Ep. 45: 17 Brain Surgeries. 7 Misdiagnoses. 13mos ICU

Summary

🎙️ Interesting Humans Podcast – Episode 45: "17 Brain Surgeries. 7 Misdiagnoses. 13 Months ICU"

Release Date: March 20, 2025

Hosts: Jeff Hopeck

Guests: Shawn Francis and Julie Francis

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Introduction and Background

In Episode 45 of the Interesting Humans Podcast, host Jeff Hopeck sits down with Shawn and Julie Francis to delve into a harrowing yet inspiring journey of survival, resilience, and transformation. Shawn, a former U.S. Secret Service Officer turned entrepreneur, shares his battle with alcoholism, a subsequent coma, severe brain trauma, and an arduous path to recovery. Julie, his steadfast wife, provides a complementary perspective, highlighting the critical role she played in Shawn's survival and rehabilitation.

The Descent: Alcoholism and Coma

Shawn opens up about his struggle with alcoholism, detailing how his heavy drinking—consuming 40 to 60 ounces of vodka daily—led to a life-threatening coma. Reflecting on this period, Shawn takes full accountability for his actions:

[02:10] Shawn Francis: "Everyone says it's a disease. You can't blame me. No, I blame myself because I let myself get to that point."

The couple explains the circumstances that culminated in Shawn's coma, including working under a toxic CEO and the added pressure of an impending fatherhood. Julie recognizes the slippery slope Shawn was on and confronts the severity of his addiction.

[04:21] Shawn Francis: "And Julie realized it was a slippery slope."

Surviving the Coma: Medical Prognosis and Hope

Upon succumbing to alcoholism-induced organ failure, Shawn was given less than a 5% chance of survival. Miraculously, he survived through divine grace and unwavering support from Julie, who remained by his side even when he was unconscious.

[03:25] Shawn Francis: "I started hiding the drinking... drank myself into the coma."

Julie recounts their initial outlook during Shawn's six-year battle, emphasizing their choice to face adversity with humor and determination:

[04:56] Shawn Francis: "We choose to laugh about it. And it's a lot more fun laughing about it. And it's a lot easier to get through laughing about it. And it's made us closer."

Recovery: Reconnecting with Faith and Family

Shawn's recovery spanned over two and a half years, marked by intensive physical and cognitive therapy. Key to this journey was Julie's relentless advocacy and emotional support. She took charge of Shawn's medical care, challenging hospital protocols that almost led to his placement in hospice care.

[07:25] Julie Francis: "No, you guys haven't tried hard enough yet."

During this period, the couple also reconnected with their faith, which became a cornerstone of Shawn's rehabilitation. Shawn describes a newfound focus on family and spirituality:

[17:36] Shawn Francis: "Right. Makes sense."

Brain Trauma: Hydrocephalus and Multiple Surgeries

Four years into Shawn's recovery, he faced another formidable challenge: hydrocephalus, a condition where spinal fluid accumulates in the brain, leading to severe infections and the need for 17 brain surgeries over 13 months in the neuro ICU.

[04:38] Shawn Francis: "They finally wound up actually getting, if I remember correctly, a shunt from out of country... and it worked."

Despite being medically declared a lost cause multiple times, Julie's determination prevented Shawn from being placed in hospice. Her intervention was pivotal in securing life-saving surgeries, including a customized pediatric shunt that finally resolved his hydrocephalus.

Julie’s Advocacy: Navigating the Medical System

Julie’s deep understanding of Shawn's medical needs and her ability to advocate effectively against overwhelming odds were crucial. During a critical moment when doctors wanted to place Shawn in hospice, Julie took a stand:

[09:34] Shawn Francis: "Can you act reenact exactly how you say it?... Seriously, say it how you say it to me."

Julie’s confrontation with the medical team exemplifies her role as Shawn’s unwavering supporter:

[09:46] Julie Francis: "I want you guys to put your fucking heads together and go make some goddamn history. And I hung up on him."

Her actions not only saved Shawn’s life but also underscored the importance of having a dedicated advocate in dire medical situations.

Ongoing Medical Issues: Pancreatitis and Lessons Learned

Shawn’s medical saga didn't end with brain trauma. He also battled pancreatitis, a severe inflammation of the pancreas, which Shawn likens to his earlier struggles with alcoholism. This condition further strained his health, emphasizing the necessity of listening to one's body and being proactive in seeking medical attention.

[37:04] Shawn Francis: "He didn't go for anything... he didn't go to the chiropractor because I couldn't leave him home alone."

Julie shares the challenges of managing their daughter's needs alongside Shawn's health crises, highlighting the compounded difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Life After Recovery: Embracing the Present and Building a Purpose-Driven Life

Two years into their recovery, Shawn and Julie have transformed their ordeal into a mission to help others. They partnered with a former colleague to launch a business that supports cancer and brain trauma research, embodying their philosophy of "doing well by doing good."

[40:14] Shawn Francis: "We're building a culture of God-fearing patriots...doing well by doing good."

Their life now centers around living in the moment, prioritizing health, family, and spiritual growth. Shawn emphasizes the importance of living purposefully and with gratitude:

[85:20] Shawn Francis: "Today, I pray for God to help me hear him better, to live life and walk more righteously... making sure I'm doing right by Julie and Helena."

Lessons Learned: Advocacy and Understanding Addiction

Throughout their journey, Shawn and Julie highlight two critical lessons:

1. Advocacy in Medical Care: Without Julie’s intervention, Shawn might not have survived. They stress the importance of being one's own advocate or having someone who can fiercely advocate on your behalf in medical settings.

   [88:48] Host: "And you were going in hospice. But that's the thing in the medical...if you're not your own advocate, there's a good chance you're not going to make it."

2. Understanding Addiction as a Disease: Julie underscores the necessity of recognizing addiction as a disease rather than a choice, which was pivotal in their path to forgiveness and healing.

   [78:52] Julie Francis: "Addiction is a disease, no matter what it is... Nobody wakes up and says, I'm gonna be an alcoholic."

Conclusion: A Story of Redemption and Resilience

Jeff Hopeck concludes the episode by reflecting on the profound vulnerability and strength exhibited by Shawn and Julie. Their story is a testament to the power of love, faith, and unwavering support in overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges. Listeners are left with a powerful message about the importance of advocacy, the recognition of addiction as a disease, and the transformative impact of living with gratitude and purpose.

[89:25] Shawn Francis: "He had us survived, he's having us thrive."

This episode not only chronicles Shawn and Julie's extraordinary journey but also serves as an inspiring guide for anyone facing similar adversities, illustrating that with the right support and mindset, redemption and a fulfilling life are achievable.

Transcript

[Host]

Hey folks, today we're going to, we're going to defy gravity as I like to say it with this story. This one is incredible. I have Shawn Francis and his wife Julie here. So thank you for being here.

[Shawn Francis]

Guys.

[Host]

This, this is a story of stories. So 17 brain surgeries, a total of 13 months in ICU and neuro. ICU. Correct. Which is different. We'll talk about that a little bit. But this, this is a story that just delivered when I did the pre interview. So much hope and inspiration and even just change in mindset in the last couple days since we've been the, since we've been through the, the pre interview. So I want to thank you for that folks. We're going to get right into it. Sean and Julie are going to both talk through their, through their own experiences because there was a lot of times throughout this six year period where Shawn was in either coma or unconscious. Right. So this is just going to be very, very special. So thanks again for start off and tell us how did this, how did it all start?

[Shawn Francis]

So it's, it's, it's fairly complex, but if you keep it straight by realizing there are two medical traumas that we went through. So the second was actually the brain trauma. Six years ago, I drank myself in a coma, changed my life, went straight into living. Right. You know, I was previously, I was drinking 40 to 60 ounces of vodka a day. I was trying to drink myself numb. I was working for a bully CEO who was the worst human being I've ever met. You know, I was nervous because Julie was pregnant. I was feeling pressure because the job felt lower than what I had been previously doing all those things and, and it's my own fault. I take 100% accountability. Everyone says it's a disease. You can't blame me. No, I blame myself because I let myself get to that point. I was going to quit every Monday, every Monday I had a reason to rationally decide, no, next Monday's better.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And I realized it was a slippery slope. Julie realized it was a slippery slope. And you know, I, I started hiding the drinking. I was able to drink at work. I was able to function. I mean I, that CEO that I didn't care too much for. When I had to do my, my meetings with him, I would make sure to take an extra couple hits. I mean I was drinking good when I went in to handle the meeting. So drank myself into the coma. I call it my 16 day nap. Julie in the medical community decides they call it a coma, whatever. Potato, potato, yeah, but it was interesting. So drink myself into the coma. Heart failure, kidney failure, organ shutting down one at a time. They gave me less than a 5% chance to survive. By God's grace, survived, changed my life, reconnected with my faith, focus on my wife, focus on my daughter, in that order. Four years ago, brain infection. That's where the 17 brain surgeries was. When I tell people the story, people gasp. And I always come over the top and say, but it wasn't 20. 20 would have been excessive. And they look at me dumbfounded. And I explained to them, I said, you know, you can complain and cry about it, or you can laugh about it. Yeah, we choose to laugh about it. And it's a lot more fun laughing about it. And it's a lot easier to get through laughing about it. And it's made us closer.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So, you know, we got through that. It was a good. I would say two and a half. Two to two and a half year recovery. I think it was more like 3. A ton of exercises. And, you know, I start off my story saying the same thing. I start and finish it the same way. I say, God is good and I am blessed. And that woman right there is the best human being I've ever met. Not only because she was my voice when I had my brain trauma. She gave me a second chance with my drinking. I didn't deserve it, and I worked every day. Every day. So she doesn't regret it, because I know the sacrifice she made, and I know just the emotional toll and pull it took for her to say, okay, I'll forgive you. Don't do it again, and I'm gonna trust you. And look at that point. What can I say besides that she's the best human being.

[Host]

Yeah. So we have two. We have two different events. Right. So you talked about the drinking and what that led to, but then you were out of the hospital, right? Correct.

[Shawn Francis]

Right.

[Host]

And then this other event is not related at all.

[Shawn Francis]

No.

[Host]

The brain infection?

[Shawn Francis]

No.

[Host]

Okay, what's the name of it? Was there.

[Shawn Francis]

So. Yes, it's. Yeah. So if she's got it, it's called hydrocephalus. Unfortunately, we know way too much about it, and it's not. It's hydrocephalus.

[Julie Francis]

You had both a hydrocephalus and a brain infection. That was the issue.

[Shawn Francis]

Right. The hydrocephalus led to the brain.

[Host]

What is that for? For everybody.

[Shawn Francis]

So what happens in. In. Julie knows. Probably knows more about it than I do. But what happens is your spinal fluid filters through your brain and what happened is it got stuck and it led to infections. And I had a mass that usually if you get a mass, it forms on the right or the left side. Yeah, right in the middle. Because when good or bad, I always say we don't half ass anything. We overachieve. Unfortunately, the same thing with it. Yeah, exactly. All in. So the mass was in the middle of the brain, and they're like, we can't get to it there. And we've got to get the infections out to be able to get the spinal fluid to start filtering through my brain again. So a bunch of surgeries, you know, shunts went in, temporary shunts went in, and they'd fail. Permanent shunts would go in and they'd fail. They finally wound up actually getting, if I remember correctly, not that I remembered then, but from discussions. They got a shunt from out of country, and the neurosurgeon worked 48 hours.

[Julie Francis]

As a pediatric shunt.

[Shawn Francis]

Pediatric shunt. And had to customize it to fit this warped brain. Not surprising. And it worked. Now, the interesting thing is they wanted to put me in hospice. And again, I'm going to go back to best human being I've ever met. She said, no, I'm not approving that. And they asked her a couple times, she can talk you through it because she obviously wanted to put you in hospice. And she said no. Yeah, because they ran out of protocol. They didn't know what else to do. They said, we're going to get them comfortable and let them transition to whatever you guys believe. And they wound up the same surgeon spent about a day and a half researching to try and say, what can we try? They found a tuberculosis case from 1959 where they injected a cocktail. Like a steroid is something different, but like a steroid to break up the infection, then a clotting agent. So you didn't get a brain aneurysm and die. They tried it multiple times. Three or four times. I'm not sure how many exactly. Three or four times, Never. No. No. Patient got off the table. And that was in the lungs, not the brain. Right. So that's about my part of it. And then all hell broke loose for me. Or. Or my naps started.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

You know, and you took over.

[Host]

You really ran the medical care part of it.

[Shawn Francis]

Absolutely.

[Host]

All right, so. So you get a phone call from, I'm guessing, a doctor or a surgeon that says, hey, we're going to put your husband in hospice.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, that was the first. Yeah, that was the first week. They said there's Nothing more we can do. We've already removed those shunts, and there's. There's nothing we can do. We need to put them in hospice. And that was the first week. And I said, no, you guys haven't tried hard enough yet.

[Host]

That was your response? You haven't.

[Shawn Francis]

It wasn't that nice. Don't lie. It was not.

[Julie Francis]

I might have been that nice, but I said, you guys just haven't tried hard enough yet.

[Shawn Francis]

Right?

[Host]

So. So I told. Since our pre interview, I told this story, this to some people, and I said, you've got to realize in here that it wasn't just one doctor, right? It was a group of doctors who all got it wrong, and nothing would happen. You wouldn't be here if you didn't push back and irrelevant. Your pushback was nice, mean in the middle. It doesn't matter what it was. You pushed on them to find what.

[Shawn Francis]

But it wasn't.

[Host]

What did you want them to do?

[Shawn Francis]

But it wasn't one pushback.

[Julie Francis]

It was several.

[Shawn Francis]

It was three different cases.

[Host]

You said they didn't try hard enough. What did you feel? You had to be feeling something. Like what didn't they try?

[Julie Francis]

Well, it was only a week. I mean, they'd only been working on him for a week. So who's to say the next time they try to play something, it's not gonna work? I mean, they told me at the beginning he had about another 5% chance of survival. So I just felt that they weren't working hard enough, that they might have already written him off as, why are we gonna waste our time on this? And, you know, let's move on to other patients that we can actually save. And I just refused to let them do that.

[Host]

And then what happened? How'd that call? So how'd the call end up? Well, yeah, let's start there.

[Julie Francis]

Well, they approached me a couple times, and the third time they approached me, I said, let's get the team together that's been working on them. I want to talk to everybody. But I couldn't go because it was during COVID So I had them on the phone, and that's the only way I could communicate with Shawn was, like, through FaceTime and stuff like that. But so I got everybody to get everybody together, and they all introduced themselves. I wanted to make sure everybody was there. And I said, okay, guys, I'm gonna tell you, don't ask me to put him in hospice again. It's not gonna happen. I said, you guys need to put your fucking heads together and go make some goddamn history. And I hung up on him. I said, don't call me back until you do it. I hung up on him.

[Shawn Francis]

Can you. Can you act. Reenact exactly how you say it? Because that's not how you said it. Say it how you say it to me. Seriously, say it how you say it to me. These are doctors.

[Julie Francis]

I was very mad. I was really mad. Say it. I told him. I said, guys, go make some fucking history. Don't call me back until you figure it out. I hung up on him. I was ir. I was just. I was so irritated with all these brilliant neurosurgeons that they couldn't figure it out.

[Host]

Right.

[Julie Francis]

You know, a team of them. Put your heads together. Go make some history. Wow.

[Host]

All right, then what. How did.

[Shawn Francis]

Well, when they picked their jaws off, the doctors, because they'd never been talked to like that, I'm sure. Then what, honey?

[Julie Francis]

They. They didn't call me back. I would call and check on him. They didn't call me back for like a week or two. So obviously they were racking it. Racking their brains trying to figure it out. And they came back to me with that, the crazy tuberculosis. Like, we can get in and out. We have seven minutes to get in and out. Place the shunt and close them up. We want to do it. I said, absolutely, let's go for it.

[Host]

Did you know about it or.

[Shawn Francis]

I knew. I knew they were going to do a surgery because so, as Julie said, it was during COVID so FaceTime was the only way of seeing them. So they said, we're going to break Covid because we're not going to assure he's going to get him off the table. We're going to give him a chance to say goodbye to his wife and daughter and for them to say goodbye to him. So they gave us. They gave us. Was it 20 or 30 minutes to say goodbye. To say goodbye. And of course, you know, we're all traumatized from this. Helena's, you know, I've got an eight year old daughter, as you know, and she's. She's got pretty severe PTSD from all this too. Well, the doctors all cheered and they're happy to see these guys. When they came in, the doctors and nurses were all there to greet them. Scared Helena. And for the first 10 minutes or so. Yeah. At least it felt like 10 hours. But the first, a third to half of it, Helena was upset and crying, so we couldn't even talk. So the 30 minutes was really more like 20.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Which.

[Host]

Wow.

[Julie Francis]

And I didn't tell him why I was there. I brought him. I brought you a picture book. And I didn't tell him why we were there. I just told him we. They let us in finally.

[Shawn Francis]

I didn't know it was say goodbye until after.

[Host]

So you were allowed in during COVID just because of this one rare. Where were you?

[Shawn Francis]

At Emory, thankfully. Emma here. Yep. Yep. Dr. Huang. Phenomenal.

[Host]

What Ha. So was there like a. An acute event that took place that you had to get rushed to the hospital to find out you had? Hyper hypo hydrocephalus.

[Shawn Francis]

Hydrocephalus.

[Host]

Was it acute? Was it pain in your head?

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. So fall.

[Host]

What happened?

[Shawn Francis]

I never would go to the doctor, I mean, ever. And the headache got. I had a headache for a week. I was in bed for a week. I mean, literally couldn't get out of bed. And if the landscapers were there, it blow me up. She'd have to go out and ask the landscapers to stop. I mean. And I went to the hospital and they said it was a stress headache. They did a CT scan, stress. Came home two days later. I can't take it. Go back. Stress headache. Came back a second time.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

The next day, we have a baby monitor in the bedroom for when Helena's in there alone, sleeping so we can see. I was taking a nap, and I went delirious. And she could see it. And she came in and I started talking to her, and I said, you know, do you want ice cream? And why is this guard looking at me? Why has he got his gun pulled? I'm just crazy. And she called 911. They rushed me to the hospital, and that's when they. They flew me from Johns Creek to main campus, took the helicopter. Dr. Huang, who was the neurosurgeon they wanted, was on vacation not too far away. They got her, brought her back. She performed surgery. Figured I had 45 minutes, an hour before I fixated from the pressure on that brain. Yeah, yeah.

[Host]

So they bring her urine.

[Shawn Francis]

Flight, they're prepping me.

[Host]

They bring her right?

[Shawn Francis]

And then they're prepping me. While they are bringing her back, they're prepping me for surgery. So when she lands, scrubs starts cutting.

[Host]

What did they know in the helicopter to tell? Do you happen to know that, like, what did they tell her? Did they just say, like, this might be a stroke?

[Julie Francis]

No, they told. They knew what it was. They figured out what it was because they did a CT with contrast, which if they would have done the first time that he went in with a headache they would have found it and it would have been a very simple.

[Shawn Francis]

Place to shunt antibiotics with a potential shunt one and done.

[Julie Francis]

Potentially, yeah, maybe a couple days.

[Shawn Francis]

But the shunt might have done it by itself by just taking the infections out.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. So she was well aware of what was going on because the hospital that he was being flown to called me and said, we're going to go over everything right now because we're not going to have time when he lands. He doesn't have enough time. So they went over everything. They said, we do have to call you back. We're just going to ask you for permission to operate on him and that's it. We're not going to explain anything.

[Shawn Francis]

Two sentence discussion. Do we have your approval? Yes.

[Host]

Go, go.

[Julie Francis]

They were gone for like three hours.

[Host]

Did you meet him? Were you able to meet him at the hospital?

[Julie Francis]

I met the. I met the team when I was able to say goodbye to him. I was. And I've met Dr. Wong. Not before that surgery? No.

[Shawn Francis]

Nothing like blind trust, huh?

[Host]

What, what did you. What was the feeling at that point? Did you think that was the last time when they pulled out that you were going to see him?

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, I just panic, just absolute panic, you know, just not being able to do any. You feel helpless, right? You can't do anything. I couldn't help him.

[Host]

And you just watched the helicopter go.

[Julie Francis]

I. I couldn't even go them to the hospital. And they took them because of COVID and the regulations. They took them. They took him out the door. And that was the last time I saw him for almost six months.

[Host]

Oh, my goodness.

[Julie Francis]

Except on FaceTime.

[Host]

Except on Facebook.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. Every day for hours at a time, anytime you wanted.

[Host]

Could you. There's no like visiting hours on FaceTime or anything?

[Julie Francis]

No, but he was funny because he couldn't remember that we would have FaceTime.

[Shawn Francis]

FaceTime three, four, five times a day. And she. We do it again and I get mad. Why have we haven't we talked in two days? I miss you guys. And she's like, honey, we talked four times today. This is the fifth time. So they put a board up and I would start. You know, this is part of the recovery process, I think. I mean, they didn't tell me to do it, but I started, you know, finding cheats. So I. Right. I talked to Julie and I put the time. The date. Yeah, talk to my dad. Put the time, put the date. It's funny because they said that I would only remember impactful conversations. I can remember Dr. Huang and Lindsay, the Nurse that I got close to. I always remembered our discussions once I started writing it on the board because I. I couldn't remember. We talked four times until I looked at it. But I'd remember, oh yeah, they. They cooked out tonight. Oh yeah, they had pancakes for dinner. You know, things, simple things and silly things like that that just. But when I say she's the best human being I've ever met, think about this. So you just heard at a high level, just the. The cognitive irrational thought process that she has the loyalty, the drive, the strength, the courage.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

But then just the creativity. So I didn't know this until I started doing the recovery. But in speech therapy is a big part of the recovery. And it's not so much for your speech, it's really for memory. And I would like go to sleep, take a nap, and I'd wake up, I wouldn't know what day it was. It took me six months to be able to understand AM and pm. I had to learn to read and write again. I mean, all that stuff. But she did all these things. Like, you know that game Simon with the colors and. It doesn't matter. Play that for hours a day in the match game and cards. Hours a day. Oh yeah. And then, then she did note cards and she would write a word. And when I got good at that, then she added in colors. Then she added in actual physical colors, not just the word of the color, like yellow and show a picture of a yellow circle. And she would do things like that. And it would force me to constantly fire new pathways. You know, when neurons fire, they fire neurons and becomes exponential effect. And I worked it like a full time job. Ask her. I would work that. And I'm not exaggerating for hours, 10 to 14 hours a day. Because I looked at it this way. God's given me a third chance at life. So he gave it same chance that we all had. You had two chances. Right? Because.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

You surrendered yourself and you recovered.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Right. But now I'm getting a third chance. After being born, my drinking and the hydrocephalus, I said I better take full advantage everything he's given me and given us. Or that's a sin. Or I'm. I'm. You know, that's just. I'm. I'm throwing it out.

[Host]

Yeah. Makes sense. Okay, that. Is that why you answer better than I deserve?

[Shawn Francis]

Absolutely. Where does that come from? So. And it's the truth. I. Young man, that worked for me. I'm good friends with Matt. You're getting ready to hire him again. Peter Rogowski says every time you ask him how he's doing, he says, better than I deserve. And I. You know, I used to get a little bit annoyed by it. And then I thought about it. I said, why would you be annoyed by that? I mean. And then I thought about my life, and I said, man, what we've gotten through, what she's gotten me through, what I've gotten me through, what he's gotten us through. Yeah, even a bad day is a good day, because this better. Sitting in a damn hospital bed saying, okay, what am I working on today?

[Host]

Right?

[Shawn Francis]

Today's short breaths. Today, long breaths. You know, I mean, just things like. Unbelievable. I just said, even a bad day is a good day.

[Host]

Incredible. All right, so let's go back. Let's stay on that surgery. So you get rushed in, you go through surgery, you come out, you wake up. Let's pick up right there. So you wake up to what?

[Shawn Francis]

I. I won't. I don't remember that. Do you want to know my first memory when I woke up? Okay, so I. I eat like a third grader. Chicken fingers and fries.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Steak. That's about it.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

No, really. An ice cream, but I hated the food there. It, like, I would get plain turkey sandwiches, and they'd be like, the turkey was slimy. But breakfasts were always good. Pancakes and crispy bacon. And so they give. They bring me two breakfasts because they knew it. And I remembered that my first memory is I was excited because they came in and took my breakfast order. That's my very first memory.

[Host]

All right.

[Shawn Francis]

They took my break. Yeah. I figured, he's a fat guy, right? Yeah. But. Yeah, so that was. That was the first bit I remember telling you. How many times they tell you how excited I was. Breakfast is coming out.

[Julie Francis]

We talked about breakfast every day. Every day we talked about breakfast.

[Host]

What was life at home like then during this?

[Julie Francis]

It was hard. It was hard because it was during COVID Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So no friends, no family.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. I had nobody to help me with Helena, so that was difficult because she wasn't in school yet because she was only, what, four?

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

So she wasn't in school yet. And it felt. I mean, like I was just a single parent. I mean, it was just. It was really hard. And the hospital would call me at all hours of the night asking me, can we do this? Can we do that? You know, and.

[Shawn Francis]

But you. You were a single parent. Even before that, though, if you think about. You became a single parent with my drinking.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Right. I mean, it was two years of drinking and then the recovery. You weren't a single parent. But I couldn't be full, you know, because I was.

[Host]

Right.

[Shawn Francis]

Working on getting healthy.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

You were a single parent for longer than that.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. It was just. I thought, I don't know how I get if I'm going to be able to do this again. That's what I thought in my mind.

[Host]

Right.

[Julie Francis]

How am I going to do it again?

[Host]

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Were there staying in this period of time. Did you come out and have any, like, dips?

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, yeah. Like, terribly.

[Host]

Were they calling you and saying, hey, he might not make it through the night, kind of stuff, and.

[Julie Francis]

Or they'd call and they'd say, we need to take them back into surgery. Or I would be talking to him and I'm like, there's something wrong with them. You need to take him down to CAT scan.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. She became part of the team because they couldn't tell when the shunts were failing. Right. Or there's some type of complication from whatever procedure they just run. She could tell within 30 seconds of FaceTiming me. So, again, talk about knowing me.

[Host]

What's an example? What would she tell. What would you tell through your eyes?

[Julie Francis]

He would hallucinate that he would see me and Helena the most when he was doing really bad.

[Shawn Francis]

I would think they were outside of a conference room and I'm in Japan.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And I'm like, hey, when I finish up this meeting, they're behind. I got to get in and, you know, I'll be out. Wow.

[Julie Francis]

He would hallucinate about us. Or just his speech alone would tell me something's not right.

[Shawn Francis]

Wasn't it slurred a little bit? You noticed it would be slurred and.

[Host]

Then that would do what, to this? To this? To the shot? It was actually that mean it was loose?

[Julie Francis]

It would mean it wasn't working. It just wasn't draining fluid fast enough. And it was just putting pressure on.

[Host]

His brain again, you're trying to what, Drain.

[Shawn Francis]

Drain fluid? Well, the infection and then. And you got to get the infections down for the spinal fluid to be able to keep draining.

[Host]

So an in normal. Like, right now? Like, is it working normal for you?

[Shawn Francis]

Well, I hope so.

[Host]

Okay.

[Shawn Francis]

I don't want to jinx it. I'm not answering that question.

[Julie Francis]

Like, no problem for me.

[Host]

Like, what's happening in my body right now? Spinal fluid is going up my spine.

[Shawn Francis]

Filters through your brain. Filters through your brain, and then it.

[Host]

Goes back and then back down.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. But if you're gonna go automatically, and if you're gonna go any deeper than this, I'm. We're getting Dr. Huang on the phone, and you're not giving me a headache.

[Host]

Maybe we. Maybe we will. That would be awesome. Next episode we'll do that. All right. That's incredible. Oh, my gosh. So you get out. How long were you in that time?

[Shawn Francis]

So the first time I was in six months. The second time, I was in six and a half, seven months.

[Host]

Six months at one stay.

[Shawn Francis]

The alcoholism, the pancreatitis was six months.

[Host]

Okay.

[Shawn Francis]

The brain trauma was six and a half, seven months. Two different hospitals.

[Host]

What was the neuro stuff that you talked about? The neuro. Is it.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. So the second time was neuro icu. So that was at main campus, Emory downtown.

[Host]

Okay.

[Shawn Francis]

And what. So we hold the record to have the longest stay in neuro ICU at Emory.

[Julie Francis]

Somebody.

[Shawn Francis]

And walking out on their own and. You know, you like the second part of that, of that, you know, title, right? Not so much the first. But it was really neat, though, when they. When they let me out. This is another good memory. They. So there were basically two shifts of nurses, and both ships came in, plus the folks that had the day off to cheer. And as I came down, they were all cheering as I. As I left the hospital. You know how you see that on TV sometimes when kids or adults. Cancer. They did something similar. I was like, I can't believe I'm going home. And then I got in the car and, you know, because we were in the front. Julie parked it. I get. I've got goosebumps. Julie parked. They both got off first. Julie came and hugged me, and Helena was getting out, and she jumped in my arms, and we got in the car, and we just got settled for a second. And Helena.

[Julie Francis]

Sungwana song. She sings all the time.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh. And, I mean, we're already crying. Yeah.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Awesome. What's. I don't know the title of the song.

[Julie Francis]

I don't know either. Yeah, I don't know that it's the one that says I'm not the perfect daughter in it. And he just lost.

[Shawn Francis]

I know. I'm not perfect daughter.

[Host]

So cool.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. So it was just. It was.

[Julie Francis]

And he came home against medical advice.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. Yeah. Ama.

[Host]

You did.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah.

[Host]

Six months.

[Shawn Francis]

So tell her. Tell her.

[Julie Francis]

He would. He would ask me a lot to come and get him when he was in the hospital, and I couldn't, but.

[Shawn Francis]

I went to rehab, so I went to rehabilitation for the brain trauma so I could come home because I Had the mentality of a six year old and it was probably less than that.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And they said, let's get him in rehab. He can stay here for, you know, a couple months, get his faculties back, be functioning before he goes home. So it's not a burden for her and a burden for Helena, but obviously more so for her. And the insurance company got all screwed up. I wound up staying by myself, you know, for another four or five days. And then when I finally got there, I finally told her, I said, helena. I mean, now I call her mommy. I said, mommy. Listen, uncle, okay, I've never given up in my life on anything ever in my life. I've never. I haven't succeeded in everything, but I've never given up. I gave up. I said. They said, I'm done, Uncle. I can't do it.

[Julie Francis]

And I knew it.

[Shawn Francis]

Can't do it anymore. I couldn't.

[Host]

And that was it.

[Julie Francis]

That was it. And I wouldn't got him. I knew at that point if I didn't. If I didn't go get him, he was gonna break and that was gonna be it. I mean, there was no way he could stay there.

[Shawn Francis]

I think I was broke and you fixed me by doing that. And then, then they screwed us because they were so pissed off because we checked out against their. They. They took the PICC line out. And the last thing that I was getting was three doses of antibiotic, like a real heavy antibiotic that had been, you know, injected. It couldn't be pill formed because it was that strong. So I took the PICC line out. I had no way of being able to get to myself. So I'm home now. If I don't get this. Well, you handle that. You. Dr. Huang found out. You know, she contacted Dr. Huang. Dr. Huang contacted the pharmacy because it was like 9:00 at night.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Pharmacy's closing. Kept the pharmacy open. We got there at like 10:45. So this is an hour, four or five minutes after. Close to get it.

[Host]

And.

[Shawn Francis]

And we know how to. You know, I've got diabetes from the alcoholism.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So injecting is not the issue. Yeah, but that was funny because I said, it's a big syringe. I said, squeeze my leg. I go, make sure you squeeze it. I said, squeeze it like this here. Well, she thinks she's got to squeeze it really hard. So she clamps on. She squeezes it. I go through the roof. She goes through the roof. Then it goes flying. I'm like, all right, let me. Let's start over.

[Julie Francis]

That's how it's gonna be.

[Shawn Francis]

You don't have to squeeze it.

[Julie Francis]

That's how it's gonna be.

[Shawn Francis]

But here's the thing. We have laughed more in the last six years. Really? The last four years, especially the last year.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And it's because you can complain and cry about it. You can laugh about it. And so here's an example. We have a rule. The fat guy made it, which is when you have cookies, you don't leave one. You go in the pantry, grab the other bag because I don't want to come to get one cookie, Right?

[Host]

Right.

[Shawn Francis]

Well, she grabs. She grabs. She grabs the Chips Ahoy bag and says, who left one cookie? And I'm sitting there on the couch all cocky and I go, not me. It wasn't me. And she goes, how the fuck do you know? And I was like, oh.

[Julie Francis]

I'm like, you had a phone with your mom?

[Shawn Francis]

I was on the phone with my mom.

[Host]

Right.

[Shawn Francis]

And I'm laughing my ass off. Right. But then she nicknamed, every, every time she would FaceTime, she nicknamed it 50 First Dates. You remember the movie where Drew Barrymore every morning woke up with insomnia.

[Julie Francis]

I would have to explain to him every day almost what was going on.

[Shawn Francis]

And I can remember on the board, Covid. You know, there's Covid. That's why your family's not here. They love you, they miss you. You know, it was on that same board that we had up that vision board. So. But then there were other like, genius things, like when I was asleep and I'd wake up and, you know, I take a nap and I'm bed. And I'd wake up, I'm like, oh, my God. You know, Cuz you panic, right?

[Host]

Sure.

[Shawn Francis]

You know, when you wake up, you're unsettled. Think about being unsettled and having 17 brain scrambles and you don't know, morning from night, nothing. You went to bed, you know, you laid down for a nap at 1:00, at 3, you probably. It's probably about 3:00 you woke up. We're outside playing, you know, just stuff like that. Tonight we're gonna dinner at Face, you know, and just things like that. And it was those types of elements. And then think about the memory games that she put in. So all these things. My speech therapist is taking notes. She says, I'm gonna use that. Yeah, Establishing routine makes all the sense in the world. She goes, what made you think of that? And she said, well, I did this. I do the same thing with my daughter. And I did it with my daughter and me. When he's doing this, the routine takes out that, that anxiety. Okay, what's next? Right. So every time you compute. So this is Best human being I've ever met. I'm gonna keep saying it. Yeah. Beautiful and smart. It's not a bad combination.

[Host]

What is? Right? What is long and short term effects of all this stuff, like with your. Like with memory.

[Shawn Francis]

So it, it was, it was, I want to say three year recovery, if I'm going to be honest. It was a four year recovery. The first two. The first six months. She couldn't leave home until nine to 12 months. Right before you left me alone because we were afraid I'd turn the oven on and keep it on, leave the fridge door open. I mean, I had the mentality of a six year old.

[Host]

So your brain, like reset or.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, no, it's just. Yeah, it went back. I've got to redevelop. I had to learn to read and write again. I had to learn, I mean, everything. Everything. So the. I started to. You can say plateau. I actually. And I, I think you'd agree. I started to egress at about 18 months. And at two years, I finally was allowed to drive alone. So I had good therapy by. I would take the vet for a drive, but I couldn't go too far, and I had to make sure I had the gps. Right. Because I would get lost and it had to be short. And same thing with my walks. I'd walk a mile and I'd walk straight so I could come back.

[Host]

Right.

[Shawn Francis]

But, you know, at two and a half months, I was able to take Helena by myself and not at two.

[Julie Francis]

And a half months.

[Shawn Francis]

All right, I'm sorry. Two and a half years. Sorry, Two and a half years. Yes.

[Julie Francis]

Two and a half years.

[Shawn Francis]

Yes. Sorry. Two and a half years. I'm sorry. Thank you. So that at that point, my recovery went through the roof. And I said to Dr. Huang, she goes, how's it going? I go, I feel. We both feel like it's not egress anymore. I go, in fact, it's, it's. It's starting to fast track again. She goes, I'm not surprised. She goes, every time you're in a new situation, you're firing new neurons, it goes. Even if you go to the same place twice, you're with different people. Helene's playing and doing something different. She's hanging out with different kids. You're fighting new neurons. Which fire neurons was fire neurons. And it went through the roof on that and then the other big thing on the recovery. Two things. The. I started doing the ice plunge challenge. Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So. So I'm addicted to it. It's my new vodka soda water, and ice bath to become my new drinking fix, which I. I think is a good trade, by the way. Yeah. But it's great. She said. She said it makes all the sense. The world. And you see me huffing it out here.

[Host]

Oh, yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

You know, five, six days a week. And the reason being is I can do it because of the ice bath, because it literally. Your body recoveries and you play sports, you know, like.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And. But the best part is the clarity of thought, because it releases all these toxins, and it's getting your circulation better. Because I go underneath for the first minute, and then I'll take time. Oh, yeah. Periodically going underneath, and it went through. But the number one thing. So all that stuff worked. All that stuff. They were catalysts. The number one catalyst was her. One day, she saw me getting frustrated, and I actually broke. I started to break down as I. She was sitting next to me, and she turned my face right to me, and she looked at this far away from me, eye to eye. I won't do it to you, because that'd be creepy. And she said, that beautiful brain is still there, and I still love you as much as I did before. And all of a sudden, I went, okay. She still loves me. She still sees me for the man that I am now. Now I'm going. So it. Even a rough day, you know, a hard day where I feel like I'm just. I'm struggling. And even yesterday, I had a rough day, and I said it. And I actually said it to you. I said, yeah. I said, yes, I have a rough day. She got me out of it. So she knows my. My favorite time is family time.

[Host]

Yeah, for sure.

[Shawn Francis]

I mean, the best. Beautiful out. And I said, hey, if you're up for it, because she. She's got a collapsed lung, by the way. She's got bronchitis. Yeah. She's recovering from a collapsed lung, so. So she's been on it. She's been on her back. She's been in bed for. For weeks. He just got out of bed, like, four days ago and just got out of the house yesterday. And she's like, hey, I'm by Arby's. I'm gonna get dinner. You want to have a picnic out at the park? I'm like, yeah, I want to have a picnic out at the park. I've been wanting that Forever. Right. So all of a sudden, that day of confusion and all, I. I came back. I felt I was sharp again. And the rest of the day, it was glorious. Vanished. Yeah. I keep saying it. Best human being I've ever met. Right. Because she sees it. Right?

[Host]

She sees it. Yeah. Is the bad day. Is it just like a normal bad day and that's fine, or is it a bad day because of something memory wise?

[Shawn Francis]

It's. Well, it's. So it becomes a downward spiral because I'll see myself forgetting stuff and I get very frustrated. It's not like you lose your phone because everyone does that. It's stuff that. Hey, yesterday, there's a box that she wanted to save. So I have to try and relax. That I got.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And I. Three times I tried to throw a box out. And three times she said, don't throw the box out. I want to look at it because there's some directions. And I said, you know, and that's how it started. And then just cut it. And what happens is then I get frustrated. And the second time it happens, then I'm already. I'm waiting for it to happen a third time. To pounce on it, to get mad at myself, becomes a downward spiral.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So you know the process of rewinding the brain. Right. It's all about rewiring the brain. And that's what I've spent a lot of time reading. Jordan Peters. Peterson or listening to him. I don't read a lot. Yeah. Listening to me and talking about rewiring the brain. And I started doing research on rewiring the brain. And it works. Right. But she. And we've talked about it and she's working on it too. But the thing is, she knew I needed to be set back off that course I was going. She knew I needed different neurons firing. She rewired the situation, which helped me rewire my thought process.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. Anytime he gets stressed out, he will go backwards. Even now if he's very, very stressed, he can rest a year. It's crazy. It happens so fast.

[Shawn Francis]

Absolutely. I could regret to the point where I don't know if I. I should be driving alone.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. Where he can't find his way home. He can't. And it happens just like that. It's all from stress.

[Host]

So you know that it's happening or you have to catch.

[Shawn Francis]

I can see it. I can feel it now. It used to be she had to catch. I can feel it now.

[Julie Francis]

He can feel it now.

[Host]

Yeah. You must know.

[Shawn Francis]

I try and be real. I try and be as self aware as I can be. I mean, it's just, I, I got to. It's out of survival. Right. It's not a safety for her and for her. You know what? My focus is on safety for these guys.

[Host]

Yeah, Right.

[Shawn Francis]

It's unsafety for them.

[Host]

I've just, it's so you gotta know him.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, she knows me better than I know myself.

[Host]

Beyond, like beyond anything. Even fat.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Host]

So. So this hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalusepalus is hereditary?

[Shawn Francis]

Yes. 1% of the people had it.

[Host]

Tell us about that. So who gets it? How do they get it? What do you know about it?

[Shawn Francis]

So I, I don't know a ton. But I know the, the Cliff Notes that are important, which is 1% of people have it. Usually if it's. It usually it doesn't show itself. People who live their whole lives never know it if it does. If it does. You usually get it as a kid and it's typically, it's not advanced. It's typically antibiotics and you're done. I'll go back to the we don't half ass anything.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

All in or not.

[Host]

Right.

[Shawn Francis]

We. Well, that's an example. I just lost it. I just, I just lost my thought.

[Julie Francis]

What are you talking about? It's either infants or older people.

[Shawn Francis]

Yes.

[Julie Francis]

Normally where it presents itself, not a.

[Shawn Francis]

Middle aged person, is when you run into more complications. And of course we overachieve in good and bad. Yeah, we waited until we were that old.

[Host]

Did you know you had it?

[Julie Francis]

No. There's no way to know.

[Shawn Francis]

No idea. We didn't know. We didn't know until this happened.

[Host]

How do kids know?

[Shawn Francis]

Well, I think. Can they do a genetic test? I mean a blood test on it?

[Julie Francis]

I think, I believe they can. Well, what happens is if you've ever seen like elephantitis elements, it's of the head. It's a lot of times it's the fluid that's built up in the head. And that's why you see that. Yeah, that's, that's, it's. You're not going to know you have it until it presents itself. Yeah, but normally they catch it. And this doctor that didn't think to do the CT with contrast just blew itself.

[Shawn Francis]

Well, and the other thing too, is it back then I was not listening to my body. Yeah. And I wasn't, you know, I, I always say God talks, we don't listen.

[Host]

Right.

[Shawn Francis]

He's telling me that too. Right. Because if you don't think. He told me that with the drinking. Yeah, Right. But I waited too long. Right.

[Julie Francis]

Well, I mean, we, but we had no idea. I mean, it was a stress headache. What are you gonna do?

[Shawn Francis]

I mean, yeah, they would have sent me home either way.

[Julie Francis]

I mean, they gave him pain pills.

[Shawn Francis]

But they said, they said, we have no idea how you're, how are you? And they said the same thing with the gallbladder, how you're watching. Yeah, it's functioning. I don't know. But I, I, I've, I like to say I've become more acute to, or, you know, more cognizant of listening to my body. And then, what was it, two years ago, my gallbladder almost exploded. So I'm like, I got pancreatitis. I got pancreatitis. I've got chronic, not chronic pancreatitis. I've got acute, you know, periodic pancreatitis. So it'll just all of a sudden, we were 10.

[Host]

Flare up or whatever.

[Shawn Francis]

But it hurt, it hurt. It hurt. And finally I said, I've got to go. I've got to go to er. So I go to er. Well, he rushed me into surgery to remove my pain or my gallbladder because they thought it was going to explode. This urgency. Said to me, I've never seen such a diseased gallbladder in my life. He goes, how were you walking? And I said, it hurt. You know, what are you gonna.

[Host]

That was the least of you. Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So. So I've been trying to listen to my body a lot more without becoming a hypochondriac. Gosh.

[Host]

Incredible. So what, what I think everybody, what I hope they hear is not in a bad way, but just don't trust the advice that you get all the time. Like, just because they.

[Shawn Francis]

Right. Well, I, I think, well, what I think it is, is, yes, I would say it differently. I think you have to be your own advocate. And if you can't be your own advocate, you better have a good advocate again, best human being, Right?

[Host]

You're not even here. Without her advocacy, he would have been gone.

[Julie Francis]

He would have been gone the first time because he flatlined with the pancreatitis when everything shut down.

[Shawn Francis]

And with her in the room, with.

[Julie Francis]

Me in the room, and they only shocked him one time. And I looked at him, I said, what are you doing? Shock him again.

[Host]

Really?

[Julie Francis]

And they shocked him again. He came back because they written him off because he had a 5% chance of survival. His kidneys failed. His heart was failing. I mean, he could, Couldn't breathe on his own.

[Shawn Francis]

Well, they shocked me a couple times. And then they gave up. They shocked twice and gave up. Because I remember Beulah telling us that was it.

[Julie Francis]

Twice. I only remember doing it once. I was standing there. I'm like, what are you doing?

[Host]

Right. Yeah. Again.

[Julie Francis]

Do it again. Like, But. But they had written them off at that point.

[Shawn Francis]

Well, protocols are shocked twice, right? They shocked twice.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

She goes, no, you're not done.

[Host]

Incredible.

[Shawn Francis]

And it.

[Host]

Here's the thing, though, right? It didn't end here. This is a lot. And this is so much. This is four years. But we have more to go in this story, right? So things were good. And then.

[Shawn Francis]

And I'll help Brooklyn, so, you know, you change your life. We had a really close friend of mine from work at Pure Red moved in with us. We have, like, a basement apartment moved in with us. We. He's family, right? I mean, he is. He's family. He introduced us to North Point Community Church. We started going there. We got addicted to that. That's my other vodka, too, now.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

You know, I've got multiple vodkas, and they're all good. Good for me, too. And we just got really, you know, ingrained in the church and started, you know, we loved the sermon. It was relevant. It was relatable. And I wound up getting baptized two years ago in April.

[Julie Francis]

We thought it was probably good.

[Shawn Francis]

I got sprinkled as a. As a. As a baby. Like.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

I grew up. She grew up Italian Catholic. I grew up Irish Catholic. Guilt on guilt, and guilt on guilt on guilt. But this church said, you know, it was much more of a celebration, more of a not a thou shall not, but this is how you should live.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Not don't do this or this or this. It was, do more of this, do more of this. Do more. And, you know that the more we got into that, the more it was pulling me. I started leading the men's group, you know, just. We love it there. And started walking every day. You know, I see you out there.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Going much faster than me, so. And I'm.

[Host]

Because I want a golf cart chasing a kid.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. Yeah. Fair enough.

[Host]

Running in front of a car.

[Shawn Francis]

Fair enough. Yeah. Fair enough. So, you know, so I started spending a ton of time, you know, really focusing on health and healing. Right. Everything I wanted to do in life was around health and healing. So health is do good for myself. Healing was do good for others and do good for my family and enjoy that and living in the moment. And, you know, I spent my whole life worried about tomorrow. My whole life worried about. I mean, you know, if I had $10. I needed 20.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

If I had 40, I needed 150, you know, and it. I stopped doing that, and I was looking back, and I still, at times, will go. Every morning, I have a folder of pictures that I look at every morning and every night. And the pictures start out with me in the hospital bed in Tacoma. And it progresses too well. It progresses to me having the ventilator off and being out of it. No. And then me being out of the coma. And then Julie laying in bed with me, smiling as I'm asleep at the hospital. Yep. In the hospital bed, I still have all the IVs in me. I mean, I had 11 lines, ports and 22 lines. And then so her laying in bed with me with her arm around the spine, and I can still see it. And then me standing up for the first time, and then all of us together. And I go through that list. I mean, that chronology, and it gets me from. Make good decisions to live in the moment. Right. And it sets me for the day for the right mo.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And then it sets me for night for peaceful sleep. And then I pray in grace and gratitude. That's the other thing. I'm off. So I was on. This is like an Oprah show. I'm. Or an AA meeting. I. I forgot what I was saying.

[Julie Francis]

You were. You were on a bunch of medications.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, yeah. I was on seven psychiatric medications and two, like, general medications for, like, gout.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And stuff. I'm off. All of them.

[Host]

All of them.

[Shawn Francis]

All of them. Grace and gratitude.

[Host]

Oh, my God.

[Shawn Francis]

All embrace and gratitude. So on the health and healing journey of my research and Jordan Peterson.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

The. If you focus on grace and gratitude. So, grace, what do you do? Well, every time I see you, you did me wrong. I don't think about you doing me wrong. I'm over it. I'm not gonna let you do it again. I still don't like you.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

But I'm not. I'm not reliving the details of that moment. And then gratitude, the. Physiologically, they've proven the part of your brain you can only. Typically, you can only have one emotion that dominates that you're feeling. So if I say right now, you're not going to say six things out of the gate. The first thing you say is typically your dominant feeling.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

That if. If gratitude is the dominant feeling, it actually puts up a firewall. So anxiety and depression and all those things driven by PTSD can't become the dominant emotion in your brain. So it helps you rewire your Thinking process. I. That's what got me off the psychiatric medications. I think the ice bath is what got me off the. The physical.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

You know, like the gout medication. I think that was the. Because my. My pancreas started producing insulin again. It's not enough. I still. I still have to shoot some insulin, but I'm shooting like, a third of the amount, and it's reducing. I don't know if it's a. It might recover. They've never seen. They never saw anyone have their kidneys come from. Like, they put me. They're putting me on the kidney donation list. They've come back. They're fully functioning. I just had blood work done. Dead nuts, green from the drinking.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And the pancreas that they thought I might have killed. Oh, we got to tell the. The blood clot story. Yeah, there's one.

[Host]

This is the. So we're moving now in the timeline of the trip that you took, and that's the biggest.

[Shawn Francis]

Yep.

[Host]

Right. So that's two years ago. You all get a camp, an rv.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Yeah. So. No, no, no, no. Yep, you've got it. Right. So two years ago, we. I think you. It was your idea. We always talked about renting an RV and doing that, just going wherever. And she's like, let's run an rv.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So we're gonna do spring break, and we were gonna do the southeast, and we driven three or 400 miles. And I said, yeah, I. I don't feel great. I'm gonna pull over. So I pulled over, and I said, I'm gonna take a leak. And typically, I like to pee outside. So I went outside, even though I got a bathroom in the rv, and I went. Came back inside within two minutes. I was unconscious. I had a seizure. Seizure bit my tongue, bleeding all over the place. So thankfully, I pulled over. Julie had Helena get her phone because she was holding me, and I'm bleeding all over. I'm bleeding like a stuck pig. Right? Because I cut. I almost. I mean, I bit my tongue on both sides really hard from it, you know, when I had the seizure. So she got. She got Helena to get her phone. She called, you know, she had Helena. Helena knows. Dial 911, but.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And handed her phone. They called 91 1, got me, and, you know, took a while to get. Get home, get settled, but we got to go home. Got settled, and. But think about that. I. How many times have I say. Have you heard me say, God talks? We got to do better listening. Right? And I pray on that every morning and every night to listen better. He told me to pull over because I didn't feel great.

[Host]

What did you feel like?

[Shawn Francis]

I. I was just. I was feeling a little bit claustrophobic to the point where, you know, we. We were talking yesterday when it's. Things start to condense and start to blacken around you, and my stomach started getting upset, and I'm like, this doesn't feel right. This isn't. I'm not it. You know, Peace. I'm not it.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Even I'm not balanced right now. Something's wrong. So I pulled over.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Two minutes later.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Host]

Wow. The hospital after that.

[Shawn Francis]

Yep.

[Host]

Where?

[Julie Francis]

I don't even know where.

[Shawn Francis]

Lj. Lj. Lj.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. Somewhere.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. No, that's where your cousin.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Host]

You're in the North Georgia mountains.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. Yeah. And. Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

I mean, yeah, we were going to Nashville.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. Trying to get the. Tell the people where I. Where we were because. To get them to him. Because I was in a Kroger parking lot or something like that. And I just told him what I was seeing around. Around me because I had no idea where we were at. And I didn't look at his street before we pulled into the parking lot. And I couldn't let him go because he was jerking around so much.

[Host]

Yeah. So, you know.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. And finally somebody at dispatch said, I know where they're at. And they. And the cops got there first. I don't know.

[Shawn Francis]

GPS of the phone, don't you think?

[Julie Francis]

I don't know. I don't know. One of the cops figured it out where I was, just from the description.

[Host]

So your North Georgia mountains. You got the rv, they come ambulance. Ambulance to local hospital. I guess so. And then what happens there?

[Shawn Francis]

So that was interesting because I was. Obviously. I came back and I was cognizant. In the next morning, I knew everything they were able to explain, and I was able to understand everything that happened. But now I'm thinking, is this going to be my life now? Or something wrong with shots? And I'm not going to have life anymore. Right. So now we're nervous about that. And I'm like, how do I get in with Dr. Huang? Because this woman, I mean, she's. She's as specialized and good as she is. Most of her time is going to be applied in surgeries. Right. So, yeah. But she saw what happened. We got in quickly. She listen to this. So she does a ct. We did do a CT scan. And she comes back and says, well, obviously. Great. She goes, actually, it was a blessing in disguise. I'm like she said, yeah, because the shunts that she said I was very, very happy with where the shunts were placed. She said if for me to get them where they were or where they are now from where they were, I probably would have killed you. It actually had this shunt shift just a little bit to be better. She goes, at this point, you'll survive a nuclear winter. I don't know if I want that, but it's good to know.

[Host]

Oh my goodness.

[Shawn Francis]

Yep.

[Host]

So when it. What was it like? It was a seizure.

[Shawn Francis]

It was just from all the brain trauma. So I wound up having to go back and do neural checkups for another 18 months. In fact, I graduated from them last month, so I don't have to go back to them or my neurosurgeon unless I had a problem. That was also Emory, so yeah, he was part of the same departmental team.

[Host]

So it's quant. Say the name again that you keep.

[Shawn Francis]

Huang.

[Host]

Huang.

[Shawn Francis]

Yep. H O A N G Lady.

[Julie Francis]

Yep.

[Shawn Francis]

Kimberly Huang.

[Host]

Neurologist.

[Shawn Francis]

Yep. Neurosurgeon.

[Host]

Neurosurgeon actual.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. Actually she's. What's pretty cool is she's. She's. You want to. So she's currently doing work with. She's. She's testing large primates, human trials. Next, a cure for brain cancer where she surgically implants smart microbots where she. That that seek out and destroy the cancer cells and leave the healthy ones alone. If it works, it might be applicable for many mass tumor cancers. Kidney, pancreatic, ovarian, breast. So we're trying to accelerate her work. In fact, Julie and I are owners of a business that. Well, take a step back and maybe talk about illness worries.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

I mean, if you want to. So during. During the time of the brain trauma, a former colleague of mine I used to mentor at ge, I was the head of a HR for GE business. And she was a young, high potential talent that we were trying to fast track. Survived stage three breast cancer. And she was also at Emory and she was so torn up from the radiation, she couldn't wear a bra. And her and her fiance designed shapewear that incorporates in the bra. And after the fourth iteration, her doctor said it's approved to go patent it. So she penned it, we went into business together and we started listening on Amazon in six weeks, which is pretty cool. And here's the cool thing. Two arms of the business for profit. Not for profit. The non for profit. Half the money is going to the Emory Winship Cancer Institute that saved her life and half's going to my neurosurgeon that saved mine. And that that money will be able to help her with the brain trauma. And, you know, so I say we're gonna try and do well by doing good. So my business partner, Lillian Hamilton and. And her fiance, Michael Reed, we go by the Creed. We're building a culture of God fearing patriots. Right. And that we're going to do well by doing good. But it's amazing to see all those nightmares you hear about Big Pharma. It's true. We have huge challenge with big Pharma starting to come after our shapewear company. Because if you think about it, it takes out the reconstructive surgical business and it takes out a lot of other complications that lead to needed drugs in pharmaceuticals. So they're coming after us. The, the cert, the reconstructive surgery. Vertical, vertical is coming after us. So. But I was, I met a guy here in, in, you know, the community here who used to be CEO for a chemo business. So it was a targeted chemo business business. Said big pharma was all over him. But what they would do is they would take, you know, cells from the mass and they would shoot different strains of chemo. And the most effective one is the one they'd obviously use. And then that, what that did is it reduced the amount.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And the efficacy. Big Pharma came after them for that because it's going to go into their wall.

[Host]

Sure it is.

[Shawn Francis]

I mean, you think about it. So that, that is disgusting. That person. But you know what we're going to keep at home? Yeah, we're going to keep that.

[Host]

I had a brain surgeon on a couple episodes ago. Piedmont or north side? Yeah, north side. And it's interesting. He just posted. I saw it yesterday on Instagram. He was at a. Whatever it is, a glioblastoma type of.

[Shawn Francis]

Like that's what she's testing it on.

[Host]

Okay, so that's what you're talking about. I just saw that yesterday. They made a giant stride forward that they announced yesterday in getting to this.

[Shawn Francis]

They had. They had one. They. They had a big announcement. I thought you're talking about the big announcement last year. They had one yesterday. I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna research.

[Host]

He just posted it on his Facebook stories yesterday. There's like a big. If you try, can you get to. It happened.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, no, just send it to me when you get a chance. I didn't mean to interrupt you.

[Host]

No, no, I will for Sure. I was so encouraged by it. Like, it was just a really cool.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. No, she. So I. I had lunch. It was pretty cool. I had lunch with her and Matt Ryan because they did a. They did a Shark tank.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

At Emory. And she was one of the three presenters and he was one of the judges. So I got to have lunch with him. And it was amazing to hear.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

I mean, and she. She was getting, like, really good results for, you know, what she's seen already.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So I. I have huge optimism and I. I have even as good of optimism of saying it's not just going to be for the geoblastoma, but the.

[Host]

All the way.

[Julie Francis]

All the real tough ones.

[Shawn Francis]

Yep. What tumors?

[Host]

What did I miss? Through your eyes? I know. We glowed. It was like we glossed over the story. What. What stands out, though? Like, what major areas did we miss?

[Julie Francis]

I think probably the. When he went in for the pancreatitis and he was so sick, I was disgusted with the fact that. That originally they put on a trainee to take care of him because he had a 5% chance of survival. So I felt like he was like a guinea pig.

[Host]

Yeah. They just like put him in the corner.

[Julie Francis]

She came in one, and I was. Happened to be sitting in there, and she had something in a syringe. And I said, what are you injecting him with? And she said, penicillin. And I said, did you read his bracelet? I literally slapped her hand because she was like, had it like in the thing. I literally slapped it out. I said, did you read his wristband? Who would have killed.

[Shawn Francis]

Yep.

[Julie Francis]

And I said, out, get out, get out, get out, get out. And I said, I want the head nurse. I said, she comes back in this room, I'm own this hospital. I'm killed him.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Host]

Because of like a severe allergy.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I've been allergic to penicillin. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Host]

And they don't read your bracelet, like.

[Shawn Francis]

Right. And it's red. So I got it. That's why I was going to laugh and say, you know, like, you know, you get bracelets. Right. But you put a big red bracelet right here, which means allergy written in black ink. Penicillin or pnc.

[Julie Francis]

Because they were having problems because he had so much infection in his body. I mean, he had.

[Shawn Francis]

I got sepsis. And the worst kind of sepsis that, by the way, the most effective way to. To deal with it is penicillin.

[Julie Francis]

They couldn't. They had to mix like five antibiotics together. And he got these horrible blisters. All over his body.

[Shawn Francis]

I, if nothing else, like to keep things exciting. And she's lucky for.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, I think the first. The first. Yeah, the first round of it really showed me. Yeah.

[Host]

All right. So that happens.

[Julie Francis]

So that happens. Well, then I got the best two nurses that they had because I basically told, I'll own this hospital. There's a mistake made on him, because I know you're not looking at him as a patient anymore because he has a 5% chance of survival. You don't know him. I do.

[Shawn Francis]

Oz and Paul.

[Julie Francis]

He'll be fine.

[Shawn Francis]

Oz and Paul.

[Julie Francis]

But, yeah, while he was in the coma, they had to run tests on him and said, well, if we run this test, it's going to destroy his kidneys, but if we don't run it and part of his pancreas is deceased, that'll kill him. You know, what do you want to do? You know? So it was either bad or worse decisions is basically what the options were for me. For months at a time, every day, it felt like there was something.

[Shawn Francis]

But they figured I was going to be on dialysis and kidney transplant.

[Julie Francis]

Right. They had to put him on dialysis.

[Shawn Francis]

She was going to blow up my kidneys.

[Julie Francis]

I destroyed his kidneys for about five days only, which was surprising because then he. Because I remember sitting there one day and I'm like, is that urine in his bag? I'm like, what's going on here? And they. They. They're like, we've never seen it before. And his kidneys just started coming back, but he was on dialysis for a couple weeks. You were on dialysis?

[Shawn Francis]

It was agitating, too. I can remember that part of it was.

[Julie Francis]

You were asleep.

[Shawn Francis]

I know. Even though I was just gonna say. Even though I knew I was in the coma, I could. Was I more agitated? I don't know. You tell me.

[Julie Francis]

I. Yeah, you were more agitated.

[Shawn Francis]

Because I felt it. Because I can remember the feeling. I remember getting pissed off and trying to tell you guys to stop.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, you were agitated.

[Shawn Francis]

Well, that was the most frustrating thing, being in the coma. Oh, thank you. Because I. Well, you had a great host. You are.

[Host]

I'll tell you, I don't edit this out, by the way.

[Shawn Francis]

Good. Yeah, you're a great host. It would be better if you hit it on heels. That's right. Just all you do is process improvement.

[Host]

Yeah. All right, so. All right, then. What else? That's two major things.

[Shawn Francis]

But they were all shocked, though, when they saw urine. They said they'd never seen that before.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, that was like A good thing. That was a great. Yeah, that was incredible working. Yeah. I was like, what's going on? Because he hadn't produced any urine in forever. Like, forever. Like, it was just like he just wasn't. Because they were putting fluids in his body, but nothing was coming back out. So that's why they had to start the dialysis after the. After the MRI with a contrast that destroyed. But the good thing was is that the pancreas was not deceased. So I was a little bit irritated, but they said. But we found a blood clot right behind it that would have killed him. So we got lucky finding the blood to the list.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, I mean, it was behind the pancreas.

[Julie Francis]

It was behind it was it.

[Shawn Francis]

And they said within months that that would have dislodged anybody.

[Host]

Kill them. So they were able to open it.

[Julie Francis]

Up or they gave him medications. Yeah, medication.

[Shawn Francis]

And then vehicle for it. Wow.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. And then everything just started coming back slowly for him. I mean, it was. He would just. It was a long process, but everything just started working again. Except the pancreas, of course, because he's.

[Shawn Francis]

Still in the penicillin, but the pancreas is starting to. I mean, it's. So there's hope.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. You never recover. Your pancreas never recovers. There's no medication for pancreatitis. Yeah, there's none. It's just time. And it never healed well.

[Host]

They don't take it.

[Shawn Francis]

There's a pretty risky surgery if you have chronic pancreatitis. Yeah, but it wouldn't be.

[Host]

What's that?

[Shawn Francis]

No, it's not worth the visit.

[Host]

Their name for the surgery or.

[Shawn Francis]

I can't remember. I. I looked at it a while back. Sounds. But yeah.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, he has. He has pain periodically. Sometimes we'll have pain for a week. And we just say we watch him because it will flare up. And they said it's gonna happen. There's no medication. There's just time. And it's never gonna heal all the way.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

It's damage.

[Shawn Francis]

It's a reminder.

[Host]

What's it flare up? Like, start feeling pain?

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, yeah. No, if. If it get. If it's a bad one, you can't. You can't walk. I mean, and you're just like.

[Host]

From the pain.

[Shawn Francis]

And you're debating. Yes. And you're debating whether or not you're going to ER to get checked to see if there's something worse.

[Host]

I mean, go away.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. So Thais told me about this IV in a bottle.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Drink. So when I start to get them now If I drink one, two days in a row.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Gone.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

It's worked three or four times, so I owe I odais. I'm fierce.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, that's. That's a good point. I should do that.

[Julie Francis]

You should do that. Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

I've got it. I've got it. Yeah. I've got to send a referral on.

[Host]

To be in a commercial.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, because they gave me all pain, a bunch of paint pills. I don't want, you know.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

It. Not that I'm going to. But I've got an addictive personality. I'm not going down that path. Right. I'm not going down that path. So I, I, how often would I take it? How often have I taken a pain pill that they gave me?

[Julie Francis]

I, I just don't.

[Shawn Francis]

That liquid, that liquid. Iv.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Or IV in a bottle.

[Julie Francis]

It tastes terrible, but it tastes salty.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, there's a salty taste.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

It's not as bad as I say it is because I, I try and be over dramatic for her.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

For sympathy. It doesn't work. I might as well be honest now.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

It's not that bad. It's not that.

[Host]

An ad for it yesterday.

[Shawn Francis]

It's not that good either. But, but. And it also, like, if you're dehydrated.

[Host]

Right.

[Shawn Francis]

Unbelievable.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

You need to do.

[Julie Francis]

I should drink.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, that's what I was just saying. You need to start drinking that.

[Host]

All right. What. So, so that's three huge things. What. What else then along the way, like, through your eyes, like, he, he did a great job explaining it. What are some things we missed?

[Julie Francis]

I think I would say the recovery from the pancreatitis was harder than the recovery from the brain trauma.

[Shawn Francis]

Physically.

[Julie Francis]

It was, it was for me. Because he couldn't walk, I would have to strap him to me to go to the bathroom to.

[Shawn Francis]

The only good news was I was so emaciated.

[Julie Francis]

He was so, like, atrophied. Like, his muscles just. I mean, for him to, like, do the physical therapy.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

I had a physical therapist, Ike, come in three times a week. And then you would also. He would also do the routines on the days that I wasn't there because he just couldn't walk. He could, could, couldn't barely hold himself.

[Shawn Francis]

I was doing double sessions. I was doing two days. And then when I could handle it, I'd do three. And then when I can handle it, I do four. Because, you know, it's an hour.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

But it's not, like, terrible. And it's a Lot of it was stretching and all. Balance, a lot of balance stuff.

[Host]

Right.

[Shawn Francis]

So we. Again, full time job. Yeah, right. Yeah, right.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, it was. It was a full time job. And he listened to everything. Everything I told him. Both times he did.

[Host]

So you're a good patient.

[Julie Francis]

He's a good patient.

[Host]

That's a big.

[Shawn Francis]

Remember, Remember with, with Scott.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So my, my big fear was having to go back to the hospital. Oh, we didn't. About having to go back to the hospital. So let's go back.

[Host]

Where are we at with the third.

[Shawn Francis]

With the third plunge? This is one. This is the drinking. So one and two.

[Julie Francis]

No, no, you had to go back. It was.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, this was two. Yeah, you're right.

[Host]

I'm glad you get the hydra. I'm going to say right by the end of this hydrocephalus. Yes.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Host]

All right.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, I forgot what I was doing. Oh, yeah. Have to go back to get that third. That third stick. Yeah. The antibiotic.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So. Or no, a drip. They had to put me on a.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, they had to put him on a drip because.

[Shawn Francis]

12 hour drip or something.

[Julie Francis]

Some. I. I don't really remember what it was, but it had to do with coagulating the. His blood. And I. And I promised him I would not send him back to the hospital unless it was absolutely necessary.

[Shawn Francis]

She's never broken a promise.

[Julie Francis]

And I had to send him back. But I sent him. I called the. I called upstairs to intensive care and asked him to contact CDU to get him into CDU because it's a really nice big room. You're by yourself.

[Shawn Francis]

It's like critical decision unit. And it's the Ritz Carlton of hotel rooms because it's got like, so it's, it's got nice calming colors, it's got dimming lights, it's got flat screen tv. So. And it's got, you know, a couple nice comfortable chairs in it for guests and beautiful. So it doesn't feel as. It feels like a hotel.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, it feels like a hotel hospital.

[Shawn Francis]

Somehow she got me in CDU. Now think about that. Obviously there's not. There's maybe 12 beds in. In CDU.

[Host]

Okay.

[Shawn Francis]

Somehow she is in. They want to keep those beds open. Somehow she got them to keep an open bed for me. So when I got there, I was in CDU because on the way home, she promised. She promised me on the way home, as you is, we said we weren't gonna have to go to the hospital.

[Julie Francis]

Not unless we absolutely have to.

[Shawn Francis]

Right.

[Julie Francis]

Like, I don't see that happening, which is wrong.

[Shawn Francis]

But then that. That pick line where we're gonna have to get the third plunge. We. The third, you know, injection. They. The. The doctor called the pharmacy and forced them to stay open because they were closing, like, in 15 minutes. Oh, I did. I'm sorry.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

I'm having a rough day. Oh, that was. Yeah, you're good.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. We have to.

[Shawn Francis]

On the way home, you're getting firsthand. Yeah, you're getting firsthand seeing it. So that's the other. I love it. That's the other thing. And I'm working on this. And it doesn't help that I took something to help my anxiety this morning, because that gives me something that I forgot what I was saying.

[Julie Francis]

You were talking about the PICC line that they took out and getting the medication. But we already talked about that. But we did have to go back to the hospital. Even though I promised you.

[Shawn Francis]

Yes, and you got me.

[Julie Francis]

But the problem was his brother.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, that's what it was. That's what I was going to.

[Julie Francis]

Calling him and telling him, we're going to put you back in the hospital. I wanted Scott to come and help me because it was a handful for me with two of them, and his brother didn't want to come down. And he said, I'll put him back in the hospital before I come down and help you. And he told Sean that he was going to put him back in the hospital.

[Shawn Francis]

So he. So for a weekend from Friday till Sunday night, Monday morning, I. I got up from the couch and kept looking at the driveway.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

She finally asked me, and. And I finally broke down and told her, you know, I said, look, I'm going to be honest. And, you know, I was pretty stern because I was. She said. And she said, what's the one thing you. Who's the one person and the one thing you can count on me is that you can trust me.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

I gave you my word.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. And by then, he'd already been back to CDU and everything, and they only had him for, like, 18 hours. I said, babe, they're gonna push us as fast as they can to get this through your system. I said, and I will be back in, like, 18 hours to get to you. But we couldn't do it at home. It was an IV drip. We couldn't do it at home that we found. I think one of the doctors called me and said, oh, my God, you gotta get back to the hospital because of this. And we couldn't do it at home.

[Shawn Francis]

So that's Right, that's what it was. And then the third plunge was the PICC line issue. And what.

[Host]

So critical decision. What does critical decision mean?

[Shawn Francis]

So they're deciding course of treatment. Sometimes it's go to icu, sometimes it's go to hospice. And anywhere between, you know, in a certain surgery.

[Host]

Normally older people.

[Julie Francis]

No, I've been in there.

[Shawn Francis]

No, it's anyone. It's anyone. It's any. It's any ill.

[Julie Francis]

When they can't figure out exactly what's going on. Yeah, when they can't figure exactly what's going on in the er.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

They send you there before they send you to either ICU surgery or hospice. Yeah. So they need to figure out what's going on with you. And they are just out of. At their end. They can't figure it out.

[Host]

So it's not like necessarily.

[Julie Francis]

They got to keep you comfortable. No, no, no.

[Shawn Francis]

But it's the next stop to next step typically is severe, right?

[Julie Francis]

Yes.

[Shawn Francis]

It's not like.

[Host]

Yeah, it's not like.

[Shawn Francis]

It's not, it's not.

[Julie Francis]

Yes. You don't go home right away.

[Shawn Francis]

I mean, you might, but it's going to be the anomaly.

[Host]

Okay, now that makes sense. So we have a family member we.

[Julie Francis]

Can tell them too about. My legs kept giving out on me because I crushed my discs in my back because I was carrying him around so much. I, I ended up problems.

[Shawn Francis]

And she had a bad back from gymnastics. I mean, we talk about this. So. So, you know, I played, I played ball in college.

[Host]

Okay.

[Shawn Francis]

What you play hockey and baseball. And she says those aren't real.

[Host]

Tom's la. Right, Baseball.

[Shawn Francis]

Exactly. Only one difference. He's got talent. I don't. I forgot I was saying the best part is I'm having a rough day. So that's good. Well done.

[Julie Francis]

Yes. You just see my typical day with them. But.

[Shawn Francis]

So she goes, those aren't real sports. And I'm like, they're not real sports. What are you talking about? They're not real sports. And she said, you know, she was a swimmer and diver in college into gymnastics. I go stud. Three point athlete, three sport athletes done. But I see what she's done to her body. She's had seven surgeries on one foot, multiple surgeries on the other, but seven on one. And her back's all compressed, all her discs are compressed. And then I made it worse.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, you made it worse.

[Shawn Francis]

Because she's had.

[Julie Francis]

And we would laugh and I would say, my legs are given out and I would just fall down and we'd roll. And we didn't know at first. We thought it was falling.

[Shawn Francis]

I could break away.

[Julie Francis]

At first we thought I was falling, falling asleep because I was so tired. And then. Then I realized it was. My legs were literally going numb and I would. I would drop for a second. And then it got to the point where I fell one day and I couldn't get back up, so.

[Shawn Francis]

And then one day she fell fast forward and dog got between her legs and as she was walking.

[Julie Francis]

Oh, yeah, that was.

[Shawn Francis]

She de. Gloved her. Her hand. Oh, yeah. The grossest thing. See, I don't think. Oh, you. You saw it once.

[Julie Francis]

I won't. I wouldn't look at it.

[Shawn Francis]

I don't look at it often, but. Yeah, but it's. It's gross. It's. I mean, she clubbed it. Yeah. We don't do anything half assed. I. There's a common theme. Right. She's the best human being I've ever met.

[Julie Francis]

And I couldn't go. I couldn't go to a doctor because I couldn't leave him home alone. So I just suffered for months and months and months because it was during COVID What was I gonna do? Leave. Leave him, my 4 year old daughter in the car and. And say, I'm gonna go to the chiropractor while you guys sit in the car. No, I can't do that. So I just waited two and a half years and then I finally got to go to the doctor, but it was. It was rough. I ended up. I ended up in CDU because they couldn't figure out what my leg. I couldn't feel my legs. By the time I got there. That was. Yeah, they couldn't figure it out. So I ended up in CDU for a couple days. Yeah. Just from the compression of carrying him around so much.

[Host]

Right. Okay. Well, what's life like now? So we're two years almost. No, we're a year. I'm gonna say episode free. That's probably not the right way to say it, but like a year of.

[Shawn Francis]

Now we're two.

[Host]

We're two years.

[Shawn Francis]

We're two.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. No hospitals.

[Shawn Francis]

Okay.

[Host]

Okay.

[Julie Francis]

So two.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

Feeling good.

[Shawn Francis]

Are we?

[Host]

Are we? Are we considered recovery.

[Shawn Francis]

I brought you knocking on wood. All right, thanks. Yeah. So I graduated from my, you know, the seizure. The. The ongoing neural check ins for the seizure. Three months ago, four months ago.

[Julie Francis]

It was like he was going all the time for stuff. It was insane.

[Shawn Francis]

And I graduated from check ins with my neurosurgeon around the same time.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

So unless there's a problem.

[Host]

Which means, like, unless there's a problem.

[Shawn Francis]

Unless there's a problem, and now we just got to watch Helena, that she doesn't have the same problem.

[Host]

Right. And that's what I was going to ask. Is there anybody else in the family that has had this?

[Julie Francis]

No, not that.

[Shawn Francis]

Not that we know.

[Julie Francis]

Not that we. Well, it's hereditary, so somebody has it, but the signs never.

[Shawn Francis]

Someone's had it, but no one's. No one's been able to.

[Host]

Are you able to test her? Do they have things.

[Julie Francis]

We thought. We researched it. We thought we. We can test her. We think we can test her for it.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, we probably should.

[Julie Francis]

We probably. Yeah, we probably should.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah.

[Host]

But if it's something that it seems like if you test for it and.

[Julie Francis]

You have it, you can't do anything about it anyway. I mean, it might not. Like you can't.

[Shawn Francis]

Well, but I'm trying to prevent it.

[Julie Francis]

From happening, but I'm sure if there's.

[Shawn Francis]

An episode, you know, you have an episode of it as a child, I'm sure there's symptoms of it. Otherwise they don't not know.

[Julie Francis]

Well, yeah. Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Right.

[Julie Francis]

And she's at the age now that she's not. It's. No.

[Shawn Francis]

Right.

[Julie Francis]

Mostly like infants. So she's not in that danger.

[Shawn Francis]

She's not in a danger. I mean, that's why.

[Julie Francis]

But if she ever did get a really bad headache, first thing we would do is take her to the hospital and say, do it with contrast because we need to see what's going on. Because of her dad. Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah.

[Host]

So the guy I'm. I'm intrigued by. By so much of this story, but I keep coming back to that guy who didn't do the contrast. The doctor. Doctor. That's a doctor's decision, right? Yeah, Medical. Like. Do we know why he.

[Shawn Francis]

We don't. And we. I am not a litigator, so, yeah, we.

[Julie Francis]

We don't know why he didn't do it. We have no idea why. Especially the second time. Because you had him the second time, too. He came back the.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

Two days later, he came back, had the same doctor, by the way.

[Shawn Francis]

By the way. She had him one time when she.

[Julie Francis]

Went in, I told him I didn't want him.

[Shawn Francis]

That was the time she went in the cdu.

[Host]

What is it? What is it?

[Shawn Francis]

He's just. I don't know.

[Julie Francis]

He's an ER doctor. He's just. I don't know if he has a specialty. I actually told him I didn't want him near me because of what he had missed with him, of course, you know, so I got a different doctor, and they ended up putting me in cdu. But, I mean, he. He made a mistake twice. That's how I feel. If someone comes back a second time for something that severe, why wouldn't you just do it with and without. You got him in CAT scan. I mean, why not?

[Shawn Francis]

It's all right. Look at. I'll go back to it, though. It sucked.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And I wish it was different. I really wish it was different. So it's interesting because probably about a year ago, we were talking, and I said, considering where we are now, would you go through it again? Would you say, yes, we'll do it again? Because this is what we came out of it. She said, yes. And I feel the same way. And I truly do. You know, it's taken a family that was shredded, pulled us together, and pulled us together even tighter. Right.

[Host]

Wow.

[Shawn Francis]

And. And wow. Now it reconnected me with. With Lillian and Michael, and we. We got a chance to do some great things for the world. Right. I look at it as. He didn't just have us survived, he's having us thrive.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

God let us survive to thrive. And I truly believe that. I truly believe that.

[Host]

Wow. And you would agree with that.

[Julie Francis]

I was ready to leave him when he was drinking. I had a divorce attorney. I mean, I was right. I have one foot out the door.

[Host]

Sure.

[Julie Francis]

And then he got sick, you know, and the nurses said, why are you sticking around if he's my friend? And that's still my friend.

[Host]

Right?

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. I might be mad at him, but he's still my friend. I don't leave my friends behind ever. Ever.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

You know, so.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh.

[Julie Francis]

I told him, if you ever. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was like I had a divorce attorney. Like, I was ready to go because he would. It would already been two years. Helena was two years old, and he was still drinking, and he wouldn't stop. And I thought, I can't do this to her. So I had a divorce attorney. I was ready to go, and he got sick.

[Shawn Francis]

And it was Christmas Day. Right. Remember the Christmas day? No, no, I'm saying Christmas day when you saw me drinking.

[Julie Francis]

You went. He went out to the car and he was drinking. He had something in the trunk. And I saw it. I thought, I can't do this anymore.

[Shawn Francis]

While my daughter is opening gifts.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

So I can't do it anymore. About three, four months later is when he got real sick. But I had already contacted an attorney, and I was ready to leave so.

[Host]

And now look where we are.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Host]

Now I see.

[Shawn Francis]

Now look what you signed up for a couple years later.

[Host]

I see why.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, my gosh.

[Host]

So this is a story of redemption. This is a story of. There's so much in here.

[Julie Francis]

I remember thinking, if I could just get him a year sober, then I can trust him again. And then when it became a year, I was, like, maybe two years sober. That I can trust him again. It took me a long time to trust him again. I told him, if I catch you drinking, you'll never see us again.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

Ever.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. You should know. What she said was, you might as.

[Julie Francis]

Well get a gun and put it in your mouth and pull the trigger.

[Shawn Francis]

What she said? No. She said, I want you to tell me and the first thing we're gonna do and pick out your coffin, because I'm not gonna have your mother do that. And then I'm leaving you, because I'm not going to watch it, and more importantly, I'm not gonna have a way to watch it.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

I said, make it fast, because they told him if he ever drank again, it's just. It would be too hard. As pancreas. They would kill him.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

Like, if he ever. He would not survive another. Another bout of pancreatitis.

[Shawn Francis]

No, absolutely.

[Julie Francis]

And no, there's.

[Shawn Francis]

There's. There's no doubt about that.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. But he never. Only one time. Yeah, only one time he came to me and said, I feel like I could use a drink and let's just go for a walk.

[Shawn Francis]

No, what I. What I said was, this is. I'll never forget this.

[Julie Francis]

I said, I know. It's something about wanting a drink.

[Shawn Francis]

I. I had the promise that if I had the feeling we would talk one time in. In six and a half years, I've come to her and said, I'm not going to, but if I was going to, I would have a drink right now. Sneakers on, walk for 15 minutes. Craving goes away. Cravings only last 15 minutes. If you could fight through 15 minutes.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

The craving goes away. And you can get. Stay on top of that.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah.

[Host]

So you get.

[Shawn Francis]

So we did.

[Julie Francis]

And that was. That was probably two years after the pancreatitis. So it had been two years. So in that.

[Host]

Right.

[Julie Francis]

You know, but he's never drank it.

[Shawn Francis]

It was. Honestly, it was. Apart from reconnecting with my faith, it was the easiest and best decision in my life.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

It truly was. Knowing what I'm gonna miss out. I mean, you see Helene and me a lot and how much fun we have. And I mean.

[Host]

Oh, the pool, everything.

[Shawn Francis]

Everything. Rock center. All of the. And the time with her and us, when we have time as a family. I was gonna kiss all that goodbye over a drink.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

No, no, I'm not doing it.

[Julie Francis]

I think the hardest thing was educating people that alcoholism is a disease. It's not a choice.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

And it took my family a long time to forgive him, if they even have, for what he put us through, you know? But telling people it's a disease, it's not. It's not a choice. Nobody wakes up and says, I'm gonna be an alcoholic.

[Host]

Right.

[Julie Francis]

You know, or a drug addict or anything. Addiction is a disease, no matter what it is.

[Shawn Francis]

Right.

[Julie Francis]

Once I understood it better, I was able to be okay with and forgive him and. But it was still hard. I took a lot to trust him again.

[Shawn Francis]

And she's done better at forgiving me than I have myself, to be honest. Yeah.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Which is big of her, but it is a disease. I. I absolutely agree with that. I'm not saying it's choice. I made some bad decisions that let the disease progress, you know, progress in me.

[Julie Francis]

Because that's the thing. Yeah. You could have gotten treatment just like you go on insulin, if you have diabetes, you go to a doctor and you talk to them. You know, there's stuff you can do. You can go to rehab, you can do things you can do. But, yeah, it just got out of hand, you know, it happens. Everybody makes mistakes. That's how I look at it. But you make the same mistake again, it's different, you know?

[Shawn Francis]

Man, you're stupid.

[Host]

Wow. What a story.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah.

[Host]

Told very well. Now I see when you came in day one and I was expecting to sit and interview you, and you had your wife with you.

[Shawn Francis]

Now you get it.

[Host]

Now I get why this made it just like to hear through both.

[Shawn Francis]

Wow.

[Host]

Well, thanks for taking your time.

[Shawn Francis]

The only. The. The one other story. Did we talk about when I was in the coma, the things I remembered?

[Julie Francis]

No, I don't think so.

[Host]

This.

[Shawn Francis]

This is interesting. I think this is for the.

[Julie Francis]

This is worth mentioning to people.

[Shawn Francis]

This is 1.

[Host]

1.

[Shawn Francis]

This is during alcoholism when I was in a coma. That. So it took about five, six months, but I had literally six distinct stories that came back. Like, hey, did you play Frankie Valli and A Tribe Called Quest? You know, I have a big range of music.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

And she said, yep, it was on all day, all night, both of them. Because it relaxed you. I said, did I watch a Good Times marathon, the sitcom Good Times with JJ Walker no way. Yeah. She goes, yeah, there's a 36 hour marathon in TBS. I kept it on for you. He said, did you rub my feet and say every time you came in left, honey, I love you. Keep fighting. We need you at home. We miss you. You've got this every time I came in, every time I left. So I've given some presentations at hospitals at Emory as well, to share with people that now, not everyone is, is, is going to have that, that experience. Tacoma.

[Host]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

But there's people that probably do, right? I'm one of them. And it's, it's not the anomaly necessarily. So, you know, we've talked to people that are dealing with folks that are, you know, in a coma.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

You know, they have relatives and friends in a coma. And we, we talked to, you know, medical professionals, staffs, hospital staffs, so they know too. But what made me think of that, why I wanted to share that, is that some of the nurses would say to her, hey, honey, you can go home. You know, because they saw what this was doing to her. They knew. I mean, they, they were family. Right. We're real close with some of these, these folks, they go, honey, go home and get some rest. He doesn't know you're here. And she said, no, he knows I'm here. He knows I'm here. And I know he knows I'm here. She was right.

[Julie Francis]

And he. Yeah. And I didn't tell him anything. I just figured eventually someday he might remember. But I wasn't going to tell him. I mean, everything's journaled, you know, but he hasn't read the journals, you know, what he went through on a daily basis. But that's why I told him. And they were, the ICU staff was really happy to hear that because they'd never know because nobody ever comes back and tells them, hey, I can remember her being there. Like, I know she did these things. Like, it took me a while to remember and he might have forgotten, but in that moment he knew I was there. But he might not have remembered until.

[Shawn Francis]

Six months later, but that was another genius thing. So, So I, I was reliving major moments in my life like they were real time, which was great for the good times, it wasn't great for the bad times because there were some bad times that I was reliving I thought was happening for sure for the first time. When it's totally. When it's not, it's the second time. So I forgot what, which one it.

[Julie Francis]

Was, do not know. It was the brain surgery. It was when you were living places you'd been. But.

[Shawn Francis]

Oh, because. Because I would talk to people and say, well, today I'm living in Kazakhstan because I've lived in 22 countries when I worked at GE. I loved it, but I would have. I was reliving those like they were happening real time. One time I called in, I was saying. I was telling her, you are somewhere. I was in a meeting in a conference room. I can still see it. I can see the conference room, and I can see my team, and we're presenting to the CEO and cfo. And I see Helena and Julie outside the conference room, like, getting, you know, anxious. And I can see Helena starting to get fidgety. And I can see you're getting angst. And I'm. I'm like, hey, these guys are behind. I've got to. I've got to, you know, keep going here and pitch. I can't accelerate it. I'm sorry. I can't get out there. We're not. I'm not in a conference room in Tokyo with them. I'm reliving it. So she said to him, that's fine.

[Julie Francis]

Just let him.

[Shawn Francis]

Let him.

[Julie Francis]

Let him relive it.

[Shawn Francis]

He's happy.

[Julie Francis]

He's not here.

[Host]

He's enjoying it.

[Shawn Francis]

He loved traveling. He loved living in these. Genius, right? Go back to the. Here's the board. When I wake up from my naps.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

Here's the Simon game. Work on your memory. Here's the match game. Now here's this.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. I said, just let him go. I'll let you know if something's wrong. Because one time he got off the phone with me because you thought you had to go to a meeting.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

And you're like, these people. People don't know what they're doing. I gotta go. And I'm like, all right, baby, call me later.

[Shawn Francis]

I swear to God. I swear to God.

[Julie Francis]

You remember that one?

[Shawn Francis]

I swear to God, on my life, I remember that one.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Julie Francis]

And I just absolutely remember. He's fine. Just let him go. He's just. His mind is just gone.

[Shawn Francis]

I go, these guys. Yeah, I remember. I absolutely remember.

[Julie Francis]

These guys don't know what they're doing. Their asses or something.

[Shawn Francis]

And it was CK Lee was my auditor. I absolutely remember. He's a great guy.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah. Just let him go. He's not in the hospital. Hospital right now. He's somewhere else. Just let him be.

[Shawn Francis]

Think about how smart that is. He's not in the hospital now. Let him be.

[Host]

That's awesome. And that Was your decision so cool, so smart?

[Julie Francis]

I didn't want to tell him.

[Host]

What does it all look like now, going forward? Enjoy. One day at a time.

[Shawn Francis]

I'll let you go.

[Julie Francis]

I just tell him. I tell him all the time. Live in the present. Don't. Don't look back and regret things. Don't. Don't make the same mistakes. Don't worry about tomorrow. Just be in the present. Especially when you're your family, you know, just be here today. You never know if tomorrow's going to come. Believe. Believe me, right now, we kind of know that, you know, live for today.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, I think the after I got sick the first time, it became living the present. Absolutely. It really had me focus what's important in my life and what I had to prioritize. And that became my ability to do better. And when I say do better, I mean, you know, every morning, every night, I pray for God to help me hear him better, to live life and walk more righteously, following the footprints of my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, to make me a better husband, to make me a better father, make me a better son, brother, friend, employer and employee again. That's what I talk about, the betterment. And then the concept of making sure I'm doing right by Julie and I'm doing right by Helena and praying that I can help them both live their full potential and full fulfillment in life. And. And that's. That's truly every move I'm making right now. And it's the first time in my life that I've thought like that. But that puts me in the present. Some baggage comes with it, too. Right? Because. Because now you're. You're. It's so important. It's so important.

[Host]

You.

[Shawn Francis]

It's more fragile than it really is. So you're hyper, you know, now an overthinker. It's like, you know, crack for them, you know, So I got to work through that now. But. And I'll tell you, I've had. If I die right now, there's a lot that can be said about me. One thing that will be consistent is they'll say that he had a good life and he lived it to his fullest. Right? And my. And I've lived my life like that, but it has never been as fulfilled as it is right now. And it's really because of reconnecting with my faith. It truly is. Life is so much better there. So much better there.

[Host]

So cool, man. Thank you so much for this. This was so cool. Last thing. Land on this. Did insurance Cover all this.

[Julie Francis]

Yep. No, he's like the four million dollar patient.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah. You know, when they say I. I always say, you know, you. They say you can't put a price tag on health.

[Julie Francis]

Yeah, you can.

[Shawn Francis]

$4.2 million.

[Host]

Is that what it is?

[Shawn Francis]

It was something like that.

[Julie Francis]

That was only for one of the stays. That wasn't for both.

[Shawn Francis]

Yeah, that wasn't for both. That was a brain drama. No, that was a brain trauma.

[Julie Francis]

I mean, his file, it's like this thick. I mean, it's just bills, just lines and lines of.

[Shawn Francis]

Well, look, it. You know, it's a page for an Advil. So you think about just $28, but.

[Host]

Wow.

[Julie Francis]

But yeah, it was over $4 million. Yeah.

[Shawn Francis]

None of that would be there if I didn't have the advocate that I had.

[Host]

And you were going in hospice.

[Shawn Francis]

But that's the thing in the medical. And we touched on it. I know we touched on it. That the medical field, if you're. If you're not your own advocate or have a strong advocate, there's a good.

[Julie Francis]

Chance you're not going to make it.

[Host]

That's the message here, bigger than anything else. That's incredible. All right, so thank you for your time, for sure. But thank you for your vulnerability. That's the most important piece of it. That's what's gonna move this message along. You guys willing to be vulnerable. I mean, you shared some great stuff here today that I know helps me personally, and I can't imagine how many people it's going to help.

[Shawn Francis]

So thank you. We appreciate the opportunity.

[Julie Francis]

Absolutely.

[Host]

Thank you so much, guys.

[Shawn Francis]

We appreciate the opportunity.

[Host]

All.