Episode Sixty-Six: The Byte - Susan St. John

Susan had no idea when she took the medication for her safari that it would send her into a state of psychosis. Listen to this shorter episode to hear about that journey and her experiences there - and finally, how she came to be saved.

Transcript

Welcome to episode 66 of Bite-Sized Blessings.

We talk a lot of different miracles and a lot of different magical occurrences on this podcast.

I like to try to step back and allow my guests to form their own ideas of what a miracle looks like in their lives.

In this episode,

I get to interview the author Susan St.

John,

Whose book,

Mad Mischief,

Tells the story of how at one point in her life she found herself in a situation that was so unexpected and so terrifying,

It really took the work of a couple of angels to rescue her.

In this episode,

For me,

The miracle is the miracle of friendship,

Of those that find their way into our lives and wonderfully and surprisingly,

They become best friends.

They become people who have our backs,

Who love us truly and will do anything for us.

For Susan,

It's her friend,

Genya,

And I'm going to read the dedication at the beginning of Mad Mischief to kind of let you know just how dear that friendship was.

I've shortened the dedication just a bit,

But you'll get the gist of what Susan is saying here.

To my dearest friend,

Genya,

And my brother,

David,

This dedication is best understood by knowing that each made a trip many years ago that in all likelihood saved my life.

David rarely saves me for myself anymore,

Unless of course I let him,

And Genya died in April of 2006.

On her deathbed,

She looked at me plaintively,

Threw her arms up and her typical,

What can we do about this gesture and said,

You have to go back to Africa so I can rescue you.

This podcast is about that kind of friendship,

That miracle of friendship,

The friendships that change our lives.

So now,

Without further ado,

Episode 66 of Bite-Sized Blessings.

When I went to Africa on safari,

People who went there were put on a drug called larium,

And larium was a drug that was fast tracked without proper testing.

What nobody realized when it was prescribed for me was I was also on an antidepressant,

And the minute you mix an antidepressant with larium,

You go into a state of psychosis.

So I viewed everything on that safari through the lens of psychosis.

When I went to Africa on safari,

To Kenya and Tanzania,

People who went there were put on a drug called larium,

And larium was a drug that was fast tracked without proper testing so that it could be given to the young men who were going to Vietnam.

What nobody realized when it was prescribed for me was I was also on an antidepressant,

And the minute you mix an antidepressant with larium,

You go into a state of psychosis.

So I viewed everything on that safari through the lens of psychosis.

What happened to me was I was with my now ex-husband,

Who was very,

Very emotionally abusive,

And the guy who was unbelievably misanthropic,

And he and my then-husband ganged up on me.

And what happened was that I was writing in my journal,

Which I had originally bought for the purpose of noting where we were and what we were seeing when my then-husband took photographs,

But instead what happened is the animals seemed to be teaching me lessons.

So if we saw an animal,

I would write down the lesson that I thought it was teaching me,

Like we saw a cheetah.

And the cheetah had cubs,

And the cheetah slowly got up and then did this big sprint and got its mouth around a hare,

An African hare,

And the guide said,

I can't believe she went for that hare.

She'll have to eat several more times today.

So I wrote in the book that the hare was teaching me to be not proud,

But to be wise and to do the right thing.

All of the animals we saw taught me a lesson in my deranged mind.

My best friend's name is,

One,

She's deceased now,

Genia,

G-E-N-Y-A.

She's Armenian.

And when I was a vice president at a division of MCA,

Universal Studios,

I was vice president of sales.

I needed more people working for me.

And so I called the typing pool,

I guess it was,

And they sent me up Genia.

And Genia was probably 20 years older than I was,

But interestingly enough,

She didn't have any compunction about working for somebody as young as I was at the time.

She always would tell people how smart I was,

And now she enjoyed working for me because I was so smart.

And that was very unusual.

People usually want the best for you until you get it,

And then they don't want it for you anymore.

But she wasn't like that.

She was like my best friend,

My sister,

My mother.

And I'm just so sad that she's deceased now.

I mean,

It has been for quite a while because I took her with me all over Europe.

That was a fabulous trip.

I just have to say that your dedication to her at the beginning of the book is so beautiful.

And when I read it,

I thought,

Because I've certainly had a friendship like that in my life,

I just thought this is true love friendship right here.

I mean,

You can tell that you two were very,

Very close.

And I just think it's so important to honor those kinds of people in our lives.

Her daughter,

When her mother,

Genia,

Talked to her daughter about I was really sounding crazy on the phone and talking too fast and making these grandiose plans,

Which is when you do what you do if you're in a manic state.

Her daughter,

Adrienne,

Said,

Go rescue your other daughter.

And so she came,

And my brother didn't want her traveling alone.

So he came with her,

But actually he was very upset with me because I had asked him to buy about 20 plus thousand dollars worth of camera equipment,

Which I was going to give to the guide because he had kept saying throughout the safari that he needed better camera equipment and what have you.

He was like a National Geographic type of photographer.

He was so good,

But he needed this better equipment.

I finally had him do it,

But he was so upset with me so that he decided to come with Genia to check out what was wrong with me.

He stayed a week,

And then he went back because I couldn't take him anymore.

And Genia stayed with me about two weeks more,

And then we flew back together.

Thanks so much for listening to episode 66 of Bite Size Blessings,

Where I get to interview the incredible and brave Susan St.

John.

You can find her novel,

Mad Mischief,

Which tells the complete story of everything that happened over there in Africa at madmischief.

Com or by going to bitesizeblessings.

Com,

My website,

And clicking on the link under the episode's show notes.

I'm so grateful to Susan for sharing her story and for being so vulnerable.

It's not an easy story to tell,

And I applaud her for her bravery,

For putting herself out there.

I need to thank the creators of the music used in this episode,

Sasha and Music L.

Files,

Raphael Crux,

Mikhail Hellman,

Alexander Nakarada,

And Winnie the Moog.

For complete attribution,

Please see the Bite Size Blessings website at bitesizeblessings.

Com.

On the website,

You'll find links to books,

Music,

Artists,

And changemakers,

I think are trying to make this world a better place.

Thank you for listening,

And here's my one request.

Be like Susan,

Appreciate and cherish your deep friendships.

Appreciate those who love you and those you love.

Ask yourself,

Whose angel can you be for today,

Knowing that you yourself are surrounded by angels on all sides?