In this episode of the Exit the Matrix Stories of Success podcast, host Jane Slack‑Smith talks with Ursula, a dermatopathologist, about the role of pathology in medical diagnosis and treatment. Jane shares two personal health experiences that illustrate how uncertainty and mindset intersect with medical outcomes. First, she recounts an inconclusive DNA test for Alzheimer’s risk, which she chose to interpret positively rather than catastrophically. Second, she describes her 2019 diagnosis of Cushing’s disease caused by a tiny pituitary tumor, the surgery to remove it, and the ambiguous pathology report that left the tumor’s nature uncertain. Anticipating the operation, Jane attended a meditation retreat where she learned a visualization technique that framed the surgery in a positive, emotionally‑charged narrative. She practiced this visualization twice daily before the operation, and the surgeon later reported an unusually smooth procedure, which Jane attributes in part to her mental preparation. Ursula reflects on the neuroscience behind visualization, suggesting that emotionally‑linked mental imagery can influence physiological processes and even support self‑healing. The conversation concludes with a broader reflection on the distinction between inevitable pain and optional suffering, emphasizing the power of attitude in navigating health challenges.
Chapters
Ursula, thank you so much for being on Exit the Matrix Stories of Success podcast. And you know, it was interesting when you were talking about your, your job as, you know, a, a dermatopathologist—
dermatopathologist—
I'm getting better at it. And you know, and, and, and looking at the skin under the microscope and doing an analysis and, and becoming a detective and, and going through and finding out, you know, what is the, I guess, the diagnosis so that you can pass it on to the GPs, doctors, and, and consultants, etc., who can then share it with their clients and, and patients and help them in that diagnosis. I wanted to share with you a personal experience from mine that came to mind, and it was an awareness that I haven't had before. And, and two things. So I had had some DNA testing done on a number of different things, and this is like 15 or 10 years ago. And it was interesting, one of the things that I wanted to know, because my grandfather had early onset Alzheimer's, was did I have, uh, a, um, uh, the genes or, you know, the DNA that indicated that you know, I had the Alzheimer's gene and, you know, what I could do about that subsequently. And it's interesting, they did the test and they came back and said it was inconclusive, but we have another, um, sample, we'll test it again. And they came back and they said it's inconclusive, you know, we don't have the information. And so I just went, okay, it's not for me, you know, I don't, I don't have Alzheimer's, I'm, I'm all good. Positive expectations, and I forgot about it until just when we were, um, talking on the podcast. And then also in 2019, I was diagnosed with Cushing's disease. So I had a, a brain tumor on my pituitary gland, and positive expectations— they're going to go grab it out, it's going to be fine. And I remember after the surgery, the doctor said to me, the tumor was so small, we didn't have enough of a sample to tell you if it was, you know, what do you call it?
Benign.
Benign.
Yeah.
Active as a tumor. So, and I just went, oh, okay. So we don't know, you know, positive expectations of, well, you know, obviously it's benign. And it's, it's interesting, isn't it? Because there's two diagnoses there where that if I had had the, you have this, I could have taken that information and, you know, created catastrophic kind of mental pictures in in my mind of how the world was going to turn out for me. And it was almost like the universe had given me the options to choose how I was going to orientate. I didn't have a, a yes or a no. It was, there is infinite possibilities available, and I don't have a diagnosis, and therefore I'm not clinging to that for my future orientation of how things are going to be. So yeah, that just came to me. It was interesting to actually listen to you and how you, you know, obviously diagnose, but having two two, I would say, significant opportunities for diagnosis that didn't come off and my orientation of how I dealt with that.
Yeah, well, there are two different things because you already had a cure because you had an operation and the tumor was removed. So in a way, well, it would be nice to know it was an adenoma and benign since it was very small. It's probably most likely the case, so it wouldn't matter, you know, but in many instances, the actual diagnosis is crucial to know how to treat the patient, how to manage it, because we manage differently benign breast lumps, differently, you know, cancers. And also, not only, but we, as a pathologist, we give the not just diagnosis, but the grading of the tumor, all the essentials that the clinician needs to know to actually arrange the appropriate management.
Yeah, it is interesting. You know, I, a week before I had the brain surgery, um, I, a friend of mine said, oh, I want to take you to a meditation day. So, you know, to orientate you to think, you know, positively about the, the surgery. And, you know, I was like, okay, fine. And we got there and the, uh, the man who took the, the day retreat, um, his wife was a GP and there was a lot of books in the bookshop there. And I said to her, oh, I'm having surgery next week, is there one that What's something that you would recommend that, you know, that could orientate you towards a positive outcome for surgery? And she recommended a book. And I'm reading the— like, I'm speed reading this book, right? Because I'm a week out from surgery. And he talked about the fact that he had this visualization and he walked through it. And— or you could buy it on his website for $20. So I bought it on the website and I was listening to it twice a day. And the interesting thing about this this, uh, visualization was essentially it said, you know, it orientated you into a positive state of mind. And then it essentially said, you know, the surgeon cuts into where they have to remove whatever they're removing. And as soon as they cut in, the blood moves away from, you know, the foreign object that they wanna remove or the object they wanna remove. And they can see it clearly, they can get all of it out. And then good clean blood comes in and, you know, there's a, a, uh, a very quick kind of, uh, recovery. And so I was supposed to be in this brain surgery for, I know, 4 or 6 hours or something or other. And 2 hours after I went in, I woke up in recovery and the surgeon's there. I'm like, oh my God, what went wrong? And he said, it was incredible. I cut in and all of a sudden the blood moved away from the tumor and I cut it all out. And then the blood came back and I got it. He said, it's the best, quickest surgery I've ever done. And I said— and I'm high on morphine at this stage— and I'm like, oh, I did that. And he said, no, no, I did it. I'm like, no, I did that. And he's like, I did it. And so I'm having the fight with the brain surgeon in recovery going, I did that. Anyhow, it wasn't until after, like the week after, I was in his, um, his, uh, rooms and he said, what were you talking about? I said, oh, I did this, like this, uh, visualization. And he said, really? And I said, yeah, yeah. I shared it with him. He's like, I'm going to share this with all of my clients because it's going to make all of my surgeries a whole lot easier. But it's interesting, you know, that kind of, um, that visualization practice and me, you know, high on morphine at the time, like having a fight with the brain surgeon. But yeah, it was a way that I decided to take a positive action in dealing with the, not just the surgery, but the recovery. So yeah, there you go.
It's a long discussion, the discussion about powerful brain. It's not woo-woo. Neuroscience shows that we, you know, our, the way we thinking, the way we think, the way the emotion, we create the emotions and associate with, because brain doesn't recognize what we visualized from, from the actual reality. And it would do— if we visualize, connect with emotions, it would make everything possible in their power to actually manifest that reality. And so even, you know, together with NewJeans productions and rearranging the whole human body. So people can, you know, there are circumstances where people can heal themselves.
So, you know, we know some, it's, it's, it's a fascinating, um, well, it's obviously a conversation we could have a lot more in the future, but I just thought I'd share that with you because it just listening to you talk, it brought up, you know, a couple of experiences that I had had. And, uh, yeah, that, that positive orientation, as we say, you know, pain's inevitable. We all have things that happen to us, but the suffering is optional and how you deal with the circumstances. And, and that's what the podcast was about, how you dealt with, you know, taking yourself from chaos, overwhelm, exhaustion to calm. And, uh, yeah, it really, it triggered a few, uh, learning moments for me too, and memory. So thank you very much. I really appreciate your time.
Thank you.
And as always, to everyone, here's to your success. Speak to you soon.
