Transcript

[00:00:00] Knock,

knock,

hi! Knock, knock, hi!

Hello and welcome to Knock, Knock, Hi! with the Glockenfleckens. I am Dr. Glockenflecken, also known as Will Flannery. I am Lady Glockenflecken, also known as Kristen Flannery. Because we’re more the Glockenfleckens than we are the Flanneries. Any more seems that way. Are there more hours in the day that we are Glockenflecken?

Versus Flannery. Uh, waking hours? Or sleeping hours? I don’t know what the sleeping hours includes. What do you dream about? No, I just mean, I think in our sleeping hours, we’re probably just regular Flannery. Are you Glockenflecken in your dreams? No. No? I don’t really have a lot of dreams. Do you? I mean, I’m sure I have them.

I don’t remember them. I don’t wake up a lot during the night. I rarely remember any dreams, and if I do, they’re bad dreams. Yeah, same. I have the, like, spiders crawling all over me dream. You [00:01:00] know when I’m having that one. Yeah. Same. I still have a dream. I don’t know how you would classify that sound I make.

I don’t know what I dream about, but I do, I frequently will wake up, like, paralyzed. Yeah, right, where you’re still… For like… Because we do, right, don’t we, like, get paralyzed in our sleep because… Except that you have a defect in that because because you wake up and you get out of bed Oh, I do that a lot, yeah, I’m asleep.

The other day you put on dress pants and then got back in bed I did do that. One time the very first time I ever experienced this about you You just sat you just bolted up in bed and just sat straight up and went Bread and then laid back. I mean, I know I never got to find out what was going on. I wish I knew Sometimes they like to just mess with you and just like start talking to you and try to get you like to string along the Conversation try to figure out what it is.

You’re dreaming about. Are you able to have a conversation with me? Yeah, you respond And your eyes are open too, which is really freaky. Can you tell they look different? Can [00:02:00] you tell when I wake up and when I am still sleeping and doing my pretty much? I mean not like it’s not like an instant But you’re at, they’re, they’re just different.

Like when you’re asleep and your eyes are open, they’re kind of glazed over a little bit still. Like they just have this far away look. And then when you wake up, you’re like looking normally at me. So yeah, I can kind of tell, plus what you say makes much less sense. when you’re still asleep. Yeah, the probably the most alarming one for me was the night that I, I, well, I didn’t, I don’t remember this, but I woke up wearing dress pants, like legit, like suit pants.

I think it’s interesting is I wasn’t there that night. So I’m very curious. Because I was traveling, so I’m very curious, like, what happened, what would happen if I weren’t usually there? Yeah. I’d just put on a three piece suit. Because often, I will wake you, you wake up, you say something, it wakes me up, and I say, you’re sleeping, go back to bed, and you say, okay.

So what would happen if it just So if I wasn’t there to put you back to bed? To control my, my, [00:03:00] my weird Uh huh, I’m a little concerned, like what are you gonna do? Try to get in your car and go to work? I forgot, I hope not. Try to cook something? Yeah! I don’t know. Good thing I’m here. What would you have any fun sleepwalking stories?

We’d love to hear that. That would be great. It is interesting though because you have this and then your cardiac arrest happened in your sleep. So, I don’t know. Why are we even talking about this? Bunch of doctors listening. Do you remember how they got on this? If anyone knows why that happens, let us know.

Uh, where, what are we, why? I don’t know, I can’t remember. Why are we talking about sleep? I don’t know. Anyway, uh, I, I kind of wish I, I, I go with love to have I got a consultation with like a sleep doctor. I think that would be interesting. You had the one sleep study. Just I had a sleep study for, yeah, because of the cardiac arrest.

But like, I just like to pick their brain. Like, yeah, I want to do that thing that all doctors love. You’re like, well, what does this mean? Like, what did I, what did I do this? What is this? Yeah. You’re going to tell them your whole life story. And then yeah, yeah. They love that. What does it mean to put on dress [00:04:00] pants and get back into bed?

What does that mean about me? I think you are looking for a psychiatrist. Maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I need a second. Anyway, let’s talk about our guest today. Yes, let’s do it. He’s a really fun one. This was a party. This was a part is, is a great, great, fantastic energy. Good vibes. Yes. Real good vibes.

We’re talking to J Mac, Dr. J Mac. You guys probably know him. Uh, you’ve probably seen him if you frequent Instagram and TikTok, uh, also a little YouTube. He’s on YouTube as well. Um, Dr. J Mac, uh, great content does, uh, just a wide ranging, uh, he has a last name. Well, he’s known as. I’m telling that I know he has a last name, but he goes by, you don’t see his last name on his social media platforms.

So it’s Dr. J Mack on social media in real life. He is an emergency medicine physician, uh, named Dr. Slaughter. MD. So, J. Max Slaughter, Jr. That’s the full thing. Now that is a good, that is a very, is it good, is it bad? I don’t know. It’s a very notable [00:05:00] name for someone in emergency medicine, Dr. Slaughter. Yeah, we talk about that too.

Uh, and he’s also not only an emergency medicine physician. Uh, he has a background in entertainment, which you’ll hear about, very interesting background, and also the founder of a non profit called Music Meets Medicine. Just a fantastic, uh, program, fantastic, uh, non profit that he runs. They’re doing really good things.

Doing a lot of cool work. They, they, that part got to me. Yeah, so stay tuned for that later on in the podcast. Uh, really fun conversation, so let’s get to it. Let’s go. Here’s Dr. Jamek.

Today’s episode is brought to you by the Nuance Dragon Ambient Experience or DAX for short. This is AI powered ambient technology that helps physicians be more efficient and reduce clinical documentation burden that we all know. Causes a ton of burnout, takes up so much time, makes you feel overwhelmed.

Well, DAX is here to help. To learn more about how DAX can help you reduce burnout [00:06:00] and restore the joy of practicing medicine. Stick around after the episode or visit nuance. com slash discover DAX. That’s N U A N C E. com slash discover D A X. Hey, Will, do you know what my favorite December holiday is?

Christmas? Nope. Hanukkah? No. Our anniversary? No! It’s Wife and Death live at the Improv! Oh, that is a good holiday! Yeah, we’re telling our amazing story live, in person. And we have a meet and greet before every show. You can get a photo with us. We’d love to meet you. December 9th, 10th, and 11th in Southern California.

We’ll be at the Improv in Irvine. Ontario and Oxnard. You can buy tickets and check out dates at glockenflecken. com slash live. We also have a special offer for our Patreon members. That’s right. All the Glock flock out there. Free meet and greet with your normal ticket. Just tell us your username and you’re in.

See you next month!

All right, we are here with the one and [00:07:00] only Dr. J. Mack. Hey, yo, thanks for joining us, man. It really is, uh, I see you all over social media, so it’s nice to, to actually get to talk with you. Dude, vice versa, man. I see you guys all over social media. It’s so cool to meet, even though it’s virtual. I wish we were hanging out in your place right now.

Yeah, well, no, you don’t. There’s children and animals, strange odors, noise. Exactly. Uh, you know, you also, you have two different names you go by, right? Social media, you’re Dr. J. Mack. And then, but that’s not your name in your real, you know, patient seeing job, right? Yeah. So it’s a little more concerning in the hospitals.

I’m Dr. Slaughter, so Oof. Have you, that is a rough one. Have you heard, have you heard, especially for emergency medicine? I don’t know, man. You see why I go by Dr. JMac on socials , but have heard all the jokes. By now, I mean, I probably haven’t heard all the jokes. If you’re willing to just throw a couple out there, I’ll let you know if I’ve heard ’em or not.[00:08:00] 

Does it? Um, uh, how was it, gimme the timeline of when you started the social media stuff. Um, and then also, where you were in your medical career. So, I mean, I, I had kind of the opposite experiences most people. I grew up in entertainment first. Like, my whole life, I was gonna be an entertainer. So, I was three years old on stage, like, singing.

Oh, wow. With my two older sisters, who sang and performed, and my dad. Singing where? Um, like, all around Fort Worth. And so, like, we’d perform at, like, Mayfest and the Balloon Festival and stuff. Yeah. But I had, like, this really, like, low pitched voice already. At three years old? Yeah, I was, like, three and four, seriously.

And so I would sing, like, Elvis songs and, like, Jerry Lee Lewis and stuff instead of, like, oh, like, boys choir stuff, you know? And then I ended up, like, you know, I would, you know, perform on stage in the local theater. And then I’d end up… Touring in a boy band. I got to like tour the nation And I opened up for like Destiny’s [00:09:00] Child for like four or five other shows.

It was pretty sweet That’s crazy, and then did some TV and film and then went to medicine and so for me like my whole life I was gonna be an entertainer. You had like three careers already. Yeah. Yeah, uh huh and then I was gonna I was gonna ask when we could bring up the boy band thing because I’ve been dying.

You were ready. You were excited about the I was going to leave with that, but you brought it up, so. We’re here with boy band Dr. Slaughter. I mean, you got the hair for it. You really do. I mean, you’re really playing the role. I could take the boy out of the boy band, but you take the boy band out of the boy.

How old were you when the, when the, the whole, the boy band thing? Yeah, and what was the name? It was a terrible name for a group. I was 15. I joined the group. I didn’t have any say over the name.

Okay. Sons of Harmony. Okay. I mean. It makes sense. Yeah. I don’t know. It’s fine. I thought it was so lame. It could have been so much cooler. NSYNC. Backstreet Boy. Okay, those aren’t good either. [00:10:00] They’re not, I mean. I mean, yeah. Come on. One Direction. One Direction’s okay. That’s fine. That’s probably the better, the best name of the bunch.

But, I mean, you got to do so many cool things though at such an early age and, and, um, decide, okay, maybe I need to like pivot to doing something different? Well, basically, I had this wave of opportunities that would just like come one after another, after another. And I was just excited about every one.

And I just kind of like dove in head first, and found a certain level of success in each one of those activities. And then it kind of it basically got to a point where I did the boy band, I was on a TV show for a year, I was in a movie, um, and then after that I got this like thing that probably doesn’t exist anymore because Hollywood used to have FU money and I don’t know if they have that anymore, but back in the day they used to give talent hold contracts and so I got a six figure deal to not work.

For another network. That’s pretty sweet. It was crazy. Oh my gosh. 19 year old [00:11:00] kid, what the heck. I didn’t deserve that. Um, but then they didn’t find me another job. And so I kind of sat around for like 8 months. And I was like distracting myself and I was like working out and surfing and I was writing music and just doing a lot of, mostly physical things to distract myself from the fact that I wasn’t engaged in something.

That I was growing, you know, doing and something that really like excited me on a daily basis. And then it all came to a head when I broke my hand skateboarding and it was like, look at your life, son. And I was just like, I’m miserable! Oh no! But that’s like the life of an entertainer. That’s the life of an actor.

There’s like, especially before the day and age of social media, your success and your ability to do the thing that you love, that you were trained to do, was dependent on other people’s creativity to come together on that project. And so… I couldn’t really handle that and in the role and I also I always was like, I really I [00:12:00] wanted a family You know Which I have now and I have three kids and a wonderful wife and it makes me so I don’t know you guys Obviously you’re in a couple and you guys have kids but um, but so I realized I needed something To focus on that would be a stable source of income that I could also, like, grow and evolve with over time and, like, nothing seemed more of a challenge to me than medicine, and so I just, like, dove right in.

I bet you had a hell of a hobby section on your application. That’s why I got in, dude. Honestly, I think I was like, they were just like, who’s this kid? What? We need diversity, right? Yeah, the kid with the crazy hair. Yeah, let him in. This white boy. Yes, it’s our diversity. We don’t have any boy band, folks.

Let’s get them in here.

And then, and then when did the social media kickoff? That’s the thing is that I was always like very social media curious, I think. Because I saw, I was like, oh, that’s that thing that what if I had that, would I have left Acne? We’re about the same age. [00:13:00] We’re about the same age, are we? And so I, I believe so.

Are you ? Yeah. Well, I’m turning, I’m turning 40 soon. I don’t know if you’re comfortable sharing. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I’m 38. You’re 37? I’m 39. 39. Sorry. Thank you though. I mean, I. I’m 38, but you’ve already died and come back. So I think that counts for a couple extra years. So it’s aged him a bit. Yeah, absolutely.

I’m

like, in my mind, I’m like 56. You’re my elder, I think, in a way. But yeah, so it wasn’t a thing back in the day. And I’m glad, honestly, because I would have just ended up like streaming video games or something like not worthwhile, at least for me, you know. Um, and then this whole thing came about and actually my friend owns a social media management company and he was like, dude You were born to do this.

There you go. And I was like, what do you mean? And he was like, I mean, your history and entertainment and like, those are skills. Those are skills that you have developed over time that you’re not using. I bet you, you’re gonna feel more whole doing it. And he [00:14:00] was 100 percent right. And he’s one of my best friends in the world and he just like, I thank him every time I talk to him.

I’m like, dude, this I feel complete now because I, I had, I had reached all my goals, you know, I, I got to this really wonderful hospital that I’ve always wanted to and my, I live five minutes away from it and I have these beautiful kids and this wonderful wife and like, but there was, there was something missing and it was nobody else’s fault, but it was, I had that need to, to, to create, yeah, yeah, I love that because I think a lot of people in medicine are You know, we’ve talked about this before on the podcast, but they’re kind of, you know, put into this box of like, science kid, right?

Yeah. And, but you can be a science kid and an art kid or a music kid or, you know, like, I think a lot of people are really well rounded and have a lot of different hobbies and medicine doesn’t really allow for too much, um, expression. Yeah. Of that, you know, so I always love when I find people that, that are doing all of it.

And you, uh, you know, [00:15:00] I, I didn’t really know much about your personality. I’ve seen your content, but now meeting you, you seem like an emergency physician. I just, it’s just like, you’re, you’re found. Yeah, I have the bicycle helmet and the Oakleys actually right on the floor. Now I had to take them off for this interview.

And you, yeah, you seem like you had six Diet Cokes before this. Yeah, yeah. And then. You’re just crushed. You’re found. You found your thing. Yeah, I it

like in the patient room. They love it. Yeah Was it always emergency medicine for you? Um, you know what’s funny is that like right around the time that I was trying to figure out what the hell I was gonna do with my Life when I really because that really was like a quarter life crisis that I had when I felt that You know, it wasn’t it for acting and music for me What the hell is I gonna do right around that time my sister was working as an ER nurse And she just told me the coolest stories, the craziest stories, and I was like, I want to, like, live those stories.

I want to be that doctor that, like, jumped and grabbed [00:16:00] the carotid artery of, like, the stab wound that walked into a non trauma facility and, like, calls the vascular surgeon and holds the carotid all the way to the O. R. Like, can I, what do I have to do to do that, you know? And that’s what kind of stimulated all of that, and so it started.

With ER, they got me excited. I went into med school and I was like, Oh, like, maybe I want to be a pediatrician. Oh, maybe I want to be an OB GYN. Maybe I want to do internal medicine. And then ultimately Maybe you want to be an ophthalmologist. I don’t know. Oh, oh. It’s fine. No, it’s okay. That’s all right.

Seems like he needs a bit more excitement than ophthalmology. I just, I have to at least, at least once, you know, in these conversations, I have to shame people into not choosing ophthalmology. But that’s okay. You found Yeah, you don’t seem like an ophthalmologist. I will say though, like, I am so glad, honestly, for the world that you’re an ophthalmologist.

Um, because you wouldn’t be able to do what you do if you were. Beholden to a medical system or a particular, [00:17:00] like, practice. I don’t, I think you have so much freedom in being able to, to be completely independent of the medical system. And like, I love that, dude. Because I still like I think that’s a really nice way to say you’re not a real doctor.

No, no. That’s what I heard. I mean, it depends on who you ask. Depends on who you ask. But that’s funny. It’s, it’s, uh, oh, absolutely. You know, people. I’ve heard people talk about medicine and, and as, you know, almost like. Work life balances. It’s like, you shouldn’t talk about that. Like it’s not, that shouldn’t factor into your decision.

Uh, you know, it’s, but, but that’s the wrong, that’s the wrong way to approach things. It’s a job, just like any other job. It’s totally okay to factor in the fact that you don’t, you won’t, you want to work nine to five. You don’t want to work in a hospital. You don’t want to, you know, do you want to take as little call as possible?

That’s all okay. If it allows you to accomplish your own goals and the [00:18:00] things that you want in life. And you’re, but you’re making these decisions as like a late twenties guy that may have like completely different priorities than a late fifties guy. Like God, I wish I would have chosen differently, but it’s too late at that point.

You’re not going to go back to four years of residency. And so I, I’m always encouraging, you know, whenever I talk to residents or med students is like, you know, whatever that thing is that you like to do outside of medicine, like hold on to even just like a fraction of that through training and through med school, like just keep doing it in some way.

Uh, because that’s an, it’s an important part of your life and you, it’s so easy to lose that in medicine, right? It’s so easy to let medicine just take over your life if you let it. Yes. And, um, and it, I mean, that’s okay if that’s like your thing, if you want that. Yeah. If that’s what lights you up, great.

But if you have other things that light you up like, does it really, those people that their entire identity and all of their time is spent in the world of medicine? Are they happy people? [00:19:00] I think some of them are researchers. I think there are people like that, but I think it’s much less than we, you know, than is presented to us as we go through education.

When you’re just like chasing prestige and, you know, ivory tower status and stuff like that, it’s just like how, I don’t know, how ultimately rewarding is that really? How much does that truly like elevate your daily happiness? And I don’t know, I can’t speak for other people, but like, it’s just that… Well, hopefully they would like, enjoy helping people or something.

I don’t know, I think a lot of people get different things out of a career in medicine, but… Yeah, for sure. I don’t know, whatever makes you happy. I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna, you know, like, speak down on people that spend their whole lives… Focused exclusively on medicine, but I just I think people can get caught up in the prestige of it all, you know Yeah, and because of that loose side of on what truly makes them happy and I just that’s almost like the expectation It’s placed on people.

Yes, you’re supposed to [00:20:00] Be just like completely devoted to medicine and all aspects. You grew up with parents that were doctors and you’re like, I have to achieve this higher level of success or, you know, publish more papers or whatever it is. And you can just get totally lost. Not setting up, uh, setting you up for failure in a lot of ways to have that mentality, but you mentioned, uh, you know, Enjoying the crazy stories of the emergency world.

Yeah, and I mean you gave us a crazy story before we started recording here And it is actually perfect because multiple times for whatever reason for different reasons we have talked about leeches Yeah, they keep coming up. This, this, it keeps coming up. We thought it was like a thing that doesn’t exist anymore, but it just keeps.

We didn’t tell you to give us a story about leeches. You just voluntarily gave us a leech story. It’s just one of your stories. I would love for you to tell us the story that has to do with leeches. There’s much more to it, and I’ll let you take [00:21:00] it away. So, um, somebody, um, enjoying a little too much methamphetamine.

Decided to take a buck knife to their man parts. Oh, okay. That’s a choice. There you go. Cut their own penis off. Okay. Like, they were successful in this decision and endeavor? They were. Were they successful? Oh, completely successful. Through and through. Cut it off. Somehow, I don’t remember the specifics, like, did he call the ambulance?

Did somebody else notice him on the street? I don’t know, like, what led to EMS getting there, but they got there. And properly, you know, uh, packaged his package. That worked well, I didn’t do that on purpose. Meta packaging. Meta packaging. Honestly, I didn’t think about that at the time. Um, but while we’re talking about this, we can have an educational moment.

Anytime you have an amputation, including something like that, you know, more often it’s digits. You ra [00:22:00] you, you try to wrap it in like a, a moist paper towel. If you have that, put it in a Ziploc baggie and then put that Ziploc baggy in another Ziploc baggy of sorts with ice water. Oh, okay. So you don’t want it like directly double on the ice double bag.

Yeah. The package right. . I see what you did there. Double. Yeah. Yeah. So double bag it just in case. And then, and then they showed up at the emergency department and, you know, um, sometimes I’m so glad someone had the foresight of bringing the penis in with the patient. I mean, what else do you do? Leave it on the street?

Well, I mean, you know, I don’t know. But if he didn’t have it, we’d just kind of stop the bleeding and I guess send him home, I don’t know. Give him some antibiotics, that’s another alternate universe. Do they make prosthetics? Surely they do. If there’s a A paramedic listening who has, at one point or another, you know, saved a penis that has been severed.

Uh, please let us know. Give us an email. I would just like to remind everyone at this point that we are still on the leeches story. Oh yeah. So this [00:23:00] is only all ties in. It all ties in. Going and then, you know, going, you make, we got distracted on the, on the amputated penis. Okay. , there’s something about it proceed.

That’s not our attention, I guess. Um, but so, you know, it’s kind of funny because you make good decisions as, as residents and as physicians and, and other times you do things because you normally do them, and then afterwards you realize like, oh, that we didn’t need to do that. Um, we, we, when we got there, we took an x ray of the, uh, of the severed penis, um, like kind of there on the bed, and, and maybe the upper level, because I think I was an intern at the time, maybe the upper level resident was like looking for foreign bodies, okay, like that might, that might be kind of called for, but usually we do it with fingers so we can see.

If there’s still like bone there or not, but there’s what, what else is there in ? I don’t know. So anyways, I, I have a picture, actually, don’t ask me on my phone of the x-ray. Oh, okay. You know, de-identified, but it’s, it’s the guy’s legs and [00:24:00] just his, his man part’s just there, just sitting there in between the two.

And I’m always like, why did I do that? Um, but then, you know, he’s. He doesn’t have decision making capacity at this point. He’s extremely high still, um, and the decision was make was made for him, basically, to reattach his penis. And then it was my very prestigious job later on as a medical student when they tried to kind of enhance the blood flow through that area and maybe increase the likelihood of it surviving by putting leeches on it.

And so my job was to check the leeches. That’s an intern job, if ever I’ve heard one. Did you, did you apply the leeches? It is, you know, I don’t know if they trusted me enough to apply the leeches. I basically just looked and made sure they were in there. Yeah, applying leeches is totally a chief resident job.

That’s absolutely that might be even really funny because I don’t I don’t think I did ever do that. So, [00:25:00] yeah, but you checked them. I did. Check. How do you check a leech? You’re like, oh, yeah, still there. Yeah, that’s what I was asking. I was like, so my job is to check on the leeches. But what? What am I doing by doing this?

It looks satiated. I don’t know, like, what are you, what’s your, what’s your presentation? He’s happy. The guy’s happy. We all win? I don’t know. Leech is intact. Yeah. Leech is intact. Yeah. And what’s interesting is I leech. Yeah. There we go. I was always looking for, like, remorse in that guy, or emotion, and he just never, ever gave it to me.

A horror baby? No. When he comes to. None of it. He was just like Stonewall the whole time. Uh, let’s see. What else can we talk about with, uh, leeches, you know, treating a, a replantation? What do you call it? Re reattachment? Re re re See, this just supports your point that he’s not a real doctor. No, no, I think it’s replantation.

I think it’s replantation. It’s like the, the, the thing in our brains are telling us to say [00:26:00] re implantation. But I think it’s just replantation. Okay. All right. There you go. I love that. That’s great. I mean, I don’t know how many more Leach stories we can get out of. I have a feeling we’re going to find out.

There’s going to be more. The universe wants you to talk about leeches on this podcast. Apparently so, maybe we’ll just do a spinoff podcast all about leeches. All right. Well, let’s take a short break. We’ll be right back with Dr. J. Mack.

Hey, Kristen. Yeah. Do I look like a cardiologist when I hold this? You look like you’re trying to be a cardiologist. Because I’m an ophthalmologist. Well, and just like, what are you even doing with your hands there? I, I do, I feel like a cardiologist. Yeah. And that’s the most important thing because of the stethoscope.

Yeah. This is so cool. It is the trade. It’s an Echo Core 500 digital stethoscope with three lead ECG. It even makes an ophthalmologist feel like a cardiologist. That’s saying something. Right? And it’s got 40 times noise amplification, noise cancellation, three audio filter modes, and a… [00:27:00] full color display.

Yeah, it’s bananas. It’s, it’s, it’s, and what stethoscope has all of that? I know, we live in the future. No, just the Echo Core 500. That’s right. That’s it. And you can also record, review, save, share. Yeah. All the things you’re listening to. That’s right. It’s, it’s great for teaching. It’s great for, for just learning yourself.

And also we have a special offer for our U. S. listeners. Visit Echohealth. com slash KKH and use code NOC50 to experience ECHO’s Core 500 Digital Stethoscope Technology. That’s E K O Health slash KKH and use NOC50 to get a 75 day risk free trial and a free case and free shipping with this exclusive offer.

Hey Kristen, have you ever heard of eyelid mites? I try not to think about them. So, gosh. Get your bouquet of eyelid mites out of my face. Look at these little cute eyelid mites. They’re not usually this big. Thank goodness. But you know what they do? What? They cause itchy, red, irritated eyelids. Hmm. [00:28:00] I don’t know that it’s actually sometimes demodex mites.

That’s horrifying. Yeah, they cause Demodex Blepharitis. But don’t get freaked out, Kristen. Get checked out. To find more information, go to EyelidCheck. com. Again, that’s E Y E L I D Check. com to get more information about Demodex Blepharitis.

We are back with Dr. J. Mack, and, uh, there you go, it’s a good segue there into your musical abilities. I got it in my soul. You gotta get it out. Do you, how often do you, do you, is that how you present yourself to patients? Do you come in and start singing sometimes? What’s interesting is that I have to tone down my personality a lot in the emergency department initially.

Because if I walk in a room and somebody is just like suffering and there’s so much in so much pain, I’m like, hey They’re just like oh my god, [00:29:00] so I have to like But then by the end they’ve had some morphine they’re feeling loopy and then i’m playing with them and we’re having a fun time Are you like this at like 3 a.

m? Is this, this is just you, there’s, there’s nothing, you’re, you’re, you’re not. 4am though, I hit a wall and I’m just like, like face down on the keyboard. You gotta get two hours of sleep and then you’re back up. Yeah, then I’m back going. But you’ve, you’ve actually, you’ve been doing a lot of work, right?

Trying to incorporate music into medicine. And so tell us a little bit about, about your, your journey with. with incorporating that into your job. So I think that’s, that is kind of the first way that the arts snuck back into my life because it’s kind of like when I left entertainment, I thought I was leaving the arts forever.

And it was almost like, like an ex girlfriend or something. It’s like, it’s, it’s just too painful. Like, I don’t, I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to talk to you. Like it just opens up too many painful [00:30:00] memories, you know, and, um, and something that you just loved so deeply too, you know what I mean? And so years after, um, I had gone down this path, I was a pre med and, um, my mom got, uh, diagnosed with, uh, breast cancer and, uh, and they still caught it like kind of early, you know, it had traveled through her lymph nodes, but just a little bit, um, but she had multiple surgeries and radiation and chemo.

And in one of her chemo sessions, Um, there was this one treatment that, you know, had the potential to turn your fingernails and your toenails black and, and make them fall off. And she’d already lost her hair and, you know, surgically removed her breasts. And like, the last part of her femininity is her fingernails.

And she’s like, oh hell no, I’m not about to lose these. And so they put your, your fingernail, fingers and toes in ice to vasoconstrict. Clamp down on those blood vessels so less of the chemo gets to your extremities And you may be more likely to keep your fingernails and [00:31:00] toenails and and but that’s a very painful Experience, you know, you remember like being a kid and having ice on your head and it’s like two minutes later You’re like, ah get this thing off me Well, my mom has my willpower and she she did that for like an entire hour and I’m like 20 Two year old kid, like, watching my mom suffer, and it was just, I, I knew that something needed to happen in that next chemo, and I didn’t know what it was, and then my sisters and I thought back to, like, what brought us together as a family when we were so young, and that was music, and those were instruments, and singing, and playing together, and so the second chemo session she did, we brought our instruments, and that room just, like, lit up, and it was just, like, It was so happy and it was so full of life and it was so full of love and the hour just, like, flew by.

It flew by. And we were like, what? Look at that! Wow. And, you know, after you experience something like that, you’re like, I, I can’t keep this to myself. I’m being selfish [00:32:00] if I don’t figure out a way to share this with people. And so I started a non profit called Music Meets Medicine. And at this point we’ve raised somewhere, I think over 250, 000 for music therapy programs.

Donating instruments, um, giving music lessons to kids in children’s hospitals, and it just like, it just feeds the soul and brings me closer to something that is a part of, you know, my heart and always has been. Right. That’s awesome because there’s so much about the healthcare system, you know, we talk about this all the time because You know, I in particular have experienced this a lot that it just dehumanizes people.

It’s, it’s, uh, nobody likes going into a hospital and that’s, you know, kind of all boils down to that. It’s, it’s about sickness and death. And then it’s just, you know, bland walls and horrible lighting and just all these things that suck the joy out of life. So having things that put it back into the hospital walls, I think is a.

is amazing and desperately needed. That’s really awesome. The same things. And those are the same things that people would be like seeking out [00:33:00] when a loved one is dying or when they’re getting married. All of the highs and all of the lows are always accompanied by our favorite music and our favorite artists.

So why the hell would it be any different? When we’re having like these deep moments of despair in the hospital, yeah. Right. And as, as, I know you have this project Moonshot Concerts. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And this is a, a, a kind of offshoot from a viral Instagram. I don’t want to say, is it real? Is it a real? Oh, yeah.

Well, I, it was a real, it was a TikTok. Don’t make fun of me. Yeah. I, again, I’m not, I, I’m, I’m a member. I’m like 56 years old. Anyway. The number just keeps going up. But yeah, that’s right. and is that where this idea? Yeah. So tell, tell the listeners about this. Well, it’s so basically one of the very first like true donors to music meets medicine I was in med school.

I had already done some volunteering in the hospitals [00:34:00] and some of my fellow pre meds or med students You know, we’d gone in and volunteered and donated some instruments and stuff, but really hadn’t raised much money at all yet you know and and my med school attending a psychiatrist told us that she was, uh, about to start chemo treatments.

She was gonna lose her hair, she was gonna have some energy changes, but she wasn’t gonna stop teaching us. And she was, she was committed to us. Um, and, and I, I told her that I would love to come and, and sing for her during her chemo session. So I was there for, if not the first one, one of her very first ones, and, uh, and sang for her and, and sang for, you know, she and her husband.

And we just connected. Like, we connected on just a different level. And there was this one song, man, so like, you know Colin Hay, the lead singer of, uh, of Men at Work? Mm hmm, yep. He, they basically were like, you know, kind of requesting songs, they were like, you know any Colin Haye? And I had sung some other songs from whatever, uh, one of, one of the [00:35:00] songs actually was Rammstein.

They were like, do you know any Rammstein? I was like, oh yeah, like German, like metal band. I mean, yeah, but it’s just me and my acoustic guitar, but okay. So But then the only Colin Hayes song I knew came to mind and I was like, okay I’ll play that song for him and the song dude, the song is so intensely applicable to their situation.

It’s

If I was a hundred and two, I just don’t think I’ll ever get over you. And I’m like, I’m in the middle of this song when I realized what I was singing for him. And I was like, Oh no, I can’t, I can’t back out now. And, uh, but instead of it just feeling wrong, it, it was so right. It was so right in that moment.

And they just. Connected and just, we’re dancing, actually, [00:36:00] uh, together with the IV line in her arm and, and this just like bond was formed between us and they wrote a 5, 000 check that day for Music Meets Medicine and I was like, I have a real non profit now!

Like, a lot of responsibility, I gotta figure out how to put these dollars to good use and it’s time to grow up now, we’re not just this little thing anymore and, And we developed this beautiful relationship through the years, and a certain number of years later, Cancer came back, and this was actually 2017.

So Cancer came back in 2017, and uh, and I received a phone call, and, and we’d been friends since then, and they had donated more, and we’d done fundraisers together and everything, and, um, and he was like, J Mac, you know, I realized that… There are some things that you can do anything with your life, right?

There’s so many things that you can do with your time, but the things that you really should focus on are the things that nobody else can do. The things that like only you can do, like as a parent, [00:37:00] uniquely you, like as a parent, like nobody can do that job as well as you can. So like, that’s where a disproportionate amount of your energy should go in this world.

Like that is the thing. And he was like, J Mack. We’re starting chemo tomorrow. It was like eight at night. It was eight at night. He was like, we’re starting chemo tomorrow and only you can be that guy to be there with us. And I was like, all right. I don’t know who I called. Like, actually, I think I called one of my colleagues.

I think I called one colleague and I was like, I need help tomorrow. And they were like, you think I’m gonna say no? Go! Go! And so, and I went, and we, we went down this journey again together. And, you know, she ended up surviving for a really long time, all the way, um, into 2023. You know, that’s a really long time to have metastatic.

Cancer of any sort, but breast cancer and uh, and they came to me two months ago And they and and and we had done a couple of concerts at their house [00:38:00] and fundraisers in their home And that’s one of the reasons why they bought this old beautiful historic home In in Dallas on this row of all these other beautiful old historic homes.

It’s because they wanted concerts there They wanted to share their home with other people and and we got to do that a couple times But not nearly as much as they wanted And they realized that it was coming close to the end and they were like, J Mac. We have this list of artists, and we need your help to, to reach them.

And it was like, Colin Hay, and Ben Soltes. I saw the list on that Instagram, on the, on the list on Instagram. And Vienna Tang, and Lauren Daigle, and all these enormous artists. And I was like… I’m supposed to connect with

you? I guess I don’t want to follow… I was just in a boy band. I don’t know, what do you expect from me? I don’t have these kind of connections. And I called one friend in LA and I was like, hey, you’re in the music business. Like, can you get me in touch with these people? And he was like, I hope [00:39:00] they have millions of dollars because that’s the only way that any of these artists are going to be performing.

And, uh, and I felt so helpless in that moment, and, and I, I did the only thing that I, I knew how to do in that moment, and I basically just like broke down on camera and begged the internet, I begged the internet for any sort of connection to anybody who knew, anybody who knows anybody who knows one of these artists because they didn’t, they didn’t, I mean, they wanted to not pay a million dollars for it, but they, they wanted to pay for this.

They wanted to, you know, figure out a way to, to bring the people that they love the most in their life and bring them all into their home at the same time and, and have these wonderful artists there. And um, and man, the internet just came together. To make a dying woman’s wish come true. And all of that love just like funneled through me to get to them, you know, and I got to share these amazing things every day.

Cause they’re not on the internet. They’re like [00:40:00] you, you know, except they don’t have a kajillion followers. They’re like you, not on the internet, except for your million followers. You’re like on the internet, but you’re not. I think it’s hilarious. It’s like this hilarious oxymoron thing. Um, but there was so much joy and excitement that we got to share in their final months.

You know, together as a whole family and, um, not all the artists could make it. Um, in person, Ben Folds, very wisely, was like, I’m coming in town in October, but, he knew, he knew how serious things were, and so he was like, let’s do a Zoom, let’s do a Zoom. And so he did a private Zoom, 30 minutes, they did all requests, and, and what’s really cool is that everybody that was on that list, they were there because there’s like this special, beautiful, unique memory.

That’s attached to each one of those artists in one of their songs. Gracie Benfold’s song, Gracie, was the first song they ever played their child, Gracie. You know, and, and so, they just, they got to [00:41:00] relive all these beautiful memories of their life together. And they got to experience all these new wonderful things.

And we realized that we were on to something really special. Because that was, that was a moonshot list. That was a moonshot list. And they, they got it. And one of the things that was the most inspiring is they were asking me, they were like, JMac, nothing. Incredible is going to happen if, if you don’t just ask, you know, like you just have to ask.

And so I was like, here I am, I’m asking, and the internet just like, did it. And, but, but I think that there’s something special there that we can replicate. And so we created kind of, um, a non profit within a non profit called Moonshot Concerts. And, and we’re going to find families in the darkest of times, and we’re going to figure out how to connect them with their moonshot artists.

And I don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like yet, you know, um, but, but like they said, you know, if you, if you don’t put it out there, like you never know what’s going to happen. And I think it is going to happen. And I think [00:42:00] we’re going to be able to make some really special, wonderful memories for really deserving families.

Well, that’s, that’s just, uh, unbelievable. Yeah. I’m having a moment. Oh my goodness. Me too. Clearly. What an amazing project. That’s, that’s, that’s so great. Yeah, I just think it’s touching me because I mean it’s obviously a very touching story all on its own But also just you know from what we have experienced Yes, that is that’s my biggest mission with our Platforms is you know putting the the human back into Medicine and so one of the things that I hear Um, so much from people in the healthcare industry, right?

Physicians and clinicians of all sorts is, you know, yeah, but like, how, how can we be humans with our patients? We need to have this level of professional distance and we need to have some emotional distance in order to be able to do our jobs. And, you know, I, [00:43:00] I see where all of that is coming from. But I don’t know, what do you think, as someone who’s a physician and someone doing this kind of work, do you think they can coexist or do you think they have to be, I mean, you’re kind of doing it as a non profit, not like in your professional capacity.

I think, I think this has brought my heart back to me, man, because in residency I was so Deeply burnt out. I mean, I could tell a room full of loved ones, a room full of loved ones, that their family member passed away. And I felt nothing. I felt zilch. And it sucked. It sucked feeling that. I was like, what’s…

wrong with me. Like, what have I become, you know? And, and through my time with the non profit, you know, and through just not being in residency, because there’s the schedule and my eating habits and not exercising and just my life is like, bleh, like. Not even your hair looked good. It was bad. It was a terrible time.

Actually, [00:44:00] my hair looked great. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Actually, my hair looked great. That was the one thing he had. That was still there. I still had the hair. That’s good. But I was able to, like, regain my emotion, and I’m so happy, and I feel so much more connected. I think I’m going to be and am a better dad and husband.

and family member and I think I am a better doctor because of that and in the moment, you know, I have patients that because I work in the ER So there are patients that are dying right in front of me or are dead and it’s my job to try to bring them back And I’m not emotional at all in those moments I’m, very much strategic and I’m just thinking about things in a very stepwise manner.

Um, but then afterwards now I I love that I can sit in a room with a family and I can hold their hand and if they cry like I’ll shed a tear too, you know, and if I’m telling someone that they’re having a miscarriage, I can, I can just silence everything else around me in the ER and I can really truly be there with them.

Um, and connect to them and just like, just be there in the moment, in the silence, you know? And, um, and I think, I [00:45:00] think that makes me a better doctor. I do. Yeah. I am not a doctor, obviously, but that is what I, what I argue. So I, I’m glad you have the credentials behind your name to agree with me. So it counts more when it comes from you, I guess, but there are moments when you can’t have emotion, but.

In those moments where you can, I think the inclination is to, is to like lock them away and be like I need to be professional, but I can’t tell you how many times patients have just like, because I, you’re just, you’re holding their hand and telling them some of the most devastating news they’ve ever had in their life.

And for you to not, like, mirror the, like, gravity of that situation, there’s like, there’s a cognitive dissonance there, you know, that is probably confusing to them. Well, and I’ll tell you, from being on the other end, it’s not only confusing, it’s traumatic. It’s painful. Yeah. It causes harm. Yeah. And the whole thing is do no harm.

Yeah. Right? It’s just, you, you have to remember to extend that out to the people connected to the patient, not just to the patient. And I think in trying to do no [00:46:00] harm to the patient, we’re doing harm to… Families. But that’s a whole soapbox I could go on. But I think also it’s, it’s, you know, it doesn’t help the doctor either.

Like you’re saying, you know, it just made you kind of a shell of a person to try to block off. It did, and it’s only a matter of time until that bleeds into your personal life. Exactly. Right. Uh, let me ask you, do you, do you keep a guitar in the emergency department for special occasions? Do I keep a guitar right next to me at all times?

Do you

bring that thing to work with you? No, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t. Do you wake up in the morning and do that to your wife? Yes, and she’s like, honey, please. Tone it down a bit. Can I say, I did, I did when my wife was pregnant, she had like, Hypernosmia every single time it’s when like you can like smell like in like a super powered way It was horrible bad thing it’s a bad thing I smelled wooden cabinets and they made me nauseous [00:47:00] You could smell the wooden counter.

Yeah, my wife could smell the coffee across the house And she loved coffee, but she would it would like make her gag but on her birthday I rolled over in bed and I was like Happy birthday! And she was like, And she ran to the bathroom and threw up. Great way to start a

birthday. Perfect, yeah. I have a, I have a music themed game for us to play. But real quick, I just have one more question just about you as an emergency physician. Have you done a lateral canthotomy? Funny you should ask, actually. We were talking on the break about how you have to turn in your MD on Friday at 4 p.

m. And I literally, I have done a lateral canthotomy before, called an ophthalmologist, and they were like, you know, kind of waking up middle of the night, they’re like, okay, just send it to my office in the morning. And I was like, after a lateral canthotomy, just like, let this guy go home [00:48:00] with like his face.

So if you have, the most common scenario where this occurs is when you have a bleed behind the eye, that’s filling up the orbit, which is the space behind the eye, and it pushes the eye forward, That’s the key. It happens very quickly. So the, the tissues don’t have a chance to relax and accept the eye moving forward and kind of, so anyway, what happens is the eye gets pushed from behind and gets trapped by the eyelids.

And so, and that happens, it’s like compressing the eye and increasing the pressure inside the eye. Which can very rapidly make you go blind. The eyelids on the front putting pressure on it, and then blood from the back. Right, yeah. Exactly, yeah. Squeezing it. The eye can’t escape, right? It can’t, because the eyelids are blocking it.

So what you do is you do what’s called a lateral canthotomy, where basically you just detach the lower eyelid. I was afraid you were going to say that. At the [00:49:00] outside part of the eyelid, on the lower eyelid. You just cut it from the bone and that allows the eye to move forward, releasing that pressure.

And it’s a very scary procedure for anybody outside of ophthalmology. Yeah, terrifying for ER doctors. It’s terrifying. We do it, we do it, but we are terrified to do it. the morning. We’re like, Are you kidding me? This is the scariest thing I could do involving the eye. Well, well, here’s, here’s the thing. Uh, there’s nothing in that area though that you can like permanently screw up unless you like cut the eyeball itself.

And so that’s why it’s not a big deal. You could just send them, we will see ’em in the morning. , it’s so crazy because it’s just the lower eyelid. There’s no like, like, uh, you know, uh, you know, critical structure there that you could damage. Yeah, that would be a big problem. And then it’s an EAs it’s the easiest thing in the world to fix.

We do it all the time. There’s procedures where you tighten up the lower eyelid, where you do a lateral cathodic. Maybe it’s the easiest thing in the world to fix when it’s an [00:50:00] ophthalmologist doing it, but for an ER doctor, that seems very intense. But actually, if it, maybe if it were you that I was waking up in the middle of the night and you explained it to me like that, I’d be like, okay, I’ll send him home.

But at the same time, he was coming. I wouldn’t do that. I would just say send them to me in the clinic in the morning. Yeah. , that’s, that’s what I would do. Yeah. For that. So we’ve learned that a lateral can Otomy is not a pants patient. Oh, oh no. It is, it’s, it’s even worse than that. Like there’s no time for me to come in.

So a pants patient is a patient where I, it’s such an emergency that I have to put on my pants to come in to see the patient . Yeah. Um, but that’s like a, i I it needs to be done before I even have a chance to get there. It’s true. Yeah. That’s the thing. That’s why it’s scary and that’s why we’re trained to do it.

But once it’s done, like now, once it gets to you, that’s no longer a pants a patient. You just keep your pants on. That’s your pants patient. Yeah. Alright, here we go. Let’s, let’s get, let’s get to this game here. Cause I spent all of, like, seven minutes, uh, playing this. Coming up with this. Alright. It’s just, it’s called musical specialties.

Okay? Musical specialties. I’m going to give [00:51:00] you a musical instrument. And you have to tell me what specialty that instrument belongs to. I like it. I like it. Okay, let’s go. Okay. All right. The first one. Drums. I mean, emergency, right? It’s gotta be emergency. I just agree. We’re all over the place. Yeah. We’re ADD.

Sometimes we’re on the ride. Sometimes we’re on the hi hat. See, I, I think it’s ortho. Why, just because of the banging and the power in their hands? Exactly. I feel like that’s more like the, what’s this one in the marching band? Like the bass drum? The bass drum? That’s ortho. See, I think, I think emergency is, is the like, the, the busker who’s got like, uh, the drums.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re doing like eight different things at once. That’s, that’s, if there were a song for emergency, it would be Bohemian Rhapsody. Yes. Like he’s like going to [00:52:00] all these different, exactly. We, so we may disagree on some of these things, but I’m interested to hear what you think. So how about trumpet?

Who’s the trumpet player of medicine? Trumpet player of medicine. Loud. I totally just made it up. I’m just like expecting you all to just… Read my mind Here can be a little jazzy . Uh, maybe a little uptight though. Infectious disease. I don’t know. I don’t know. Oh, I went, I thought cardiology. There we go. I like that one.

I like that one better. Yeah. Yeah. Just kinda loud , kinda kind in your face. Yeah. You know, there the, I don’t know. I don’t, I’m just, no, this, yeah, I like that. I like that I’m with you. That none of this makes sense. Um, alright, how about, uh, what do you think about. Let me give you the specialty, and you tell me what instrument they play.

How about, let’s switch it up a little bit. Yeah, we won’t play Read My Mind anymore. Yeah, let’s not do that. Yours are good though, I like yours though. Alright, um, what do you think about for a nephrologist? What instrument do they [00:53:00] play? For a nephrologist… Um, I mean I like, as we’re talking about these people, I’m like imagining your character with like the big glasses and everything.

Of course, yeah! Ugh. Me too! I mean, I’m like, I’m just seeing him like play something in this position, so I’d say just a recorder. A recorder? Oh, I like that. That’s good, just a recorder. I down to recorder. Um, what would you do? Well, I wrote down French horn. Because it’s a, it’s a very challenging instrument.

Oh, the tubules. Yeah. There you go. I didn’t think about tubules, but that’s good. Yeah. Just pretend like you. In fact, just don’t it. Yeah. Although I don’t, I don’t think that they call French horn tubes tubules, but, um, maybe they will now. So there we go. All right. Here’s a, uh, what do you think about anesthesiologists?

Anesthesiologists. [00:54:00] They’ve got to be the floutest. I would say, I would say they put you to sleep, so it’s like, um, something, I don’t know, like a, like a cello, like a cello would be good, that’s right, yes, cello, a flute, not bad, cause also, lots of air, lots of air, and also like, Very, you know, I feel like a flutist is like detail oriented and like, on top of it, and like paying attention.

I, I love how you pronounce that correctly, by the way, Flo Flutist, I was a, I was a flutist. Yes, you were a flutist. . I, I was a, I was always a flutist, basically. Always a flutist. I, I, I, I don’t know why we’re going like, uh, Irish accent on this. I dunno. , you said the bus. I also wrote down bagpipes for anesthesia, but I like your ideas better.

I don’t know. No, that’s funny, yeah, because they have that big thing that they squeeze. Yep, yep, yeah, totally dude, that’s hilarious. Dude, this is why you’re so successful in what you do, [00:55:00] because you’re able to just like nail the different specialties so well. Can I go off on a short tangent? Do you do, do you just like call up your friends that are in these specialties and just like kinda talk through?

He doesn’t have any friends, J Mac. That was a bad, that was a wrong presumption, right? Um. I, no, actually, I, I, uh, I do lots of social media research, so, so, so what I, because most of my skits are like conflicts between specialties, um, the, the, what’s great is that everybody loves to make, to, to, um, complain about each other on social media.

So sometimes I’ll like, I’ll see something and it gives me an idea like on, on Twitter or Reddit or something. I of that, like. Because it’s more back and forth. Yeah, exactly. There’s more, there’s more back and forth conversations that happen on Twitter. So you get more of the, of the kind of neurotic people who are like mad at each other.

And that also makes sense how you’re like coming from like a [00:56:00] fresh perspective in, on TikTok and cause you’re taking things from a platform that people on TikTok might not be engaging with and you’re bringing it to that platform. He’s going straight to the source. Like he’s not just presuming, he’s just saying what people say.

Once I have the conflict. That I know I’m going to create the skit around. Then sometimes I do have to do actual, like, medical literature research to, like, remember, oh, what is a renal tubule? Because again, we’re back to the not a real doctor. Yeah, exactly. Like, I don’t know any body medicine. You’ve forgotten all of those things.

So, but, but the thing is, when you’re making content, like, about medical stuff, like, the minute you say something that’s not medically accurate, you’re going to get a thousand people, like, oh, that’s not actually correct. Yeah, so I actually have to like learn I actually have what’s the pocket medicine book?

Oh that green one. Yeah. Yeah Yeah one from MGH. I’ve used that a couple times as an ophthalmologist just for strictly comedic purposes. [00:57:00] For but I think the authors would be excited to know that you use that for your skits. Shout out Pocket Medicine. They have not paid me any money yet. Um, okay. Yeah. Does MGH want to be a sponsor of this podcast?

All right. Um, I’ve got a couple more. Okay. The ophthalmologist. Tuba.

Tuba. Tuba. Tuba. I’m just imagining you with a big tuba. So why? Why tuba? Because of the noise he just made. That was literally what was in my head. You know, the one before. Okay, actually, when you hear what I chose, actually, tuba is not a bad guess. What Did you pick trombone? I went triangle. Triangle! The triangle.

Because I do one thing really well. Really, really well. And you just wait for the right time in that person’s life to be like, bing, bing. That’s [00:58:00] right. Exactly. That’s great, I love that. Okay, I was actually very proud of this next one. General Surgeon. General Surgeon. Ego, a little bit. Aggressive. In residency at least, like to be the star of the show, but I don’t, I don’t feel the same thing like now that I’m in You know, more like community hospitals and stuff like that.

Oh, it’s totally different in community hospitals. It is. It’s a really different vibe. Like, I feel like all my characters, like, are based on, like, academic, academic, uh, physicians. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if we’re thinking, like, more kind of academic, I don’t know. I don’t know. What do you think? Who is the most arrogant musician in an orchestra?

First violin, I don’t know. That’s what I was thinking in my head, but I was like, I feel like it’s not nailing the specialty. I’m gonna get a lot of angry violinists. You probably are, yeah. Um, okay, actually I didn’t go with the personality type of thing, so here’s my choice for a [00:59:00] general surgeon. Okay. The organ.

The organ, yes, like the pipe organ. The pipe organ. Oh, like the big massive one on the wall. Oh yeah, dude. I was thinking like a Hammond B3. I was like, I’m not vibing with that. But yeah, the massive church one. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, also just because they’re surgeons and they operate on organs. Wow! Next level.

Usually that comes from me, not you. I’m impressed. Thank you. I was very proud of that. That’s off to you, sir. If I would wear one, but I don’t because my hair is so beautiful. Because of the hair. It’s true. Yeah. Alright. I understand. Well, that was Musical Specialties, everybody. That was fun. That was fun. Um.

That was really good. I don’t think I had any. Those were the best ones. I had some other ones, but… Yeah. Well, anybody can think of some other pairings. Please do. Let us know. We’ll save it for the next, uh, former boy band, uh, musical emergency medicine person that comes on. [01:00:00] You might be, you might, are you the only, uh, I think you’re probably the only boy band participant who ended up becoming a physician.

I would have to guess. Like you’re a one of one. You’re a unicorn in medicine. I am unaware of any others. And in boy bands. It’s in both directions. There’s no boy band members doing, becoming doctors and there’s no doctors. That’s true. Do you think there’s no like, Kim Jong of boy band. Right. Like,

40 years old, in a midlife crisis, and trying to turn it around. It’s never too late. I That sounds like, like a setup for like a Will Ferrell movie. Yeah, it really does. I don’t know, some kind of comedy. Well, first of all, thank you, Dr. J. Mack, for coming on and for telling us your stories and about your life and music.

And it’s just, this is such a fascinating conversation. I want to also just make sure everyone knows where they can find you. You’re on TikTok [01:01:00] and Instagram. TikTok, Instagram. Facebook. I’m trying to grow something on YouTube. It’s not really translating. So please follow me on YouTube. You’ll be the

only one. What? It’s gotta start somewhere. Early adopter. Your non profit is Music Meets Medicine. and the program that we talked about is called Moonshot Concerts. Um, you know, really if you, if you follow me on, on Instagram specifically, I’ll be sharing more about that as things develop. Um, but there are separate accounts for those as well, if you’d like to follow up.

Awesome. Yep, check it out. Very cool. Well, thanks again. Appreciate it. Man, thank you guys. This was really fun. This was great. This was fun. Alright, take care. Later.

Man, I wish I had that kind of energy. I know. You could, you’re right. He belongs in emergency medicine. Like, I, just like… It’s… And [01:02:00] three kids. That’s one more than us and we’re exhausted. Yeah, I know. I don’t know how he does it. Well, he’s very talented and very brilliant and he’s also an emergency physician.

So they just have, it’s just… But just the unbridled enthusiasm for life. I’m jealous of it. Yeah, I know Artist in him, I think. Oh, yeah, just fantastic work. He’s doing with music and that’s just that’s awesome So hope hope people check that out. The Medicine really a cool cool project. He’s doing Let us know what you thought.

Let us know if you have any other any musical people we should have on Let’s have some other, some. We’ve had a, a violin md. Yes. Uh, Shaban, uh, came on, that’s right. On a while back. She plays a, a violinist. Um, we could have a, what do you call it, tuba player. A tists a tuba player. But there’s, you know, like Flo is together.

I don’t know clarinet. That’s a good question. a Trump, Trumpist. No. Any [01:03:00] other orchestra members? Anybody in an orchestra who is remotely related to medicine, uh, you can reach out to us. Knock, knock. Hi at human content. com. There’s lots of other ways to hit us up. We’re on all the social media platforms too.

Um, and you can also hang out with us in our human content podcast family on Instagram and Tik Tok at human content pods. Thank you to all the wonderful listeners, uh, leaving feedback and reviews. We love those great reviews. If you subscribe and comment on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube, we can give you a shout out like today.

At Amanda Watson on YouTube said, My dad lost an eye as a child playing with wooden swords. Oof. Ooh, when he caught me and my brother doing the same, he took his glass eye out and scared the living crap out of me. To this day, I’m terrified of children and sticks, and hopefully I carry that over to my sons who will pass it on to my granddaughter so far.

Thank you for that wonderful review. That was, that’s, Amanda Watt, that’s, that’s, [01:04:00] Thank you so much for that. I love that. Honestly, I will love any eye related story. It doesn’t matter where, uh, or when, or how. Well, to be fair, I think this was a YouTube Thank you so much. And good on your dad. That’s a, that’s a great, uh, great use of the prosthetic eye.

What good, right, what good is having a glass eye if you can’t scare your children with it? Exactly. It’s perfect. I bet he was a lot of fun on Halloween. Full video episodes every week of this, uh, full video episodes of this podcast every week on my YouTube channel. Is that what I’m trying to say? I don’t know.

Are you stroking out? It’s late. It’s late. Uh, we also have a Patreon. Lots of cool perks, bonus episodes where we react to medical shows and movies. Other members of the Knock Knock High community, we’re there, we’re, we’re posting, we’re, uh, putting up polls left and right, all kinds of polls, get lots of information from polls, early ad free episode access, interactive Q& A live stream events, much more, patreon.

com slash glockenflecken, or go to glockenflecken. com, speaking of Patreon [01:05:00] community perks, new members, shout out Sarah Y., Natalie H., Janice S., Katie Von S., Jenny J., Emma I., Justin, and Jonathan G. We got another Jonathan! Yay! Another Jonathan member. Welcome, Jonathan G. We’re gonna collect all the Jonathans. Yes, all the Jonathans.

Speaking of Jonathans, shoutout to the Jonathans. We have Patrick, Lucia C, Sharon S, Omar, Edward K, Steven G, Jonathan F, Marion W, Mr. Grandaddy, Caitlin C, Brianna L, Dr. J, Ross Fox, Chaver W, Leah D, Kay L, Rachel L, Ann P, Keith J, G, JJ H, Abby H. Derrick N, Jonathan A, Mark, Mary H, Susanna F, and Pink Macho! You’re wearing pink for Pink Macho.

You look like Pink Macho. Patreon Roulette, a random shoutout to someone on the emergency medicine tier. Jackie S, thank you for being a patron! And I didn’t give a virtual head nod to all the Jonathans, so I gotta go back and [01:06:00] do that. Virtual head nod to you all. Thank you all for listening. We are your hosts, Will and Kristen Glockenflaken.

Special thanks to our guest today, Dr. J. Max Slotter. Our executive producers are Will Flannery, Kristen Flannery, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman, and Shahnti Brooke. Editor and engineer Jason Portiza. Our music is by Omer Ben Zvi. I said all the names right! Finally! I did it. I didn’t screw any of those up. To learn about our Knock Knock Highs, Program Disclaimer, and Ethics Policy, the Submission Verification and Licensing Terms.

Weren’t you just saying the other day you wanted to learn more about the Submission Verification and Licensing Terms? Yeah, I am trying to memorize it. Yes. So that I know it by heart. How’s it going? Um, I’m through the third clause. Perfect. And HIPAA Release Terms, you can go to our website, Dr. You’ve messed up your own name.

I’m like making up websites here. Glockenflecken. com or reach out to us, Knock Knock High at Human Content. com. With any questions about Program Disclaimer and Ethics Policy, any concerns about Submission of Verification of Licensing Terms, or fun medical puns about HIPAA Release Terms. Or anything [01:07:00] else, Knock Knock High is a human content production.

Knock, goodbye.

Kristen, would you say we have a busy life? Yes, I would say. That’s an understatement. We got the kids. Yeah, the house. We got the podcast we run. Yep, our jobs. Yeah, I do film skits from time to time as well. Yeah, we have a lot of demands on our time. You know who else has a lot of demands on their time? Who?

Physicians. That is true. Yeah, and a lot of it’s documentation. It really, it leads to burnout and everybody just feels overwhelmed, like they can’t keep up. You know what would help with that? What? The Nuance Dragon Ambient Experience, or DAX for short. What a cute name. I love that name, right? DAX. It just rolls off the ticket.

DAX, give me some DAX. I need some DAX. Help us DAX, we need to be able to improve the patient [01:08:00] physician relationship and DAX is here to help. It’s this AI powered ambient technology that just helps you with your documentation and just allows you to return to doing What you want to do as a physician, take care of patients.

To learn more about the Nuance Dragon Ambient Experience or DAX, visit nuance. com slash discover dax. That’s n u a n c e dot com slash discover d a x.