Final Destination

Krystal with a K: What's up, everybody? Welcome back to Plat Twist to the Live. I'm your hostess with the most is, three-time cancer survivor and Chaos coordinator, Crystal with a K. What's up, everybody? Thank you guys so much for coming back. We actually have hit 4,000 downloads, if you can believe it. I can't fucking believe it. But we are on our 32nd episode. because it is National Cancer Survivor Month. I decided that this month all of our guests will be survivors this gentleman actually slipped into my email he told me his story, ⁓ everything that he wrote me, I was just like, This guy is my fucking spirit animal I need to know more about him. ⁓ goes by the name of James, aka Jim, everybody hello to Jim. Jim, say hello to everybody.
Jim: Hi Crystal, thanks for having me on your show. I really appreciate it. my pleasure. So I'll give you the brief bio I was born and raised in New Jersey for the most part. My worked for the United Parcel Service, so we moved around a little bit. I went to high school in Europe and Germany, seventy eight to eighty two, and moved to Georgia in ninety three. Met and married my wife in ninety started a home inspection business around the same time and
Krystal with a K: ⁓ my gosh, thank you for coming.
Jim: raised a twenty one year old son, just retired from the home inspection business after thirty years and pretty much had a charmed life without interruption. Always been a long distance endurance athlete, so I stayed pretty fit. And at age fifty nine and a half with no real warning, I was diagnosed with stage four metastatic colorectal cancer that had advanced into my liver as well. at the time they said six maybe two years to live with just chemo.
Krystal with a K: well, ⁓ just gave me a whole lot. So rewind for a second. For the most part, your life was nobody has it like perfect or easy, but it was good. no health issues to your knowledge. Did you have anybody in your family have any cancers or anything like that that you were aware of?
Jim: No, no medical history whatsoever. And I had never been really sick before, So I went from having never really been sick at all to suddenly being very, very ill. hit me like a tidal wave, obviously. And the diagnosis, all the doctor said is it's a terminal disease.
Krystal with a K: I fucking hate when I hear that doctors are like, You have a terminal disease right off the bat. that's the initial news that you get, because the mental aspect of cancer specifically, but a lot of diseases can carry people well past the point the doctors say you have. And some people are actually still living. I I know several breast cancer survivors that are living on year eight year nine, and they used to get three to five years when they were diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer.
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: So what made you go get checked? Was this just a normal check or were you having some sort of symptoms?
Jim: I I I I I I was training for Iron Man triathlons for about the previous six, seven years and I was just getting super fatigued, which was normal for Iron Man training, but the fatigue was more than normal. like I couldn't keep my eyes open during the day. So I probably was having symptoms that I ignored not thinking it was cancer, but the fatigue which r really got to me. But other than that, blood tests and physicals and screenings, nothing really picked it up. And that's the mysterious nature of colorectal cancer. It can really fly under the radar. And that's why it's so deadly. By the time people find it, a lot of times it's stage four. and like they said, terminal, which is defined as the end. I say it was not the end, it was beginning of so many things that I couldn't imagine I would even do in a lifetime that I'm now doing. so it was a catalyst for ⁓ for me to start living. In a way that I appreciate more now than I ever did before.
Krystal with a K: that's a choice, right? talked to different types of survivors of different diseases. Whenever you're told the most horrific news you've ever heard, you make a choice. It's subconscious. And I don't think that you intentionally ⁓ do that. Like it's not, hey, I'm gonna be positive and I'm gonna make the best of this. It's almost who you are. It's intrinsic. there are many people
Jim: Yeah.
Krystal with a K: that break at that news and they never get back up and they never recover and it just makes the the rest of their life, whatever it is, short or long, extremely miserable and difficult. the further go into it, you're like, some days I get up and it fucking sucks. And and that may be a bad day. But then the next day or the next day, you're like, I'm not gonna live here. I can vacation here, but I'm gonna get up and keep trying to do the best that I can because ⁓ tomorrow's not promised. And you ⁓
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: out of everybody are hyper aware of that ticking clock right over your head, right?
Jim: Yeah. Well once I stopped worrying about dying I could really start living. the doctor said terminally said you're gonna die, but that was true before I had cancer. I was gonna die anyway. And you kinda go through this ⁓ stuff in your head, like, Well, okay. they said six months, Who knows how much I could live? But I'm not gonna worry about that. ⁓ I'll worry about how I wanna spend my time now and then. But I didn't wake up one day like you said, and just have these these thoughts. It was six months for me to finally come to the realization that I'm not dying. I'm I still have time to live and that's a better way to spend my time. and that's when I decided to write the book, Just Keep Trying. and then I retired from home inspection and, I'm trying to raise a hundred thousand dollars for the Iron Man Foundation. I'm using the profits from the book to fund the fundraising goal and try to put it all together in one big beautiful package.
Krystal with a K: I definitely wanna hear more about that. like you said, it wasn't an process, right? it wasn't just you either. 'Cause you're diagnosed and you're married or you have children or you have people that you care about, friends, family, they're the ones that are impacted too. So you get this news and you have to share that with the people that you love the most.
Jim: That's the worst part. I I could withstand any amount of chemo and torture surgeries and organ removals, you name it, but to look into my wife's eyes and tell her that, you know, I may not be around much longer, that was so difficult. I get a little broken up now just talking about it because it was so hard. c I literally couldn't speak and I I became mute, is not my norm. anyone who knows me knows that, so I'm usually not short of words, but I had no words for that. That was one of the worst, darkest moments. and then you start to think makes a life worth living have I done those things and the most part I was pretty happy with my life. But I I thank cancer for a lot of things. One is Time gave me opportunities to get closer to my wife, to my son, to my family. to be open and honest in a way and and humble in a way that I ⁓ was before. so my relationships are stronger than they've ever been. And everything I'm doing just feels like it's the right thing to do and it's completely opposite what I was doing two years ago. I would have never thought I'd be an author. I would never thought I'd go to the Iron Man World Championship either, but both those things are happening. So the power of your mind is pretty unbelievable if you're really willing to do the work.
Krystal with a K: That's fucking mind blowing to me. Especially because you're doing chemo, correct?
Jim: Yeah, I'm going back on chemo. I was off chemo. They just did a little surgery to tune up my my iliostomy, which was prolapsing and holding me back. I mean the first five months of this year have not been ideal, but I'm in an ideal spot now. I had to go through a little bit of health to get here, but things look pretty good for the next few months, knock on wood. you know in the cancer world things can change at any moment, but I'll go back on a ⁓ a lighter dose of chemo for the next few months just to keep the tumors from coming back. And I'll probably go off chemo by choice as I lead into the Iron Man just to, not have to deal with that.
Krystal with a K: I mean that makes sense. I know every chemo is different and so are the side effects. when I think about ⁓ what type of that I did, the Red Devil specifically.
Jim: Yes, I heard about that. I didn't do that but I know all about it. Yeah, not no fun. None of it's fun, but yeah, they don't call it the Red Devil for no reason. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: Yeah, it's I difficult it was difficult to work. But I've known women that were athletes before marathon runners, they kept fucking doing it. And again, shout out to them, kudos to them. I was able to get up and walk on my good days and I was like, If this is all I can do, this is what I can do. But
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't knock anyone for doing for doing the what what they have to do to get through it because it's whatever you have to do What I told people is I didn't do anything new. I just continued doing what I had done for the previous four decades. Literally four decades. For one week I sat on the couch. I was diagnosed the first week of April twenty twenty four. Two weeks later I went to Texas and attempted the Texas Iron Man. It went horribly. 'Cause I was actually pretty sick. that was April of ⁓ twenty four, the third week of April twenty four. Yeah, yeah, it was it was hot. It was hot. Yeah. No, it was a beautiful place though, a venue. but I just wasn't feeling well enough and ⁓ got into run and wasn't able to finish. So that was disappointing. But I was just diagnosed with cancer.
Krystal with a K: What month were you here, Okay. S so a hundred and fifty degrees already over here, 'cause that's where I live. Fucking
Jim: It was two weeks to the race. We'd already paid for everything, so I told my wife, I said, Let's just drive down there and better than sitting on the couch waiting to do chemo. when I came back I thought, ⁓ I'm doing good chemo. I there's no way I can k keep training or be racing. I just assumed I wouldn't be able to do that. After about a week of just sitting on the couch waiting for the chemo to kick in, I said, All right, well I'm not gonna do this. I just can't do it I said, chemo might kill me, cancer might kill me, but I'm pretty sure swimming, biking and running will not kill me. So I'm gonna go do things that I liked doing and it's really worked out pretty well. I know initially my ⁓ was skeptical about long distance endurance ⁓ alongside a chemo, but my blood numbers are better than everybody in the infusion room, so that's about the only factor that I can think would make the difference.
Krystal with a K: like you said, your body was used to it. You were already doing that for years prior. So it's not so much to me being in awe of you doing this and being this amazing athlete. It's continuing all of that after being diagnosed, which is a mind fuck, having to tell your family that you're basically dying, and then on top of that immediately starting treatments. And did you have to do surgeries in the beginning very quickly or no? ⁓
Jim: Mm-hmm. ⁓ well, I I did since since the first week of April, I did I've done 24 chemotherapy sessions, five radiation treatments, and surgeries to include removing 40% of my colon, 60% of my liver, all of my gallbladder, all of my rectum, resulting in the ostomy, which I just had surgically repaired last week. So that's all at the same time. I did the best I could to continue training. I kept racing in the beginning, not even knowing why. That's why the title of the book is Just Keep Trying. Sometimes you don't know why you're doing what you're doing, but you need to do it. That's how I felt. And I'd not done those earlier races where I was a tremendous failure. I'd have never found my way to the Iron Man Foundation and I would have never found my way to Kona. so it was important that I didn't quit, that I just got up and kept living my life, When they gave me the terminal diagnosis, you'd think, is there anything you would change in your life where people say, What's on your bucket list? Do you want to travel? Do you want to know? I just really would like to go back to the life I had before, I just want to back to the way was. but there's no going back, It is what it is now. So you know, people find what I'm doing inspirational, that gives me f fuel. I get more out of this than I'm giving and I know some people have already benefited from my example just with the book and and some of the other things that I'm doing. So that feels good as well.
Krystal with a K: Well, ⁓ it's okay to say you loved your life before. it sounds like you already had it figured out, for me I was in the same way and a lot of people that I know, cancer actually made my life better and made me a better person, more well rounded. ⁓ I started focusing on the things that were most important. And to rewind a little, don't know how you know about me, but I did have childhood cancer and so I've always lived my life to the fullest. But
Jim: Yeah.
Krystal with a K: by the time I was in my thirties in a really bad relationship, dealing with the weight of heavy shit constantly, I got caught up in the everyday ⁓ and started letting it get to me. And cancer ripped all of that away from me and was like, you need to focus on this because if you don't focus on this, you're not gonna make it through this. so ⁓ when say a and an after, sometimes your before was great.
Jim: Yeah.
Krystal with a K: And like you said, you may want that before back. but you're a different person now
Jim: There's two different mees, the before and the after I retired as a home inspector and wrote a book and now I'm doing podcasts and trying to raise money for the foundation and hopefully inspire a few people. just to summarize and keep it simple as I like to do, My life could be measured just by the number of people you impact in a positive way. And whatever time I have left, that's what I would like to try to do. ⁓ so far it's been working out pretty good. And we'll see how far it goes. First I need to go to Kona, finish that race, ⁓ and we'll see what happens after October tenth.
Krystal with a K: getting into like your surgeries and physically how this has impacted you, because you said you were failing, quote unquote, which I I can't even call it. That's not ⁓ couldn't even do it perfectly healthy. So for you to be doing this after all of these surgeries on chemo again, being told you have a terminal illness, right? you're like, let me prove you wrong, you And ⁓
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was hoping for miracles which never showed up, I was hoping my last race would be my greatest race ever and just it never worked out, so I never wanted my last race to be my last race, so I kept signing up for more races. Which is all I've ever known how to do anyway, so it's just natural that that's what I would do. People go back to what they normally do, yeah. Yeah, and it's it's that's what I began to realize is that whatever your passion is, it doesn't you don't have to be an Iron Man. It could be chess, it could be quilting.
Krystal with a K: And it's what keeps you going.
Jim: whatever your thing is that you're passionate about, that'll help you stay positive mentally, which I think is huge when it comes to fighting cancer. There's a chemical aspect to it, which I use chemo and do whatever the doctors say, but ⁓ the part, the fitness part and the mindset part, are pretty powerful as well.
Krystal with a K: I agree. I think for me, ⁓ huge part of me just feeling good and dealing with it was like I said, moving my body, not taking it for granted, especially the days that I felt good, getting into nature and travel and especially now, like that's one of the things that I do that makes me feel like I'm truly living my life to the fullest. So that's one of my favorite things to do. And like you said, if I can make a positive impact in people's lives, which is why I do this podcast, it's a whole thing, is if I can use my story to help other people.
Jim: Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: But also give people a platform like yourself who have been through something different, but have also still found hope and figured out a way to deal with their shittiest and their hardest and inspire people, then it's fucking worth it for me. Like I love that.
Jim: It's a beautiful thing. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing. And that's one of the things I've really enjoyed is meeting all the people that I've gotten to meet over just the last couple of months. yeah, I haven't been able to train much the last couple of weeks, but now it basically I have to October tenth, which is the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, the birthplace of the Iron Man.
Krystal with a K: I'm excited for you. Have you ever been to Hawaii?
Jim: Never. I've dreamt of it since nineteen eighty two, which is the first time I saw the race on television. So it's a dream for someone like me who's not typically fast enough to win a spot, which is how you have to get into that race. another thing I'm thankful to cancer for is it got me into the Iron Man.
Krystal with a K: So does that work? is it a special part of the Iron Man race that you can do?
Jim: Yeah, the Iron Man Foundation is the charitable wing of the Iron Man organization. And one of the cool things that the Iron Man always does is they make room in the race, for people with disabilities, with terminal diseases, with, missing limbs, or inspirational stories that ⁓ would prove their motto, which is anything is possible. but they do it every year, they've always done it. I have other teammates that ⁓ are dealing with diseases Parkinson's and And there's about twenty five people on the team. Plus I'm a lifelong enthusiast and participant. And I had signed up for ⁓ Iron Man in twenty five and for the first time I looked over and noticed there was a a little button that said Iron Man Foundation I was thinking in my head like what could I do, you know, that would be more service oriented and I thought that's perfect. I'll raise money for the foundation. that's how I got into the foundation and that's how I met people at the foundation, and that's how I got to be invited ultimately to Hawaii.
Krystal with a K: again, it's weird. You're like, fuck cancer, but also thank you, Cancer. It's such a weird duality.
Jim: I'll tell you I was six months it was six months into the diagnosis I wasn't doing well. ⁓ k chemo was kicking my ass, cancer was kicking my ass, I had lost thirty five pounds, level three skin infection. I just had a horrible race in Chattanooga and nothing was going at all. the next I had a scan and almost all the tumors disappeared in my liver, opened up surgical options and things started moving in a different direction that I didn't think was even possible. when the green light kicked on for me, is like, wait a minute, these doctors don't know what the holds. from there on everything just started kinda going my way, even though I've been in and out of the hospital and chemo for the entire twenty five months, here I am still no evidence of disease. So
Krystal with a K: Well, because everybody's body is different. They can give you a statistic that's worked on this amount of people, but they're just going off of evidence based practice. They don't know you, ⁓ your body is capable of. I don't doubt that your condition before and how healthy you were prior and your again, your history of not having a lot of that in your family. I think all of that plays a factor. and your mental toughness
Jim: Yeah.
Krystal with a K: and ability to continue that in spite of all these things.
Jim: how you come into it will determine ⁓ think how you come into it determines a lot of how you come out of it. you gotta be prepared. It's pretty tough stuff. some of the surgeries are really difficult. you keep getting knocked down, you gotta get back up. You knock down, you gotta get back up. ⁓ and it's over and over again. I like to say, ⁓ I traded ⁓ swim bike run for radiation surgery. So it's a little bit of a different trial ⁓ on. same kind of finish lines, but there's they're just little mini battles. I feel like I just came out of a miniature five month battle. What started with a prolapse delioptomy just finished with the repair on the prolapse deliostomy. So hopefully that one gets bookended and stored on the shelf to the left and I can a clear couple of months.
Krystal with a K: Well, and when you're having when you're having these surgeries, does the recovery time look like? Because you can't just go run the next week, right? You're having like is it six weeks?
Jim: N no, they're all they're all different. the one they just did was ⁓ just a little tune up. the most difficult one is when they removed my rectum. They removed my liver, sixty percent of my liver. The hardest part of that was the incision. 'cause you can't have nerve endings in your organs. They can cut ⁓ up and you don't even feel it. and the liver grows back. So in three months the whole entire liver grew back. so that was kinda cool. ⁓ but the rectum removal where they came in with robots from the from the top like a big giant alien in the sky with all these different arms and the doctor's off to the side with his little headphones on and they just kinda toss your interior like a salad. It was six and a half hours, which is a really long time to be, in surgery. that one took a very long time to recover, so much so that I started to panic and think, Is this the time I don't recover? 'cause you know, every time you go in the hospital, every time you get to a place where it's difficult you wonder, is this the one time I'm not gonna bounce back? but then I keep bouncing back so I have to remind myself of that.
Krystal with a K: Yeah, can relate on that. I've had about nine surgeries total. ⁓ I've had breast tissue removed, double mastectomy, then I ended up having more breast cancer ⁓ about two years ago now and had to have they still call it a partial mastectomy because they're removing breast tissue. And then I went did a revision, I had issues with wound healing. I did the hyperbaric chamber and everything and it just wasn't healing.
Jim: Well. Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: So I finally went ahead and said, I'll do a deep flap. And that's basically where they take this massive ⁓ artery from your mommy pooch, if you will, like your stomach, move it up and make breasts out of your own tissue, which is actually a very great surgery for a lot of women and gives women options
Jim: Yeah, yeah. I said that's pretty cool. I've never heard heard of that.
Krystal with a K: Yeah, and it's over the last, I think, fifteen years it's really come to be a more normalized surgery that more people do, but it's very specialized and it's typically a nine or ten hour surgery. Long story short, Mine ⁓ twelve hours because I'm one of those people that always gets the curveball. But whenever I was recovering from it, I have these massive scars. I'm still like bent over like an old woman. I'm having to sleep in a recliner.
Jim: Shh Wow. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: And I'm just like, I don't know if this was worth it. am I gonna be myself ever again? Am I gonna feel okay? Am I gonna feel normal? the other thing that comes along with it is, okay, they removed it again. So cancer is always in my head now. I will live with thought. Yeah. And regardless of what I'm told or how good of a day I have, I'm always like, All it's been in my body three times.
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Yeah, it's always lurking.
Krystal with a K: So don't look at your story or anybody that I know, because I know a lot of women, again, with stage four metastatic incurable cancer, and ⁓ look at that and think that's more of like a mirror. I could see myself in that position. ⁓ And hope that if that is ever me that I can have the strength that you have to just keep pushing and keep living in spite of all of it because You don't get to decide if you get cancer again or if you get stage four cancer. You just get to decide what you do with that time that you have left.
Jim: Yeah. You gotta hurry up and start living and just fill I fill my life with maybe too much sometimes. So there's no room for any of that darkness to slip in.
Krystal with a K: Well, tick tock, we got shit to do, okay? There's nothing wrong with that. I know nothing about Iron Man, so can you tell me what that looks like? And you said you have a team. So is it individual or?
Jim: Yeah, it's it's the ⁓ well the Iron Man Foundation is the team of of of people like myself, usually like I said, have some sort of story like mine or similar to mine. So small group of people that it we agreed to raise funds and ⁓ I've agreed to put the profits from the book toward that goal until we reach that goal. but the Iron Man was invented in nineteen seventy eight in Kona, Hawaii, which is where the world championship is held. it's just a unique environment off the big island in Kona and it's a two point four mile swim in the ocean, then a hundred and twelve mile bike ride through the countryside, and then a marathon twenty six point two miles running. so training's been difficult for I'm not in any kind of great shape. I'm not looking to go fast. I have seventeen hours to complete the race and that's all I'm looking to do is come in under whatever the cutoff is. Anything better than that is great, but ⁓ as long as I'm under hours and get the finish.
Krystal with a K: So with your surgeries you have you said an ileostomy how does that impact or affect cause you're having swim and this is something that's supposed to remain sealed. I was a nurse as well, so sometimes I would have to work with those and I would help patients ⁓ empty them And the amount of times that shit got like pun intended.
Jim: Yeah. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, ⁓ I've had some very difficult times with this thing. I entered January of this year, twenty twenty six with no evidence of disease. In the first week the ileostomy prolapsed, which means your intestines pop out. I went to the emergency room, they shoved them back in, they put table sugar on it, shrunk it and just shoved them back in and then told me if it happens again you can do that. So I got used to doing it at home. Up until recently I just did the surgery. I was having to push it back in sometimes two, three times a day. could wear a belt to hold it in, but then that would cause the bag to leaks. So I've been dealing with bag leaks and prolapsing stomas and all this other nonsense while I was waiting for the chemo to kill the tumors, 'cause you can't deal with the stoma until you deal with the tumors. So this wasn't medically important, although it was a problem for me on a daily basis. So I'm glad to have that wrapped up. But that was a mess more than once. know, I'd be out for a bike ride two hours away from the house and have a leaking that I'd have to clean up out there on the road. So ⁓ just an added obstacle. Sometimes all you can do all you can do is laugh. I mean I posted it on on my Instagram. I was like, look, I shit all over myself. You know, what am I gonna do? I'm not gonna go I gotta go home. So I just cleaned up the best I could and rode my bike home.
Krystal with a K: Shit happens. Baby wipes. I mean, I have a toddler, so that just take that shit.
Jim: I mean if I if I I don't I don't wanna be this is working out really good so far 'cause the surgery's worked if this is the way it is then I'll be fine. normally you'd have to change the bag every, three ⁓ four days. ⁓ I was having to change this bag like twice a day. ⁓ that's been the biggest thorn in my sight has been this stupid thing, but ⁓
Krystal with a K: Yeah, it's definitely not a convenient thing to have, especially when you're trying to be active. That's what that's why I was curious. I was like, that has to be
Jim: Yeah. I always laugh when people say, know people that have one of those, they live a normal life. It's like there's nothing normal about it. What you should say is, Man, that's really fucked up. You you have shit coming out of your belly, is like, Wow, that's fucked up and I'd go, Yes, yes, you're right. It's the wrong. It shouldn't be Yes, this is not cool, man. ⁓ you you get used to it, you know. You get used to it.
Krystal with a K: Thank you for acknowledging this. I love how somebody's who's Yeah, I mean that's different though. And you're allowed to say you get used to it. But it's funny when outside people try to tell you like, ⁓ I know somebody that had that. It's fine. They they live a normal life.
Jim: Yeah. No, you could do everything a normal person does. It's like really? Can I sit the shit? No.
Krystal with a K: No. No, I can't. can't. But you know what I can do? I can kick your a
Jim: and the thing is too, I don't know if you know this or not, but hopefully I can reattach this when the time comes. But if you can't, this is all temporary and what they end up doing is ⁓ make the the ostomy permanent and then they do the what the butt surgery is called the Barbie butt.
Krystal with a K: So they just like close it completely?
Jim: Just completely sew it off like a Barbie doll. Yeah, that's the nickname for it, is bar Barbie butt surgery. So I'm trying to avoid that. ⁓ keep that off my resume, but it could end it could end up there. We don't know. ⁓ yeah, it's yeah, I guess so. ⁓ E way it's the same premise, yeah. They just sew it up and it's ⁓ off offline for life.
Krystal with a K: Right. Well Can it be a ken but? I mean, at least since you're a dude. Don't want that either. Well, we'll keep our fingers crossed that that's not what ends up happening, right? And it's not a
Jim: Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm not too worried. they feel like the reattachment will be fine. It's just there's no hurry in doing it. So waiting could actually make the tissues heal a little bit better. for now it's not an issue,
Krystal with a K: it is that a lot times can go ⁓ and reconnect, like you said, ⁓ unless there's some crazy thing that happens. why are they doing that in your
Jim: Yeah. when they the tumor out of my rectum, it was pretty big, like a little cigar so they they do damage to each side of the larger colon. So they take that offline and they put things out out of your small intestine and they leave that ⁓ alone so the tissues can heal. And then they usually back in at three months, which I tried to do, but because of previous radiation and previous surgeries I had scar tissue that made the reattachment not possible right away. So I did hyperbaric treatments and that got delayed because I had to go into chemo. but the tissue is healing, it's healing slowly, but it is healing and I could have have reattached this this last time around, but if I did I wouldn't have been able to go to Kona. So I'm just gonna delay it for a few months and hopefully the tissues will be even more healed by then. So I'll deal with that down the road.
Krystal with a K: Well, I love though that you you are still taking ⁓ of your treatment, you're still deciding this is something that I really wanna do. So I'll have this for a little bit longer and like you said, it's probably gonna allow your tissue to heal even more. But you don't half ass anything. You like whole assed this whole thing. You went all the way.
Jim: Yeah. Well it's kinda funny 'cause I was talking about really my darkest moments and when went at this point is when I went to my wife, same thing. ⁓ Scans started happening, surgery started which was great. But I went to my wife at the same time and said, ⁓ I think I wanna w a book and go to the Iron Man World Championship And it's like I really don't know how to do either, but that's those are the two things that I wanted to do. And ⁓ the book was easier than the World Championship, but they both happened. So It's kinda fun the way it's come together.
Krystal with a K: how did your wife handle you saying all that? Was she just like, yeah, babe, you can do it? Or ⁓
Jim: She's used to my extreme nature. She's usually pretty because she knows if I'm saying this is what I'm thinking about doing, that it's already being done. Yes. ⁓ there's no way to stop this steamroller once it starts rolling to see the book in in its fruition now ⁓ and get the feedback that I'm getting from a lot of people has really very rewarding.
Krystal with a K: It's fucking happening.
Jim: the cliche is if it helps one person it was worthwhile. Well I know it's helped more than one person and the reviews are being really good and really well received and I'm pretty proud of it. It took me about a year to write it and I did it as these things happening to me. real time, yeah.
Krystal with a K: like just you truly just knocking it out as these things were occurring and like your fresh emotions and feelings.
Jim: Mhm. Yeah. At some point in the book I think I go no evidence of disease, then the tumors come back, and then the book just ends. do I go to a Kona? Do live? Do I die? Who knows, So I may have to do a sequel, we'll see. It's a real cliffhanger. Yeah, it's a real a real cliffhanger at this point. Even I don't know what's gonna happen, so we'll see. ⁓ No. Well none of us do. And we were talking about this other day, and I'll ask you this question. if a day was a movie
Krystal with a K: Plot twist. Okay. You don't, you're right. Man, I'll have to have you
Jim: and you tomorrow was already filmed and someone offered you to show you the movie of tomorrow, like you could see exactly what's gonna happen in advance. Would you wanna know? ⁓ I wouldn't know because I like the idea of a s the surprise of not knowing what's gonna happen, but knowing that some good stuff's gonna happen, you meet some good people, maybe do some good things, but to already know and see it. It's like ruining Christmas or something, so
Krystal with a K: Well If you already know what's gonna happen, what's the point?
Jim: Yeah, it would ruin your it would ruin your tomorrow's.
Krystal with a K: Yeah, I'd much more be surprised with the other weird, crazy shit that I have going on in the future with future me.
Jim: Yeah, that's funny.
Krystal with a K: No, I again I love that you wrote a book in that way. I think so many people wait. again, that is a gift that cancer gives you is you're like, I can't I can't wait. So I need to do it right now.
Jim: Initially the thought was being in the infusion rooms as you know, and and some of the surgical rooms and the cancer centers, you see people that have lost the mental battle and you see despair in their eyes, the hopelessness and I had hoped that I could write a book that would maybe lift their spirits a bit ⁓ and give some other strategies to face something like this. 'Cause if you lose the mental battle your body will just follow right along. and it's sad to see that. So initially the book was that was the purpose of it. but it ended up being really therapy for me because I got more out of writing it and publishing it than who knows whoever will get from reading it. so it was good for me to do that. It was really good for me to to put put all my thoughts in the book like that.
Krystal with a K: So many people wanna write a book and haven't, so I commend you on that. That's huge. And again, while you're going through all of this shit. Like not
Jim: Yeah, and that was my savior as well between the book and ⁓ trying to train for races and raise money for the foundation and ⁓ just stay busy. it's in the pursuit of things is what I've come to learn if you have something to chase after, if something that you're excited to get up in the morning then it takes your mind off off the other stuff. It's like I don't how much longer I'm gonna live, but I know as long as I'm feeling good, these are the things I'm gonna do and I'm feeling better now about my life than I did in the first, you know, fifty nine and a half years. I feel like I'm doing more in the last two years that I wouldn't trade my cancer diagnosis. I've said cancer's the worst thing that's ever happened to me. It's also the best thing that's ever happened to me. Too many good things have happened, so I wouldn't want to trade who I am now for what I was then, even though I wasn't a bad guy back then. a little better now.
Krystal with a K: maybe found the purpose, your purpose specifically. And your book is part of that. And so is this race. ⁓ you said October, right? Is the October So we're in what? June, July, August, September, so four months. Okay.
Jim: October tenth. Yes, in Kona. It's I think it's right at about a hundred and twenty days. Yep, four months. it's enough time. I say if I don't have medical issues, and I hate to even say that because, a day, a week, anything could change, especially what happened to me over last five months. But if I can have a free and clear four months to Kona, I should be fine. And knock on wood, I'm not gonna go to wood table right here. that'll be the case, ⁓ yeah. That'll the case, yeah.
Krystal with a K: I'll do it too. So what is your what is your training look like in between now and then as this race gets closer?
Jim: I just getting started ⁓ right after my most recent I did six rounds of chemo after they found three golf ball sized tumors on my on my liver early in January, which landed me in the hospital with two giant blood clots on my jugular. They had to take out the port. I was in the hospital for seven days. I couldn't do anything for the four or five weeks, so basically starting over again. yesterday I did four and four and a half mile walk. At about eighteen minutes a mile. Today I did three and a half miles, about the same. So it starts slow but it'll build quick. especially if I don't have any obstacles or setbacks, but we'll see. one day at a time. If I do what I need to do today, tomorrow will take care of itself and I keep doing that, then I'll be okay when I get there.
Krystal with a K: Literally day by day, just step by step. Which is which is what being diagnosed with cancer is like. It's literally that.
Jim: That's it. Hour by hour, if that's what it takes. know what I mean? So yeah. Yeah, and that's another gift cancer gives you is the perspective that others don't have and that's why ⁓ cancer people instantly bond, based on the fact that we you know, nobody knows and ⁓ I wouldn't want anyone know. If you know I feel sorry for you, but we're in the same club. If you don't, then you don't wanna know.
Krystal with a K: like you don't wanna be part of this club, but then you meet other people and you just get it. ⁓
Jim: Yeah. I've gotten so many cancer friends, one girl ⁓ we've been back and forth on the we have like seven hundred friends in common, is like, How is it we never have met each other, both in the real estate business, but we bonded on cancer basically. We go back and forth. She's no evidence of disease, then her tumors come back and then mine come back and back and forth. We have the same oncologist, Finally we met the other day after like almost two years. So it was cool.
Krystal with a K: Well, I think people know somebody that has cancer. ⁓
Jim: I don't think there's anyone that's not touched by it. it's epidemic at this point and it people are getting younger and younger with the diagnosis. my cancer used to be for usually it was just old people. now it's getting younger and younger. I mean ⁓ in the forties it's very common. so who knows what's going on. But
Krystal with a K: Right. I would say the same for breast cancer. I think ⁓ a lot of different things that go into it, including screenings earlier and things like that. But I would be ⁓
Jim: are just just a toxic society. It's like we all go to the same grocery stores and the same clothing and stuff you don't even think about. So I think our world's pretty polluted. Yeah, soaps and shampoos the list goes on and on. ⁓ who knows? Yeah. I try not to do that too, is like I could I could have and I you know, I'm not the guy that goes like I couldn't even tell you like the real name of my cancer. I mean I know where it was. but the technical names and
Krystal with a K: Yeah, we could go down a whole cancer rabbit hole with that one. Me too.
Jim: You know, it just there's no end to that and I'm just not interested in it. So I just don't do it.
Krystal with a K: I mean, I think that's only important or priority when you're sitting with your doc and usually they have ⁓ your medical record right in front of them. Like when people break down, ⁓ well, what stage were you? And did you have this and that? Up until I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I knew a little bit about a lot of different cancers, but each cancer has its own ⁓ treatment plan, the reasons that it happens, the things that feed it. So ⁓ cancer would
Jim: Yeah. Markers. Yep. The the variances are so y vast. It's like no two people are alike, no two treatments are alike, no two people respond the same. it's a crazy thing. I mean I've been in the infusion room where, somebody has a to the chemo, they have to take them off and they just they can't do it they can't do it. their body can't handle it.
Krystal with a K: And so then what are their options, you know?
Jim: ⁓ at that point you're pretty much screwed. ⁓ apparently I have an incredible to eat chemo, so my last the yeah, I think it is maybe, I don't know. But ⁓ the last six rounds were tough. And I don't look forward to the summer of it, but it's a half dose, so according to my oncologist after what I've been through, she said, You won't even feel it. I said, Okay, I'm trusting you. Doctor Zha
Krystal with a K: It's a superpower. There you go. So what does Doctor Jaw think about you doing all this? You said initially they were skeptical.
Jim: And initially she was skeptical and against it thinking that it would take away from the healing process, I think it's aided me in certainly mentally, but physically as well. I mean if eating right and exercising is good for you before you have cancer, why would it be bad for you after you have cancer? It doesn't make any sense to me. Nobody could explain that ⁓ to me. Just through common sense be like it just doesn't sound right. You're gonna have to come up with something better than that. You know, that's not a you know, so I I don't I like riding my bike. I have a stationary bike right behind me here. And when I had my chemo I wasn't feeling good, the easiest thing for me to do is just ride the bike. And I felt better when I did So w why not do more of that? Or do the things you enjoy. take your mind off the things that you don't want to think about. Especially if you have something you're working towards.
Krystal with a K: I yeah, I agree.
Jim: And that's something that I've ⁓ always been able to do as a self employed person you know, have some lofty goals that you're trying to get up and pursue. I really believe the happiness is in the pursuit of things. if you feel good about what you're doing and you're excited about doing it, then ⁓ you'll be happy and joyous throughout the day.
Krystal with a K: I think sometimes too we forget that the journey is part of the enjoyment, right? I think that's what people that are not diagnosed with, they forget. And I need to be reminded myself sometimes. We my husband, myself, and my nine year old just recently went to have a Sioux Falls and it was like an eleven mile hike and I think we did over forty-five miles in four days, which was a lot for me. I haven't it was incredible. And I watched my son just like fucking light up and
Jim: Yeah. That's th that's fantastic. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: climb down this super scary thing. It was like 200 feet high. I talk about it in my other podcasts, but I have fuck it list things that I want to do now. And that was one of them. And I push myself more physically then than I have in a really long time. I realized what I was capable of, which was huge. But also on the hike down, we're in the Grand Canyon. And I'm like, man, I'm hot. I'm tired. I'm sweating. I'm carrying a 40 pound pack. I'm in the fucking Grand Canyon. Like I need to stop and enjoy it.
Jim: ⁓ my god, yeah.
Krystal with a K: I look at that as almost like an analogy. it made me open my eyes and go, why am I not enjoying day in and day out stuff anyway? we get complacent with it sometimes. And I think when you're life revolves around going to chemo, getting treatments, getting surgeries, you can't be complacent because every minute is for.
Jim: Yes.
Krystal with a K: And those that aren't, you're like, I'm gonna use this time to do what I wanna do when I feel good enough, when I can. And I I just wish that if anybody could get anything from this, one of the biggest things is stop being complacent and enjoy the journey of life. Period.
Jim: Yeah. It's funny you say that 'cause that's definitely in the book. I I say one of my greatest sins I committed against myself was, I was, almost sixty. I had a pretty good ⁓ home inspection business. My wife did pretty well herself as well. So we live very comfortably. but you get complacent, you stop chasing dreams, you stop setting goals that are difficult and you start leaning back and enjoying your success a little bit. and that's not a good way to live. I much prefer the way I'm ⁓ now, which is in pursuit of something, and I feel ⁓ thirty years younger again, you know, chasing things like writing a book was not something I ever imagined doing, but what a challenge that was. ⁓ so it's fun to rise to a challenge and do some things that maybe you never thought you could do, and then you do it and you wonder what else I could do and so that's that's the joy of life and ⁓ that's what I'm living off of right now. it's really working for me. So I'm gonna keep doing it.
Krystal with a K: and like you said, all of us cancer folks cancer people. I always call like regular people cancer muggles. They just ⁓ they don't get it. But that's okay, because don't want them to. But there are lessons that people can learn from just watching you experience it. if you take this and make it a positive thing in your life and allow it to change you for the better,
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: like don't be complacent, enjoy the ride, you know, all of that. But you also have to walk the walk and you're clearly running, biking and swimming the walk.
Jim: Yeah. Or Yeah, some of that's my my personal goal. Like going to Conan finishing that race is my personal goal, but a lot of people are inspired by that But that's that's been a lifelong dream of mine, I'm hoping I can get a decent summer. It just started yesterday, so the biggest journey always starts with a couple of small steps and we've already begun. believe it or not, I've had pretty good five months of training since December. Even on chemo. ⁓ I was able to swim, bike, run and get a good bit of training in so it's not ideal that I had this time off, but it's also not the end of the world, especially with, you know, a hundred and twenty days to go.
Krystal with a K: Now when you go Kona, are you swimming in the ocean? Holy shit.
Jim: Yeah. Yeah, in the Kalua Bay. Supposedly there's like dolphins and turtles all over the place and supposed to be really cool, yeah. Yeah. That should be very cool. Very iconic.
Krystal with a K: Wow. Very cool. So so you're n again, you're more worried about just finishing it period in under seventeen hours.
Jim: Yeah. Seventeen hours, yes, which I I feel pretty confident I can pull it off. I'm I'm cautiously optimistic. I know that ⁓ circumstances can change drastically because they for me pretty much ⁓ every week of every month for last twenty five months. So I expect more trials and tribulations, but hoping that I can manage my way through it.
Krystal with a K: for me I had to be like that because whenever you're looking forward to something or even when you're on treatment and you're like, ⁓ I have seven more, I have six more, or whatever, ⁓ you you're hanging on to that. That's your hope, right? That little bit. And if one thing gets knocked off like you said, the port thing, I ended up getting blood clots. I couldn't do treatment for a couple of weeks 'cause chemo causes blood clots. Unbeknownst to me. I didn't know till I knew. ⁓ and it throws you for a loop.
Jim: Yeah, yeah, you're counting ⁓ down. Yeah. Yeah. Psh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pain painful too.
Krystal with a K: Yes. And you can absolutely be thrown off and mentally thrown off to where you're like, This fucks up everything. I'm way behind. I'm not gonna be able to do these things. But
Jim: Mm. Yeah. Yep. Which also reminds you that you have this illusion of control, like you're in charge of tomorrow and the next day, like you have something to say about it, which is almost laughable. ⁓ yes. I I I had one guy say and he's like, he doesn't ask anymore, he's like, What's your five year plan? He's I don't have a five year plan. Who the hell knows where I'm gonna be in five years? I he said, I have a direction that I try to go in each day. And if I keep going in the right direction
Krystal with a K: That's the biggest lesson cancer's taught me. The the control is minimal. Like I get to pick.
Jim: Check me out in five years, I'll probably be in the right place. mind where am I gonna be in five years? How what am I gonna which way am I going today?
Krystal with a K: I But you do take control of the things that you do have control of, which is, hey, you know what? I wanna go to Kona, I'm gonna do everything I can to get there. I can train daily, like you said, take it day by day, hour by hour. You can pick those things as much as possible every day.
Jim: Yeah. Fitness has always been that for me long, long before, even when I was a youngster, as old as thirteen years old, my first weight set, that I felt like that's something I had control over. That nobody could keep me from working out, building my muscles and always had that from a very young age. if I was having a hard time or difficult time, I would always fall back on. fitness go to the gym or go for a run or eventually swim bike run. So it turned into just a the hobby became a lifestyle, pretty much an addiction. it's hard to shake. So much so that our vacations they call race cations. So we go to different race venues and and spend four or five days in that city. Kelly gets set up in a pretty nice hotel so it works out pretty good for her as well.
Krystal with a K: Kelly's the wife.
Jim: Kelly's my wife of thirty years, ⁓ I like to say I've been happily married to Kelly for thirty years and I think she's been happily married for twenty five of those years. So no Yeah, and w it's, the true test of true love. It's not ⁓ the honeymoon, it's not the good times, it's when things get really difficult cancer's the hardest thing we've ever faced, but we've faced other hard things long before this. You don't get this deep
Krystal with a K: Well, congratulations. That's a huge thing, surviving thirty years in a marriage nowadays. That's fantastic.
Jim: into a relationship without having some really hard times, some times of doubt there's peaks and valleys. and you look back sometimes you wonder how we even got through it. I just always loved Kelly so much I would never never leave her side. And now, you know, me being sick, I've had to humble myself and You know, she just takes care of me like you wouldn't believe it. It's the most beautiful thing to for me to see and the way she does that is I wanna thank cancer again, but it's brought us a closer for sure. to a level that's even hard to imagine, but it's nice to have that long term relationship when you're going through what I'm going through 'cause it's just a beautiful
Krystal with a K: And it's a gift a lot of people don't have. I think that's incredible. I mean, the fact that she takes
Jim: Mm-hmm. I I've had a lot going for me. I mean, a lot of support system, my family. I'm very close to my cancer center, which is a couple of miles from here. I got really good doctors, good insurance, Being self employed, that's one thing I owe even though I never needed it for thirty years. And then one day I wake up is like, ⁓ hello insurance people. Yeah, I'm gonna need all that money back. ⁓ my god, they're getting clobbered by me now. most of the bills are covered by so I'm not financially burdened. So when you have none of those burdens in your path, ⁓ it makes it a lot easier to focus on things like writing a book or raising money for foundation,
Krystal with a K: I need all of that. And then some more.
Jim: I'm really grateful for those things and the people that I have around me.
Krystal with a K: I think that it's cool and extremely humble of you to know that. Cause a lot of people take things like that for granted or they just don't realize it. You're right. I think there are some people that don't have insurance, they have no family, they don't have a significant other, and they're doing all of this by themselves. That's a whole different thing. Sometimes just going to treatment is enough for that day. So anyone that's listening that's going through a hard time, you don't have to be Iron Man badass like Jim here.
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: You could literally just be getting up to get yourself to chemo because that's what you need to do for today to make sure that you're doing the best that you can. That's good enough. But love that you have that support. It makes my heart so happy because I've been very supported in my journeys as well. And I'm very grateful when I hear that other people have that experience because that's such a huge part of it. Like I could have never done what I've done without the people that I have. So
Jim: Yeah. Yeah, the first six months again was my learning curve. So at first I thought I could just, handle it keep more things to myself and just swallow the pain and the suffering and I didn't want to burden anybody, being the provider and the protector, suddenly don't want to be the one that's being cared for. So the ego had to come down a little bit ⁓ and the humility had to come in to allow the people that love you to help when you don't allow that then you're taking something away from them, you need the help. So, swallow your pride, your ego, whatever that is, say thank you, say I love you and eat that turkey sandwich that she just made for you. ⁓ What's so hard about that? Yeah, though.
Krystal with a K: Yes. A let them help. I tell people that all the time. So I used to work for breast cancer nonprofit and a lot of times they'd be like, I don't want to burden anybody. All these people are asking me what I need, which I know it's hard in the beginning to tell them because you don't even know what the fuck you need. But the biggest thing is they're like, they want to help. ⁓ And I Let them. Because you're giving them the gift. A lot of times what you're feeling and your co survivor, which Kelly is for you, but like your loved ones, your friends, your co survivors,
Jim: Yeah. Let him out. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: They don't know what to do either. They're scared. They're afraid for you. They wish that they could do something. They feel a lot of things you feel. So being able to give them something off your plate, it makes them feel like, my gosh, at least I'm doing this one thing to help them. They need that. Yes. ⁓
Jim: Yeah, yeah. we're in it to we're in it together. ⁓ We're in together and ⁓ you can't teach them to sit there and watch they want to engage. So and the bottom line, you do need help, so yeah. So who who are we kidding? Yeah. Yeah, it's not that hard. Yeah. ⁓ I was teasing my wife the other day because, ⁓ you know, I went from stage four to no evidence of disease and I I just whenever I get
Krystal with a K: You need it. Exactly. So eat the turkey sandwich. It tastes better when someone else makes that shit anyway, honestly. So
Jim: to that and the second time I achieved no evidence of disease, that my level of care diminishes significantly. Like when I was stage four terminal, I could get a hot bowl of soup in pretty much five minutes. But no evidence of disease, I can go get that soup myself. You're not sick anymore. ⁓ no ⁓ the level of care is commensurate with the stage, with the level of where are we at again? Let me talk let me call the oncologist right now.
Krystal with a K: All of a sudden. That's right. You're good. You're good. like a five star restaurant and like a McDonalds. It's fine. It's still it's still a burger.
Jim: No, no, no, no. You're you're plenty fine, mister. You can get your own turkey sandwich. my wife's really, really good. she's a caretaker by nature anyway. So I am extremely well cared for that's for sure.
Krystal with a K: So Well, shout out to Kelly again. She sounds like an amazing person. She takes race cations with you. I love that.
Jim: Yes. She is wonderful, yeah. Yeah, she does everything. successful, in her own right. got a great reputation and everybody loves Kelly, she's friends with everyone she's ever met, all the way back to kindergarten and they all stay in touch. I don't know how she does it. She should like run for governor or something. ⁓
Krystal with a K: Tell her to put it on the list. You wrote a book, she gets to be governor.
Jim: Yeah, I was like, How how the hell do you stay like best friends with everyone you ever met all the way back to kindergarten? I was like, Holy crap. I don't know anyone from kindergarten. ⁓
Krystal with a K: I don't either. Don't worry about it. But my also chema messes with my memory, so maybe I do.
Jim: ⁓ my god, the chemo fog, it's hard to explain that to people. which I'm about to go back on it, so it's been nice to not be on it for a little while, so
Krystal with a K: It's a lot better when you're not on it, but I feel like my brain is a little bit different. Like I Yeah just a little poison though, to keep you alive longer. ⁓
Jim: Yeah, you're fried. It's ⁓ you know, what it yeah, just little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Well you you good you could absorb it, you know, some people can't. So I know a lot of people look at me and they go, Well, you you got you got great colors like, yeah, that's the level three skin infection. It's a chemo burn. So thanks. But yeah, the cheeks are rosy. ⁓
Krystal with a K: Yeah. No, again, very That's like when they tell you look good, bald. You you look so great, bald, like you would never know. I'm like, ⁓ you wouldn't know that I chemo you thought that I chose this and I chose these eyebrows I drew on that look like a villain from Disney. Yeah.
Jim: yeah. Yeah, I yeah. Th these are the the the dark side of the stuff that I don't share much with people. Kelly's seen the dark side of some of the deeper, darker, moments. I don't want to say I'd put a happy face on cancer, cancer so many times has such negative stories and endings. It's nice I think to have one that maybe doesn't end that way right away anyway. So to be able to go to Kona and do something as difficult as that and, write the book and help a few people. if you're out there and you're getting newly diagnosed, it's not the end. ⁓ it's just the beginning of something, new, I'm twenty five months in now. but once you stop worrying about dying, ⁓ and this is true whether you have cancer or not, then you can really start to enjoy living.
Krystal with a K: you do ⁓ have grieving process that comes along with it. a lot of times you're just caught up in like the cancer tunnel where you've gotta do all this shit initially and you can't even really focus on what's happening to you.
Jim: they told me I was gonna die in six months or two years. And months in I felt like I was dying. And I was like, Holy shit, they're right, but it's happening sooner than I thought And then everything turned around and I was like, Holy shit, they don't know what the hell they're talking about. Holy shit, they don't know fucking anything. So I started going, All right, I'm signing up for more races It I was like, they're just guessing, man. They don't know ⁓ And then they started taking organs and
Krystal with a K: Yeah. I'm not dead. Liars. What the fuck is the MD for?
Jim: As I told Kelly, I'm still here but I'm half the man I used to be based on all the stuff they've taken out of me. like a pincushion. there's you can do to me physically anymore that would matter very much. I went from never having a sniffle to being operated on like an alien in every way, shape, manner and form. you can throw me on a table, do whatever the hell you want, poke me, prick me, stab me, scissor me up. Doesn't matter.
Krystal with a K: I tell my husband this every time I actually enjoy going 'cause I'll get a few hours of solid sleep. ⁓ Really? ⁓ I'm not even kidding. I'm like, hit me with the juice, give me the good right I go back, and then I sleep and I wake up and that's it.
Jim: You know, it's funny I said the same thing. It's like I'm looking forward to the anesthesia. yeah. Mm hmm. Night night. Best snap ever. No dreams.
Krystal with a K: Well, and then I go really dark with it. I'm always like, if I die, I won't even fucking know. I'll just be asleep. And then I'll be like, Hey
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. Well that is a the rooms and the spaces are creepy, especially like when you get into the surgical rooms and everything gets a lot more mechanical. it can be a little creepy. it's almost looks a little bit dungeonous.
Krystal with a K: Yeah, sometimes when I went to the surgery, they would give me for set or something right before we back. So I'd feel kind of loopy. That happened multiple times. And God knows, half the time I was singing or saying really weird, inappropriate shit. I don't know. ⁓ And the other couple times they actually took back with nothing. And I got very anxious because I had to move myself to the surgical table. Like you said, it's a ⁓ very clinical, ⁓ creepy feeling. ⁓ And so that I
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. They're used to it. Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: The next time I went, I told my doc which I it's so funny. The next time I went to surgery, ⁓ which you get, I was like, Can you just give me the versette before? 'Cause that gave me so much anxiety.
Jim: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I tell my anesthesiologist I prefer diluted. if we're doing that, that's what I like. And they're like we're gonna do morphine is I don't like morphine. So give me the diluted. ⁓ It's like I I'm a ter listen, I'm terminal cancer patient. worry about me having a long term drug problem. ⁓ I don't have that much time. I don't have enough time develop a problem like that, yeah.
Krystal with a K: It doesn't work on me. Yeah. Well and you know y It's not an issue. enough time to be addicted. What are you doing? so ⁓ talk about your book real quick and and Kona and tell people ⁓ yes. ⁓ my gosh, at you. Look at you go. So ⁓
Jim: Yeah. Just keep trying. Woo That's the hard cover. So yeah, it's on Amazon. keep trying. T R I hyphen ING, little play on words. it's still in the ⁓ best or ⁓ best new releases for the category of triathlon and ⁓ I got an Amazon best seller. We hit that marker in a couple of categories, triathlon cancer and faith spiritual and spirituality, I believe. So it's a nice achievement, but ⁓ I still gotta get out there and keep trying to sell the book. It won't sell itself, so ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: Yes. So I will I will put the link on my blog so that people can find it. I'm gonna have to buy one too now. And and you said the proceeds up to a certain point will help go to the foundation. And what's the foundation's name again?
Jim: Yeah, all the all the profits gonna go to the Iron Man Foundation, which is a five ⁓ one C nonprofit ⁓ tax deductible charity. ⁓ till we reach that goal of a hundred thousand dollars. I'm at twenty five thousand now, so ⁓ so we're a quarter of the way there, I have no doubt, over the next four months we'll be able to achieve the goals. So the objective is to prove the Iron Man motto that anything is possible. So again, when I started this, I was at basically rock bottom of Cancer World.
Krystal with a K: What?
Jim: not knowing how to write a book or get to Kona or or eventually tie the book into the fundraising and and then, you know, set the fundraising goal at a hundred thousand dollars is like, well let's let's see if anything is possible. When you apply yourself, that's the other part of it is, you know, you can set a goal but then you have to do the work. if you don't do the work you'll never know if it was possible or not. So I'm doing everything can to ⁓ reach as many people as can And I'm having as much fun with the book and the podcasts and the fundraising as I do with the training Sometimes I have to remind myself that the race is really the the centerpiece here. I gotta get back to focusing on actual race. So ⁓ I'm looking forward to getting back into the training. Yeah,
Krystal with a K: It's nice to have side quests occasionally though.
Jim: transition's been great and that's why I'm thankful to the many gifts that Cancer's given me. I'm not happy I got it but I'm definitely getting the most out of it. And right now I feel like I'm I'm winning ⁓ and Cancer is not winning, so long as we stay on that track we're good.
Krystal with a K: I mean cancer is the best excuse to live your fucking fullest life. And you use that cancer card whenever you get a chance, 'cause I do. A hundred percent.
Jim: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's really ⁓ s ⁓ my encouraged my entire family to pull it out any old time. the speeding ticket is like I don't know if I told you my son has cancer. My wife's definitely ⁓ gotten out of few meetings she didn't want be in. like, you know, with Jim and then she's like, Okay, who's like, Well what about What does that mean? She's like, Yeah, you're fine. Yeah, that's gonna be outed. Well, here's the thing, Kelly Kelly yes, Kelly's the Kelly's the boss now, so there's nothing they can do. That's right. Yeah.
Krystal with a K: Shit, you told the secret. Now they're gonna listen to the podcast and no. Kelly would never. She is a saint. She's She can do whatever she wants. I love that for her. All right. for ⁓ Iron Man Foundation, the book, is there any other things that we can do to support?
Jim: Yeah. ⁓ There's a link to the donation page which you can donate directly to my page if you feel like you want do that. Like I said, that's tax deductible. Purchasing the book, the will go whatever little bit. Amazon takes their, fifty percent. So whatever's left will apply to that fundraising goal until we meet it. Follow me on the Instagram stage four twenty twenty five, the number four two zero two five. And that link is on there as well. just 'cause you got a terminal disease doesn't mean the end. ⁓ terminal's a heart attack and drop dead. for me it's been the beginning of so many other things and it can be for anybody. You don't have to wait to have cancer to, hit the rewind button and start over and do anything you really want to do. So we'll see what happens after October tenth. Then I have to figure out what to do next. So yeah, that's daunting. So we'll see what happens.
Krystal with a K: What's the next thing? Might I suggest the second part of your fucking book, please, so people know what happens.
Jim: Yes, exactly. Well, we gotta f we gotta finish the ⁓ the sequel to this. Yeah. I'd like to say that I finished the race, I raised the money, and that we lifted a lot of spirits and we helped a lot of people along the way. I know I've really enjoyed meeting people like yourself and so many others in the podcast world, the cancer world. always a great camaraderie there. same thing the athletic world with the athlete people too. the book covers a pretty wide swath athletics family fitness and cancer. There's really, in there for everybody and you enjoy it.
Krystal with a K: I'm definitely gonna buy it. like I said, I'll put all of your information that you sent me on my blog, so check that out. it's at www.plattwist.com under blog, obviously. And I will also put some amazing pictures of Jim, aka James when he's the author over here. ⁓ That's right, author name.
Jim: Yes. That's it. Good time to you good time to use your full name.
Krystal with a K: And can I ask the Iron Man Foundation, what do they put that money towards?
Jim: Well, they've been around for over twenty years. They've distributed over sixty million dollars in seventy different countries and they usually do things like buy bicycles. They were just in South Africa giving mountain bikes to to kids and families so they don't have to walk so many miles. They can ride bikes, teach ⁓ how to maintain ⁓ and change tires lubricate the chains so they can keep riding these bikes teaching kids into swim and many, many other things, usually in the race in the communities that we race in. I raised ten thousand dollars for the Iron Man Panama City in twenty twenty five. So that ten thousand dollars would go into the Panama City community, to help the kids in the community.
Krystal with a K: so the place that you're doing it, it raises it for that area.
Jim: Yes, usually that's how it goes. Now and and Kona it's a little bit different 'cause I think they raise a lot more money and they distribute it a little more widely. But generally the money goes back into the communities we race in. ⁓ yeah, and teaching kids the benefits of goal setting and and fitness teaching a kid how to swim is a pretty big deal if they're afraid of water. open up their mind that, you can overcome big obstacles and who knows how that pays off down the road.
Krystal with a K: And they're making future Iron Man people. Huge.
Jim: they're doing the things that not a lot of other charities do and I'm pretty proud to be a part of it. ⁓ I said I was a pretty decent guy before, but now I have a mindset more of how can I be more of service? how can impact more people in a positive way. we just all keep lifting each other up. I think it's a ⁓ a better way to live. Like I said, complacency is a slow death that you don't see coming. I see it. ⁓ it took cancer to kick me in the ass. Cancer in six months to come to the realization and then at this point twenty five months in, just acceptance, know, it is what it is and I'm just living with it. So
Krystal with a K: I love that. Well, you are super fucking inspiring, sir, if you don't mind me saying so. And it has been a pleasure to hear your story. I'm very excited to see the next chapter. Both in your book and ⁓ with Kona. I'm really excited follow up and hear more about that. I'll be following you on Instagram. I'm assuming you post about your journey and what you're doing. I will keep up for sure.
Jim: Thank you. finish it up. ⁓ yeah. All the time. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Krystal with a K: Like I said, check him out, follow him. All of that information will be on the blog. Buy his damn book and help these kids get bikes and learn how to swim and be athletic. We don't have enough of that nowadays because of TV and video games and all the other things. And life really is about getting out there, being active, getting your bodies moving. guess do my plug now. ⁓ follow us ⁓ on media, Instagram or Facebook at plot twist alive. There's obviously a fucking theme here, as you can tell. if haven't already, please go on to Spotify, YouTube. That's where the videos are. Or if you're a listener Apple or the podcast platforms, Give us a fucking five star review. You know you want to. that's all I have. So thank you so much again coming. And we have to end this the right way. Tell Kelly I said hello. And we're gonna do a high five. Ready? Let's do it. Psh.
Jim: There.
Krystal with a K: Still alive. All right, Jim. Now hit me with your evil laugh.