The Byte: Momoko Uno ~ Magic In The Time Of Covid
Momoko tells a poignant story this week of needing to be at the bedside of her Mother during Covid and how, at the very last instant, she was able to get where she just had to be! The story is simple, profound and should remind us all that everything conspires to get us where we are needed, we just need to NEVER GIVE UP!
Transcript
Hello,
Everyone,
And welcome back to another episode of the podcast.
This week,
I'm interviewing Momoko Uno,
Who in this interview does confess that she has been studying or learning in love with education since the age of three.
Among many other things,
She is a doctor of integrative medicine,
A certified functional medicine practitioner,
An acupuncturist,
And a board-certified Chinese herbalist.
She received her first medical degree from Shanghai University of Chinese Medicine,
And then also received a master's of acupuncture from Samra University,
As well as a master's in psychology from the University of Santa Monica.
We have such a fun conversation this week,
And to be honest,
I was kind of fangirling all over her.
I was finally able to answer a lot of questions that I have around health and acupuncture and the body,
And just how mysterious oriental medicine is.
I thought that we had a rip-roaring good time talking to each other,
And I suspect you'll be able to tell that just by listening to this podcast.
Momoko's miracle has to do with her mother and something that happened during COVID,
And while I was listening to her story,
I kind of understood that what did happen was in fact very miraculous,
Considering the state of the world at that time.
But I'll let Momoko tell it in her own words a little bit later on in this episode.
Thanks to all of you who listen,
But especially thanks to Momoko for agreeing to be on the podcast.
So now,
Without further ado,
Here's the very next episode of Bite-Sized Blessings.
Um,
Okay,
So this doesn't happen all the time,
But it's magical when it happens.
And so if somebody comes to see me and I'll often say,
Oh,
It's going to take some time,
You know,
I will take some sessions.
I don't know how long,
But I'll take some sessions and they come back the next time they're like,
It's gone.
I'm like,
Oh,
Wow.
I didn't realize that.
I'm not that good.
I don't know what happened,
But that occasionally that happens.
And it's a miracle.
It's like,
Oh,
Wow,
I didn't realize that.
I'm not that good.
I don't know what happened,
But that occasionally that happens.
And it's,
Um,
That's incredible when that happens for them.
And well,
Then for me too,
I guess,
But I,
You know,
Placebo,
There's a lot of things that play into that,
Right?
I don't,
But,
But anyway,
But it's,
It's amazing.
I could talk to you for like 10 years.
Um,
But I am mindful of our time.
And so I wanted to ask,
Um,
You know,
The main question of the podcast is,
Um,
I would love to hear a story or stories.
It could be more than one,
Um,
Of something that has happened in your life or something that you've witnessed that you consider to be magical or miraculous or mysterious,
Um,
Something that you would like to share that,
Um,
Kind of changed your life.
I think that,
So I,
I actually wrote about this in my first book and my memoir that,
So when my mother was passing away in Australia and.
So Australia was in lockdown.
It was not,
It was barely allowing many people back.
So the way that how I actually ended up being actually goes to Japan was there must've been some kind of divine intervention or something like,
I don't know how that even worked out that I was actually able to even get onto a plane.
And then was able to,
Because I'm from Western Australia.
And so just to let you know that,
That so Australia was in lockdown in general.
So he had spent two weeks in hotel quarantine,
Like solitary confinement and Western Australia was shutting and opening its borders the entire time.
And I was there.
And while I was actually on the plane,
They announced that Western Australia was closing its borders again.
And I,
And I was in Singapore changing flights and thinking,
Oh my God,
Like this is it,
I'm not going to be able to go.
And they somehow,
We were the last plane that was able to go into Australia.
But otherwise,
If I had been on the plane 12 hours later,
I would have ended up in a different state because they would have siphoned us off into a different state.
So then when I landed in Australia.
Um,
I was told that I was part of this group on Facebook and they said that,
Look,
Even if you make it back to Australia,
You probably won't be able to see your mother because nobody,
It was,
I think,
10,
000 people on this Facebook group,
And it was called,
I think,
Australian stranded overseas or something like that.
And all these people were talking about trying to get back to Australia.
I was one of the few people that actually got back to Australia.
I don't know how.
And,
Um,
And all these people said to get a,
Um,
An exception,
To get out of the hotel quarantine,
To see somebody dying,
Impossible,
They said,
Don't even bother trying.
Like they said,
I mean,
You can try if you want to,
But nobody,
Not one story of anybody getting out.
And I thought,
Oh,
I guess I'm going to try anyway.
Right.
So I started emailing people the email address that I had.
Nothing,
Nothing,
Nothing.
And I was about to give up.
And one of my friends randomly emailed me and said,
Oh,
You shouldn't give up because one of my,
He goes,
I was just talking to one of my friends and,
You know,
He,
He actually went to see his mom.
You have to keep trying,
Keep trying.
I said,
What email address?
And he goes,
I don't,
I don't know,
But you've got to keep trying.
And,
And,
And then I thought I'm just going to find every single email address that's associated with hotel quarantine and I just email bombed a hundred people and finally somebody responded.
And I was actually able to meet my mom.
I was,
I think the only person that,
That,
Um,
Was that,
You know,
Able to get out in the,
In the entire group of,
I don't know how thousands of people,
Right.
And so I was actually able to see my mom for 30 minutes,
Which is,
You know,
Crazy that you only see somebody for 30 minutes.
That's the last time I saw her,
But the fact that I was actually even able to see her was absolutely miraculous.
And the guy,
The,
The nurse who orchestrated that whole experience said he was,
You know,
The head of the nursing department of hospice care.
So he sees a lot of dying people.
And he said,
I was one of the handful of people that,
Who was able to actually get through and see the,
The,
The,
The dying loved ones still alive by the time that they,
You know,
Process the whole thing,
Most people had already passed away,
So extremely fortunate.
And it all kind of had to fall into place exactly at the right time.
And my mother ended up dying,
I think maybe a day or so after that,
After I saw her and the doctor also her palliative care doctor,
Just because I got there,
She knew I was trying to get to see my mother.
She gave her blood transfusion.
They usually don't do this just to keep her alive.
So that was miraculous that she did that for me.
Yeah.
So that,
I mean,
That there was so many different aspects of that,
That I think that,
You know,
That was support.
I felt like,
Oh,
Wow.
I feel like some,
Some forces helping me to,
To see my mom.
I only actually really got to connect with her spirit for a few seconds at the very,
Very end,
But I still got to do it.
And that's what I remember about her is connecting with that part.
And I think it's a really,
For me,
Amazing experience that that's the last moment that I have with her.
Okay,
Everyone.
I hope you loved this very next episode of the podcast and my super groovy interview with Momoko Uno.
I'm grateful to her for her patience with me around all of my questions and for entertaining,
Even the idea of being on this podcast,
I'm grateful.
She accepted my invite because the conversation for me was priceless.
Thanks to all of you who listen to this podcast and thanks to all of you who have written a review or left a rating,
Those ratings and reviews help other people find us.
And so I do hope that if you find it within your heart to do so,
Please consider writing a review or leaving a little rating.
You'll never know how much it makes my heart happy to see those ratings and reviews.
Thank you for listening.
And here's my one request.
Be like Momoko.
Be enchanted with learning.
Be curious about the world.
I know on this podcast,
I'm always saying,
I'm so curious.
I'm endlessly curious.
And I do think that curiosity is a superpower.
And I have no doubt that Momoko and all her education and all of her learning,
That she has an inborn sense of curiosity.
She's in love with the world and she wants to know more about it.
She wants to become a bigger player in it,
To heal people,
To help people.
So be like Momoko and nurture an endless well of curiosity inside yourself.
And so very soon,
I absolutely suspect you'll fall deeper in love with the world.
