Initialize sequence coming to you live from Houston, Texas, home to the world's largest medical center in the Bunch of Bays. Every day when lead or Rocke Cottie, this is your Health First, the most beneficial health program on radio with doctor Joe Galotti. During the next hour, you'll learn about health, wellness and the provention of disease. Now here's your host, doctor Joe Bellotti. Well, it is Sunday evening again in Houston, Texas or wherever you
are tuning in. I'm doctor Joe Galotti and you're tuned into your Health First every Sunday between seven and eight pm. Just a saint. We want you to be tuned in and our you might say, it's a brand promise. We're going to provide you with the health and wellness education that you need to stay healthy. It is that simple. We try to get a wide range of views and topics, interesting people that come on the program, and it is all to make your health better and prevent chronic disease. That is it.
That's our mission. Now to follow along with us our website doctor Joe Galotti dot com, Doctor Joe Galotti dot com. When you get to the website, so on for our newsletter. All of our social media links are there. If you have any questions about liver disease, which is what we do when we're not on the radio. The Texasliver dot com our practice liver specialists of Texas. There if you have any liver digestive disorders, sorosis,
appatitis, fatty liver. It's a big thing in the news we've been talking about. But it's all there, doctor Joegalotti dot com. Now the you know, I was driving here tonight and I said, okay, we like to give away some books. And by the way, if you are somebody that we did a contest a few weeks ago, I will admit I have not forgotten about you. I've been traveling. I'm still trying to recover from the safari I was on. But anyway, there are two or three people
that I owe books. So if you're listening tonight and you say, wait a second, he's offering more books. I didn't even get my book hang on tomorrow morning. I have a list of books that have to go out in the mail, signed, et cetera. But what I want to do this time. First of all, if you want a copy of my book Eating yourself sick. The website not the website. The email is radio at doctor Joegalotti dot com. Radio at doctor Joe Galotti dot com. That is
the email that gets to me directly what you need to do. We're going to have to make you work for it. I want you to state in the email, keep it brief. I don't need a full essay. Then what I want to see, and of course I get to make the decision. The number one thing you are doing to maintain your own health, that's all I want to do. So you have to do something, and I hope you're not making it up, but the number one thing you and your
family are doing to maintain your own good health. I want to see what you are doing and try to reward do it. So it's radio at doctor Joe Glotti dot com. All right, So on the program tonight, we're going to pick up on what I was chatting about last week, the bagel, so stay tuned for that. We have one guest coming on the second half of the program, Michael Varrier. And for full disclosure, Mike is my nephew. It is my sister's son. And Mike is interesting in that
the young guy married three beautiful children. But he is very well adapted in the kitchen. He cooks, he experiments with food. He is not afraid to push the envelope on some of the things he does. And for me, I just do not see that in the thirty to forty year old parent group, the guys that are out there, the women, and I interview people all day long. Every day I meet twenty new people and we have this conversation about food and who does the cooking and what is your scope of
food? Do you just eat boiled chicken every night? And steamed broccoli? That is the level of excitement of cooking, because it gets very boring, and people get bored with food and they eat out and order in and and and it. You know, you know what we're facing the obesity crisis and chronic disease and cancer. But Michael is enthusiastically trying new things in the kitchen.
It is reflecting on his children. And these are young kids that he is passively training and teaching and modeling in his and he and his wife in the role as a parent and guardian in a sense, all right, what I want to do. We may have to pick this up in the next segment. We talked about the better bagel last week, and I tried to compare this better bagel, which is basically a frozen bagel that you could get at Whole Food or Central Market or any of the retail change around the country.
But do we really need a better bagel, A dietetic bagel, A bagel that is lower in carbs, it's lower in carbohydrates, it's higher in fiber. And I look at that, and you may say you're being a little ridiculous, Joe, But I think we have to draw the line to say, do we need a better candy bar? Do we need a better hamburger, a better soft drink, a better sandwich, a better egg.
And when you look at the obesity crisis, it was not started and it will not be fixed by a better bagel, less calories, less carbohydrates. If we outlawed the bagel today, there would be, my opinion, no change in the rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, findly, liver, cirrhosis, cancer, all of these chronic diseases that we see. But the real issue here is here we are the victim of some amazing advertising schemes where they make you think a regular off the shelf bagel. It's bad,
the worst food ever to eat. You need a better bagel. So we'll talk about net carbs and a few other things in a little bit more detail. I'm doctor Joe Glotti. Stay tuned. We will be right back. The name of the show is Your Health First, every Sunday between seven and eight pm. Don't forget our website Doctor Joegalotti dot com, Doctor Jogalotti dot com. And as I was saying a little earlier in the program, and I'm laughing at this song, and I'll tell you why in a second.
But on the phone is my sister Celeste Galotti. How are you, Celest? I mean this song is from the seventies. It reminds me, I know, it reminds me of you know, hanging out in the backyard with you and all the kids in the neighborhood hanging out. I know, me and my good friend Regina. We would listen to it in the bedroom and blast it in the back bedroom and mom and dad would tell us the lower it I know, I know. Well, thank you and for those that
are listening. Celeste is a nurse. She has been on the program many times over the years commenting on motherhood, grandmotherhood, food nutrition. She has been in a wide range of disciplines within nursing, including hospice and palliative care, home health nursing, but tonight she is here as a patient. She recently had a hip replacement, and I believe that Celeste's story is one that is very relatable to people that are listening tonight. So Celest, thanks for
coming on, and it's always great to have you here. So tell us in a sense, your surgery journey, your orthopedic issues, and how this all sort of started. Yeah, well, way back when when I was younger. I'm in full disclosure, I'm sixty three. So when I was younger, in my twenties and thirties and forties, I ran. I worked out a lot, did a lot of exercise, but my main focus was
running, not long distances. I would do a of a half marathon every once in a while, but mostly five k's, ten k's things like that. My family was a bunch of runners, So when I ran, I would run with a partner and he would say, you're running very heavier, hitting hard on the pavement. You know, you gotta go lighter, And I would try but I think all of those years of just pounding my joints
did a number on me. So about five years ago, five six years ago, I did have a knee replacement, a total right knee replacement due to just bone moss and loss of the gel around the bones, and I was bone on bone and that I rehab swimmingly. I did very well from that. But at that time, five six years ago, we saw my x rays that my hip was a little bit deteriorating and we said just keep an eye on it. So over the past six months or so, I
just had a really bad pain nesasturbation where it was extremely painful. I was walking with a cane which was not met went to the orcipe and at that point I stopped doing all exercise that I was doing. And you know, the orthopeda said, all right, you're you're due for a hip replacement. We can't off anymore. Even though you're sixty three so considered fairly young. Let's do it because your quality of life is not where you want it to be sure. So it didn't take me much to accept that and say,
okay, let's go ahead and schedule it. So I did have the hip replacement, a total right hip replacement on June third, and yeah, I'm almost a month post up. Wow, but very glad I did it. Yeah, now after the fact, you know, because I remember calling you and in addition to asking about the kids and work and the usual family type things, pain, you know, how do you feel the pain? Question would come around, and as time went on, your attitude towards the pain
was definitely getting worse. I'm sick and tired of talking about it. This really is terrible, this sucks, and which is not you ninety nine percent of the time. And I could see sort of before my eyes that you really were were becoming quite disabled. Now for everybody listening tonight, they may be able to relate to this. If it's not a hip problem, it's a me it's a shoulder, it's back, it's some other sort of spinal
or pain syndrome. But a lot of people have this sense that once they hit sixty, once they hit fifty, they start falling apart, and it's almost as if they're accepting of it. What's your take on that, celest You know, I could understand that in a way because I never had that train of thought. I always said I'm going to live through a ripe old age like our mom and dad did, and so I never had that.
But once I got this chronic pain that I was experiencing for a couple of months, I kind of had that attitude where I'm like, all right, this is it. Like I'm sixty three, it's all downhill from here. There's nothing I could do. And I think because of the pain, it just put me into a different mindset. It was all I could think about. And not only was I having pain in the ship, I was not happy in my shoulders everything. I think I told you everything was just hurting
me. And they think it was just this excruciating, you know, pain and thought process, and then you start thinking negatively, and I think it happens to a lot of people, and I think I said to you that people who live in chronic pain, my heart really goes out to them as a nerve. I've dealt with a lot of patients who do have chronic pain.
Some issues can be fixed, some cannot, and it's a terrible thing to live with because it's not just the pain, the physical pain, but it really does affect your mental status, which is as bad as the physical pain. And I think at that point the pain is let's put it this way, the cause of the pain itself is not life threatening, right, People don't die of an arthritic hip in the true sense. It's almost as if you lose you're losing your mind and your common sense, and you go
into a depression and then you really do start falling apart. What do you say to that. I agree with that now that I've experienced it, And you've heard so many people who have said, I've gone to the doctor. I've gone to this doctor. That's actor nobody can figure out where my pain is coming from. This one doctor told me it's all in my head, and I could kind of see how sometimes it's like, I don't know where all this pain is coming from, because for me, it was my hip.
My hip was the main source of pain. That I was starting to feel pain all over my body. Was it that that psycho response, you know, was that the response that my mind had towards the pain, because quite honestly, after I had the hip replaced, and you know, I had the typical postop pain, everything else seemed to kind of clear away. I didn't have the pain and my shoulders, like I was having Prior to I didn't have the pain in my other knee that I was feeling. So
it really it plays on every aspect of your health. You know, you think, yeah, and you think of it if so in your particular case or somebody like you, you have pain, the pain is impacting your psyche more than your thought. Plus you've got this physical ailment that your your legs aren't moving right and you can't exercise. But just think of the sequence of events. This is a true domino effect. To the point where you have
pain, physically cannot move, you're not exercising. That sets up weight gain. Weight gain is going to make your orthopedic problem worse. You get overweight, you get depressed, you have chronic pain, you get depressed, you have bad thoughts about yourself, You're difficult to live with, you don't have any motivation to go outside. And it is just this spiral quicksand that people
get into. And I think, to your point, it is so sad to see how many people are living like this, and it is beyond devastating, it really is. I mean, I was to the point where I did I definitely gained some weight because I wasn't exercising, and I wasn't doing a lot, so I found my I didn't really overeat, but I guess I must have. You know, I wasn't eating a lot of junk, but I guess maybe I was, because I'm definitely heavier now because of it.
But that puts you into a negative spin. You know. It's just everything, everything you know, plays into that. So for me, at least, there was kind of an answer. You know, I had the hips on. I feel much better now. I'm still in recovery, but I think my mental status has gotten better now because I'm thinking, all right, well this is good. I'm moving more. I was able to walk
a mile the other day. You know, I'm I'm planning towards going to outpatient physical therapy and going back to the gym and my daughter, well I live with, you know, just put a pool and then I'm going to start once I could get into the water, I'm going to start doing water therapy. So I have these positive thoughts and my future goal and that helps. All right, that's less. We're going to We're going to take a quick break here. I'm on with Celeste Galotti, my sister, playing another
song from our childhood. All right, stay tuned. We're right back to Joe. Glad of your out first, We'll be back again raising your Health IQ, one listener at a time. This is your health first. I'm doctor Joe Galotti. Doctor Joegalotti dot com. Is our website and you could do lots of things when you get there, send me a message, signer frown newsletter. All of our social media is there old broadcasts, So doctor
Joegalotti dot com. And I've been on the phone here with my dear sister Celeste Galotti telling us about her hip surgery, her pain, and her plan for recovery. Now, I truly believe that what we were just talking about, the pain is an invaluable part of our own health and wellness. And so while we don't want people to get addicted on powerful full pain medications and narcotics and then that destroys their life, Uh, the acceptance of tolerating pain
should be something that we don't just simply tolerate. Now, what would you say if you were going for the surgery and there was some uh, some light at the end of the tunnel, what do you think you would have done? Well? I think in my case, in particular, I needed the surgery. You know, X rays are black and white. You know, it's like your bonus. They are black and white, by the way, exactly so, So I think that a lot of people out there are
afraid. You know, in my practice of nursing a lot of people, I don't want to have surgery. I'm afraid I'm ever going to come out of anesthesia. I don't want to have, you know, put myself into that. But I think the surgical procedure right now in orthopedics have come a long way. You know, when you think of what happened. They removed my socket, you know, they've removed my hip, put a new one in, and brand new titanium rod in and a new ball joint in two
hours. I was in the recovery room within two hours, and up and walking within you know, four hours. So it's scary. It's absolutely scary to go through any kind of surgical procedure, but it is well worth it because I think paying the price of being in chronic pain versus being a little scared going for surgery, having this done, it is by far the best thing I could have done, you know. So I think anyone who you know has the option, or they know that my hip is killing me,
my knee is killing me, my shoulders killing me. I don't know what to do. Go see an orthopedis yeah and it I have always been and I'm sure and yeah, not that I'm sure you've said it. Getting a second opinion. You have to be comfortable with the people that you are in trusting a your life be your recovery to and so depending on where you live in the country, big city, small city, intermediate city, sometimes you just have to get in the car and drive a little out of your comfort
zone to get that right person to do the procedure. I mean I did that so right now. Currently I'm living in kind of upstate New York. I'm about almost two hours outside of Manhattan. But my doctor was in the hospital for special surgery, which is big orthopedic hospital here in the city, and I said, that's it. I'm going there because he was the best and became highly recommended, and I wanted to put my life in somebody's hands
who I trusted, so I did opt. I could have gone locally or local hospital, very good hospital up here, but it's only ten minutes from my house. I just didn't have the confidence in my hospital up here, very good hospital, but I just didn't feel like I want to put my life in their hands, so I went down to Manhattan. So I think everybody has to make their own decisions, but I feel it's best if you do your research and find the doctors that are doing the surgeries day and day
out with your eyes clothes. Absolutely, So, how is your so at in your sixties here and there's so many people listening to the program tonight that are in their sixties. What's your level of motivation or people say I'm motivated. Okay, you have to be motivated for something. Is it just being able to be out of pain? Do you have future aspirations for yourself?
And I believe that's where people have to have their head, be motivated to work hard at something so that at the end of it all, there's that sort of pot of gold for you. So tell us about that. Yeah, well, I think now that I'm on the other side of the sense, I'm not as much pain. I'm not having so a little bit of pain. I'm not going to stampaine free, but it's so much better than
where I was prior to surgery. So I do have goals back in the day when I was younger and you know, had a lot of energy and all of that. You don't have energy. Now I'm getting there. I got to get it back. And that's the whole thing. I don't want to say, sixty three I don't have any energy. We could have energy. I see energetic eighty ninety year old people. So that's a BS excuse to states of the energy. You make yourself have it. But I'm getting
it back. So back in the day, I would set goals to either run races or do some kind of an event, and I'd say, all right, September sixth, this is I'm doing this ten K. I got to prepare for that. So I said to myself that worked in my past. I had kind of given up on that. Over the past six seven years, I really haven't really participated in any kind of sporting events of any
kind. So I just saw on Facebook the other day there was a twenty mile hyph nothing really too intense, but it's it's through up upstate here where I live. And I said, you know, Darna, I'm going to sign up for that and I'm going to do it. And it's true. It's it's October. Oh, so you've got time. Potentially, I have plenty of time, so that's no excuse. So that in my head I said, all right, I got to get myself into shape for that.
So what I'm trying to do is really do what my physical therapist is telling me. They're awesome physical therapists. They don't get enough accolades. I think the ones that I've had are outstanding. I'm sure in your hospital you have some great ones too, but they have motivated me to say you can do this. We want you out there walking a mile, two miles, three miles. We want you to go back to the gym. So they've set up some goals for me to you know, work through. They gave me
some exercise to do, and the key is doing it. I remember when I was a home care nurse. I would say to my patient to it. It's some orthopedic surgeries, your home exercise program that physical therapist gave you. Ah, I was too tired, I didn't want to do it. I didn't feel like doing it. And those are the patients that didn't do well. So I think it's falling through on the people who know what the heck they're talking about so doing that, and just I try to flip my
mindset to say, my life isn't over. I have seven grandchildren that I want to be on the floor plane with again pretty soon. I have a life that I want to live. There are things that I want to do, and that's just it. And I just have to try to put the negative thoughts out of my mind. And you know, just put thin positive. Easier said than done, Easier said than done. It's not so simplistic, but I think you have to start with small steps and give yourself a
goal. Sure, and as we've talked about on the radio before, we've talked together over the years, you could look at a healthy fifty year old or a healthy eighty year old. There are certain personality characteristics of that person that they are planning vacations, they are planning activities. They play tennis, they they're in a walking group, they play golf, They get together with
their friends and cook and eat together. And so your recovery, even though you've been side railed a little bit, you have to and again for everybody listening, that is what I hope. The value of the show is to inspire. You bring people like you, celest onto the air that you have to set goals. Realize there are mountains you have to get over, but you could do it. Find a word before we take the last break. Oh you want me to have a final word? Not you, No,
you know we're going to take a break. Then you'll be back. Come on, So I gotta okay, we'll take a break down the final work. Yeah, all right, well anyway, all right, all right, this is live radio, so we will Uh, this is it, all right? I think this is another favorite song of yours. All right, final segment coming up on with my sister Celeste Galotti and m I've got a few questions for her when we get back on living alone, having a care
plan, and some good thoughts for all of you to think about. So let's don't go anywhere. I'm right back, doctor Joe Galotti, Doctor Joglotti dot Com. Stay tuned, we will be right back. Welcome back, everybody. Final segment of this week's installment of Your Health First every Sunday between seven and eight pm. I'm doctor Joe Galotti on the phone with my sisters
Celeste Galotti. She's been telling us about her hip replacement. Everything that's been involved in that, and I would say, Celeste, and you've been part of the program, listening to the program, and as a practicing nurse, we need to motivate our patients. And I think that is such a big part of healthcare that you and I both take seriously, and without inspiring people,
things don't get done. I agree, And that has been my biggest struggle as a nurse for all of these years, is to help people change, to be that change agent, to say you can get out of this what that you're in. You can lose some weight, you can control your diabetes, you can control your hypertension, and the power is within you. And it sounds so corny, but it is so true because I'm living it now, because I could have gone through this surgery and say I'm too tired
to exercise. It was really hard for me to get up out of the chair, and it's really hard to go up the stairs and just settle in and accept it and then not really recover. Because that happens to people. You could have any kind of replacement, but if you don't do the work, then nothing's going to get done. So all the power lives is impatient. We can be motivating and challenging and give them the best tips possible. But it's from within. You got to get it from the depths of your
souls. You really do. You have to dig deep. Now, do you remember? Mom would tell us that her father, our grandfather, he would always tell her. And for those that may remember my dear mom, her name was Agnes, but she went by Aggie, and her father would always tell her, Aggie, don't get old, and you remember that, and she would uh and and she would always tell us that, or she would come up. She and my dad would come up from New York spend
time in Houston to get their healthcare here. And if there was a little something that was going on, she'd always sort of look at me and it's like, remember what dad said, her father, don't get old. But that is true. You can't escape it. But I know it's I think what that what Grandpa meant was don't let your mind get old, right. I think the key is in your mind. I have a good friend. I know where I was talking about. My good friend of mine. She's
a nurse. She's seventy six years old. She's not practicing anymore. She has the best attitude of anybody I have seen. She's had two hip replacements, a knee replacement, two shoulder replacements. But this woman is going, going, going all the time because she has a great positive attitude. She lives in Connecticut, she has a house up in Vermont. Her husband is a little bit infirmed and he doesn't really want to do much. She gets in her car, she drives up to her Vermont. How she does her
planting. She goes to shops and consignement shops and has fun. And we go up there and hang out and she just is full of life. And she's seventy six years old. And we all say we want to be Donna because she is just living it. He's not letting anything get her down. And that's the key that is true. Now the last part, and this is something you brought up before the show started, the idea of having a network of people to help you get through the rehab, the recovery, the
aftercare. Comment about that both as a patient and as a nurse. Sure, well, the most important thing if anybody is out there contemplating getting any kind of a hip or replacement, any kind of joint replacement, you do need to have somebody to care for you. So if you're alone and you don't have any family, no friends, that I could do it. There's always that option. Even prior to your hospital stay, your doctor will talk to you and they'll set you up, and you go to a short term
care facility, not a nursing home. You're not going to be you know a lot of people like I don't want to go to a nursing home. But you go for rehab a couple of days until you're able to act independently, get on and off the toilet independently, walk, put your shoes on, put everything on independently. If you go home myself, you know, my name is back to Galotti because I'm divorced, so I'm living alone. I actually live in it is Galotti. I'm full circle back to Galatti.
But you know I do. I'm fortunate. I do live in the same house as my daughter and her family, but I my own apartment downstairs, and it was tough. She was available for me and she was helping me out. But my first and second night that I was here and in my bed, I'm trying to move over. It was hard to move in bed and getting up and down, it was it was difficult I didn't have a partner, and you know, I was laying in bed crying saying, oh my god, by myself, how did I do this? But I did
it. You know I did it. I had my moment, I let myself cry and I said, all right, knock it off. Yes, you know how to do this. You could get yourself up and do it. So I think it's important that you know you do. If you go into a situation where you have any kind of surgery, it doesn't mean how to be withthopedics. You need that aftercare and you need to talk to your doctors about it. I don't have anybody. What can I do? Or my daughter will stay with me, or my son will stay with me,
or you know, I'm good friend if you if you're alone. Yeah, And I think a a bigger issue is having a network of friends and people you can count on. Yes, the first cut is always going to be relatives, either a spouse, a sibling, your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. And then you have your circle of friends that are neighbors or people you've known for a while, or part of your people are part of
a church community, some sort of social connection. And I have people that just need a ride after a colonoscopy, and we explain to them, Okay, we're doing the colonoscopy next week and you get some anesthesia, you cannot drive, you need somebody to take you home. And they tell me, and they tell me, I don't have anybody, And I'm like, I know, and I know, and I'm not putting down these individuals that they are somehow mal aligned, that they don't know a soul in the world.
But it's a big problem for your health, let alone your sanity as well. It is I know here in Connecticut. I don't know if you have it over in Houston, but we have a non medical emergency ride that, yes, people could could get, so we though that is available also too. I think a lot of people say I don't have anybody. They don't want to ask for help. They don't want to be a burden. That's the big thing. Nobody wants to be a burden to anybody. But I
think people want to help. I think people are genuinely good. People are good. So if you have a neighbor, I have a neighbor who lives next door to us. I barely know these people, but they came over and said, if there's anything we could do for you, Celestia, you need a ride, you need anything. So I think people are good and we have to remember that. So even if you feel you don't have somebody, there's got to be a neighbors. It's got to be a niece or
a nephew or somebody who you could ask for help. But if not, you talk to your doctor and the office would have whatever social services are available. I'm not sure what you have in Texas, but there's just so much here in New York and Connecticut that you know that I'm aware of, right, But it's tough. It's tough because when you're alone, and I've experienced it to a lesser degree, it makes things that much harder, right, right, And it impacts your health, your mental health, your happiness,
your outlook, and then the outlook impacts how you recover. And I think that's basically the message here tonight with you, that if you look at the pain as the trigger, it impacts your mental health and outlook, which then negatively impacts your health. It's a vicious cycle that some people just can't get off this ride that will be that will be Celesti, I would say in
the next thirty seconds to you know, finish up tonight's program. Think of that and tell everybody tonight, like summarize the message here tonight with you. I think I've been in a darker time with my you know pain and yeah, you know the hip pain and my mental status. But I think it's empowering, and I think I've used this before you on your show. It's empowering to take charge of your own health right to realize that I am in
control. Nobody's coming to save the day. There's no white horse come in here and helping me. Nothing. You're in charge. So I think once you have that understanding that you're in charge of your health care, you're in charge of your life, your happiness, your mental health, your physical health. It's so empowering. That's why I think I am doing so well right now because I've said that's it, enough of this BS, I'm not going
to have the pity party anymore. Take charge of your health and lose a weight that's gained over the beast, get her done and get back into shape, and you know, have this a positive attitude and positive outcome, all right. I think that on that note, as they say, we will wrap up this show, all right, Celeste Galotti, sister of Joe Galotti, younger sister. I might say I tormented you. I tormented you as a child. Oh we should have a show just on that. Yes,
yes, yes, we'll talk on sibling relationships. But anyway, Celeste, thanks, thanks a million, very proud of you and your recovery. You're doing a great job, and thank you for coming on tonight. All right, anytime? All right, that is it for Tonight's Your Health First. Don't forget Doctor Joe Galotti dot com is our website. Send us a message, let us know what you think of the content. We're always interested to learn more and improve. Until next Sunday night, be well, think about
what you're eating, your exercise, getting your rest. The goal, the goal prevent chronic disease. Take care, We'll see you. Then you've been listening to your Health First with doctor Joe Bilotti. For more information on this program or the content of this program, go to your Health First dot com.