Quick Question with Soren and Daniel - Doppel-Daniel's Spine Doula

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

The guys catch up after a recording delay and immediately spiral into the baseball ennui of Rocktober's past, left-handed conspiracies, and the slow erosion of their mortal vessals. Plus Daniel's got an update on a back thing and a doctor that gives no shits, Soren recalls a spa day in an MRI truck, and together they invent several entirely reasonable new roles to improve a broken healthcare system.Follow the guys on Bluesky:https://bsky.app/profile/sorenbowie.bsky.social/https://bsky.app/profile/danielobrien.bsky.socialThanks to ASPCA Pet Insurance for sponsoring this episode. To explore coverage, visit ASPCApetinsurance.com/QUESTION.  The ASPCA is not an insurer and is not engaged in the business of insurance.

Save the music for the cat words. I want I want to feel the week and talk tonight So what's your favorite? Who did you get? Who will I be? Remember? Words without words Word and all the Guide we know Oh forget it Saw a movie

Daniel O'Brien Two best friends and comedy writers If there's an answer they're gonna find it I think you'll have a great time here. I think you'll have a great time here. So Ren, what's up man? Oh hey man, how's it going? We're right in it.

We're right in the podcast. We jumped right into this stuff. How are people going to know you got a book? I know. We'll be coming out of the theme music and just dropped in the middle of a conversation. And it's this conversation. I know. What a trashy conversation. Thanks to ASPCA Pet Insurance for supporting Quick Question. To explore coverage, visit ASPCAPetInsurance.com slash question. This is a paid advertisement. Insurance is underwritten by either Independence American Insurance Company or United States

Fire Insurance Company and produced by PTZ Insurance Agency Limited. The ASPCA is not an insurer and is not engaged in the business of insurance. You did, I did enjoy the way you'd ordinarily set the podcast with us, so. Yeah, a trick to you. Then right into it. Yeah, a classic misdirect. Daniel, how are you?

How are you doing? Haven't we talked in a long time? It seems like it, right? Have we not? Did we skip? Yeah, we skipped. An episode? No, well, we're still gonna hit it, but we have a usual record date.

This is a little peek at how the sausage is made behind the curtain. By the way, we make all the sausage behind a single curtain. It's not very sanitary. No. We had a usual day that we record. We missed that day by like four days.

And turns out nothing died. The world didn't end. So we could just keep pushing it, see what happens. We will eventually arrive at our final form, which will be doing the podcast live, because we can't, we won't miss our release schedule, but we will keep pushing the record over and over again, until eventually just like, we just have to go,

we just have to go live on YouTube with a phone call and hope that people enjoy that. Oh I'm really tempted that would be yeah to have a call-in show is uh oh yeah it's clear to me now why call-in shows exist is because you just run out of shit after all yeah that's how you can do Loveline for 10,000 years assuming Loveline is still on. I don't know, I don't think so. I think Dr. Drew turned into kind of a weirdo. Yeah, he, Dr. Drew, sang the national anthem at a Dodgers game that I went to.

And I think that was my first clue that was like, you know, I don't think this guy is just like, I'm gonna be an expert medical professional giving people useful tips. I think this guy wants to be very famous and I don't think we're giving that part of his whole arc enough attention or credit. I get ads pop up sometimes for him

and he's like, hey, you wanna lose weight? And he's up sometimes for him and he's like, he's like, hey, you want to lose weight? And he's looking pretty jacked and he's like, throw away these and they'll throw away, I don't know, celery or a bag of chips. And I'm like, what are we talking about here? What are we doing? He's always been partnered with like Adam Carolla or Mike Catherwood for a while.

And that goes a pretty long way to making you think like, oh, this is just like a normal doctor whose circumstances have thrust into the spotlight. So I guess he's gonna give his measured advice. He's like, no, I think there's probably failed actor in your background. And this has been your way to get invited to the cool parties.

It's interesting you talking about the Dodgers, Dan, because I'm going to a Dodgers game tonight. I'm going to the Dodgers versus the Rockies. Now, this time of year, I don't really keep track of like, what the fuck is happening in baseball, because there are still, as I understand it, there are 780 games left to be played. Yes, that's correct.

And so I don't follow it very closely. I'll wait until October and then I'll be like, all right, well, who are we dealing with? Who we got? Who's in it? They're playing the Rockies tonight. But the Rockies are so bad that they have broken through my ignorance.

Like I am forced to deal with and contend with the Rockies because they have been such a bad team that they're showing up in my feeds for consistently breaking records and things like that. Oh, that's fun. They are. Were they ever like a very good team? Yes. Okay. Yeah. They went to the World Series once. Wow. They lost. They lost there. But they had a season where they were unbelievable. It was like, it wasn't like a full season thing either. It was like towards the end of the season,

they just came on and they were really good. And everyone was like, yeah, Rockies, Rocktober. And then they, they shit the bed in the World Series. But this season, like what I've just heard is that they, first of all, I saw a game where they got beat by I think 16 runs. I was like, oh, that's probably not good. And then other people saying the Rockies are statistically eliminated from the playoffs.

For anyone who doesn't follow the season. That can't be. Baseball. The inaugural games just happened like two weeks ago. But they just had a series with the Padres where not only did they get swept by the Padres, a series means that they play multiple games for anybody listening who doesn't know this stuff. They got played multiple games, the Padres got swept. Not only did they get swept, they got shut out. The Rockies didn't score a single run in every single game with the Padres. And I think that that is a franchise record.

So they're going to play the Dodgers who are a good team. And we're gonna, I'm gonna watch them tonight. I'm gonna watch the Rockies get absolutely annihilated. I'm gonna get to the bottom of what's going on. I'm gonna figure out if this is just like Ronan's team playing against the Dodgers or what the fuck happened. Are you going with Ronan? Is it a family thing or is it a buddy's thing or a work thing?

This one is a buddy's thing. I got tickets to two different games. I went to an exhibition game against the Angels at the beginning of the season and that was very, very fun. That was the first game that Gillie had ever gone to because Gillie's playing baseball this season. So Ronan and Gillie and my wife, we all went to the game. We sat behind home plate. In fact, you can see us in the broadcast feed. Wow. Because we're that close behind home plate that when every time that like the pitcher pitches, you can look and you'd be like, ah, there they are.

Oh, Gilly must've gone and gotten some cotton candy right there, cause she's not there for that one by herself. Or, you know, like we're, but we're back there. Now this other one, I don't really know where we're sitting, but this one I'm taking buddies to because it's seven o'clock, you know, like seven o'clock at night. Yeah. And the kids just can't hang.

They can't hang that late. Sure. And baseball is boring. It's deeply boring. It's a lot of for them. Yeah. I'm coaching Gilly's team and it's, it's unraveling pretty quick. Gilly's got a tee ball team.

At the beginning of the season, the kids listened to me. They would do what I said and I would be like, hey, here's what we're doing. Here's the other things. And now they've realized that baseball is a bunch of just waiting around and they're like, fuck this. Yes, absolutely. Kids, I implore you, do what I did,

really strike gold and get moved to the right field every season of your life and use that time for quiet reflection. Check in with your self. The luxury seats out there. That's a lot of time. Nothing's coming your way. Just really find out who you are

and find out what you want in this life. Realize pretty quickly it's not baseball, but enjoy the space for thoughtful contemplation that right field affords you. If I could, it'd be so much cheaper than therapy or meditation if I could just therapy or meditation, if I could just join a baseball league and have like four hours of uninterrupted time to just stand outside and think, man, oh, that would be great to get that back. Oh, that is the dream.

There are a shocking number, both on Ronan's team and on Gilly's team, of kids that are lefties. More than when I was a kid. I'm wondering if maybe this is like an autism type of thing where it's not actually any different than it ever was, but we've just trained it. We're training it out people. Yeah, like we used to like really make people not do it

when we were younger. If they're like, you're lefty? No, that's the devil's hand. We're not using that one. All the kids that got suspended for acting out when they were really just left-handed because we didn't have the vocabulary yet. Ma'am your son is cutting paper like a fucking asshole and we can't stand it. So we can't. It's gross. We don't like it. I mean he's not doing it

wrong but we don't it's it's disgusting to look at, it's not fun. He seems to be struggling with it, he's frustrated. So anyway, that's why we banished him to the library for a while. We told him he's not allowed to talk to anyone. So pick him up. We found a little hack. Yeah, we found a little hack for it. He was writing with his left hand, smearing the ink everywhere,

but we've got this fun little hack we do where we hit him with a ruler and that went pretty good. We thought if we made him feel like a freak in front of his classmates, that eventually he would get over this, but he's not. He's not doing it. No more school for him. You're gonna have to keep him in a room.

Yeah, I don't know. It's very strange. My dad was always a left-handed writer and everything else he did in the world was right-handed, which feels like a, that's like a attention grab thing. It's gotta be. There's no way you learn it and then you're like, this will be my thing.

This is a shorthanded personality. I think that's attention grab or that's like, accidentally grabbed pencil with the wrong hand and then just has been too embarrassed to admit it ever since then. I was like, nope, this is how I've always done it. To do it. Yeah, I mean, I do remember some left-handed kids

when I was in school and they would do this thing where it made me think, you're not actually left-handed, where they'd like try and like write, their wrist would get super bent over and they'd start writing backwards. So basically their index finger and their middle finger were like facing their body again. Like they're going over the top of the words to write it.

I'm like, no, I can fix it. Listen, you're right-handed. I can help you. We could have knocked this out in two weeks. Yeah. Listeners, you know me. I've got a dog. His name is Jackson.

He is 13 years old and he is the, one of the top two most important people in my life and certainly in my home. He is great. We've been through a lot together and I am always thinking about keeping him alive and healthy and happy as much as possible all the time. Today's episode is sponsored by the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance

program. When you have a pet like I do, you love taking care of them because in their own way, they take care of you. Jackson has been looking out for me for 13 years and counting. But even if you're the best pet parent in the world, unpredictable things can happen. Fortunately, you can always give your care a boost with ASPCA Pet Health Insurance. The ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program

offers customizable accident and illness plans, making it easier for pet parents like you to help your pet get the care they may need. The ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program has been around for over 18 years, and they've helped more than 600,000 pets during that time. Wow! They allow you to customize your plan, helping ensure that your pet's plan is as unique

as they are. Because vet bills can really add up, don't I know it, especially when you're least expecting it. It's simple. Use their app to submit a claim and you'll receive reimbursement for eligible vet bills directly into your bank account. To explore coverage, visit aspcapetinsurance.com slash question. That's aspcapetinsurance.com slash question. Again, that's aspcapetinsurance.com slash question. This is a paid advertisement. Insurance is underwritten by either Independence American

Insurance Company or United States Fire Insurance Company and produced by PTZ Insurance Agency Limited. The ASPCA is not an insurer and is not engaged in the business of insurance. Sort of funny that you mentioned that we could see you on the broadcast because a memory came flooding back of what could probably be a halfway decent starting point for like a Goosebumps book or something. Because we were watching a professional baseball game at home when I was a kid. And I was not watching it, because I didn't care for baseball, especially on TV.

But my parents and brother were like, come downstairs, watch this game, you have to see this. You are in the audience of this game. And there was a kid were like, come downstairs, watch this game. You have to see this. You are in the audience of this game. And there was a kid who like, swear to God, looked exactly like me. And like, they're not zooming in on the kid. So, you know, obviously it wasn't me because I was there watching it.

But I, it gave me real sincere pause as a 10 year old or whatever age I was to come down there and be like, it can't be me There's no way this is me. I'm here. I haven't gone to a baseball game and then I see it on TV and I'm like Well, sure shit looks like me. That definitely looks like I'm there at that game So let me now now let me really think because yeah I either either have a twin or I was at that game and this is pre-tape because like the kid was like I either have a twin or I was at that game. And this is pre-tape because like the kid was like

wearing a shirt that I had, just like some striped little boy shirt. And he had my very specific messy mop of hair. And again, it was far away. So you couldn't see his face, let alone his heart. But he didn't seem into it the way that I, like he was engaging with this game the way I would. Were I there? And it was my whole family was being like, I mean, it's not you, but,

it sure looks like you. But like who else could it be? Are we sure that it wasn't 31 year old Bob Hoskins? That is a reference to something that I don't know. No, I just mean that- Oh, because you think I look like, because, oh, that's right. And if he's famous- If he was 31, you would also maybe still look like Bob Hoskins.

Because we famously had crack commenters that were like, you know who you look like? And I'm just like, please, please. Be gentle, be gentle. Bob Hoskins. Oh! Oh, that's a rough one. Wrong!

That's a, that hurts a rough one. Wrong. That hurts a little. Wrong and you know it was wrong. Don't even tell Bob Hoskins he looks like Bob Hoskins. I'm just trying to hurt you. That's, yeah, that's horrifying. That's horrifying, especially, it would, the fact that it's a live event too, makes it even worse. I really like that as the start to something.

Yeah. But it wasn't you. No, no. We're to this day pretty sure it wasn't me. Almost, I would say 98% positive. I mean, there's so many people on earth. There's gonna be somebody out there. And this does happen, you know,

like you see somebody who finds their, their support like not like their actual twin, but they find somebody who looks just almost identical to them. And you're like, yeah, I mean, surely at a certain point, the genes run out of faces. Right. There's always so much you can do. Yeah. They're, they're very obviously inspired work so far.

I'm very impressed with what they've do. Very good inventions thus far. But yeah, eventually you gotta start like digging back into the pile and say, what worked before? What worked? This one was good. God's up in heaven deciding what people are gonna look like. And he's really out of ideas.

And it's 1986 when I'm born and he sees there's a chance there's another kid being born around that same time. He's like, what are the odds these two are going to run into each other? It's the past, they live in different states. There's no way these two are going to be like, hey, that's the same face. That one's going to notice if I just reuse the same little blueprint on these kids,

and then fast forward 10 years and like, oh fuck, he's watching that. Oh, it's a live Facebook. Oh no. I should have seen this coming. I, of all people, should have seen this coming. Why did I think New York and New Jersey were the farthest places two people could be? There are way more places. Yeah, he's just hitting, he's like throwing the faces down from the clouds and two get stuck together like playing cards and he's like, oh, I threw two down there with the same. I'm sure it won't come up. I'm sure it won't come up. Well, I wonder about my twin and I wonder what he looks like now and

how his body's doing soaring. Cause mine, I can tell you is not doing great. Oh man, is this gonna be another, we got another injury podcast, do do do do do do do do do do do do, injury podcast update. We're gonna have to cut that out because it's the same injury, it's not a different injury. So I don't know if we can use that. Yeah, probably not fair to use it.

That sound escape. Why don't you, just give me a refresher on like where we stood last time and where we're going. I hurt my back. I want to say we're saying like nine months ago. Yeah. We're saying over the summer I hurt my back. Oh yeah.

It's that's certainly where like I felt a pinch but there's also a part of it that is like there's a chance we've always been in pain. And I can't say that to the doctor. So we triangulated it on last May and traced it to a very specific sports related injury when I was working out at a new gym. And I let nine months go by as you do. And then I met with a doctor, did an x-ray, and the x-ray was fine. But he still said you should get an MRI and you should start physical therapy.

So I've been doing the physical therapy, and I did the MRI. And have you gotten an MRI before? Oh, yeah. Recently, yeah. I've gotten a couple. Yeah. This was my first time. And this is not the kind of thing

not to make anyone else feel less than this is not the kind of thing that makes me nervous. An MRI is I've seen people freak out in and around them. But for me, this is like, so you're saying I sit still in a little tube with headphones on and just relax and I'm not allowed to move. That's fucking cake. That's right field all over again. That's that's yeah, I'm gonna do so much thinking out here. And the guy

gets me on the the thing. And he gives me a little like ball attached to a cord. And he says this is emergencies only you hold on to this. I'm going gonna put it in your right hand. You hold onto it. If you freak out in there, if you start to feel any pain or like you really need to get out, you squeeze this and that's going to send a signal

to me in the other room. And then I will stop and I will get you out. We want you to do this instead of like, cause you can't scream and you can't start like wobbling. This is your way of signaling me. And I was like, that's great, no problem. I lay on my back, I'm holding the thing in my hand. As soon as it rolls back, the cord gets stuck in the machine

and I literally dropped the ball because it can't like come with me. And even that I was still like, this is still, this is how I wanted this to go. I don't give me fucking training wheels. Don't give me a way to let you know I need help. This is, I was never gonna need help, sir. I am fine in here. So I enjoy my little meditation.

How long were you in there for, do you know? Minutes, I wouldn't say approaching 10 minutes, somewhere between five and 10 probably. Oh, that sucks. Okay. All right. And then they give you the results of your MRI on a CD-ROM. And it's like a piece of physical media. You can play that right in your trash can.

I know. And I had to give that to the doctor and then like go over it with the doctor. And that's where we learned it's a Bowles disc and a herniated disc on my right side, which I'll walk you through the entire experience, which sucks because he's, I don't, I think I mentioned before

that I didn't like this doctor. I continue to not like this doctor. And he shows the stuff on a screen, and it's an MRI of me. And it all just looks like weird blobs to me. As he must know, it looks like weird blobs. Because the deck is stacked so heavily in his favor because he is the one who gets to teach me what things are supposed to look like. So then he can tell me this is wrong.

This is wrong. And that seems unfair to me because he's like, this blob, you see this blob over here? I'm like, yes, this is a good blob. You see this blob over here that's different? That's a bad blob. I was like, sure. If what you're saying is true about the first blob, then yes, it follows that this blob is worse.

But sir, I don't know these blobs. I've never seen them before. I've never seen healthy blobs. I only have your word to go on here. And this inscrutable CD-ROM But he points out my blobs and this blob is bad and that blobs good and he's saying a bunch of things that I'm trying to write down in my phone and I'm I I'm sure that's putting him off a little bit because he's probably thinking like I'm gonna go to

WebMD or whatever, but I'm really just like trying to write things down so I could talk to my occupational therapist brother so I could tell my parents exactly what it is that he is saying. It's a bunch of words that I've never heard before that I'm trying to like phonetically represent in a notes app very quickly because he's just like, this is wrong, this is bad, this is fucked up. You can continue with stretching and physical therapy as you've been doing you option two is you can get injections. Option three is surgery. And then

he looks at me like, so what's it? What's it gonna be? I was like, Oh, can you? Would you mind like emailing me all the words you said, and all the things? He's like, yeah, yeah, they'll give you a piece of paper at the front desk. You know, stretching might work, but if you've been living with this for nine months, and I'm like, totally, that means I can live with it forever. He's like, no, that means you should do something. But it going to get worse? But it's been proven that it won't kill me.

So history says that makes me stronger. And he was, I wish I had a different doctor or more doctors or more time with him because all he, the only thing is he explained about the other options were like the baseline medical risk of it. It was like an injection. You know, there's some risk because it's a needle going in. And so there might be some like bleeding at the spot. And then the surgery, there's even more risk

because there are risks when you do surgery. I was like, no, but I don't mean like, am I gonna get infected from an untreated needle wound? I wanna know like, what are you putting in me? What's it for? What are any of these things? But he doesn't, I don't even think to ask those questions because he so clearly wants me, he wants this to be done.

And he wants me to call him when I want surgery because he loves surgery. And- He's gotta clean that. Like you've eaten your meal me to call him when I want surgery because he loves surgery. And... He's gotta clean that. Like you've eaten your meal and that waiter needs to turn that table over, man. Yeah, yeah. He's got a lot of blobs that he needs to educate people on.

And one of the things that he explained to me as he's showing me the blobs, he was like, now think of this part of your back like a jelly donut. The jelly has been squeezed out of the donut. I was like, okay, that's a helpful visual metaphor. And I get in my car and I'm texting my OT brother about this saying like the L4, L5 spine and this happened and I've got all these options.

And he says, yes. Basically the jelly is out of the donut. I'm like, oh, they fucking teach this at med school. That guy didn't come up with a clever, helpful visual metaphor. Yeah, there's a whole day where they're like, all right, you're gonna get some fucking idiots. Don't understand anything about the human body.

You have to talk to them as though it's food. I know, this is gonna seem crazy,, but like you know how a spine works, but these morons got to tell them this part's the Oreo and this part's the jelly donut. And could you imagine how bad it would be for an Oreo to not have cream? They'll understand that. That'll teach them the severity of it. Because otherwise they couldn't handle it. It's the same with like OB-GYNs where they're like, your baby right now in gestation is about two pounds. And people just give them these blank stares

and they're like, oh, it's the size of a pineapple. Oh, I know pineapples. It's always fruit. They're always like, all right, what have you held before? Oh, you fucking pour shit in your ma every single day? All right. What are those things? What are the things you eat? I think for the purposes of my back, I would like him to spend a little more time teaching me how the body works and not in food metaphors. Because if there's jelly out of a donut,

mop it up and throw out the donut. This is a part of my body. And I'm like, but in this, I'm gonna ask you a thing that I would never ask someone who squeezed too hard on a donut. I'm gonna ask, can we get the jelly back in? Do we want to get the jelly back into the donut, please? Yeah, I guess I assume that's what the injection would be and like a surgery, but it's, I mean,

I could see myself in that situation if he was like, Hey, the jellies, we, this jelly is all that squeeze out of the donut. I would be like, good, that's wonderful. I don't like jelly and donuts. I like the donut part. So, so I'm in better, I'm better off, right? So it's basically like an old fashioned donut.

Oh, that's great. Traditional, that's good. Yeah. Cause I was worried when you said jelly originally, I got very apprehensive because I do, I find it very cloying. I, that's good. Yeah. Because I was worried when you said jelly originally, I got very apprehensive because I find them very cloying. I don't like them. Yeah.

Especially if it's like Dunkin' Donuts. You know that's not real jelly. You know it's just like loaded with sugar and preservatives, a bunch of shit that we're not supposed to have. Forget the donut. Forget the donut. Okay. So I'm assuming that like they basically can like they can inject you.

I've seen spinal injections before because don't mean to brag. I've seen a lot of those just because my wife has been pregnant. And if you get an epidural, they do that. And it's, it's scarier than I thought it would be. It's a big long needle. And they're like, you cannot move or you will be paralyzed the rest of your life. Don't move while we do this. And it's going to hurt and it's going to feel strange and you might want to flinch. Don't flinch. So they inject that in your spine. I assume that just like they could just like fill it. It's just like injecting a donut with jelly, I assume. And then the surgery would be putting something like more substantial in there in between the two pieces of the spine so they don't rub against each other? Is that right? I'm...

You don't know. I had a bunch of questions out to the doctor that I spent time working on and hopefully he'll get back to me. But you know, it's been a couple of days and so far no. And in the meantime, are you running? Yes. And I'm still doing, I am and have been doing physical therapy. And I like my PT a whole lot. And she went over the results with me as well

and is going to try some stretching things. She has warned that there is a chance. We've cut my running down from five days a week to three days a week. And she warns that if we're not seeing progress, then we can talk about reducing that even more, which I don't want to do, especially when I've got the worst precedent imaginable, which is the fact that I've had this for nine months. God, idiot.

months. I've got the fact that like, a PT and a doctor will say like, well, you can reduce your running. Like, well, no offense, but I ran a half marathon on this. I think I can run I think it's okay. Yeah. And they'll say no offense. You're in constant pain. So how okay is it? That's sort of the impasse I think that we're at. I love the RTPT. Yeah. That's great. Connoisseurs of the show will know that

I love the idea of physical therapy, even if you're not injured. Just like hopping in there and being like, what am I doing wrong? It's great. It's great to, I shouldn't have needed to be told that I haven't been stretching for 39 years,

but it's good information to have now. Good explanation. Better reckoning. Yeah. Why I am so tight and inflexible all the time, despite the nothing that I've tried to address it. We'll see where it all goes. It's, I, again, like we said before about wanting doctors,

I want to track down this baseball clone of mine because I want impossible things. I want another 39-year-old who had this same injury around this same age and is at my level of running and physical activity that I can talk to them about what worked for them because the internet is useless. And there are some people I know who've like, oh, they've got a herniated disc when they were in their 50s or whatever.

And I would like to know like, it's someone who was in my exact same position if they did the injections and if that worked for them and what I can expect from all of this. Like, but- Yeah, what you're describing, at every single turn here, I'm like, yes, doctors should do that.

Doctors should have that. Like, first of all, with the MRIs, like when the doctor shows you an MRI, they should also be like, and here's one of a healthy person. Yeah. Here's one that we took of somebody who's a hypochondriac who came in and we said, you don't need anything, but they wanted an MRI, they should also be like, and here's one of a healthy person. Here's one that we took of somebody who's a hypochondriac who came in and we said, you don't need anything, but they wanted an MRI anyway, and we gave them one.

So here we go, here's that one up next to yours, look at theirs, see how that's different? And you can be like, ah, yes, yes, I do see now. That would be a great thing for them to do. If I was just, you don't tell me who it is, but you're allowed to show me somebody else's MRI, and be like, that's what it's supposed to look like. Or do their cells, put themselves through an MRI machine.

And then also the only way you're going to find people who are in the exact same boat as you is doctors breaking their Hippocratic oath. It's doctors being like, I've seen this before. Here's a list of people who are in the same boat as you. Contact them. Yeah. You're not allowed to do that. boat as you contact them. Yeah. Because I mean, but imagine I'm for something he's even and prevent much worse.

Those groups of people have to find each other. And like, there's a lot of work that goes into finding somebody else who has the same debilitating or degenerate diseases you and being like, okay, who else has this? Who else is dealing with this? If doctors could just be like, Or we could put it more on the patients.

I mean, when I had wrist surgery a couple of years ago after I broke my wrist, that was another case where the doctor was like, you could do XYZ. Surgery was an option. Wearing a cast for a long time was an option. And PT after the cast, and I think some other option. And I had early on suggested that I didn't want to do surgery. And when the doctor found out about that, called me and was like, I think you really

want to do surgery. And he like walked me through it and it was great. And I'm glad I did that surgery and have a metal plate in my wrist now forever. I would have... I wish there would have been an option when I had finished the whole thing to be like, uh, and, Doc, if you want, you can put me down as someone who picked surgery.

If your future patients are unsure and they want, like, an idiot to talk to them, they can 100% call me and I will tell them. -♪ -♪ Better than, like, reviewing a doctor online to just, like, get a phone call and be like, and I will tell them. Better than like reviewing a doctor online to just like get a phone call and be like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, let me tell you, quick surgery, little bit of PT.

It's great, highly recommend it. That's what it, yeah, you should be like, all right. And I want to put my, I want to check the little box that says if you have other patients in the same circumstance, they can contact me or like they can hear my story because a lot of it also is the hospital's doing what they can with thousands and thousands of people coming in every single day. Like they are barely like holding it together and it's up to you to kind of like figure out what works for your particular body as well.

So like something like tendonitis, I've had tendonitis in my elbow before I had to go to a doctor first to then go to PT. Like they had to recommend a PT to me before I was even allowed to go to PT so I could get it covered. But I know how to fix tendonitis now. Like I know in my own arms, like what worked at PT, what didn't work and what worked on my own. And so if somebody was like suddenly started to get tennis elbow, I could be like, oh dude,

I got you here. Here's what works here. Try this out for a while. And if it doesn't work, this is the other thing they recommended to me. It fucking sucked for me. I didn't like this one, but hey, I know it still. Yeah. I like that idea a lot.

I wonder if I would know if I had tendonitis. You would. I would. Cool. Yeah. to tendinitis. You would. I would, okay. Yeah, you know. Cool. That's certainly the other thing that has changed since Schrodinger's diagnosis has now been confirmed. Good one.

Good way to describe it. I have, having a name to it has changed my behavior completely. I'm so much more aware of it and much more tender with myself and with everything because it's got a name, a scary name. And it wasn't just what it's been the last nine months of just like this weird constant pain. Now it's like, oh, it's a thing. I thought before maybe there was a chance I was just being a baby, but now it's got a name, I should really look after it. Do you know if it's, I mean,

I understand what a hernia is generally, I think. It's where like some guts slip through the muscle basically, but with a disc, a herniated disc, what's getting in there? Do you know? I don't know. What's peeking out? I don't, maybe if I can get this doctor back on the blower,

I can ask these questions. It's confusing enough that like he, like herniated disc before I got the diagnosis was what I suspected and what I was worried about. And he was showing me the blobs. And then when I gave my results to the PT, she said, I don't think it's the disc that's causing you this pain. I think something that she described was very narrow. And it's so narrow that it's pinching on nerves. And I think that's what's giving you the pain.

And all of this is just like, medical professionals don't fight. The two of you please figure out which of my things is causing the pain and how we fix it. But all of that is my way of saying, I don't know exactly what's going on back there, even though I've seen all these blobs on a CD-ROM. Yeah, I figured it out.

I see what it is now. People are probably screaming on there. Just look online, Zoran, just look online. But yeah, you do get these rubbery discs that sit in between your spine bones so they don't grind against each other. And some of that rubber just slips out and it's like pushes on a nerve, it pinches a nerve.

And then it's super painful, I guess. It is. And I will say to the people yelling at their phones or their screens to look online, Soren, and they're probably saying, I should look online if I'm trying to find other 39 year olds. I don't, I can't be alone in this very old man thing to say. The internet has gotten so much worse. And I don't even

just mean about like social media, what that has done. I mean that like the tech companies have deprioritized making the user experience good or functional in favor of- Giving you what you're asking for, yeah. Making more money and cutting more corners and whatever it is that tech companies value these days. It's just, it's like a full blown worse experience. It's harder to find the things

that you're trying to find on Google. Like search has just gotten measurably worse in our lifetime. And I don't, the reason that I'm asking a doctor question is that I want to talk to a physical person who's been through this is because the internet's so unreliable and difficult to navigate. Yeah.

Yeah. And also, I mean, even if you get onto these forums and stuff where you're not gonna encounter the same, the people that are, the people are gonna be like, yes, I also had this slipped L4, L5 disc. And you'd be like, okay, great. How are you solving it? And they're like, well, I'm gonna, I don't walk.

I can't, I don't walk. And so I can't, and that was fine. So I'm just gonna decide to live with it because I don't walk and so I can't. And then that was fine. So I'm just gonna decide to live with it because I don't walk. And you're like, that's not practical advice for me. You're so different. You're so different than what I'm dealing with. And you know, you need somebody who's your clone.

You need somebody who's a mirror image of you and be like, okay, you, you're the one. How did you deal with it? So if you're listening kid who looked like me in 1997 and went to a Yankee game and, and this also happened to you and you got some advice, please dial the number at the bottom of the screen. I got it. You mentioned that in MRI machines that peaceful does I have gotten to MRIs in my like within

like the past year. One was for when I completely tore apart the tendon in my knee or tore the tendon from the muscle. And then the other time was I thought I had a hernia. I thought I had this crazy pain in my hip, down in the joint where my knee, or where my, listen, my knee, where my leg meets my hip.

And I was like, I couldn't sit for long periods of time. And I remember it turned out it wasn't a hernia. It was basically, like imagine in your hip, there's a hot dog and the meat was running perpendicular to the butt instead of in parallel with it. That's, yeah. So you understand, you can't have that. I just got some tongs and I switched it.

I just turned 90 degrees and it was fine. I didn't know what it was. And I was like, I just turned 90 degrees and it was fine. I didn't know what it was. And I was like, I thought it was a hernia. And I was like, well, I better get on the old interwebs and see whether this is like something I need to go fix. And they're like, yeah, hernias can just get worse if you don't fix them. And I was like, fuck.

So I went in, got an MRI. And both times I've had MRIs. The first one for that muscle was like, it took like 45 minutes. This last one was a little quicker, but I also had it once when I broke open my face at my bachelor party in a pool, I split my face open. So I've had MRIs and every single time I've been in MRI,

I fall asleep within like the first four minutes. That's pleasant. And even the rocking, cause they're slowly like moving you back and forth in an MRI and they And even the rocking, because they're slowly like moving you back and forth in an MRI. And they gave me the option, the first few times they're like, you want some music?

And I was like, sure. And they just put on anything. And these last couple of times I've gone in, now that it's not my first rodeo anymore, they're like, what do you want to listen to? And I'm like, buddy, it does not matter because whatever you put on, I'm not gonna hear it. I'm gonna go to sleep immediately.

I would have opted for no music because they give you headphones and they just put on like light FM basically and the machine itself is very loud and to do it completely over again I'd like save the headphones like I want the hum of the machine please please. That's more meditative to me than a fucking Kings of Leon song. That's gonna try to believe through. Don't use the full music on me. Yeah.

Yeah, save that music. Put it back on the shelf. Save the music for the cat warts. I want to feel the machine's song. I want that. I was a little nervous going in the last couple of times because they were like, do you have any metal in your body? And I was like, no. And they're like, they were like, do you have any metal in your body?

And I was like, no, no, like, think about it. Do you have any metal in your body? Because it could be really, really bad in there if you do. And I was like, oh shit, Steven Inverso stabbed me with a pencil when I was in third grade. There might be some lead in there. But like, I know every single time, like, okay, no, I don't. And then like they saw that button on my jeans

and they were like, you might just wanna button that. And I was like, really? Okay. And then the guy was like, and while you're in there, don't cross your fingers. Don't like overlap your fingers to each other. Anyone who doesn't know what I'm doing right now, it's like prayer hands. And don't cross your arms,

because you can create a current and then you can shock yourself horribly. And people get in that box and they naturally wanna like wrap up because they're like, oh, I don't want my elbows hitting the ends. I've done this before in a plane and it was worked out. And so they wrap their bodies up.

And then I guess you get really badly shocked. Man. If you do that. I didn't get any of this advice from my guy. I guess that's what happens when you get an MRI at like 5.45 on a Thursday, which like we're not, I've done so many of these today. I'm ready to go home. He was at the top brass of the MRI guys at the time.

He gave me like, do you have any metal in your body? And I was like, yes. And he's like, should be fine. It was. They were so careful of me. And also they, as much as I have shit on hospitals, I shouldn't shit completely on them because hospitals have saved me multiple times.

And I am, I do, I'm in a debt to doctors. I will say that. Like doctors have done really good things for me. They save some people who aren't even you. Yeah, some other ones too. That's what they mostly do. When I'm sitting there and I'm waiting to go get an MRI, and there's a very long period of waiting,

they come to you with a wheelchair. They're like, you gotta get in the wheelchair. And I'm like, no, I don't. I can walk there. And they're like, unfortunately, you have to get in the wheelchair. And they would take me, and then the MRI machine was in a different, it had its own modular.

Like it was its own big machine. Like the machine was basically fit on the back of a truck. And then they take me up a platform, which I'm not allowed to get out of the chair for. And then at the top, I'm allowed to get out of the chair. But I was treated very much like a king where I was like, I don't want it. Now like, you got to. And here's a warm blanket that we're going to put on you. was like I don't okay yeah I take the blanket of course I agree this is sweet I uh well should talk this doctor a little bit more and then we can move on yeah I've never had a medical professional of any kind who was less interested in what happens next to me.

Yeah. He is fully, his job was to solve the medical mystery of what's wrong with my back. And he did that and is ready to tackle the next puzzle. And I'm reminded of doctors like the one about my wrist who called and was like, no, this is the thing that you should do. And I know it's expensive and like you're worried because we'd have to do the surgery in California and you live in New York,

but like this is the one you should do. And if you wanna like, here's how you spell my name, check my ratings online. And if you're worried about me, see for yourself. And if you don't wanna use me, that's fine too. But like, this is the care you need. And my dentists in the past are on top of me and making sure I get appointments

and taking care of myself and noting progress. And this doctor just could not be fucked. He doesn't care when I walk out the door. He's a doctor and I'm walking out of the door in pain with no plan and he does not care. He is just not even a follow-up email to be like, have you decided, it's been a week, have you thought about what you want your plan to be?

Nothing, absolutely nothing from this guy. Except a reply from his receptionist that was like, hey, we saw your email, he's in surgery right now, I will talk to him later with your questions. We'll see if he's got answers for your questions. I mean, I'm sympathetic to that, but I also think maybe you're asking too much of the doctor. What? I think that he, yeah, because he diagnosed it. He knows that you're not going to die from this thing. And he's like, it's up to you how you want to solve it, but it is you. Like you have to figure it out and you have to be like, and yeah, I get you.

You're like, but you have all, you know, all the things like, you know, like what are the, what are the, like, what is the best solution for me? I hear is like what I am at, yeah, I'm this type of person. I'm athletic. I, uh, I need to move. If I don't, I will get depressed and it will affect other parts of my body. You want to be able to tell them all that stuff, but there isn't that person. There isn't somebody that goes over that shit with you. Then there should be. There should be somebody who is also advocating on behalf of you and who's there. You need a doula. You need somebody who has some medical training, but mostly is advocating just for you as a person.

And they're like, you're the one. So let's figure out what's best for you. Because yes, there's a real gap. There's him who is gonna diagnose it. And he's like, I've got six surgeries today and they are in desperate need of this and you have to go. And then you've got you who's like, this is the first I'm hearing of a spine.

What are we talking about here? And so, yeah, I agree with you. There should be somebody between three jobs we created on this podcast today. This should be out there. What I need is the doctors from the pit. Sorin, are you watching Pit yet? No, I'm still finishing ER.

Best fucking show on television. It's the only show. It rules. It's awesome. But there's a storyline where this kid gets measles and the doctors have all their recommendations and the parents are anti-vaxxers and they're unwilling to listen to doctors and they're on Dr. Google. They're on their phone the whole time talking about what they think is best.

And the doctors get so frustrated and they tell them everything. They give them so much information about how they need to do this spinal tap so they can find out what's wrong with the kid to see if it's this or it's that and do all the treatments. And they're so persuasive and so encouraging and so mad and like, oh, give me a mad doctor who thinks I'm making the wrong choice so they can set me straight. I'll take it. Just somebody tell me what to do. Yeah. who thinks I'm making the wrong choice so they can set me straight. I'll take it. Just somebody tell me what to do. Yeah, yeah.

I was very blown away. When I went to this orthopedic surgeon for having torn my hamstring, she was so cavalier with me. And usually, yeah, they're like, well, don't be on it. Don't walk around on this for at least six weeks. And you're like, you don't understand my,

that's not even feasible. Two two children. Like she was so cool about like, she's, I was like, it's completely torn. She's like, yeah, it's completely torn away from the tendon. It will never heal. And I was like, well, what does that mean? Like, what does that mean for running and stuff? She's like, well, you could run. It's like right now she's like, if you want to, if it's a sore, that's fine. If it's sharp pain, don't do it anymore. And obviously if it's bad, come back to me. But she was just like, I was like sitting there asking her the questions

and she, every single one, she's like, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, go ahead. Oh, they gave you a brace at the hospital? You can leave that here if you want. You don't have to take that home with you. Now what about softball? The thing I did that caused this injury, can I do that? Yeah. Yeah, she was like, what are you working back to? And I was like, everything

snowboarding, jumping on a trampoline, jumping over a fence. Like there's going to be a lot of things I need to jump for. She was like, okay, I think you'll be fine. Cool. I'll take that. See ya. This is... Alright, well... The podcast has increasingly become an old guy podcast, but I'm hearing now that I'm like, my back hurts and the internet's not as good as it used to be. And I love this medical drama with Noah Wiley. I'm a thousand years old. But that's gonna be... the reason the healthcare system is broke is because everybody's in the same boat as you.

I think you're going to find everybody is dealing with this same shit. Anyone who's listening to this podcast who doesn't have a single malady, I'm like, I want to meet that person because I don't fucking believe you that you listen to this podcast. And you probably do have a malady and you just don't know it yet. Yeah, your fucking L5, L7, or L6 slip disc just isn't on a nerve yet. Yeah. Got all that jelly, but it is ready to burst. Thank you everybody for listening. Yeah.

Obviously me, Rex, obviously Gabe Harder, obviously our Patreon. If you wanna watch this in video form, go to YouTube. You can also find that through Apple subscriptions. And yeah, check out our Patreon. We, you can do that through Apple subscriptions as well. We do a shorter version of this podcast and we talk about some stuff that's, could be career ending.

Hell yeah. All right, Alright thanks goodbye. Just by the way we could talk tonight So what's your favorite? Who did you get? Who did I be? I don't remember Words without words Word at all though Who do we know? Oh forget it

Sore and booey Daniel O'Brien Two best friends and comedy writers If there's an answer they're gonna find it I think you'll have a great time here I think you'll have a great time here