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The following podcast is a dear media production.
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She s a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
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Fantastic.
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And he s a serial entrepreneur, a very smart cookie.
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And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride.
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Get ready for some major realness.
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Welcome to the skinny confidential him and her.
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You know, the way I got into these stories was basically writing emails to friends back before blogs existed.
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You know, it was back in the 19, you know, late 90s.
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And I d send these email blasts out when I was on call at three in the morning, just this crazy stream of consciousness that would leave my friends asking, you know, are you breaking into the pharmacy or something?
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Or, you know, just random thoughts.
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Emergency amputation, this person who got septic and was dying, his family, he didn t want to have his leg cut off.
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We re like, if we don t cut this off, we couldn t get in touch with the intending doctors.
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And the residents say, well, let s,
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We got to do it.
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I mean, he s going to die if we don t get this thing off.
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So they re like, all right, John, you got to go bring it down to, this is in the VA hospital.
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So I m walking around with this leg in a garbage bag.
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I m thinking it s three in the morning on a Saturday.
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My friends aren t doing this.
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They re all having a great time together.
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They re out partying and I m doing this.
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Welcome back to The Him and Her Show.
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We are doing something fun today.
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One of my favorite ways to have guests on this podcast is to read, to read wide, to read random, to read niche.
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And then what I do is if I really like the book, I ll reach out to the author on Instagram and basically beg them to come on the podcast.
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And that is exactly what I did with Dr. John Lawrence.
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He is the author of the series Playing Doctor.
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So I was on Amazon perusing around trying to find a good autobiography, and this popped up.
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I am deathly afraid of hospitals and anything medical, and I think that maybe made me intrigued with the subject.
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Sure enough, I bought the book Playing Doctor, and I read all three of them in two weeks.
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I loved it so much.
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You have to read it if you re as intrigued with the medical system as I am.
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And luckily, he came on the show.
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Today, we re going to discuss all the things.
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Everything you need to know about a teaching hospital, the craziest burn unit stories, ER stories, the different phases of medical school, his advice on bringing your kids to the hospital and when you should bring your kids, why doctors are over-prescribing pain meds, the ins and outs of hospitals, and what s it like, really, to be a doctor.
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On that note, let s welcome Dr. John Lawrence, the author of the series, Playing Doctor, to the Him and Her show.
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This is the skinny confidential him and her.
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Welcome to the podcast.
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Dr. John John.
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I don t, I don t know what you like to be called.
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I have to give you a little backstory.
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I have a irrational fear of hospitals.
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Like ask my husband, I faint at a needle, Vasco, vagal or whatever.
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If we go to the hospital ever, even for something beautiful, like childbirth, like we could go there and we re like, we re there for the elevator button.
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I have, I think I m too,
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She made me, she, she, this is like, people are going to not like this, but I get home.
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I have brand new pair of shoes.
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I m looking for them.
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Where the hell did they go?
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She threw them away.
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Cause she s so nervous.
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It s not that I m like worried about, like, just scared of hospitals.
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I can t explain it.
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I don t know.
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I m scared.
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I don t like the fact of someone taking my blood.
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It just scares me.
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Anyways, I got served on Amazon, your book playing doctor part one.
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And immediately I downloaded it on my Kindle because I am intrigued by why I m so triggered by the hospital.
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So I started reading it and I could not put it down.
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It was a light, but also gave you the juicy stuff.
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It also showed your life, which is super interesting.
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And just you sort of like fumbling through medical school and then residency, and then actually being a doctor, which are part two and part three.
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And I think I read your whole series and like,
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I want to say like two weeks.
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And then I harassed you on Instagram.
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I found you on Instagram and harassed you.
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And so here you are.
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Oh, my goodness.
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Well, thank you both for having me.
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It is so amazing to be here because I ve become a fan of your podcast.
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To be here is, as I mentioned, just surreal.
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So I m so glad you found the books.
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And when I realized when you sent me that message, I was it made my I can t even describe it.
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Just to have somebody you don t know reach out and say, I read your books, I enjoy them is
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for any, I think, creator, artist is to hear, not that I consider myself an artist, but it was just so special to have somebody, you know, reach out and tell that you suddenly feel legitimate that somebody enjoyed them.
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And that s the only reason you write these books is hopefully for me it was, you know, maybe this is something that will entertain people.
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Maybe it ll be something that tells people about this world they don t know because we ve all had the experience usually with medical people, whether in a clinic, in a hospital,
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And believe me, when we walked out with our first child, I was grasping arms, like not letting him go anywhere near the walls to touch anything in a hospital.
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So it does.
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It s not a totally irrational fear.
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Okay.
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So I want to go, I want to sort of do this podcast like you ve done the books.
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And I want to go back to part one of medical school.
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You didn t really want to go to medical school.
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I m certainly not the typical story, given I wasn t planning my entire life around, I want to be a doctor.
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I didn t grow up thinking I was going to be a doctor.
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When I went to undergraduate, when my career counselor asked me what you want to be, I said, I don t know.
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I just don t want to be a doctor.
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You know, the idea of going to pre-med and carrying all these heavy books around just looked ridiculous to me.
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And where did you grow up just quickly?
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Was born in New York, grew up in England, came back to New York.
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Now I live in Utah.
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I was thinking I was gonna go, I mean, I love the idea of writing.
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I started in college, I got into some screenwriting classes and acting and loved it, but I thought that s just a dream world.
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You know, I don t know how anybody actually pursues this.
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This is a while ago.
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And I was thinking I d go into law and just work on environmental issues and took the LSATs, was going down that path and was working at some law firms, you know, intern years, you know, in between college and didn t think it was the path I wanted to go down.
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And so I had thought about medicine, just kind of off the side, well, you know, like thinking, well, I can take care of athletes.
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You know, these are, these are, you know, something I enjoy sports, go down that path, but never really took it too seriously.
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And it really was this moment when my, even my advisor was like, don t just jump path, figure out what you re doing.
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And then I went to, I was living in France, I was a ski guide, and this French doctor, who I couldn t really understand because my French isn t that good, basically was talking about Médecins Sans Frontières, you know, going doctors without borders.
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French is not bad.
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No, and he s like, yeah, I get to ski with my daughter.
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And then, you know, there s this other life.
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I was like, okay, that s great.
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And then, you know, this can, I could also do like community theater and do some writing.
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So it became this path and I thought,
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Well, let me go do this, but I hadn t taken a single pre-med class, so I had to go back to all my pre-med classes, had to apply.
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Yeah, it wasn t exactly what I was planning to do, but I thought this is gonna be a, you know, it s gonna provide a good life.
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You hurt your head.
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I ll let you, real bad.
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Okay, so I actually get into medical school, which is something they probably regret at the school all these years later, because I definitely was not their typical student.
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And I was going on a mountain bike ride around four weeks before medical school s about to start.
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And the next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital.
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I m in a neuro ward.
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I m seeing all my friends.
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Like, you know, in the movies, you have this like tunnel vision.
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You re looking all around and I ve got, I can recognize my friends.
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They re all looking at me.
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I can t really hear what they re saying.
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And it s kind of coming in and out.
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And I had had a pretty bad mountain bike crash.
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I m in there and it was, you know, I learned all these medical facts.
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I learned what perseverating is.
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When you keep asking the same questions over and over and over, just on repeat, just going, what happened?
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Why are we here?
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What happened to my bike?
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What s going on?
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And so I had a bleed in my brain.
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So pretty, pretty significant injury.
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I discovered I didn t have insurance at that point.
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I had like my med school insurance and my other insurance, which is another issue.
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medicine insurances.
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And I thought they overlapped.
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Turns out they missed each other.
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So the next day they said, well, the bleeding stopped.
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And I said, okay, I m out of here, took off.
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And for the next few weeks, which I don t remember very well, kind of my friends would take me for walks, everything really calm.
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And the day before med school, I go for another mountain bike ride and super careful, like a little five hour ride through the mountains.
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And we re going back.
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And I like, my friends like, you don t need to go that slowly.
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I m like, yes, I do.
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Gotta be careful.
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And we get near the cars and I finally just let the bike just roll down this nice clear path.
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And all of a sudden I m upside down, sailing through the air, just ripped open all the scar tissue, slammed my head into a tree.
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And basically I had another concussion, which basically you ve got what s called second impact syndrome.
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So if you get two concussions within a few months, it can be potentially fatal from the swelling.
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You know, luckily for me, it just caused some pretty bad nausea.
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but it just made my amnesia even worse.
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And that was the day before medical school.
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So I showed up, you know, first day of medical school covered in bandages, covered, you know, just bloodied gauze and can t stay awake, can t think straight.
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And that was, that was how med school started.
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So you got to spice it up a little, you know, the whole thing was looking a little predictable.
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The head injury stuff.
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Can you heal fully from that?
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Now, head injuries, I mean, you ve had a few people on and talked about this, you know, Dr. Amen, you know, Peter Attia and stuff, you know, with some of the head injuries.
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And actually, Jeff Byers, I guess, was talking about, you know, with the micro concussions of the constant impact, things you can do.
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So at the time, this is back in the mid-1990s,
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I think I was around a week into school and I got lost.
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I couldn t find my way home, like off two blocks from this.
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I d driven a car, but I don t know if I should have been driving.
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Lost because of the head injury?
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I couldn t find my way home again.
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I was like, I can t figure out the two blocks that I turned here.
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So I went up to the neuro ward and I said, what can I do?
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This is, you know, I m, you know, likely we haven t had any tests yet in school.
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And they basically said, just takes time, it takes time.
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So I started my own protocol at that point going, okay, I ve heard, you know, back in the day, fish was brain food.
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So I started eating fish because I didn t eat,
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Any fish started okay i m always exercise if you re that s good for blood flow i started mentally playing chess against myself i would sit there and just play numbers in my head counting up by twos down by threes in a different language just anything to get your brain working.
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And then the test started and it was one of those wake up calls when suddenly school used to be relatively easy.
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Like recall when you read something and you remember what it was or somebody tells you something, you remember it and that s what was completely gone.
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Well, cause I was going to say you got into medical school and like, I m listening to you say that.
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And I was a terrible student and I m like, man, this guy s just like talking about getting into medical school easily.
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And I think for a lot of people listening, like it s not easy to get into medical school.
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Well, I mean, I m a little flippant about what it took, but I, like I said, I didn t even go, I went to undergrad not having taken a single pre-med class.
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So I came back and had to go take all the pre-med classes.
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And I realized I was just gonna live at home with my mom and go to community college, basically, and the state schools.
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I was like, all right, all these people applying from top universities, I m competing against them.
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So I worked my butt off to get
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top grades.
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It actually, it s mentioned in the book.
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I mean, I was like, I can t get a single thing wrong.
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I d come home and study until three in the morning.
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I had to get an A plus, or not an A plus, but I worked to get perfect scores every test, did all the extra credits.
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So they gave me an A plus.
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And I m in my first medical school interview and the guy s laughing at me going, what are these joke schools you went to?
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Who gets an A plus?
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That s not a real grade.
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And he goes, and guess what?
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You re white, you re male,
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you re not from in-state, you re not gonna get in.
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How does it feel to experience reverse discrimination?
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And you re trying to smile, going, okay, that doesn t feel so great right now.
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Didn t get in, got wait-listed that year.
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So I had to reapply a year later, but there was some work involved.
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When you re in medical school and they start to teach you things, is there a process?
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Like let s say someone s listening and they want to know what it s like to actually be there on the ground.
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And you talk about it a lot in your book, but maybe like some actual things that happen.
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Sure, and this was interesting just writing the books because the first year of med school is all rote memorization, it s books.
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And some of this might ve changed in the last few years.
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They try to get students into the hospitals a little sooner, but first year was all book learning at that point.
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And the most famous class though was anatomy.
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Everybody pictures cadavers.
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So there we are, we re invited up to this really decrepit looking place that should have been out of a horror film.
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And there s cadavers and you line up and you re,
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They re just reading the book and two of your other classmates are slicing and dicing.
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Is the cadaver naked or dressed up?
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Totally naked.
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I have a lot of questions about this.
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It s in a Chanel dress, Lauren.
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This is like a question.
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What if the girl died and she s wearing makeup?
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Is the makeup still on her?
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I didn t see any makeup.
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That s a good question.
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People have donated their bodies.
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It was really the first day of school.
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I m like, can the cadaver be in glam?
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Well, that was the, I mean, you don t want to make fun of the cadavers because they were donated, but there was definitely a rush to get the skinnier cadavers because you have the larger cadavers, it s a lot of fat tissue to cut through.
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So you got to see what different types of lifestyles left you with these cadavers.
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And again, this is the time when my head s not working really smoothly.
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That was my very first test was anatomy, the lowest grade in the entire school or class at that point.
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I just remember erasing every single answer throughout the test.
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Nope, nope, I couldn t remember anything.
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And that s when I finally went in and said, can somebody, I need to see a counselor or do something.
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I finally should tell you guys I ve had a head injury and this isn t going so well.
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I thought there s no way I can t continue it at school right now.
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And I think the most thing, you asked about medical training and the things people think about are cadavers and delivering babies.
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That s not until later on.
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So those first years, there you are, mostly book learning.
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And I remember a lot of students getting a little frustrated going, why are we learning about physiology?
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We re learning about cells.
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I don t want to treat cells.
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I want to actually treat the body.
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I want to do this.
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And then second year, you jump into more pathophysiology, like, OK, here s an organ.
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You know, here s orthopedics.
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Let s talk about the bones.
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Let s talk about the injuries that happen to bones and how you re going to treat them.
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You know, here s infections.
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Let s talk about all the different infections.
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Here s the drugs you re going to treat them.
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Here s what they are.
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So you learn all the actual medical.
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You are downplaying how much work it was.
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It was like seven days a week, all night.
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Like you didn t have a life, it seemed like.
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No, but the, I think for people who are thinking about this, this might be the inspiration.
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Again, I think there s all of life s anything you want to accomplish takes work.
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And so when you re there, it was just, you accept it.
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This is what you do.
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And when you got out, you had the best time.
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So yes, it was seven days a week.
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You studied, you know, you got out of the hospital, you might go for,
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bike ride or do something else.
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And then you studied until night and then you went back to school.
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And that was pretty much a seven day a week study.
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And when you re in the hospital third and fourth, you re actually starting your clinical rotations.
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When you re seeing patients, same thing.
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You re on call.
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If you re not on call, you re back home studying again to get ready to go back to the hospital.
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And then it was kind of like, you know, when they let the animals out of the zoo, you d see medical students kind of let out for the night or off together.
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And you just felt like you had to celebrate every moment.
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You appreciated having your one weekend off a month or your night out was just wonderful.
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Is residency in a hospital?
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So typically- Wait, not residency, sorry.
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It s school and a hospital.
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That s what I meant.
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Yes.
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So they have the teaching hospitals throughout the country.
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So you ll go to medical school and usually be at what s called a teaching hospital because I think they get reimbursed for having students there and the patients know, okay, we re in a teaching hospital.
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They re gonna have students coming in with medical residents to treat the patients as opposed to, let s say, a private institution that might not want students in residence and people don t wanna see us, people who aren t quite trained yet.
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Remember when the residents came in when you were giving birth?
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Okay.
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In the book, I m waiting for the part where you say that there s so many residents that are in the hospital.
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You did explore that.
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You said there s people that are performing things that they ve never performed.
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I ll let you say it more eloquently, but I think you said something like the first time you had to cut something.
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It s like they kind of just throw you in.
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And that s probably the best teaching in a way, because there s no other way to do it.
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You can read about it all you want.
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You can practice on plastic models and things like that.
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But until you ve actually done it, and again, I think this is everywhere in life, until you ve made a mistake,
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you learn from when you don t do things right.
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In a way, you never forget those moments when you didn t do something right.
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And in front of the whole group, you ve got these very intimidating rounds where it s the head doctor and the residents and the students, and you re talking about each case.
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And oh my goodness, if you made a mistake and they light you up, you never forget those moments and you quickly go and learn it.
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But the adage in medical training is see one, do one, teach one, which I think is applicable through all of life.
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Anytime you actually,
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see it and then you do it yourself, you go, okay, but once you can teach it, you really realize, okay, you know what you re doing.
1
SPEAKER_02
I think like, well, for me, it s like, that fully makes sense.
1
SPEAKER_02
And I think like, how else would you teach someone without them actually like working on a real patient?
1
SPEAKER_02
I just don t want to be the patient that people are learning on.
1
SPEAKER_02
Maybe medical students are like, what an asshole.
1
SPEAKER_02
But like,
1
SPEAKER_02
I want the guy that can teach it and put a master s class on it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you want to see him have a punch card.
1
SPEAKER_01
Let me see how many of these you ve done.
1
SPEAKER_01
How many lungs have you reinflated?
1
SPEAKER_02
Going back, we had these residents come in the first time Lauren was giving birth, and I don t think I ve ever seen my wife snap faster.
1
SPEAKER_02
She s like, get the fuck out.
1
SPEAKER_00
I experienced that as a student.
1
SPEAKER_00
I can t be pushing a seven pound baby out of my vagina and have people want to come in and
2
SPEAKER_00
about it.
2
SPEAKER_00
I know that s maybe really mean.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m already so scared of the hospital situation.
2
SPEAKER_02
She got really mad because she was like crowning and then I started signing autographs for them and she was like, no you didn t.
2
SPEAKER_01
Believe me, as a medical student, to walk into these women who are there to determine if they re going to be delivering and go, hi, I m a medical student, I need to check your cervix right now, was not the most easy thing to learn to say.
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, there s no real
2
SPEAKER_01
graceful way or polite way.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the first time you had to do it, you just, you walked in and you did it and you go, they re about to kick me out, I know this.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the very first delivery I had, so you re excited, oh my goodness, I finally get my first delivery, I can t believe this is gonna happen.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I had had, I mean, tragically, a very dear friend of mine had just died and I d flown out to meet his family.
2
SPEAKER_01
And again, I m a medical student, I m freaked out, I can t even think straight, haven t slept for 60 hours almost, I fly back.
2
SPEAKER_01
And they said, OK, well, here s your first delivery.
2
SPEAKER_01
She s a really sweet woman.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, it s great.
2
SPEAKER_01
She s really close.
2
SPEAKER_01
Go ahead.
2
SPEAKER_01
She speaks English.
2
SPEAKER_01
And a lot of times you have non-English speakers.
2
SPEAKER_01
So I just, I walk into this room and I mean, this woman looks like, seriously looks like she s like the Tasmanian devil.
2
SPEAKER_01
She s standing there and there s Mumu and she s like, who the fuck are you?
2
SPEAKER_01
I m John, I m the medical student.
2
SPEAKER_01
Get the fuck out now, now.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s like, okay, okay.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I just turned tail and ran.
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I was like, that was, you know, she was really close to delivering, did not want to see a medical student at this point.
2
SPEAKER_02
Do you have to deliver in medical school?
2
SPEAKER_02
Like, is that a requirement to get through?
2
SPEAKER_01
Pretty much, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the residency I did, I did a family practice residency, and we had six months of OB, which I really enjoyed.
2
SPEAKER_01
OB, it s really- People are happy there.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, in general.
2
SPEAKER_01
And when it s not happy, it s really intense.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I think that s a really important thing about medical training.
2
SPEAKER_01
And people who are thinking about medical school, it s one of those things, you are in the moment.
2
SPEAKER_01
You are fully, when you are there, you cannot think about anything else.
2
SPEAKER_01
You are so focused, in certain practices, for sure.
2
SPEAKER_01
But in OB, when things are getting intense, it s one of those, you are.
2
SPEAKER_00
What was the transition from part one medical school to part two residency?
2
SPEAKER_00
What was that transition like?
2
SPEAKER_00
And after the transition, what happened?
2
SPEAKER_01
In medical school, and certainly mine was an extreme case, to go from your memory not working to trying to just pass school.
2
SPEAKER_01
And you go in, you re seeing patients, you re seeing clinical work.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the transition is almost seamless.
2
SPEAKER_01
You finish medical school, and July 1, residents across the country start working in the hospital.
2
SPEAKER_00
Explain what residency is if you had to put it in a box for him.
2
SPEAKER_00
Do you know what that is, honey?
2
SPEAKER_02
Don t you partly live at the hospital during that time?
2
SPEAKER_01
That used to be, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s why it was called residence, because you actually lived at the hospital.
2
SPEAKER_01
So now this is basically indentured servitude.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s the inexpensive way of saying, hi, we re going to have a lot of workers in the hospital.
2
SPEAKER_01
So the people don t live there anymore?
2
SPEAKER_01
No.
2
SPEAKER_01
You spend a lot of time there.
2
SPEAKER_02
Michael, you re there literally.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay, so how many hours in a given day are you there?
2
SPEAKER_01
It depends on what you re a surgical intern.
2
SPEAKER_01
So the intern year is considered the first year of residency.
2
SPEAKER_01
And if you re in surgery, you might be living there.
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, you might be there 120 hours a week.
2
SPEAKER_01
I rarely had 120 hour weeks.
2
SPEAKER_01
I had some weeks where I worked 120 hours.
2
SPEAKER_01
A lot of them were probably 60, 70 hour type weeks, sometimes less depending what rotation you re doing.
2
SPEAKER_01
You might be doing what s called an outpatient where you re maybe working in a pediatric doctor s office.
2
SPEAKER_01
But if you re in the hospital taking call, it might be every third night or when I was working burn units, every second night, you might go home for a few minutes, they get a call, you ve got to go back to the hospital.
2
SPEAKER_02
Tell me if I m wrong.
2
SPEAKER_02
I heard burn unit is like the worst to have to.
2
SPEAKER_01
It was, I had no desire to go into it.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the woman I was dating at the time, she was one of the top students ever in the history of the school.
2
SPEAKER_01
She s just, you know, super smart, worked tremendously hard.
2
SPEAKER_01
She said, John, you need to go do this.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re going to learn how to do procedures.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re going to learn how to do procedures.
2
SPEAKER_01
And as you said, Lauren, what is it like to be thrown in?
2
SPEAKER_01
So the very first day I show up and there s usually a resident and then there s an intern, kind of the beginner one.
2
SPEAKER_01
and then there s the medical students.
2
SPEAKER_01
And there was no intern.
2
SPEAKER_01
He had something else going on.
2
SPEAKER_01
So the resident looked at me and just said, you re the doctor.
2
SPEAKER_01
That half of the burn unit s me, that half is you, take care of the patients.
2
SPEAKER_01
And you had to step up and you just did.
2
SPEAKER_01
And that s when you really learned, okay, so here s how you re gonna put a central line in.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re suddenly gonna cut this guy s neck and feed this line down into his heart.
2
SPEAKER_01
And you re hearing horror stories of residents who may be fed it into deep land, hit the heart and put the patient into a coding situation.
2
SPEAKER_01
Really careful, and the burn unit is one of the places, like you said, it can be really tough to work in because of the patients you re seeing there, but at the same time it s, for doctors, it s unbelievable training because you have to think of every single organ system.
2
SPEAKER_02
When somebody s in the burn unit, they have so much wrong with them that you just... When I think of the burn unit, I think of someone that s like, they ve been lit on fire, but is that what...
2
SPEAKER_01
Not that the whole body i told you we normally people who are in hospital we don t know like you this is this is the wiley coyote center this is this is where everything is when people have common injury what s wiley coyote center i m just thinking it s it s everything that goes wrong people are you know went down and look for a methane leak in their house holding a lighter in front of their face they decide let me see how close i can get to the hot springs in yosemite you let me see.
2
SPEAKER_01
you know, kids who poiled, you know, boiling water spilled off.
2
SPEAKER_01
They went to reach for their soup bowl or something off the stove.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s a mix of all the things that can go wrong.
2
SPEAKER_01
Unfortunately, you know, meth labs blowing up in people s face, that type of thing.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the single worst one, which I talk about in the book, the single worst case we had, it s a little warning about overtaking antibiotics was this girl who had had a virus.
2
SPEAKER_01
And her doctor, they said, can she take some antibiotics?
2
SPEAKER_01
They gave him, you know, a common antibiotic to take.
2
SPEAKER_01
And she started having this bad reaction.
2
SPEAKER_01
Her parents kind of kept her home thinking it can t be that bad.
2
SPEAKER_01
Can t be that bad.
2
SPEAKER_01
And she ended up getting something called tens, which is basically your skin and start sloughing off her organ, started sloughing down.
2
SPEAKER_01
It looked like she d been just.
2
SPEAKER_01
Dipped into her whole body, into a huge thing of boiling oil.
2
SPEAKER_00
But you said the reason in the book that she got that is because, you say, he needs to hear this story, is because her mom accidentally gave her a warm bath thinking it would relieve the rash, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
They tried some naturopathic treatments at home and it was a really
2
SPEAKER_01
Really horrible story just because she was this beautiful, beautiful woman who was, you know, a singer and had this great family and all of a sudden to see somebody who then was basically ended up needing bilateral lung transplant.
2
SPEAKER_01
So again, it was just that warning of antibiotics have side effects.
2
SPEAKER_01
You gotta be careful.
2
SPEAKER_00
So if someone s listening and they re on antibiotics or they have a kid on antibiotics, you don t want to give them a warm bath?
2
SPEAKER_00
Is that like the message?
2
SPEAKER_01
No, no.
2
SPEAKER_01
It wasn t so much.
2
SPEAKER_01
It was more the time they waited.
2
SPEAKER_01
was really, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
So for people having a reaction, that s what the doctors are there for.
2
SPEAKER_01
They want to hear from you.
2
SPEAKER_01
Anytime you have something going wrong, you re not sure about, and that s one of the, you know, I had certain pearls, things that you learned throughout medicine.
2
SPEAKER_01
And certainly for me, and something I passed on to all the residents I taught, anybody I taught was always, you know, listen, you have to listen.
2
SPEAKER_01
You have to listen to your patients.
2
SPEAKER_01
If a parent tells you they re coming back in for a reason, they didn t think the other doctor listened, something, that s a red flag.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, parents know their kids better than you ever will.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, if a mother just says, I just know it s not right,
2
SPEAKER_01
Never blow that off.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, parents know their kids.
2
SPEAKER_00
When someone s on antibiotics and they get a rash, do you think they should go right to the doctor because they can get that reaction?
2
SPEAKER_01
It s worth a call.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, I don t think you need to go in all the time because you can have mild little reactions that start, you know, like one localized area.
2
SPEAKER_01
But this was a full body.
2
SPEAKER_01
Certainly, if that happens, yes, you want to stop right away.
2
SPEAKER_00
Any kind of people sometimes like they wait to go because they re trying to do holistic things.
2
SPEAKER_00
But it s like if it s from antibiotics, like even it s a full body, you want to go to the
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and that was a rare case.
2
SPEAKER_01
That was one, you know, that was a really, really rare case.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, that s something that needed to be treated right away.
2
SPEAKER_01
I ve seen other patients with that same syndrome and as long as they were treated right away, everything turned out okay.
2
SPEAKER_02
Back to the residency, when you start that, how long does it, I mean, how many weeks, months, years does it take with those kinds of hours?
2
SPEAKER_00
And also walk us through, it s so cool how you got to go to each, like talk about how you get to go to each thing.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, so in medical school, you get exposure to a whole bunch of different options of what you might wanna do in your life.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the two big factors when you re thinking, once you re in medical school, are you gonna become a medicine doctor, which means anything non-surgical, or a surgical doctor.
2
SPEAKER_01
So surgery is general surgery or orthopedics, plastic surgery, ENTs.
2
SPEAKER_01
And internal medicine, pediatrics, when you re taking care of people without actually doing surgery, these things are considered medicine.
2
SPEAKER_01
So medicine versus surgery is a big difference.
2
SPEAKER_01
But as a med student, you go through each of these.
2
SPEAKER_01
You get a chance to see all of them.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then when I did a family practice residency, same thing.
2
SPEAKER_01
We re doing months on the OB ward.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re working with the surgeons.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re spending another month in the ICU.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re spending another month
3
SPEAKER_00
doing, let s say, an outpatient sports clinic type thing.
3
SPEAKER_00
So you really get a lot of different exposure.
3
SPEAKER_00
Now when you re a surgical resident, and usually residencies are three to five years, and you apply in med school, you basically go and interview at different residency programs.
3
SPEAKER_00
and then you apply and there s some crazy match system where you put who your top choices are and the match programs put who their top students are and some crazy number comes out and spits out and everybody on match day is supposed to show up and find out where you re gonna go spend your next three to seven years.
3
SPEAKER_00
So it really depends what you re doing.
3
SPEAKER_00
If your family practice for me was three years, it s one of the reasons I chose it.
3
SPEAKER_00
Surgery is usually around five years.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then people might do a fellowship on top of that and go into something more specialized, pediatric surgery
3
SPEAKER_00
plastics, and then they do more training on top of that.
3
SPEAKER_00
So it s a while.
3
SPEAKER_01
There are three products that I use every single day for my kids.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I m not the best cook, but I am serious about what s in my kitchen.
3
SPEAKER_01
And all these products are Primal Kitchen.
3
SPEAKER_01
The products that I use are the ketchup.
3
SPEAKER_01
I m obsessed with this ketchup.
3
SPEAKER_01
I ve switched out all my ketchup with this specific ketchup.
3
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My kids use this for their scrambled eggs.
3
SPEAKER_01
I put this on my hamburger with no bun.
3
SPEAKER_01
I also just like love this ketchup if I m making a meatloaf.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then I also use their avocado oil.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s the best.
3
SPEAKER_01
I ve switched to avocado oil lately and you just can t go wrong with this one.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s so clean.
3
SPEAKER_01
I m telling you.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then I use their dressings and sauces all the time when I m making a salad.
3
SPEAKER_01
I like this brand because they have real ingredients.
3
SPEAKER_01
And a lot of their products are made without dairy.
3
SPEAKER_01
They re gluten free.
3
SPEAKER_01
They re made without cane sugar, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, seed oils.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s so crazy when you start looking into ketchup and finding out that there s so much cane sugar and corn syrup in it.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s literally like a dessert.
3
SPEAKER_01
So knowing that Primal Kitchen has me covered.
3
SPEAKER_01
Makes me very happy.
3
SPEAKER_01
All my other busy moms out there, you guys know how crazy life is between work, taking care of kids, staying fit, and eating right is really important to me and Michael.
3
SPEAKER_01
So Primal Kitchen just makes this really, really easy.
3
SPEAKER_01
You ve got to check out their products.
3
SPEAKER_01
You can find Primal Kitchen products at Target, Walmart, or your local grocery store.
3
SPEAKER_01
I like to stock up at Target, or you can go to Amazon and get 20% off your order with our code 20SKINNYPK at checkout.
3
SPEAKER_01
Every single morning, I make it a point, a non-negotiable to meditate.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I m really creative with my meditation.
3
SPEAKER_01
If I can t get it in the morning, I will take my son in his stroller on a walk and do a walking meditation.
3
SPEAKER_01
If I am unable to get it done early morning before my kids wake up, I ll do a legs up on the wall meditation for like 10 minutes.
3
SPEAKER_01
Walzels is at school.
3
SPEAKER_01
But the app that I always use, my go-to app, is MWH.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s by Melissa Wood Tepperberg.
3
SPEAKER_01
You guys know her.
3
SPEAKER_01
She s all over Instagram.
3
SPEAKER_01
She s been on our podcast three times.
3
SPEAKER_01
And her voice is just so soothing.
3
SPEAKER_01
She has a walking meditation.
3
SPEAKER_01
So I just turn on the one that s 16 minutes.
3
SPEAKER_01
Like I said, put towns in the stroller.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then there s a legs up on the wall one that I love.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then my absolute favorite on her app is the 18-minute breath work.
3
SPEAKER_01
And she s like doing sound bowls.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s my favorite.
3
SPEAKER_01
You should also know she has workouts and nutrition and lifestyle content, too, so you can strengthen both your mind and your body.
3
SPEAKER_01
I m a fan of her workouts.
3
SPEAKER_01
They offer a blend of yoga and Pilates classes.
3
SPEAKER_01
There s a seven day reset and renew program.
3
SPEAKER_01
And they also have a week long nutrition program, everything to make you feel your best.
3
SPEAKER_01
If I were you, I would definitely download this app.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s one that I click every single day.
3
SPEAKER_01
As Melissa says herself, don t trust me, try me.
3
SPEAKER_01
Visit MelissaWoodHealth.com and use code SKINNY at checkout.
3
SPEAKER_01
You get your first month free off your monthly membership.
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That s M-E-L-I-S-S-A-W-O-O-D-H-E-A-L-T-H.com.
3
SPEAKER_01
Use code SKINNY for your first month free.
3
SPEAKER_01
When I moved to Austin, I immediately wanted a pair of chic cowboy boots.
3
SPEAKER_01
I wanted ones that were really well-made, but also super comfortable.
3
SPEAKER_01
I don t like to be uncomfortable.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I wanted them to go at the right place on my leg and be super flattering.
3
SPEAKER_01
And my stylist, Emily, recommended Tacovas.
3
SPEAKER_01
The ones that I got are the Abby and I got them at midnight so they re black.
3
SPEAKER_01
They re very true to size and I tried them on with jeans.
3
SPEAKER_01
I tucked my jeans into them and wore like a baggy black shirt and it was so cute.
3
SPEAKER_01
I ve been wearing them ever since.
3
SPEAKER_01
I also like them with just like a white tee or maybe like a baggy sweater.
3
SPEAKER_01
And it s making me just love Austin even more to have these boots.
3
SPEAKER_01
They re so, so cute.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s my favorite boot brand.
3
SPEAKER_01
I ve been telling all my friends who come here that are looking for a cute boot to go to Toccova.
3
SPEAKER_01
You can even go in the store.
3
SPEAKER_01
I think this is so cute and you can get custom fitted.
3
SPEAKER_01
And they have like custom leather stamping or branding.
3
SPEAKER_01
And you guys, they have a drink.
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SPEAKER_01
So while you re in store, you can have like a little cocktail.
3
SPEAKER_01
You can get your boots shined.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s just an experience.
3
SPEAKER_01
The boots are Austin Design and Texas Tested and they are creme de la creme.
3
SPEAKER_01
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3
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Visit Tacobas.com.
3
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That s T-E-C-O-V-A-S.com and point your toes west.
3
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If you can t make it into the store, Tacovas delivers the most premium quality and most comfortable Western goods right to your door.
3
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Visit Tacovas.com, that s T-E-C-O-V-A-S dot com and point your toes west.
3
SPEAKER_00
So usually your third year, it s kind of, these are the ones you must do.
3
SPEAKER_00
So you re gonna spend months just taking care of patients who have been admitted, that s internal medicine.
3
SPEAKER_00
You usually have time on the pediatric ward, and you have time in the ER, you have time on the surgery ward, usually general surgery.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then you have some electives.
3
SPEAKER_00
So burn unit was an elective, orthopedics was an elective.
3
SPEAKER_00
OB-GYN, usually as medical students, you re mostly doing OB, the fun part, delivering babies.
3
SPEAKER_00
Later on, you might do the GYN, which is more,
3
SPEAKER_01
Who s like the Rolls-Royce?
3
SPEAKER_01
Like who s like the ones that like think they re like the like A-team?
3
SPEAKER_01
Is it like the surgeons?
3
SPEAKER_01
Like who s like walking in with the like- You re gonna get me in trouble here.
3
SPEAKER_00
No question.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, yeah, the reputation would certainly be surgeons are the coolest guy in the hospital.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, the surgeons are kind of the cool team they think they are.
3
SPEAKER_00
And certainly you get into, you know, the orthopedic surgeons are usually these complete overachievers.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, this is like Eric Heiden lives in our town.
3
SPEAKER_00
Okay, you re the only one
3
SPEAKER_00
Five gold medals, you rode in the Tour de France, now you re gonna be an orthopedic surgeon, sure.
3
SPEAKER_00
You re just a complete overachiever, make the rest of us look like chimney sweeps.
3
SPEAKER_00
So the surgeons have that reputation, but I think when you re a med student, everybody makes you feel intimidated.
3
SPEAKER_00
The cardiologists certainly have a reputation of being really smart.
3
SPEAKER_01
One thing that struck me in your book as a mother now was the first time that you went in the pediatric unit.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, every single mother s worst nightmare is probably having to go to that unit.
3
SPEAKER_01
What was that like for you the first time that you entered that area?
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, it s very different now that I m a parent, how you see that and the experiences you have of wanting to be in there or not, certainly post-COVID.
3
SPEAKER_00
You put on a doctor s hat.
3
SPEAKER_00
I think you have this moment where you re just, at least I was, you re very objective.
3
SPEAKER_00
And the pediatric war is crazy.
3
SPEAKER_00
For some reason, I was there during the winter months when you have this RSV, which is kind of becoming really popular now again, it s coming around.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it s big time right now.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I think I wrote about it in the book, but it was, I think I burned my pagers batteries out multiple times.
3
SPEAKER_00
Cause you re just pagers going nuts.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s just, everybody s calling you, get up to this floor, get up to this floor.
3
SPEAKER_00
This patient, you know, patients are just pediatric patients throughout the hospital, in the hallways.
3
SPEAKER_00
So it s a very intense time period and it s,
3
SPEAKER_00
It s so hard because pediatrics is so different than adults who, well, I shouldn t say that.
3
SPEAKER_00
I think one of the biggest things you learn in medical school is how to get patients to answer questions.
3
SPEAKER_00
You have no idea how difficult it is to get somebody to just answer a yes or no question.
3
SPEAKER_00
Talk about that.
3
SPEAKER_01
You talk about that in the book a lot.
3
SPEAKER_00
Talk about that.
3
SPEAKER_00
Oh my goodness.
3
SPEAKER_00
You think it s the most straightforward thing in the world.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, I can say,
3
SPEAKER_00
You walk in the morning, and you have to interview every patient every morning, early.
3
SPEAKER_00
If you ve ever been in the hospital, you re like, who are these people coming in at five in the morning?
3
SPEAKER_00
It s usually the residents, because they have to write notes that they then have to present.
3
SPEAKER_00
So you d walk in, hi, Mrs. Hopkins, how was, did you have any chest pain last night?
3
SPEAKER_00
Sounds like a yes or no answer.
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SPEAKER_00
And they tell you, say yes or no.
3
SPEAKER_00
I ve got a yes or no questions for you.
3
SPEAKER_00
And for some reason, they always go off on some different topic, saying, well, I
4
SPEAKER_00
I don t know.
4
SPEAKER_00
I had dinner last night, and the nurse forgot to bring my broccoli, and I thought I should have some vegetables.
4
SPEAKER_00
I ve got five more patients to see.
4
SPEAKER_00
I ve got Grand Rounds starting in a few minutes.
4
SPEAKER_00
And they just start rambling on and on.
4
SPEAKER_00
You re going, OK.
4
SPEAKER_00
You just start skipping questions.
4
SPEAKER_00
Were you breathing OK?
4
SPEAKER_00
I think so.
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SPEAKER_00
I think I was breathing fine.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then you later find out she had a breathing attack last night.
4
SPEAKER_00
They had to bring medicine in, and you forgot to ask the nurse.
4
SPEAKER_00
And that s, again, lessons you learn.
4
SPEAKER_00
Always ask the nurse, what happened last night?
4
SPEAKER_02
What about the kids?
4
SPEAKER_00
So kids are really tough because they can t.
4
SPEAKER_00
answer any questions.
4
SPEAKER_00
So you re constantly, kids are, I don t want to say reduced.
4
SPEAKER_00
When you re with a real infant, they become just numbers, milligrams per kilograms.
4
SPEAKER_00
How much urine have they put out?
4
SPEAKER_00
How much liquids have we put in?
4
SPEAKER_00
You re always constantly just basically watching numbers and trying to assess what s going on and looking at the patient.
4
SPEAKER_00
And a lot of pediatrics is knowing how to talk to parents, reassuring the parents.
4
SPEAKER_00
They re usually in really good hands in these hospitals.
4
SPEAKER_00
Pediatric doctors are amazing.
4
SPEAKER_00
That s an art form.
4
SPEAKER_02
What do you do if,
4
SPEAKER_02
If I always wonder this, and you re the perfect person to ask, what do you do if there is a parent that brings their kid in and you can tell that there s abuse going on or like a Munchausen situation happening?
4
SPEAKER_00
It s really difficult.
4
SPEAKER_00
The laws made it somewhat easier for doctors, at least in different states, it s mandated if you suspect non-accidental trauma, which is abuse, you have to report it.
4
SPEAKER_00
And so it become very awkward, you know, as a doctor, when you suspect something and sometimes it s very, I mean, it s obvious, I guess, if somebody walks in and they ve said, these kids were abused, we re taking them, you know, the state s bringing them in.
4
SPEAKER_00
But a lot of times it s maybe a well-to-do parent who they bring them in and you say, oh, they fell down the stairs.
4
SPEAKER_00
And you can tell the kid s just not responding the way you think, or you might get an x-ray and you say, wait, there s another, you know, the radiologist says there s a second break in that same area where they might have an injury now, an old break.
4
SPEAKER_00
You know, could this be, could this be abuse?
4
SPEAKER_00
You know, could this be non-accidental trauma?
4
SPEAKER_00
And you have to confront the parent.
4
SPEAKER_00
So it s a really hard, and it was a hard lesson for me.
4
SPEAKER_00
This is one of the things that your blood just starts boiling.
4
SPEAKER_00
And it really took the pediatric doctor saying, okay, we all want it.
4
SPEAKER_00
We all have the same reaction.
4
SPEAKER_00
attack the parents.
4
SPEAKER_00
And they just said, sometimes, I mean, there are bad situations, but sometimes these people had a really hard day.
4
SPEAKER_00
They came back, they re stressed, and they overreacted to something that they regret.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s better to get them into anger management and hopefully have them there as parents than take every kid away and have you taken away for assault charges for punching a parent in the face.
4
SPEAKER_02
That s just... Did you see a lot of Munchausens?
4
SPEAKER_02
Is it Munchausens by proxy or Munch... What s the difference?
4
SPEAKER_00
So you re talking about when maybe the parent is making their kids sick and to bring them in and just get this attention, we think there s some kind of psyche that goes with this.
4
SPEAKER_00
We did, not as commonly, you read about it all the time, but it was such a, you couldn t tell it, you suspected it.
4
SPEAKER_00
Certain kids would keep coming back and the parents definitely liked
4
SPEAKER_00
Being there, I mentioned one woman who actually started stealing scrubs and showing up in patient rooms and saying she was one of the doctors there to administer medicine.
4
SPEAKER_00
So that became an issue.
4
SPEAKER_02
And wasn t she like flirting with the doctor?
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, she was hitting, she was, yeah, it got a little uncomfortable.
4
SPEAKER_02
So she was using it as like her dating flirt ground.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was her place to be.
4
SPEAKER_00
She had other issues, but yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, at least I don t have to worry about that with you.
4
SPEAKER_01
You re never going to go in the hospital.
4
SPEAKER_01
Don t do that.
4
SPEAKER_02
No, I m never going to go in the hospital.
4
SPEAKER_01
You re going to hear the worst stories.
4
SPEAKER_02
You would rather see me down at the strip club or the horror house than in the hospital.
4
SPEAKER_02
Sorry, Dr. John.
4
SPEAKER_01
She s scared.
4
SPEAKER_01
I was listening to you talk and I was telling my friend the other day, I don t think it s possible until you become a parent to know the fear of like when your kid gets sick or when your kid gets hurt or when they re in a situation where you feel like you can t help them.
4
SPEAKER_01
I think you just can t, there s no way you can understand what that feels like until you have your own child.
4
SPEAKER_01
And I think it s one of the worst feelings in the world.
4
SPEAKER_01
And I m wondering from your perspective now that you are a parent, do you think you could be as objective as you were then dealing with that kind of practice?
4
SPEAKER_00
Yes and no, it depends what role you re in.
4
SPEAKER_00
And when you re in the medical role, you really go into an objective place.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I wish I could allay all your fears because as much as my stories are some of the highlights and the things that were entertaining, I mean, the people that work in hospitals are so dedicated.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I mentioned this in my intro and beginning to the books, because I know I m being flippant in a lot of the pages and a lot of this, my own frustration with myself.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, the people that work in the hospitals are the most,
4
SPEAKER_00
caring people you can imagine.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I ve just seen so many people, residents, you know, attending doctors who they just don t go home.
4
SPEAKER_00
They re like, they know it s time to go home.
4
SPEAKER_00
They re just gonna, this patient s not doing well.
4
SPEAKER_00
And they will just stand there for hours, staring at just vitals, trying to think what else can be done.
4
SPEAKER_00
There is so much dedication to taking the best care of every patient.
4
SPEAKER_00
So as much as I might joke,
4
SPEAKER_00
Certainly the message is these people, it s amazing how hard they work and how much they care.
4
SPEAKER_00
At the same time for me as a parent, certainly when my kids, we ve had one who had a mild procedure and we re in there going, this is really minor, this is so minor, he s going to be in and out.
4
SPEAKER_00
And we re both just counting the minutes, nauseated, can t believe this is happening.
4
SPEAKER_00
And we re listening to other parents in the same waiting room whose kids are dealing with
4
SPEAKER_00
chronic issues or cancer and things like that.
4
SPEAKER_00
And they re there for their 12th surgery.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I m going, oh my goodness, I don t know if I don t have the strength to handle that.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s tough.
4
SPEAKER_00
This parenting gig, man.
4
SPEAKER_02
Oh, it s a lot.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
As a parent, Michael and I
4
SPEAKER_02
whenever our kids get sick, we freak out like everyone does.
4
SPEAKER_02
We re like, I m ordering fucking on Postmates, like a blood pressure machine.
4
SPEAKER_02
I don t even know how to take a, like, I have no idea what I m doing.
4
SPEAKER_02
I got the oxygen thing.
4
SPEAKER_02
That s like the little like bunny that you put.
4
SPEAKER_02
I have no idea what I m doing.
4
SPEAKER_02
I m going to text you next time or I ll, I ll, I ll, I ll voice note you what s going on, but how do you know, or what are some things where you should take a child to the hospital?
4
SPEAKER_02
Like what s your, like Dr. John s list.
4
SPEAKER_02
You got to go to the hospital.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, the first thing I tell every parent, because I ll get calls from friends or from other people saying, hi, what do you think?
4
SPEAKER_00
I said, if you re concerned, go in.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, every doctor will tell you.
4
SPEAKER_00
If a parent is concerned, and again, if they re feeling warm and they look fine, or it s a runny nose, and I ve had plenty of people who came in with runny noses, and they re going, my kid s had a runny nose.
4
SPEAKER_00
He never gets a runny nose.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m like, okay, I don t know what I m gonna do.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s been 20 minutes of a runny nose, but let s at least listen over, make sure there s nothing going on.
4
SPEAKER_00
But anytime you re concerned, if there s something you re concerned,
4
SPEAKER_00
Any doctor wants to see you.
4
SPEAKER_00
They want to know what s happening, because if you re concerned, it s something intuitive.
4
SPEAKER_00
You know this isn t right.
4
SPEAKER_00
At the same time, I mean, the most common things we look at with kids are certainly high fevers, you know, anything over 100.
4
SPEAKER_00
There s no specific number.
4
SPEAKER_02
What would you take your kid with a fever?
4
SPEAKER_02
Like, when are you going to the hospital?
4
SPEAKER_02
What fever?
4
SPEAKER_00
If they re getting over, like if they re getting up to 103, I might be going, okay, I m going, and I know a lot of people, anybody listening to this doctor, like, no, no, no, it s this, it s that.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m just giving a rough range of, you know, it depends how they look, because they might be totally fine.
4
SPEAKER_00
They re just hot and you give them a little medicine and the Tylenol takes it down.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, it s probably okay.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s when fevers stay up, despite the fact that you maybe tried a little Tylenol.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s if they re looking lethargic, if they can t, you know, younger kids, if they can t drink, if they re not eating, boom, that s a sign they re going to get dehydrated so quickly.
4
SPEAKER_02
What about like the lungs and the oxygen?
4
SPEAKER_00
That s the big one, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Kids are breathing quickly.
4
SPEAKER_00
By the time, again, it s really hard to assess, even for doctors.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I think you have to go by the something s not right.
4
SPEAKER_00
They re breathing really hard.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m talking with infants when you can see retractions.
4
SPEAKER_00
You see them using their ribs.
4
SPEAKER_00
They re using other muscles in their necks.
4
SPEAKER_00
They re not just breathing.
4
SPEAKER_00
And they re breathing too quickly.
4
SPEAKER_00
They ll wear themselves out.
4
SPEAKER_00
And that was an emergency situation.
4
SPEAKER_00
These are a reason any doctor would want to have you call.
4
SPEAKER_00
Say, hey, this is what s going on.
4
SPEAKER_00
And they re going to say, bring him in.
4
SPEAKER_00
Let s check him out.
4
SPEAKER_02
Part three, you talk about a lot of the patients that you start seeing as a doctor in different areas.
4
SPEAKER_02
And one common theme is people s obsession with prescription drugs and the ways that these people will manipulate the doctor into getting them prescription drugs.
4
SPEAKER_02
And these ways are creative.
4
SPEAKER_02
They re resourceful.
4
SPEAKER_02
These people are coming to the ER.
4
SPEAKER_02
They re lying.
4
SPEAKER_02
They re using different names.
4
SPEAKER_02
Can you talk a little bit about that?
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, they ve really tried to crack down in the last few years.
4
SPEAKER_00
But I think I joke about the fact that there s, you know, there must be an idiot s guide to getting medicines in the ER, getting, and we re talking when say prescription drugs usually control substances.
4
SPEAKER_00
So you re dealing with narcotic pain medicines or sedatives, stimulants, and there s a big market for them.
4
SPEAKER_00
And it s, you really, that s what you saw.
4
SPEAKER_00
And you could almost, I got to the point where you could almost be in the lobby of your ER, urgent care center.
4
SPEAKER_00
You could look out and see somebody walking in
5
SPEAKER_02
what they re there for.
5
SPEAKER_02
There was times you could almost say, I already know exactly what I m gonna diagnose them with and what I m gonna treat them with.
5
SPEAKER_02
You could just become that.
5
SPEAKER_02
intuitive, but pain-seeking patients, there was these red flags.
5
SPEAKER_02
There s always these red flags that would go up.
5
SPEAKER_02
So they re coming in for back pain.
5
SPEAKER_02
They re coming in for a kidney stone.
5
SPEAKER_02
They re these kind of common ways that you could basically, or a headache.
5
SPEAKER_02
Because you can t say, no, you don t have a headache, or no, you don t have back pain.
5
SPEAKER_02
So those were kind of the flags that go up.
5
SPEAKER_02
And unfortunately, all the people that have legitimate back pain or headaches then have to be put under this scrutiny.
5
SPEAKER_02
And there was almost this ongoing, you just have the same conversation every day.
5
SPEAKER_02
So, you get to, you figure out that they want something for the pain.
5
SPEAKER_02
So, have you taken any of these pills before?
5
SPEAKER_02
No, I never take pills.
5
SPEAKER_02
Have you tried ibuprofen?
5
SPEAKER_02
I m allergic to ibuprofen.
5
SPEAKER_02
They re allergic to everything except this medicine they ve heard is good, something called hydrocodone.
5
SPEAKER_02
They almost like stumble over the name.
5
SPEAKER_02
And you d be going, okay, have you talked to your doctor about a doctor for this?
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh yeah, they re out of town.
5
SPEAKER_02
Every time the doctor s out of town, they re usually extremely complimentary.
5
SPEAKER_02
So you d have people who are always telling you, oh, you are the best doctor.
5
SPEAKER_02
You always take the best care of me.
5
SPEAKER_02
And it s so nice you guys are here today.
5
SPEAKER_02
I m so glad for this.
5
SPEAKER_02
Other ones were having like the entire family.
5
SPEAKER_02
They d have the entire family eating lunch in there.
5
SPEAKER_02
And they just, that sense of, I just wanna get these guys out of here.
5
SPEAKER_02
I just, you know, I can t have the screaming baby.
5
SPEAKER_02
They re changing diapers.
5
SPEAKER_00
They use the urgency of the baby pooping.
5
SPEAKER_00
And like, they re like, come on, I gotta get my pills.
5
100%.
5
SPEAKER_02
And the same thing for when they lost their prescription.
5
SPEAKER_02
I mean, you cannot count the times you hear, my car was broken into.
5
SPEAKER_02
I put my prescription in the wash.
5
SPEAKER_02
The dog ate the pills.
5
SPEAKER_02
My kid ate the pills.
5
SPEAKER_02
I dumped them down the sink.
5
SPEAKER_02
And you just hear this,
5
SPEAKER_02
over and over.
5
SPEAKER_02
And then you can get a report.
5
SPEAKER_02
You can actually get this report that shows all the different pills they ve gotten.
5
SPEAKER_02
So here s this person that s basically told you, I ve never had any of these pills before.
5
SPEAKER_02
And you have to walk back in and go, this is really weird.
5
SPEAKER_02
Okay, I ve got this report that says you actually received three prescriptions yesterday, another two the day before.
5
SPEAKER_02
You ve actually had like 600 lower tab pills in the last
5
SPEAKER_02
month.
5
SPEAKER_02
And they re like, that s not me.
5
SPEAKER_02
Somebody stole my wallet.
5
SPEAKER_02
I lost my identification.
5
SPEAKER_02
And you d have these crazy stories where I had this woman walk in and same thing.
5
SPEAKER_02
She s super friendly.
5
SPEAKER_02
So she s like, hey, can t wait to see you, doc.
5
SPEAKER_02
I ll be right back.
5
SPEAKER_02
So I walk in.
5
SPEAKER_02
She says, oh, doc.
5
SPEAKER_02
I had knee surgery a month ago.
5
SPEAKER_02
My horse kicked me this week and it s just killing me.
5
SPEAKER_02
I just need something for the pain.
5
SPEAKER_02
I m like, well, okay, let s look at this situation.
5
SPEAKER_02
You look, and she has this, all this ink on her leg.
5
SPEAKER_02
And I said, let s, which is kind of the ink you expect to see if you have an infection.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s marking this red area on her knee.
5
SPEAKER_02
And I said, did anybody else see you?
5
SPEAKER_02
Have you gone to an ER?
5
SPEAKER_02
No.
5
SPEAKER_02
You didn t go to another medical clinic where they marked you for an infection?
5
SPEAKER_02
No.
5
SPEAKER_02
Nobody thought you had a skin infection and wrote this?
5
SPEAKER_02
No, I told them it s just a sunburn.
5
SPEAKER_02
So you did go to an ER.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I went to an ER, but I really don t like them.
5
SPEAKER_02
I don t like the way they treat me.
5
SPEAKER_02
I m like, okay.
5
SPEAKER_02
So you ve got this sunburn, but how come you don t have any, you re not red on your other leg or on your arms?
5
SPEAKER_02
And she says, well, I m really burnt on my chest.
5
SPEAKER_02
And so I was saying, chest?
5
SPEAKER_02
I m like, okay, flirting is not gonna.
5
SPEAKER_02
to get us through this point, said, you haven t, you know, this, okay, I really got to get in touch with their surgeon.
5
SPEAKER_02
Since you had surgery, I wanna make sure you re okay.
5
SPEAKER_02
She s like, well, they re out of town, so you can t talk to them.
5
SPEAKER_02
So let me just go, I need to find out what medicines the other doctors put you on in case I don t wanna put you on a different.
5
SPEAKER_02
I call up her doctor and say, oh yeah, we know her.
5
SPEAKER_02
Her doctors are in town.
5
SPEAKER_02
She called up three days ago saying she got kicked by a horse and she s not allowed to have medicines.
5
SPEAKER_02
We re happy to see her today.
5
SPEAKER_02
So we have to walk back in and say, this is really weird, but did you get kicked earlier in the week too?
5
SPEAKER_02
This is like, you ve now been kicked twice by the horse.
5
SPEAKER_02
Your doctors are willing to see you.
5
SPEAKER_02
And do you think maybe you ve got a pill problem?
5
SPEAKER_00
Do they storm off or do they let you confront them?
5
SPEAKER_02
Everybody s different.
5
SPEAKER_02
I ve had definitely times, there s some people who get really furious.
5
SPEAKER_02
I mean, I remember walking out of an urgent care clinic at midnight and thinking, I m gonna be hit by a two by four as soon as I walk out of this clinic.
5
SPEAKER_02
These people get so irate.
5
SPEAKER_02
Other people I ve had just, this one woman s like a catatonic state.
5
SPEAKER_02
She just froze up and stared at the floor.
5
SPEAKER_02
And I didn t know if she was gonna like just,
5
SPEAKER_02
lose it and attack me.
5
SPEAKER_02
And then all of a sudden she just burst into tears crying.
5
SPEAKER_02
I ve had other people who apologize.
5
SPEAKER_02
You know, I ve had people who fake their own, they add on to the prescription I wrote them.
5
SPEAKER_02
They add on a bunch of refills and the pharmacist will call up and say, I know you never give refills.
5
SPEAKER_02
Like what s, you know, is this real?
5
SPEAKER_02
Like, no, I didn t do that.
5
SPEAKER_02
And they ll come back and just say, I m so sorry.
5
SPEAKER_00
Are a lot of these people who are drug users that are addicted to drugs or are some of them actually selling it on the street?
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I mean, it s a really difficult situation to explain because you have people who are legitimately physiologically addicted to medicine.
5
SPEAKER_02
And right now addiction clinics across the country have a waiting list because it s such a huge problem and it s not their fault.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s not, you know, these aren t people who are just going, oh my goodness, I just want to do something.
5
SPEAKER_02
I just want to take pills.
5
SPEAKER_01
No, I had a really close friend who s a very accomplished businessman, smart guy, doesn t drink alcohol ever.
5
SPEAKER_01
I think he had double knee surgery and they put him on pills.
5
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I guess that s a really painful surgery.
5
SPEAKER_01
And he had to check himself into a rehab.
5
SPEAKER_01
And we re talking like, this guy s never had substance abuse, never drank, nothing.
5
SPEAKER_01
And he had to literally put himself into rehab to get off this stuff.
5
SPEAKER_02
Really difficult and so hard to go through.
5
SPEAKER_02
And so I think anybody...
5
SPEAKER_02
in life, you probably, you know, whether it s friends, family, you might see people go through this.
5
SPEAKER_02
And it s, so it s really sad when you see that happen.
5
SPEAKER_02
Luckily that, you know, if he can go in and get help, that s, that s great.
5
SPEAKER_02
And other people are selling it.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
I think you have people who they come in, they have, let s say Medicare, it covers they for $3, they get a prescription for 90 pills and then they can sell them on the streets for $20 a pill.
5
SPEAKER_02
So we knew that was going on too.
5
SPEAKER_01
This is the year, everybody.
5
SPEAKER_01
This is the year.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s your time.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s my time.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s our time.
5
SPEAKER_01
And to kick off the new year right, let s talk about Symbiotica, one of our favorite partners, our go-to supplements that we use to feel great, look great, all the things.
5
SPEAKER_01
I specifically today want to talk about Symbiotica s Magnesium L-3inate and their Glutathione.
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These are products that I take every single day.
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I take their magnesium every morning in my coffee.
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If you re not familiar with the Magnesium L-3inate from Symbiotica, it s a liposomal delivery, which means your body can absorb the nutrients much faster and more effectively than any other traditional methods because it s in liquid form.
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It s much easier to take than a pill.
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It also tastes amazing.
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It s a vanilla creamy flavor.
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This will be a game changer for you.
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The Magnesium L-3inate crosses the blood-brain barrier and it s just going to make your mind feel right.
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and just all around make you feel better.
5
SPEAKER_01
So many of us are magnesium deficient, like we ve talked about on this show many times.
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Also, one of my other favorite products is their liposomal glutathione.
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I ve said many times on the show that I think Symbiotica s glutathione is the best on the market.
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If you haven t tried glutathione, some of the effects from taking it are supporting your gut health, supporting detoxification, enhancing skin health.
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I m absolutely glowing.
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and combating premature aging, which we all want to do.
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It s definitely been critical for our overall wellness routine.
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Their subscription service is risk-free.
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Again, symbiotica.com and code SKINNY.
5
SPEAKER_00
You know what I m craving, Michael?
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SPEAKER_01
What are you craving, Lauren?
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SPEAKER_00
I m craving a Heineken Zero Zero.
5
SPEAKER_00
Thank God I had some in the fridge.
5
SPEAKER_00
Let s have a little sippity sip.
5
SPEAKER_01
The best thing is it s dry January right now, but that doesn t matter because we re having a Heineken Zero Zero with zero percent alcohol and all the Heineken great taste.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s right, Michael.
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SPEAKER_00
It has 100% taste but 0.0% alcohol.
5
SPEAKER_00
This is so ideal as an alternative to juice, soda, sparkling water.
5
SPEAKER_00
There s nothing more delicious than getting a nice, cold, crisp beer out of the fridge with 0.0% alcohol.
5
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Many people are following our lead and kicking off dry January, eliminating alcohol from their diet this season, but they still want to have that beer in their hand at that dinner party.
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Well, now you can have one with Heineken Zero Zero.
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Amazing Heineken taste, but 0% alcohol.
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Here s what s fun too.
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Let s say you want to go work out and have a drink.
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Now you can.
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Let s say you want to go to a Friday night birthday party and wake up for an early morning run.
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Now you can.
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Let s say you want to do a work lunch presentation in the afternoon in the middle of the day.
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Now you can.
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Nothing better than alcohol-free lunch beers, especially after a tough presentation.
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Made with top ingredients, world-famous Heineken quality, and premium taste without the alcohol.
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Heineken Zero Zero 100% taste, 0.0% alcohol, and only 69 calories.
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Now you can.
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Click the link in the show notes to buy now.
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Must be 21 plus to purchase.
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SPEAKER_00
Please enjoy Heineken responsibly.
5
SPEAKER_01
If you re in the market for a used car but dreading the hassle on top of wondering if you re even buying a quality ride, you need to check out Vroom.
5
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I ve been shopping on Vroom.com and they have thousands of cars and trucks to choose from, all with delivery straight to you.
6
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I ve been shopping on broom.com and they have thousands of cars and trucks to choose from all with delivery straight to you I found a Ford f-150 that I really like but they have all the popular makes and models So it s hard to pick a favorite all vehicles on broom.com Go through a thorough inspection and reconditioning process and come with a 90-day limited warranty They even give you seven days or 250 miles Whichever comes first to make sure you love your new ride, and if you don t you can return it
6
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Not only can you buy your car or truck on Vroom, you can sell or trade in your old ride too.
6
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All you have to do is provide a few details and they ll give you an offer in as little as two minutes.
6
SPEAKER_01
They ll even come pick it up for free.
6
SPEAKER_01
Vroom is the better way to buy and sell cars and that s exactly what their customers are saying.
6
SPEAKER_01
Like Timothy who said, great cars, great shopping experience and app, great service all the way through delivery.
6
SPEAKER_01
Check it out for yourself and find your next ride on Vroom.com.
6
SPEAKER_01
That s Vroom.com.
6
SPEAKER_01
They even give you 7 days or 250 miles, whichever comes first, to make sure you love your new ride.
6
SPEAKER_01
And if you don t, you can return it.
6
SPEAKER_01
Not only can you buy your car or truck on Vroom, you can sell or trade in your old ride too.
6
SPEAKER_01
All you have to do is provide a few details and they ll give you an offer in as little as 2 minutes.
6
SPEAKER_01
They ll even come pick it up for free.
6
SPEAKER_01
Vroom is the better way to buy and sell cars and that s exactly what their customers are saying.
6
SPEAKER_01
Like Timothy who said, great cars, great shopping experience and app, great service all the way through delivery.
6
SPEAKER_01
Check it out for yourself and find your next ride on vroom.com.
6
SPEAKER_01
That s vroom.com.
6
SPEAKER_01
From a doctor s perspective,
6
SPEAKER_01
From the outside, I feel like there must be a place for some of this medicine, but from your perspective, is some of this stuff too strong?
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SPEAKER_01
Is some of it not necessary?
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SPEAKER_01
Is all of it necessary?
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SPEAKER_01
It s become such a big issue in this country.
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SPEAKER_01
Where s the line of, this is what is needed for medical practice and for reassurance and for pain management, and this is just overkill.
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SPEAKER_01
Where do you draw the line?
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SPEAKER_00
there is certainly an epidemic across the country with these controlled substances.
6
SPEAKER_00
And the fact that prescription medicines cause more overdose deaths than recreational drugs in the last few years was, I think, a wake-up call.
6
SPEAKER_00
So there are a lot of measures being put into place.
6
SPEAKER_00
They re being much stricter about following up on doctors and pharmacists who are giving out these prescriptions, really trying to pay attention to controlling it.
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SPEAKER_00
Better that said,
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SPEAKER_00
There s so many different places that you get it.
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SPEAKER_00
Kids are ordering stuff online.
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SPEAKER_00
We had it happen in our small town in Utah.
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SPEAKER_00
These two middle schoolers died from ordering some pills that they got off the internet.
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SPEAKER_00
They re laced with fentanyl and it can kill you.
6
SPEAKER_00
So, the difficult thing is everybody s different.
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SPEAKER_00
It s really hard to know why, like your friend, why one person who s never had a
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SPEAKER_00
have an addictive personality, could take a pill and become addicted.
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SPEAKER_00
Why other people can take more pills and not be addicted, just take it a limited time.
6
SPEAKER_00
So doctors, a lot of effort is being put into educating doctors, how many prescriptions you can give.
6
SPEAKER_00
At that point, let s get them in for counseling.
6
SPEAKER_01
The common maybe misconception, or I don t know if there s truth, there s not a lot.
6
SPEAKER_01
I think a lot of people that aren t doctors feel that doctors are making a ton of money by prescribing all this.
6
SPEAKER_01
And so they re like incentivized.
6
SPEAKER_01
Is that true or is that a myth?
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SPEAKER_01
Oh man, I wish.
6
SPEAKER_01
I could have done a whole lot better.
6
SPEAKER_01
You hear people, whether it comes to vaccines or prescriptions or whatever, like, oh, the doctors are all making all the money.
6
SPEAKER_00
No, this is the tough one.
6
SPEAKER_00
Again, the economics of medicine, you look at people talk, I mean, you go to different countries and healthcare is so much more affordable.
6
SPEAKER_00
And the US just has a mess right now.
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SPEAKER_00
I think it s between insurance companies and what we pay for medicine can be crazy.
6
SPEAKER_00
That said, it s not the doctors really making a lot of money.
6
SPEAKER_00
Okay, there s really bad stories where you have hospital clinics saying, you re gonna work on our pain clinic and we need you to write this many hundreds of prescriptions a day.
6
SPEAKER_00
And these doctors get burnt out because all they do is they ve been told you need to see this many patients because for every prescription they write, basically it s every patient they see, the hospital gets reimbursed.
6
SPEAKER_00
So pain medicine is a cash cow.
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SPEAKER_00
You get these pain clinics where that s all they were doing for years.
6
SPEAKER_00
For the hospitals.
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SPEAKER_00
Right, so the hospitals might be making the money.
6
SPEAKER_00
And again, these are, you know,
6
SPEAKER_00
Big generalizations.
6
SPEAKER_00
I imagine a lot of this has changed in the last few years.
6
SPEAKER_00
But no, the doctors aren t getting reimbursed per prescription, anything like that.
6
SPEAKER_02
What are the common causes of people coming into the ER?
6
SPEAKER_02
You mentioned earlier that a lot of kids will reach up and grab boiling water.
6
SPEAKER_02
I would like to know, as a parent and just for myself, what are things that we should be looking for that you saw all the time?
6
SPEAKER_00
So adult ERs and pediatric ERs, two very different
6
SPEAKER_00
If we re looking at kids specifically, if you re asking as a parent, by age groups, you have usually cold concerns that, hey, my kid s not breathing right.
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SPEAKER_00
He s got a really severe cold and RSVC and it s these really horrible colds that make them not breathe well.
6
SPEAKER_00
As kids get older, the most common things you might see are more accidents, crashing on their bikes, cutting themselves, pool accidents.
6
SPEAKER_00
I wanna talk about severe things.
6
SPEAKER_00
A lot of people use the ER.
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SPEAKER_00
It kind of is their primary care.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s easy to get into.
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SPEAKER_00
I m just going to walk in here and get treated.
6
SPEAKER_00
Adults are across the board.
6
SPEAKER_00
But yeah, kids, the most common thing you re seeing are accidents and falling down.
6
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I can t tell you.
6
SPEAKER_00
Every two or three-year-olds walk in, they either have a sliced chin or a sliced forehead.
6
SPEAKER_00
I sliced everything.
6
SPEAKER_00
You just fall on your face.
6
SPEAKER_02
He took the dog s water the other day.
6
SPEAKER_02
one and a half, took the dog s water and the water spills all over the ground.
6
SPEAKER_02
And then he walks through it and he slips and lands right on his, his cartoon.
6
SPEAKER_02
It s like it s on and on and on and on with the falls.
6
SPEAKER_00
The good thing is kids are made to bounce.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s the good thing.
6
SPEAKER_00
They really do just bounce back up.
6
SPEAKER_02
You talked a lot about abscess, which I, this is gross.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, I m sorry.
6
SPEAKER_02
Why is that such a thing?
6
SPEAKER_02
It s like all over.
6
SPEAKER_02
Every time I watch a hospital show and read a hospital book, the abscess is like the thing.
6
SPEAKER_02
What is that?
6
SPEAKER_00
I know, I haven t seen one outside of my hospital life.
6
SPEAKER_00
I ve never seen anybody else get it, except when you re in the hospital.
6
SPEAKER_00
They come in, it was one, okay, the reason I said, oh, gross, it s the one thing that would turn my stomach, too.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
You re like, oh, goodness.
6
SPEAKER_02
What s it from, infection?
6
SPEAKER_00
Well, certainly you d see a lot in, let s say, on the arm of drug users.
6
SPEAKER_00
And at the time, there was a lot of methicillin-resistant staph aureus.
6
SPEAKER_00
MRSA was really common, especially in hospitals.
6
SPEAKER_00
It could be from anything.
6
SPEAKER_00
You d get it from a hair follicle got infected, and it turned into something nasty.
6
SPEAKER_00
So again, maybe they waited too long.
6
SPEAKER_02
Taylor, you better be listening right now.
6
SPEAKER_02
Not Carson, our producer.
6
SPEAKER_02
Our other producer, Taylor, has real bad razor burn.
6
SPEAKER_02
I bet you he has abscess all around his penis.
6
SPEAKER_02
You better go get that checked out.
6
SPEAKER_01
Oh, the things we re seeing.
6
SPEAKER_02
I would love to know, because there s a lot, I m sure, of nurses who are listening.
6
SPEAKER_02
And I think nurses need to, I would love for you to just speak on the energy and good vibes that nurses bring to the whole equation.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, certainly.
6
SPEAKER_00
Nurses in the hospital setting, they almost run the show.
6
SPEAKER_00
They re the ones that are on the floor.
6
SPEAKER_00
So doctors might be running back and forth between different floors, different patients in the cases.
6
SPEAKER_00
Nurses are amazing.
6
SPEAKER_00
Like I said, one of the pearls you learn if you re smart is ask the nurses about the patients.
6
SPEAKER_00
They know the patients better than the doctors do because they spend so much time with them.
6
SPEAKER_00
So this absolutely essential, amazing part of the workforce.
6
SPEAKER_00
And at the same time you might have, let s say a surgical nurse and all they do is work in the OR.
6
SPEAKER_00
So a lot of friends of mine who went into nursing school, I think they have an amazing experience because they re doing so much of the medical care
6
SPEAKER_00
themselves and you commonly see, I think on TV shows, there s a little bit of a cliche of, oh, the doctors are the hotshot residents thinking they re gonna boss the nurses around.
6
SPEAKER_00
They re really quickly put in their place, you know, because, and just like doctors.
6
SPEAKER_02
Sounds like marriage.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
And you can t put all nurses in one group, just like you can t put all doctors in one group.
6
SPEAKER_00
There s really great doctors, there s good doctors.
6
SPEAKER_00
There s some not great doctors and same thing with nurses.
6
SPEAKER_00
It depends on the level of training, but, you know, really dedicated essential part of,
6
SPEAKER_00
medicine and certainly a lack.
6
SPEAKER_00
I know they re really looking constantly for needing nurses.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I think with COVID, it made it even tougher.
6
SPEAKER_00
Anybody working in the hospitals, the hours and the shifts were just getting overwhelming for a lot of people.
6
SPEAKER_00
Were you practicing during COVID?
6
SPEAKER_00
That s right when I stepped away.
6
SPEAKER_00
It was almost to the end of 2019, I d really cut down my time and decided to leave fully.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then
6
SPEAKER_00
2020 hits and I m thinking, oh my goodness, I need to volunteer and just let people know.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I bought a bunch of medical supplies and just thought, okay, if anybody gets hurt, they can come.
6
SPEAKER_00
I can sew people up.
6
SPEAKER_00
I can do things so they don t have to go to the hospitals.
6
SPEAKER_00
They don t need to bother the hospitals that are so busy.
6
SPEAKER_00
Just in your community.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
And even when it was hitting New York, I m like, oh, do I need doctors to come to New York?
6
SPEAKER_00
And then you ve got three kids and you re going, if I start working in the hospitals,
7
SPEAKER_00
again, is this, I m gonna bring this back.
7
SPEAKER_00
And so I knew if it, where we were, it never got as severe as it did in some of the other states.
7
SPEAKER_00
So I didn t have to make that decision.
7
SPEAKER_01
And when you, I mean, I m looking at you and you look like a physically fit, able guy, you re able to, I m wondering why you decided to step away at the end.
7
SPEAKER_00
mostly time to move on and wanted to be doing something else.
7
SPEAKER_00
I d practiced for 20 years and my interest has really been, I love writing, and I walked into another job that had using medicine as well, but not working with patients.
7
SPEAKER_00
So it was just kind of time to move on.
7
SPEAKER_00
And as you mentioned at the beginning, it was something that
7
SPEAKER_00
I did, but I always had a question in my mind.
7
SPEAKER_00
It wasn t, you know, when I m, when I was writing, when I was, I love sharing these stories.
7
SPEAKER_00
You know, the way I got into these stories was, was basically writing emails to friends back before blogs existed.
7
SPEAKER_00
You know, it was back in the 19, you know, late nineties.
7
SPEAKER_00
And I d send these email blasts out when I was on call at three in the morning, just this crazy stream of consciousness that would leave my friends asking, you know, are you breaking into the pharmacy or something, or just random thoughts, but sharing these stories so that people got to hear, this is what happens in the hospital.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m walking around with,
7
SPEAKER_00
an amputated leg at three in the morning.
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh, my goodness.
7
SPEAKER_00
You know, here s this person who s, you know, all these crazy things.
7
SPEAKER_02
What do you mean you re holding the leg?
7
SPEAKER_00
It s one of those moments really.
7
SPEAKER_00
I bet none of my friends are doing this right now.
7
SPEAKER_00
We d have to have this, you know, emergency amputation.
7
SPEAKER_00
The person who got septic and was dying, his family, he didn t want to have his leg cut off.
7
SPEAKER_00
Like, if we don t cut this off, we couldn t get in touch with the intending doctors.
7
SPEAKER_00
And the residents say, well, let s we got to do it.
7
SPEAKER_00
I mean, he s going to die if we don t get this thing off.
7
SPEAKER_00
So like, all right, John, you ve got to go bring it down to the V.A.
7
SPEAKER_00
hospital.
7
SPEAKER_00
Some walking around with his leg in a garbage bag.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m thinking,
7
SPEAKER_00
It s three in the morning on a Saturday.
7
SPEAKER_00
My friends aren t doing this.
7
SPEAKER_00
They re all having a great time together.
7
SPEAKER_00
They re out partying and I m doing this.
7
SPEAKER_02
Tell us about the time you stitched yourself up.
7
SPEAKER_00
Which?
7
SPEAKER_02
You stitched yourself up and your wife got mad and said, get the fuck to the hospital.
7
SPEAKER_00
We re talking about the manscaping?
7
SPEAKER_02
Yes, the manscaping.
7
SPEAKER_00
He was manscaping.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, the two chapters that seem to get a lot of interest and where I thought a spider had bitten my penis back in…
7
SPEAKER_00
Tell you what, I got a lot of interest in that in book one.
7
SPEAKER_00
That was horrific.
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh, we bring this up.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, doctors do some really silly things.
7
SPEAKER_00
I think we let the cat out of the bag there.
7
SPEAKER_00
I was manscaping.
7
SPEAKER_01
Wait, hold on.
7
SPEAKER_01
But manscaping with scissors or manscaping with a razor?
7
SPEAKER_00
I had an electric razor, a little electric one.
7
SPEAKER_00
I thought, okay, you know what?
7
SPEAKER_00
It said it s not going to
7
SPEAKER_02
Michael and Carson do it too.
7
SPEAKER_02
They both do it.
7
SPEAKER_00
No, no, no.
7
SPEAKER_00
I had to look up, it was actually a word.
7
SPEAKER_00
I Googled it.
7
SPEAKER_00
I was like, oh, it s actually a term I can use.
7
SPEAKER_02
No, there s a kit called Manscaped.
7
SPEAKER_00
There s a company now that s actually been a partner of the show called Manscaped.
7
SPEAKER_02
No, but he was using an electric razor.
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh, wait, wait.
7
SPEAKER_00
I think it was Manscaped I was using, and all of a sudden I just see blood shoot out, and I m in the shower.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m like,
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh my goodness.
7
SPEAKER_00
And a lot of times when blood s in water, it looks a lot worse than it is.
7
SPEAKER_00
I was like, okay, one, it s bad because I don t know what I ve cut at this point.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m like trying not to freak out.
7
SPEAKER_00
Get out of the shower and I go out and there s just blood flowing everywhere.
7
SPEAKER_00
And I m taking gauze and I m looking up like all my wife s towels in our bathroom are all white.
7
SPEAKER_00
And she s a designer, so she s got this beautiful tile, which is all white and wood and intricate.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m going, oh my goodness, I m getting blood everywhere.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m trying to stop the bleeding.
7
SPEAKER_00
She s about to arrive home with the kids from school.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m going, okay, do not need her to walk in and have all the kids show up.
7
SPEAKER_00
And there I ve got
7
SPEAKER_00
They think I ve castrated myself and I couldn t stop it.
7
SPEAKER_00
And so finally I ended up getting like, this is, they don t teach you this in medical school, but I ended up getting like those potato chip clips that you close bags with, those little, and I clip it onto my scrotum.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m going, oh my goodness, I m in so much pain with this.
7
SPEAKER_01
Wait, so this was on the, I m gonna use just like a non, this is on the ball sack.
7
SPEAKER_00
This is on the ball sack, yeah, we re on the ball sack.
7
SPEAKER_00
I can t see it yet because there s so much blood.
7
SPEAKER_00
I can t see what it is yet.
7
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, there s no way I m going to the emergency room at this point.
7
SPEAKER_00
I just figure if I just clamp it, it s going to stop.
7
SPEAKER_02
Also, they re gonna be like, hey, John.
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh, and I m going, and so I ve got- Hey, Dr. John.
7
SPEAKER_00
This is definitely not gonna walk in and do that.
7
SPEAKER_00
I have to explain that.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, there are some downsides to knowing people in the medical community.
7
SPEAKER_00
And so I m walking around with this big gauze thing, trying to get the kids not to notice that it looks like I m just really excited at the moment.
7
SPEAKER_00
And an hour later, I take the clips off, blood is streaming down, cups of blood are flowing down.
7
SPEAKER_00
I clip it back on and,
7
SPEAKER_00
If there s like no way I m gonna tell my wife about this, because the kids, I don t care how far away they are, they could be outside, a hundred yards away, they would hear it.
7
SPEAKER_00
Kids have this, like your kids might be young, but they hear everything.
7
SPEAKER_00
If it s related to something they re not supposed to hear, what, what, what, what was that?
7
SPEAKER_00
I mean, they re gonna, you know, if they hear me telling my wife Chandler, hi, I don t know what I did.
7
SPEAKER_00
I need to like maybe go to the ER or something.
7
SPEAKER_00
I know they ll, what happened dad?
7
SPEAKER_00
And you know, tomorrow everybody in the school will know that, you know, I d sliced my balls off.
7
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So I finally see that, I can finally, I see this cut and it takes kids, I don t know,
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It s probably around midnight.
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It s around six hours later.
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I m finally going, this is so painful.
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I can t keep doing this.
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I can t keep the clips on.
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It s not slowing the bleeding down.
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I don t know what damage I m doing and I can t let it keep bleeding because I m seriously gonna just end up bleeding to death.
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It s gonna be like one of those suicide things where you just open your veins and just bleed out in your bed and they think it s some weird- Terrible way to go, death by cut, not sound.
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Exactly.
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And then the kids will have to deal with that for the rest of their lives.
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So I finally had to get, I found an old suture kit and just decided I m gonna sew myself up.
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And it was like the same thing.
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I was like, it was, I just had to sit down, blood s pouring out.
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And I put the stitch through and all of a sudden I realize in the last few years, I m now, I m in my fifties and my vision has gotten a little worse.
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And all of a sudden I go, I can t see a thing.
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I can t see between the blood coming out, this tiny suture thread.
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So I feel like a waddling out into this, into the room, find my readers, come back, trying to get some light on it.
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And I m just, yeah.
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So did you stitch it up in the end?
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So I stitched it up.
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I was able to stitch it up and stop the bleeding.
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And I kept thinking, I should probably leave a note in case for some reason it starts bleeding again.
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I m asleep and I just bleed out and the kids, let s let them know what happened.
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Can you bleed out of your balls?
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Well, apparently the way I was bleeding.
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I mean, I ve seen a lot of times when you go, this is a. This isn t a unique way to kill someone.
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It was a few centimeters slice I d gone right through a vein.
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So I finally tell my wife the next day, just so she knows what was, if I was acting weird.
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And she laughs and says, I m an idiot.
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Then she tells a friend of hers who actually works for the rival company
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and they decide they want to interview me and basically have a whole thing saying, you know, here s the story of what happened.
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With the other brand.
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With the other brand.
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It turns out they both live in our same hometown.
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Yeah, it was like a viral ad.
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Like for this, oh, for the- Yeah, yeah, like the- There s two main companies that made manscaping razors.
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Oh my God.
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And the opposite company interviewed him on an ad.
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Didn t the ad go viral?
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It had a few million hits, yeah.
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And so I didn t think anybody would actually see it until, like, my friend s kids were like, is that their dad?
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Is that real?
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Like, it is John, anything s possible, so.
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Hilarious.
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Well, John, we ve never had anyone on the podcast talk about how they almost bled out from their balls, but we ve also never had- See, we were talking earlier, like, you know- I had you talk about Munchausen.
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None of the doctors that have come on the show have stitched up their own balls besides you, so.
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Well, you don t know.
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Sorry, humorists.
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You should ask.
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That might be a common question now.
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I ll ask Peter at Teardex, have you guys on.
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Before we go, I would love to talk about your transition of now of what you re doing right now.
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So you have a huge film on Amazon called The Cyclist, and you also are working.
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I don t I ll let you speak on this, but I hope you re working on bringing this to television.
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and three books.
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Thank you so much.
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I mean, even, you know, like I said, hearing you enjoy the books, hearing people who will write me and say, we love the books, and is there another one, or I would love to see this as a series, as you mentioned to me, and it just gives me the confidence.
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I think a lot of people who write or do things certainly have a little insecurity about, is this of any value?
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And that s certainly a message I d love to pass to anybody, whether you re thinking about medical school, or you re thinking about writing a book, or being a songwriter, or opening a restaurant,
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Just do it in life.
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Really, that s the difference between everybody and the people that have things out there is just making that decision to go out and...
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take the time and do it because there s so many reasons you don t, including myself, where I would write these and think, there s so many books out there, there s so many better writers, there s so many people who ve written about medical things.
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And then I heard this woman saying, yeah, but what if you had your favorite restaurant?
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What if they d never opened it because there s another pizza place?
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And they figured they re never going to do it.
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So there s always somebody you might find your niche.
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You have something to say and people want to hear it.
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And so for me,
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Yeah, I love the transition to writing.
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I ve been working a lot of scripts over the years and hoping to make more films.
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The first one was a great learning experience.
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It was kind of my true independent film and great experience for Film School 101.
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And maybe your inspiration saying this should be a series might be the motivation that kicks me into it.
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So yeah, I ve been outlining the ideas how this could be a series, not make it about me, but make it more about that whole medical training.
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Because I think like, as you mentioned, I think a lot of people are curious
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what really goes on in medical school and this training and that level of what really happens.
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And it s a really exciting experience.
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As much as I can joke about it, there is a lot of laughter in the hospital.
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I think anytime people have had bad things happen, you overcome it with a lot of laughter.
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So there s a lot of camaraderie, there s a lot of hard work, but it s a really great experience.
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I will say I ve read a lot of books on hospitals because I am so intrigued because I m so scared.
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And this is definitely my favorite series, my favorite book.
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I found it to be like so informative, but also lighthearted and digestible.
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And I can recommend with like everyone should go read his books.
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They re so good.
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They walk you through the whole situation.
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There s lots of funny stories.
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There s also intense stories.
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And I just think you did such a beautiful job, which is why I stalked you on Instagram.
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Where can everyone buy your book, support your film, and find you?
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Oh, well, one, thank you so much.
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And the books right now are available on Amazon.
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I m about to start the audio book, and I think I ll try to get more of a wide release for all of these.
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It ll be available in all the common places, but right now on Amazon.
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And certainly, if anybody reads them and share them with your friends, if you like them.
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If you don t, maybe don t say anything.
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The reviews are amazing.
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I was looking at the reviews.
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You got some good reviews.
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I don t read reviews.
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No, you got thousands and thousands of five-star reviews.
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That s hard to get.
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That s not easy.
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I need to be a little bit better about the social media aspect and getting the word out there, but it s- When I do more, you can come on more podcasts.
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Come do more shows.
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Michael, your finger s in my Instagram post.
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It looks like a scrotum after that story.
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I ve had enough.
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Should I put my scrotum on the table?
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Where can everyone find your Instagram?
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John Lawrence writer, and I will post more.
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I m going to, I m going to, I m going to.
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Yeah, post more.
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And the film is also on Amazon.
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It became a bit of a generic story, but it went to a few film festivals, which was a really great experience.
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And on to the next one.
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Awesome.
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Playing doctor.
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John Lawrence, thank you for coming on the podcast.
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Thank you so much.
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Michael and Lawrence, this is amazing.
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It s such a treat.
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Thank you.
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Hope you loved this episode.
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Make sure you are subscribed to The Him and Her Newsletter, tscpodcast.com.
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And also, if you want to watch this episode, we are on YouTube now.
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Just search The Him and Her Show.
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I think that s so fun that you can now, like, be in the room with us, sort of.
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And on that note, we ll see you guys next time.