Weird Medicine Healthcare for the Rest of Us

October 11, 2009

RIP “Barry the Blade”

Filed under: Steve's Blog — dr steve @ 4:33 pm

It was with great sadness that I learned that one of our favorite listeners passed away today. Barry Bender, AKA “Barry the Blade” was on our September 19th “Weird Medicine” show and was going to do an ongoing series about Trucker Hygiene for the show. Here’s a copy of the note his wife sent to me:

Hi Dr Steve

I know you don’t know me, but I am BarryTheBlade’s wife. Remember him, the trucker poop guy?

I know he informed you that he was feeling really sick via email. He came home a week ago and I brought him straight to the ER.

They landed up admitting him and on the 6th he was brought to the ICU/CCU and was put on a respirator. He had a feeding tube, Respirator, ,the works. I was with him all the time almost, barely left his side except to sleep and be home with the kids in the afternoons.

On Friday morning he was released to a regular room. I went to see him yesterday morning and we visited for almost an hour. He ate breakfast, We joked around, talked etc. Yesterday was actually our daughter’s 7th birthday party, so I was only there for a short time before I was supposed to leave.

Around 10:30 or so, Barry was asked to get up by the physical therapists so he could try go to the bathroom and they could remove his foley catheter. As soon as he got up, he almost started to seize and collapsed. He couldn’t breathe and they couldn’t get him to calm down. They got him back in the bed, and I was there rubbing his leg and holding his hand trying to tell him to calm down. But he kept saying “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, why can’t I breathe”.

They asked me to leave at this point, and then they called a code blue. I ran screaming down the hallway and yelling at the nurses and doctors to let me in the room. They worked on him for almost an hour doing CPR and all that stuff when we decided to stop. They shocked him as well, but could not get a heart rhythm.

At this point, I was at his side again, holding his hand and telling him how much I loved him, how much of a good father he was, how much of a good husband. The doctor was beside me, hugging me and then he told me they could put him on life support, but that he would never wake up. I know he wouldn’t want that, so I gave them the ok to stop the CPR.

I was so thankful to be able to be with him in his final moments, and that we had that nice visit yesterday morning. I said my private goodbyes. I don’t remember saying I love you to him while he was Awake, but his nurse told me that she heard us say it. I am so thankful that we had that, and that I said it to him. I got to look him in the eyes too as he was having trouble breathing.

They found out he had pneumonia in two spots on his lungs (this was while he was in the CCU), but they think he had a massive pulmonary embolism when he got out of bed yesterday morning. I won’t find out for sure until I get the autopsy results.

Please keep me and the kids in your thoughts. Feel free to pass this along to anyone. I am just broken inside. Trying to keep it together for our kids, but just feeling terrible myself. We were to have our 10
Year anniversary this December, and we have 4 children. The oldest two are almost 9, then we have a 7 year old and a 3.5 year old. We are only 29 years old. I’m not supposed to be a widow at 29, those kind of things Just don’t happen. I am absolutely devastated.

Also, not sure if this is ok to mention, but my oldest friend Larina Dyck has set up a donation fund for us to help us get through these tough times. Her twitter is @littlespace and her blog is http://gottalittlespacetofill.blogspot.com

Thanks for being such a good online friend to Barry. I know he talked of you often and was always happy to see an email.

Guess I might have to listen to you on the air once in awhile to see what I’ve been missing.

Joanna

Let’s visit @littlespace and get a fund going for Barry’s kids, ok?

your pal,

Steve

September 17, 2009

New Show Saturday and Sunday Night 11:59pm Sept 19, 20

Filed under: Podcast,Steve's Blog — dr steve @ 10:42 pm

We did a new show for this weekend; after doing the 3 hour turdtacular you’d think doing an hour would be a breeze. However, I just had my flu shot and my damn allergies are killing me and Jefferson has Whooping Cough (I kid you not) and I was just totally out of sorts. Matter of fact, don’t even listen to it, I’m sure it’s that bad.

Next time, though, NOTHING but voicemails; we have a million of ’em to cover and I promise it’ll be a better show.

I got a tweet from a very nice listener who told me the RSS feed only showed the Montel Audio and not the 3 hour show audio, so I’m reposting it here. I really need to take 30 minutes and edit out the commercials and stuff. I may get to that this weekend.

Preview of this week’s show: only 1 feces question! Hermaphrodites in athletics, Cellphone Brain Cancer Scares, Boxers drinking their own urine, nonspecific urethritis, and Barry the Blade explains the “Trucker Juice Can”

September 9, 2009

Weird Medicine Ringtone!

Filed under: Steve's Blog — dr steve @ 11:34 pm

I haven’t figured out how to let you just enter your cell phone number and my site will send it to you, but if you email this to yourself as an attachment you should be able to save it as a ringtone.   Or if you have a blackberry, just move it over with your USB cable (@stryker from Twitter tells me it works just by saving it in the browser.  I gotta upgrade my phone).

On Verizon, don’t use [my number]@vtext.com, rather use [mynumber]@vzwpix.com.

Anyway, RIGHT CLICK HERE and click “save target as…” and you’re all set.

Let me know if it works…I’ll upload more dopey crap.

your pal,

steve

September 1, 2009

H1N1 (Swine) Flu: Don’t Panic (yet) (with O&A audio)

Filed under: H1N1 (Swine) Flu,Steve's Blog — Tags: , , , — dr steve @ 6:11 am

Fox News and other networks have been running a story that “scientists” are “predicting” a resurgence of the H1N1 (Swine) Flu virus this winter, one that will rival the influenza epidemic of 1918. My sources at the CDC tell me that in fact, this is simply a report about a contingency plan by the government in case the worst does happen. No one is able to predict what this stupid virus will do, but planning for the worst is never a bad idea. We talked about this briefly on O&A this morning, albeit in my typical “you woke me up, you asshats” stupor.

Barring a “superflu” of “Stephen King’s The Stand” proportions, it’s unlikely that the 1918 death rate will ever happen again. During that pandemic, 1/3 of the Earth’s 1.5 billion people got the flu, and 1/10th of those died from it. One thing they didn’t have back then that we do now: Antiviral medications. Another thing: mechanical ventilators. Another thing: the internet and mass media so people can stay abreast of what’s going on. Another thing: Purell. Another thing…well, you get the picture.

There are higher than normal influenza cases right now. The CDC issued this statement today:

  • Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) were highest in February during the 2008-09 flu season, but rose again in April 2009 after the new H1N1 virus emerged. Current visits to doctors for influenza-like illness are down from April, but are higher than what is expected in the summer.
  • Total influenza hospitalization rates for adults and children remain low and are well below the seasonal winter-time average of the last four years.
  • The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was low and within the bounds of what is expected in the summer.
  • Most state health officials are reporting local or sporadic influenza activity. Two states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. Any reports of widespread influenza activity in August are very unusual.
  • Almost all of the influenza viruses identified were the new 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses. These 2009 H1N1 viruses remain similar to the viruses chosen for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine and remain susceptible to antiviral drugs (oseltamivir and zanamivir).

    • So wash your hands, don’t put your fingers in your eyes, nose and mouth, and remain vigilant. If you come down with a fever/aches/pain/cough go see your primary care provider.

    your pal,

    steve

    (Check out the O&A audio…you can hear what a dumbass I am at 6:30AM)

    August 24, 2009

    Announcing: The 3 Hour Stool-fest on the SNV!

    Filed under: Steve's Blog — dr steve @ 7:20 pm

    Next week?  The week after?  Not sure when it will run, but we recorded a 3 hour “Fecalicious Extravaganza” for the Saturday Night Virus that’ll run 9-12 EDST.  Holy crap, how many turd questions are there out there?   What are you people eating?  Really, it’s not all questions about fecal matter, but poop-related questions seemed really common this time.   It was fun to do, and I hope you enjoy it.  It’ll be nice to be on primetime again.

    Just as a preview:
    This lady has a Bristol Stool Scale of 4...find out what that means on the next Weird Medicine!

    This lady’s turd has a Bristol Stool Scale of 4…find out what that means on the next Weird Medicine!   (We’ll announce the date as soon as Danny lets us know.)

    August 13, 2009

    New Weird Medicine Shows on XM202 Sirius 197!

    Filed under: Steve's Blog — dr steve @ 10:51 am

    We got the call from Erock: “When the boys are out of town, we want you to do two new shows for the Midnight Saturday and Sunday night slots.”   We need practice for the upcoming October LIVE show, too, so we did a two hour “voicemail only” extravaganza.   I put out a call for voicemail questions a couple of weeks ago, and we got enough for 4 shows at least.   We answered them in pretty random order, simulating a live show and I think it really worked, especially the second one (on the 22nd, 23rd). 

    So give us a listen at 11:59 Eastern on  XM202, Sirius 197:

    • Saturday August 15
    • Sunday August 16
    • Saturday August 22
    • Sunday August 23

    I think we’re going to stick with this format for awhile;  call in your medical (or science) questions to 423 343 8884 (423 DIE TUTI) and we’ll get them on the air as soon as we can!

    This week’s topics:

    • Fear of flying
    • Changing the taste of ejaculate
    • Bedbug intercourse (they’re DISGUSTING)
    • Billy Mays’ toxicology report
    • condoms and erectile dysfunction
    • and a bunch of other fascinating stuff!

    On the  August 22, 23 show, listen as 4 grown men halt a national radio show in its tracks as they try to deduce which one is lying about passing flatus in the studio.  (It’s a guy thing).

     

    your pal,

     

    Doctor Steve

    August 6, 2009

    Weird Medicine Merchandise!

    Filed under: Steve's Blog — dr steve @ 5:30 pm

    Look, don’t worry about it, really, don’t.   If you don’t want any of this crap, don’t feel obligated or that our feelings will be hurt.   We got a really cool logo from Matt Hoffman (Fluffernutter, from RonFez.Net fame) and wanted to splash it everywhere.   It’s on my twitter, will be on here soon, and is now featured on Tee Shirts, Mugs, and all kinds of other cruddy merch at CafePress.

    You can also visit the Weird Medicine Store, where we’re compiling an e-store of the stuff we mention on the show that you can buy over the counter.  It has sections like “Your Horrid Bowels” and “Your Awful Stomach” with all kinds of proven remedies you can buy right there and have delivered to your door.

    If I can think of any other ways we can whore ourselves out, I’ll let you know.   I do promise this: every penny we ever make (and again, I don’t expect to make any, so it’s ok (what a great salesman I am)) will go to producing LIVE Weird Medicine shows and other worthy causes.

    your pal,

    Steve

    PS: we’ll be on two weekends in a row when the boys are on vacation.  I’ll post the dates in the “On Air” box as soon as I know them.   These shows will be “all voicemail” shows, so don’t forget to call 423 DIE TUTI before Wednesday August 12th!

    June 25, 2009

    June 20, 2009 Weird Medicine

    Filed under: Steve's Blog — dr steve @ 11:37 pm

    Ok, so we got shuffled again, this time to the 12MN EDST slot, whenever SPECIAL DELIVERY isn’t on (take a break once a month willya guys?)

    This show discusses the “Private Parts Reclamation Project” by Double Vasectomy Todd, who is training under MJ Kovaleski from MuscleSorority.com.  After barely 3 weeks, he’s lost 18 lbs, 4 inches around his waist, and more importantly, 3/4 of an inch of reclaimed male membership (if you catch my drift).

    You can follow Todd’s progress on his twitter feed: DBLVASTODD

    You can follow our show twitter feed at WEIRDMEDICINE.   Please follow us, we want to beat Sam and Dave in the followers department.  🙂

    Show topics: A humorous outtake surprise, erotic asphyxiation, gender reassignment female to male, cockring safety, tobacco related mouth lesions (BAD!) and a few other gems.   I’m getting off my Cymbalta…I think it’s making me dull.   We’ll see over the next few months if there’s any noticeable change.

    your pal,

    Steve

    PS: here’s a picture of MJ Kovaleski…she obviously knows her stuff when it comes to bodybuilding and nutrition!

    MJ Kovaleski, Official Weird Medicine Trainer

    MJ Kovaleski, Official Weird Medicine Trainer

    Click here to check out the WEIRD MEDICINE STORE.

    June 5, 2009

    Weird Medicine Returns June 20th at 6pm

    Filed under: Steve's Blog — dr steve @ 1:34 pm

    I am happy to announce that Weird Medicine will return to Sirius 197-XM 202 on June 20th at 6pm. We have a LOT to talk about, not the least being our struggle to find a permanent slot in the 202 schedule (if only to help our audience to find us!)

    If Sam and Dave can work it out to do a SNV show each month, we may be able to simply take the empty slot at 6pm on those weeks.

    We are working very hard to get some live shows going from the Nashville studios as well. More on that as the situation develops.

    your pal,

    Steve

    April 28, 2009

    Weird Medicine Star Trek Promos

    Filed under: Steve's Blog — dr steve @ 10:31 pm

    Double Vasectomy Todd started this idocy by going to the Trek Yourself website and doing a Romulan “Weird Medicine” promo.   The result can be seen here.  We’ll explain the whole “Fecalicious the helmet polisher” injoke on the air May 2 at 5pm EDST.

    This is Big A’s version.  Andrew makes one creepy-ass serial killer looking Vulcan.

    Here’s mine. I’m a dope.  There is an in-joke at the end for all those who have really been paying attention to the Liam vs Dave thing.  For everyone else, I just sound like a goof.

    Send in your StarTrek Weird Medicine promos to

    drsteve at doctorsteve dot com

    …we may even give some sort of awful prize for our favorite.   We’re not promising anything.

    Here are a couple of fan created masterworks:

    From Matthew

    From David

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