25 years of kidney stone prevention

The following is designed to entertain and inform, not provide medical advice. Always consult your doctor before starting any treatment.

Spire.

Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet podcast, a show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best life. I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris.

And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse.

We are in person. This is so much more fun.

And Amara's in the background shooting, so we're very excited. When Jeff and Amara came to shoot today, I was so excited to hear them hear them. I couldn't wait to see them, so it's very it's very happy we would see each other.

Well, yeah. It's so much nicer. I mean, it's a it's a different dynamic.

It's nice to be able to talk to each other. We see each other through the computer, but–

It's different.

Yeah, it's just never quite the same. But yeah, how have you been doing?

I've been doing okay. I can't You know, I can't complain. That's what I'll say, busy, busy, because there's a lot of kidney stone formers in the world.

Oh, yeah.

But yeah, I'm happy. Do you want to talk about the 25th year celebration?

I think we should because that is something special.

It's a big deal. 25 years of kidney stone prevention, actually, it's in a couple weeks, it's in October. But, this could be airing soon, I don't know when this airs, but either way, maybe we make this the second one.

Oh, yeah, that works.

So we can air. But, yeah, 25 years of preventing kidney stones, it's super exciting for me.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah, that is I think I think it's easy to look at the show and say we've been doing this for a hundred and something episodes, okay, a few years, you know. Like there's a little bit of experience that's some time, but the time has started decades ago. You've been doing this, working with people, not in such a public capacity, you've been working with them one-on-one, where doing the Kidney Stone Diet as this form, kidneystonediet.com is rather new, but your experience is vast.

Yeah, it's amazing because from a nursing point of view, I get to look at this and go, "Man, I've helped a lot of damn people!" And that is, you know, when you when you want to go into nursing, or doctoring, or whatever you're doing in the world, it's like you really do go in there saying, "I just want to help people." But, in a traditional setting like a hospital, it's really difficult to give the help and support to patients that you want to give because of time and everyone's really sick.

So, to be able to do this in the way that we're doing it, and being able to, you know, help thousands of people every day, because we have so many supporters and people that go to the YouTube channel, and the newsletter, and the Facebook page, and all of it, it's not just about paid services, it's about all the free things we're able to do and reach to people, well, that's like a dream come true for somebody who just wants to go to nursing school so she can help people, right?

So, I mean it's the most rewarding career in the world, and so I feel proud of it, and I feel I just feel happy that I've been able to do it, and I'm I'm I'm hoping to ride out the rest of my, you know, years doing it, you know? And to be able to do it in this kind of venue where I can work from home, you know, you can do it for a really long time.

I don't have to retire off the floor, nursing floor, you know, at 65, right?

Yeah.

So, yeah, it's I feel like I hit the jackpot, man, that's how I feel.

Yeah, and you're able to help so many people. It's It works at scale. Like you said, because it's such a different approach than purely one-on-one.

Purely one-on-one in a hospital scenario. So, it is It's amazing. And like I mean, there's two milestones this month.

Yeah.

It's 25 years.

Yep, and I'm turning 60, people! So, that's a huge thing. And I'm, you know, I work with a lot of women and they're like, "Oh, damn!

Girl, I'm turning 60." And I'm like, "You should be so excited that you're turning 60 because you get to turn 60!" Because the alternative, people, ain't so adorable. So, I'm thrilled I'm turning 60. I feel like it's a great privilege to get older.

That's how I think about it. And I'm always grateful for every single day. And I know we all say that stuff, but I really am grateful for every single day because I've been so sick in my life.

So, you get that beautiful perspective with being sick. You just do have a whole other level of gratitude because I think it was the Mel Robbins podcast, I think she's great, I was listening to her and she's like she's like, "You know, time is like an ice cube, and it's just melting away." And in the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, we're always talking about in the group calls, we're always talking about, "Look, a lot of us are my age and up, 50s and up, whatever, and how do you want to spend your life?" Because it's it's it's ticking away, literally, ticking away.

We're never going to get this last minute back that just passed, right? So, are you spending it with the people that bring you joy, and support, and love? Are you Are you in a job that Speaking of jobs, are you Are you in a job that you really like going to every day?

I mean, we're at our jobs so many hours a day. And lots of times, more so than we're with our family. So, I think that's super important, right?

And I know some people are like, "Well, yeah, girl, but I have to be in this job because it's paying the bills." I get it. I get that. Of course, we all have bills.

But, can you figure out a side hustle that brings you so much joy that you can eventually, you know, put into, you know, a full-time thing gig that you can get money from? Whatever. The point is time is of the essence, and how do you want to spend it, right?

It's really important. And who do you want to spend it with? So, with all that, you know, I'm always thinking about these kinds of things.

It interests me, and it keeps me present, so I can make the best decisions for myself and prioritize my life. And so, you know, with turning 60, it's I just feel really grateful I get to. And being able to serve the kidney stone community for all these years is, you know, next to my son, I think the biggest It's the biggest thing I've ever done.

And I'm very proud of it, but and I'm very grateful for it, I really am. And I'm I think, Jeff's like, "Jesus, this is a lot."

No!

No, you know, you were ready to talk, and you're like, "Oh, shit, I'll put this microphone down again." She's still going. She's still going. I think I think the biggest thing is, I never knew that this was going to be my career, kidney stones.

It's not what I set out to do. It was what I stumbled upon, and the fact that people trust me in doing this every day, well, that's the biggest privilege of my life besides having my son. That people actually trust me, you know, so it's amazing.

It's not an accident, though, because you've earned it. You've put in the time. You've put in the effort and the patience with the patients that you have, because it's a lot.

It's I mean, it's They're experiencing some of the worst pain of their lives.

Yep.

And someone needs to be there to help. And like you've said, like anyone who's watched for a while, they know, like I mean, you've been a patient. Not in kidney stones, but you've been a patient on the other side.

So, you know exactly what it feels like to be going through something that you would wish upon nobody. So, it's just a different a different level that you can provide, which is which is beautiful.

Yeah. You know, with illness comes a lot of anxiety. I certainly have my share of it with being ill.

You're always worried about for kidney stone formers, it's like, "Oh, shit, is this stone coming back?" for cancer patients, we're always worried about what happens, you know, is the day going to come where I'm going to have a recurrence? So I try to use that anxiety to keep me again present to how I eat, my physical fitness, all of it.

And again, how I spend my days, because if I'm anxious about something coming back, I'm going to do everything I possibly can, number one, to keep that anxiety away. And number two, the number one way to keep anxiety away is to do the things that are going to bring you, you know, as much confidence as possible, right? Like, if I'm anxious, especially for kidney stone formers, or anybody that has anxiety, lots of times we're using food to cope

Yeah, it's it's interesting. It's almost in a way a benefit of anxiety.

Oh, yes.

So, like not that you want like again, you don't You almost want to lean into it in the best way possible to recognize it and how do I use this obstacle as the path? Sort of the stoic approach and trying to turn the negative into a positive in the ways that we can. What we have control over.

Right. "The obstacle is the way," right? Where Ryan Holiday– yeah.

So, yeah, and I think, look! Here's what I get really excited about. So, I nobody wants shit going down.

Nobody likes that. It turns us upside down and makes us crazy, anxious, all that. But when you look back on your life, and you're like, "I've been through so much, and look at where I am now." Just the fact that I'm sitting here is a miracle.

So, the point is it's really amazing when more obstacles come when you have all this great experience of getting through past ones, because you're like, "Oh, my god, I got through that, so this thing that's coming to me right now, I'm going to get through that, too." So, all the obstacles that we have in our life is just a way to build strength, determination, tenacity, and confidence going forward, if you're doing it right, right?

And it's it's messy. It's not like I haven't had I've had major falls in my life, for sure. But I somehow always dig my way out.

I don't know, with the grace of God and then my stubbornness, I wind up doing that. And I'm really proud of myself for I think that's, you know, besides being a good friend and a mother and all those things, I think that's one of the things I'm proudest about. I don't ever give up.

I just I don't have it in me. And so, it's a great quality if you're the kind of person that never gives up in the face of great adversity, you know? It gets you through a lot of shit.

Yeah. Being stubborn is can be a superpower, cuz I definitely feel the same way about–

It can be bad, too.

It definitely can, and it's not and we have to recognize it in ourselves, too. Like we know who we are, sort of how we're operating, cuz for another party, it might come across differently. You're laughing behind the camera.

She's like, "Yeah. Yeah. And I have things I can tell y'all about it, too."

But, yeah, once you get to that when you have when you can use the stubbornness and be like, "I am going to find my way through this. I'm going to find the other side." Like you mentioned, maybe someone's in a job they don't like, and there's something else that they could be doing. Like this is you've built up the skillset for decades, as we're talking about, and we all have our skills and our you could say interest depending on what it is.

There could be ways to parlay that into an opportunity that could give someone more of the life that they want to lead. And it doesn't even mean leaving a job. It doesn't necessarily mean leaving a job, but it could.

It could leave someone lead someone there. But, yeah, there's there's so much opportunity just it abounds, and it's hard to feel it when maybe we're sick or we feel like we keep hitting this wall that we just can't get past, but there is another side that we can get to. It's just it's it's not going to be easy.

Nothing's Nothing in life is just easy.

It's not easy. It's not easy. And when you're sick, and you're because when you're sick, you're scared.

And so when you're scared, it all rationale leaves your mind. I mean, honestly, when you're when you're scared, it's very diff- difficult to get through anything. And that's when you ask for support.

You ask for people you trust, you turn to people you trust, and you get the strength and support you may need to get you through that. Because fear, I mean, you know, I've had a lot of fear with my illness and But I don't know. I don't know.

Sometimes I just don't know how I got through all that psychologically, you know? Because it was hard, I will say. But something always pushes me forward.

I'm like, well, you know, I think, too, I was like, "Well, if the Lord's going to take me now, He's going to take me now." I mean, you know, but what can I do to see if that doesn't happen, right? So get a good medical team, and I was privy to that, all that, do the treatments, do the best I can with diet, again, have a good support system, all of that.

It's it's not easy, though. And so this channel and also my course is about that. It's like, how do we get through all these hard times and, you know, in a healthy way?

Sometimes it's not possible, but we get to we get to we get to the healthy way as soon as we can, right? Not every day is perfect. That's for sure.

Yeah, definitely. And we just do our best. We do our best to live the best life we can.

We do our best with what the day has given us. That's what we do.

Absolutely. But, yeah, yeah, so 25 years, that's there's so much experience, so many patients. You've at this point, it probably feels like you've heard it all, but at the same time, there's always something there's a different spin, there's a different person.

Everyone has their unique path that I'm sure it's it's more of a breadth of people where suddenly it's like, "Oh, I've experienced that with this person, with that person." And within the calls, too, I'm sure there's so many people who are in the group calls with Jill that get to see parts of themselves in others who are sharing their stories and their journey and where they are right now.

Oh, yeah. I mean, yes, I've been I've heard the same stories over and over for all these decades. Absolutely, I have.

I just burped a little. It's okay.

That's okay.

Sometimes it happens.

No Smell-O-Vision today.

So, so, I have heard the same stories, and a lot of people in my life have said, "How, oh, my god, how are you listening to these same stories?" Because it's always from a different person. And again, you know, you're hearing somebody's pain. I'm not just listening to a patient talk about a kidney stone, I'm listening to their horrible ordeal.

So many of the times it was gut-wrenching pain, they thought they were dying, throwing up, a surgery went bad, they lost a kidney. I'm always listening to a heartbreaking story. And my heart always breaks.

It doesn't I'm never like, "Pff! Heard that one before." I'm never like that. I'm just cuz I'm I'm just I am an empath!

I'm just like, "Oh! That sucks so bad, Sissy! I know." You know, so that I care about that.

I just do. I just care about it. And so the fact that I have all this information gathered over all these years and a terrific mentor, Fred Coe, C-O-E, at kidneystonediet.uchicago.edu, you know, I get to help people.

And, you know, not just help people lower salt. How do you do that if you're traveling all the time? How do you do that if you're a pilot?

How do you do that if you're a teacher and you can't use the bathroom? How do you do that if you're a nurse, a surgeon? I mean, it's you're talking to you're talking to people, all different kinds of people who have been through all different kinds of things, yes, the same, but it's their own situation.

And then trying to figure out how to make it better for them because everybody's so different. So every one of my days is different because I'm everybody has different habits and different ways of doing things, and they want to be taught in a different way. So, also, I get to I could be talking to somebody from New York, and they're going to be quick, quick, quick like me.

And then I'm talking to somebody in a state in Alabama or a senior citizen, and they need it to be slower, so I always have to adjust. I have to listen to who I'm talking to and adjust the way I do things. I don't go on autopilot.

So that is so fascinating to me, right? So there's so much to it for me. It's not just the same old thing, but everybody always says that.

Yes, yes. One assumes that, and that's not the case.

Yeah, yeah, it's But that experience, that's what it comes down to. You have the experience and firsthand as the practitioner and also the patient, it goes–

Yeah.

Goes a long way. Well, I think that's a good spot to actually wrap today. But congratulations on 25 years and birthday right around the corner.

So, it's a it's a really special month.

It's a big month for me, and I'm super excited about it, everybody. Thanks, Jeff. Thanks, Amara.

I appreciate it.

Yeah, thanks for having us here. This is always fun. Like in person, I like it a lot.

But if you want to dive deeper, the Actually, first, if you have a question, the number is 773-789-8763. You can call in, leave a voicemail, and we'll answer it on the show, Jill. We'll answer it on the show.

Or if you're out of the States, you can email [email protected] with a voice memo. You can just open the voice memos app on your phone, send it along, record it, send it along via email, and we will feature you in the future. And to dive deeper and find everything Kidney Stone Diet related, you can go to kidneystonediet.com.

We have the Kidney Stone Diet Prevention Course, the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, we have the Kidney Stone Diet meal plans, we have the free weekly newsletter, we have the Kidney Stone Prevention Group on Facebook. There are myriad things that are out there. And I just remembered, I haven't thanked the patrons on Patreon.

We do have a Patreon, patreon.com/kidneystonediet. And what one of the recent people were Kimberly. So, Kimberly joined Patreon.

And, again, there's no extra content, there's nothing, it's just for those of you who have asked how you can support the show when many people have already bought the course, they're in the group calls, they're in meal plans, they're in the different things that are actual products, but patreon.com/kidneystonediet. And we really thank you, Kimberly, and everyone else who has supported the show so far.

Kimberly Rath, thank you! I didn't know that, Jeff. Thank you.

It's It's always very kind. A lot of people a lot of people a lot of people are always like, "Jill, how can we help you guys?" And so they join Patreon, give us a couple dollars a month, and there you go. So that's so kind of you.

Thank you, Kimberly.

And with that, we will wrap, and we'll see you next week.

Bye, everybody!