Bad Fish and Good Farts (pilot episode of our brand new podcast, Open Up and Say HA!)

It's the very first episode of our brand new podcast, Open Up and Say HA!: Stories from Underneath the Paper Gown.

Have you ever had a bizarre encounter with a medical practitioner? An ER visit gone awry? A weird thing you found on your foot that turned out to be a rare species of parasitic insect? Welcome to Open Up and Say Ha! - Stories from Underneath the Paper Gown. Medical mishaps, misunderstandings, weird bodily functions... our guests are sharing it all. So get ready to laugh so hard you snort your coffee out of your nose, and if you happen to singe your nostrils, head to the doctor and tell us what went down. If laughter is your medicine, open up and say HA!

In this episode, co-hosts Ellie and Julia decide to save the guests' experiences for future episodes and instead, share their own bizarre medical encounters with each other. Even though they have been friends for 30 years, they each manage to tell a story that the other has never heard! If you've ever had inexplicable back pain or eaten mysteriously spicy tuna, this one is for you.

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Transcript

Ellie [00:00:08] Welcome to Open Up and Say Ha. Stories from underneath the paper gown. I'm your co-host, Ellie Dvorkin Dunn. 

Julia [00:00:16] And I'm your other co-host, Julia Granacki. We are so excited to be here for our first episode, and we thought we'd begin by giving you a quick rundown of why we decided to start this new podcast. 

Ellie [00:00:26] Yes. Okay, so for those of you who are coming to us from our other podcasts, Circling the Drain, you might remember that some of our best moments of hilarity happened when our guests shared stories of their weird encounters with doctors, or their medical mishaps, or their biological functions. Always funny, we had the best time during those moments because they genuinely made us laugh, and we realized that this is because, like, stuff that happens to our bodies is universal. Yeah, everyone lives in a body and then if they do, everyone. 

Julia [00:01:00] They do, everyone lives in the. 

Ellie [00:01:01] Body. I mean, I believe like unless you're going to get like on some other plane and talk about ghosts and that's not what we're here for. That's what this is about. Now, while we're talking about what this is about, that's not it. Right. So. You know, it's just like, if we can if we can all talk about this and, like, be public about it and be comfortable about it, maybe it'll just, you know, break down barriers and bring us closer together as, like a human race. Do you know what I mean? 

Julia [00:01:23] Wow. Yeah. You made that sound really lofty. 

Speaker 3 [00:01:26] I don't, I don't I. 

Julia [00:01:28] I be like, wow. Yes. We're bringing calm your tits. That's basically what I'm saying. Yes. So we realized there wasn't enough laughter in our lives. And this might be a way to generate some more of it. So in future episodes, we will bring you guests who share their stories of weird bodily stuff that may or may not involve medical professionals. But we're going to dedicate this episode to our own stories because we know, or at least we've heard, that you like to hear from us. So we're going to start with that. 

Ellie [00:01:53] We are. 

Julia [00:01:54] My hair wants to. 

Speaker 3 [00:01:56] Oh, are you shedding? 

Julia [00:01:57] Oh my God. I mean, like, I could make a carpet. Ellie. 

Ellie [00:02:00] Well, me too, I just when when the sun's when the sun shines. When the sun shines in my apartment. It sheds light on the shedding. Like I can see how much of my hair is carpeting the hardwood floor. And it's. Yeah, I'm in a vacuum. After this. 

Julia [00:02:15] I, I might in minoxidil. Since we're talking about medical, I started the minoxidil, but it's going to be a while before it starts to actually work, but, well, I'll report back later because this show is about, like, medical shit. 

Ellie [00:02:29] So maybe. 

Julia [00:02:30] Maybe in several episodes I'll have, I'll have something good to say about it. 

Ellie [00:02:34] All right. Shall I tell my story first, or would you like to tell your story first? 

Julia [00:02:40] You tell your story first. 

Speaker 3 [00:02:42] First, first, first. What's it called? 

Ellie [00:02:45] My story is called the Diagnosis is In.. 

Julia [00:02:52] I love it. 

Ellie [00:02:53] Okay, so my whole young life, I had back pain. Really starting, like, high school, I started to get these severe muscle spasms where, I just, I like I couldn't move my neck. I couldn't turn it left or right without wincing in pain. I'd have to go to the nurse's office, call my mother. She'd pick me up, take me home. 

Julia [00:03:16] Because of your neck. Because you're neck. 

Ellie [00:03:18] Neck slash back like it would travel it with his neck. Like travel down my back. It was bad. It was bad. And I would just be completely stiff and frozen, and I'd go to the chiropractor. They'd try, you know, all manner of, modalities, whatever you want to call them, to try to help me. Maybe it would help a little bit. It would take a few days and then I'd be like, back in business. I never really let it stop me. Like I was a dancer in high school. I was an actor. I wasn't like home laying flat for days at a time. But it was really, really bad. And it happened consistently. And I remember very clearly. One of my visits to the chiropractor, like I had been many, many times, and he was kind of a young guy, and he looked at me and he I was like 16 or 17 and he said, Ellie, why do you think this keeps happening? And I said, I'm just really stressed out. And he kind of like, I can see now as an adult, looking back on the story, he kind of like had an eye twinkle and suppressed a smile, or he didn't want to laugh at me. He was like, Ellie, like you. You really need to figure this out. Like you really need to learn to manage this. Because if you think you're so stressed out now, like when real adult life hits you, what are you going to do? How are you going to, you know, move through the world? You can't you can't have this. But like you and I both know, being told don't stress, calm down is not helpful. Like I think that I think that now parents have a lot more language. Like my parents probably should have taken me to a therapist. I probably, you know, I know now that I have generalized anxiety disorder, I was wired for anxiety and it was manifesting itself in my body, but we didn't do that. We just kept taking me to the chiropractor. I then went to college and it continued happening again. It didn't stop me from anything, but I was kind of an adult now, so they would prescribe me like muscle relaxers, like flexible. My and you know, you were one of my, like, druggie theater friends. Yeah. Not a druggie theater because. 

Julia [00:05:17] You gave me some. You were like, anybody was like, give me the soap. 

Speaker 3 [00:05:21] Because it fucking didn't. 

Ellie [00:05:22] Do anything for me except put me to sleep. So I would just hand it out to my friends and they would be like, I'm going on a Soma holiday. Like I'm having like a party. And they would all like party on my muscle relaxers. I was like, I, I go to sleep in the other room and painkillers like nothing, nothing helped. But I just sort of continued to deal, I just dealt. I would just like, like when I would get X-rays and my spine looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, like it was very real spasms that were pulling me out of alignment. But there was no bulging disc, there was no slipped disc. There was no diagnosis that was anything other than your back is in severe spasm. Okay, so cut to I've now graduated college and I've moved to New York City, and I'm living in New York City with my boyfriend at the time and two other guy friends. One morning I wake up. Now, they're all very familiar with my back pain. They've all like, just like a part of me, right? Yeah. I wake up one morning. My boyfriend's already gone to his day job. Other roommate is gone somewhere else. It was just our friend David and me at home. We hadn't left for work yet or something, and I don't know, something happened and all of a sudden I doubled over like I was bent in half. This was a completely different kind of back pain than I had ever had. This was not my use. Right, right. So I scream back. 

Julia [00:06:49] And say, like, I've known you a really long time. Yeah. I have never known this about you. 

Speaker 3 [00:06:55] Really? 

Julia [00:06:56] I have never known this about you. And. And as a Pilates person, like I'm sitting here very quietly. Keep my mouth shut. Like, I cannot believe. 

Ellie [00:07:06] That you didn't know that. 

Julia [00:07:07] I didn't know this about you. 

Ellie [00:07:09] I, I guess I, I guess I hid it, really. I mean, you you said you remember taking my soma. 

Speaker 3 [00:07:13] So maybe I don't know why you had soma. I know I wasn't, you know, I mean, fuck, for all I know. 

Julia [00:07:19] I don't know. That was a long time ago. Was a very. 

Ellie [00:07:22] Jack. 

Julia [00:07:22] Used. 

Ellie [00:07:23] Totally, totally. We were very self. We were also all very self-involved. Like we were college theater majors. Like, this is just how it right all about me. Anyway, I didn't tell you how you're screaming. 

Julia [00:07:32] Sorry. 

Ellie [00:07:33] This is where we are. I'm doubled over and I'm moaning, and David comes running in and I'm like, I cannot stand up. Like I can't get vertical. And he's like, okay. And he tries to like, give me Advil. We try ice, we try heat. Like, I cannot stand the fuck up. I am bent like in a 90 degree angle. Listeners, viewers. This is before Google, this is before texting. This is like the year 1999 or something. Okay. 

Julia [00:08:03] It was the 1900s people. 

Ellie [00:08:05] It was the 1900s. He gets on the landline and he calls my mother and my father my parents. And he's like. 

Julia [00:08:13] Your father is a pharmacist. 

Ellie [00:08:14] People, right. And they are all familiar with my back pain. And I'm crying and he's like, what do you think I should do? And they're like, take her to the emergency room. Like, this is she's in debilitating pain. She can't straighten up without screaming. Take her. She takes me to the emergency room. I go in to see the doctor. I give the doctor sort of my, like, back pain history. He does a quick exam. I'm pretty sure they take me for X-rays. Ultimately, the doctor gives me a shot of lidocaine. Lidocaine is, like, in in in injectable forms. It can. 

Julia [00:08:52] It's like a Tylenol or like an aspirin, except that it's more extreme. Well, you can buy a topical. It's not necessarily but there's topical. There's like a version for someone you can spray. Right. Yeah. 

Ellie [00:09:05] But when it's injected and it goes right into your bloodstream, it can immediately help relieve pain. And it. 

Julia [00:09:10] It's systemic. 

Ellie [00:09:11] Right. And it did. So it like relaxed me enough to be able to lay in the bed to be able to straighten out. David goes and calls my boyfriend at his temp job and is like, you need to come to the hospital like your girlfriend's here. You know, we don't know what we're going to find out here. So, you know, my boyfriend shows up and I'm, you know, I'm much better than I was in the morning, but we're, like, waiting for the doctor to come in. He's doing his best to crack jokes and calm me down. But I'm really worried because at this point, like, I don't know what I'm going to be told. Do I have meningitis? Is there a tumor that's causing extreme pain? Yeah. My best friend Mel had had back surgery around the same time, and it had gotten botched and she needed to like, have another she had to have all this physical therapy. Was this going to be my life? What was I going to be told? Okay. Very dramatic, very concerned. My boyfriend's holding my hand. The doctor comes in and, you know, like, they don't reveal anything on their face. Especially in the er. 

Julia [00:10:15] Game face all the time. 

Ellie [00:10:16] Game face. Doctor comes in. He's not even making eye contact with me. He's looking down at the clipboard. He's flipping through papers. He's like clicking at the x rays. He finally doesn't make eye contact with me. He makes eye contact with my boyfriend. As if to try to decide whether or not to deliver this potentially earth shattering news in front of. You know, we're like 21, like. Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. Yeah, I tell this, but but he sees that we're holding hands and I guess he, like, quickly decides they're close enough. I can I can give this information. And he turns to me and he finally looks me in the eye and he says, Ellie. What you have. Is an extreme case of gas. And I said. 

Speaker 3 [00:11:05] Oh. 

Ellie [00:11:06] What now? And he says, you have trapped gas. Sometimes if the fart. I'm sure he used better words. Sometimes if the fart doesn't come out of your body, a big air bubble can be floating around and it can like hit unnerved. And it can cause severe pain that starts in your abdomen and floats around to your back. And like this is a thing. 

Julia [00:11:32] Well, let me clarify because let me explain that a little bit. 

Ellie [00:11:35] Okay. Good. 

Julia [00:11:35] Doesn't float in your back. Your intestines are all the way up here, right? You've got your diaphragm, your liver, all these organs. So your intestines, everything's like up here. So I can see how if your intestines are full of gas, you would feel like you have maybe some thoracic or lower lumbar pain. I could see. 

Ellie [00:11:53] Well, yeah. And if you're talking about somebody who's starting from a baseline of already being so fucking tightly wound that since the age of 16. 

Speaker 3 [00:12:03] Now you've had. 

Julia [00:12:04] A gas problem your whole life. 

Ellie [00:12:06] No, that's not what any of that other stuff was. Okay. That was that was stress. That was anxiety. That was something else. But my body is already like a tight web of spasm prone nerve. Yeah, yeah, whatever. And now this gas bubble is here. And basically he's like, you know, go home, rub your belly and whatever direction they recommend clockwise, counterclockwise, I don't know. He's basically like, go home and fart and you'll feel better. And I believe you got. 

Julia [00:12:35] To fart it out. 

Ellie [00:12:36] My boyfriend is like his shoulders are shaking. Like he's trying not to laugh in my face. But it's the boyfriend. Yes, but I'm not playing games on this podcast. 

Julia [00:12:45] But my God, I can see this happening. Yeah. 

Ellie [00:12:47] Yes. And, you know, all I can say is that. I was not a shy person, but I'm guessing I can't like put myself back there. But I'm guessing that moving to New York and being the only girl in a household with three boys. It's not like I was trying to be a pretty lady, but I probably wasn't farting as much as I needed to be farting, right? Because there was constantly someone around that I did fart in front of, so I was probably probably suppressing my gas and holding it in. So this is like a public service announcement to, like, find a way to let your farts out so you don't end up doubled over in the emergency room with your roommate and your boyfriend laughing in your face and worrying your parents because. 

Julia [00:13:30] You think you're dying and you have a spinal tumor. Really, you need to let the farts be free. 

Ellie [00:13:34] Let the farts be free. So, that was my diagnosis, I had gas. You're welcome. 

Julia [00:13:40] Let me say something again, please. There are very few things that I don't know about you. Not only have I. Not only have I never heard the story, which is like amazing listeners because I've heard all the stories. Yeah, but, I never knew about the back pain. I never knew about this, this inability to toot toot toot. 

Ellie [00:14:01] I mean, now you know. 

Julia [00:14:03] Now you tune it up. Whatever. 

Ellie [00:14:04] Now you know I'm home alone a lot. I live in New York City, and New York City is the best partying city because it's loud and it already stinks. 

Speaker 3 [00:14:13] You can. 

Ellie [00:14:13] Walk throughout the city and. 

Speaker 3 [00:14:15] No. 

Ellie [00:14:15] One is the wiser. Yeah, you could, like, just the city might stink because of me. 

Julia [00:14:21] Listen, I doubt it. I think everybody's protesting. But I have a technique, you know, this is what I do when I'm walking in the city, I mean, or anywhere. But particularly even though I live in Jersey, I live in a very urban area of Jersey. And then I go into the city. So this is my technique. I'm like walking along and I do this. And then I just let it be free. 

Ellie [00:14:42] Yeah, she's just looking left. She's looking right around her. Yeah. I've gotten so fast and loose about it that I'll let out like a great big thing, and then sometimes not realize that someone was right behind me and wonder if they heard and then be like, I'm 47. Okay, maybe they did. 

Speaker 3 [00:14:56] Yeah, I don't care. But you know what, people? And I'll just. 

Julia [00:14:59] Say too, because I'm, you know, I'm a Pilates instructor. Like, people fart during sessions all the time too. Like when you're moving around like, gas moves through the body. And sometimes it just happens. And it's funny because, like, I'm so used to it because I'm just sort of like, oh, you know. 

Speaker 3 [00:15:14] What's always fun to. 

Julia [00:15:15] Me is to just see, like how the client reacts. I personally, I don't care, I don't care, right. The client will either. Haul it out or they'll just pretend it didn't happen. So as in the moment, like right now. But I'm like, what are they going to do? Are they going to call it out? Or are they just going to pretend like, what are we doing? We're going to pretend it didn't happen? Or are we going to like, say a quick thing and then like, move on? Men, men traditionally ignore, ignore, deny. Women will be like, oh. And then like we move on. 

Ellie [00:15:45] Interesting. 

Julia [00:15:46] Interesting. Yeah. 

Ellie [00:15:49] What's your story, Julia? Is it when? I don't know. 

Julia [00:15:52] It is when you don't know. 

Ellie [00:15:53] Amazing. 

Julia [00:15:54] When you don't know. My story is called Too Much Tuna. 

Ellie [00:16:01] Yeah, I can't wait. 

Julia [00:16:02] I knew much. 

Ellie [00:16:02] Tuna. 

Speaker 3 [00:16:03] Okay. 

Julia [00:16:04] So the year I think this was like 2012. I had just met my now husband, and at the time, was doing like, I was in a place in my life where, like, I had just moved into my studio apartment, like, probably six months ago. I had gotten out of a tough relationship about a year or so ago. And, I had gotten finally, like, financially, had gotten myself into a place that was recovered from the breakup. You know, I had was like work was kind of settled. Everything was like, really good. And my best friend, was like, let's go have dinner. And normally, like, for so long for, like, at least like the first year out of that breakup, like, I was so broke, like I was just paying my rent. That's like all I could do at that time. I was also living in an apartment that was like, a little bit too expensive. But when you're getting out of a relationship, you kind of. You're just like, I got to take this, this place, because. 

Ellie [00:16:55] What you got to do. 

Julia [00:16:56] And I can get in and like, whatever, I feel safe. I'll just do the apartment. So I was like, cool. Like, we're going to go to dinner. I've got the money to do that. And I'm like, looking cute. And it was like a gorgeous summer day. And I go, and I meet her for dinner, and we were doing like one of the set. It was like Thai food. It was Thai food, so I order I don't remember what she got. I ordered, I ordered like a seared tuna, which is one of my most favorite things to eat, period. Like a, like a sesame crusted or something. And it was absolutely delicious. And so I'm eating it. I was Amanda was with me and my best friend. She has a bite, you know, and we're continuing to eat, and I'm eating and I'm eating. And all of a sudden I realize that my lips are. Getting fatter? 

Ellie [00:17:37] No. 

Julia [00:17:38] And my tongue is kind of swelling and I'm like. Like, what is happening? Like what's happening to me right now, what's happening to me right now? And I look at Amanda and I'm like, do you? There's something happening. And she's like, yeah, you look like kind of weird. Then at this point we had finish the meal. So I'm like, I think I'm now side. Let me just side note here. So I used to work with this person who had a severe milk allergy. Now this is really bizarre. Now his allergy was not to dairy per se milk to the extent that he always had to have an EpiPen with him at all times. He cannot fly a commercial airline where they're serving coffee and they have dairy because it gets into the circulated air system and it will like, get him, I mean, like severe. So in my mind at the moment, having talked to him many times about his reactions and what happens, I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, I think I'm having like a severe allergic reaction to something that I've eaten. I don't know what. And I'm just like, okay. And I'm like, oh, okay, so let's just get some Benadryl, just get me some Benadryl, and we'll see what happens. Because something you should know about me, listener is, is that I am not an overreact or I am an under reactor, which, is not good at a lot of times. So whereas Amanda is she's not an overreactive she's the right kind of reactor. So she was a little bit like, we I can't like, let you just go home. Like we need to figure this out. So we leave the restaurant. I sit on the curb, okay? She runs across the street. There was like, a Walgreens right there. And she grabs some Benadryl and comes back. She gives me a bottle of water and some Benadryl. I take the Benadryl, I drink the water and I'm like, okay, okay. And she's like, well, do you want to go to the E.R.? And I'm like, I really don't want to go. 

Ellie [00:19:23] To the hot. And you could breathe. You could agree. 

Julia [00:19:25] Well, I could breathe, but I was beginning to get I was afraid, you know, your my worst fear was that I was going to go into some kind of anaphylactic. 

Ellie [00:19:32] Anaphylactic shock. 

Julia [00:19:33] I couldn't breathe, but I'm sitting there. My heart is starting to race, and I'm like, you know, listen, I. I just want to go home. Let's go back to my apartment and give it a little time and wait for the Benadryl to kick in. And if I'm not feeling better, like, I'll, I'll go to the E.R., you know, but I'm just like, I don't know, like, you. 

Speaker 3 [00:19:52] Know, nobody wants to go to. 

Julia [00:19:53] The fucking hospital. 

Ellie [00:19:55] You know, in New York City. 

Julia [00:19:56] Especially in New York City. And I lived, uptown and like. Close to Columbia, and I just knew what was around the corner for that. I was like, I don't want to go. So we we go back to my apartment and I'm sitting there and I am not feeling better, and my heart is starting to beat like really, really fast. And so that's like a bit alarming. And Amanda is like, I really think, you know, we should take you to the R. And I'm like, I don't want to go to the hood. I want to be there. And she's like, well, you know, is there somebody you can call? And I'm like, oh, well, you know, on the back of my insurance card, I've got that like call a nurse number or whatever. And so I'm like, okay, I'll call like this nurse or whatever. So I call the nurse practitioner like line and she's like, yeah, I think you're having a severe, allergic reaction. And you could it sounds like you're going into tachycardia. You could have a heart attack. You need to go to the hospital. And I was like, what? So I was like, okay. 

Speaker 3 [00:20:48] I guess I'll call. 

Julia [00:20:51] 911, which I did. Never called 911 of my whole life, and I never thought I'd have to go anywhere in an ambulance. But. So I'm sitting there in the, living room of what is the living room? My bedroom, which is also my living room in this tiny studio apartment. And I live in the upper one hundreds or at this time. And my block. 

Speaker 3 [00:21:11] Is. 

Julia [00:21:11] Not the best looking block, but I happen to have, like a really nice apartment in that I made it nice, you know, like one of those kinds of situations. You know how New York is explained to the listeners. It's like the facade may not be great. You walk inside, you may not have a lot to work with, but all you need is like a little bit of paint and a nice shower curtain and you totally into something nice. 

Ellie [00:21:29] And I never know what's behind a door. 

Julia [00:21:31] Right? And I had really made this studio apartment, like, really beautiful, and I loved it a lot. So call 911. The paramedics get there and I. And also I'm on a fourth floor walkup by the way. So they come in through the door and the first guy comes and the second guy comes in. 

Speaker 3 [00:21:49] And he just stands in the. 

Julia [00:21:50] Doorway and he looks around and he's like. 

Speaker 3 [00:21:51] Oh. 

Julia [00:21:53] It's a really nice apartment. 

Speaker 3 [00:21:56] How much you pay for this? 

Ellie [00:21:57] Oh, my God, you're dying. 

Speaker 3 [00:22:01] Fucking dying here. How much you pay for this? 

Julia [00:22:03] I'm like, so fucking New York. Are you kidding me? And I just looked at him, and I was just like. I'm like, I'm not going to tell you that. He was joking. 

Ellie [00:22:10] Yeah, yeah, yeah. But so also I told him, he said to me. 

Julia [00:22:14] Yeah. So he comes in, kneels down, and he was like. He was like, have you been out in the sun? And I was like, no. Why? And I get up and I go into the bathroom and I look in the mirror and I am red, okay? From head to toe, like bright red, like I have a sunburn. And I was like, oh. 

Speaker 3 [00:22:35] I guess this is just. 

Julia [00:22:37] My color now. I was like, no, I haven't been in the sun. I guess this is just what I look like. And he's like, okay. And he takes my heartbeat. And he was like, all right, well, we definitely should, like, take you to the E.R.. And I was like, I am not going in a stretcher. I will walk down. I was like, you're not taking me out in a stretcher. So I climb into the ambulance and I'm like, sitting there, just kind of like, do to do like. And we're riding to the hospital, you know, and we get there and. It's crowded. You're right. But they put me in, like, a little room and, you know, with a curtain or whatever, and I'm just waiting. And Amanda was so good, like. And this was, by the way, I mean 2012. Yes, we had smartphones, but we really didn't have, like, all the bells and whistles like we do now. So you weren't, like, sitting there, like scrolling through and looking at things the really like wasn't that much to do. So we just kind of sat there in silence because I started to get so fucked up. I proceeded to get this like terrible, like migraine, like, think of your worst migraine headache that you have ever had. That's what started to happen. So I'm bright red. I'm getting really kind of warm. I'm swollen and I have this terrible headache, and all I can do is kind of, like, lay there and the doctor comes in and she sees me, and she checks me out, and then, like, leaves. Nobody tells me what's going on, and I'm just like, can I just can somebody just get me a fucking Tylenol? I was like, all I want is something for this headache. Like, you don't have to give me anything else, just give me something for this headache. And I'm laying there and I'm waiting. And we must have been there for, like, two hours. Not even kidding. Two hours probably. Finally, the doctor comes in and she's like, and this is like an hour later, by the way. She comes in and she's like, yeah. She's like, so you have food poisoning. And I'm like, what? And she's like, you've something called scum. Scram, Boyd. Food poisoning. And I'm like. 

Speaker 3 [00:24:25] What are what? What is. 

Julia [00:24:27] That? And she's like, it's just food poisoning. But she wouldn't tell me. And you know me, I'm very inquisitive. So I'm like, well, what the fuck is this? Like, how did you get it? What is it? She's like, well, you get it from fish. And I'm like. 

Ellie [00:24:39] Are you kidding. 

Julia [00:24:40] Me? And it's a cute. It's a cute. So I was like, I want to know more about it. Can you tell me more about it? And she couldn't and she was really pissy about it. So she leaves. So she's like, I'm going to get you some medication and then we'll get you checked out one hour later. I'm not even fucking kidding. She's all I need is medication so that I can can go. So it's a whole other hour later. I've now been there for two hours just waiting for medication. She comes back in, she hands me a little, you know, like a medication cup. With Pepcid AC. 

Ellie [00:25:09] No. 

Julia [00:25:10] And a steroid like a Pret like prednisone. 

Ellie [00:25:13] To take the swelling, right? 

Julia [00:25:15] A steroid perhaps, they say, and a Wikipedia print out. No rhomboid food poisoning. 

Ellie [00:25:22] I won't, I won't with the Wikipedia I know. 

Julia [00:25:25] And so she's like, all right, you got to take the meds. And then and I'm like, can I take the medicine like leave or do I like, do I need to, like, sit here and just like, well, we need to like observe you for another like, I don't know, 20 or 30 minutes whatever. I take the medication. I was right as rain within like 15 minutes, like nothing had ever happened. I was like, are you fucking kidding me? So took the pills reading the Wikipedia. So it turns out it's some kind of, like, bacterial thing. It's like, I think from what I should have, like, looked this up before the episode, but I think it's like particular to tuna. But I could be wrong with it is it's with fish and it has this like, you know, it's it's it's contaminated because it has this very like sharp, peppery taste. 

Speaker 3 [00:26:06] Which it had. 

Julia [00:26:07] But I was like, oh, this is so. 

Ellie [00:26:09] You. 

Speaker 3 [00:26:09] Know, she wishes nom nom nom nom. You love. 

Ellie [00:26:13] Bacteria. 

Julia [00:26:13] I love bacteria, you know. And so like if you eat super peppery tuna and it has a bite at the end, you should be aware it could be scrambled, infected. But yeah. So then I took the thing I did. Whatever, Amanda. God bless her. Like, you know, got in a cab and went home. She was like, you going to be okay? And I'm like, I'm like, totally fine. I literally walked from the hospital home because I'm like, I'm not paying for another cab tonight. And it was like 12, 13 blocks because, you know, you're a New Yorker. 

Speaker 3 [00:26:41] You just was. 

Julia [00:26:42] And I was like, well, I'm fine now. I was home by midnight, back to work the next day. 

Ellie [00:26:45] You never threw up. You never had diarrhea. You just had the food poisoning manifested as, like a crazy allergic reaction. Yeah. 

Julia [00:26:53] Severe, sunburn. 

Ellie [00:26:56] I've had that with swelling. Allergies. Like a full body sunburn. I mean, I'm a medical. 

Julia [00:27:01] I like this, right? Red? 

Ellie [00:27:02] I know, yeah. 

Julia [00:27:03] And I was like, what is happen? 

Ellie [00:27:05] You look like you're on fire. Like, yes, it's Julia la. The main question here. Yes. That I think we all want to know is did it turn you off tuna forever? 

Julia [00:27:15] You know, that's a really good question. I was thinking about that. It kind of did because it it. 

Speaker 3 [00:27:19] Yeah. Well. 

Ellie [00:27:20] I don't blame. 

Speaker 3 [00:27:21] You. I know it. 

Julia [00:27:22] Used to be my most favorite thing. Like, if it's on the menu, that's what I'm getting now. I don't even eat like raw tuna sushi, which you also used to be my favorite thing. I'm very, very skeptical at a restaurant, even a nice, like, a super nice, nice, nice place just because it's so like, oh, because I called the restaurant the next day and I was like, hi. Yeah, like I was in the E.R. because I had food poisoning you. You you served me tuna. That was, you know, that that was a bad. 

Ellie [00:27:49] You know, you serve me scrambled tuna. 

Julia [00:27:51] You served me scrambled. You served me bad tuna. You serve bad tuna. And they argued with me. They were like, well, we'll have you come in for another meal. I was like, absolutely. 

Speaker 3 [00:28:00] That's not the point, you fucking twit. 

Julia [00:28:03] Yeah. 

Ellie [00:28:03] Wait. Check your. 

Speaker 3 [00:28:04] Stock. Check your shit. 

Julia [00:28:08] So, yeah, I'm a little skeptical. 

Ellie [00:28:10] I didn't know that story. Yeah. 

Julia [00:28:12] How much you pay for that? 

Ellie [00:28:14] How much you pay for this apartment? 

Speaker 3 [00:28:16] How much you pay for what you pay, how much you. 

Julia [00:28:18] Sony, or how much you pay for this. 

Ellie [00:28:20] Place. How much did you pay, Julia? 

Julia [00:28:22] Not much. 

Ellie [00:28:24] Okay. 

Julia [00:28:24] I won't say I'll tell you all, but. 

Ellie [00:28:26] But it was. I think I remember. 

Julia [00:28:28] A really good price, and it was like an especially in the market that we have today. Yeah. 

Ellie [00:28:33] Well you know we haven't said for those of you who are coming to us for the first time that Julia and I have known each other since we were 17 and 18. So the fact that in all this time and this long friendship, we just learned so much about each other that we didn't know. I'm excited to continue this journey with you and continue to learn things about you and your body and your parts and your reactions, but I heretofore was not aware of heretofore. 

Julia [00:29:01] Yeah. You want to tell people a little bit more about what to expect? 

Speaker 3 [00:29:05] Yes, yes. 

Ellie [00:29:06] If you liked what you heard and you want to hear more stories from people like we've got Kevin Allison of the state, you've got Ophira Eisenberg of NPR's Ask Me Another. We've got Diane Flynn from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Be sure to like, subscribe and share this podcast with anyone and everyone. 

Julia [00:29:23] And if you like to watch your podcasts, all of our episodes are watchable on YouTube. So if you were a fan of our previous podcast, we were not on YouTube. Now we're on YouTube. Our channel is open up and say ha! And on all of our socials open up and say hi! You can find us everywhere Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, you know, all the places. 

Ellie [00:29:40] All the places. And finally, if you have a funny story about a medical encounter or a bodily function gone awry, email us. Open up and say hi at gmail.com. We love everything that comes out of you, and we think you should share all of those things with the world. 

Speaker 3 [00:29:57] Yeah. 

Julia [00:29:57] Or DM us. You can also DMs. 

Ellie [00:30:00] That are any of the. 

Julia [00:30:00] Ways any of the places. 

Ellie [00:30:04] So thanks for listening. If laughter's your medicine, open up and say how.