Angie Colee (00:00):
Welcome to Permission to Kick Ass, the show that gives you a virtual seat at the bar for the real conversations that happen between entrepreneurs. I'm interviewing all kinds of business owners from those just a few years into freelancing to CEOs, helming nine figure companies. If you've ever worried that everyone else just seems to get it and you're missing something or messing things up, this show is for you. I'm your host, Angie Colee, and let's get to it. Hey, and welcome back to Permission to Kick Ass with me today is my new friend, Dr. Salvatore Forcina. Say hi.
Salvatore Forcina (00:38):
Hi. How are you?
Angie Colee (00:40):
I am great on this. We were just talking about, uh, before we started recording that we just missed connections in Orlando, Florida, and it's, uh, beautiful and sunny here. I love it.
Salvatore Forcina (00:49):
Yes, indeed. Here it is. Uh, I'm in, uh, Northern New Jersey. It's sunny, but it is 40, was this morning, 44. So for me it's cold . Oh, goodness.
Angie Colee (00:59):
Yes. That, that's pretty cold for me too, being from South Texas. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about what you do, Dr. Forcina.
Salvatore Forcina (01:06):
Sure. I was born during World War II in Italy, in between Roman Napal and the Scouty. This is an area in which in one side is the mountain, the other side is the ocean. And in between this valley with the Appian way that was built three 12 before Christ, uh, and that day where my town is, and oh wow. What happened was during World War ii, the German were north of that area, and the all alive were south. Mm-hmm. And so the German had planted many mines in that, in that valley. And, uh, and they were suffered. People suffered tremendous casualty, destruction, misery. And so reason why, uh, my wife, my father was a marina at that time from the Italian Navy. He lost his brother. He lost his brother-in-law, and my grandfather, uh, for many, uh, months had disappeared. And the confusion, nobody knew if he was alive or not.
Salvatore Forcina (02:19):
So imagine people having stress, anxiety, misery, hunger, you name it. Mm-hmm. . There was reason why my father in 1947 went to Argentina with a group of workers to the Beco here in, in, in Italy. He was working the ceramic making tiles. And, um, and so he went to Argentina, and then he considered that they, uh, at that time, Argentina didn't have any wars. They were, uh, uh, plenty foot. Uh, it was at the end of the war really at that time. Mm-hmm. , like, there was no type of communication we had today. They were, uh, telephone, radio or whatever. Okay. So I was, uh, yeah. So I, so two years after my mother, me and my brother, I was eight years old in 1949, and my brother was less than two years old who joined my father in Argentina. And we start our life there, uh, you know, to be, to leave your roots, to leave your family mm-hmm. and to go at that time going at the end of the world. Really? Yeah. It was no, there was no easy task beside that, you go to another land in which at that time, the, you know, people were not so open like today with immigration was, uh, so you, you were, you were really at the bottom of the scale, really? Mm. And so that's what, that's was our life.
Angie Colee (03:58):
Oh, wow. That is fascinating. Uh, so what age did you immigrate over there with your, with your family?
Salvatore Forcina (04:06):
I was eight years old. Oh,
Angie Colee (04:07):
Eight years old. Fantastic.
Salvatore Forcina (04:09):
Yeah. So and so, no, you know what happened? My father, he was a worker. Mm-hmm. . And, and so at that time, the Italian family, they were, they have many kids, you know, poverty. And so the kids, they went for one grade, two grades only in school. They didn't have the possibility of study. There was no, no way that they were going to accomplish something like your destiny was, was written before you even born. If you were in that area in some way, your destiny was written before you even were born.
Angie Colee (04:48):
Oh, wow.
Salvatore Forcina (04:48):
And, and another way, and it's sad mm-hmm. , but in another way, there was no way you're going to increase or jump or mm-hmm. be somebody. Yeah. And so that's, my father understood that he, and he, so he has one or two grades, but he had to, as a children, they had to pitch in, help the family to survive. Mm-hmm. , there were difficult time at that time, you know, like today. So, but you know, my father has something that they, he read all his life, and then, and in a simple way, he used to communicate to me, he want for me to study, because the conception or the understanding at that time was if for you to become somebody, you had to study mm-hmm. , you had to have some knowledge and you had to have, before you name, you had to have some sort of, uh, you know, professor, uh, lawyer, teacher, priest, or unit judge, whatever, whatever, uh, doctor, whatever.
Salvatore Forcina (05:58):
So that was his obsession. And so what happened was that then he want for me to study, but at age or 8 years old, I don't think too many kids at that time, they were, they were looking for study to study mm-hmm. , you know. And so the, the situation in some way changed when, um, a group of priests came, uh, to the church not too far away from where my parents live. And those, uh, one day I was talking with one of the priests, and then, and he was showing that they, they have this, um, place school where they have, uh, kids that could play soccer. They, they jump in the river. They were swimming in the river. They were, uh, there was a pony, the ride pony. And so for me, that we didn't have anything for me, for me was, uh, uh, something, uh, uh, very special.
Salvatore Forcina (06:59):
Mm-hmm. . So I asked my father if I could go to the school. So my father saw this opportunity to say, well, of course I can become somebody mm-hmm. . And so I went to the school. So, but, um, I was there for seven years. Seven years. I was 11 years old when I left my parents, and I saw my, there was a boarding school. Mm-hmm. I saw my parents once a year. Oh, wow. Once a so psychological, you know, you had to imagine, uh, a child, 11 years old, separated from the, the mother, uh, was not easy. Was not easy. Mm-hmm. , beside that, the school, there was a lot of discipline. Mm-hmm. , they were run by German priest. There was a lot of discipline. And the main thing is that you had to study and pray mm-hmm. . And then when that, nobody show me that before.
Salvatore Forcina (07:53):
Yeah. So I was looking for the entertainment to have a good time, , but of course I heard this was a, a, a big change. Big change for me. And, uh, I have very difficult time in the beginning, very well done. Yeah. But eventually for curiosity, little by little I start to imitate the other kids. They will start to study and read, and this could I, and I became very and fond of history. Hmm. The whole history. So, and I start to read and this and that, and eventually, you know, so I spent seven years there, and then I started the classics. And, uh, and I, like very much, I learned the classic music. Mm. Open concert, this, uh, so that's what I'm a musician too. That's fascinating. Yeah. That's good. But we can talk about that, because eventually my father-in-law, he was a dean performing arts.
Angie Colee (08:56):
That is amazing. And I heard so many awesome things. I was taking notes as I was listening, and one of the questions I think you might have answered for me, but I wa it was interesting to me that your father was like, no, in order to change your, your lot in life, you know, I want you to be something different. I want you to be somebody you need to study. And I was curious about whether you faced any kind of pushback or peer pressure to, to just do what you were meant to do and not have aspirations beyond where you were born. But then that sounded like when you went to boarding school, the pressure was to study and to get better, so
Salvatore Forcina (09:32):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. But you see what happened at that age, at the early age, I didn't have, first of all, I didn't have any preparation. Mm-hmm. , I don't have any, and there was no introduction. There was nothing. I was just at the mercy, or, or whatever happened. You leave day by day. Yes. And so, and, uh, so the, the really, my parents, uh, mostly my mother, she never knew really the, my suffering, my inside mm-hmm. , the, the thing because, uh, listen, I accomplished something in life, but that for A to B, there was a very tortuous Long road up and down. And there were many, many moments in which I was ready to quit. Yes. In more than one occasion, because, you know, life was, no, nothing was smooth for me. You know,
Angie Colee (10:32):
I think it was interesting to me too, that it sounded like you di you didn't really understand what your dad was saying about studying, but then you saw kind of the, the pretty packaging of the outside of the school, right. The, the playing and the games and the stuff like that. And that's what initially made it attractive to you. And I think that's an interesting parallel to what we see happening so often in business, is like, I see this person over there having fun or traveling or speaking on stages or whatever it is that they're doing that we think is fun. And we don't see, like you said, the suffering that happened behind that to get to that point,
Salvatore Forcina (11:08):
How you reach that mm-hmm. , how you reach that mm-hmm. . Yeah. No, that, that's what happened with me. Mm-hmm. , you see. But, you know, anyhow, so eventually, I, I want to go, when I started in Argentina, eventually I left the school. There I go. Uh, what happened was that when the, when I was with the priest, that the grades were all recognized by the state. So I had to take exam during the summer. You had to take the exam, different exam. And so, and eventually I had to repeat one year because there was not enough time for me to take more exams. And so you see already have another, already, when I went, I, when I, I went to Argentina, I didn't speak Spanish. So what happened was in second grade when I went to, uh, uh, Argentina, they put him in, in no first grade. Inferior. Hmm. It was a grade inferior. So I, I lost another two years there.
Angie Colee (12:12):
Oh, goodness.
Salvatore Forcina (12:14):
just, just to give an idea. So anyhow, so what happened was that then I had to take another exam, and eventually my friends, they were going to university, and my friends, they were all, I was the son of the immigrant at that time. Mm-hmm. very without, you know, immigrant at that time. You, like I say, you're in the bottom of the scale. Okay. So, but my friends, uh, they were, uh, eh, son of the lawyer, doctor, the influential people mm-hmm. and, and so, so they were going to university. So my father will, and they say, what, so what are you going to do now? I said, well, I would like to go to university because my friend are going there. We, you know, and I say, well, my father, me, my mother also said, well, you know, they knew the limitation.
Salvatore Forcina (13:07):
Mm-hmm. And so they say, well, you know, uh, just to give you an idea that psychology at that time, they say, well, you know, son, you go to university, we going to help the best we can. , you know what the university school of medicine was seven years, was seven years. Mm-hmm. studies. So what happened? He say, you know what? You go one year, two year, and eventually, if you cannot proceed, whatever, okay, at least you can tell your friends or whatever. You know what, I had two year, one year university mm-hmm. , you see what I'm saying? The, yeah. The, the psychology at that time, the, the, the happiness is come with a small thing without looking at the long goal to reach the, the, there was no such a thing. You cannot, eh, eh, and for me, there was no such a thing that you had to look beyond mm-hmm. , because you cannot make any plans. You live day by day.
Angie Colee (14:14):
I love that so much. And I think it's such a good message for everyone listening, because especially in today's, you know, kind of workaholic culture, there's always this measuring stick that we seem to be up against, and we always find ourselves falling short. Right. There's the goal over there, and I haven't hit it yet, and here are all the reasons why I suck as a human being, because I haven't hit that goal. But I love what you did because that's, you know, you and your family, they encouraged you to, you know, take it one day at a time, but also celebrate the accomplishments that you have, even if you didn't hit the end goal. Yeah. Yeah. I love that.
Salvatore Forcina (14:51):
Yeah. Because the ambition was limited ambition. Mm-hmm. , we all have ambition. Yeah. But, but somebody want to be a millionaire. Somebody else is just happy to have a small toy. Yes. You know, so the ambition is different, you know? Mm-hmm. ,
Angie Colee (15:11):
I'm glad you said that too, because not everybody wants the same goal, and it's okay to want what you want and be satisfied with what you have. I think that's a fantastic reminder, because I know, especially in the online business world, there's always this pressure to have $10,000 months or a million dollar business, or Sure. You
Salvatore Forcina (15:30):
Know, competition. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Angie Colee (15:32):
. But if you've never thought about what you actually want out of the efforts that you're making, or what you'd be happy with, that's a mistake.
Salvatore Forcina (15:39):
You know, what happened at that time? I was realistic. I was realistic. I, I saw my surrounding, my limitation. For instance, when I went to university, my parents couldn't afford to buy books for me. Mm-hmm.
Salvatore Forcina (15:55):
So now what happened was, we were renting a, a house, typical old Spanish house with several rooms, and we were like a 10, 12 K. Different students were sharing mm-hmm. Sharing the place. So, like I said before, my friends, they were well off, they have money mm-hmm. , and the parents send them money, and they dress Well, you know, was very different than me. But you know what? I never felt envious. I was never, that I, I never felt No, because I, so, but you know what happened? My desire was I want to be like them. Mm. I want to be like them. But, so by order, see this, when my father talk to me, start to open up and start to say, in order for you to be like them, you have to work hard. You have to climb the mountain. I know you don't have the right shoes, the right clothes, the right gloves. Okay. That mountain is very sharp. There are stones there. You know, you're gonna do hurt, but that's life. If you want to accomplish that, you just have to do that. Mm-hmm. . And if you cry, nobody's going to listen to you. Anyhow. ,
Angie Colee (17:17):
I think that's fascinating because there is such a fine line between envy and inspiration mm-hmm. , and I see so many people kind of getting, and it's, it's a, an attractive trap, right. To, they have everything that they need, and it's gonna be so easy for them. And woe is me. But you could also purpose. Right. You can decide to look at those people and what they've got and aspire to be like them and figure out how to bridge that gap between you and them. I think that's brilliant.
Salvatore Forcina (17:47):
So when, when I was, uh, saying to you, is that, so my friend, I study in La Plata, university of La Pla in Argentina, close to Buenos Aires. So what happened on Friday afternoon, my friends, they used to go to Buenos Aires and spend the, the weekend there. They have a good time. Come back Monday, uh, during the day, whatever. Okay. So that was the time when I borrowed their books. Brilliant. I borrowed their books. I locked myself in. I borrowed their books, and, uh, and I studied take note to whatever. So, and that was mm-hmm. , that's the way you had, you start your, you know,
Angie Colee (18:31):
Talk about creative problem solving. I mean,
Salvatore Forcina (18:35):
Well, I didn't have any, I didn't have any, I have the ambition. Mm-hmm. , I want to be somebody, but I don't have the mean Yeah. And the the worst thing, the worst thing for me was I never have a guidance. Nobody guide me. Mm-hmm. , my parents care about me, but then they were, they don't have the knowledge. Yeah. They don't. So, so I had to make a decision by myself. And in doing the decision myself, I didn't have nobody. See here, you go to college and they tell you why you want to be doctor. Okay, you have to take this surgery, the other surgery this, do this, do that. No, I was in my own, my life. I compare my life like going through a tunnel dark tunnel. Hmm. So now this dark tunnel, at the end, there is a tiny, a dim light at the end. At the end. And I say, I reach that the, the end there is a sign, a dead end.
Angie Colee (19:35):
Oh my gosh. .
Salvatore Forcina (19:37):
And so what do you do? Wow. You have to come back and you have to look again for another, another. Yeah. That's mm-hmm. The way I compare my life. So that's why, um, um, I tried to explain to you that the up and down and the, the, the, the, the, the, the future, you don't know. I didn't even know what, what was going to be my future, because everything was uncertain. Mm-hmm.
Angie Colee (20:05):
, you can only make the best decision that you can with the information that you've got right now.
Salvatore Forcina (20:11):
Yeah.
Angie Colee (20:12):
Yeah.
Salvatore Forcina (20:12):
So, but they see what, for the future, for the kids today, at least in this country, in United States, in most of the area, they have the advantage. They can have a coach, they have a teacher, they can have, uh, if they're lucky, they have the parents, they're interested mm-hmm. in them, uh, friends or whatever, communication, you name it.
Angie Colee (20:33):
Yes. You, tremendous advantage.
Salvatore Forcina (20:36):
When we were in the, in the class of histology where they used the microscope to look at, there was a one microscope for 15, 20 students. Wow. And here the difference here, you have one student with microscope mm-hmm. . All right. So, and, and at that time, I remember you could not sit down and look at the specimen. No. They, you are standing up, bending over, and somebody else is pushing you because somebody . Wow. That's the way. Listen, it is sad. Mm-hmm. , it's sad. But, but that's the way we, uh, at least for me, the way I had to study. And then, yeah. And, and so that's why, eh, at the end, when you accomplish something and you go, that's why I wrote the book. Mm-hmm. , because, because what happened? All those memory, all the thing maybe can be something good for somebody else. Absolutely. I don't want to be selfish. Mm-hmm. , I want to give something back. Mm-hmm.
Angie Colee (21:38):
, I'm so glad, I'm so glad that you were sharing your story. Uh, and obviously, I mean, spoiler alert, I introduced you as doctor, so we made it through medical school. Do you wanna tell us a little bit more about your specialty and
Salvatore Forcina (21:51):
Well, well, I'm a surgeon. What led
Angie Colee (21:52):
Up to the book? Mm-hmm.
Salvatore Forcina (21:53):
. Yeah. Awesome. Uh, after seven year medical school, I, well, I had to tell you something. That day after I finished, I, I finished medical school. I went to Italy work. I want to specialize in Italy. Mm-hmm. , because in Argentina, and they had a possibility. So I went there and I had to wait to take exams. And then, but I saw the environment was no different, Argentina. And the future was, I didn't see any future there. So while I was there during the summertime on the beach, I find some distant relative of mine saw me, knew about what? About me. And he suggested for me to come to United States. So what happened, I have family here, a cousin, an uncle and aunt. And so I wrote to them and they invited me to come here. I came here, of course, for me, this was, uh, I said, wow, uh, uh, I end up in heaven because they were, uh, a compared what I have seen before mm-hmm. . But now another surprise. First of all, I didn't speak English. Mm. I was 28 years old and I didn't speak English.
Angie Colee (23:12):
Mm.
Salvatore Forcina (23:13):
My degree was not recognized in this country.
Angie Colee (23:17):
Oh, wow.
Salvatore Forcina (23:19):
And I never saw multi, I was 28 years old, and I saw, I never saw multiple choice in my life.
Angie Colee (23:25):
. Oh my goodness.
Salvatore Forcina (23:27):
And I had to take this tremendous exam mm-hmm. that when you, if you pass that exam, you are allowed not to practice, excuse me, not to practice, but to apply to a special, uh, program at the hospital to specialize. Uh, I choose, uh, surgery and specialize for five years. I, I don't have to tell you what I had to go through to pass those exam. The nightmare I have still today, still today, honestly, sometime I have nightmare because that mountain, I was a grain of salt. And that mountain was tall. Mm-hmm. a mile high. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So anyhow, so anyhow, eventually I, I passed, I applied to the, to the hospital. And so what happened? Now, I go to you talking about musician. I'm going to tell you about my future father-in-law. Yes. Alright. So what happened was, I came back from Argentina because my brother got married.
Salvatore Forcina (24:40):
Mm-hmm. , meantime, we were switching, we were working with different teams mm-hmm. in groups for doctors, the different specialty, and end up with this data that have operated my father, what will be my future father-in-law. Mm-hmm. Clemente Petrillo. Alright. Okay. And like I said before, he was the dean, the college performing art in Philadelphia. And, uh, he was a concert pianist. Classic. And so what happened, they, I was in the operator room, whatever, and there was a note there. They had to go to the floor, surgical floor to see this patient. I went to see this patient, and I remember him well. He was, uh, uh, sitting the bedside. He was pale. He scared big eyes, and the arm were black and blue swollen because, uh, he couldn't, he had end up with complications after the surgeries, and he couldn't eat. He had tubes all over.
Salvatore Forcina (25:39):
And so what happened was that they, they couldn't start intravenous mm-hmm. fluid. So what happened, I went there and I introduced myself and I with Italian name. He had, we start to speak Italian. I happened that he was, during the war, was in Italy, in the American Army. And he was in charge of building La Milan, the opera house. Mm-hmm. big place. Wow. So that's why he was friend of Toscanini. They were friend of Toscanini. And so what happened was that we, we talk and we talk about music and this and that. And so he suddenly, he felt very relaxed. And so he say, okay, doctor, are you going to start the iv? So without realizing, I was lucky enough, the destiny, I would imagine no. Mm-hmm. , because I guess I had to marry the daughter, his daughter. So we had with was that the, I was able to get a, a vein, and he didn't even realize that.
Salvatore Forcina (26:38):
Oh, wow. So from that day on, after God, I was second in command, you know? Know mm-hmm. . And so what happened when he got better? When he got better, he, uh, he, uh, they was invited to a special concert private place where it was Philipp and Tramon. Not just Sonenberg, no musicians. And so, and so, he called me and he say, if I didn't mind to join the daughter to represent him and the wife to this place. So of course, me coming from nowhere, and I went to, in this place, Philadelphia, that was like a Versailles for me, you know, . I was, uh, I was, uh, so that's, uh, our relationship started. And when she end up getting married,
Angie Colee (27:25):
Oh, that is such a beautiful story. , I love it for so many reasons. Not the least of which is just following the path where it leads and doing the best that we can with what we've got. Exactly. Like we talked about before, um, I feel like there is so much pressure in today's society to have all of the steps mapped out. I gotta, I gotta get the career by this age. I gotta get the house by this age. I gotta get married by this age. And then we like beat ourselves up. If none of that happens on the timeline machine. The machine. Yeah. But, you know, just by following the steps and doing the best with what you could, and I loved, I wrote down and circled connecting as a human. Right. Because it could be easy as a doctor to go in and be like, this is what I need you to do. Here's the very clinical step-by-step way. But you made him feel relaxed. You made him feel connected. And not only did that help you serve him better and help him with his healing journey, , it helped you meet your partner. Yeah.
Salvatore Forcina (28:21):
No, no, no. He's, uh, no, he, he trusted me. So now going back to the, uh, uh, I started as a general surgeon. Mm-hmm. , and I did trauma, and I did vascular, peripheral vascular bypass, . And then, and the last 15 years of my career, I worked with, I, my career was more than 40 years. Mm-hmm. , I was practicing, uh, doing surgery. I end up being the chief of surgery in two hospital in New Jersey.
Angie Colee (28:51):
Oh, wow.
Salvatore Forcina (28:51):
Two hospital. And, um, and I, at the last 15 year of my, I did mostly advanced laparoscopy, uh, doing surgery through small hall mm-hmm. with the special instrument. And you had a video and then, uh, specialize in that,
Angie Colee (29:13):
That, I mean, what a life . That's
Salvatore Forcina (29:16):
Fascinating. Well, it was not easy. It was noisy. Yeah. Beside that. Now, lemme tell you, when I finish my training, everybody was telling me, sir, what are you going to practice? You have to go to Midwest or whatever, some place more rural. I said, but my wife will not follow me. So, you know, so we end up in northern New Jersey, like a 10 mile from Columbia University. Oh, wow. Okay. So my attending, one of the attendees said, sir, you're gonna start, who is gonna come to you? This and that. You know what? He was wrong. Mm-hmm. , it took time. It took time. You know, what happened was they, I, I start, I applied to the hospital and I, but nobody knew, knew me. Nobody knew me. So you're nobody. So what happened was, I was sitting in the hospital waiting and this and that, talking about up and down, up and down, you know?
Salvatore Forcina (30:20):
Mm-hmm. , you're a human being too. Yeah. 'cause you look at your past and you say, when is going to start? When I'm going to have an end to this mystery? Yes. You know what I'm saying? So, oh yeah. Like I said, nothing came easy, you know? Mm-hmm. . So, but my lack was that one day the chief of surgery need help mm-hmm. in the room. So I, uh, so I went to help him with the surgery. And I guess he saw something on me that, uh, he was impressed. And for that day on his office, used to call my office very often. And I start to, so, and now what happened was that when he was away, I used to cover him. I used to cover him with his patient. But of course, I'm going to tell just an example of what happened.
Salvatore Forcina (31:20):
So one day, uh, his office called my office, uh, they want for me to see the, this patient. So I went to see this patient and this gentleman, he was very sick. He have a infected gallbladder. Mm-hmm. , he was some fever, pain. So I examined, explained everything to him. And you know, what happened? It didn't take too long for me to recognize that the, between him and me, there was a barrier. There was a war. Hmm. There was a war. I can, uh, yeah. He, you know, it is nature. Mm-hmm. , it's nature. This guy, young daughter with an accent. Who the hell is he is going. Mm-hmm. He's going to open me. That's my life. Whatever. You know, you. So anyhow, so I said, well, listen, think about that. Okay doctor, I'm going to talk to my family, whatever can, so I was worried about him because you know, the topic, we end up getting green leg, got bladder infection, the pass going through the circulation, and thetic shock, you name it.
Salvatore Forcina (32:28):
Mm-hmm. , you have big problem. The followed money. Early before I went to the , the first thing I went, I went to the floor to see him. And to my surprise, the, he said, Dr. For this is my wife, this is my daughter. And I said, when are we gonna do the surgery? I said, wow. Gee, what, what happened from yesterday? Today something happened. Uhhuh, . I went to the head nurse, Joanna. I said, oh, Dr. For, you know, since you left yesterday, he didn't do nothing else. Anybody was walking into a room when the Corona, he was asking about you. Of course I had the, uh, uh, I have good reputation by that time already. Mm-hmm. , you know, because they care. I was rendering and with what happened when the nurse called me, I was available. And if I had to go in middle of the night, I, uh, because, you know, part of the, first of all, part of the way that I was responsible mm-hmm. , they were the priest. I, they gave me, put into me that the, the responsibility. You know? And so, and I continued all my life that they had to be on time and responsible. Yeah. Respectful. Anyhow, so, and then so, and end up doing the surgery, and then he did well and all. And so that's the, the way things started.
Angie Colee (33:55):
I
Salvatore Forcina (33:56):
Love that. But you see, there was, uh, there was all the time, there was, uh, nothing was smooth. Yeah. That road, that road that was walking, it was smooth. There was a lot of mm-hmm. , twisting and bending up and down.
Angie Colee (34:10):
Yeah. And you just have to make the best of what you've got. Yeah. This is all fascinating and I am so grateful that you're here sharing this. So tell me a little bit about the book and what led you to writing that.
Salvatore Forcina (34:23):
Yeah. Well, the books, you know, what happened was that when I was younger, we were with my wife and we start to, uh, start practice. We were invited to different play dealer, different events or whatever. And then, and so I met different doctors, different politician, the lawyer you name mm-hmm. . And so some of them, they were curious about me because they had heard a little bit about the thing that I'm telling you how it happened, that you came to this country, you still have an accent and you're a chief of surgery or whatever. How did, so, so there were more than one person saying, wow, that 14 when you have accomplished in, in, is tremendous. Mm-hmm. , you should write down, uh, you should write down this.
Salvatore Forcina (35:16):
But, you know, I never, it never occurred to me because of writing. I'm not write or whatever, writing down whatever. I was so big trying to make a living, you know? Mm-hmm. , it never occurred to me. But eventually, when my granddaughter was born, and so, and I retired, I retired in, I live in Florida. And then, so what happened? I start to think about, and I start to start to write, and with a memory, when, when I was a child with my father used to talk to me and this and that, you know. And so came to my mind. I say, you know, I'm not, right now, I'm 82 years old. Mm-hmm. . Okay. And, uh, my, my granddaughter is going to be in May next month, eight years old.
Angie Colee (36:09):
Oh, wow.
Salvatore Forcina (36:10):
When, when she is going to be a teenager, and, you know, there are difficult years mm-hmm. because to make a decision, sometimes the right and the wrong, whatever. And sometimes, you know, make a decision that can affect for the rest of your life. Yeah. So I wish I wrote this book dedicated to her, because perhaps in the moment of despair and the moment there were the, she perhaps reads some pages of this book, because this book is all, uh, the desire to accomplish something in life. Mm-hmm. and not abandon user perha. Perhaps maybe I can prevent or guide her. I didn't have a guidance, maybe. Yeah. I can be the guide for her to make a better decision.
Angie Colee (37:10):
I love that perspective too, because I feel like it, it's kind of what we talked about earlier. So many people would want to write a book, but look at this big mountain in front of them and all of the obstacles and go, that's really too hard. And instead, you chose to focus on, well, but what if I could do something really great for this person that I care about, and I could have a positive impact on her? Did that make the mountain any less big? Probably not. But it made it easier to climb, I imagine. Yeah,
Salvatore Forcina (37:37):
Yeah, yeah. You take a deep breath and you try one more step. Mm-hmm.
Angie Colee (37:43):
. So what's the title of the book?
Salvatore Forcina (37:47):
The American Doctor? And lemme tell you how the American doctor came about. Okay. Okay. First of all, in the All, eh, during my father youth mm-hmm. the beginning 1900 in the small town, he, like I say before in very teacher, professor, a priest or whatever. Okay. And you, in the summertime, people, there were no air conditioning. People used to walk in the street. And so what happened, uh, the, the, like the old Italian movie, you see the influential people, they're walking straight and the people, the, the, the farmer or whatever, okay. They remove the hat. Mm-hmm. , they have a respect professor, you know, there's that. Yeah. So that's already the, to be a, a professional was some very important number one. Now I happen that my father died when he was 99 and a half. Mm. And my mother died when she was 95, because she got a stroke.
Salvatore Forcina (39:03):
Oh. What happened was notified, I used to see my parents every year I used to go to Italy with my family all alone. So when my mother had a stroke and she was in the hospital, uh, I suffer a lot. I suffer a lot because the way the social life system there, first of all, they put her in a room with another lady, had pneumonia, was coughing back. Oh goodness. Okay. Alright. So now they were, I don't have to tell you, there were no screen in the window. Flies. I, and this is, uh, 150 kilometers south of Rome. I'm not talking about the middle of Sara there, all right? Mm-hmm. , sohow. So now, one day, one day, I used to go early in the morning and in the afternoon and after I had lunch with my father, one afternoon I went there already I was, came back.
Salvatore Forcina (40:01):
There was no parking because everybody park, there was no expensive parking space was a disaster. You park as you want. Sometime they even block the ambulance, you know, just to give you an idea, the organization. So really, I was, uh, up to here. I go there and my poor mother was paralyzed one side. Mm-hmm. The intravenous was infiltrated. I mean, it was, the arm was all swollen up and the sheet was so wet. Oh. So I shut off that and I called the nurse, said, yeah, we'll take, we'll take care. So now what happened? We'll, take care. I'm anxious and I'm used to the American care. Mm-hmm. , you know, I'm trained for that, you know, and see this with my own mother, you know, put yourself in my situation, alright? Mm-hmm. . So I, I did, wait, wait. So I fix Yeah, the IV flash, whatever.
Salvatore Forcina (41:04):
Okay. And when the nurse came, who did that? Who did that? She stopped arguing with me. Well, well, you know what? We tell he, she yelled and I yelled, double . Because, because what happened over there, you see, they feel intimidated because I feel if you argue with a nurse, they're going to, the patient is going, they're, you know, on the software. Mm-hmm. . So anyhow, so, so eventually she left, and after a while the doctor came and he find out, he apologized. Mm-hmm. . And so from that day on, when they saw me, they used to say, Americano, the American doctor. . That's awesome. . They, they, they, whatever they, they, they knew that they, you know, I was, I was, I was not going to take, just because that's the system over there. I mm-hmm. . It's so sad. At that time, I don't know.
Salvatore Forcina (42:12):
Now, at that time, they were paying family. They were there sitting there all day to wait for somebody to give news about the, the, the, the carol or the pron or the, uh, grandmother or the mother or whatever. So sad mm-hmm. . So anyhow, so I was like a devil, like a hell mm-hmm. . So they, they, they knew me right away because I mean, , you know, listen, I, I have my ground, I have the, I knew what I was talking about. Yeah. And then as a matter of fact, my mother, the poor care, she end up with the cubitus, the cubital ulcer. Mm-hmm. put a pressure ulcer in the back, in the feet in the gluteal area. So now what happened? They didn't have a special mattress. I had to call my wife. My wife had to send the special mattress. Oh, wow.
Salvatore Forcina (43:07):
Had to send equipment and had to send instrument mm-hmm. Sister and, uh, forceps. Yeah. So the, the, so what happened was that the, uh, the lady took care of my mother was an Albanian lady, Linda, wonderful person that took good care of my pants. So when, when my mother was discharged, eventually she had all this gang. I, we, we did, I show Linda how to do the debridement to remove all the dead tissue mm-hmm. . And within a few months, she did such a wonderful job that everything heal, healed completely. But you see the care is that the person is paralyzed. If you live for hour in one position, that tissue's going to die. Yeah. So you have to be rotated. Mm-hmm. But that's the required care, and the care is not there. Mm-hmm. . Oh man. And so, so all that, all that put together, I mean, those days that I remember were hell for me, were hell mm-hmm. because, uh, I, I, I was in another, I was, I would say I was in another country, but really was my country, but I was not the citizen there. So, and uh, uh, and the system is different. And the whatever tolerated, I couldn't tolerate it because I, you know, and so I, I, I was in hell. I went through hell
Angie Colee (44:40):
Yeah. Oh man, this is, wow. What an incredible life. And I can't tell you how grateful I am that you shared all of this with me. I didn't know what to expect going into it. But I want more stories like this. For sure.
Salvatore Forcina (44:54):
Thank you.
Angie Colee (44:55):
Thank you so much for being on the show. Do you have a website or anything where people can learn more about you?
Salvatore Forcina (45:01):
Yeah. Uh, you, you can go to, uh, iowa.com.
Angie Colee (45:07):
I'll make sure that they have a link in the show notes so that they can click on it easily. Thank you again for being on the show, for sharing such an incredible story.
Salvatore Forcina (45:15):
It was a pleasure. I enjoy it. I enjoy it.
Angie Colee (45:20):
That's all. For now. If you wanna keep that Kick Ass energy high, please take a minute to share this episode with someone that might need a high octane dose of You can do it. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to the Permission to Kick Ass podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you stream your podcast. I'm your host, Angie Colee, and I'm here rooting for you. Thanks for listening. And let's go Kick Ass some.