January 9, 2024 • 37 mins
Michelle and Dr. Rob are counting hugs! Dr. Robert Singleton speaks on his journey to becoming a source of light, the importance of hugging your children and how to keep God first in your busy life. He also shares his thoughts on weight loss drugs like Ozempic! CHECK IN to this episode to experience a man who is truly multifaceted.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. Hey, y'all, what's going on?
(00:20):
You know, there are just some people that you see
on social media and they just have an amazing bright
light about them. And sometimes they go unknown to people
because maybe they they're not the singer that's got the
you know, the top five charting hit, you know what
I'm saying, Or maybe they don't have a new movie
(00:42):
coming out in theaters that's this blockbuster special. But they
are making impact in their own communities or in their
industry that they work in. And so we found someone
by the name of doctor Rob Singleton, and I just
became just so inspired by the things that he was posting.
And one day he posted about how you know, children
(01:03):
need eight hugs a day, and I was like, oh
my gosh to hear him talk about that. Normally you
only hear that in the space of like mental health,
but for someone you know like him, I was like, Okay.
So I became more and more interested about him and
just about his life, his wife's life, whom I'm excited
about having come on the show, and you know, listen,
(01:24):
I just I just really love when people are doing
their thing in their industry. So I'm excited to welcome
doctor Rob Singleton. He is an anesthesiologist and advocate for
evidence based health information, a father and a husband, and
so you know we're gonna be talking about so much.
(01:47):
We even talk about the controversy a little bit about
ozembic and how does a busy person make sure that
they just keep ut first and in the center of
every thing that they're doing, or just just your life.
How do you find time to meditate? How do you
find time to read your Bible? How do you find
time to work out? How do you find time? Just
(02:08):
everybody is so busy. So I'm excited to welcome doctor
Rob Singleton. Everybody, y'all know how excited I get when
I talk to two smart people, thriving people, people that
are making impact and making such a difference in this world.
(02:29):
I saw a video on Instagram from a doctor not
like he was a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a therapist,
licensed clinical social worker, a doctor in different practices. Just
stay with me, I'm gonna get there. An anesthesiologist, uh,
anesthesiology physician, but anesthesiologist to make it right? Am I am?
(02:53):
I am I so board certified an a caesiologist and
he's folks meet eight hugs a day or children meet
eight hugs a day. And I thought it so profound
to hear that coming from him, an anesthesiologist, and I
could not wait to talk to him because that is
my field as far as the field of mental health
(03:15):
and people feeling great, and I could not wait to
have him on here, y'all. He is Illinois based, board
certified physician. Specialty is anesthesiology, which I've had before, and
I don't remember my life prior to or after I
was told, y'all, doctor Robert Singleton the second is checking
(03:37):
in with us today.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Thank you so much for that introduction. Thank you for
having me. I'm a huge fan of yours, and I
thank you for the opportunity just to talk about, you know,
some of the things that God has on my heart
and to have this conversation with you. Wow.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So listen, y'all. His background. I saw Peoria, Illinois. I
saw where you graduated college from, and I was like, so,
my memories of Peoria is partying.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah. So I finished my training, I went to well first,
I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and so I went to
Louisiana State University for college. Then I went to Howard
University in Washington, d C. For medical school Howard University,
and then I did my anesthesia training at the University
of Arkansas. We wanted to get back closer to Chicago
(04:32):
because my wife is from Chicago. So we got close
to Chicago in Peoria, Illinois, which is about two and
a half hours away. We were there for five years
or so, but we wanted to get back, you know,
even closer because her parents are here in Chicago. We
have a lot of family here. But Peoria, you know,
(04:54):
it was a very small city. We were able to
grow p Acson. Only my wife advanced career wise there.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And so I'm a schedule heartening to amazing attorney, this
power couple.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much. She is
she's ten times smarter than I am. I'm so proud
of her. She is the chief compliance officer at the
University of Illinois and just so intelligent. I'm so proud
of her. But but yeah, we moved to the We're
not in downtown, we're not in the city of Chicago.
(05:38):
We are in the south suburbs. But you know, I
love my job safety reasons, but you know, we have
our kids, love their schools, we love our neighborhood, we
love our jobs, and so we are so happy to
be in the Chicago Land area.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I am so excited to hear that the very very
first house I ever bought was in the South suburb
of Chicago. I'm from Rockford, Illinois originally.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Okay, okay, my brother.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Still he lives downtown Chicago and family is still in
that rock For area. I went to school in Illinois
State and some of the parties kind of took us
down the highway to Peoria every now and there was
a nice church that we shipped with from time to time.
(06:32):
I don't know if it was City of Hope. Hope
was in the name. Bishop Hail Dawson was the pastor.
So I don't want to I'm not gonna bring y'all
any shame because I was. I was a good girl.
But I did go to some of the parties. Yeah, man,
and look what God has done. He has a seated
in heavenly.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Praise God, Praise God.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Everybody has a story. Everybody has a story. So this
interview can go so many ways. You are a literal
practicing physician. Yes, but we I think what I like
is we get to see you as a father, someone's husband,
I'm sure, a son. Do you have any siblings?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I have a younger brother.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Okay, so as a brother and being so we think
that you're just a doctor, but you're human too, who
is also like killing it as a content creator?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Okay, tell us about that journey.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You know, when I first I started on Instagram shortly
after the pandemic, and I at first just kind of
posted about my family birthday parties, we love to travel.
I kind of just posted personal things. But as you recalled,
during the pandemic, there were so many conspiracy theories about
the virus and the vaccine, and it was so crazy,
(07:59):
and I felt like it was my responsibility because so
many people trusted me. I felt like it was my
responsibility to spread reliable health information. You know, many times
people they don't know what sources to trust, and so
if they can, you know, find me a black physician.
(08:21):
You know, cultural competency, it, I think can make an
impact on their health decisions and which what type of
medical information they choose. So I started posting more. Thank you.
I posted more, more health information, more about me as
(08:41):
a physician, and people became more interested in my journey,
and so I went in that direction. And then about
a year ago, my wife and I started back going
to church. We had not gone for two years during
the pandemic, but that was an experience or both of
us started to become closer to God through we joined
(09:06):
the new church. So we went to the new members
classes and then from there, the transformation I was experiencing
spiritually crossed over into my social media and so I
started to post things that were inspiring to me, things
that I thought would help other people, that you know,
would resonate with people, because and what I post, I
(09:28):
don't get too too deep. I share scriptures, but I
don't I don't get very deep. I feel like many
times people just need a little bit of encouragement just
to make it through the day, make it through the week,
you know. And so what I share, it's it's very simple,
but it's things that I think that you know, can
(09:50):
can help people, just to just a little bit of
encouragement and in the process, you know, share the gospel.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
I was about to ask you, how do you share?
But I think I just heard a voice say he's
graced to share. The reason why I say that, I Well,
the reason why I believe that just got the revelation
is because your job is a heavy job. You probably
need the encouragement the strength because what you do, like
(10:21):
you got to like know, like the person's wait, every
single medical condition, if they've had surgery in the past, y'all,
let me tell you if you've never if you've had
anesthesiology before, whether it was a major procedure or within
patient or outpatient. You know, I know these questions that
they ask and it during near scares me, like I'll
(10:44):
just live with my condition because this is just true.
So imagine if the patient is feeling that way. You've
gone to school for this, but you have to know
every single thing about this person that you are about
to prepare for some time medical procedure that is going
to be life changing for them.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
And thank you for that. Many people don't realize how
important our role is as anesthesia physicians. And in a
typical day, most days everything goes smoothly. You know, we
see our patients, we do our cases, we go home,
but every once in a while, there are emergencies. We
have massive hemorrhage, you know, bleeding where we have to
(11:25):
administer blood products and platelets and frozen plasma. We have had.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So it's more than just administering the good good that
puts us to sleep.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
It's more than that. It's more than that we have
emergency sees. We have that see sections, we have trauma,
we have cold blue cardiac arrest. There's emergencies that happen
even in the outpatient procedures, and so it's important that
we've remain that we are vigilant, that we remain up
to date on the latest health information guidelines. I just
(11:57):
came from an anesthesia conference in San Francisco. Every year,
the American Society of Anaesthesiologists holds a conference and we're
able to not only network, but learn about the newest
trends and anesthesia and patient care. And so it's important
for us to remain up to date on what's going
(12:20):
on because it can save someone's life.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I'm so excited, y'all. I'm talking to Rob's second fifty three.
That is his Instagram profile. So if you're like me,
sometimes when a movie is going on, I'm nosy, I'll
go and research the author or more of the synopsis
of the movie or something that I'm watching. So in
case you're kind of curious about who we're talking to
(12:49):
right now, you can go to his Instagram at Robert
second fifty three. He does have a TikTok which is the.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Same Yeah, so I post the same thing on most
of the same videos on YouTube and Instagram, same name,
But I primarily I focused on Instagram. It's just I've
built community there and so every day I post something
new that's on my heart. That was kind of a
(13:17):
challenge that I gave myself just to every day post something.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And so, okay, well I've got to ask this question. Yeah,
I got to ask this question. Do you get flack
from fellow colleagues or just people who probably like, you're
a doctor, you shouldn't be on here.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
This is for kids, you know what I do not.
It's so funny. My my coworkers and hospital administrators are
so supportive. It's funny because you know, I'll get my
the different administrators will come up and say, oh, how
is your vacation, or we saw this real we saw
(13:58):
this video. They're very supportive of And whenever I went
to our anesthesia conference in San Francisco. You know, I
talked about it with some of my colleagues there, and
you know, they very happy that I was able to
share about my profession. Because anesthesia, I know you're familiar
(14:21):
with it, but many people don't realize, you know, what
we do and how important our job is. And so
it's kind of a form of advocacy, uh for for
safe anesthesia care. And so people kind of can see
me and know what an anesthesiologist does, and you know,
so I get lots of support for my social media presence.
(14:42):
I do have two rules that I have though. I
don't sing and I don't dance, so I don't do
those things. I feel like if I do and I sing,
I sung in the choir before, but I can't. I
can't sing solo. I can sing an a choir.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
And you're not tempted to do like the latest dance trends.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
On they're cool, they're cool. I do them. I do
them with my kids whenever there's no cameras, but that
not on camera, no one.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
And stay and do you know what works for you?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know exactly what works for you. Y'all.
Y'all got to see this microphone he has. Do you
have a podcast?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
You know what I just I just started a quote
unquote podcast for the month of or for the new year.
I'm trying to read one chapter a day of the Bible,
and so I started in the Book of Matthew. So
I record a chapter and I have it recorded in
podcasts format. So it's just me reading the Bible. It's
(15:51):
not any commentary or any other content yet, but I'm
thinking about it.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Y'all listen, Okay. So some people might think when you're
a doctor, you must stay just a doctor. So my uncle,
who is a family practice physician in Rockford, Illinois, also
became a pastor. Wow, and he loves to teach. I
(16:17):
don't know if you're like him or not, But now
that I look back and like, I asked him a
lot of questions about medicine, and I never knew if
he likes to talk about medicine. But because not only
he's a teacher, I think he enjoyed sharing the information.
Now when I go home, I don't ask me about Beyonce,
don't I don't ask me where he is, don't ask
(16:40):
me about Jay Kelly. I where are the greens and
the Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, just get that right for you.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I am just wondering you're outside of medicine, and do
you think you have to choose?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That's a good question. You know. I'm all about balance.
Like whenever I'm at work, I'm professional. I work, but
whenever I as soon as my scrubs come off and
I get in my car and I go home like
I'm I am Robert second five three, like I'm about
my kids, you know. I you know, like I mentioned,
(17:19):
it's it's it can be stressful at work, and so
I try to compartmentalize it, you know, whenever I come home,
I'm not. My wife likes to watch you know, Gray's
Anatomy and you know these medical shows. I don't want
to see that.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Now, do you then? Do you torture her by watching
all the law shows?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
You know what? That's so funny. She does. She does
not watch the law show. She doesn't watch all Rise
or any of that. So, you know, I don't know, but.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
The medical especially the medical shows, I'm not sure about
the law shows, Lauris. I don't know about the medicals
because family members and they be like they'll watch the
shows and be like, why is this electro? Like placed
in their fear load does not go Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, where are the consultants to tell them, you know,
how to how to do things? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Right, right, right right, Okay. So the reason why I
ask you all of that is because what you're saying
you're doing with you know, reading the Bible and all
these kind of things. So I'm just here to encourage
you to go for whatever. Uh it seems like God
is leading you to do, you know, and this journey
(18:27):
that you're on, the fact that you're sharing it unashamedly, yes,
I mean some people find God and they get a
shamed I mean, you're quoting scripture, you're low key reading
people sometimes, you know. It's so it's absolutely amazing. But
I want to go back to the video that you
(18:48):
made about eight hugs a day. Again, that's how I
found you and what I like. You are an advocate
for evidence based health information. Yes, I heard it was
ten hugs a day, eighth days the same, but because
some people don't get any hugs a day.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yes, yeah, you know. It's so funny. That post has
like thousands of comments. I haven't read them all, but
every once in a while I'll see a comment and
somebody yeah, you're right, You're right. But every once in
a while I'll see a comment and somebody will say,
you know, I should be dead right now, Like I
haven't gotten a hug all year, and it's like, wow,
(19:30):
A lot of times I take for granted all the
hugs that I get from my kids and you know,
my wife, and there are people out there, you know,
even though we are so connected through social media. You
can see your old classmates and your neighbors. We're so connected,
but how much of the time do we actually get
to see people, to enter to interface with people, you know,
(19:54):
And so we have to not forget that we really
we as humans need and we're wired for social interaction.
And so that kind of was the point of that
of that video, that you know, we have to make
sure that we are still socializing, that we're still you know,
being kind to each other, that we are you know,
(20:15):
not taking out our physical needs for being around other
people for granted.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
M that's so good, that's so good. People are Well,
how do I how can I hug my children that
many times a day? I just be trying to get
them out the door to go to school. But I
thought I'd figure it out Okay. Hug them when you
wake them up in the morning. Okay, hug them when
they've gotten dressed, or after they've bathed and all this.
(20:40):
They breshed their tea, you know, hug them maybe you know,
when they're eating their food. You might just walk by
and just give them a little nudge or something. That's three.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah, yeah, get them.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Out the door to school. You're driving to school. You
hug them. We're tapped something when they get up. That'st for.
It ain't even nine am.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yet, there you go.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Okay, okay, So you got them off to school, y'all
get home from work. He's come home.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Five.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
You don'et hug them. Hey we at five? They told
you about their day, Dad, I didn't have a good
day at school today. That's the time grab them. You
hug them, man, I'm so sorry you didn't have a
good day. Six okay, okay, okay, Lucy? How can how
can they? So they tell you about their day? Then
y'all are y'all are eating dinner? Dad, I hate Brussels sprouts,
(21:35):
little girl, you're gonna eat them Brussels sprouts. Okay, they
eat the Brussels sprouts. She ate the Brussels sprouts. You
hunt her. That's so good, baby girl. Hate hugs. That's
by seven o'clock at night.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, I don't hugged.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
That's that's seven things, eight hugs. So at seven o'clock
at night, then you're telling them it's time to go
to bed. I don't want to go to bed. Man
you and come here and get your tail in that bed.
You drop them up a little bit. Do the little hugs.
That's bad hugs. Then you'd be like, you know, before
(22:11):
you go to bed, let's say our little prayers or something,
or do you a little bathing or whatever you gonna y'all, y'all,
that's ten hugs.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
That's ten hugs. There you go. And it's so funny.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
My daughter, Hey, I could have stopped that.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Eight you could have stopped date. My daughter actually tells
me at the end of the day how many hugs
she's gotten, and so I try to make up for it. Yeah,
it's it's so cute. It's the cutest thing ever. She'll say,
I got six hugs today. So when I get home
from work, I'm like, okay, we're gonna get you those
your other two hugs to get you eight hugs, and
you know, I hugged my daughter. I hugged my son too.
(22:45):
We're very affectionate in our house, and so I try
to make sure that you know they know that I
love them. You know, we say I love you. You know,
kids need that and everybody needs that, even we as adults,
you know, need to know that we're love and to
fill that warmth.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That's so good because I'm told or or through therapists
and just looking at things like people that work in
the medical book, doctors, attorneys and police officers can are
not affectionate. They can't be affectionate because lots of times
you're delivering bad news.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
That's true, Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And so for you to still be like, I gotta
go home, I got a Huggies kids, I gotta hug
my wife, I gotta rub her feet. I don't even
like fee look at me trying to be all in
your head.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I'm not sure, but but but.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Thank you for stating that. And it's real. I grew up.
My mother did that, Like we would try to bummerish
her with hugs and she just did not like hugs.
You know what I mean. I can give hugs, but
sometimes receiver hugs. I'd be like, I'll do a little
church thing where you yeah, or if you're in my real,
(24:00):
real core. But you just never know what physical touch
can do to someone. How do you feel that a
busy person can incorporate the habit of incorporating God into
their daily life.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
That's a good question. So part of my focus, you know,
this month, no matter how busy you are, you know,
even if you only have a few minutes today, I
think it's important to read God's word. And so I've
been reading, like I said, the Book of Matthew. And
you know, each chapter it takes between you know, at
some chapters two minutes to read, three minutes to read.
(24:41):
And I believe that if you honor God with just
that little bit of time, you know, even if it's
only one Bible verse, even that one verse that you
meditate on throughout the day, can get into your spirit,
transform your heart, transform your mind, get your perspective right
for the rest of the day. It doesn't take you know,
reading for hours and hours and hours, because one Bible
(25:04):
verse can make a difference.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's so good. One Bible verse. And it's so funny
because I find in my you know reading, you get
excitedly Okay, oh, this chapter is twenty verses, that's good,
and you get some of them chapters be one hundred
and twelve verses.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I'd be like, now, wait man, yeah, and then we
get discouraged. We get discouraged by that. And you know,
my thing is sometimes also whenever you have Bible reading plans,
which are good, don't get me wrong, but you can
be so focused on meeting your quota for that day,
(25:39):
like I have to get this many chapters where you
to where you don't even you aren't able to really
focus on what you're reading or meditate on what you're reading.
So that's more important to have the word inside of
you transforming you than how much the volume of what
you're reading.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Wow, I'm so excited, Thank you for being here. I've
just got some more questions. I just want to get through, okay,
because this is so good. This is so good some
of the stuff that I actually was not on our
run down for today. But sometimes the conversation just becomes
so organic that I just can't help while I have
the person here like to take advantage of some of
(26:17):
those moments. How do you take care of yourself because
your job is so stressful. Any techniques for any healthcare workers,
you know you probably like, man, I'm not perfect. I
get stressed like everybody too, So.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
You know, what do you do? So I start my
day with weightlifting. I weightlift about five days a week
with my trainer.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
I'm actually three all right, three.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
A early early in the morning, which surprisingly there are
there are lots of people in the gym that early,
and I'm actually preparing. I'm doing a pH zek show,
like a body building show in May, and so I'm
doing all the diet and all that for that. But
I find that, you know, if you're able to start
(27:09):
off your day with that boost of endorphins, that sets
the tone for the day. And so that's that's how I,
you know, balance myself by prioritizing my fitness.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Okay, okay, So prioritizing your fitness, y'all, and of course
reading reading your word. I mean, come on, uh, I'm
sure on some great music and you know, a great
life giving a farming music. How do you, as a
doctor cope with loss and handle grief? Because many miracles happen,
(27:41):
sometimes the miracle might happen on the other side of
eternity for those who are left behind to deal with.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, you know what's crazy. I have never suffered major
loss or grief. Uh, you know, I I haven't lost
anybody close to me. And sometimes I think about that often,
like how would I how would I respond? How would
I react? I don't know, because I've never lost anybody
close to me. Knock on wood?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
What? Yeah, what do you do when the patient didn't
make it?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
You know, it's actually exceedingly rare. So I've been practicing.
You know, I finished school in twenty sixteen. Knock on
wood again, I haven't lost any patients in the operating room.
Whenever I work in the intensive care unit. You see
a lot of deaths in the intensive care unit. Yes,
And a lot of times I will perform an anesthesia
(28:36):
case for a very sick patient and I have to
go back like the next week or next two weeks,
and I find out that they have passed transition. Okay, yeah,
but actually to lose somebody in the operating room, it's
pretty rare. So I don't see that very frequently, thank goodness.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
So basically, folks, don't be afraid to go to the doctor,
get your checkups, and get your care. Aren't we happy
to hear that he's saying it's for him? It's can
he also be my primary care? No? No, he cat,
(29:17):
no he cannot. On one of your posts, you mentioned
the five types of people you need in your life.
M hmm, yeah, okay, so that goes beyond if you're
if you're in medicine or not. Give us one or
two what you're thinking, or share the most important type
of person you need in your life.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I'll say this a lot of us. Uh, it's we
surround ourselves with people who are just gonna tell us
what we want to hear. But it's so important that
we have people in our lives who are going to
tell us the truth, who are going to motivate us
to be better, people who are going to help propel
us forward. And so it's it's so important that we
(29:57):
have those kind of people in our lives. I forgot
five types of people.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Don't worry, no, no, no, no worry is to me. It's
just what do you think the most important type of thing?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yes? Yeah, somebody who can who's gonna push you forward,
who's gonna encourage you towards your goals, tell you the
truth about yourself. You know that that is very valuable.
Not all of us have that. But whenever you come
across that kind of person, and whenever you do find
people like that, you really have to not take them
for granted because you might not you know, that's so good,
(30:30):
might not have them always.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Not only do not take them for granted, but don't
take what they might share with you personally. Because I'm
guilty of saying on honey, please tell me about me,
tell me about myself.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah, that's good. My best friend.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Told me something I said I wanted to she I
was gonna come. You have to come see you the
way I wanted to let her. But it's truth and
not that it hurts. But but the truth can hurt,
(31:05):
you know, Yeah, but it can. It should fortify and
just can be used as a tool of correction.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Can you talk about ozimpic. What do you think about
the explosion of interest and use of it and do
you think it's mostly safe to use considering some of
the side effects like stomach paralysis.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I'll say this, You know there are people who need it,
and that's why it's it should be and it is
prescribed by physicians. People don't realize that with obesity comes
comorbid conditions. So a lot of times obesity is tied
to diabetes, it's tied to sleep apnea, it's tied to
(31:45):
a lot of different other conditions, and so people a
lot of times need to lose weight for their health.
And so I think that ozimpic used correctly, can help
make us healthier. However, there are people who abuse it,
who don't use it correctly, and they are not good
candidates for Olympics. So you know, I think that it's
(32:07):
a great drug when you used correctly.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
He said, how do we go from talking about eight
hugs to Olympics.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Yeah, everybody's talking about it. Everybody's talking When I.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Tell you, everybody is talking about it. And then I'm
just even careful. Just because everybody's talking about it, don't
mean I got to talk about it. But I'm excited
because somebody here is going to want to know or hear,
like you said, especially when you have some pre existing
conditions in which this drug could really be you. So listen,
(32:46):
I am so thankful for your time today. Keep doing it,
do the books, the podcast, the appearances, whatever it is.
Just keep going on. And I'm sure that this also
probably be a great escape from a job that's fulfilling
but can be quite stressful. To you. So thank you
(33:07):
so much.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Thank you. I'm enjoying my vacation. You have made my
year with this interview. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Oh, thank you. It is a new year. It is
a new year, and you so much.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Joy.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
So I'm excited. I mean that miss Singleton, we got
to have you on here on my podcast. We talk
to everybody, so I'm excited to get to know to
get to know her, and to get to know because
I want to know too. When people say how do
you make it work? It's not because we are anticipating
(33:44):
or want anything happen, but it's like attorneys and physicians,
that's those are really demanding jobs. And I love it together. Man.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, yeah, she's busier than I am.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
So wow, Okay, okay, He's like, I'm just I got
my little schedule at two pm. We got to do this,
you know, okay and me, and then you might have
to get some cancel because somebody probably ate you're not
supposed to eat the twelve to twenty four exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
You know it, you know it, you know it.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I had a pro seizure in the fall of twenty
twenty two. Okay, and I just remember the doctor was
so sweet. Not the aneses allergies was very kind, but
the doctor was rare. She held my hand, okay, and
I just remember her grabbing my hand. And then I
(34:35):
woke up in recovery.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, oh yeah, the best sleep ever.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
But they said what I was coming out of the anesthesia.
I have pictures. I looked cool. I they said I
was just but while I woke up and I was
in a little bit of pain in my aftermen, and
I was I'm in so much and I think that
(35:01):
I need drugs or blah blah blah. And then my
girl Samantha on here she said she even woke up
during surgery.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Hap it.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah, everybody's like, oh no, oh no. So I know
that I was like advill knocks me out. My mom
was like, okay, like a sleeping agent in it. So
we don't understand why if I take to atvil, it's
night night. Wow, it is night night for me. So
anesthesia you're light weight. Yeah, I'm a cheap date too.
(35:33):
I'm a cheat day. I'm a cheat date. Yes, yes, yes,
all right, Well we love you You are welcome anytime
we will be following you to keep track of everything
that you got going. You are welcome to be in
touch with us to to say, hey, I'm doing this
or whatever, let's talk about it. Just know that you're
(35:53):
always welcome.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
All right, doctor Singleton, God bless you.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Have a good day.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Oh MG, that was such an amazing interview. He's so
laid back and so chill, but I guess you have
to be that, y'all. He's an anesthesiologist, meaning he got
to put people to sleep for procedures. So I guess
I don't know. He maybe he can't be too jittery
(36:22):
and blah blah blah blah blah. He can't be like
me because sometimes I be turned up. I don't know
if there are personality tests or personalities that are best
suited for certain jobs. Find it. I'm gonna find the
personality tests that are best suited because when I have
a cup of coffee, man, I go bonkers. AnyWho, I'm
(36:44):
just so excited to give y'all this episode of checking in.
I really really hope that you find a nugget or
too that inspires you and just helps you keep going
during this time. I think the last word I want
to share for this episode is shine your light. Wherever
you are, shine your light, wherever you work, shine your light,
(37:07):
and whatever doors you walk through, just be a light.
(37:44):
Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production of iHeartRadio
and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. Hey, y'all, what's going on?
(00:20):
You know, there are just some people that you see
on social media and they just have an amazing bright
light about them. And sometimes they go unknown to people
because maybe they they're not the singer that's got the
you know, the top five charting hit, you know what
I'm saying, Or maybe they don't have a new movie
(00:42):
coming out in theaters that's this blockbuster special. But they
are making impact in their own communities or in their
industry that they work in. And so we found someone
by the name of doctor Rob Singleton, and I just
became just so inspired by the things that he was posting.
And one day he posted about how you know, children
(01:03):
need eight hugs a day, and I was like, oh
my gosh to hear him talk about that. Normally you
only hear that in the space of like mental health,
but for someone you know like him, I was like, Okay.
So I became more and more interested about him and
just about his life, his wife's life, whom I'm excited
about having come on the show, and you know, listen,
(01:24):
I just I just really love when people are doing
their thing in their industry. So I'm excited to welcome
doctor Rob Singleton. He is an anesthesiologist and advocate for
evidence based health information, a father and a husband, and
so you know we're gonna be talking about so much.
(01:47):
We even talk about the controversy a little bit about
ozembic and how does a busy person make sure that
they just keep ut first and in the center of
every thing that they're doing, or just just your life.
How do you find time to meditate? How do you
find time to read your Bible? How do you find
time to work out? How do you find time? Just
(02:08):
everybody is so busy. So I'm excited to welcome doctor
Rob Singleton. Everybody, y'all know how excited I get when
I talk to two smart people, thriving people, people that
are making impact and making such a difference in this world.
(02:29):
I saw a video on Instagram from a doctor not
like he was a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a therapist,
licensed clinical social worker, a doctor in different practices. Just
stay with me, I'm gonna get there. An anesthesiologist, uh,
anesthesiology physician, but anesthesiologist to make it right? Am I am?
(02:53):
I am I so board certified an a caesiologist and
he's folks meet eight hugs a day or children meet
eight hugs a day. And I thought it so profound
to hear that coming from him, an anesthesiologist, and I
could not wait to talk to him because that is
my field as far as the field of mental health
(03:15):
and people feeling great, and I could not wait to
have him on here, y'all. He is Illinois based, board
certified physician. Specialty is anesthesiology, which I've had before, and
I don't remember my life prior to or after I
was told, y'all, doctor Robert Singleton the second is checking
(03:37):
in with us today.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Thank you so much for that introduction. Thank you for
having me. I'm a huge fan of yours, and I
thank you for the opportunity just to talk about, you know,
some of the things that God has on my heart
and to have this conversation with you. Wow.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So listen, y'all. His background. I saw Peoria, Illinois. I
saw where you graduated college from, and I was like, so,
my memories of Peoria is partying.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah. So I finished my training, I went to well first,
I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and so I went to
Louisiana State University for college. Then I went to Howard
University in Washington, d C. For medical school Howard University,
and then I did my anesthesia training at the University
of Arkansas. We wanted to get back closer to Chicago
(04:32):
because my wife is from Chicago. So we got close
to Chicago in Peoria, Illinois, which is about two and
a half hours away. We were there for five years
or so, but we wanted to get back, you know,
even closer because her parents are here in Chicago. We
have a lot of family here. But Peoria, you know,
(04:54):
it was a very small city. We were able to
grow p Acson. Only my wife advanced career wise there.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And so I'm a schedule heartening to amazing attorney, this
power couple.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much. She is
she's ten times smarter than I am. I'm so proud
of her. She is the chief compliance officer at the
University of Illinois and just so intelligent. I'm so proud
of her. But but yeah, we moved to the We're
not in downtown, we're not in the city of Chicago.
(05:38):
We are in the south suburbs. But you know, I
love my job safety reasons, but you know, we have
our kids, love their schools, we love our neighborhood, we
love our jobs, and so we are so happy to
be in the Chicago Land area.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I am so excited to hear that the very very
first house I ever bought was in the South suburb
of Chicago. I'm from Rockford, Illinois originally.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Okay, okay, my brother.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Still he lives downtown Chicago and family is still in
that rock For area. I went to school in Illinois
State and some of the parties kind of took us
down the highway to Peoria every now and there was
a nice church that we shipped with from time to time.
(06:32):
I don't know if it was City of Hope. Hope
was in the name. Bishop Hail Dawson was the pastor.
So I don't want to I'm not gonna bring y'all
any shame because I was. I was a good girl.
But I did go to some of the parties. Yeah, man,
and look what God has done. He has a seated
in heavenly.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Praise God, Praise God.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Everybody has a story. Everybody has a story. So this
interview can go so many ways. You are a literal
practicing physician. Yes, but we I think what I like
is we get to see you as a father, someone's husband,
I'm sure, a son. Do you have any siblings?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I have a younger brother.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Okay, so as a brother and being so we think
that you're just a doctor, but you're human too, who
is also like killing it as a content creator?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Okay, tell us about that journey.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You know, when I first I started on Instagram shortly
after the pandemic, and I at first just kind of
posted about my family birthday parties, we love to travel.
I kind of just posted personal things. But as you recalled,
during the pandemic, there were so many conspiracy theories about
the virus and the vaccine, and it was so crazy,
(07:59):
and I felt like it was my responsibility because so
many people trusted me. I felt like it was my
responsibility to spread reliable health information. You know, many times
people they don't know what sources to trust, and so
if they can, you know, find me a black physician.
(08:21):
You know, cultural competency, it, I think can make an
impact on their health decisions and which what type of
medical information they choose. So I started posting more. Thank you.
I posted more, more health information, more about me as
(08:41):
a physician, and people became more interested in my journey,
and so I went in that direction. And then about
a year ago, my wife and I started back going
to church. We had not gone for two years during
the pandemic, but that was an experience or both of
us started to become closer to God through we joined
(09:06):
the new church. So we went to the new members
classes and then from there, the transformation I was experiencing
spiritually crossed over into my social media and so I
started to post things that were inspiring to me, things
that I thought would help other people, that you know,
would resonate with people, because and what I post, I
(09:28):
don't get too too deep. I share scriptures, but I
don't I don't get very deep. I feel like many
times people just need a little bit of encouragement just
to make it through the day, make it through the week,
you know. And so what I share, it's it's very simple,
but it's things that I think that you know, can
(09:50):
can help people, just to just a little bit of
encouragement and in the process, you know, share the gospel.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
I was about to ask you, how do you share?
But I think I just heard a voice say he's
graced to share. The reason why I say that, I Well,
the reason why I believe that just got the revelation
is because your job is a heavy job. You probably
need the encouragement the strength because what you do, like
(10:21):
you got to like know, like the person's wait, every
single medical condition, if they've had surgery in the past, y'all,
let me tell you if you've never if you've had
anesthesiology before, whether it was a major procedure or within
patient or outpatient. You know, I know these questions that
they ask and it during near scares me, like I'll
(10:44):
just live with my condition because this is just true.
So imagine if the patient is feeling that way. You've
gone to school for this, but you have to know
every single thing about this person that you are about
to prepare for some time medical procedure that is going
to be life changing for them.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
And thank you for that. Many people don't realize how
important our role is as anesthesia physicians. And in a
typical day, most days everything goes smoothly. You know, we
see our patients, we do our cases, we go home,
but every once in a while, there are emergencies. We
have massive hemorrhage, you know, bleeding where we have to
(11:25):
administer blood products and platelets and frozen plasma. We have had.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
So it's more than just administering the good good that
puts us to sleep.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
It's more than that. It's more than that we have
emergency sees. We have that see sections, we have trauma,
we have cold blue cardiac arrest. There's emergencies that happen
even in the outpatient procedures, and so it's important that
we've remain that we are vigilant, that we remain up
to date on the latest health information guidelines. I just
(11:57):
came from an anesthesia conference in San Francisco. Every year,
the American Society of Anaesthesiologists holds a conference and we're
able to not only network, but learn about the newest
trends and anesthesia and patient care. And so it's important
for us to remain up to date on what's going
(12:20):
on because it can save someone's life.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I'm so excited, y'all. I'm talking to Rob's second fifty three.
That is his Instagram profile. So if you're like me,
sometimes when a movie is going on, I'm nosy, I'll
go and research the author or more of the synopsis
of the movie or something that I'm watching. So in
case you're kind of curious about who we're talking to
(12:49):
right now, you can go to his Instagram at Robert
second fifty three. He does have a TikTok which is the.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Same Yeah, so I post the same thing on most
of the same videos on YouTube and Instagram, same name,
But I primarily I focused on Instagram. It's just I've
built community there and so every day I post something
new that's on my heart. That was kind of a
(13:17):
challenge that I gave myself just to every day post something.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And so, okay, well I've got to ask this question. Yeah,
I got to ask this question. Do you get flack
from fellow colleagues or just people who probably like, you're
a doctor, you shouldn't be on here.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
This is for kids, you know what I do not.
It's so funny. My my coworkers and hospital administrators are
so supportive. It's funny because you know, I'll get my
the different administrators will come up and say, oh, how
is your vacation, or we saw this real we saw
(13:58):
this video. They're very supportive of And whenever I went
to our anesthesia conference in San Francisco. You know, I
talked about it with some of my colleagues there, and
you know, they very happy that I was able to
share about my profession. Because anesthesia, I know you're familiar
(14:21):
with it, but many people don't realize, you know, what
we do and how important our job is. And so
it's kind of a form of advocacy, uh for for
safe anesthesia care. And so people kind of can see
me and know what an anesthesiologist does, and you know,
so I get lots of support for my social media presence.
(14:42):
I do have two rules that I have though. I
don't sing and I don't dance, so I don't do
those things. I feel like if I do and I sing,
I sung in the choir before, but I can't. I
can't sing solo. I can sing an a choir.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
And you're not tempted to do like the latest dance trends.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
On they're cool, they're cool. I do them. I do
them with my kids whenever there's no cameras, but that
not on camera, no one.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
And stay and do you know what works for you?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know exactly what works for you. Y'all.
Y'all got to see this microphone he has. Do you
have a podcast?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
You know what I just I just started a quote
unquote podcast for the month of or for the new year.
I'm trying to read one chapter a day of the Bible,
and so I started in the Book of Matthew. So
I record a chapter and I have it recorded in
podcasts format. So it's just me reading the Bible. It's
(15:51):
not any commentary or any other content yet, but I'm
thinking about it.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Y'all listen, Okay. So some people might think when you're
a doctor, you must stay just a doctor. So my uncle,
who is a family practice physician in Rockford, Illinois, also
became a pastor. Wow, and he loves to teach. I
(16:17):
don't know if you're like him or not, But now
that I look back and like, I asked him a
lot of questions about medicine, and I never knew if
he likes to talk about medicine. But because not only
he's a teacher, I think he enjoyed sharing the information.
Now when I go home, I don't ask me about Beyonce,
don't I don't ask me where he is, don't ask
(16:40):
me about Jay Kelly. I where are the greens and
the Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, just get that right for you.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I am just wondering you're outside of medicine, and do
you think you have to choose?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That's a good question. You know. I'm all about balance.
Like whenever I'm at work, I'm professional. I work, but
whenever I as soon as my scrubs come off and
I get in my car and I go home like
I'm I am Robert second five three, like I'm about
my kids, you know. I you know, like I mentioned,
(17:19):
it's it's it can be stressful at work, and so
I try to compartmentalize it, you know, whenever I come home,
I'm not. My wife likes to watch you know, Gray's
Anatomy and you know these medical shows. I don't want
to see that.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Now, do you then? Do you torture her by watching
all the law shows?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
You know what? That's so funny. She does. She does
not watch the law show. She doesn't watch all Rise
or any of that. So, you know, I don't know, but.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
The medical especially the medical shows, I'm not sure about
the law shows, Lauris. I don't know about the medicals
because family members and they be like they'll watch the
shows and be like, why is this electro? Like placed
in their fear load does not go Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, where are the consultants to tell them, you know,
how to how to do things? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Right, right, right right, Okay. So the reason why I
ask you all of that is because what you're saying
you're doing with you know, reading the Bible and all
these kind of things. So I'm just here to encourage
you to go for whatever. Uh it seems like God
is leading you to do, you know, and this journey
(18:27):
that you're on, the fact that you're sharing it unashamedly, yes,
I mean some people find God and they get a
shamed I mean, you're quoting scripture, you're low key reading
people sometimes, you know. It's so it's absolutely amazing. But
I want to go back to the video that you
(18:48):
made about eight hugs a day. Again, that's how I
found you and what I like. You are an advocate
for evidence based health information. Yes, I heard it was
ten hugs a day, eighth days the same, but because
some people don't get any hugs a day.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yes, yeah, you know. It's so funny. That post has
like thousands of comments. I haven't read them all, but
every once in a while I'll see a comment and
somebody yeah, you're right, You're right. But every once in
a while I'll see a comment and somebody will say,
you know, I should be dead right now, Like I
haven't gotten a hug all year, and it's like, wow,
(19:30):
A lot of times I take for granted all the
hugs that I get from my kids and you know,
my wife, and there are people out there, you know,
even though we are so connected through social media. You
can see your old classmates and your neighbors. We're so connected,
but how much of the time do we actually get
to see people, to enter to interface with people, you know,
(19:54):
And so we have to not forget that we really
we as humans need and we're wired for social interaction.
And so that kind of was the point of that
of that video, that you know, we have to make
sure that we are still socializing, that we're still you know,
being kind to each other, that we are you know,
(20:15):
not taking out our physical needs for being around other
people for granted.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
M that's so good, that's so good. People are Well,
how do I how can I hug my children that
many times a day? I just be trying to get
them out the door to go to school. But I
thought I'd figure it out Okay. Hug them when you
wake them up in the morning. Okay, hug them when
they've gotten dressed, or after they've bathed and all this.
(20:40):
They breshed their tea, you know, hug them maybe you know,
when they're eating their food. You might just walk by
and just give them a little nudge or something. That's three.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah, yeah, get them.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Out the door to school. You're driving to school. You
hug them. We're tapped something when they get up. That'st for.
It ain't even nine am.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yet, there you go.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Okay, okay, So you got them off to school, y'all
get home from work. He's come home.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Five.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
You don'et hug them. Hey we at five? They told
you about their day, Dad, I didn't have a good
day at school today. That's the time grab them. You
hug them, man, I'm so sorry you didn't have a
good day. Six okay, okay, okay, Lucy? How can how
can they? So they tell you about their day? Then
y'all are y'all are eating dinner? Dad, I hate Brussels sprouts,
(21:35):
little girl, you're gonna eat them Brussels sprouts. Okay, they
eat the Brussels sprouts. She ate the Brussels sprouts. You
hunt her. That's so good, baby girl. Hate hugs. That's
by seven o'clock at night.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, I don't hugged.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
That's that's seven things, eight hugs. So at seven o'clock
at night, then you're telling them it's time to go
to bed. I don't want to go to bed. Man
you and come here and get your tail in that bed.
You drop them up a little bit. Do the little hugs.
That's bad hugs. Then you'd be like, you know, before
(22:11):
you go to bed, let's say our little prayers or something,
or do you a little bathing or whatever you gonna y'all, y'all,
that's ten hugs.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
That's ten hugs. There you go. And it's so funny.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
My daughter, Hey, I could have stopped that.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Eight you could have stopped date. My daughter actually tells
me at the end of the day how many hugs
she's gotten, and so I try to make up for it. Yeah,
it's it's so cute. It's the cutest thing ever. She'll say,
I got six hugs today. So when I get home
from work, I'm like, okay, we're gonna get you those
your other two hugs to get you eight hugs, and
you know, I hugged my daughter. I hugged my son too.
(22:45):
We're very affectionate in our house, and so I try
to make sure that you know they know that I
love them. You know, we say I love you. You know,
kids need that and everybody needs that, even we as adults,
you know, need to know that we're love and to
fill that warmth.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That's so good because I'm told or or through therapists
and just looking at things like people that work in
the medical book, doctors, attorneys and police officers can are
not affectionate. They can't be affectionate because lots of times
you're delivering bad news.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
That's true, Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And so for you to still be like, I gotta
go home, I got a Huggies kids, I gotta hug
my wife, I gotta rub her feet. I don't even
like fee look at me trying to be all in
your head.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I'm not sure, but but but.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Thank you for stating that. And it's real. I grew up.
My mother did that, Like we would try to bummerish
her with hugs and she just did not like hugs.
You know what I mean. I can give hugs, but
sometimes receiver hugs. I'd be like, I'll do a little
church thing where you yeah, or if you're in my real,
(24:00):
real core. But you just never know what physical touch
can do to someone. How do you feel that a
busy person can incorporate the habit of incorporating God into
their daily life.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
That's a good question. So part of my focus, you know,
this month, no matter how busy you are, you know,
even if you only have a few minutes today, I
think it's important to read God's word. And so I've
been reading, like I said, the Book of Matthew. And
you know, each chapter it takes between you know, at
some chapters two minutes to read, three minutes to read.
(24:41):
And I believe that if you honor God with just
that little bit of time, you know, even if it's
only one Bible verse, even that one verse that you
meditate on throughout the day, can get into your spirit,
transform your heart, transform your mind, get your perspective right
for the rest of the day. It doesn't take you know,
reading for hours and hours and hours, because one Bible
(25:04):
verse can make a difference.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's so good. One Bible verse. And it's so funny
because I find in my you know reading, you get
excitedly Okay, oh, this chapter is twenty verses, that's good,
and you get some of them chapters be one hundred
and twelve verses.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I'd be like, now, wait man, yeah, and then we
get discouraged. We get discouraged by that. And you know,
my thing is sometimes also whenever you have Bible reading plans,
which are good, don't get me wrong, but you can
be so focused on meeting your quota for that day,
(25:39):
like I have to get this many chapters where you
to where you don't even you aren't able to really
focus on what you're reading or meditate on what you're reading.
So that's more important to have the word inside of
you transforming you than how much the volume of what
you're reading.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Wow, I'm so excited, Thank you for being here. I've
just got some more questions. I just want to get through, okay,
because this is so good. This is so good some
of the stuff that I actually was not on our
run down for today. But sometimes the conversation just becomes
so organic that I just can't help while I have
the person here like to take advantage of some of
(26:17):
those moments. How do you take care of yourself because
your job is so stressful. Any techniques for any healthcare workers,
you know you probably like, man, I'm not perfect. I
get stressed like everybody too, So.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
You know, what do you do? So I start my
day with weightlifting. I weightlift about five days a week
with my trainer.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
I'm actually three all right, three.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
A early early in the morning, which surprisingly there are
there are lots of people in the gym that early,
and I'm actually preparing. I'm doing a pH zek show,
like a body building show in May, and so I'm
doing all the diet and all that for that. But
I find that, you know, if you're able to start
(27:09):
off your day with that boost of endorphins, that sets
the tone for the day. And so that's that's how I,
you know, balance myself by prioritizing my fitness.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Okay, okay, So prioritizing your fitness, y'all, and of course
reading reading your word. I mean, come on, uh, I'm
sure on some great music and you know, a great
life giving a farming music. How do you, as a
doctor cope with loss and handle grief? Because many miracles happen,
(27:41):
sometimes the miracle might happen on the other side of
eternity for those who are left behind to deal with.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, you know what's crazy. I have never suffered major
loss or grief. Uh, you know, I I haven't lost
anybody close to me. And sometimes I think about that often,
like how would I how would I respond? How would
I react? I don't know, because I've never lost anybody
close to me. Knock on wood?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
What? Yeah, what do you do when the patient didn't
make it?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
You know, it's actually exceedingly rare. So I've been practicing.
You know, I finished school in twenty sixteen. Knock on
wood again, I haven't lost any patients in the operating room.
Whenever I work in the intensive care unit. You see
a lot of deaths in the intensive care unit. Yes,
And a lot of times I will perform an anesthesia
(28:36):
case for a very sick patient and I have to
go back like the next week or next two weeks,
and I find out that they have passed transition. Okay, yeah,
but actually to lose somebody in the operating room, it's
pretty rare. So I don't see that very frequently, thank goodness.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
So basically, folks, don't be afraid to go to the doctor,
get your checkups, and get your care. Aren't we happy
to hear that he's saying it's for him? It's can
he also be my primary care? No? No, he cat,
(29:17):
no he cannot. On one of your posts, you mentioned
the five types of people you need in your life.
M hmm, yeah, okay, so that goes beyond if you're
if you're in medicine or not. Give us one or
two what you're thinking, or share the most important type
of person you need in your life.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
I'll say this a lot of us. Uh, it's we
surround ourselves with people who are just gonna tell us
what we want to hear. But it's so important that
we have people in our lives who are going to
tell us the truth, who are going to motivate us
to be better, people who are going to help propel
us forward. And so it's it's so important that we
(29:57):
have those kind of people in our lives. I forgot
five types of people.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Don't worry, no, no, no, no worry is to me. It's
just what do you think the most important type of thing?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yes? Yeah, somebody who can who's gonna push you forward,
who's gonna encourage you towards your goals, tell you the
truth about yourself. You know that that is very valuable.
Not all of us have that. But whenever you come
across that kind of person, and whenever you do find
people like that, you really have to not take them
for granted because you might not you know, that's so good,
(30:30):
might not have them always.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Not only do not take them for granted, but don't
take what they might share with you personally. Because I'm
guilty of saying on honey, please tell me about me,
tell me about myself.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah, that's good. My best friend.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Told me something I said I wanted to she I
was gonna come. You have to come see you the
way I wanted to let her. But it's truth and
not that it hurts. But but the truth can hurt,
(31:05):
you know, Yeah, but it can. It should fortify and
just can be used as a tool of correction.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Can you talk about ozimpic. What do you think about
the explosion of interest and use of it and do
you think it's mostly safe to use considering some of
the side effects like stomach paralysis.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I'll say this, You know there are people who need it,
and that's why it's it should be and it is
prescribed by physicians. People don't realize that with obesity comes
comorbid conditions. So a lot of times obesity is tied
to diabetes, it's tied to sleep apnea, it's tied to
(31:45):
a lot of different other conditions, and so people a
lot of times need to lose weight for their health.
And so I think that ozimpic used correctly, can help
make us healthier. However, there are people who abuse it,
who don't use it correctly, and they are not good
candidates for Olympics. So you know, I think that it's
(32:07):
a great drug when you used correctly.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
He said, how do we go from talking about eight
hugs to Olympics.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Yeah, everybody's talking about it. Everybody's talking When I.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Tell you, everybody is talking about it. And then I'm
just even careful. Just because everybody's talking about it, don't
mean I got to talk about it. But I'm excited
because somebody here is going to want to know or hear,
like you said, especially when you have some pre existing
conditions in which this drug could really be you. So listen,
(32:46):
I am so thankful for your time today. Keep doing it,
do the books, the podcast, the appearances, whatever it is.
Just keep going on. And I'm sure that this also
probably be a great escape from a job that's fulfilling
but can be quite stressful. To you. So thank you
(33:07):
so much.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Thank you. I'm enjoying my vacation. You have made my
year with this interview. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Oh, thank you. It is a new year. It is
a new year, and you so much.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Joy.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
So I'm excited. I mean that miss Singleton, we got
to have you on here on my podcast. We talk
to everybody, so I'm excited to get to know to
get to know her, and to get to know because
I want to know too. When people say how do
you make it work? It's not because we are anticipating
(33:44):
or want anything happen, but it's like attorneys and physicians,
that's those are really demanding jobs. And I love it together. Man.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, yeah, she's busier than I am.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
So wow, Okay, okay, He's like, I'm just I got
my little schedule at two pm. We got to do this,
you know, okay and me, and then you might have
to get some cancel because somebody probably ate you're not
supposed to eat the twelve to twenty four exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
You know it, you know it, you know it.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I had a pro seizure in the fall of twenty
twenty two. Okay, and I just remember the doctor was
so sweet. Not the aneses allergies was very kind, but
the doctor was rare. She held my hand, okay, and
I just remember her grabbing my hand. And then I
(34:35):
woke up in recovery.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, oh yeah, the best sleep ever.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
But they said what I was coming out of the anesthesia.
I have pictures. I looked cool. I they said I
was just but while I woke up and I was
in a little bit of pain in my aftermen, and
I was I'm in so much and I think that
(35:01):
I need drugs or blah blah blah. And then my
girl Samantha on here she said she even woke up
during surgery.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Hap it.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah, everybody's like, oh no, oh no. So I know
that I was like advill knocks me out. My mom
was like, okay, like a sleeping agent in it. So
we don't understand why if I take to atvil, it's
night night. Wow, it is night night for me. So
anesthesia you're light weight. Yeah, I'm a cheap date too.
(35:33):
I'm a cheat day. I'm a cheat date. Yes, yes, yes,
all right, Well we love you You are welcome anytime
we will be following you to keep track of everything
that you got going. You are welcome to be in
touch with us to to say, hey, I'm doing this
or whatever, let's talk about it. Just know that you're
(35:53):
always welcome.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
All right, doctor Singleton, God bless you.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Have a good day.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Oh MG, that was such an amazing interview. He's so
laid back and so chill, but I guess you have
to be that, y'all. He's an anesthesiologist, meaning he got
to put people to sleep for procedures. So I guess
I don't know. He maybe he can't be too jittery
(36:22):
and blah blah blah blah blah. He can't be like
me because sometimes I be turned up. I don't know
if there are personality tests or personalities that are best
suited for certain jobs. Find it. I'm gonna find the
personality tests that are best suited because when I have
a cup of coffee, man, I go bonkers. AnyWho, I'm
(36:44):
just so excited to give y'all this episode of checking in.
I really really hope that you find a nugget or
too that inspires you and just helps you keep going
during this time. I think the last word I want
to share for this episode is shine your light. Wherever
you are, shine your light, wherever you work, shine your light,
(37:07):
and whatever doors you walk through, just be a light.
(37:44):
Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production of iHeartRadio
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