Speaker 1: Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. Hey, y'all, what's going on?
Speaker 1: You know, there are just some people that you see
Speaker 1: on social media and they just have an amazing bright
Speaker 1: light about them. And sometimes they go unknown to people
Speaker 1: because maybe they they're not the singer that's got the
Speaker 1: you know, the top five charting hit, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Or maybe they don't have a new movie
Speaker 1: coming out in theaters that's this blockbuster special. But they
Speaker 1: are making impact in their own communities or in their
Speaker 1: industry that they work in. And so we found someone
Speaker 1: by the name of doctor Rob Singleton, and I just
Speaker 1: became just so inspired by the things that he was posting.
Speaker 1: And one day he posted about how you know, children
Speaker 1: need eight hugs a day, and I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh to hear him talk about that. Normally you
Speaker 1: only hear that in the space of like mental health,
Speaker 1: but for someone you know like him, I was like, Okay.
Speaker 1: So I became more and more interested about him and
Speaker 1: just about his life, his wife's life, whom I'm excited
Speaker 1: about having come on the show, and you know, listen,
Speaker 1: I just I just really love when people are doing
Speaker 1: their thing in their industry. So I'm excited to welcome
Speaker 1: doctor Rob Singleton. He is an anesthesiologist and advocate for
Speaker 1: evidence based health information, a father and a husband, and
Speaker 1: so you know we're gonna be talking about so much.
Speaker 1: We even talk about the controversy a little bit about
Speaker 1: ozembic and how does a busy person make sure that
Speaker 1: they just keep ut first and in the center of
Speaker 1: every thing that they're doing, or just just your life.
Speaker 1: How do you find time to meditate? How do you
Speaker 1: find time to read your Bible? How do you find
Speaker 1: time to work out? How do you find time? Just
Speaker 1: everybody is so busy. So I'm excited to welcome doctor
Speaker 1: Rob Singleton. Everybody, y'all know how excited I get when
Speaker 1: I talk to two smart people, thriving people, people that
Speaker 1: are making impact and making such a difference in this world.
Speaker 1: I saw a video on Instagram from a doctor not
Speaker 1: like he was a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a therapist,
Speaker 1: licensed clinical social worker, a doctor in different practices. Just
Speaker 1: stay with me, I'm gonna get there. An anesthesiologist, uh,
Speaker 1: anesthesiology physician, but anesthesiologist to make it right? Am I am?
Speaker 1: I am I so board certified an a caesiologist and
Speaker 1: he's folks meet eight hugs a day or children meet
Speaker 1: eight hugs a day. And I thought it so profound
Speaker 1: to hear that coming from him, an anesthesiologist, and I
Speaker 1: could not wait to talk to him because that is
Speaker 1: my field as far as the field of mental health
Speaker 1: and people feeling great, and I could not wait to
Speaker 1: have him on here, y'all. He is Illinois based, board
Speaker 1: certified physician. Specialty is anesthesiology, which I've had before, and
Speaker 1: I don't remember my life prior to or after I
Speaker 1: was told, y'all, doctor Robert Singleton the second is checking
Speaker 1: in with us today.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for that introduction. Thank you for
Speaker 2: having me. I'm a huge fan of yours, and I
Speaker 2: thank you for the opportunity just to talk about, you know,
Speaker 2: some of the things that God has on my heart
Speaker 2: and to have this conversation with you. Wow.
Speaker 1: So listen, y'all. His background. I saw Peoria, Illinois. I
Speaker 1: saw where you graduated college from, and I was like, so,
Speaker 1: my memories of Peoria is partying.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I finished my training, I went to well first,
Speaker 2: I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and so I went to
Speaker 2: Louisiana State University for college. Then I went to Howard
Speaker 2: University in Washington, d C. For medical school Howard University,
Speaker 2: and then I did my anesthesia training at the University
Speaker 2: of Arkansas. We wanted to get back closer to Chicago
Speaker 2: because my wife is from Chicago. So we got close
Speaker 2: to Chicago in Peoria, Illinois, which is about two and
Speaker 2: a half hours away. We were there for five years
Speaker 2: or so, but we wanted to get back, you know,
Speaker 2: even closer because her parents are here in Chicago. We
Speaker 2: have a lot of family here. But Peoria, you know,
Speaker 2: it was a very small city. We were able to
Speaker 2: grow p Acson. Only my wife advanced career wise there.
Speaker 1: And so I'm a schedule heartening to amazing attorney, this
Speaker 1: power couple.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Thank you so much. She is
Speaker 2: she's ten times smarter than I am. I'm so proud
Speaker 2: of her. She is the chief compliance officer at the
Speaker 2: University of Illinois and just so intelligent. I'm so proud
Speaker 2: of her. But but yeah, we moved to the We're
Speaker 2: not in downtown, we're not in the city of Chicago.
Speaker 2: We are in the south suburbs. But you know, I
Speaker 2: love my job safety reasons, but you know, we have
Speaker 2: our kids, love their schools, we love our neighborhood, we
Speaker 2: love our jobs, and so we are so happy to
Speaker 2: be in the Chicago Land area.
Speaker 1: I am so excited to hear that the very very
Speaker 1: first house I ever bought was in the South suburb
Speaker 1: of Chicago. I'm from Rockford, Illinois originally.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, my brother.
Speaker 1: Still he lives downtown Chicago and family is still in
Speaker 1: that rock For area. I went to school in Illinois
Speaker 1: State and some of the parties kind of took us
Speaker 1: down the highway to Peoria every now and there was
Speaker 1: a nice church that we shipped with from time to time.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was City of Hope. Hope
Speaker 1: was in the name. Bishop Hail Dawson was the pastor.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to I'm not gonna bring y'all
Speaker 1: any shame because I was. I was a good girl.
Speaker 1: But I did go to some of the parties. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: and look what God has done. He has a seated
Speaker 1: in heavenly.
Speaker 2: Praise God, Praise God.
Speaker 1: Everybody has a story. Everybody has a story. So this
Speaker 1: interview can go so many ways. You are a literal
Speaker 1: practicing physician. Yes, but we I think what I like
Speaker 1: is we get to see you as a father, someone's husband,
Speaker 1: I'm sure, a son. Do you have any siblings?
Speaker 2: I have a younger brother.
Speaker 1: Okay, so as a brother and being so we think
Speaker 1: that you're just a doctor, but you're human too, who
Speaker 1: is also like killing it as a content creator?
Speaker 2: Thank you?
Speaker 1: Okay, tell us about that journey.
Speaker 2: You know, when I first I started on Instagram shortly
Speaker 2: after the pandemic, and I at first just kind of
Speaker 2: posted about my family birthday parties, we love to travel.
Speaker 2: I kind of just posted personal things. But as you recalled,
Speaker 2: during the pandemic, there were so many conspiracy theories about
Speaker 2: the virus and the vaccine, and it was so crazy,
Speaker 2: and I felt like it was my responsibility because so
Speaker 2: many people trusted me. I felt like it was my
Speaker 2: responsibility to spread reliable health information. You know, many times
Speaker 2: people they don't know what sources to trust, and so
Speaker 2: if they can, you know, find me a black physician.
Speaker 2: You know, cultural competency, it, I think can make an
Speaker 2: impact on their health decisions and which what type of
Speaker 2: medical information they choose. So I started posting more. Thank you.
Speaker 2: I posted more, more health information, more about me as
Speaker 2: a physician, and people became more interested in my journey,
Speaker 2: and so I went in that direction. And then about
Speaker 2: a year ago, my wife and I started back going
Speaker 2: to church. We had not gone for two years during
Speaker 2: the pandemic, but that was an experience or both of
Speaker 2: us started to become closer to God through we joined
Speaker 2: the new church. So we went to the new members
Speaker 2: classes and then from there, the transformation I was experiencing
Speaker 2: spiritually crossed over into my social media and so I
Speaker 2: started to post things that were inspiring to me, things
Speaker 2: that I thought would help other people, that you know,
Speaker 2: would resonate with people, because and what I post, I
Speaker 2: don't get too too deep. I share scriptures, but I
Speaker 2: don't I don't get very deep. I feel like many
Speaker 2: times people just need a little bit of encouragement just
Speaker 2: to make it through the day, make it through the week,
Speaker 2: you know. And so what I share, it's it's very simple,
Speaker 2: but it's things that I think that you know, can
Speaker 2: can help people, just to just a little bit of
Speaker 2: encouragement and in the process, you know, share the gospel.
Speaker 1: I was about to ask you, how do you share?
Speaker 1: But I think I just heard a voice say he's
Speaker 1: graced to share. The reason why I say that, I Well,
Speaker 1: the reason why I believe that just got the revelation
Speaker 1: is because your job is a heavy job. You probably
Speaker 1: need the encouragement the strength because what you do, like
Speaker 1: you got to like know, like the person's wait, every
Speaker 1: single medical condition, if they've had surgery in the past, y'all,
Speaker 1: let me tell you if you've never if you've had
Speaker 1: anesthesiology before, whether it was a major procedure or within
Speaker 1: patient or outpatient. You know, I know these questions that
Speaker 1: they ask and it during near scares me, like I'll
Speaker 1: just live with my condition because this is just true.
Speaker 1: So imagine if the patient is feeling that way. You've
Speaker 1: gone to school for this, but you have to know
Speaker 1: every single thing about this person that you are about
Speaker 1: to prepare for some time medical procedure that is going
Speaker 1: to be life changing for them.
Speaker 2: And thank you for that. Many people don't realize how
Speaker 2: important our role is as anesthesia physicians. And in a
Speaker 2: typical day, most days everything goes smoothly. You know, we
Speaker 2: see our patients, we do our cases, we go home,
Speaker 2: but every once in a while, there are emergencies. We
Speaker 2: have massive hemorrhage, you know, bleeding where we have to
Speaker 2: administer blood products and platelets and frozen plasma. We have had.
Speaker 1: So it's more than just administering the good good that
Speaker 1: puts us to sleep.
Speaker 2: It's more than that. It's more than that we have
Speaker 2: emergency sees. We have that see sections, we have trauma,
Speaker 2: we have cold blue cardiac arrest. There's emergencies that happen
Speaker 2: even in the outpatient procedures, and so it's important that
Speaker 2: we've remain that we are vigilant, that we remain up
Speaker 2: to date on the latest health information guidelines. I just
Speaker 2: came from an anesthesia conference in San Francisco. Every year,
Speaker 2: the American Society of Anaesthesiologists holds a conference and we're
Speaker 2: able to not only network, but learn about the newest
Speaker 2: trends and anesthesia and patient care. And so it's important
Speaker 2: for us to remain up to date on what's going
Speaker 2: on because it can save someone's life.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited, y'all. I'm talking to Rob's second fifty three.
Speaker 1: That is his Instagram profile. So if you're like me,
Speaker 1: sometimes when a movie is going on, I'm nosy, I'll
Speaker 1: go and research the author or more of the synopsis
Speaker 1: of the movie or something that I'm watching. So in
Speaker 1: case you're kind of curious about who we're talking to
Speaker 1: right now, you can go to his Instagram at Robert
Speaker 1: second fifty three. He does have a TikTok which is the.
Speaker 2: Same Yeah, so I post the same thing on most
Speaker 2: of the same videos on YouTube and Instagram, same name,
Speaker 2: But I primarily I focused on Instagram. It's just I've
Speaker 2: built community there and so every day I post something
Speaker 2: new that's on my heart. That was kind of a
Speaker 2: challenge that I gave myself just to every day post something.
Speaker 1: And so, okay, well I've got to ask this question. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got to ask this question. Do you get flack
Speaker 1: from fellow colleagues or just people who probably like, you're
Speaker 1: a doctor, you shouldn't be on here.
Speaker 2: This is for kids, you know what I do not.
Speaker 2: It's so funny. My my coworkers and hospital administrators are
Speaker 2: so supportive. It's funny because you know, I'll get my
Speaker 2: the different administrators will come up and say, oh, how
Speaker 2: is your vacation, or we saw this real we saw
Speaker 2: this video. They're very supportive of And whenever I went
Speaker 2: to our anesthesia conference in San Francisco. You know, I
Speaker 2: talked about it with some of my colleagues there, and
Speaker 2: you know, they very happy that I was able to
Speaker 2: share about my profession. Because anesthesia, I know you're familiar
Speaker 2: with it, but many people don't realize, you know, what
Speaker 2: we do and how important our job is. And so
Speaker 2: it's kind of a form of advocacy, uh for for
Speaker 2: safe anesthesia care. And so people kind of can see
Speaker 2: me and know what an anesthesiologist does, and you know,
Speaker 2: so I get lots of support for my social media presence.
Speaker 2: I do have two rules that I have though. I
Speaker 2: don't sing and I don't dance, so I don't do
Speaker 2: those things. I feel like if I do and I sing,
Speaker 2: I sung in the choir before, but I can't. I
Speaker 2: can't sing solo. I can sing an a choir.
Speaker 1: And you're not tempted to do like the latest dance trends.
Speaker 2: On they're cool, they're cool. I do them. I do
Speaker 2: them with my kids whenever there's no cameras, but that
Speaker 2: not on camera, no one.
Speaker 1: And stay and do you know what works for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know exactly what works for you. Y'all.
Speaker 1: Y'all got to see this microphone he has. Do you
Speaker 1: have a podcast?
Speaker 2: You know what I just I just started a quote
Speaker 2: unquote podcast for the month of or for the new year.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to read one chapter a day of the Bible,
Speaker 2: and so I started in the Book of Matthew. So
Speaker 2: I record a chapter and I have it recorded in
Speaker 2: podcasts format. So it's just me reading the Bible. It's
Speaker 2: not any commentary or any other content yet, but I'm
Speaker 2: thinking about it.
Speaker 1: Y'all listen, Okay. So some people might think when you're
Speaker 1: a doctor, you must stay just a doctor. So my uncle,
Speaker 1: who is a family practice physician in Rockford, Illinois, also
Speaker 1: became a pastor. Wow, and he loves to teach. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you're like him or not, But now
Speaker 1: that I look back and like, I asked him a
Speaker 1: lot of questions about medicine, and I never knew if
Speaker 1: he likes to talk about medicine. But because not only
Speaker 1: he's a teacher, I think he enjoyed sharing the information.
Speaker 1: Now when I go home, I don't ask me about Beyonce,
Speaker 1: don't I don't ask me where he is, don't ask
Speaker 1: me about Jay Kelly. I where are the greens and
Speaker 1: the Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, just get that right for you.
Speaker 1: I am just wondering you're outside of medicine, and do
Speaker 1: you think you have to choose?
Speaker 2: That's a good question. You know. I'm all about balance.
Speaker 2: Like whenever I'm at work, I'm professional. I work, but
Speaker 2: whenever I as soon as my scrubs come off and
Speaker 2: I get in my car and I go home like
Speaker 2: I'm I am Robert second five three, like I'm about
Speaker 2: my kids, you know. I you know, like I mentioned,
Speaker 2: it's it's it can be stressful at work, and so
Speaker 2: I try to compartmentalize it, you know, whenever I come home,
Speaker 2: I'm not. My wife likes to watch you know, Gray's
Speaker 2: Anatomy and you know these medical shows. I don't want
Speaker 2: to see that.
Speaker 1: Now, do you then? Do you torture her by watching
Speaker 1: all the law shows?
Speaker 2: You know what? That's so funny. She does. She does
Speaker 2: not watch the law show. She doesn't watch all Rise
Speaker 2: or any of that. So, you know, I don't know, but.
Speaker 1: The medical especially the medical shows, I'm not sure about
Speaker 1: the law shows, Lauris. I don't know about the medicals
Speaker 1: because family members and they be like they'll watch the
Speaker 1: shows and be like, why is this electro? Like placed
Speaker 1: in their fear load does not go Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, where are the consultants to tell them, you know,
Speaker 2: how to how to do things? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Right, right, right right, Okay. So the reason why I
Speaker 1: ask you all of that is because what you're saying
Speaker 1: you're doing with you know, reading the Bible and all
Speaker 1: these kind of things. So I'm just here to encourage
Speaker 1: you to go for whatever. Uh it seems like God
Speaker 1: is leading you to do, you know, and this journey
Speaker 1: that you're on, the fact that you're sharing it unashamedly, yes,
Speaker 1: I mean some people find God and they get a
Speaker 1: shamed I mean, you're quoting scripture, you're low key reading
Speaker 1: people sometimes, you know. It's so it's absolutely amazing. But
Speaker 1: I want to go back to the video that you
Speaker 1: made about eight hugs a day. Again, that's how I
Speaker 1: found you and what I like. You are an advocate
Speaker 1: for evidence based health information. Yes, I heard it was
Speaker 1: ten hugs a day, eighth days the same, but because
Speaker 1: some people don't get any hugs a day.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, you know. It's so funny. That post has
Speaker 2: like thousands of comments. I haven't read them all, but
Speaker 2: every once in a while I'll see a comment and
Speaker 2: somebody yeah, you're right, You're right. But every once in
Speaker 2: a while I'll see a comment and somebody will say,
Speaker 2: you know, I should be dead right now, Like I
Speaker 2: haven't gotten a hug all year, and it's like, wow,
Speaker 2: A lot of times I take for granted all the
Speaker 2: hugs that I get from my kids and you know,
Speaker 2: my wife, and there are people out there, you know,
Speaker 2: even though we are so connected through social media. You
Speaker 2: can see your old classmates and your neighbors. We're so connected,
Speaker 2: but how much of the time do we actually get
Speaker 2: to see people, to enter to interface with people, you know,
Speaker 2: And so we have to not forget that we really
Speaker 2: we as humans need and we're wired for social interaction.
Speaker 2: And so that kind of was the point of that
Speaker 2: of that video, that you know, we have to make
Speaker 2: sure that we are still socializing, that we're still you know,
Speaker 2: being kind to each other, that we are you know,
Speaker 2: not taking out our physical needs for being around other
Speaker 2: people for granted.
Speaker 1: M that's so good, that's so good. People are Well,
Speaker 1: how do I how can I hug my children that
Speaker 1: many times a day? I just be trying to get
Speaker 1: them out the door to go to school. But I
Speaker 1: thought I'd figure it out Okay. Hug them when you
Speaker 1: wake them up in the morning. Okay, hug them when
Speaker 1: they've gotten dressed, or after they've bathed and all this.
Speaker 1: They breshed their tea, you know, hug them maybe you know,
Speaker 1: when they're eating their food. You might just walk by
Speaker 1: and just give them a little nudge or something. That's three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, get them.
Speaker 1: Out the door to school. You're driving to school. You
Speaker 1: hug them. We're tapped something when they get up. That'st for.
Speaker 1: It ain't even nine am.
Speaker 2: Yet, there you go.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, So you got them off to school, y'all
Speaker 1: get home from work. He's come home.
Speaker 2: Five.
Speaker 1: You don'et hug them. Hey we at five? They told
Speaker 1: you about their day, Dad, I didn't have a good
Speaker 1: day at school today. That's the time grab them. You
Speaker 1: hug them, man, I'm so sorry you didn't have a
Speaker 1: good day. Six okay, okay, okay, Lucy? How can how
Speaker 1: can they? So they tell you about their day? Then
Speaker 1: y'all are y'all are eating dinner? Dad, I hate Brussels sprouts,
Speaker 1: little girl, you're gonna eat them Brussels sprouts. Okay, they
Speaker 1: eat the Brussels sprouts. She ate the Brussels sprouts. You
Speaker 1: hunt her. That's so good, baby girl. Hate hugs. That's
Speaker 1: by seven o'clock at night.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't hugged.
Speaker 1: That's that's seven things, eight hugs. So at seven o'clock
Speaker 1: at night, then you're telling them it's time to go
Speaker 1: to bed. I don't want to go to bed. Man
Speaker 1: you and come here and get your tail in that bed.
Speaker 1: You drop them up a little bit. Do the little hugs.
Speaker 1: That's bad hugs. Then you'd be like, you know, before
Speaker 1: you go to bed, let's say our little prayers or something,
Speaker 1: or do you a little bathing or whatever you gonna y'all, y'all,
Speaker 1: that's ten hugs.
Speaker 2: That's ten hugs. There you go. And it's so funny.
Speaker 1: My daughter, Hey, I could have stopped that.
Speaker 2: Eight you could have stopped date. My daughter actually tells
Speaker 2: me at the end of the day how many hugs
Speaker 2: she's gotten, and so I try to make up for it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's so cute. It's the cutest thing ever. She'll say,
Speaker 2: I got six hugs today. So when I get home
Speaker 2: from work, I'm like, okay, we're gonna get you those
Speaker 2: your other two hugs to get you eight hugs, and
Speaker 2: you know, I hugged my daughter. I hugged my son too.
Speaker 2: We're very affectionate in our house, and so I try
Speaker 2: to make sure that you know they know that I
Speaker 2: love them. You know, we say I love you. You know,
Speaker 2: kids need that and everybody needs that, even we as adults,
Speaker 2: you know, need to know that we're love and to
Speaker 2: fill that warmth.
Speaker 1: That's so good because I'm told or or through therapists
Speaker 1: and just looking at things like people that work in
Speaker 1: the medical book, doctors, attorneys and police officers can are
Speaker 1: not affectionate. They can't be affectionate because lots of times
Speaker 1: you're delivering bad news.
Speaker 2: That's true, Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And so for you to still be like, I gotta
Speaker 1: go home, I got a Huggies kids, I gotta hug
Speaker 1: my wife, I gotta rub her feet. I don't even
Speaker 1: like fee look at me trying to be all in
Speaker 1: your head.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure, but but but.
Speaker 1: Thank you for stating that. And it's real. I grew up.
Speaker 1: My mother did that, Like we would try to bummerish
Speaker 1: her with hugs and she just did not like hugs.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. I can give hugs, but
Speaker 1: sometimes receiver hugs. I'd be like, I'll do a little
Speaker 1: church thing where you yeah, or if you're in my real,
Speaker 1: real core. But you just never know what physical touch
Speaker 1: can do to someone. How do you feel that a
Speaker 1: busy person can incorporate the habit of incorporating God into
Speaker 1: their daily life.
Speaker 2: That's a good question. So part of my focus, you know,
Speaker 2: this month, no matter how busy you are, you know,
Speaker 2: even if you only have a few minutes today, I
Speaker 2: think it's important to read God's word. And so I've
Speaker 2: been reading, like I said, the Book of Matthew. And
Speaker 2: you know, each chapter it takes between you know, at
Speaker 2: some chapters two minutes to read, three minutes to read.
Speaker 2: And I believe that if you honor God with just
Speaker 2: that little bit of time, you know, even if it's
Speaker 2: only one Bible verse, even that one verse that you
Speaker 2: meditate on throughout the day, can get into your spirit,
Speaker 2: transform your heart, transform your mind, get your perspective right
Speaker 2: for the rest of the day. It doesn't take you know,
Speaker 2: reading for hours and hours and hours, because one Bible
Speaker 2: verse can make a difference.
Speaker 1: That's so good. One Bible verse. And it's so funny
Speaker 1: because I find in my you know reading, you get
Speaker 1: excitedly Okay, oh, this chapter is twenty verses, that's good,
Speaker 1: and you get some of them chapters be one hundred
Speaker 1: and twelve verses.
Speaker 2: I'd be like, now, wait man, yeah, and then we
Speaker 2: get discouraged. We get discouraged by that. And you know,
Speaker 2: my thing is sometimes also whenever you have Bible reading plans,
Speaker 2: which are good, don't get me wrong, but you can
Speaker 2: be so focused on meeting your quota for that day,
Speaker 2: like I have to get this many chapters where you
Speaker 2: to where you don't even you aren't able to really
Speaker 2: focus on what you're reading or meditate on what you're reading.
Speaker 2: So that's more important to have the word inside of
Speaker 2: you transforming you than how much the volume of what
Speaker 2: you're reading.
Speaker 1: Wow, I'm so excited, Thank you for being here. I've
Speaker 1: just got some more questions. I just want to get through, okay,
Speaker 1: because this is so good. This is so good some
Speaker 1: of the stuff that I actually was not on our
Speaker 1: run down for today. But sometimes the conversation just becomes
Speaker 1: so organic that I just can't help while I have
Speaker 1: the person here like to take advantage of some of
Speaker 1: those moments. How do you take care of yourself because
Speaker 1: your job is so stressful. Any techniques for any healthcare workers,
Speaker 1: you know you probably like, man, I'm not perfect. I
Speaker 1: get stressed like everybody too, So.
Speaker 2: You know, what do you do? So I start my
Speaker 2: day with weightlifting. I weightlift about five days a week
Speaker 2: with my trainer.
Speaker 1: I'm actually three all right, three.
Speaker 2: A early early in the morning, which surprisingly there are
Speaker 2: there are lots of people in the gym that early,
Speaker 2: and I'm actually preparing. I'm doing a pH zek show,
Speaker 2: like a body building show in May, and so I'm
Speaker 2: doing all the diet and all that for that. But
Speaker 2: I find that, you know, if you're able to start
Speaker 2: off your day with that boost of endorphins, that sets
Speaker 2: the tone for the day. And so that's that's how I,
Speaker 2: you know, balance myself by prioritizing my fitness.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, So prioritizing your fitness, y'all, and of course
Speaker 1: reading reading your word. I mean, come on, uh, I'm
Speaker 1: sure on some great music and you know, a great
Speaker 1: life giving a farming music. How do you, as a
Speaker 1: doctor cope with loss and handle grief? Because many miracles happen,
Speaker 1: sometimes the miracle might happen on the other side of
Speaker 1: eternity for those who are left behind to deal with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what's crazy. I have never suffered major
Speaker 2: loss or grief. Uh, you know, I I haven't lost
Speaker 2: anybody close to me. And sometimes I think about that often,
Speaker 2: like how would I how would I respond? How would
Speaker 2: I react? I don't know, because I've never lost anybody
Speaker 2: close to me. Knock on wood?
Speaker 1: What? Yeah, what do you do when the patient didn't
Speaker 1: make it?
Speaker 2: You know, it's actually exceedingly rare. So I've been practicing.
Speaker 2: You know, I finished school in twenty sixteen. Knock on
Speaker 2: wood again, I haven't lost any patients in the operating room.
Speaker 2: Whenever I work in the intensive care unit. You see
Speaker 2: a lot of deaths in the intensive care unit. Yes,
Speaker 2: And a lot of times I will perform an anesthesia
Speaker 2: case for a very sick patient and I have to
Speaker 2: go back like the next week or next two weeks,
Speaker 2: and I find out that they have passed transition. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: but actually to lose somebody in the operating room, it's
Speaker 2: pretty rare. So I don't see that very frequently, thank goodness.
Speaker 1: So basically, folks, don't be afraid to go to the doctor,
Speaker 1: get your checkups, and get your care. Aren't we happy
Speaker 1: to hear that he's saying it's for him? It's can
Speaker 1: he also be my primary care? No? No, he cat,
Speaker 1: no he cannot. On one of your posts, you mentioned
Speaker 1: the five types of people you need in your life.
Speaker 1: M hmm, yeah, okay, so that goes beyond if you're
Speaker 1: if you're in medicine or not. Give us one or
Speaker 1: two what you're thinking, or share the most important type
Speaker 1: of person you need in your life.
Speaker 2: I'll say this a lot of us. Uh, it's we
Speaker 2: surround ourselves with people who are just gonna tell us
Speaker 2: what we want to hear. But it's so important that
Speaker 2: we have people in our lives who are going to
Speaker 2: tell us the truth, who are going to motivate us
Speaker 2: to be better, people who are going to help propel
Speaker 2: us forward. And so it's it's so important that we
Speaker 2: have those kind of people in our lives. I forgot
Speaker 2: five types of people.
Speaker 1: Don't worry, no, no, no, no worry is to me. It's
Speaker 1: just what do you think the most important type of thing?
Speaker 2: Yes? Yeah, somebody who can who's gonna push you forward,
Speaker 2: who's gonna encourage you towards your goals, tell you the
Speaker 2: truth about yourself. You know that that is very valuable.
Speaker 2: Not all of us have that. But whenever you come
Speaker 2: across that kind of person, and whenever you do find
Speaker 2: people like that, you really have to not take them
Speaker 2: for granted because you might not you know, that's so good,
Speaker 2: might not have them always.
Speaker 1: Not only do not take them for granted, but don't
Speaker 1: take what they might share with you personally. Because I'm
Speaker 1: guilty of saying on honey, please tell me about me,
Speaker 1: tell me about myself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's good. My best friend.
Speaker 1: Told me something I said I wanted to she I
Speaker 1: was gonna come. You have to come see you the
Speaker 1: way I wanted to let her. But it's truth and
Speaker 1: not that it hurts. But but the truth can hurt,
Speaker 1: you know, Yeah, but it can. It should fortify and
Speaker 1: just can be used as a tool of correction.
Speaker 2: Definitely.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about ozimpic. What do you think about
Speaker 1: the explosion of interest and use of it and do
Speaker 1: you think it's mostly safe to use considering some of
Speaker 1: the side effects like stomach paralysis.
Speaker 2: I'll say this, You know there are people who need it,
Speaker 2: and that's why it's it should be and it is
Speaker 2: prescribed by physicians. People don't realize that with obesity comes
Speaker 2: comorbid conditions. So a lot of times obesity is tied
Speaker 2: to diabetes, it's tied to sleep apnea, it's tied to
Speaker 2: a lot of different other conditions, and so people a
Speaker 2: lot of times need to lose weight for their health.
Speaker 2: And so I think that ozimpic used correctly, can help
Speaker 2: make us healthier. However, there are people who abuse it,
Speaker 2: who don't use it correctly, and they are not good
Speaker 2: candidates for Olympics. So you know, I think that it's
Speaker 2: a great drug when you used correctly.
Speaker 1: He said, how do we go from talking about eight
Speaker 1: hugs to Olympics.
Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody's talking about it. Everybody's talking When I.
Speaker 1: Tell you, everybody is talking about it. And then I'm
Speaker 1: just even careful. Just because everybody's talking about it, don't
Speaker 1: mean I got to talk about it. But I'm excited
Speaker 1: because somebody here is going to want to know or hear,
Speaker 1: like you said, especially when you have some pre existing
Speaker 1: conditions in which this drug could really be you. So listen,
Speaker 1: I am so thankful for your time today. Keep doing it,
Speaker 1: do the books, the podcast, the appearances, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Just keep going on. And I'm sure that this also
Speaker 1: probably be a great escape from a job that's fulfilling
Speaker 1: but can be quite stressful. To you. So thank you
Speaker 1: so much.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm enjoying my vacation. You have made my
Speaker 2: year with this interview. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you. It is a new year. It is
Speaker 1: a new year, and you so much.
Speaker 2: Joy.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited. I mean that miss Singleton, we got
Speaker 1: to have you on here on my podcast. We talk
Speaker 1: to everybody, so I'm excited to get to know to
Speaker 1: get to know her, and to get to know because
Speaker 1: I want to know too. When people say how do
Speaker 1: you make it work? It's not because we are anticipating
Speaker 1: or want anything happen, but it's like attorneys and physicians,
Speaker 1: that's those are really demanding jobs. And I love it together. Man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, she's busier than I am.
Speaker 1: So wow, Okay, okay, He's like, I'm just I got
Speaker 1: my little schedule at two pm. We got to do this,
Speaker 1: you know, okay and me, and then you might have
Speaker 1: to get some cancel because somebody probably ate you're not
Speaker 1: supposed to eat the twelve to twenty four exactly.
Speaker 2: You know it, you know it, you know it.
Speaker 1: I had a pro seizure in the fall of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two. Okay, and I just remember the doctor was
Speaker 1: so sweet. Not the aneses allergies was very kind, but
Speaker 1: the doctor was rare. She held my hand, okay, and
Speaker 1: I just remember her grabbing my hand. And then I
Speaker 1: woke up in recovery.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, the best sleep ever.
Speaker 1: But they said what I was coming out of the anesthesia.
Speaker 1: I have pictures. I looked cool. I they said I
Speaker 1: was just but while I woke up and I was
Speaker 1: in a little bit of pain in my aftermen, and
Speaker 1: I was I'm in so much and I think that
Speaker 1: I need drugs or blah blah blah. And then my
Speaker 1: girl Samantha on here she said she even woke up
Speaker 1: during surgery.
Speaker 2: Hap it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody's like, oh no, oh no. So I know
Speaker 1: that I was like advill knocks me out. My mom
Speaker 1: was like, okay, like a sleeping agent in it. So
Speaker 1: we don't understand why if I take to atvil, it's
Speaker 1: night night. Wow, it is night night for me. So
Speaker 1: anesthesia you're light weight. Yeah, I'm a cheap date too.
Speaker 1: I'm a cheat day. I'm a cheat date. Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: all right, Well we love you You are welcome anytime
Speaker 1: we will be following you to keep track of everything
Speaker 1: that you got going. You are welcome to be in
Speaker 1: touch with us to to say, hey, I'm doing this
Speaker 1: or whatever, let's talk about it. Just know that you're
Speaker 1: always welcome.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: All right, doctor Singleton, God bless you.
Speaker 2: Have a good day.
Speaker 1: Oh MG, that was such an amazing interview. He's so
Speaker 1: laid back and so chill, but I guess you have
Speaker 1: to be that, y'all. He's an anesthesiologist, meaning he got
Speaker 1: to put people to sleep for procedures. So I guess
Speaker 1: I don't know. He maybe he can't be too jittery
Speaker 1: and blah blah blah blah blah. He can't be like
Speaker 1: me because sometimes I be turned up. I don't know
Speaker 1: if there are personality tests or personalities that are best
Speaker 1: suited for certain jobs. Find it. I'm gonna find the
Speaker 1: personality tests that are best suited because when I have
Speaker 1: a cup of coffee, man, I go bonkers. AnyWho, I'm
Speaker 1: just so excited to give y'all this episode of checking in.
Speaker 1: I really really hope that you find a nugget or
Speaker 1: too that inspires you and just helps you keep going
Speaker 1: during this time. I think the last word I want
Speaker 1: to share for this episode is shine your light. Wherever
Speaker 1: you are, shine your light, wherever you work, shine your light,
Speaker 1: and whatever doors you walk through, just be a light.
Speaker 1: Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production of iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.