The School of Doza Podcast

In this Wellness Tech Series episode, Nurse Doza breaks down the Hume Band and why daily health data changes how he makes decisions. He walks through the metrics he checks every morning — sleep depth and wake-ups, heart rate variability as a window into stress and recovery, pulse oximetry day and night, body temperature, and steps — then explains how the Hume Pod adds body fat, skeletal muscle mass, and visceral fat. Labs are a snapshot; this is the daily trend line underneath them.

 

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## Featured Partner: Hume Health

 

**Hume Health** makes at-home health tracking gadgets — the Hume Band (wrist wearable) and the Hume Pod (smart body composition scale) — paired with a free app and a 10-year warranty.

 

- **Storefront:** https://humehealth.com

- **Discount code:** `NURSEDOZA`

- **Offer:** 20% off

*Note: a wearable is a trend-tracking tool, not a diagnostic device. Metrics like overnight oxygen saturation are worth discussing with a licensed provider if the pattern looks unusual — they do not replace a sleep study or clinical evaluation.*

 

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## School of Doza

 

Want help turning your own health data into decisions? **School of Doza** is a health-education community with live group consults every **Wednesday at 1 PM Central**, plus courses and protocols you can actually follow.

 

**Start your free trial:** https://www.schoolofdoza.com

 

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## 5 Key Takeaways

 

1. **Labs are a snapshot; wearables are the trend line.** A panel drawn twice a year can't tell you what last night did to your recovery. Daily metrics fill in the space between blood draws.

2. **Sleep isn't one number.** Total hours matter, but so do depth, light sleep, and how many times you were awake. Seeing the breakdown each morning is what makes the adjustment obvious.

3. **HRV reads both sides of the day.** Overnight HRV reflects recovery; daytime HRV reflects the stress load you're carrying right now. Watching both separately is more useful than either alone.

4. **Pulse ox is the quietly important one.** Continuous oxygen saturation — especially overnight — is a pattern worth bringing to your provider if you snore or wake up unrefreshed. Screening data is a conversation starter, not a diagnosis.

5. **The Pod covers what the band can't.** Body fat percentage, skeletal muscle mass, and visceral fat round out the metabolic picture. Visceral fat in particular is the depot most consistently associated with insulin resistance and fatty liver in the research.

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## Peer-Reviewed References

 

1. *Impact of objectively-measured sleep duration on cardiometabolic health: A systematic review of recent evidence.* PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9806213/

2. *Stress and Heart Rate Variability: A Meta-Analysis and Review of the Literature.* PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5900369/ (PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29486547/)

3. *Overnight pulse oximetry for obstructive sleep apnea.* PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6259496/

4. *Using wearable skin temperature data to advance tracking and characterization of the menstrual cycle in a real-world setting.* PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11294004/

5. *The role of adipose tissue dysfunction in hepatic insulin resistance and T2D.* PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11378142/ (PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38967989/)

*Citations were located via PubMed/PMC search and are listed by title and PMC ID. PMC blocks automated page fetches, so individual author lines were not machine-verified and are deliberately omitted rather than guessed.*

 

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## Connect with Nurse Doza

 

- Website: https://www.schoolofdoza.com

- Supplements: https://mswnutrition.com

- Recommendations & partner codes: https://www.schoolofdoza.com/recommendations

- YouTube / Instagram / TikTok / X / LinkedIn: @nursedoza

Most people handed an MTHFR result never get it explained. This episode connects MTHFR and liver function — why so much of that gene's work happens in the liver, what methylation actually means in plain language, and how the pathway ties into glutathione, detoxification, and mood. Nurse Doza also covers why methylfolate alone is rarely the whole picture, and what's worth discussing with your own provider. Education, not a protocol.

Featured Product
The MTHFR Stack — Bliss + Boost + Liver Boost

Three formulas built around the same pathway this episode is about. Bliss is a sublingual shot with SAMe and TMG (trimethylglycine) — it supports biochemical reactions that require methyl groups and supports neurotransmitter synthesis and healthy mood. Boost is a morning stick pack built on methylcobalamin — B12 already in its methylated, active form — alongside methylated B vitamins, electrolytes, and antioxidant nutrients (heads up: it contains caffeine, roughly 95 mg). Liver Boost is the capsule piece, formulated to support phase I and phase II liver detoxification.

The rhythm is simple: Boost in the morning, Bliss whenever it fits your day, Liver Boost with a meal.

👉 Get The MTHFR Stack here: https://mswnutrition.com/products/mthfr-stack

If you take medication, run any new supplement by your provider first.

Join the School of Doza
If you walked out of an appointment holding a genetic result and no explanation, that's exactly the gap the School of Doza was built to close.

Every Wednesday at 1pm Central we run a live Ask Me Anything — a group consult where you bring your labs, your questions, and whatever's actually going on with you, and Nurse Doza answers directly. It's live only, so you're getting a real conversation, not a recording.

We're in the middle of The Liver Course right now — live class plus Q&A every Tuesday at 5:30pm Central. October 6 is the MTHFR and the Liver class, which goes deeper than this episode with diagrams, handouts, and live questions. October 13 closes the series with Building Your Liver Protocol.

Your first 7 days are free, so you can sit in on a class and an AMA before you decide anything.

👉 Start your free trial: https://community.schoolofdoza.com/c/start-here

5 Key Takeaways

MTHFR isn't abstract — a lot of its work happens in your liver. The gene is expressed throughout the body, but the liver is where a large share of methylation activity plays out, which is why a variant shows up as a liver-support question and not just a vitamin question.

Methylation is a cycle, not a single step. Folate gets converted to its active form, that feeds the methionine–SAMe cycle, homocysteine gets cleared down the transsulfuration pathway into cysteine, and cysteine is the rate-limiting input for glutathione. Slow the cycle down anywhere and everything downstream feels it.

Glutathione is the connection point. It's one of the most abundant antioxidants the body makes, it's produced largely in the liver, and it's central to phase II detoxification — which is the same phase where methylation lives.

Folate status and mood are genuinely linked. Folate deficiency is documented as a risk factor for major depressive disorder and for poorer response to antidepressants, and L-methylfolate has research behind it as a supportive option. Variants in MTHFR can reduce how well someone converts dietary folate and folic acid to the active form.

Methylfolate alone often isn't the whole picture. The research on SAMe and betaine (TMG) points to the rest of the cycle mattering too — betaine supplementation lowers serum homocysteine, and SAMe plus betaine has been studied as an add-on with more effect than SAMe alone.

Timestamps
00:00 START – Welcome and episode overview

02:08 – Who this episode is for, plus the Liver Course dates

04:27 – Why he started ordering MTHFR on everyone, including himself

06:27 – The gene is everywhere in the body, but concentrated in the liver

08:51 – How common variants are, and what epigenetics actually means

11:16 – Folic acid vs folate, and everything else the gene does

13:34 – The homocysteine and glutathione pathway

16:20 – The mood connection: folate, serotonin, and the gut

18:46 – What a clinic rotation taught him about prescribing B9

21:06 – Where serotonin is made, and where folate is stored

23:24 – Third: the pathway needs daily vitamins and supplements

25:50 – SAMe, methionine, and betaine (TMG)

29:11 – Fourth: what changes, and how to measure it

31:32 – Phase I and phase II detox, and the full methylation stack

33:49 – What to check, and closing

Resources

DNA Methylation in Liver Disease (Int J Mol Sci) — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7662478/

MTHFR Polymorphisms, Homocysteine and Disease Risk (Genes) — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12027316/

Glutathione Overview (ScienceDirect Topics) — https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/glutathione

Glutathione Conjugation and Detoxification (PMC) — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2696075/

L-Methylfolate and Depressive Symptoms (Neurology) — https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.92.15_supplement.P3.9-057

Folate, MTHFR and Depression (PMC) — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4750636/

SAMe Plus Betaine as Add-On Therapy (PMC) — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4303396/

Betaine Supplementation and Serum Homocysteine (Nutrition Research) — https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0271531724000691

Betaine, B12, Choline, Glutathione and Diabetes Parameters (PubMed) — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39442756/

Connect
🔗 Connect with Nurse Doza:
JOIN MY SCHOOL for FREE: https://community.schoolofdoza.com/c/start-here
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwcKyagDi468WscAOWM5VHA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nursedoza/
Website: http://www.nursedoza.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-mendoza-dc-aprn-np-c-0609a038/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nursedoza
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nursedoza

In this Wellness Tech Series episode, Nurse Doza breaks down SONA — an AI-powered earpiece that delivers gentle vagus nerve stimulation at the cymba concha, the one spot in the outer ear where a branch of the vagus nerve reaches the surface. He explains how the paired app reads heart rate variability in real time, why HRV is a window into stress and recovery, and how short guided breath and audio sessions are designed to fit a schedule with no room for a long meditation.

FEATURED PARTNER
SONA is an AI-powered wearable vagus nerve stimulator. It sits on the ear and delivers low-level, non-invasive electrical stimulation at the cymba concha — the auricular branch of the vagus nerve — while the companion app tracks heart rate variability so users can watch their own trend across a session. Guided breath work and audio pairings are built in, the app has no monthly subscription, and the device ships with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 1-year warranty. It's the tool Nurse Doza reaches for when the problem isn't knowing how to relax — it's having ten minutes and a way to tell whether anything actually happened.

👉 Get SONA (15% off with code NURSEDOZA): https://sona.pxf.io/k41Dxx

SONA is a consumer wellness device, not a medical device, and nothing here is medical advice. If you are pregnant, have a pacemaker or other implanted electrical device, a heart-rhythm condition, or a history of seizures, talk with your provider before using any form of nerve stimulation. This page contains affiliate links.

JOIN THE SCHOOL
Nervous system work is a lot easier when you're not guessing on your own. Inside the School of Doza, members compare notes on the tools that actually earn a place in a daily routine — sleep, stress, recovery, labs — and every Wednesday at 1 PM Central there's a live group consult where you can bring your specific questions.

👉 Start your free trial: https://community.schoolofdoza.com/c/start-here

5 KEY TAKEAWAYS

Chronic stress is a physiology problem, not a willpower problem. The stress response was built for short bursts. When it never gets a chance to downshift, telling yourself to calm down doesn't move the system — the input has to reach the nervous system itself.

The vagus nerve is reachable through the ear. A branch of the vagus nerve surfaces at the cymba concha in the outer ear, which is why transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation is delivered there. It's the anatomical reason an earpiece can engage this pathway without anything invasive.

HRV is a trend to watch, not a verdict. Heart rate variability reflects how flexibly the body shifts between stress and recovery. A single reading says very little; the useful signal is the pattern over days and weeks, which is what makes in-app feedback worth having.

Feedback is what makes a practice stick. Breath work, meditation, and yoga all support the same system. Pairing them with a real-time measurement turns "I think that helped" into something a person can actually track — and track-ability is what keeps a routine alive.

Consistency beats session length. Short daily sessions that survive a real calendar compound the way training does. Follow the manufacturer's recommended session guidance rather than self-escalating duration.

RESOURCES
Based on peer-reviewed literature:

Why the ear – Butt MF, et al. "The anatomical basis for transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation." Journal of Anatomy, 2020;236(4):588–611. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.13122

taVNS, HRV & mental stress – Drost L, Schulz A, Möck A, Vögele C. "Effects of taVNS on physiological responses and cognitive performance during a mental stressor." Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 2025;25(6):1655–1666. (Sham-controlled RCT, n=41: higher RMSSD during active stimulation; self-report and cognitive performance unchanged.) https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13415-025-01341-w

What HRV actually indexes – Laborde S, Mosley E, Thayer JF. "Heart Rate Variability and Cardiac Vagal Tone in Psychophysiological Research — Recommendations for Experiment Planning, Data Analysis, and Data Reporting." Frontiers in Psychology, 2017;8:213. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00213/full

Slow breathing & HRV – Laborde S, et al. "Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis." Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2022;138:104711. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35623448/

Non-invasive vagal approaches, reviewed – Gitler A, Bar Yosef Y, Kotzer U, Levine AD. "Harnessing non-invasive vagal neuromodulation: HRV biofeedback and SSP for cardiovascular and autonomic regulation (Review)." Medicine International, 2025;5(4):37. https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/mi.2025.236

🔗 Connect with Nurse Doza:
JOIN MY SCHOOL for FREE: https://community.schoolofdoza.com/c/start-here

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwcKyagDi468WscAOWM5VHA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nursedoza/

Website: http://www.nursedoza.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-mendoza-dc-aprn-np-c-0609a038/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nursedoza

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nursedoza

Child immune system support isn't about stopping every cold — it's about knowing which ones are normal. Nurse Doza breaks down how a school-age immune system actually develops, what's worth a closer look, and five things you can do at home: sleep, food, the right supplements, movement, and nervous system care. Plus the one nutrient that keeps coming back low on lab work.

Featured Product
The D (4-Month Supply) — $75

Vitamin D receptors sit on immune cells throughout the body — in the gut, the sinuses, the lungs — and vitamin D is one of the most commonly low results on a standard lab panel. The D pairs vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) with vitamin K2 as MK-7 in a single daily capsule, and one bottle runs four months. One habit, one bottle, the whole season covered.

👉 Get The D here: https://mswnutrition.com/products/the-d

Ask your child's pediatrician before giving a child any supplement, and ask them to check a vitamin D level so you're working from a number instead of a guess.

Join the School of Doza
If you're the parent who has been through four rounds of the same cold since school started and nobody will tell you whether that's normal, this is the room for you.

Every Wednesday at 1pm Central we hold a live Ask Me Anything that runs like a group consult — bring your labs, your supplement questions, or what's going on at home and get direct guidance in the room. It's live only, so you're getting answers to your situation, not a recording of somebody else's.

The Liver Course is also running right now — a live class plus Q&A every Tuesday, six weeks, wrapping with Building Your Liver Protocol. If you've ever been told your labs look fine and you still feel off, that's the one to sit in on.

Your first 7 days are completely free.

👉 Start your free trial: https://community.schoolofdoza.com/c/start-here

5 Key Takeaways

Kids getting sick is part of how a young immune system learns. The goal is not zero colds — it is knowing which pattern is normal development and which pattern is worth bringing to your pediatrician.

Sleep is immune infrastructure, not downtime. CDC/NIOSH training materials note that restricting sleep to four hours for a single night dropped natural killer cell activity to an average of 72% of a rested night, and six nights of short sleep cut influenza vaccine antibody production by more than half.

Color on the plate is the simplest nutrition rule kids will actually follow. Fermented foods (kefir, sauerkraut, pickles, miso) supply probiotics; green bananas, plantains, jicama, yams and asparagus feed them as prebiotics; berries and dark leafy greens carry the antioxidants.

Vitamin D is the one most often missing. In a trial of otitis-prone children, 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily reduced the risk of acute otitis media, and the protection tracked with final blood levels reaching roughly 40 ng/mL or higher — a level most standard reference ranges would still call "normal" well below.

Movement and nervous system care round it out. Physical activity helps the body stay resilient against infection, and Nurse Doza makes the case from his chiropractic practice that regular adjustments support the nervous system that regulates the immune response.

Timestamps
00:00 START – Welcome and episode overview

00:39 – The cold that never leaves the house, and the 2am question

02:05 – What's happening right now inside the School of Doza

04:05 – Thing #1: Sleep, and why it is the foundation of the immune system

06:05 – Four hours of sleep and what happens to natural killer cell activity

07:20 – Melatonin, dark rooms, and the difference between hours and depth

08:55 – Sleep and how well a vaccine actually works

09:48 – Thing #2: Eat the right food — vitamin D, sunlight, and fatty fish

12:30 – Eating the rainbow, and why yellow-and-white plates fall short

14:27 – Probiotic and prebiotic foods kids will actually eat

16:30 – Thing #3: The right supplements — vitamin D3 with K2

18:30 – What vitamin D level to aim for, and why "in range" is not the same as optimal

20:05 – Thing #4: Exercise — 60 minutes of real play, every day

23:49 – Thing #5: The one most families skip — chiropractic and the nervous system

30:52 – Test, don't guess — and the closing ask

Resources
1. Sleep and the Immune System — CDC / NIOSH https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/work-hour-training-for-nurses/longhours/mod2/05.html

2. Melatonin, sleep and immune regulation — PMC8602722 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8602722/

3. How To Build Up Your Kid's Immune System — Cleveland Clinic https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-boost-your-kids-immunity

4. Whole foods for kids' immune health — CHOC https://health.choc.org/how-to-strengthen-your-childs-immune-system-with-whole-foods/

5. Vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of acute otitis media in otitis-prone children (Marchisio et al., Pediatr Infect Dis J, 2013) — PMID 23694840 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23694840/

6. Treatment and Prevention of Infections in Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (vitamin D section) — Cooperstock et al., 2017 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cap.2016.0151

7. New Study Unveils Relationship Between Chiropractic Care and Immune Response — International Chiropractors Association https://www.chiropractic.org/new-study-unveils-relationship-between-chiropractic-care-and-immune-response/

8. Immune Function: Top 5 research papers — Asia-Pacific Chiropractic Journal https://www.apcj.net/site_files/4725/upload_files/ImmuneFunctionTop5(1).pdf

9. The D (4-Month Supply) — MSW Nutrition https://mswnutrition.com/products/the-d

10. School of Doza — start your free 7-day trial https://community.schoolofdoza.com/c/start-here

11. $99 lab review with Nurse Doza https://labs.nursedoza.com

Connect with Nurse Doza
🔗 Connect with Nurse Doza:

JOIN MY SCHOOL for FREE: https://community.schoolofdoza.com/c/start-here

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwcKyagDi468WscAOWM5VHA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nursedoza/

Website: http://www.nursedoza.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-mendoza-dc-aprn-np-c-0609a038/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nursedoza

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nursedoza

In this Supplement Stack Series episode, Nurse Doza breaks down the MTHFR gene — the enzyme behind methylation, detoxification, neurotransmitter production, and energy — and explains why the form of folate you take matters if you carry one of the common variants. He walks through The MTHFR Stack by MSW Nutrition: the methyl donors, the methylated B vitamins, and the liver support that keep the methylation cycle turning. If methylation is your bottleneck, start here.

FEATURED PRODUCT
The MTHFR Stack by MSW Nutrition bundles the three formulas Nurse Doza reaches for when methylation support is the goal — Bliss, Boost, and Liver Boost — into one system. Together they cover the methyl donors (betaine/TMG and SAMe), the methylated B vitamins (methylfolate, methylcobalamin, B6 as P-5-P) and glutathione, and the phase II liver pathway where methylation and detoxification meet. Rather than supporting one step and starving the next, the stack works the whole cycle.

👉 Get The MTHFR Stack: https://mthfr.mswnutrition.com/ Launch pricing: $269 through September 30 (retail value $340). $299 from October 1. Discount applies automatically at checkout — no code needed.

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you're pregnant or nursing, or take prescription medication, talk with your provider before starting a new supplement.

JOIN THE SCHOOL
Methylation is one of those topics where the labs, the genetics, and the supplement aisle all point in different directions. Inside the School of Doza, members work through it together — and every Wednesday at 1 PM Central there's a live group consult where you can bring your own questions about homocysteine, folate, B12, and what to actually do with an MTHFR result.

👉 Start your free trial: https://community.schoolofdoza.com/c/start-here

5 KEY TAKEAWAYS

MTHFR isn't a niche gene — it's a hub. The MTHFR enzyme converts folate into its active 5-MTHF form, which feeds the methylation cycle behind detoxification, neurotransmitter production, cardiovascular health, brain function, and liver metabolism.

Common variants mean less enzyme activity. The C677T variant is one of the most studied polymorphisms in human genetics and is associated with reduced enzyme activity and higher homocysteine — which is why the form of folate you take matters.

Methylfolate skips the step your enzyme struggles with. Supplemental 5-MTHF is already in the active form, so it doesn't depend on MTHFR conversion the way folic acid does. It's the folate form the stack is built on.

Methyl donors sit upstream of mood. SAMe is the body's universal methyl donor and betaine (TMG) helps recycle homocysteine back to methionine. The stack includes both, which is why Nurse Doza frames methylation support as something that also touches serotonin and dopamine pathways.

The liver is where methylation and detox meet. Phase II detoxification runs through methylation, glutathione conjugation, and sulfation — so supporting glutathione and the phase II pathway is supporting the same system the MTHFR gene serves.

RESOURCES
Based on peer-reviewed literature:

MTHFR C677T — epidemiology and metabolism – Review of the C677T polymorphism, its prevalence, its effect on enzyme activity and homocysteine, and associated conditions. Eur J Med Genet, 2015. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25449138/

Active folate vs. folic acid – Review of 5-MTHF (methylfolate) in human health and why the active form bypasses reduced MTHFR activity. Biomolecules, 2022. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9380836/

SAMe and the central nervous system – Systematic review of S-adenosylmethionine, transmethylation, and CNS health. 2024. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11435340/

Betaine (TMG) – Comprehensive review of betaine's role as a methyl donor, its effect on homocysteine remethylation, and liver outcomes. Nutrients, 2021. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8224793/

Hepatic glutathione – Review of glutathione's synthesis, regulation, and role in liver detoxification. Mol Aspects Med. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2596047/

🔗 Connect with Nurse Doza:
JOIN MY SCHOOL for FREE: https://community.schoolofdoza.com/c/start-here

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwcKyagDi468WscAOWM5VHA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nursedoza/

Website: http://www.nursedoza.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-mendoza-dc-aprn-np-c-0609a038/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nursedoza

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nursedoza