EP 58: A Christmas Miracle in Scrubs
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Dreaming of a white Christmas Just like my patient skin flakes Bessie

Hello, we are so festive. You are listening to your favorite caffeinated, medicated, and never hydrated nurse, Nurse John. And welcome back for another episode of your favorite podcast. I beg your pardon, Bessie.

Are you loving my PJs right now? If you don't see it, if you're not looking at it right now, I am wearing the Grinch pajamas because you know, it's the holiday season. Who's watching a bunch of this holiday cringy movies right now? I just saw this holiday movie called

Of a sexy chiseled snowman that became a man. It was a lot to see. It was cringy. I don't know why they keep making this cringy Hallmark movie. It's not how it used to be before, you guys. It used to be like, it's not cringy. But like, you know, like you get giggly. You get inspired to be loved again. To want to be cuddled. To want to be romanced. But this cringy ones right now, they're just crazy. Crazy, crazy.

Anyways, you guys, I am so festive because, you know, I love this month. This is my favorite season of all, even though I don't have snow in California here in Los Angeles. I still feel the breeze because every single morning it's so cold here in Los Angeles. I just miss the winter wonderland back in Canada, but I don't want to go back there because my mom keeps sending me all the pictures.

And they are piled with a lot of snow and I'm not ready to go back. I want to choose to get snow. I don't want to be waking up with so much snow that I have to clean it. It's not jolly holly Christmas, okay? Before we continue, if you're listening right now, make sure that you follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Make sure that you share this episode. Make sure that you give us a five-star review so that our podcast keeps continuing and other people can find out about it and share it to your friends, family, colleagues. And another thing, if you guys are wondering what will help you,

Stay alive and stay awake during this holiday season at work. It's my favorite energy drink called rice fuel Let's open one together There you go. This is their newest flavor that is so festive too cherry limeade Let's try it for the first time. Ooh, baby. That is good. I

I love rice fuel so much because it doesn't have sugar. It's full of caffeine. And there's so many amazing flavors that you could pick. And honestly, this keeps you alive and awake and going for your next 8 to 12 hour shifts. Again, if you guys want to check them out, it's R-Y-S-E-F-U-E-L rice fuel.com.

I don't have any codes, but you can find them in Target, in Amazon, in their website, in your nearest gasoline store. Convenience store. Oh my God, I'm losing my shit. Yes, convenience store. You can find them. Rise Fuel. I love them so, so much. And also, Bessie, if you didn't know, last week I released my first ever skincare line.

Philly Skin. That is right. F-I-L-I. And you want to guess why it's called Philly? Because I'm Filipino. Period. And we released our first ever product, which is an under eye cream serum. Because I told myself, if I'm ever going to start and produce my first ever product for my skincare line, it's going to be an under eye cream serum. You know why? Because you see it on Nurse Pam. You see it in Nurse Meredith. You see it in every single nurse in my skits.

And also, under eye bags are my biggest insecurities when I was working full time as a nurse. And even now, when you get super tired and you look in the mirror and you look dead outside, I think you could use some under eye cream. That's why you guys, you should definitely go pre-order or get yourself some.

Some Philly under eye cream serum at www.phillyskin.com. That's F-I-L-I-S-K-I-N.com. There's no code needed. All you have to do is add it to your cart, get it, and tag me and our Instagram at philly.skin. Make sure that you review it and tell me how it feels for you. Because honestly, Bessie, this under eye cream, we've sat down so, so many minutes.

many days and months and the whole year for us to formulate this for sensitive skin combination, oily, dry skin. It is vegan. And again, if you want to try it, it's www.phillyskin.com.

and lastly before we head on a week ago too we released the leg two of the short staff tour that's right bessie we released 80 new shows for the short staff tour that's right we're going to canada finally so if you want to go see your bestie live on the road with your friends family colleagues

Head on to www.NurseJohnNNShows.com. Get your tickets, your VIP, and come see your bestie. I'm going to make you laugh. I'm going to make sure that you forget all your problems just for the night. And I'm going to make sure that you feel seen and you feel related too. All right. For this episode of the I Beg Your Pardon podcast,

I've asked on my socials people to send me stories of any experiences or stories they have working in their careers that made them believe in miracles. May you be a nurse, a healthcare worker, or a patient or anything like that. And I got so much submission. So are you guys ready to believe in miracle during this holiday season? Let's go. Here is our first story.

My story is, in 2019 I had a gastric pacemaker installed, but she put it below my belly button because my ribcage was too narrow. All through 2019, once a month, I went to appointments and complained it was literally shocking my hip bones when I was moving. Fast forward to COVID in 2020 and her office was deemed "cosmetic" and close.

Oh my god. So in March of 2020, I developed a small lump near an incision. My gastro doctor watched it through Zoom. In late July, I woke up in severe pain with my belly just oozing stuff. My husband rushed me to the hospital and they instantly rushed me to isolation where I remained until December 22. When I was rushed to the hospital, she worked out obviously.

While I was in the first hospital, I had one doctor literally saving my life. She kept me alive. She had my husband and I get my affairs in order because I wasn't predicted to live. If it wasn't for her, I would have died.

debunk this whole thing. So first of all, how did you got a pacemaker? Maybe a fake doctor or something like that? How is that even legal? That's crazy. And I am so sorry that you had to go through that and I couldn't imagine the pain, the suffering, the challenges that you and your husband had to go through. And I just want to reiterate how like, because some people expect like nurses or doctors to know everything and that we can fix everything. We are not doctors.

God. We can only do our best and try our best, but there is a limit to it. We are also just human beings. And let's talk about the doctor who saved your life and who did not give up on you. There are people that are being empathetic, being compassionate, being caring. I have seen in my career doctors who are...

Excellent and they do everything that they could for every single patients and there are doctors too who just couldn't give a fuck I'm so happy that you found a doctor who actually cares about you. So I am so happy for you I hope you're living your life right now next

Story. When I was a dialysis technician, I had only been in healthcare around a year. A 94-year-old patient coded. This was an outpatient setting. My first code ever. I didn't even let the nurses start CPR. I literally jumped onto the patient. I was the littlest, smallest, thinnest tech to be able to be in correct position for CPR. I felt her ribs crack.

That was crazy insane. I had my fair share of...

code blue and being in that position really is tragic. It's traumatizing to be in that kind of position. Whenever I go to my shifts, I always pray that I don't get a code blue. But I salute you for being 20 and being someone who just came out from being a cashier at Walmart to be a lab technician and knowing to jump in a situation like that and start CPR, that's a lot of courage. And doing CPR, it is true that

people's rib might crack because that happens many times and it usually happens to people that are older and since we're talking about that now i just want to talk about that people don't understand sometimes is this is a very sensitive topic to talk about but it's something that needs to be talked about mostly for like family members or those people who don't understand is that

There are cases where like if your family member is really sick and the only reason why you want them to be full code is because you want them to live. Sometimes that's not the great choice. And going back to the story, I am so proud of you for bringing that patient back to life. Feels good to when you bring someone back to life. You're like, oh, my God, I saved someone's life, you know.

Next. I was working in the OR watching an organ donation harvest. I used to work in transplant. I prayed a prayer to God asking him to give us a sign that he's in the room with us. After they pulled the plug and all the meds off the patient waiting for them to naturally die, as soon as I said the prayer, I witnessed the patient's vital signs go from 30, dead, to 117, 700.

Something. The O2 levels went from 20s into 90s and the heart rate jumped from 80 BPM to held for 30 seconds until the patients passed. I asked if this typically happens like a final breath kind of thing and I was told it wasn't. That's insane.

This topic is very religious and for those people who are not religious, you don't have to believe in this kind of miracle. But for those people who are religious, including me because I'm Catholic, I do believe that that was a miracle too. And I always told myself that too when my grandpa died. I always just asked, I was like, please show me a butterfly if grandpa's here with me. Or show me something, like a sign or

And God always shows me a sign. God always provides and tells me that He's around me and He's watching me and He's protecting me. And, you know, I always prayed for my patients. But I just fully believe that whatever happens, happens for a reason. And that happened for a reason because you asked for a sign, He gave you a sign, and that was a miracle. Even though that patient passed, that patient...

was meant to go at that very specific time. And I do believe that too. So that was really nice. Next. The reason I believe in Miracle was because of one time on my nursing placement, I'm about to go into my final internship as a nursing student now. So fingers crossed I graduate. As an intellectual disability nursing, a lot of our placements are based in houses where people of mixed of age and mixed intellectual disabilities live their whole lives.

I was working in this one house of all women who were from the age of 50 to 72. Throughout my six week of placement there, I was working very closely with a 72 year old woman. I'll call her Mary. Mary recently got pneumonia and she was deteriorating quickly. I had never witnessed someone passing away before so I was completely new to everything around this.

Mary wasn't eating or drinking so we had her on subcut fluids. Her oxygen saturation was also extreme low so we had her on oxygen tank as well. She had been like this for about three weeks in her bed, not able to move but still alive. On the second last day of my placement, the nurse told the staff that she wanted to ring the pastor to come down and say prayers with Mary.

because she thought it would be better to say them to her when she's alive. The pastor came down to our house and invited us all into Mary's room. This was the only time all the staff were able to stop working in the house and actually be together in one room. We also called her family who were on FaceTime to listen to the prayers as well. The pastor went through the prayers. They only lasted about five minutes. Just as the pastor finished saying the prayer, Mary passed away.

The reason I believe that this is a miracle is because everyone was in her room at the same time for the first time. The staff, her family, and the pastor. It was like she was waiting for everyone to come together to be with her before she could allow herself to pass away. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird.

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That is so, so sweet. And yes, yes, yes. That is indeed a miracle. And I have actually witnessed those kinds of like situation. A patient is suffering so, so much until they meet that person.

one person that they want to meet or they have that one goal that they want to attain, they would not give up. And it usually, usually happens. And I remember this patient of mine who was dying of terminally ill cancer. And I remember like her sister was from another state or province. And it's taking her about like six hours to get to see her.

And those six hours were so brutally crazy suffering for her. And it was hard to see her in that status. But she kept going. She waited and she waited until her sister comes in the room. She comes in. They had a little talk. And after that, she passed away. It's...

just amazing how like our body our mind can do that as long as we want to as long as we put our mind into it and that situation was amazing because she also probably needed that last prayer with her whole family being there and everyone being there present and she was ready to go after that

That's amazing. I mean, like my grandpa didn't got that chance because, you know, my mom was working far, even though every single one of us was back in the Philippines, except my mom. She didn't got that chance, but actually he stayed.

For me. He stayed longer for me. Because I told you guys the story of my grandpa. Of how like, you know, I know he was... I didn't know he was in the end of life. But I know he was suffering a lot. But... And he had Alzheimer's. And the Alzheimer's took over completely of his memory. So on my birthday, he woke up from, you know, sleeping in the morning. And I was...

going to church to you know pray for my birthday and he woke up and he told me happy birthday on my special day he's like happy birthday carlo that's my second name he's like go pray and pray for me in church and two days after he passed away so i definitely do believe in miracles and

It's something that not everyone would agree to it, but I do believe in it and I do know that things happens for a reason. So that is beautiful. That is really, really beautiful. Next. So this isn't my story, but a story that one of my classmates during nursing school. So I'm basically going to summarize what she told me during our end of a clinical day session.

So her patient was walking on a trail with their husband near their vacation spot. I don't remember what she said but the patient had a terrible accident on the trail and was severely injured and couldn't at this point. The only way to get to the patient was via helicopter. The first helicopter crashed and was unable to get to her so she started to pray that she will get the help she will need. The second helicopter was able to reach her but didn't have enough correct supplies and wasn't able to safely transport her to the nearest hospital.

So finally, a third helicopter came and was able to safely stabilize her and transfer her to the hospital. So third time really is a charm. Again, if you're meant to live...

you're meant to live that's what I always like that's not something like I've learned through this year is that life is so so short for us to live in regrets and for me like no matter what you do in your life I think you have to remember that this one life that you have you have to make it worthwhile you have to make it fun and joyful like memorable because I know like not everyone can like

say that or do that because we all have different things in our lives but what i'm trying to say is that we have one life i don't think there's a second life for us to look forward to yes we do if you go to heaven but what i'm saying is that you're not gonna live again

You're not going to be 20 again. You're not going to be 30 again. You're not going to be 40 again. I think like, you know, this society has really built us to hate ourselves, to want more, to envy, to be jealous, to do all of these things. But I just realized and as something that I've learned too with all the things that's happening in my life right now,

is that being grateful is one of the biggest factor that could make you feel satisfactory of what you have in your life. Because once you feel grateful for what you have, no matter how big it is, no matter how small it is, you get to realize that you actually have everything that you need and everything that you wish for a year or two years ago. But it's just that we always move on with another journey

What do you call this? We always move on with another goal in life and we always tend to forgot to thank ourselves or to like look back and say like, oh my God, I wanted to be a pilot. Now I'm a pilot. Now I want other things and being a pilot. But two, five years ago, all they wanted to be was a pilot, right? Right.

So like realizing that what you have now is something to be grateful for and to not compare your life to others. Because I think like also social media has really pushed to us that all of these things that we see in social media is the reality. Is that people live in this like dreamy kind of like settings. But what you guys have to realize and this is coming from someone who does content creation is that that's not the reality.

The reality is not... I... It doesn't... Like when I cook... It looks so clean, right? It looks like I'm put together. It looks like I'm enjoying. Half of the time, you guys... I have so much dishes that I have to do right after I film all of those stuff. And I have to deal with it in silence. Or like my house looks put together but...

Because I put it all together like that so that when I show it on camera, it's all put together. That's what I want you guys to realize. Or like if someone has this like new phone or new house or new car, you don't gotta compare yourself. Comparing yourself is the teeth of joy. Comparing yourself to people who you never know what their life is and the only part you know is their social media life will eat you up alive.

Because I can assure you one thing that a lot of these people who looks like their life is put together are actually going through some hard shit in life. And you just don't know because all you see was the good stuff. The good things that they're doing. But never the hard stuff. And it was proven time and time again because there's so many situation and cases in social media where people are like,

you know, oh, this couple, they look so happy. They look like they love each other. They look like, you know, Prince Charming and like princess. And then a month after they broke up, you know why? Because actually they're going through some shit and they're just doing all of that. All of those things for content. It was never really their thing.

Like they were never really happy. And I want you to realize that. Or like, you know, they got the car, but it looks like they bought the car. It was actually on lease. And which is totally fine. But I'm just saying that, you know, people don't just get like to be to be lucky enough to have all those things in life. You have to be so rich and not all of us are capable of that.

Again, stop comparing yourself. Stop being, you know, hard on yourself and realizing that being grateful will make you realize that you have everything you wish in your life. Sometimes happiness could just be that you woke up another day. You have a chance to correct everything, to fulfill your dreams. And like if you really do see other people's success, use it as an anchor. Make it a motivational instead of like an envious kind of like situation.

Because that's what a lot of us do. I would not be fake here and say that sometimes I envy other people's life. I do. But then I had to ground myself and tell myself that, listen, you have a beautiful family who loves you. You have a job that's now making you happy. You're doing things in your life that's like satisfactory. That is something to be grateful for.

Again, being a stand-up comedian was never in my bucket list. It was never a dream of mine, but I'm a stand-up comedian now. And I'm happy that I'm able to do this. And this is something to be grateful for. Right?

So yeah, going back to that story, that's really amazing. And again, I just want to remind you guys how important it is to change some things in our lives so that we don't have to come into 2025 having the same mentality again in 2024. We have to lock in sis, lock in to do what we have to do for ourselves, improve ourselves, love ourselves, heal ourselves. And

And you know, stop comparing yourself to others. Correct? Period? Amazing. Next. In the ER, we had a nurse that was driving with her husband and one year old in the backseat. They were hit from behind. The husband was crushed. Oh my god. She had a minor abrasion. The baby was unharmed. This small sedan was mangled but they came by EMS as a trauma alert since there was a death in their vehicle. This is a miracle, no doubt. Phew.

Having worked in the ER for a very short period of time, like literally like four months, I have seen a few things and cases and situation. And, you know, car accidents are just so tough and so like heartbreaking. Because first of all, like if one of the people dies, like it's just insane. Because now like that mom and that baby had to live single. And I'm happy that the baby was unharmed and delivered.

the mom just had a abrasion or a scratch or something, but the dad dying, like it must be really tough for all of them to be in that position. That's why safety is such, such a priority when driving you guys. And I, I would not be hypocrite to say that I sometimes drive recklessly in a way like, you know, I don't fully do my stuff sometimes.

And I sometimes speed a bit. But I'm learning. Okay, 2025. New year. Okay. And during those night shifts, when I was working night shifts, I would literally speed to get back home because I don't want to die. But to all my night shift nurses, I just want to tell you guys, if you have to stop on the side of the road to take a nap...

do it please stop putting your hair on the window so that it pulls it or like burning yourself so that you can stay alive sometimes girlies you just gotta stop by in the mcdonald's stay there for a while take a nap and wake up because you don't want to get into an accident you don't

want to put other people in the same situation and you got to be very careful and for other people please i really really recommend seat belts on and making sure that the baby is strapped properly because some of you guys even though you have a car seat you don't really use the car seat properly and strap the baby properly okay this baby probably was unharmed because it was strapped properly

And the car seat was working. And how it should be. Okay. And I feel bad. And I'm praying for the family. I hope they're okay. Mostly the mom and the baby now. And rest in peace to the dad. But that's really heartbreaking. And it is a miracle. Because you know the baby was unharmed. I think like the baby getting harmed. Was going to be more brutal. Than seeing like the adults gets harmed. Because that's just a little poor thing. You know what I mean? Oh my god. Next. Next.

At the hospital I work at, we had a patient who was in a MVA and his condition was really bad. Motor vehicle accident. He had broken ribs, no bone flap to the left of his head, one broken arm and he had a metal sputum in both of his legs and one broken leg. He was straight, bent and pegged to feedings.

The longer he stayed with us, he started to become more alert. It started with him wiggling in bed, moving his hand up to touch his shake. Then he started answering yes or no question and that's when we realized he's getting better. Physiotherapist started working with him first doing ROS.

Speech...

And you know who did that miracle? The whole fucking team. And this is what I'm saying that, you know, the collaborative work, the multidisciplinary team in a hospital, it's much needed.

RT is not higher than a physiotherapist. A speech pathologist is not higher than a physiotherapist. A nurse and a doctor is not higher than each other. We are all equal in a multidisciplinary team. We are a team. We all work together to bring one person or every single person in the hospital back

back to their state before they were hospitalized. That is why working as a team instead of fighting together and working alone is not something that you can do in healthcare, in nursing. That's why I keep telling people if you want to work in healthcare and you're the type of person who likes working alone, bedside nursing is not for you because bedside nursing requires you to be able to work

work with a lot of different people with different personality with different boundaries with different goals and come to a conclusion together that's going to work out for the patient okay

And I know it's not ideal to a lot of different units. But again, if that's the case in your unit, then you should find another job. Find another job where you can feel more like you're in a team rather than you're working alone. Pushing a whole fucking damn train alone.

Okay, and that's amazing. Thank you to the PT. Thank you to the speech pathologist. Thank you to the RT. Thank you to the nurse. Thank you to the doctor. Thank you to everyone who's been working hard in this holiday season. I want you guys to remember also to be nice, to be very understanding of your healthcare workers, your nurses. A lot of us are working 24-7,

multiple days. We don't have weekends. We're not. Some of us are working during the holidays so that you can go back to your life. So that you can celebrate your own holiday. So be nice. Be...

Be appreciative of them. You know, if you want to give nurses this holiday season, you know, bring them food. Get them Philly skincare, period, from Nurse Sean. But really though, like get them something. Like something that could make them feel appreciated. Even a card for nurses of like thank you makes a lot of difference for them. Because that means that they feel more appreciated instead of like taken for granted. Next.

This is way too long for the box. Nuro N.P. here had a 16-year-old patient with a hemorrhagic stroke from ruptured aneurysm who sadly developed lock-in syndrome. With zero neuroimprovement the months she was in the ICU. Her parents decided to trach and peg her and she was actually accepted to the Shepherd Center. I shit you not, one year later, this girl comes back walking and talking and surprised me in the ICU.

Oh, that's so...

I love that story so, so, so much. See, this is what I'm telling people is that I want you guys to remember that when things get tough in nursing and like you feel like, you know, you're not doing enough or you don't know if it's worth it. I want you to remember that your patient remembers you.

The things you do for them, you're advocating for them, you care for them, you sing into them, you doing things for them, they remember it. And you will always be in their heart and in their mind. And I want you to remember that that is something to be thankful for. You are their miracle. You are the person who changed their life and give them another chance in life. And that is something to be thankful for as a healthcare worker, as a nurse, or as even a housekeeper.

You made sure that that room was clean. You made sure that that room was neat so that patient doesn't get like a dirty room or infection or anything like that. Every single one in the healthcare system makes a change in every single people's life. And I want you guys to remember that appreciating yourself and your job makes a lot of difference. And the people that you've taken care of will remember you and will forever be grateful for the things that you've done for them.

And I just know that. And you know, that's really, really so amazing. And I know you probably guys saw this video of she was a labor and delivery nurse. She delivered this baby. And like 24 years later, they're working in the same unit together. That is amazing. And that's just crazy. That

To me, it's a miracle, you know, for them to meet in the same place where she birthed him and now they're co-workers. That's really, really insane. And again, thank you for every single one of you guys who submitted this miracle stories. And I do believe in miracles. I do believe that prayers can move mountains. I do believe that things happen for a reason. I do believe that, you know, there are things out there that we don't know that is possible.

Putting the positive, the good in it. And I do believe too that healthcare workers can make miracles happen. Because every single one of us just wants every single one of you to be able to go back to your life again and enjoy your life and go back and celebrate life. So believe in miracles. Believe in yourself.

believe in your abilities and make sure to, again, to have the gratitude of what you have in life, to be thankful for waking up another day and being able to be with your family, friends, or just by yourself. Having that chance in life is something to be grateful for because a lot of people who's in the hospital don't have that chance.

those people who are dying, those people who are diagnosed with terminally ill diseases or situation don't have that chance in life. So be thankful, find the light in yourself, find you, believe in you. And again, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of this podcast. And I hope this episode inspired you

many of you guys to keep going, to believe in miracles, to keep praying. And thank you guys again so much for listening to your favorite podcast. I beg your pardon. Make sure that you share this episode on your social medias and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Do me a quick favor. Visit www.NurseJohnNNShows.com if you want to come see me live on theater performing. And also check out my skincare line at www.PhillySkin.com I love you guys so much. I will see you again on the third week of December. Christmas time. I love you guys so much. Stay safe. Stay caffeinated, medicated, and hydrated. From your favorite nurse, Nurse John.

Love you.