A different shaped heart conversations about disability awareness
Welcome to A different shaped heart conversations about being awesome with a disability and raising awareness at the same time and absolutely Yes sometimes you have to say F…..CK you to your own mindset and especially your disability!
A different shaped heart conversations about disability awareness
We Map A Hip Replacement Journey While Laying Out A Bold Plan For Dual Degrees And A Counseling Future
A fall on a birthday changed everything—and sparked a plan that’s equal parts grit and vision. We open up about living with a hip 50% out of its socket, the decision to move forward with replacement surgery, and the systems we’re putting in place to make recovery sustainable. From pre-op countdowns and pain management to the day-by-day updates we’ll record after surgery, you’ll hear how structure, community, and honest storytelling turn fear into forward motion.
At the same time, we lay out a big academic move: stepping back from work through spring to pursue counseling at Grand Canyon University and reviving a path in fashion communications and styling at the Academy of Art. The cornerstone is inclusion—building disability-forward styling that respects braces and mobility aids, designs for seated wear, simplifies closures, and still looks sharp and personal. We talk about why counseling pairs with fashion: the goal is confidence, self-advocacy, and safety, delivered through practical design and empathetic care.
We also get candid about accessibility in higher education: requesting accommodations, managing timelines around PT and recovery, and navigating FAFSA and student loans without losing momentum. There’s no sugarcoating the friction between disability and college bureaucracy, but there’s also a clear strategy: backup plans, flexible formats, and firm boundaries. Community shows up in powerful ways—from aides and local friends to a hip replacement forum where support flows both directions.
If you’re navigating surgery, balancing school with disability, or curious about adaptive fashion and counseling as a combined path, this conversation offers a grounded map and real talk about the tradeoffs. Subscribe, share this with someone facing a big medical decision, and leave a review with your best recovery tips or accessibility wins—we’ll read our favorites on a future show.
Welcome to a different shaped heart, you guys. Um, I'm with my fabulous BFF slash co-host Danielle Counter. And she and I are going to talk about the hip replacement. Then next week, I promise you guys hold me to this. We're going to do the interview about the Disney clues. I've been busy as heck trying to plan for this knee surgery. Oh, oops, I already had that. Yeah, and uh that knee surgery led to hip surgery because I couldn't bear weight. And the moment I was trying to bear weight, I fell on my birthday, as you guys know, fell off the edge of bed and blew my own hip out of its socket 50%. Ugh. So that's why I the reason why, and as you guys will hear today, because I've been so busy I forgot to up well the episode until today. And then um, as you guys will hear today, if you listen to that episode before this one, which I highly recommend, I'm taking off January, February, March, April, May, and won't be returning to work until June. I am accepted into Grand Canyon University. I have a backup plan if Grand Canyon doesn't work. I have a backup plan to go to the Academy of Art University where I was a student doing fashion journalism, but this time I'm doing fashion communications and styling, and the styling part will be for people with disabilities, or I may do fashion design with for people with disabilities. Haven't decided yet, but my heart is saying do fashion communication and styling for people with disabilities along with your communications degree at Grand Canyon. But so I may go for double bachelor's and then uh major is definitely gonna be in counseling because that's my calling. And so right now I'm focused on that. Right now I'm in a fight with Grand Canyon University to get a commendation. I also have a call tomorrow morning with the Academy of Arts to re-enroll in that and try and switch my major when I re-enroll. So that should be interesting, and then that's gonna be my backup plan. I'll start that probably in June or September, most likely in June, and so Wild Goose Chase it is, and Danielle probably thinks I'm nuts, and everyone else thinks I'm nuts. So taking on a flexible online job with Live Life via Colon. And then I'll post that link in the show notes, and then I am going back to school, declaring a double bachelor's degree from two different schools, and then doing math and counseling all by all in the time span of becoming from hip surgery and getting new hip. So Danny, you'll probably think of some that's she's probably shaking her head on the other side. Yes, my BFF is crazy, but yet I'm here to support, like she always is, and I appreciate that, and I appreciate the love behind the scenes. I had someone reach out from here, from Phoenix, Arizona, and say, How can I help you? I've had my aides be uh help to me. I've had people really rooting for me in the hip replacement community on Reddit. I've actually become a mod moderator, a mod for that one, and so I'm getting ready to rock in the wall, and on the 13th of January, on the 12th of January the day of surgery, I'm actually gonna put my speech up that I did uh at St. Spondress on the Desert Episcopal Church on my birthday when the incident happened. Me not knowing that I blew my hip out. And then on the 13th, if I feel up to it, then you and I are going to do an episode and I'll walk you guys through the surgery and I'll walk walking you guys through day one of recovery, and I'll walk you guys through day two, and I'll walk you guys through day three, etc. Because you guys have really spawned me, and I plan to walk you guys through a hip replacement with the ballsy. So welcome to this royal divine, and you're going to your school updates, you're going to a hip updates, you're going to a every update under the sun. And so, yeah. And so it's gonna be interesting if I can declare um two bachelor's degrees, one master's degree in counseling. And if I can't declare two bachelor's degrees, I'll just stick with one. But I'm trying to get two, and I'm trying to start them close together. Yes, FASPA's involved, but I'm trying to start it close together student loans are involved, FASPA in the US to get the student loans are involved, and so I'm trying, and this is my last attempt to go back to college because college and disabilities don't necessarily mix. And so that's a great idea, but not a great idea. But well, I'm trying, and I'm trying to decree a double major in um a double bachelor's degree, majoring in communications slash fashion communications and styling with a master's in counseling. Masters coming out of um Grand Canyon, the styling part coming out of um Academy of Volunteer University, and I'm planning to do the double major across the other. I've already been admitted to one school which is grandkid in university, so we'll see how it goes. And I have called tomorrow morning to um re-admit myself or try to re-admit myself to the Academy advantage. So c so I am happy about that. Things are looking up. We placed one 36. Now I think it's 36. And so um so I will find out as this week holdings that I'm gonna try to do a trick with my cell phone. Hey Siri Hey Siri Oh she's not listening. I think it's thirty-six days. Um I was going to ask Siri how uh many days till my hip replacement. So I think it's 36 days by now. The last time I checked, which was yesterday, is 37 and I'm um checking because I want this hip replacement done and I want it done now so I can get my foot back on ground and my leg back on ground and my hip done, and let you guys hear me not complain about my hip and how bad it's hurting. It's painful when it's 50% out of the socket. It's just as painful as when you blow your kneecap out and have to get that popped in. No, my hip is not getting popped back in. It's too late for that. It's time for hip replacement. So let's do this and let's do this party and let's do this hip replacement along with going back to school. There we go. And Danielle, do you want to leave us out? Thank you for following us. You guys with the cute party said on the other side. And then um next week we'll do the Disney Cruise interview, which I'm so excited about because Danielle had a phenomenal time, and please, please, please, please, please send good vibes to me about this hip replacement and about getting a double major at two I think about towards three double major at two different colleges, and we'll see what lands up happening with that. And so we'll catch you guys next week. Bye you guys. Bye.
