Armchair Anonymous: Nurses II

Speaker 1 Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous. I'm Dan Rather, and I'm joined by the Duchess.

Speaker 2 Hi.

Speaker 1 The Sharky Sharky Duchess.

Speaker 1 We need to do these more. We need to do these as regularly as poopy your pants because nurses deliver every time.
Holy smokes do they deliver?

Speaker 2 It's so harrowing their job.

Speaker 1 It is, boy, they go through it all.

Speaker 3 Heroes.

Speaker 1 Day in and day out. I love nurses so much.
I know. Me too.
They're just a party in their stories.

Speaker 2 They have great personalities. They have to.
Yeah. You have to be so mentally tough.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And positive.

Speaker 2 And positive.

Speaker 1 And funny. I know.
To get through.

Speaker 2 I know. It's really special.

Speaker 1 We learned a new term as well. I've already forgotten it, but we learned a term about an object in your butt, and it has a very specific terminology.
And it might even become a prompt. Object.

Speaker 2 Fuck, what is it? Should we look at it?

Speaker 1 Rectum. Oh.
Foreign body. Prerectal foreign body.
Foreign body. Yeah.
Foreign body. We learned that all nurses have a foreign body and rectum story, which is exciting as all hell.

Speaker 1 Please enjoy nurses part two.

Speaker 1 We are supported by all state. You know what's smart? Checking all state first for a quote that could save you hundreds on car insurance.
You know what's not smart?

Speaker 1 Not checking your phone's volume before blasting your morning pump-up playlist in the office break room. Or not checking that your laptop camera's off before joining the meeting in your robe.

Speaker 1 Or something I'm a little too familiar with, not checking your grocery list before heading to the store and realizing you bought everything except what you needed. Yeah.
Checking first is smart.

Speaker 1 So check all state first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with all state.
Potential savings vary subject to terms, condition, and availability.

Speaker 1 All state North American Insurance Co. and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Quince.

Speaker 1 So I'm standing in my closet the other day and I realize I'm reaching for the same three things over and over again.

Speaker 1 And they're all coming from Quince, which got me thinking, when did I become that guy who actually cares about where his clothes come from? Well, I'll tell you when, when I discovered Quince.

Speaker 2 Exactly. I was at a happy hour a couple of days ago with a very cool woman named Margo, very chic.
And I was like, ooh, I love your pants. I love your sweater.
And she said, Quince. Boom.

Speaker 2 And I was like, I should have known.

Speaker 1 Should have known. Turns out Quince cracked the code on something I didn't even know was broken.
They partnered directly with these ethical factories, cut out the middlemen.

Speaker 1 So you get the same Mongolian cashmere that costs 200 bucks elsewhere, 450. Same quality, none of the markup.

Speaker 1 Perfect timing too, because holiday shopping is coming and I actually have good answers for once. Not just clothes either.
They've got home stuff, travel gear, all of it.

Speaker 1 Give and get timeless holiday staples that last this season with Quince. Go to quince.com slash DAX for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns.
Now available in Canada too.

Speaker 1 That's q-u-in-ce.com slash dax. Free shipping and 365-day returns.
Quince.com/slash dax.

Speaker 1 Hard times come and go.

Speaker 1 Good times, take them slow.

Speaker 1 My life,

Speaker 1 I had them both.

Speaker 1 Remember one thing,

Speaker 3 you gotta know, I'ma keep them shining.

Speaker 1 How are you guys? I'm gonna go out on a limb right now. You're the first of four nurses we're gonna talk to.

Speaker 1 And the second I saw your face, I literally was like, all right, nurses are the most fun people on the planet.

Speaker 3 Thank you. That's the biggest compliment.
I like to think I'm a fun person.

Speaker 1 Anyone that can see the shit you guys see hourly hourly and be laughing and smiling, I mean, that's my kind of people.

Speaker 3 Well, if you don't laugh, you'll cry.

Speaker 2 It's a good attitude.

Speaker 1 So goes the adage. Where are you at, Peyton?

Speaker 3 I'm in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 okay.

Speaker 2 How do you like it there?

Speaker 3 I like it. I'm from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and this is a small town feel.
We're just here because my husband's going to grad school. So it's just a short two years.

Speaker 1 It's charming, no? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 Very historic, but yeah.

Speaker 1 But a troubled past. Is that what you wanted to say? Or a beating around the bush that the most horrific thing ever happened there.
Is that palpable when you're there or have people moved on?

Speaker 3 It's palpable, especially because I work in an elementary school now as a nurse and it's crazy.

Speaker 3 They have to do a whole bunch of rezoning for the school districts because it was historically racist zoning. So now they're like trying to go back and redo it all.
Wow.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I'm going to add, I have another stereotype, not just about nurses, but I have a stereotype about Minnesotans.
I would argue that Minnesotans are like Michiganders, but a little even elevated.

Speaker 1 What's that mean? They have so much Scandinavian in them, right? That they're modest by nature. They hate attention and acclaim.

Speaker 1 So it's kind of the same stock as Michigan, but they have this nice layer of humility, I'd say.

Speaker 3 I would say the humility aspect didn't hit me.

Speaker 1 Oh, good.

Speaker 3 I love talking about Minnesota. I think it's the best.

Speaker 1 Wahoma Prince, any place that can claim Prince. Yeah.
Okay, I'm sure you've racked up many stories as a nurse, but you're going to hit us with one in particular.

Speaker 3 This is back in 2021 in Minneapolis. I'm a new baby nurse and I'm working in the emergency department.
I came in and I had an empty room and I was the next to get a patient.

Speaker 3 Lucky me, which is always scary. So I go to the room, I meet the patient.
Immediately upon entering the room, I am struck with the worst smell in the world.

Speaker 1 Oh, perfect. I just ate.
This is great.

Speaker 3 Immediate infection smell.

Speaker 2 Oh, infection smell is such a bad combo of words.

Speaker 1 Well, evolutionarily, it has to be the one we're most repulsed by.

Speaker 3 I have a mask on, which I don't think is really doing much, but maybe a little.

Speaker 1 Do you guys ever put anything under your nose?

Speaker 3 We have little like essential oil sticks.

Speaker 2 One time, Dak said you should put a Jolly Rancher in there.

Speaker 1 I did say that. I said you did.
Oh. Have you tried that?

Speaker 3 I'll try that next time.

Speaker 1 Don't try that because I don't want you to choke.

Speaker 3 I'm assessing this patient. I'm like, where is this coming from? I don't see anything right away, but she's like the cutest little five-foot

Speaker 1 grandma. She's old grandma.
For sure.

Speaker 3 But she's old.

Speaker 1 Okay. Old Monica.

Speaker 3 In her 70s. She has a scarf wrapped around her head.
And I am like, what's your emergency? What brings you in? She says, oh, I just haven't been feeling well the past few days.

Speaker 3 She doesn't really go on. And I'm like, what's your history? And she says, well, nine months ago, I had a cranioplasty.
What's that? A section of her skull was missing from a birth defect.

Speaker 3 And so she had to have a mesh plate put in to reform the skull.

Speaker 1 She really waited a while, it sounds like.

Speaker 1 She got through most of her life with this gap.

Speaker 3 I think it's something that gets redone.

Speaker 1 That makes sense.

Speaker 3 I leave the room to go get the doctor, brief them that you might want to put a double mask on. We go back into the room, and the doctor's like, Can you take your scarf off? I want to see you.

Speaker 3 Like, what's happening under there?

Speaker 1 Oh, no.

Speaker 3 She removes it. There's a quarter to half an inch slit open at the top of her forehead.
We can see the mesh plate. Oh.

Speaker 1 And her brain.

Speaker 1 You can see grandma's brain.

Speaker 3 We can see Granny's brain.

Speaker 1 Her brain.

Speaker 3 And we're like, all right, there we go.

Speaker 1 Bingo.

Speaker 2 Apparently, brains stink. Now we know.

Speaker 3 And it like is very clearly infected.

Speaker 5 It's like red.

Speaker 3 It doesn't look well.

Speaker 1 Am I right to assume that's the last thing you want infected?

Speaker 3 Definitely. And she was off in all the ways.

Speaker 2 What happens if the scarf comes off and you go,

Speaker 2 you can't help it sometimes. You can't do that.

Speaker 1 Can you? Did you?

Speaker 3 I mean, you definitely probably shouldn't, but being a new nurse, thank God for the mask because I was not expecting grandma's brain to be out.

Speaker 2 Of course.

Speaker 1 Right. You're not watching Pulp Trail.
I'm only human.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 So we're like, have you been taking care of it? And she's like, I was taking pretty good care of it. I keep the scarf on.

Speaker 3 I changed the gauze. It's been going well.
Like, okay. Has anything been irritating it? Anything you can think of? And she says, no, I take the scarf off at night.
And then my cats like to lick it.

Speaker 1 Oh, stop it!

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 2 This is the nasty.

Speaker 1 Nurses have all the deets.

Speaker 2 I almost said something really bad.

Speaker 1 I'm not going to say it.

Speaker 2 She deserves to be.

Speaker 1 Hey, don't victim shame her.

Speaker 2 You're going to let your cat lick your open brain.

Speaker 1 She said she likes to. She wants to make mittens happy.

Speaker 2 And also, she didn't do her research. Cats love human brains.
They eat them.

Speaker 1 Well, they eat their face. Yeah, yeah.
The cat got a little ahead of itself. I think the cat was like, grandma's dying and dead, and I can't wait.

Speaker 3 I definitely think Mittens was like, she's on her way out.

Speaker 1 I got to have a slice.

Speaker 3 So she obviously had to be admitted to the hospital because that's not good. But since it was COVID time, it took three days to get her from the emergency department up to a room.

Speaker 3 So for the three days she was down there, the entire back hallway just smelled the whole time.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 3 we obviously attempt to clean it. We started IV antibiotics and would do the basic treatment, but we weren't like getting in there.

Speaker 1 Because someone needed to go in there surgically and get rid of this necrotic flesh and everything.

Speaker 2 And drain all the cat saliva.

Speaker 1 Pull the cat babies out of her.

Speaker 2 Don't say cat babies in a brain.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. Mittens, kittens.
God.

Speaker 2 She was kind of like Voldemort. You know when what's his name's wearing the scarf and then he takes off and Voldemort's there?

Speaker 3 Yes, Professor Quirrel. I literally was thinking that.

Speaker 2 It's literally that.

Speaker 1 Oh my God.

Speaker 3 You never know what someone's hiding under there.

Speaker 1 And what was her spirits? She sounds very nice.

Speaker 3 She was the sweetest little lady.

Speaker 4 So kooky.

Speaker 3 If you were in the room, she'd tell you everything you wanted to know about anything.

Speaker 2 Yeah, but she was also crazy. Literally cat

Speaker 2 induced crazy.

Speaker 1 Madness. Yeah.
Maybe you can say madness.

Speaker 2 So we don't know if she was nice or not. Maybe that was part of the delirium.

Speaker 1 What ended up happening to Granny? She got a room, obviously.

Speaker 3 She got a room and that's all I know.

Speaker 1 I'm glad.

Speaker 2 I don't want to know the end of this.

Speaker 1 This is rough.

Speaker 3 At this hospital, we had a lot of frequent flyers. And I never saw her again.
Okay.

Speaker 1 Well, that's good. And would you have heard if she had passed in that upstairs room? Would they they have told you? Probably.
Okay.

Speaker 1 So I think all signs point to she's probably with mittens now on her lap.

Speaker 2 All signs point to she turned into a cat. I think her brain turned into a cat brain and now she thinks she's a cat.

Speaker 1 Peyton, what if you saw her boogieing down the sidewalk on all fours with the most agility you'd ever seen?

Speaker 3 That would be amazing. I'd have to call you guys back.

Speaker 1 What an experiment. I have a hunch we're going to talk to you again because I'm sure you were probably debating which story to even tell.

Speaker 3 I was talking to my husband, and I was like, I don't have any stories, just the cat lady.

Speaker 3 He was like, Yeah, you should submit that.

Speaker 1 That's a pretty good one.

Speaker 1 That really puts a new spin on cat lady. Yeah, do you think that's Laura's dream in life? No, don't have her brain licked by her cat.

Speaker 2 You probably. This is what happens with people who love cats, they love them way too much.

Speaker 3 It's kind of a good ending.

Speaker 1 I guess so. Oh, what a joy that was.

Speaker 3 Thanks for sharing. Can my husband come say hi?

Speaker 1 Of course.

Speaker 1 Oh, you're as cute as they come.

Speaker 1 Look at the symmetry. It's completely homogeneous.

Speaker 2 And you're in graduate school.

Speaker 1 And your teeth are that nice.

Speaker 6 It's awesome to see you guys. I wanted to say we drove from Virginia to Minneapolis before the holidays, which is about 18 hours.

Speaker 6 And we listen almost exclusively to Armchair.

Speaker 1 Oh, that's so nice. Is there one moment that was your favorite?

Speaker 3 Any anonymous, but we just listened to the Munchausen by proxy. Andrea Dunlop.
I don't have Munchausen.

Speaker 2 Want to say? Oh, yeah. Thank you for clarifying.

Speaker 1 Well, you guys don't have a child yet.

Speaker 2 No, you can still have it with a partner.

Speaker 1 But it's most common for the mother to be in the medical. Yeah.
We'll let you know.

Speaker 2 Okay. Keep us updated on that.

Speaker 1 Well, again, we were going to talk to you about another nurse story, but it might be like, tell us about a story of inflicting Munchausen's on your child. I'll wait for that prompt for sure.

Speaker 1 Well, delightful meeting both of you. Good luck down there in Virginia.
Thank you very much. So nice to meet you.

Speaker 1 Bye.

Speaker 1 Hello. Is this Lucy? Yes, it is.
How are you doing? Have we caught you at work?

Speaker 8 Yes, I'm at work in a nice fancy little telephone booth.

Speaker 1 And if there were any doubt of the validity to your claim of being a nurse, you are currently in Scrubs, which really lends to your case.

Speaker 9 Yeah, right?

Speaker 8 I'm out of the bedside now, so I'm in healthcare education and simulation. Ooh.

Speaker 1 So. And where are you in the country?

Speaker 8 I'm up in Canada.

Speaker 1 Okay, so I assume you have a cabillion stories you could have told. Did you have a hard time whittling it down to which one?

Speaker 8 No, I definitely have a lot of stories, but this one has just always been kind of in the forefront. So I've been in the emergency room for most of my career.
Always small town, always rural hospitals.

Speaker 8 So you can get creative.

Speaker 1 Farming accidents.

Speaker 8 Wood splitter against foot, you know, never a good thing. So I've done some travel nursing too in small urban cities to lie in, fly out communities.

Speaker 1 Oh, like in the bush, you mean? Fly-in, fly-out?

Speaker 8 Or on the coast in BC or up in the Yukon.

Speaker 1 Oh, wow. It's been very cool.
Who would have thought nursing could take you as many places as like a flight attendant?

Speaker 8 And be able to make a good income and have some paid travel and accommodation and learn and meet a lot of cool people and see the country at the same time.

Speaker 1 So this would be the one you're at a dinner party and they want to hear a story. This is the one you always reel out.

Speaker 3 If they're with nurses or other health care providers, sure.

Speaker 2 But not a layman.

Speaker 1 Not for civilians.

Speaker 8 So small town emerge, Someone comes into triage after biking in from a neighboring community. It's like a 15-minute drive, so it's not a short bike.

Speaker 8 Comes in, not really saying much, not making great eye contact, being a little elusive, just repeating that he wants to see a doctor. We try and obtain a little bit more pertinent information.

Speaker 8 The triage process is important and only get out of them pain back there.

Speaker 1 Great. Because I was going to say, the times I've had to go to the doctor and talk about something I just really don't want to talk about, I have decided I'm willing to tell this one person.

Speaker 1 In your mind, you've committed to that, and then you get there and you start realizing, no, I'm gonna have to tell many people. And I hate that.
Is that common?

Speaker 1 Where, like, they don't really want to tell you because they've already decided only one person shall ever know this.

Speaker 8 Yeah, it can happen. And then, also, at the same time, like, you're writing it down.
So, that's a whole other added layer that people don't love.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Credelio Quattro. Every dog deserves to enjoy the outdoors and be protected from dog parasites.

Speaker 1 Credelio Quattro offers the broadest parasite protection of its kind by covering six types of parasites in one monthly flavored chewable tablet, fighting ticks, fleas, heartworm disease, roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms.

Speaker 1 Woof. Other products say they're all in one, but Credelio Quattro is the only monthly chewable tablet of its kind that covers three species of tapeworms.

Speaker 1 And it's flavored, which means your dog might actually like it. Whether you're going on a hike or just in the backyard, you can help protect your best buddy.

Speaker 1 Talk to your vet if your dog has a history of seizures or neurological disorders. Visit quattrodog.com for more info.
Ask your vet about Credelio Quattro. That's quattro dog.com to learn more.

Speaker 1 For full safety information, side effects, and warnings, visit CredelioQuattroLabel.com. consult your vet, or call 1-888-545-5973.

Speaker 1 This show is sponsored by Liquid IV. You know what? I've been feeling it lately, that post-summer crash where you're trying to get back into your fall routine, but your energy just isn't there.

Speaker 1 Maybe it's the shorter days, maybe it's just life, but I was definitely dragging. Then I remembered I had stocked up on Liquid IV and it's been exactly what I've needed.

Speaker 1 Their new energy multiplier sugar-free hydrating energy formula has natural caffeine plus electrolytes, so I get the energy boost I need without the crash or jitters.

Speaker 1 Just one stick and 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone. And it's always non-GMO, vegan, and gluten-free.

Speaker 2 I live off of liquid IV because I notoriously don't drink enough water. And so I have to use it.
So I'm getting that extra hydration.

Speaker 1 And you're addicted, as I recall, to the sugar-free strawberry kiwi.

Speaker 2 I do like that.

Speaker 1 That's a tasty one. Don't just power through your day.
Ditch the glitch with zero sugar and zero crash from Liquid IV. Tear, pour, live more.

Speaker 1 Go to liquidiv.com and get 20% off your first order with Code Dax at checkout. That's 20% off your first order with codax at liquidiv.com.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Empower.

Speaker 1 See, you've always wanted to take that bucket list safari trip where you hop in a jeep at sunrise and cruise the Serengeti. Here's the thing.
If you invest well, you could do things like that.

Speaker 1 With Empower, you can get your money working for you so you can go out and live a little. Isn't that why we work so hard to splurge at certain moments?

Speaker 1 Maybe it's those concert seats that don't require binoculars or taking that trip to Athens in Greece, not Georgia, no disrespect, money.

Speaker 1 So use Empower to help you get good at money so you can be a little bad. Join their 19 million customers today at empower.com.
Not an Empower client paid or sponsored. We are supported by MS Now.

Speaker 1 Whether it's breaking news, exclusive reporting, or in-depth analysis, MS Now keeps people at the heart of everything they do, empowering Americans with the information and insights that can bring us together.

Speaker 1 Home to the Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe, the briefing with Jen Sacky, and more voices you know and trust. MS Now is your source for news, opinion, and the world.

Speaker 1 Their name is new, but you'll find the same commitment to truth and community that you've relied on for years.

Speaker 1 They'll continue to cover the day's most important stories, ask the tough questions, and explain how it all impacts you. Same mission, new name.
MS Now. Learn more at MS.now.

Speaker 8 So they're referencing pain back there, just being pretty elusive and not wanting to say much. So we respect that and then get them back.
So the physician goes into assess.

Speaker 8 A little bit later, comes out and orders some abdominal imaging. A little while later, imaging is ready, and we review it to find a foreign body lodged nicely between those pelvic bones.

Speaker 1 Ooh, so deep up into his rectum.

Speaker 8 Yeah, so like a little callback: this person biked in. Right.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh.

Speaker 8 All I can imagine hearing this is every petal revolution, you know, just going up a little bit further each time.

Speaker 1 Oh, no, this is sad. And is it clear from the imaging what the object is?

Speaker 8 So it definitely had the structure of a bottle. The person just wasn't really saying a whole lot to everyone.

Speaker 8 So it had a bottle-like shape, but I wouldn't be able to be like, oh, that's a Coke bottle or something.

Speaker 1 Right. Right.

Speaker 1 But we're a rural hospital.

Speaker 8 You try and get creative with what you have. Babies do get delivered here.
And there are like vacuum-assisted devices for babies that it was pitched to see if maybe that could work.

Speaker 8 Ultimately didn't go with that because the physician could barely reach the object.

Speaker 1 If you had to guess how many inches beyond the anus it was, could you guess?

Speaker 8 He said he could barely touch it with his finger.

Speaker 1 Wow. Three or four inches up there.

Speaker 8 This physician's probably like your stature too.

Speaker 1 He really had a long finger to work with.

Speaker 8 Yes, so he could feel it a little bit, but obviously a vacuum can't suction to. that small of a piece and that piece of plastic, whatever it might have been.

Speaker 8 It took a lot of convincing and encouraging, but he really needed to go to the city to have a procedure to get it removed.

Speaker 8 The other concern with the imaging was there's free air on the x-ray, which means something might have perforated.

Speaker 8 So there's more severity there that you don't want to mess around with rurally. And then also, if you were just to simply like pull it out, it creates a vacuum.

Speaker 1 Oh. You kind of maybe got to fill air around it.
You might have to be inflating basically as you pull it out.

Speaker 8 Or like have another hole in it. elsewhere to kind of help prevent a vacuum and have all the intestines come with it.

Speaker 1 I mean, there's a lot to think about.

Speaker 8 Yeah, a lot to think about beforehand. This poor person, they finally came around to heading to the city.
So a lot of times people don't necessarily come back for discharge or anything like that.

Speaker 8 Usually when they go, that's the last time we'll see them.

Speaker 1 Oh, I'm going to guess. I mean, his bike is there.

Speaker 8 Yeah, the next day he came back in to emerge to pick up his bike seat.

Speaker 1 I find this sad. I know.

Speaker 8 I feel so much for this person. It would be such a hard thing.

Speaker 1 It would to have to go back to get your bike.

Speaker 8 bike and also you just had a pretty massive procedure up there and you're gonna now ride the fact that he biked there in the first place yeah i don't know what kind of procedure he had obviously wasn't an open abdominal anything because they were able to walk in the next day do we know what it was I bet there'd be like a HIPAA issue.

Speaker 1 Like they couldn't call the next hospital and be like, hey, what was that? Wouldn't that violate HIPAA somehow?

Speaker 8 Yeah, I don't have confirmations of anything, just what I saw on the x-ray, which was impressive for sure.

Speaker 1 I have an immediate guess. I think it it was a bottle of conditioner.
I think he was in the shower and he decided to masturbate. He thought it might feel nice to have this bottle up his butt.

Speaker 1 Now, when you think back in your mind of the image, could it have been a conditioner bottle?

Speaker 8 It definitely looked like a drink bottle.

Speaker 1 Okay. Oh, wonderful.
I take it all back. He was sitting on a picnic table having a nice It was an accident.

Speaker 2 It was a pure accident. He just sat down.
It got up there.

Speaker 8 It's the classic slip and fall.

Speaker 1 Yeah, classic. And I'm sorry to ask for this detail, but my assumption now is that the thin end was first.
Yeah, of course. Yep.
Okay.

Speaker 2 Also, do you think it was full?

Speaker 1 Of the soda or whatever. Yeah.
No, because the cap would have had to have been.

Speaker 2 Also, that's what I'm thinking about. The cap in it.

Speaker 1 He would have taken the cap.

Speaker 8 I think it might have come up a bit more opaque, too, with the liquid in it. But yeah, classic slip and fall.
I'm sure many nurses have this story.

Speaker 1 I hope you figured out how to enjoy that hobby without any further complications. If someone wants to do that and that feels nice, I'm all for it.

Speaker 2 I just wish he didn't have to ride his bike.

Speaker 1 No, that is really a cruel detail of the story.

Speaker 8 Plot twist for sure. The bike ride in couldn't have been comfortable.

Speaker 1 No, I'm double sad because he didn't have anyone to call, but then I don't know that that's the truth either because he might have just been like, there's no way I'm calling anyone.

Speaker 2 But he also doesn't have a car. The only mode of transportation he has is that bike.
That's a little telling.

Speaker 8 It's also a small rural town. People know everyone, right?

Speaker 2 That's even worse.

Speaker 1 well lucy this has been um incredible i've kind of had fingers crossed we would get something stuck up the butt story you read about those occasionally yeah i figured it might be appealing in that sense based on what i've heard in the past

Speaker 1 based on the tone of the show i thought this might interest you

Speaker 8 I've been listening to you guys since it started. This is crazy to see behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 We're so happy to have you.

Speaker 2 Yeah, thanks for listening.

Speaker 1 And from the bottom of my heart, I'm more grateful for y'all than even doctors. I think the stuff that you guys have to do

Speaker 1 is just the most impressive.

Speaker 2 From the bottom of your butt.

Speaker 1 From the bottom of my butt to the bottom of your heart.

Speaker 1 Yeah, nurses are pretty amazing.

Speaker 8 All right.

Speaker 1 Well, it was lovely meeting you. And again, thank you so much for the work you do.

Speaker 8 Thank you so much for this opportunity.

Speaker 1 All right. Take care.
Bye, guys. Bye.

Speaker 2 What does bottom of my heart look?

Speaker 1 The depths of my heart, the deepest part.

Speaker 2 But the deepest part, I feel like, is this center.

Speaker 1 You're hung up on bottom because we're talking about someone's bottom.

Speaker 2 No, you said from the bottom of my heart, and then it made me think the rectum of the heart.

Speaker 1 That's my point, is we're talking about bottoms right now, like butt-bottoms.

Speaker 2 But I'm just saying, bottom of the heart doesn't feel that much more

Speaker 2 important than the middle of the heart, the core, the pulsing part.

Speaker 1 From the top of my heart.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm just curious who made that up.

Speaker 1 From the left chamber of my heart.

Speaker 1 Probably. Or Abraham Lincoln.
Never going to watch that doc.

Speaker 2 You already told me the whole doc.

Speaker 1 It was Abraham Lincoln. Yes.
No, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 1 Hello. How are you guys? So good.
Do you want to use a code name?

Speaker 7 Let's go with the name Evan.

Speaker 2 You look like an Evan.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and I like the name Evan. Do you have a best friend named Evan or something?

Speaker 7 I don't. It's actually a family name.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 So, Evan, where are you in the country? You can be as vague as you'd like. I just am curious.

Speaker 7 I'm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But funny enough, about a year ago, I moved.
I was in LA for 10 years, and I lived in a pretty decent apartment complex right near Hollywood and Western. Oh.

Speaker 7 So I always used to go to Maru and hope that I would run into Monica.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 Well, you're more likely to run into Rob. I'm shocked you didn't run into Rob.

Speaker 1 You probably did. You probably did.

Speaker 2 But oh, man, that would have been great.

Speaker 1 Now, were you on the hunt for Monica so you could explore something romantic with her?

Speaker 7 No, I'm actually gay.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay. Okay.
That's a bummer. I feel like that's more substantive.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's more pure.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I'm sorry I missed you.

Speaker 1 Okay, so you are a nurse, I presume?

Speaker 7 I'm an emergency room nurse. For how long? It'll be 14 years this year.

Speaker 1 Okay, so you have a juicy story. I'm sure you've got many, but you have pared it down to this one.

Speaker 2 Juicy isn't an opera.

Speaker 1 Oh, I do. I hope juices involved in this story.

Speaker 7 No juices in this story, but it's a pretty wild one. This doesn't take place in LA.
It does take place somewhere else in California. I was working in a pretty busy emergency department.

Speaker 7 It was a level two trauma center. So we see pretty much all the crazy gunshots, stabbings, car accidents, falls, all of those things.

Speaker 1 Can you tell us about the levels? I've never heard it being described as level one or two or three.

Speaker 7 It goes from level one to level four. Level one is the highest.
So that's your cedar sinai.

Speaker 7 The main difference between a level one and a level two is that they have neurosurgery 24 hours a day in-house. Oh.
So if you have a head injury, they can do procedures right then and there.

Speaker 7 Whereas level two, they have to bring a neurosurgeon in or they have to fly the patient, depending on their injury, to a different facility. Okay.

Speaker 7 And then down to level four, it just really is resources that are available at that specific facility. So this particular hospital was a level two, but there were only two trauma centers in the area.

Speaker 7 So we would get a lot of the traumas and the crazy stuff along with just basic medical patients that come in. This was around 2017, 2018.
Busy day in the emergency department.

Speaker 7 We had a lot of traumas coming in. The waiting room was full.
But on top of that, we have a lot of psychiatric patients that are on a 5150 hold. They're there on the hold for 72 hours.

Speaker 7 For whatever reason, either they're suicidal, homicidal, or gravely disabled, meaning they can't care for themselves.

Speaker 7 We're kind of responsible for those patients until they get to a psychiatric facility, which sometimes, you know, that can be days that they're in our emergency department.

Speaker 1 And is protocol to kind of, for lack of a better word, anesthetize them? Do you want to get them on some kind of benzo to calm everyone down?

Speaker 7 So it depends on their level of how violent they are. If you come in and just say, hey, you know, I'm thinking of committing suicide, but they're willing to be there voluntarily.
That's one thing.

Speaker 7 Some other patients will be brought in by the cops because they tried to kill their spouse. At that point, we hold them, but some of them are cooperative and they're calm.

Speaker 7 Other patients are a little less calm and we have to end up restraining them physically or we have to sedate them with a chemical restraint.

Speaker 7 I remember this day we particularly had, I think, probably seven or eight psychiatric patients, which is a lot.

Speaker 7 They will be in our psych rooms and then some of them are in the hallways, but typically they have to be a one-to-one sitter and the person that's watching them has to be within arms reach in case they try to hurt themselves.

Speaker 7 So we're busy doing our thing throughout the day and the chief medical officer comes to the department and he quickly tells the team, hey, we just received a call that there was a bomb threat made at the hospital.

Speaker 7 And we need to evacuate the emergency department immediately. Whoa.

Speaker 1 With seven or eight. Does that mean bring them outdoors? Bring everyone.
Oh, my God.

Speaker 7 There could be 50 patients, including the psychiatric patients, outside.

Speaker 1 This is the worst kind of bomb threat, I'm going to say. Yeah, this is a mean one.

Speaker 7 I've worked places where there's been a threat called in, and we typically have security teams, and the police are always there because of various reasons.

Speaker 7 But this particular day, he made the decision that we need to evacuate the emergency department. So as ER nurses do, our team figures it out.

Speaker 7 A lot of times for disasters, we'll put up tents out in the parking lot.

Speaker 7 So the team began assembling the tents and trying to get patients out as quickly and as safely as possible there may be 50 patients in the department and there's a handful of nurses oh this is horrible the worst scenario that you could probably imagine in the emergency department and we see awful things so while trying to maintain all of the other patients getting them out safely you know the people that can't walk on their own this really sick patients we have to make sure that all of the psychiatric patients are accounted for so we get them all outside everything comes together perfectly there's enough people to watch we kind of quarantined the psychiatric patients to one area.

Speaker 7 We had security guard. There were cops there that had responded to the event.
Everything seems to be going well. The bomb squad shows up and they clear the hospital.

Speaker 7 And we're like, what exactly happened here? Why did we so quickly make this decision?

Speaker 7 So it turns out, luckily, none of the patients were harmed, but the hospital operator, he was off shift, decided to call in a bomb threat. This was a guy that worked at our hospital,

Speaker 7 calls in the bomb threat to an operator who is his coworker.

Speaker 1 Oh my God.

Speaker 7 There was really no way to verify this because they didn't release a 911 tape, but the story is that this person called the operator and the operator was like, is this you, Peter?

Speaker 7 I recognize your voice. And he's like, no, no, it's not me.

Speaker 1 Oh my God.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Audible. You know, I spend a lot of time listening.
It's literally my job. But when I'm not recording the show, I'm constantly consuming audio content.

Speaker 1 And honestly, I can get pretty overwhelmed by all the choices out there. That's why I love when Audible drops their best of the year collection.

Speaker 1 Audible's most anticipated collection, the best of 2025, is here. And let me tell you, these editors know what they're doing.

Speaker 1 They've spent countless hours listening, having heated debates, probably way more heated than Monica and I get, although that's hard to imagine. And they have handpicked this year's must listens.

Speaker 1 What I really appreciate is that they don't just go for the obvious picks, they found hidden gems alongside the buzziest new releases.

Speaker 1 Whether you're into true crime like Monica, historical biographies like me, or something completely different, this collection has your back.

Speaker 1 I've already started diving into their selection, and honestly, it's like having a really smart friend curate your entire listening experience. Want to finish the year with a sure thing?

Speaker 1 Check out Audible's best of 2025 and discover why there's more to imagine when you listen. Listen now.
Go to audible.com/slash best of the year.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Addy.

Speaker 2 I know about Addy, the little pink pill, right?

Speaker 1 Yes, that's right. Addy is the FDA-approved pink pill clinically proven to boost desire in certain premenopausal women who are bothered by a low libido.

Speaker 2 I love this. It's really nice that there's an option out there for women who are dealing with low desire.
And I like that Addy's non-hormonal and created by a woman for women.

Speaker 2 Addy is helping women feel like themselves again, and that's really important.

Speaker 1 It really is. So Arm Cherries, if your libido could use a little jumpstart, Addy's got you covered.

Speaker 2 Learn more at Addie.com.

Speaker 1 That's A-D-D-Y-I.com. Use code DAX for a $10 telemed appointment at Addie.com.

Speaker 1 Addy, or flabanserin, is for premenopausal women with acquired, generalized, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, HSDD, who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past, who have low sexual desire no matter the type of sexual activity, the situation, or the sexual partner.

Speaker 1 This low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem, problems in the relationship, or medicine or other drug use.

Speaker 1 Addy is not for use in children, men, or to enhance sexual performance.

Speaker 1 Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcohol drinks close in time to your Addi dose.

Speaker 1 Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking Addy at bedtime.

Speaker 1 This risk increases if you take certain prescriptions, OTC, or herbal medications or have liver problems, and can happen when you take Addy without alcohol or other medicines.

Speaker 1 Do not take if you are allergic to any of Addi's ingredients. Allergic reactions may include hives, itching, or troubled breathing.
Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur.

Speaker 1 Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep and dry mouth. See full PI and medication guide including box warning at Addy.com slash PI.
Addy.

Speaker 1 Use code DAX for a $10 telemed appointment at Addy.com. That's ADDYI.com.

Speaker 1 This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. So many of us are really impacted by the colder seasons when it gets dark so much earlier and the days feel feel shorter than ever.

Speaker 2 Yeah, me, me, I'm the one. I feel horrible when it seasonal affective disorder.

Speaker 1 Yes, you do take a

Speaker 1 take a hit. I do when it gets dark.
You know how it goes. Life gets busy, but that's exactly why shorter days don't have to be so dismal.

Speaker 1 It's time to reach out and check in with those you care about and to remind ourselves that we're not alone. And you know what? Every time I finally do, I think, why didn't I do this sooner?

Speaker 1 Which is exactly what people say about starting therapy. Better help therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the U.S.

Speaker 1 Just fill out a short questionnaire that'll help identify your needs and preferences and they'll match you with a therapist.

Speaker 1 Don't worry though, if you aren't happy with your match, you can switch to a different therapist at any time from their tailored recs. This month, don't wait to reach out.

Speaker 1 Whether you're checking in on a friend or reaching out to a therapist yourself, BetterHelp makes it easier to take that first step.

Speaker 1 Arm Sherries get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/slash DAX. That's betterhelphelp.com slash dax.

Speaker 7 So, the gentleman who was making the bomb threat apparently had made multiple bomb threats. He had worked at various facilities over the years.

Speaker 7 He called in a bomb threat to a school, to various different township buildings. So, he was calling in bomb threats for many years.

Speaker 7 They found out that it could have been potentially three or four years prior prior to this event.

Speaker 1 Evan, have you spent any time trying to get into the mind of why that would be satisfying?

Speaker 1 I can generally find my way into understanding people's motives, but I don't even understand what the pleasure of that is.

Speaker 1 Other than if I just had this total ire for government and I wanted to keep fucking up municipalities. I can't really get it.

Speaker 7 He was calling in the bomb threat and then showing up to work. I think this day he showed up a few hours later.
I don't know if it was a thrill that he got from like being in and out of the chaos.

Speaker 1 Well, they say that about arsonists, that they often are there watching the fire.

Speaker 2 But is he a hero? Is it like he comes in to help save the day?

Speaker 7 I'm sure they're getting numerous calls like, hey, is it safe to come into the hospital? Because I'm sure that word spreads quickly throughout the community.

Speaker 7 I don't know what he was getting from that.

Speaker 2 Is it a ding, ding, ding? Did he get admitted to the psychiatric ward?

Speaker 7 I think he got admitted to the jail.

Speaker 1 The jail ward.

Speaker 7 It was a wild day, but that team, I mean, the ER is chaotic all the time, but it shows you how quickly we come together.

Speaker 7 And no matter what the task at hand is, we just do what we have to to keep our patients safe.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you're like the Marines.

Speaker 1 My first thought as someone who's always thinking about mechanical stuff is like, well, certainly among those 50 patients, some of them have to be hooked to machines to stay alive that require electricity.

Speaker 1 Are there generators that are put out in the parking lot or are there battery supplies on these carts?

Speaker 7 So the patients that were on a ventilator at the time, there's two options and we do have battery supply outside because we have patients with IV pumps, but you can also manually ventilate them.

Speaker 7 It's called an ambu bag so you can just squeeze a bag to give them breaths. I don't remember that being a huge issue and we have respiratory therapists that will kind of manage that.

Speaker 7 But yeah, those are things that go into our head and we do disaster drills throughout the year and set up the tents and kind of practice what we would do in that scenario.

Speaker 7 So we truly are prepared at any given time for something like this to happen. It turns out it probably jumped the gun for lack of a a better phrase.

Speaker 7 We probably didn't need to evacuate, but it was good practice. In my 14 years, I've never experienced anything else like it.

Speaker 1 We're so lucky that you guys exist.

Speaker 4 So lucky.

Speaker 1 They're practicing and they can do it.

Speaker 7 It's a pretty amazing career. You guys are fortunate to be in LA where there's so many great hospitals.

Speaker 1 What? We're not going to live in L.A.

Speaker 1 Just do it. Okay, I'm just not sure what thing we're going to do.
We're afraid to leave L.A. or? I just don't want to go to the hospital.

Speaker 1 We're knocking down one because LA has so many good hospitals.

Speaker 2 I just don't want to go there.

Speaker 2 Don't ask questions, just do it.

Speaker 2 Wow, that's wild.

Speaker 1 Oh, man, that is. Thank you, Evan, so much for sharing that story with us.

Speaker 7 When I saw the nursing prompt came up, I'm like, I have to submit this story.

Speaker 7 I mean, I have so many great ones, but that was a very interesting day, and I don't think that anyone that I worked with will ever forget that.

Speaker 1 Okay, I'm just going to ask you one simple question before we go because the previous nurse we just spoke with said that every single nurse has a foreign object in rectum story.

Speaker 1 You don't need to tell it, just do you have a foreign object in rectum story?

Speaker 7 I have many.

Speaker 1 Oh, well, yeah, you were in LA.

Speaker 7 They always fall onto it.

Speaker 1 Right, of course.

Speaker 1 Can you tell us the weirdest object or are you not a woman?

Speaker 7 I've seen an apple.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 7 I've seen candlesticks.

Speaker 1 Sure.

Speaker 2 Sure. That one kind of makes sense.

Speaker 7 Wooden candlesticks, though. They didn't choose the wax one,

Speaker 7 like a fake decorative candlestick, which then then splintered

Speaker 1 it punctured their colon so i could talk about you know those stories for days maybe we need our own prompt for next that just foreign what was it called foreign foreign objects and rect not objects foreign agent maybe no oh foreign body yeah he said foreign body

Speaker 1 she said foreign body and you said foreign body i just want to get the prompt right well i'll submit another yeah we look forward to hearing from you again okay well great meeting you have and thank you so much for your job you guys are doing great work keep it up thank you we will you too.

Speaker 1 All right. Be well.
Bye.

Speaker 1 I can't believe I missed him at Maru. That's sad.
Foreign body and I feel like we're just going to get weird submissions. Hopefully.

Speaker 1 Well, no, someone that has someone else's foreign body in their butt. Oh, like a body part.

Speaker 1 Well, we'll have to say medical.

Speaker 1 I'd like to open it up to everybody.

Speaker 1 Because maybe someone will be brave enough to tell foreign body and their own rectum story. Because I want to know how you lose control of it.
Because you must have a game plan.

Speaker 1 Obviously, you're only going to insert so much of it. And then you go too far.
And then I guess you lose grip. Then you try to get it out and it just goes up.

Speaker 2 Well, I think often there's another person involved.

Speaker 1 Oh, a bad actor? Hi. Can you hear us?

Speaker 10 Yes. Can you hear me?

Speaker 1 Oh, beautifully. Is this Tori?

Speaker 10 Yes, we're going to go with Tori. I will warn you guys, I am like the sickest I've ever been in my life.
I'm pregnant and I got norovirus and I'm like this close to calling it. I sound terrible.

Speaker 10 I look terrible. So my apologies.

Speaker 1 I just want you to know that I was just on a trip with eight people and all eight of us got it. So I'm with you.
I'm in the Noro camp.

Speaker 2 I can't imagine being pregnant and dealing with this.

Speaker 10 It is hellish.

Speaker 1 It gets scary when you're pregnant, right? It ups the ante a lot.

Speaker 10 I think so. I think I got it because I'm pregnant, like because I'm immunocompromised.
I'm more likely to get it because no one else in our travel group got it, of course.

Speaker 1 Oh, really?

Speaker 2 Interesting. Oh, I'm so sorry.
You look like Phoebe Wallerbridge. She's very attractive.

Speaker 1 She is. She's beautiful.
Thank you.

Speaker 10 From Phleabag.

Speaker 4 Can I get started?

Speaker 1 Yeah, let it rip.

Speaker 4 Okay, for patient confidentiality reasons, I won't give you specifics on where I'm from, where the story took place, but Central Canada, I'm on the prairies. I'll say that.

Speaker 1 I got to tell you, you are a second Canadian.

Speaker 4 We got some crazy nursing stories up here.

Speaker 4 I've been a nurse now for six and a half years. I came into this field.
I had no family that worked in healthcare. I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

Speaker 4 So that's just kind of a preface to say how ignorant and naive I was to what this job was really like. But yeah, this story takes place on the first job I had.

Speaker 4 And it's a job I had up until last year, actually. I took the job right out of graduation at an inpatient neurology and neurosurgery ward at our hospital.

Speaker 4 So dealt with a ton of strokes, seizures, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, brain cancer, spine cancer, anything like that. Really heavy, but got to see some pretty amazing stuff.

Speaker 4 Regarding kind of where I'm from, we do have a really bad epidemic of gang violence here.

Speaker 1 Oh, really?

Speaker 4 Yeah, a lot of the prairies. And my hospital is the level one trauma center for our province.
So we get to see it all. So you get to see some horrific, senseless acts of violence and assaults.

Speaker 4 Really sad, really awful, but medically, I got to say, you get to see some pretty cool stuff. Yeah.

Speaker 4 So I worked that job for six years. And to this day, the patient I'm going to tell you about is probably the most wild patient I've ever seen.

Speaker 4 So this man, a middle-aged guy, he was an ex-con who was beaten the head with a a hammer.

Speaker 4 When the swelling is really bad in the brain, the surgeons will take off a piece of their skull to let the brain swell and heal, because otherwise, it'll herniate.

Speaker 4 So, usually, when that happens, we see it all the time. Take off usually a front piece, a side piece.

Speaker 4 If the person's walking around or doing therapy, they must have this helmet on at all times, obviously, because if they are to fall and hit their head, there's nothing protecting their soft, squishy brain.

Speaker 4 So, this man in particular, just the location of his injury was the back of his head, kind of on like the nape of his neck, because it was at the very back part of his head.

Speaker 4 And because he was so wild and agitated, he had to wear this helmet for 24 hours a day, seven days a week in bed. Kind of picture like a hockey helmet.
That's hard foam. Trigger warning.

Speaker 4 We have to restrain heavily a ton of our patients. That might bother some people.
It's for their safety. It's for our safety.
It's temporary. They have tubes they can pull out.

Speaker 4 They have such varied levels of awareness of what's going on. They just rip everything out.
They can and do hurt themselves all the time.

Speaker 4 So this man was also heavily restrained, depending on the level of their injury and kind of where they are in their recovery. You can't rationalize with them.
You can't reason with them.

Speaker 4 They can't speak. When they can speak, their first and only words are always fuck you.

Speaker 4 That was the case of this man. So he was in what we would call seven-point restraints.
So he had a belt around his waist.

Speaker 4 He had this piece of fabric that kind of comes up like a diaper that attaches to the waist and it keeps him from sliding down in bed, getting strangled by it. Seen that before.

Speaker 4 He had both of his wrists restrained, both of his ankles restrained to the bed. And then he was so wild and head-butting that he had a chest strap on.

Speaker 4 And we have to have the bed elevated a little bit because when they're getting tube fed, if they're laying flat, it can put them at risk of choking.

Speaker 4 So he had the head of the bed up and we had the chest strap there.

Speaker 4 Also, this man had what we call posi mitts on.

Speaker 4 So picture giant puffy oven mitts that are like velcroed to their hands they can't grab or squeeze or scratch or anything so it's just like boxing that's the first part is the visualization of this is how this poor man lived for weeks oh wow wow he put three separate people on injury leave while being that level of restraint from kicking hunting wow it's really awful but i kind of liken it to picture just like a rabid rescue animal in a cage.

Speaker 4 They don't know what's going on. They're just fighting you.
So that was this man. To this day, one of the most wild ones I've looked after.
So the shift that this happened was on a night shift.

Speaker 4 I was new and my partner was new. So her and I had both been on this job for like maybe a few months and it's in an observation room.
So there's four patients, there's two nurses.

Speaker 4 It's close observation. So it's intended for really sick patients or really kind of wild, thrashy patients that you need to have eyes on at all times.

Speaker 4 Our nursing station is 15, 20 feet away from all of their beds. We can see what's going on at all times.
My partner was on break. It's like one o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 4 The lights are all off because it's nighttime. We want them all to sleep.
And I go into this guy's room.

Speaker 4 He's heavily restrained and I see a puddle of liquid on the floor, which is not that unusual in this job. So I turn the light on and I see that it's urine.

Speaker 4 And that's a bit unusual because he has a catheter in.

Speaker 1 Yeah, right.

Speaker 4 And I can see he's like covered up in a blanket still. I could see the catheter tubings coming out as it should be.
It's secured to the bottom of the bed, the bag, as it should be.

Speaker 4 So I'm like, where is this urine coming from? And I guess I'll stop here. Do you guys know how catheters get put in and are secured?

Speaker 2 No, you should tell us.

Speaker 1 Yeah, doesn't it go all the way up into your bladder and there's kind of a balloon on the end?

Speaker 4 Yes. I figured you would know, Dax.

Speaker 1 Have you had a catheter? Thank God, no. Shockingly, you have?

Speaker 2 Yeah, for egg freezing.

Speaker 4 It's a small rubber tube, goes into the urethra. Once you get urine back, you know you're in the bladder, so you can safely inflate the balloon.

Speaker 4 So on the tubing, there's a side port and you inflate with 10 mils of saline, and it inflates the balloon to like two-thirds the size of a golf ball. And it's just to keep it in place.

Speaker 4 So, then if someone accidentally or purposely, like gently tugs on it, it's not going to come out. However, do people rip them out with their balloon fully intact all the time at this job?

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 that is awful. First thought imaginable.

Speaker 4 I know, especially for men. It's atrocious and it's a bloodbath when it happens.

Speaker 4 That is immediately my next thought is like, well, this guy's wild. He probably somehow got his oven mitt hands on it and ripped it out.

Speaker 4 So I pull back the blanket. The catheter is out.
It's just like sitting on his bed between his legs, but the balloon is deflated, which is good. I'm just kind of processing this as I'm seeing it.

Speaker 4 I'm like, well, I guess he didn't rip it out. But I noticed that the side port is gone.

Speaker 4 So what I realized, because he had the chest strap on, but his head of the bed was elevated, he had gotten a catheter in his mouth.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 4 And he had chewed off the side port. Because of that, the balloon deflated on its own.

Speaker 1 So that's good.

Speaker 4 He didn't rip it right out of his penis.

Speaker 4 But then he grabbed the catheter in his mouth with his teeth and ripped it out of his penis.

Speaker 1 Jesus!

Speaker 1 Why? Why? Why? Because he doesn't know what the fuck's going on.

Speaker 4 That was a few months on the job. Oh, boy.
That was my introduction to nursing and neuronursing.

Speaker 1 Oh, do you ever get to see the people when they return to sanity?

Speaker 4 Yes, that's what I loved about working there is some of them were there for months and we are acute.

Speaker 4 So we're supposed to medically stabilize them and then the ones that need further neurological rehab would go to another facility in our city.

Speaker 4 But our doctors were really good at like, hey, so-and-so is doing so good. You should hear.
But this guy recovered really well.

Speaker 4 By the time we sent him to rehab, he was walking, he was talking, he was eating, he was like wheeling himself around the unit in his wheelchair. He was very brain injured.

Speaker 4 He was very childlike almost. I remember he would throw some temper tantrums.
I think he probably would have needed some kind of care his whole life.

Speaker 1 But he wasn't aggressive. No.
Oh, he was just like kind of a big child.

Speaker 4 But yeah, you do get to see them recover even in their time on our unit, which is so fulfilling.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Wow. Wow.
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 Wow. Wow.
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 Was there any point having not had any family members in it and maybe not having the correct expectations for the job? Were there moments at the beginning where you're like, oh, fuck this.

Speaker 1 I didn't choose right? Or did you immediately know it was for you?

Speaker 4 I really loved it. I loved the chaos.
So I moved to intensive care this year. And it's a lot of the same patients where they started before I ever saw them.
on my unit. This is where they began.

Speaker 4 But it's definitely a lot. It definitely tests your patience.
When I started at ICU, I was like, I don't think I'm really burnt out. I think I just want to change.

Speaker 4 And then a few months in, I was like, oh, I was really burnt out. And I didn't even realize it.
I was so impatient. And it's hard.
You know, they're brain injured. You know, it's not their fault.

Speaker 4 You know, they have no control, but they're still saying and doing terrible things all the time. So it's really hard to separate.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you have a finite capacity and then you have a real life outside of it. And maybe you're sleep deprived.
And maybe you're having a marital issue and you add all these things together.

Speaker 1 It's impossible. I will say it's prepared you nicely to have a child though.
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 4 My brother and my family, they're not in nursing and I always tell them my crazy stories because they don't live here either. So they wouldn't know any of the people.

Speaker 4 And they're like, how do you do that? And I'm like, honestly, it puts your own life in perspective because you're like, man, things could always be worse.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 That's true.

Speaker 4 Whenever people ask me what working on Nero is like, I'm like, well, I had a man with half a skull and seven point restraints choose catheter out of his pain.

Speaker 2 That is crazy. Thanks for sharing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Tori, I'm so sorry you're feeling so ill, but congratulations on your impending baby time. And it was great meeting you.
And thank you for telling us that story.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I hope you feel better fast.

Speaker 4 Thank you. I would like to do a quick shout out to my sisters.
My sisters also have unique names, so I'm not going to single them out by names.

Speaker 1 My cousin Kara, I will call out.

Speaker 4 She is the world's biggest Armchair Anonymous fan. She listens like every morning at 7 a.m.
And I was so close to calling it today.

Speaker 4 I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I was like, I can't, but I was like, she'll kill me.

Speaker 2 You did great as a nurse would.

Speaker 1 better take a nice nap now and thanks so much for rallying thank you all right take care

Speaker 1 oh nurses wow chew your angels

Speaker 4 yeah that's wild

Speaker 1 yeah i got a little claustrophobic at the thought of a seven-point harness

Speaker 1 yeah that's a lot but i get it that happened with my dad when he had this very massive head-on collision when i was in eighth grade and i had to go to the hospital and they said basically go in and say goodbye he's unconscious i went in there, and his head was like the size of a basketball.

Speaker 1 And he woke up while I was in there. And the first thing he did is pull the breathing tube out.

Speaker 1 And I was begging him, No, daddy, you need that. You need that.
Oh my God, it was so stressful.

Speaker 2 That's scary.

Speaker 1 God bless the nurses. Yeah, they're incredible.
Round of applause. We love them.
We love them. I love you.
Love you. That delivered.

Speaker 1 Do you want to sing a tune or something? We have a theme song. Oh.

Speaker 1 Okay, great.

Speaker 1 We don't have a

Speaker 1 song for this new show, so here I go, go, go.

Speaker 1 We're going to ask some random questions. And with the help of our cherries, we'll get some suggestions

Speaker 1 on the flyer rhyme dish.

Speaker 1 On the flyer rhyme dish, enjoy.

Speaker 1 Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad-free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

Speaker 1 Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondry.com slash survey.

Speaker 9 Mom and dad, mom and mom, dad and dad, whatever, parents, are you about to spend five hours in the car with your beloved kids this holiday season? Driving to old granny's house? I'm setting the scene.

Speaker 9 I'm picturing screaming, fighting, back-to-back hours of the K-pop Demon Hunter soundtrack on repeat.

Speaker 9 Well, when your ears start to bleed, I have the perfect thing to keep you from rolling out of that moving vehicle. Something for the whole family.
He's filled with laughs. He's filled with rage.

Speaker 9 The OG Green Gronk, give it up for me, James Austin Johnson, as the Grinch.

Speaker 9 And like any insufferable influencer these days, I'm bringing my crew of lesser talented friends along for the ride with A-list guests like Gronk, Mark Hamill, and the Jonas Brothers, whoever they are.

Speaker 9 There's a little bit of something for everyone. Listen to Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.