SPEAKER_01 0:00

Here comes the Sun Do. Here comes the Sunday. It's all right.

SPEAKER_03 0:19

Hello, Fortitude audience. Thank you so much for joining us again today. My name is Heather Kittelson and I am the host of Fortitude alongside my lovely husband, Amos.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Oh, the first take was better, but I'll take that one. Thanks. Hi.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

I did mention the dipples, the first one, and they are fabulous. So and today we have Lauren Scatum. I always got to make sure and pronounce her name correct. Is that right? Say it. Scatum. Scatum. Scatum. That's exactly how it sounds or looks too scatter. It is, but everybody gets it wrong, and that's okay. Well, they shouldn't, because you are Dr. Scatum.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Everyone spells our last name wrong too. So they do.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

They do. They always put the L before the E in our last name. Oh, yeah. But it's all right. It's okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Until it that's just kind of the way it is. It just creates more conversation. It does.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

No, it does. More confusion in the military. Amos went through a lot. But we are super excited to have you today. Uh we met multiple years ago through a mutual friend who said the two of you need to meet. I think you had just moved to Sioux Falls and we got together at a local coffee shop and we spent hours together. So I don't know how we're going to do this in 45 minutes, but we'll figure it out. Miracles happen every day. Lauren, you entered my life, and I'm never letting you out. It's the most fun friendship because you're so like I have a simple little question about my foot being swollen, and I can text you, and you have like the most beautiful way of explaining to me what has probably happened, what needs to happen, and you are a no-nonsense doctor, like literally no nonsense. And I love that. There's no passive aggressive in your vocabulary.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

So I'm a straight shooter that really cares. You do, you do. Huge heart. Huge heart. And you're a toucher. I am a hugger. Yeah. Which I didn't realize that until COVID when I couldn't hold hug people.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah. I mean, if you had asked me if I was like a hugger, I would have told you like absolutely not. But you but until I couldn't hug people, I didn't realize, like, I hugged every single one of my patients. Oh. And in various stages of undress. As an OBGYN. Yeah, that's interesting. And so I um it was really hard because especially during COVID, I felt like some of the most therapeutic medicine you could give was a hug.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

And it's true. And it's still true.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

Yeah. Just before we started, I gave Lauren a hug and then it wasn't enough. I had to go back in for a second one.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Wow. That sounds like a prescription.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

Heather like hugs your soul. She's a great hugger. I get I always say I get up in there. I'm sorry. Sorry to some people who don't like hugs, but Lauren, you are new to this area because you were not born here. So tell us a little bit of who you are today and then a little bit of where you where you come come from.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Where were you born? So I am originally from Alabama, and um I do not have much of an accent anymore. I um unless I step back into my red clay dirt, and then it apparently comes back like instantaneously. Um my kids were actually flagged for speech therapy when we got to South Dakota because of their accents, which I think is hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

They were give me a little bit. Can you can you pull it out? A little bit of Alabama.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Um well, what do you want to hear?

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Ooh, see?

SPEAKER_00 4:02

See, it comes it comes back. You just you just have to like think about your A's and like how that's gonna you know roll off your tongue and like you're just gonna go about your day like that. That's so good.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Jeff Fox really does a great bit about the redneck and being a doctor, like a brain surgeon. All right, what we're gonna do is root around there with a big old stick and see if we can't find that clot. He's like, no, thanks. I'll just die.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Well, and that's the thing. So I went to um the University of Alabama, um, which now has a South Dakota head coach, which I love. I know it's come full circle. And um, I went to medical school in West Virginia. And so I always joke that I am multilingual, so I speak both redneck and hillbilly, and I couldn't understand a word that came out of my mouth when I got there. So I had to really work on like my enunciation and pronunciation. So yeah. So I met um my wonderful husband Andrew um the first day of orientation in West Virginia, and we've we've been together ever since. And um, we did residency together in Toledo, Ohio. So I, you know, kind of trained in the ghettos, not scared of anything. Yeah, I did OBGYN and he did general surgery. And then we moved to Orlando, Florida for him to do a trauma and critical care fellowship. And so we were supposed to only be there for a year and had plans to move back out to the wet, you know, Midwest. He is originally from Rapid. Okay. And so, but we got back to the South. Um, and I was 27 weeks pregnant with our firstborn. And I got back and I was like, oh my God, I am never, ever leaving the South again. I walked into one of the restaurants down there called Miss Kathy's Cotillion Cafe, and they had like posters of Scarlet O'Hara and a bust of Robert E. Lee and real linen and real silver and chicken and waffles. And I burst into tears and I was like, oh my God, I'm home. But you know, God has a funny way of like working those things out, and just when you say it's never gonna happen, then you know, He changes your heart.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

So I know what that's like. Right. Me in Florida, I'm like, go back to Florida. It's like Florida say, Hey, welcome back home. And then I have to come back to the cold in South Dakota.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it is a real thing. I I saw it in his eyes and his face when he got back from Florida when him and Jacob just recently went, and I said, Are you excited to come home? It was like a blank. And I went, but we're here, like me, your wife, and your three little brothers.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

We can get you back down down here.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

He literally didn't say it was silence because I knew his heart. He was home in Florida having fun, and it's a little scary, but I came back.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

That's the interesting thing though about having moved here is that um we moved two years ago, which is kind of a fun story. Um please share because it is it's good. So um Andrew was running like seven different trauma centers. I was the chair of my department and OBGYN and was part of a single specialty private practice. And we had just a great life. We had great friends. My mom lived 10 minutes away from us. We have two kids, um, Hank and Alice, that are now nine and seven. Um, but living where we lived, like we were in the car all the time. And, you know, Andrew's commute was long south. Mine was, you know, what, like 30 minutes to get the kids to school, and then another 20 minutes to my office. And then trying to reverse engineer that. Like we were so especially as they got into activities, like it was just it got to be a lot. And we never saw each other, we never saw our kids. And um, we did a family, like Bible, like revival thing at um at our church in Florida, and it was called Famous at Home. And they did, they talked about how like when you die, like or you leave your job, like you know, you'll be missed, you'll also be easily replaced. Right. And in the end, like those people will miss you, but you know, life will go on. They will move on, they will, they will find new doctors and new people, and it'll be fine. But you know, your kids, like your kids are all they have. Yeah. And so, like, if you're gonna work hard and you're gonna be famous, like, why don't you try and be famous at home? And that like really, I think Josh Straub is and his wife. Um, I want to say her her name is Christine, but I don't know that to be true. Um, that was like powerful. And we decided, like, you know what? We I I think we're done. And it'd been interesting because Andrew's whole family lives here in Sioux Falls. He has three younger sisters. We have 11 nieces and nephews that are all kind of the same age as our kids. Um, and so we came back to Sioux Falls like three, four times a year for the last decade, even before we ever moved. And um, I remember being here in July, mind you, it was not cold. And thinking, it's like, you know, wouldn't it be so fun and so cool if like we were all in the same place and our kids could grow up together? And you know, the the commute is more like, you know, a long commute here is like 15, 20 minutes. Like at 20 minutes, you're kind of grumpy because you're like, it takes so long. Yeah. Um, which my five stop lights. Yes. My Florida self wants to kick my South Dakota self, like really. Um but it's interesting because we we felt completely called. Like we're like, yes, we are gonna go back to Florida and we're we're gonna pack it up and we're gonna move. And God told me, um He said, You will be a tree that will be planted by the water, and that in due time you will bear fruit. Like it's but it's not yet. And so we were called, but we were not moved. And that as a as someone who is like as a surgeon, you know, I want things done, I want it done right, and I want it done yesterday.

unknown 11:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

So being told to wait was really hard for me. And it was then I was like, well, okay, well, maybe, maybe we weren't called, and then we would go back and we would come back to visit. And sure enough, it was like, yep, you're supposed to be here, but you're not supposed to be here yet. And so this like literally went on for almost three years, yeah, which you know is is a long time. I mean, in the in the scheme of you know, existence is not a long time, but like when you're impatient like I am, like the waiting is really tough. And so finally I um I went to uh a business meeting on August 11th, and I came home and like literally nothing happened in my business meeting. And I came home and I told Andrew, I was like, okay, it's time. He's like, What do you mean? It's time for what? I was like, it's time to go. He's like, What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

I was like, he's like, just like that. I was like, yeah, just like that. God said, it is, it's time. Like you've been waiting, you've gotten, you've gotten ready. I don't know, I didn't had no idea what I was getting ready for at that point, but um, I had always wanted to open my own practice. And um, interestingly, I didn't know it at the time, but just like being there and living and learning and things like that was he was using, he was using that time, even though to me it was painful and did not seem to be productive at all. And so we um I I love my husband so much because he his his faith is potentially bigger than mine in the fact that he just trusted the fact that like I did not audibly hear the voice of God, but like I just knew it in my soul with every ounce of my being, just as much as I knew I'm I know I'm sitting in this chair right now.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

What a beautiful thing. As husbands, we feel responsible for a lot of things. We just feel like you know, we're supposed to set the direction. And but we don't have all the answers. And what a beautiful thing to have a spouse who you can trust who also seeks the Lord's will and tells you that, and then having that trust to say, yeah, I get it. I'm grateful. Like the Lord, the creator of the universe, just spoke to you, not to me, to you. And I accept that. And okay, let's go, let's do that. What a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

And it's been it's so amazing now. So um, you know, we he works for um one of the hospitals in town. I don't know if I'm just supposed to say which one. And um, and so he has, you know, an eight-minute commute to work now as opposed to, you know, 45 minutes hour in Orlando traffic. And tell us, tell us what Andrew does. So he is a trauma and critical care surgeon. So he is the coolest cucumber in the room. He is so funny, and he is the person that you only want to meet in a social setting. Because if you have to meet him professionally at the hospital, something very, very bad has happened. Yeah. And he is kind of like the end of the line.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

He is a super nice guy.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

He is a super, I know. I really like him too.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

He's very unassuming. Oh, yeah. You both chill. You both are. Like you would not think that you are too very um, like the depth of what you both offer our world is so intense. Like it's it, like it's substance that you can't hold on to. And yet you show up and you're so lighthearted and so funny and free and just fun. And it's like that's not your typical into the lines surgeon in a trauma unit. And maybe it is. Maybe I just haven't met one like Andrew or an OBGYN. He's pretty special. Yeah. Yeah. You both, you're a fun mixture. And I love that you're taller. Can I say that? Are you guys about it? We're actually the same.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

I went to the doctor um to my doctor, what was like six weeks ago, and I apparently have shrunk like two inches. Oh, so I think two inches. Yes. I know. I was like, it's the end of the day. I swear I'll be another inch taller in the morning. It's like I sound like all my patients. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Laura, what what do you categorize yourself as a traditional MD, or do you kind of set your separate yourself from the mainstream?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

So um, Andrew and I are both DOs. So we went to an osteopathic school, which for all intents and purposes is the same training as an MD, but we get 300 extra hours of training in the musculoskeletal system. So I always equate it to like it's just another tool in your toolbox of like the things that you can fix. So like people come in and they'll have like this excruciating back pain, or especially in my field as OBGYN, they'll have like this weird breast pain. And you know, you'll, you know, it and basically what they taught you to do is they taught you how to, you know, to how to feel. So like how touch is so important. And that they're like, oh, well, like it's not actually a breast lump, or it's not actually like this weird, you know, funky back pain. But like maybe you just have a rib out. Yeah, you know, your ribs move just when you breathe. And so, and then like I can pop it back in.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Or it sounds like chiropractic care.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

It is, but it's um, it's more of like a a sharpshooter approach.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

And so, you know, your body works as a unit, and it's incredible how you know the things that your your musculoskeletal system processes can also be a sign of dysfunction, like on the inside. You know, your ribs correspond to like your thoracic vertebrae, and you know, I mean, the tip of, you know, your twelfth rib corresponds to your appendix. Like, you know, like the fact that we know these things and that God created us in such an incredible way that it all works together.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

You just have to kind of take the time to know it.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

And does that does that mean that you can focus more on the root of the problem? Where is the pain coming from? Where's the thing coming from? And then get to that rather than rather than what I would say, just like put a band-aid on it.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Right. So especially so as a thin person who arguably has very bad posture and sits at a computer frequently, um, you know, that kind of hunched over like typing posture is something that leads to like ribs subluxing or popping out frequently. And so, so I I understand that both from a professional level, but also a personal level. And like that, that hurts. And so there's no amount of like medication that, you know, like it will help the pain, but really until you put those ribs back in, like, it's not gonna fix it. And so, you know, you can have people who walk around for you know years and you know, with very angry backs, and you know, like, oh, well, that's that's it.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

And yeah, is it true that not only is their back in pain, but they're probably are fingers of other symptoms coming off of that as your body is trying to deal with that. And and of course, those could lead to other diagnoses and other could lead to other like band-aids want to be putting on. But when you fix the thing, you might fix several things all at the same time. Is that accurate?

SPEAKER_00 18:49

For sure. Yeah. I mean, if you if you get to the cause, you know, you're not just treating the symptoms, then it but in doing that, it takes time. You have to like, you know, back the train up and have time to listen to the story and like, okay, well, what's your mechanism? Like, what else has been going on? Like, were you lifting something? Well, what, you know, are you in distress? Are you super anxious? Well, were you lifting something because you had to like move your mom into assisted living? And, you know, your whatever, your kids are struggling because they're teenagers and their hormones are going up and your hormones are going down, and you're now taking care of your mom, and like you have all this GI stuff, and like, you know, what is what is it that like what is it that's going on with you? Yeah, you as a person.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

So you're dipping into the environment too. What's the what in the environment or your your life is causing these things and speaking into those?

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Just I mean, I think it makes a big difference when you sit down with people and you you just really care and you you take the time, especially in a a society these days that doesn't have a lot of time, and healthcare that does, you know, doesn't have a lot of time because not that the doctors aren't good, like um it's just moving fast. Yeah. Insurance demands that a lot from from us, and I operate independent of the insurance world. So I can do whatever I want.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Isn't that great? That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 20:26

Yeah. And yet, so when you hear that, you think, oh, Lauren doesn't accept insurance. There's no way I can go to her. Like it's gotta be way too expensive. And that is false. And that's a beautiful thing because your expertise and your love and your care for your patient aligns with the also the financial piece of it. You're like, I'm not gonna charge you an arm and a leg. We're gonna do membership base per month, and I'm your doctor 24-7. It's a beautiful model. It works very well for you can text me.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Yeah. Like it's I joke that I'm like that old school doctor with like the little black bag that like I'm just the person that knows you and I just I'm here to take care of you, except for I wear four-inch heels. Yes, you do.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

May have to get higher now that I've shrunk. You would be like the perfect doctor on um Little House on the Prairie. You had your black bag and I did used to watch a lot of Dr.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Quinn Medicine Woman. It's a great thing.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

Okay, so let's go there. You as a little girl, um, when I get when the audience sees a picture of you, you just have these big, big dark eyes. And I picture you as a little girl with with like your little coat on. Like you have your parents are incredibly smart. They are smart, yeah. What are they? Rocket scientists. Literally, right? Yeah, both of them. Like literally rocket scientists. That's fine. And so you come from a world I want to I wanna dig into a little bit of Lauren and why. We know what you do now. We know that you have a beautiful family, a husband who's also in the medical world. Um, your your passion, when you and I met and we were talking about the Lord and we were talking about what you do and how they are there's no skip in your faith and your work. They are together, they align. The body is the temple. Um, your fire for Christ was like, man, our booth was electrifying, like I felt like we were vibrant because we were, we were both on fire talking about our passion and what we do. And so this vision I had for the event, I am fortified. I knew, I knew like Lauren is gonna be one of my speakers. And this was two years ago. I'm like, whatever this event is, Lauren's gonna be a speaker to speak to these young women about their, about their bodies and who they are and the temple and their identity and just everything that it encompassed, you were speaking about it that day when we the first time we met. So I was like, yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Which is really cool because I've I've wanted to do like a faith-based reproductive education series for years. So I love that God just brought us together for that to align.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

Yeah. And even if it's like that's yet to come. Like I that's still something that's in your future, which I'm excited for my kids to take that. But having you as a little girl in my like I picture you playing with your doctor sets. And like, has it been something you've always known you wanted to do? Or what what happened on this Africa trip that was still a deal?

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Um, so I always wanted to be a doctor. I I do have a picture of me when I'm like four doctoring my brother with my little Fisher Price doctor set. That's what I got in my A. It's a cute picture. Um, and yeah, so I always kind of felt like the black sheep of my family, um, because everybody else is in engineering. Um, but my my parents were big proponents of education and um were very, very encouraging. And so I it was never a question of if I was gonna be actually go to medical school or not. It's just like the same way I knew I was supposed to move to South Dakota. I just knew I was supposed to be a doctor. Um, when I went to medical school, though, I wanted to be a cardiovascular surgeon and to do um open heart surgery. And I had been very blessed to have um some really incredible opportunities when I was in college to actually scrub into some of those surgeries, which is like almost unheard of. And so I went to medical school, finished my first year of med school, and um Andrew and I both are suckers for missions. And so we had gone on um a medical mission trip to the Dominican, and so I also then had um some time between my first and second year of med school. Um, and so I decided that I was gonna go on a mission trip and I had always wanted to go to Africa. And my parents were not as excited about that part. Um, so I told them, I was like, Oh, well, I'm gonna go to Mogadishu. And they're like, you are absolutely not going there. I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna go to Cameroon instead. And they're like, Okay, well, that seems safer. I don't know that it was safer, but like literally the grace of God was just incredible. And so um I was there for six weeks. Um, I met my maid of honor in Africa, even though she's an American, super cool. Um, just amazing how God sets those people up in your life, even if you have to travel halfway around the world for them. And then we lived in a village um in the jungle, and there's, you know, no running water, there's no electricity. We stayed in the, you know, hotel, and um, it was just an incredible experience. Um, we were there to do um snail farming, which yeah, I don't know if you knew that I'm an expert in African giant snails.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

It just happened.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

So we were there for that. But um, but we also worked in the the local like clinic. And so again, there's no electricity, there's no running water, but there's people who still have medical needs. And so the first C-section I actually saw was in Africa, um, with you know, ketamine, which is just a dissociative anesthetic. It doesn't actually like knock you out, it doesn't make you not feel anything, it's just you don't remember it. And so, I mean, some truly just um lack of sterile technique. Um, I mean, there's it's like 110 degrees there before, you know, 8 a.m. There's flies buzzing around. There's not actually lights, there's just a lot of windows. And um this baby was born and they ran out of suture trying to close the mom up. They had to wait for somebody to run to like the next village to go get more suture. And that's baby, baby lived, mom lived, and it was literally the most horrific and awe-inspiring thing I had ever experienced in my life. And at that moment, I was like, oh my gosh, that is way cooler than a beating heart. I'm gonna go do this. So that was that was like very impactful. The other part for me that I think actually stayed with me longer and and really spoke to me was that in Africa, you know, the HIV rate is about 50% and um STDs are off the charts. And really the reason for that is because there's no forms of entertainment. And so if you don't have anything else to do and you don't really know any different, then, you know, you have sex. And so for these young girls, their value and their worth and their society was based on the number of kids that they could have. And after years and years of STDs that were untreated because they don't have access to antibiotics, they don't have access to condoms, they don't have education, you know, they're sterile.

unknown 28:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

At 17, 18, whatever, you know. I mean, it's it's a younger childbearing population. And so they are literally told that they are now useless to their hunter-gatherer society, and they are cast into the jungle and said, We don't want you. We don't need you, you're another mouth to feed.

unknown 28:59

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

And that that stuck with me. Yeah. And how our worth as women specifically is is so valuable and so personal and so beautiful in that purity sphere of how God has made us and created us and the way that he has designed our our bodies for his purpose. And, you know, going back to, you know, the the things that we learn as little girls, that we need we need to know, but nobody tells us. And so I I really wanted to be that person. And then to fast forward, you know, many, many years is after I had kids, I I really had gotten to a place where like I was super, you know, super blessed to have a very, you know, a very busy practice and have two kids and an amazing husband, but I like was not taking care of me. And I like literally had this epiphany that I I I joke, but it's true. It was like I woke up like literally just sitting at the kitchen counter one day. I was like, I realized I was eating so many dinosaur chicken nuggets and I felt awful. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

And so the shape matters.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

The shape does matter. The shape matters. The shape of the chicken. It does when you're you have three year olds. And I was like, I can't, I can't do this anymore. And so I like I have to take care of me. And I kind of went on my own like little health journey of, well, what is this, what does this look like? And it it it was incredible because it was like, I don't, I didn't, even though I'm a physician, I got none of this education in medical school. So like if I don't know this, yeah, as a highly trained, boarded individual, like how does the rest of the world know this? And so I really, I, I took those two kind of dichotomies of life, you know, um, of before kids and then after kids, and I made that my practice now is like that I'm I'm here to empower women in who they are and who God has created them to be, and to have just the the best life because when you know as as women, we are the center of our households. And if we're good, then the family's good. And then if the family's good, like that creates strong communities, and that is for the glory of God.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

This is this is so true. This this speaks to me.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

Preach it. We've preached it.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

Come on.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

We've because we've we've talked about this in our in our marriage too, in that healthy time for you, healthy me time is really important. It helps make my job easier when I'm kind of the big picture and the safety guy and keeping the bad guys out and the and the electricity on and things like that. Those are things that when I can when I can focus on those and focus on the on the things I really care about, I'm good at. And you can run the kind of basically run the rest of the house. That's a beautiful thing. It's just that synergy empowers me. And it makes me want to love you and and do more things for you. But when that when that system starts to break down, it's hard. And it means that I have to get to I get to spend more time now working on that problem.

unknown 32:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

And trying to trying to resolve that.

SPEAKER_03 32:43

What I love is that um I never have been a data person.

unknown 32:47

Excuse me.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

Never needed the data, never wanted the data, but the data makes me a better person. And by having the information and the tools that I need in order to do the things that make me happy or to take time for myself, I never knew how to do that until I started researching and learning and starting being in tune with myself. And from a doctor to a patient, even you calling me with my blood labs just yesterday and said, Hey, got your results. I want to fill you in on some things. And I was like, Oh, trying to relax right now. Do I need to literally? That was my text to her. I was like, um, can this wait till tomorrow? Because I'm relaxing right now. But how interesting that I instantly went to a negative, knowing my background in alcoholism, my lip, just all the things. It can make you a better person. Like I feel like I'm walking taller today, knowing that I have really healthy, awesome organs at a 44-year-old. But if I don't get those test dunns, if I don't get the information that comes from someone super knowledgeable, I walk around differently thinking that there's something wrong that isn't, right? Yes. And so crazy thing.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

And it and then knowing too, like if there is something wrong, like there are there are ways to address it without necessarily going straight to the drugs. Yes. And so there's so many things in our lives that, you know, even from basic things, like and a lot of the things we know, like, okay, well, we need to eat better and we need to exercise and we need more sleep. Like, okay, well, it actually infuriates me when doctors, you know, tell you of like, okay, well, you need to diet and then get more exercise. Like, okay, well, I'm doing X, Y, and Z, and I'm literally so busy. Like, how am I going to do that? And so that's where I come in is like, you know, as a traditionally trained physician, like I I did tons of surgery, um, which I don't now. I write prescriptions, which I try not to do now. But I, there's so many lifestyle things that you can do. And I am the how. Like, okay, well, I need to change my diet, but what, what do I need to do? And how am I going to do that? How am I going to fit in 30 minutes of exercise and 150 minutes a week? Like, yeah. So I'm like, okay, well, let's let's make some goals. Let's figure it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Intentional. That is really what I that's the that's a family doctor, not just um, are we here? Here's a solution. Bye-bye. Good luck. Yes. Let me help you through that. And that is such a powerful thing. That's gonna have a massive impact. I've I've been on the receiving end of that. Told, here, you need to do this. Well, and the coolest okay, I'll make that happen right away. Yeah, I got yeah, I got it.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

The coolest thing about that though is that when you make those changes and you take care of mom and you know, kids watch you. Kids are, I mean, my daughter even asked if she could work out with me this week, and I was like, heck yeah, you can. Let's go lift some weights. Yeah. I tell all my patients they need to lift weights, and I'm trying to take my own advice. So, you know, but your kids watch you, and your kids will change, you know, they eat what you eat. And so if you're eating more salad, then your kids will eat more salad. Will it take some time? Sure will, but is that worth like that battle to save them from depression and anxiety, which can be, you know, nutrition-based, diabetes and high cholesterol and all the things that are plaguing our nation and like the crisis that we're in in healthcare.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

Yeah. Absolutely. Not only just the health physical piece, because you're talking even like again, nutrition into the body, but what the the brain, the heart, and all the things. And it all matters. Like even just how to regulate emotions and all of that. And so going in to the event and and man, September 7th is going to be so powerful. Interviewing the speakers and just the it's not just a like our passion is so big for these young girls and these mamas and grandmas who've never had the education, who've never, who just maybe it's too hard. Because it is hard. It's hard to get like all of that right, like that full tool bag where you're walking around and you're like, life is glorious. Yes, I am nailing it all. You know, like that's not that is hard for so many of us. Yeah. And yet one little thing at a time, right? So in the grand scheme of things, in the mission that you and I have talked about with wanting to speak into the lives of these beautiful young girls, we want to be more proactive and less reactive. And I feel like we're in a very reactive society, especially with medical and our mental health state and all the things. And so I feel like this is a really good attempt, a beginning. And when we talked about it, Lauren, it was like, let's get into the hearts of these young girls so they know where their identity is, so they know how to do things differently and better so that they can um raise their kids and have another line of their, you know, all of their heritage and all their grandkids to come, like setting them up for success. Like, let's all know better so we can do better, right? And so you spoke specifically about young girls in the temple and about their bodies and about you even just how the turp the terminology can be like, oh, she must be on a rag again, you know, or when girl gets her period. And it's like, no, like she has her period. It's beautiful. The fact that God has given us these unique, like we get to make a human being in our body.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

It's so cool.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

It's so cool. And you were talking about like delivering uh babies, like you delivered so many babies, and uh God is such a big God, and we want people to see that, right? Amen. So that's a big reason on why you do what you do and why you're gonna speak into a lot of that. So can you just give the audience a little bit of your your message of to the world?

SPEAKER_00 39:15

Well, I think in in generations past, like it's it is very I don't even know the right word. It's it is demean it's demeaned, you know, like you said, like whether you're you know, you're on the rag or you're it's shame, it's shameful. Yeah. And, you know, or oh, she must be just PMSing again. Or, you know, there's so many things that go into the way that society views women and their hormones. And even in medicine, we have a an emphasis in our training in OBGYN on the OB part, on the having the baby part. And then it's the rest of it that is kind of like, well, you know, that's kind of like just the background. But that like we we want you to have the babies, but then like once you're done with the babies, well, peace and blessings, we don't really know what to do with you. And so sometimes it is helping the moms understand what is going on in their bodies from the, you know, from the beginning. Like, okay, and this is why you have your, this is why you have your period. And this is the actual process of how your your body ovulates, how you make an egg, how you have, you know, all of all of the background parts, how your hormones change in menopause. And then to go back and talk, help them talk to their daughters about like, okay, so this is what's happening to you. This is actually the reason that you have bleeding. This is the reason that you feel more emotional. This is the reason that God gave you these emotions during this particular time of your cycle. Because it it is part of his plan and to use that for his good, for your future husband, for bonding with your kids, for, you know, and so just helping them understand that like our bodies are a temple, but that it was created on purpose. So it's, you know, if he knit us together in our mother's womb, that it encompasses our personality, that encompasses our bodies, that encompasses so many our purpose in life, all the things. And that he I mean, I don't know if anybody, well, I crochet, I can't knit, but you know, it takes time and effort and thought. And, you know, if he's like literally just putting us together piece by piece, then there are no mistakes. And to use that those inclinations and those tendencies and those hormones, you know, they anything can be used for for evil.

SPEAKER_03 42:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

But to try and turn that around and just put that emphasis on good so that we we focus on the good and the beautiful and the worthy. And that's where our mind stays. Yeah. And so I really want to take a an anatomical, physiological, faith-based approach to the why, so that we can understand the how so that we can, you know, you can embrace who who you are as a as a young girl, but also then to transcend that as you get into, you know, women of our age, like that we we are worthy. We are, we are not broken. We're still, you know, maybe we're done having kids, but we are still worthy of being taken care of. And that if we need help, if we need hormones, if we need, you know, whatever it is, like that there's also people out there that are here to listen to you, are here to take care of you, and and in the end to to point you back to the glory of God.

unknown 43:22

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 43:24

It's so good. It's so good. I mean, even just as an adult woman, when you were going through hormones in the group that we're in, I was like, I didn't even know I, I mean, I knew I had them. I didn't know that there had to be like an equal or one more than like I just the things that we don't go research, if we're not given that wisdom by someone or if we're not curious and asking the right questions, we just we go through life with all of these unanswered things.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

Well, and the thing is too, is that even in like the realm of hormones in medicine, like that is an extremely complex situation. And so, unless you are an endocrinologist or a gynecologist that has like a very special interest in this, most people don't get a ton of training in that. And so, again, it's kind of like that lifestyle piece. Like, if if your doctor isn't not, you know, wasn't trained in it, because like I, again, I didn't get any training in medical school. Like, if they if they don't know, like, how are they gonna tell you?

SPEAKER_03 44:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

So you how do you know what you don't know?

SPEAKER_03 44:33

Go and find it, research it, learn about it, listen about it.

SPEAKER_00 44:37

Yeah, and I'm a super nerd, so I love learning. In fact, I love it when my patients ask me questions I don't know the answers to. I was like, you know what? I don't know the answer to that. But let's go, let's go find it. Yeah. Like I will, I will get back to you.

SPEAKER_03 44:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

And I will send you 17 research articles about just cliff notes for me, please, Dr.

SPEAKER_03 44:57

Cliff Cliff Notes.

unknown 44:58

I won't read the whole thing.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

Oh, I have such an appreciation for the love and the joy and all the things that you have from our friendship, but also for the world to get to know you and to hear from you and get little insight into that incredible brain of yours. So thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your heart. Please, please, audience, go and register for the event on September 7th so that you can meet Lauren in person and just get a chance to give her a hug and share your story.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

Yeah. And if anybody wants to know more about hormones or um my practice, it's Brit House B R I T T H A U S dot com.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

And we will put this in the show notes and we'll share it on social. We'll make sure that you have all your information out there because um I've probably sent at least a dozen, if not two, referrals over. Because even if it's just a question they want to ask you, it's not a commitment. They you you're available, and that's the difference in um the way that you doctor. I'm here for you. Yes. Thank you so much, Lauren.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

Yes. Thanks for what you're doing that and how you're changing family trees, you're changing, having a generational impact on our friends, our colleagues, our society. I just I just think that's beautiful. So thank you. Thanks, James. Thank you so much for listening. We want to change lives through this podcast. And if you want to support this podcast or our guests, please see the links below for our Patreon and giving links.

SPEAKER_03 46:34

And like and subscribe, and also share our podcast as much as possible. Thank you.