Ep #100: From Lyme to Pancreatic Cancer: Key Lessons on Health and Healing from Isabel & Her Family

welcome to the well fuel podcast your spot for everything gut Health detox hormones a healthy home mold and everything in between I'm your host Isabelle Smith I'm an integrative and functional registered dietician and the founder of Isabelle Smith nutrition come closer come closer hello Hello friends and welcome back to the wefuel podcast this is our 100th episode and I am so excited to have the people that I care most about in the world on the podcast with me so I've got my dad who you guys have all been cheering along Elliot my mom Kate and you guys know Paulie so I thought this would be fun because um I'm going to let my parents chime in a little bit about me as a child because not only is this the 100th episode but the business is turning 10 this will have just turned 10 by the time this episode airs so this is a pretty big occasion because you know um we have a lot to celebrate here including all of you guys who've been cheering us on and following us along so Mom and Dad welcome you guys have been just watching my dad fight pancreatic cancer so here he is good morning it's not good morning by the time whoever is listening well it's true good afternoon good day good evening mom welcome thank you iSell um so and of course hey Paulie hi so everybody in this podcast is actually um before we hop in like frying me a little bit because it's always fun for you guys to know about me as you guys listen um so intently you are on camera so you should watch here instead of the Olympic basketball please um so everybody in this room is having their own health Journey so you know my mom has had her own battle with endometriosis most of her life and now is in Lyme disease treatment my dad my dad as you know has just gone through uh his pancreatic cancer treatment three surgeries and is out the other side which we're so grateful for and then Paulie's just embarked on his line Journey so um from everybody in the room here what's one thing that you that you can think of that's been you've learned or has been helpful in your journey like what's something that comes to mind that when when I ask that kind of question that you guys think of Mom you can go first I first of all good morning and thank you Iselle we love being here and celebrating you and Paul and the family and all of our unbelievable health challenges that we've had over in a very short period of time um patience patience is the number one for me because any Journey that you undertake you don't really know the end goal but you can only hope and pray and also have tremendous patience to get to the other side of that yeah patience is is one we were talking about that last night as a family that patients you know Paul's in his part of the journey you know I'm in my part you're in yours and you know sort of like we were discussing whether you've broken hands or you know whatever your journey is it's really about patience patience patience is really important I you know and I say that I say it a lot um generally that you know letting go of the timeline and you know your expectations and I know Dad that's been definitely part of your experience because absolutely right like you started one place and then they were like oh now this and then you were like okay fine and then they were like okay now this and all I could say was okay fine yeah my most important point is to listen to Isabelle yeah okay that's nice thank you for for plugging that one but really what I I started out on this journey over a year and a half ago uh and immediately Isabelle jumped in and through her contacts and personal experiences uh got me involved in a path with the nice Folks at Memorial s King and Cy Presbyterian which eventually helped me get through this so I feel very lucky in addition to have been very uh also very lucky to have such fine people Isabelle Kate Paul all behind me on this uh on this trip and on this journey journey and especially the fine folks at Memorial SLO kering which one more piece right because I was trying to throw lots of you know Hokey Pokey things at you along the way and there were some that you accepted and some that you are fair enough with Shashi on but you know dad also did magnet therapy with Dr Garcia which has been really I think transforming very very helpful throughout the entire process yeah so magnet therapy magnets are super strong you know they can push and pull fluids and all sorts of things and so Dr Garcia had specific protocols for Dad to help shrink the tumor and along with with the chemo and everything else which you tolerated so beautifully which was such a miracle yes you know the tumor kept shrinking so so what I think I think well they were they worked hand in hand Believe It or Not uh I uh was uh had to be open about things my father God bless him was not quite as open when he worked through prostate cancer uh and I felt that I had to be open certainly it's a many years further on I had to be open to new things uh within within certain limits uh of uh possibly U helping me complete this journey and it was helpful it has been helpful and I will continue on it going forward and have continued on it going through forward here I'm still in the the process of clinical trials at Memorial Salone ketering which I have uh been very thankful for because they are uh observing me rigorously and at this point in time I don't think that's a bad thing no no no it's not yeah so has has this process like kind of forced you to be like a little more open-minded with stuff and have I forced you to be a little more openminded with to a certain extent I still not uh flying away at your every wish but I am certain I have been certainly very happy to have been and lucky enough to been able to try some different things which I believe have help me along this path much more open much more open minded much much more openminded instead of having a fast no it's like oh I should think about that much more openminded I think that's like generally a helpful way of going about life right is like I'm learning to not say no immediately and to especially when my dear paully over here suggests things and I'm like no I'm like well maybe you'll think about this differently uh so Paulie just Paul I should say Paul as you guys know on Instagram I call and Paulie many people who meet us in the street will say hey Paulie so Paul Paulie uh Paul did an Iron Man last year and that I think stretched you as a person and you know your process of getting through training was really beautiful to watch and then pretty soon after that you sort of healthwise hit a wall and you've been going through your own Journey what's that been like for you yeah the Iron Man churned up a lot of stuff that was buried um I'd say probably one of the biggest things that I've learned about health is that it's not necessarily binary you are not healthy or you're not healthy or not you are there's a lot of different variations of it of you can be healthier you can be more unhealthy um it's not just a one thing so you can always kind of improve and it's not it's not a destination of health of like you get there you eat enough salad you do this you exercise and then you're done it's an ongoing process of um making sure that you have enough things as your body evolves and grows right uh so I'll be on the earth for almost 40 years now and what I was doing when I was 15 years old in high school doing sports is a lot more different than what I need to do now when I just did an iron gun so it's all all the things of life change and they impact so it's it's a journey in how I approach Health has probably changed a lot since the IR yeah yeah it's been and like you know from my perspective watching him train 20 hours a week and then suddenly what 20 25 more than that something like that and then suddenly his body was sort of like you know no all of a sudden kind of no it was after training after training we you also were training in a moldy basement um um which also probably didn't help the whole process not too much at the end though because it was outside right right anyway like there had definitely been some right but I felt great up until the Iron Man then couple weeks after the Iron Man my body was not recovering the way that it would have should have or should have it was just inflamed and everything and like I said I think it churned up a lot of things that were probably an underlying issue that weren't that wasn't being presented because it was just deep down and then the Iron Man and a lot of the stress and stuff on my body probably brought it to the surface and that's when it started to present itself yeah yeah so what can you give those listening kind of like a like a micro window into like what you're doing right now with the lime uh taking about 500 pills a day uh I have to look in an Excel spreadsheet on when I'm allowed to drink alcohol if at all uh what pills I'm allowed to have um God this sounds overwhelming for people who are listening so can you it's not it's it's a lot but if you put intention into it and put some and have a plan it's very attainable um but it's it's something that you need to focus on um there's a lot of things that there's a lot of science behind what we're doing and there's a lot of tests um to make sure everything's going the right way like all right should we Tex uh test to see if you have lime yes I did have lime so then let's go through do this all right let's check for these other infections that usually comes with lime okay so we we did that and then some of these medications they could have adverse effects on certain people and they react to it in different ways so let's make sure your kidney function is going well your liver function is going well and if it's if it is we'll continue if not then we obviously have to adjust so it's it's like I said it's not like a binary thing where you do one thing get rid of it and then be done with it it's there's a lot of different things that come into play so it's a it's a big equation with a lot of different variables that change on a given day in a given time in a given way so it's just a constant re-evaluation that has to take place so you guys just learned a little insight into Paul's brain versus mine which you guys know by now Paul is an extremely analytical literal person so for him this has been a very like math mathematical equation which is hard in the healing process and I think that that's stretched him also right because I think this has been a lot more like trust and leaning into the process more than like you either used to or like have you know kind of done in the past what are the things that you're hoping to um you know gain or feel better as a process like you know kind of in the background like how do you want to feel on the other side well the the thing that I was saying before is that Health isn't binary um and that you are healthy or you're not that's not necessarily the case so there's there's a lot of different goals that you can set for being healthy what about you sorry so some people could have certain goals of uh want to feel better better energy uh uh physical goal of wanting to be able to run a 10K uh mental goal of improving mood and and such um and so what I've been facing is that I feel like as a result of some of the health issues that I've been capped a little bit with my potential because I've had certain things where I don't necessarily sleep all that well uh my body is very inflamed um where I'm taking up more space in my clothes than I normally would and I'm not really eating that much I'm still working out a decent amount and it's it's it's not really coming to be a it's not something that I would be easily able to move like I used to I would be able to go for a run do a workout regimen for two or three weeks and I'd be able to fit my clothes a little bit better now that just does not happen um so what I'm looking to achieve is based on the body that I've been given optimize it and get more efficiency out of it with a better mood better sleep feeling better fitting in my clothes better um and just overall the Baseline of General Health to be elevated from where it is now I love it I think the you know everybody has different goals like my mom's also in Lime treatment so like Mom what are you hoping to achieve well I knew I was infected I kept saying something is the matter I could feel the heat inside me I knew I was not fine I did not have the energy I was awake all night my heart was beating pounding I knew I was infected so actually for me I was really happy to find through Isabelle and and the team that you brought forward the fact that I have mine and it's different every as we talked about last night everyone the three of us three of four of us each case is different so Paul's treatment is very different than mine I can only tolerate so much so I'm on a completely different Journey but in the first three weeks of the treatment I'm dramatically better yeah so I'm um just couldn't be happier to have found that because I knew that for a long time I was yeah infected yeah and I think interestingly you know my my mom's no surprise my mom's symptoms are very similar to mine the crazy allergies you had a lot of like skin St the skin stuff and the food allergies and the everyone that travels with me or knows me well knows that I have been infected or I wasn't at my I was just not feeling right yeah so now I really feel that I'm on a great journey dad do you see a difference in and Mom in the last couple weeks oh yes very much so yeah um well no uh I uh I've had to having been married almost 44 years to my bride to my right um I've had to see her through a variety of health issues and uh it always is a a worry to me because there there's not always a definitive answer and we have to go on a journey in a search um this is the most recent one we had one very early on when we were married uh which took a number of years to get through and uh this one has cropped up more recently and it's been frustrating for me to watch because we still can't get to we have not been able to until just recently to get to a place where she was actually feeling better yeah uh and therefore had the energy that she needs to have to get through a day yeah and I think also like you know after the journey for dad you know you taken care of dad Paul's been through you know sort of trauma in the last year too with his brother passing very suddenly like that also I think takes a takes a toll for sure sure on the system and on the immune system right and so I think that all these pieces add together right trauma and you know trauma comes in many different forms and all of that so absolutely yeah I see a huge difference both I mean luckily and everybody sitt s sitting around the table little Henry here who's sitting in Paul's lap was having seizures when we were living in the mold house Sasha was having a ton of anxiety so as a family you know we're all sitting here you know we're not I don't think any of us are necessarily like where where we want to be but we're all super grateful for where grateful and and on the way you know and so you know I think all the bits and pieces we were talking about we went out for dinner last night we were all talking about I was mostly talking actually about um the layers yes the layers of health and how we like work through infection and what that looks like and and how frustrating and complex that can be and I also think listening to the fact that there is something that matter right so we all knew in all of our different individual Journeys that something was not right right and I think you have to hear that yeah you have to and that's hard and that's been hard I know that's been hard for you right Paul is like sort of listening and sort of like seeing new limits as they pop up and well I think it's what's difficult for me too is that like I said before it's an equation with a lot of different variables in it so you change one variable it's tough to Silo and figure out and really go in on one thing so in the last year sure I had a bunch of traa with some family stuff with my brother passing did the Iron Man which again is probably a lot of physical trauma there's there's a lot of things that are going through that uh starting lime treatment um work life balance stress with all that there's there's a lot of things that are going on so to try and identify like how One feels with doing lime treatment it's it's difficult for me in that process to say this is making me feel better or wait did I just get some good sleep last night and this is really what's happening so it's it's difficult for me to try and figure out what is going on and what should be happening when you're doing a process of all right take this antibiotic take this supplement take this what should H what should happen um doesn't necessarily always happen but it's also like being able to say what is your goal what are you looking to achieve are you moving towards that and is this helping um it's it sounds very simple to me when you say it like that but to really identify and see what is contributing and benefiting you is a much bigger task than I thought it was going to be yeah yeah learning to listen especially when you haven't really had to like Paul's had been blessed with most all of his life like the amazing ability to just like perform physically right like you are like the cathete in college you you know have run multiple marathons you have you know done CrossFit competed in CrossFit competitions all that kind of stuff done in Iron Man and then to kind of I remember you being like why can't I keep up with my usual potential why did this happen so fast how did I get here I think that's been hard yeah I went for like a three mile run and couldn't do like 10 minute pace I was like gasping for air which for a lot of people would be like a really solid Pace but for somebody who's used to their normal being their normal and then being like I can't even keep up with a fraction of my normal well I feel better went for a three mile run the other day and was doing 7:30 p which much different and I felt fine it's like again what is your goal like if someone's happy with a 10 mile Pace then that's awesome but I know what I've done before and I know what I'm capable of so that's what I'm trying to get to is not necess like I don't think everyone can run a 7:30 Pace I mean we were talking about it last night with some of the Olympics going on if every person had the mindset to push their body to the maximum limit how many people do we actually think are physically capable of competing at an Olympic level not probably not everyone it's not someone has to maybe work harder than the other person there's maybe some god-given physical talent that someone has more so than the other but the other person outw Works them there's there's all those things but for me being able to push myself to go to 7:30 Pace feels what I should be able to do and someone else might be 10 minute Paces is awesome like that's it's everyone's individual goal and what they're able to do and what they're trying to do so that's that's where it was different for me for 10 10 minute pace was not what I know I I can do no it's and I also think when there's a lot of noise it's hard to see Improvement I know for you dad mom and I and Paul would be like I don't think he like before you got sick before we knew what was going on I don't think he knows what's what's happening and then you and I've had conversation since then you're like oh yeah I definitely feel better now than I did then absolutely yeah I think sometimes when you don't know that you could feel better you aren't like fully kind of in touch with where you are I think you don't see it right until afterward quite possible abolutely which is like definitely I mean unless you're feeling horrifically bad and I never felt horrifically bad going into this this was the thing it was sort of discovered as I took my annual checkup but having said that uh on a general day in and day out basis I am feeling immensely better than I felt prior to that prior to treatment too you were it wasn't a you didn't get like hit by a truck you like all a sudden it was probably day by day gradually you started to feel worse and worse and worse yep absolutely Co AB I also think it's great to know that you can really have another chapter after being as sick as Elliot was yeah I mean you you are amazing and we all call you our Miracle Man but actually it's a fact because to watch you live your life now versus even three years ago is a dramatically different person happy just so grateful every every happy day is a gift day is a gift more filled like yeah I think you truly do feel better there's a really interesting you know the hormones that the and the chemicals that the tumor actually gives off you know can also affect like mood and all that kind of stuff energy obviously your pancreas wasn't working properly your A1C was climbing um which is insulin blood sugar metabolism which is very normal with a pancreatic cancer situation sleep so quietly sleeping right you were snoring a lot you were having disrupted sleep but I think you also eating sugar um you like me have a sweet tooth I like you I guess have a sweet tooth and so I think that's definitely been one of the biggest Chang Way Way Back yeah the sugar and like the sugar caused cancer I don't think any single thing causes cancer but it certainly doesn't help you know and it probably takes away space from causes inflammation adds to inflammation rather it's space off of your plate of other things you could be eating so you know I think that this is like oh yeah you know hugely transformative okay Switching gears just a little bit before we wrap um so I've wanted most of you guys know the first the first episode we had I shared about my journey getting to where you know I want to be a dietitian start at age 11 so Mom and Dad can you um give everybody some reasonable Insight without I don't think that there's anything you could really say that people don't know um but that I would be embarrassed rather about they probably don't know although you actually you're smiling me you probably have some things could burn me with but so let's not burn me completely but to burn you ever um tell like you want to know what your favorite foods were growing up yes what were my favorite go for it what were her faves under 10 uh Sloppy Joe's uh we would have Sloppy Joe's we would have them frequently I uh uh she was always a fish lover and so we would also have probably gry Soul a few too many nights but they were easy to I would prepare dinner uh a lot for her oh boy I think I lived in a different house I was going to Pasta oh yes and black and white cookies black and white cookies definitely Sugar Smacks you know love that Sugar Smacks cereal right I was we lived two blocks from for up until her 8th grade year we lived two blocks from her school and on the way home she would stop across the street at a little delicates in that was neighborhood and they actually had a sandwich named after Isabelle called the is sandwich and it was uh a turkey on white bread with mayonnaise and mustard and mustard so strange and that was it's like good old that and a black and white cookie every day as a snack on the way home was uh was what fueled uh our little girl and what was my energy like though did I have a lot of ener well I was saying very energetic sat on the sofa on Saturday mornings when you and I would go to workout until she was like what well yes but she was also she was up she was always up early she always up early always uh want to you know what are we gonna do today mom what are we gonna do what are we gonna do so I I'm I can't say that that she wasn't energetic that way she was uh we I will say that excess amounts of su Sugar such as uh pancakes with maple syrup were not a good thing for Isabelle because they would overload her early on and she'd absolutely dissolve after a nice round of pancakes with maple syrup and butter on a Saturday morning which was crushing because she wanted it but when she would have it it so it wasn't like that I mean what kid in the 90s was like eating like we weren't I mean right you guys are not like hippies feeding me like you know vegetables and grasses I no but we had a very balanced diet okay so I was like not like the most Desiring to be athletic kid no absolutely no and then I guess you started your swimming at Kent at Kent you on the varsity swim team we were talking about your swimming yesterday because to be the captain of the varsity swim team I think in like nth grade you you made the varsity team at Kent I did and then you became the captain in senior year Junior and Senior year that was Major right that was Major and um every every single swim tournament we were at oh yes yeah I was never the best I've never had a desire to like beat other people just IND enjoy myself work against myself um I think as an only child in my brain just I get overwhelmed with like multiple people on teams and stuff so obviously was a team player and I had you know I got was always your thing most Spirit award and all that but like I was never going to be the one like winning the trophies it's just like not I was just I never was a a desire of mine you ran cross country in the springtime in the I did spring and fall Sports yeah individual and more individual sports yeah I always had stomach aches as a kid and so I think I was like acutely aware that's all black and white cookies might have had something do the stomach the stomach though we determined along the way was a way of not doing was a way of not doing it was an excuse excuse well I will say this because I we told one of the baby I told one of the babysitters one time uh uh that I said you you watch she'll if she doesn't want to go to a practice she doesn't want to go to a workout or doesn't want to go to gymnastics she'll tell you she has a stomach AE and I she used to try this on me in the afternoons but I did really have stomach AE well you did but they would amazingly disappear as when we get down that we'd have we'd have this great big argument and uh I finally told the babysitter she says but she can't go she's going to get sick I said take a bucket and tell her tell her you're going to let get ill in the bucket uh if that's the case and watch what happens we would get to we get to the elevator and well we weren't quite so ill that we were going to get we get down to where the doormen were and going out the door and we were uh definitely uh anxiety well it's possible that was it and on the way up the street to wherever we were going for the afternoon it would disappear so uh this is the babysitter thought I was absolutely the first father in the world to tell her to do this until it happened she said I wouldn't and she was a philosophy major in at at Columbia she said I wouldn't believe that if I didn't see it with my my own eyes I said you see all you got to do is figure out what are the what are the buttons well so yeah so um all right we heard about a little B about my favorite foods did she want to run her own business as a child the answer is yes we are living in London and is was 3 to four years old and she would see both her mother and father uh go off to work and I remember and she'd get up with me I would get up every morning I was up at 5:00 to 5:30 and Isabelle would get up and be with me to talk about whatever she wanted to talk about play with her trucks and uh and as I would shave and get ready to go to work and one day she surprised me and said well I've got to go to my office today too at which point in time I almost cut my ear off and I said really she saides I said you have a business why yes I do would you tell me what your business is Isabelle putting balloons on sticks and I said fantastic and where do you do this oh in my office is she I said is it in the neighborhood yes it is do you have anybody in the office with you oh yes I have three or four people at which point I asked her to name me the three or four people and coincidentally they happened to be the same three or four people including her secretary or assistant which was in her mother's office so there was a little bit of paralleling on this but early on you could tell she wanted to have her own business and and uh and strike her own path which you know didn't happen it was I was always something I wanted but it happened kind of more quickly than anticipated the stars align the Stars aligned and um I would say you know I just I think I've been so lucky to be supported by you know Paul and I have been together for eight years so he hopped in two years into the business you guys have been you know so fundamental helping me fundamental in graduation there from you know grad school was so clear that that was your track yeah there since I was 11 but then sort of more all came together all came together podcast was always on the bucket list and when Dad was sick last year I needed a passion project and I so the podcast was started we was originally supposed to be start you've had some absolutely fantastic all of them have been so informative and thank you forening always listening and all your guest speakers and everyone it makes such a difference because you leave a great mark on what we all need to know well it's you know I think having real conversations from like real people about their own Journeys I think is really important and relatable because everybody out there is going through something and has stuff and if you know just getting a little bit of Hope or hearing how yeah I think like if I can do anything with this podcast it's to help people feel more normal in whatever they're going through in their journey and so um you know this has been such a treat to have you guys on and maybe it will'll be the first of a few and Paulie and I are GNA have our own to talk about you know his journey in a little more depth but if he'll be a guess I think we all just learned about that together aren't you a lucky fellow Paul um but thank you everybody for listening as always you can catch us on Instagram Isabelle Smith new ntion and we'll see you right back here congratulations to you thank you such celebration thanks for celebrating the 100th episode so thanks friends for listening and we'll see you back here right next next time on the well fuel podcast as always thanks so much for listening to the well fuel podcast we're so happy to have you to make sure you don't miss a beat Please Subscribe either on Apple or Spotify because we have episodes dropping once or more a week with tons of great content if you want to make sure that you're up to date on everything we're doing in the business with our clients and new offers and all the things make sure that you check us out at Isabelle Smith nutrition on Instagram and Isabel Smith nutrition.com see you guys soon