How do we improve our mental health in the face of adversity? One in four adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. People with chronic physical illnesses are twice as likely to suffer from anxiety or depression as their physically healthy counterparts. Coach Christine Meyer, author of "Keep It Simple Smarty Paants," says the biggest mistake people make in trying to dig their way out of depression is trying to jump from depression to happiness. She explains that it's a guaranteed recipe for failure. During this episode, hosts Kym McNicholas and Dr. John Phillips talk to Christine about creative games we can play with our mind that guide us step-by-step to better feeling thoughts which become more sustainable. Christine demonstrates how effective her methods work by coaching three patients LIVE who have Peripheral Artery Disease, restricted blood flow in mainly the leg arteries that cause debilitating pain and ultimately depression.

Larry "Shorty" Coleman practices what he's preached his entire career as a Harlem Globetrotter, the power of positive thinking, even as he stands up against amputation of his right leg, two years after his left was lost due to complications from Peripheral Artery Disease (P.A.D.). P.A.D. is restricted blood flow in mainly the leg arteries due to plaque build-up. He didn't know other advanced options might be available to save his right leg so he never sought a second opinion. With his left leg on deck, he reached out to peripheral artery disease advocacy organization The Way To My Heart, which has found him a different doctor with an advanced set of limb salvage skills, who is exhausting all efforts available to keep "Shorty" on his feet. Throughout "Shorty's" fight for life and limb he has continued to maintain a powerful positive mindset much in thanks to his faith and has continued to hold clinics to not help kids learn some of his pro hoop tricks on the court, but to also raise money for those with disabilities like himself due to amputation.

If you are over age 50, your physician may urge you to have a colonoscopy to check for cancer. You might also be urged to have your lower gastrointestinal tract checked using a colonscope and upper GI tract checked using a camera held on to a flexible tube called an endoscope that slips down your throat. An alternative to a procedure which some facilities offer is to swallowing an imaging device shaped like a pill that follows your intestinal tract down through excretion. The limitation with that versus a manual scope is that the current device you swallow can't be directed and so it may miss problem areas. That's why inventor and entrepreneur Torrey Smith started Endiatx. It's a company that's building a newer version called a Pillbot, a type of robot you can swallow, that can be controlled remotely while you are in clinic with your healthcare team. He talks to hosts Kym McNicholas and Dr. John Phillips about gamifying the gut exam and future use cases for robotics in examining the arteries and other areas of the body. Smith sees microrobotics as a game-changer in diagnostics and interventional medicine, at some point even sprouting surgical instruments to treat real-time. Prior to this project, Smith helped invent a device that would remove plaque from the arteries, which is still in use today.

To continue honoring her Mom, Marilyn Lou Baum McNicholas, who transitioned almost one year ago due to an undetected Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA), Kym McNicholas and cohost Dr. John Phillips are keeping the conversation about detection, prevention, and treatment alive to prevent others from suffering the same fate. While Kym's Mom couldn't get diagnosed and treated in time, David Williams is a survivor of an aortic dissection, who shares his long, painful, but successful, fight for his life. The physician who David credits for saving his life joins the discussion. It's aortic specialist, Dr. George Arnaoutakis, Cardiothoracic Surgeon at University of Texas (UT), Austin, who recently moved from the University of Florida, Gainesville, to build a specialty center at UT. He and Dr. Phillips talk about the prevalence of aortic dissection and aneurysms, the difference between the two life-threatening conditions, how to prevent them, and how to know if you need to seek treatment for one.