don't like doing homework right and you

(01:24:36):
want to want to just stay on top of them
and motivate them. We could do that for them as well,
so they you know, it may be supplementing, you know,
missing instruction, or just plain motivation. We can do that
for you as well. So again our website www dot

(01:24:59):
a Step Ahead Tutoring Services dot com. Make sure you
go to our website to learn what we can offer you.
I also encourage you to follow us on social media,
so we are across multiple platforms, so make sure you
follow us as well. We're on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and
YouTube under A Step Ahead Tutoring Services, We're on x

(01:25:21):
and TikTok. The account name is ASA t S two
zero one three, so make sure you pay attention to that.
And we're also on event bright as well as we
do virtual workshops as well, it's under our name A
step Ahead tutoring services, so make sure you follow us
on all of our platforms as well. And I also

(01:25:43):
encourage you I personally Gabrielle Crichlow. I'm on social media,
so I encourage you to follow me personally as well.
I'm on Facebook and Instagram as Gabrielle dot Crichlow, and
I'm also on LinkedIn as Gabrielle hyphen Crichlow, so make
sure you catch those the subtle differences as well. But yeah,

(01:26:05):
so if you are looking for any type of academic service,
whether you are in New York City, whether you're in
Nasau County, Long Island, or just anywhere in the United States,
we can serve you. So our services are available to you.

(01:26:26):
And before I run, I also want to encourage you
guys to leave your feedback about today's episode. So, whether
you are watching this on video, whether you're listening to
this on a podcast, I encourage you guys to leave
your feedback about today's episode. Did you love it, did
you hate it? Do you want to share your own

(01:26:46):
stories about alternative colitis or are you living with the
colostomy bag You know, I would love to hear from you.
If you happen to be living with a colostomy bag,
I would like to know about your experience with that,
so please reach out. But yeah, so drop a comment
in the comment section or in the comment thread. A

(01:27:09):
lot of podcast platforms like Good Pods, Apple Podcasts. Apple
Podcasts is a biggie, so please leave a comment in
that section as well. So Spotify has a comment section now,
so yeah, So, wherever you are taking in the sound
of my voice, take five minutes and leave us a

(01:27:32):
comment about today's episode. The more feedback we get, the
more this episode will circulate in the interverse. So the
more feedback we get, the more that this episode will circulate.
So please help us circulate this episode by leaving your

(01:27:54):
comments in the comment section or dropping a rating. All right,
you guys, well that is it's let me okay, there
we go. H that is it. Thank you for joining
me on another episode of Hot Topics. I look forward
to you joining me on the next episode. Thank you guys,
and now I am signing off. Bye.

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