The Wildest Thing That Happened After a Stand-Up Show

We leave a comedy show and drive into a real emergency, shifting from punchlines to patient care in minutes. A slumped driver, deep lacerations, a busy Vancouver road, and the small actions that kept a chaotic scene from tipping over.

• sudden shift from show night to street crisis
• first steps of scene control and patient assessment
• why position, pressure and pacing matter in field care
• managing panic, police arrival and tourniquet choices
• housing insecurity clues and healthcare fears
• the unknown endings of ER work and how we cope
• trust built fast through tone, clarity and presence
• friendship as witness when stakes are high

If you are having a mental health emergency, call 911. For a mental health crisis in the US, dial 988 or text HOME to 741741

Transcript

Setting The Scene And Friendship

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Alright, guys, welcome to Pit to Punch Lines. I'm your host once again, aka Agumbiade. I am super excited for this episode because one of my really good friends is joining me, Samir Thomas. She is, besides being my great friend, she is a director and she hails from Vancouver, BC. Alright. Samir, uh, I'm really excited you're here. I'm really excited for the subject. I'm so happy to be here too. Yeah. Um, and the title of this episode, or rather, this episode is going to be covering the real life pit to punch lines. What do I mean by that? Uh Samir and I had a very interesting and intense experience when I was in Vancouver, like end of 2024. Um my birthday. Um best birthday ever. Um and I thought it would be really awesome to talk about it because an experience that involved like both what this episode's about or whether what this podcast is about, both comedy and medicine. So it's kind of crazy. So let's go back to there. So this takes place this morning of my birthday.

Ferry Back And Final Show Night

SPEAKER_01 1:02

We started off on Vancouver Island. Um, and once again, I for a long time kept on referring to Vancouver Island as Victoria Island, uh, which is not the correct name of the island. We were in Victoria on Vancouver Island, that's right. Uh, which Samaria was very gracious in, being like, bruh, that's not correct.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

But henceforth, how I name Vancouver Island. It's now Vicky Island. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Hashtag Ninja. No, but but um, so we started off there. It was um I was in Canada to open for a good friend of mine who's a Canadian, uh Indian comedian um named Ashwan Singh. Shout out. Um and had already had three shows, and like on my birthday, I was gonna do one more show before I pieced and I think we went to Tokyo next or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

Yeah, you were on your way to Japan.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Right, right. Um, so we started off because we were um we uh we were at uh Samira's family's place in Victoria, and it was a really great birthday. Um really started off great. I got cake. I was sank too. Yeah, I got jokes, like it was incredible.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

My nephew was making some great jokes.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Incredible. Um and then we got back on the ferry and went back to Vancouver, uh, grabbed some food, and then went to this last comedy

A Car Moving Wrong And A Driver Slumped

SPEAKER_01 2:16

show I was doing in Vancouver before I bounced, right? Um, and I remember this night because after the show, I'm like, okay, cool, I'll drop you off at your dad's place. Um, and then we were off from the comedy venue to your dad's place, and then all of a sudden, um I start seeing some guy who is in his car, and I can tell right away that he was not conscious. Right, right, and we were going in one direction, like straight, and he was coming from the lane going in the opposite direction, but he was backing up, like crossing the street in front of us. Right. And what did you notice at this moment? Did you see the same thing I did?

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Yeah, so we were we were driving, I was in the passenger seat next to you, and as we were going, um, the uh what what I saw was the car was like slowly backing into our lane from from across the lane, and I just saw this person, the person who was driving, like hunched over. And I think that that moment we kind of looked at each other and we were like, was that like I think initially you had kind of swerved around him, but as you were swerving, we were kind of like, wait a minute, like the driver didn't look okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

He did not look okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

And and so we

Pull Over, Take Charge, Run

SPEAKER_03 3:30

kind of like checked checked in with each other. There was like a moment where we were like, was that what we thought we saw? And they're like, Yes, like we both saw that.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Exactly. And then I don't know if you knew this, uh, but did you know I was gonna pull over?

SPEAKER_03 3:43

No, not immediately. I think I think there was kind of like this split moment, like a split second kind of decision that was happening. Um, I want to go back for a second though, because we were on a very busy road in Vancouver, like it's um it's a road that is considered like was going to become a highway. And there, you know, like I when I was growing up, it was sort of like a discussion of like whether we should turn this road into like kind of a high a highway type road. Okay. Um, and so this is like a pretty busy street generally. We were we were driving late at night, so to just the you know, the director in me is like paint the picture a little bit. Right. But like this is a very busy street generally, and so the fact that this was happening felt really dangerous to me because it wasn't just like a small side street where where this is kind of happening in in slow motion.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Um, but like there are a lot of cars, like for Vancouver, there's a lot of cars, you know, it felt kind of um it felt really precarious. And so when we were driving and and we kind of checked in with each other, that split second just to go back to that was was like I think your training coming into into play at that moment. Yeah, I I think you were kind of like, I'm I'm gonna stop.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

I got you consent to stop. Yeah, I don't know if I did. I don't think I did. I don't think I did.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

I I think it was more like I'm gonna do this. You're coming along for the ride. I was kind of like, all right, cool, we're doing this. Right. Um yeah, so you kind of like found a found a place where you could pull over on this pretty busy street again.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

I had no idea anything about

On Scene: Blood, Lacerations, Assess

SPEAKER_01 5:16

this street. I'm just like, mm-hmm in the car. Right, right, 100%. It's like pulled over. I'm like, okay, this is because this is like actively happening, right? Right. And then I I remember when we used to uh talk about this with other people, the way you describe what I did is I I pull over, I get out of the car and I throw the keys at you.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

Oh, 100% that's what happened. So you were like, I and it was weird that you threw the keys at me. I was like, I don't need the keys. We parked.

unknown 5:41

Right.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

But I think there was sort of this like thing where you were like, okay, I'm gonna go handle the medical stuff, you handle the car if we need to move it or whatever. But yeah, you you like you pulled over immediately. Like we kind of checked in with each other. We were like, this is happening. And then um, and then you pulled over, dashed out of the car. And so, like, I'm kind of getting out of the car figuring out what's happening in in real time. And you toss the keys at me, and then I don't even know if you closed your door, like you were just kind of like, I'm out. Like, so it was like, okay, let me handle this over here, and then you just start running king. Yeah, because in the in the time that it took to make the decision and um and to pull over, like we had gone a little bit of a distance, so I think we were like a block away at that point because it it had kind of like clicked, right? And you were driving pretty fast. Like it's again, it's like a bigger road.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

So I also don't even know if we could have parked on that street. I'm like, Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Like literally, yeah. It's like, okay, yeah, in an emergency, you're like, am I reading parking signs? Thankfully, they're not as crazy in Vancouver as they are in LA, but we don't keep them as cryptic.

SPEAKER_04 6:48

That's good.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

But yeah, so so that's what happened. So you like dash, and I was like, wait, like to be an ER doctor. This is like first lesson number one was like to be an ER doctor, you one have to make decisions really quickly. Very quickly, but two, I was like, oh, you have to be able to run. Like the way

Calling 911 And Calming Panic

SPEAKER_03 7:05

you hustled, I was like, I've never seen AK run before.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

I didn't even think about me like running.

SPEAKER_03 7:10

Yeah, I was like interesting, breathless trying to keep up with you, and I'm like, I work out. Like I was like, damn, bro.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

That is true. That is true. I will say not all ER docks are a capable of running very quickly.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

Maybe the good ones. I don't know. I won't say anything. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah, so like I so I I do remember running, like I ran all the way there. Right. And then when I get there, I remember kind of like the scene. So we weren't the first ones who were there. There were a couple of other people. Um, there were like this guy named Mike and his girlfriend, this older white lady, and I think there were oh, also there was like this uh very uh upset-looking Asian couple who uh whose car got crashed into by this person.

SPEAKER_03 7:55

Gently crashed into gently bumped up against.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Oh, but but like that was the scene that I remember there. Um, and I for me when I got there, I'm like, okay, I need to announce who I am. Uh because for us, when we get into a crazy hectic situation, we have to control the scene.

Fainting Risk And Moving To Safety

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Essentially. So I I don't know if you were caught up by that. I had, yeah. Okay, cool, cool, cool, cool. So you ran pretty quickly as well.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

So I'll work out.

unknown 8:25

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Um, so I get there and I'm like, hey, um, I'm so-and-so, I'm an emergency medicine doc. And I remember like everyone just like parting ways, like the Now River and Moses, right? It's like boom. 100%. Like, okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

Yeah. People were fully like, okay, you got this. But also, I I don't know that it was necessarily you announcing yourself that did that. Like you had, again, having been your friend for a while, I feel like you took control of the situation and you had an air about you that was like, I got this in a way that, like, if you had not said that you were a doctor, I think people still would have been like, okay. Like you were just like, I know what I'm doing. Move.

unknown 9:04

I'm a doctor.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

Yeah, no, no, there was none of that. Like, it was fully like, I'm I'm about to do chest compressions. Like, I don't know, like, I don't know what was about to happen, but you were like, I got this. And everybody just parted ways. It was cool. It was cool to see. I was like really proud of you in that moment, honestly. Reflecting back on it, at least.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Like it was, it was interesting because like I was like, okay, this is how I am. Uh like uh they parted ways, and like I got up to the car where we saw Jake, um, the person who was in the car going through an emergency of sorts. Um, so I'm just gonna make a disclaimer. The next thing I'm gonna say, it's kind of gruesome because I'm gonna describe what I saw. Right. Um, for us, as you mentioned, we have to make split-second decisions about many things. We assess things very quickly because that's how things work, that's how things can change in the emergency department. So, like, I get there and um I see Jake, uh, the patient at this

Bystanders Help And First Aid Chaos

SPEAKER_01 10:00

point, um, who was in the car, who whose consciousness has come back. He was there, he was talking at the time. Announced myself, I'm like, hi, my name is Dr. So-and-so. Um, and then uh, you know, for me, what I see initially is that I look, I see, I see like blood that was like down um on his pants, blood that was further like on the mat in front of like uh in front of him. Um and then I also see on his arms he had like two very significant, very deep lacerations on both of his arms, from like the elbow all the way to about his wrist. It was I guess for me it was not the most gruesome thing I have seen, but it was a pretty gruesome situation. And I don't know, did you see that at the very beginning? I'm not sure how uh clear your view was from that.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Yeah, I could see from where I was standing, like um I I was kind of with the crowd at that point. Um, and so I could see um his seat actually had a lot of blood on it. So like I I didn't see the the floor or anything like that. Um, and then I could see one of his arms. I couldn't see both of them, but um, I I saw one of his arms, and yeah, it was exactly what you described as like a pretty deep cut um from elbow to wrist. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

And it's interesting for me in that situation, right? Um I saw blood,

Police Arrive, Tourniquet Debate

SPEAKER_01 11:20

but I didn't see active bleeding, right? Um I I also didn't know if he was bleeding anywhere else. I don't know what other injuries may have been there, right? But he was talking to me, and I use the word mentating, meaning that he was talking to me, he was answering my question. He seemed like he was all there. And for me, right away, because I am not in the emergency department, like my training is like, okay, I need to get some help, right? Who else is coming here to help me? Because I can't do anything if I don't have the right things, right? Which is when I was like, okay, has anyone else called 911 in like Vancouver? And then I'm like, what the hell is 911 in Canada?

SPEAKER_00 11:52

And it turns out it is 911, maybe I didn't know that. I did not know that. I'm like, I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Yeah, right. Um, but luckily, um Mike's girlfriend. Mike's girlfriend was already on the phone uh with uh the emergency medicine.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

I think she I think she like even when you had arrived, she was already on the on the call with them. Um but maybe when you clocked in that you needed to be listening to her, um, you were like, has somebody called? I I remember you saying something like that, and and then she was kind of like, I'm on the phone with them right now. Um and so I feel maybe that this is just my memory of what happened, but I feel like you kind of were like, Okay, cool, like somebody else has got this. So then you turned back to um to the patient and and you were kind of working through that, but then I was hearing her on the phone and she was freaking out, which like of

Paramedics Take Over And Debrief

SPEAKER_03 12:45

course, right? Like she uh like to paint a picture of her, like she's like maybe early 20s, like she felt like she was quite young, right? Um, and like had seen all of this because she was on the on site like while it was happening, I think. Like she was there before us.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Um, and so she was really freaking out, and she was like, he's bleeding, like she just kept screaming like he's bleeding, right? Um, and he's not conscious, which like all of these things were kind of false. Um and so you were you were like hearing this in the background and responding to that and kind of saying, like, no, he like you were trying to tell her exactly and I think she wasn't clocking what you were saying, not at all. So there were yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Before we move on talking about like kind of what happened next, for you before this moment, what is the most, let's say, intense um medical or kind of emergency situation you've ever been in, if you don't mind sharing?

SPEAKER_03 13:40

Um in emergency situation, not not anything like this. Okay. Um I've been I have encountered things that are not so great, or like, you know, like things that like blood and stuff doesn't really get me in a I think I uh emergency situations feel kind of like my comfort zone. She's like locked in. Peace

Was It Self-Inflicted And Why

SPEAKER_03 14:05

and quiet. Like, what's up with that? But we'll talk about that on another podcast. That sounds good. That sounds good. Next episode therapy. But uh yeah, but no, that that it didn't feel um it was it was an unusual situation. It's not something that I've ever been in before, like that specific type of scenario, but it also wasn't something that felt so out of the realm of like what I could handle. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Okay, no, that makes sense. Um I uh because for me, like after uh paying attention to Mike's girlfriend and kind of going back uh to the patient, uh, I remember he um I remember being like, hey, uh we have the paramedics who are on their way. Right. We need to get you to a hospital to be able to assess your of their injuries and also be able to help you. And then he hit me with a I can't get health care in this province. I'm like, the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Right? I'm like, y'all, yeah, y'all, y'all, y'all had like universal health care. What the f like this happened in my mind. I didn't say that, but I was like, I was just like, the f what what do you mean you can't it's Canada? I'm like, this breaks everything I thought. Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

So yeah, so I feel like uh when when he said like I you told me that I didn't hear him say that, but um, but I'm I'm like thinking back to it now, I'm like, okay, well, of course he can go to the emergency room. Like that's not that's not an issue, but he might have been from out of province, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

So which is like super interesting. So I didn't necessarily know some of these things, but like um I asked a friend of mine who she is not uh Canadian, but she lived in Toronto for quite a few years, and she was much more um aware of I think like the intricacies of the healthcare system. I think she also did consulting within the healthcare system, and like you're saying, like it's an emergency. So if they're not in their province, it's okay to go, you'll still be covered. But I do think for some other maybe primary care things, you can't

The Unknowns Of ER Work

SPEAKER_01 16:00

get care in you're not supposed to get care in like province. But I didn't know any of this. I was just like the American being like, huh? What?

unknown 16:07

Hang on.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

What about this mecca? Just health care for everyone. Bernie's been saying the wrong things.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

He lied. Right. Um, so it was really like like that that I didn't dwell on. I'm just like, I'm like, no, you're gonna be able to be, you'll be fine. Right. I didn't even think about that. I'm like, okay, I'll talk about this later.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

We'll deal with that then. Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Um, so then he's I'm like, no, they're still coming. I think you need, you know, to uh you still need to go to the hospital. And then he, interestingly enough, um like in that moment as I'm talking to him, he also kind of loses consciousness again. Like I see his eyes rolling behind his head, like going to the back of his head. And then that's the moment where I'm like, we kind of have to change the situation. And maybe I should back up a little bit. What I mean by that is that if there's a situation where I don't really have any help, I don't know what the full injuries are, it may not be good to move the person, right? If the person's mental can't okay if they're not actively bleeding, which the patient was not from what I saw. However, when he started rolling his eyes behind his head, my

Trust, Presence, And Bedside Safety

SPEAKER_01 17:20

head was going to this guy may go into cardiac arrest because maybe he's lost too much blood. I don't know. Which is when I think I turned to Mike and I'm like, we need to move him over to the sidewalk because if that happens, like we need to just start like doing chest compressions and working on CPR right away. Right. And uh, but the momentary, I think, loss of consciousness was just momentary. Last or a few seconds but he came back to it. I'm like, hey, sir, we gotta like move you. Right. But I don't know if you also saw he started, he didn't argue with me, but he's like, no, I want to get up myself. And I'm like, no, we gotta move you. And in this situation, I'm like, you know what, just like work with him. So he I remember he gets out of the car with his own strength, but Mike and I are like holding onto him, yeah, right. Being like, we're not gonna let you fall. Um, and I don't know if you like part of me was that we also didn't want him to like like it when you get up very quickly, if you've lost a lot of blood, right? You just don't have as much reserve, not as much blood, therefore you can just pass out again. So I was just like, yo, we gotta, we gotta make sure he's fine. Yeah, yeah. And we like moved him over like to the sidewalk. Right. Right. Um, and then we I forced him to like lay down. So I'm just like, yo, you're gonna we gotta make sure we know gravity. Like you're gonna make sure you're laying on the ground, make sure like the blood's circulating, like without working against gravity.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Yeah, right. So like basically if he's sitting up then from a medical perspective, that's like blood's not gonna be able to get there. Like we're working with gravity at that point.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Exactly, harder to pump. Whereas if you're laying down, right? Um, both blood's not necessarily going to be like working against

Friendship As Witness And Closure

SPEAKER_01 18:55

gravity, but also if you're laying down, if you lift like their feet up, they have a lot of blood in like their veins in their feet, it can like bring blood back and like circulate. So all this thing is, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

And is there ever any this is medical question right now, but like is there is there ever any risk of like if you had because I don't think you got to lifting his feet up, right? No, is there ever any risk of like if you lift his feet up that that would start the bleeding again?

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Oh that's a great question. Um not necessarily I mean, whenever you think about this, you think about what is like the um what is the best thing to do and what's gonna do like the least harm in some ways. Um, if someone is passing out, likely from like blood loss from that perspective, if you don't necessarily see any like bleeding, what you want to do is prevent them from passing out, which is getting blood to like the heart as quickly as you can. So in that situation, I would lift the feet up uh because you can control the bleeding by like putting something around it. Right, right. So that's what I would probably do. So usually not any issues. Okay, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_03 19:58

That's why I'm on the podcast. Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Um so then I remember, okay, when I put um him on the ground, I remember uh Mike's girlfriend was still on the phone with the like um emergency medical services. And I think she was still describing the situation in a highly exaggerated way. Yeah. So I remember I think I grabbed the phone from you did.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

You're like, I got this.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

And then while I was on the phone

Mental Health Resources And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_01 20:25

talking to them, like other people joined us. Do you remember?

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Yes. So the I mean, you mean the police? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. So the cops showed up. And there were a lot of cops. I was surprised because I'm like, I I didn't feel like Vancouver had that many cops, but they were like undercover, like plain clothes, I should say. Like, I don't know if they were undercover or not, but like there were plain clothes people, and then there was like also like uniformed cops. So I it felt like eight or ten cops showed up. Yeah, like it felt like quite a quite a big number to me. I I don't know if you remember like paying attention to them initially, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Uh so I I I I I didn't really perceive how many like showed up at that time.

SPEAKER_03 21:11

Right, right. Yeah. Well, and now did they show? I think they showed up after you had sent Mike, our golden retriever, to go get stuff from the from the CBS, like from the not CBS. Yeah, yeah. Um, but like the 7-Eleven down the street. There's like a gas station across the street.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

I don't remember that sound like he may have gone before and had gone back on. Yeah, okay. I don't remember. Yeah. Like I know he disappeared and came back very quickly. Very quickly, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

And he had like brought like a whole like first aid kit full of useless stuff. Like um, but it was it was very sweet. Like, honestly, I was just like, This this kid is so s like again, he was also very young and he was just like, I c I can do anything. Like, let me help. Right. Um so he like both he and his girlfriend were very like, we can we can help, we can help. Yeah. Um and then before you had gotten um Jake to the to the sidewalk. The woman who the other the the white lady that you were talking about, the older white lady, she like laid down a blanket from her car. So like there it felt like everybody was kind of trying to be as helpful as possible, except the the couple whose car got hit, who were weirdly exceedingly concerned about their tiny, like a tiny little dent that happened in the back of their back of their car, which obviously would be covered by insurance and everything. Like that would be there's so many witnesses to be like this was not their fault. That is true. That is true. But like literally there's a man who's like bleeding out.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

And to be honest, okay, I I know you're not a car person, Samira.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

Like they truly hate cars and I'm like I'm already falling asleep talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Like they had Alexis, which I'm like, okay, that's fine. But ultimately you are right. Like it's yeah your car got hit, but you probably have insurance right you will be fine. Right. Yeah they were just kind of off to the side being like oh yeah like really concerned about their car.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

So you know we have it like I think Canadians have a reputation of being really helpful but it's a mixed bag. But going back to the police arriving then so like they've arrived and um my first thought was like oh my god AK is a black man. Yeah. Not dressed as a doctor and like standing over an injured man on the phone. And so I think you kind of had like tossed the phone maybe back or you were still doing something. But like I was like I was a little nervous for you. Because I didn't want anyone to kind of like approach you in a way that was um not seeing your skill set and your you know like seeing you maybe racially as opposed to anything else.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

Right.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

And and seeing you as a threat maybe because like it's not clear what was going on in this situation at all.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

No that's fair and I didn't really I didn't perceive that when it was happening because I was like too busy like still controlling the situation. Right. But I think I told you about but no you actually saw what happened next because like the cops came and one of them was like all ready to throw a tourniquet on the guy's arms. And I remember being like no stop. Yeah. Right? Right. Because for for us if there's like uh if there's arterial bleeding uh meaning that it is like spurting right like it's like spurting right uh sorry it's visual with my hands right um then you're concerned about arterial bleeding right but we had already been there for a bit we actually saw there was no active bleeding anymore right um so it wouldn't really have changed anything actually it may have caused more tissue damage to a certain extent if you put a really tight turtiquet around something right so it was unnecessary. So I remember telling one of the cops like no yeah I remember you got a little stern with him yeah and I I I always re-announce who I am yeah um so that they're aware I was also screaming I was like he's a doctor he's an emergency doctor he's handling the situation everybody listened to him including you cops right right right yeah they did listen to me ultimately they did they did it was great yeah oh but then um after that situation happened I remember paramedics arrived at that point right and at that point I'm like okay they will he will be fine right situation we can like let it go and they can take care of that um so then I remember we stepped off to the side a little bit and then um one of the cops came over to us he got like my medical license and took a picture of my active medical license which interestingly enough uh it showed it it was expired oh no it wasn't expired but the card I had like I just had the old card in my wallet um well but then he got information from me and then he asked me a question which I I'm not gonna lie in that moment I'm like how do you not know this bro but he's like hey do you think this person um Jake was doing like his injuries are from an act of suicide like self-inflicted yeah and for me I'm like obviously I didn't say that but I'm like that's a no-brainer um and I mean obviously like police do a lot of different things in response to a lot of different things but like for me I was just like this is like obviously that situation. Right. But then I'm like I don't know what you saw since you're also not in medicine what did you I mean did you perceive it as self-inflicted like probably suicidal attempt like yeah yeah I I I think so and I think there's like that yeah this felt kind of obvious that that that's what was this that is what the situation was.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

I think um like if I were to scratch the surface of that and say like okay like let me think through this a little bit more I I think there's two things like one the cops might have just been like following procedure of like they have some checklist of like we have to ask this question um just to make sure and you're the professional so good for them for asking. But also I think like one of the questions that I have and we've kind of talked about is like it was such a deep cut that to do that on both sides like I I was kind of like if you've already cut one of your arms so deeply do you even have the strength to do that with that arm to like cut the other side because you know it's like that anyway so that was sort of a a question mark for me of like it didn't feel like it wasn't him yeah but it did it was a question mark of how is this even possible to to be able to hurt yourself that deeply that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

I actually talked to one of my friends who's a psychiatrist um about the situation and um for her one she picked up away it was like a suicidal attempt um but another thing a bit of insight she gave about that particular uh idea that you're describing she was like there was probably some type of um maybe some type of uh drugs that were used to a certain extent to be able to kind of help someone overcome the pain and maybe disconnect to me to do the other side as well I don't know well ultimately never know okay but you're right like it was such a deep cut that it I I could not imagine someone doing it to the other side after we've done one. So that was an interesting kind of subtlety to the whole situation as well. But yeah um that was uh after that situation after he got that information from us I remember being like yo I don't think you guys need us anymore he's like no you're good I'm going to Japan tomorrow right yeah yeah so I I don't know um so after sorry did you want to say something?

SPEAKER_03 28:49

Well yeah it was just like the crazy thing was that you had just been doing a comedy literally yeah less than 20 minutes before yes so like I had taken a photo of you on stage and then I I checked the time of timestamp of that and then the timestamp of I'd taken a photo of like the the the scenario not the patient yeah um but just like there were so many cop cars and everything around and it was kind of like let's remember this. Wow it was less than an hour and that was like after oops after so much of what had happened had like had gone down.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

So yeah so anyway um yeah it was like 20 minutes later right like boom truly like like pit to punch lines although in this case situation I think it's punchlines to pit. Right it's like wow um and I remember um so like after the whole situation calmed down like dropped you off like you know I had some tea for a little bit with like the fam yeah um and then I went back uh to like my Airbnb right and right before I went to sleep I remember I started thinking well shit like how the hell is Samira processing this right because I want to sleep fine like this is not the craziest thing I've seen right right but I'm like you are not in medicine no like this is something actually literally happening close to home like literally down the street from me yeah yeah yeah um and the situation is super unexpected and like compared to what was happening less than an hour before on the stage like I'm like like how like how are you processing this and like I I I know we've talked about this before but like how did you let me process strike right after and like do you still think about the situation nowadays?

SPEAKER_03 30:32

Yeah it's interesting like I I think you know first of all um great friend because you're like I'm thinking about how how's she doing this is unusual for her um yeah I I think that I do think about it a lot. Also I'm I'm funny but my friend of mine so when you're like great friend I'm like I didn't hear it initially I'm like yeah yeah I am yeah I am sorry oh stop um yeah no like truly I I think that this is like one of the hallmarks of our friendship also is like you know thinking about like how wait how is that how is that homie doing um but yeah I think that um I do think about it sometimes I think I it it came up for me more often like sort of closer to when it had happened. Um and I think from a from a kind of from a storytelling perspective I've I've wondered about him as a character and I know that that sounds maybe a little bit callous but but really it's sort of like how my brain works of like thinking about people and like what would lead somebody to get to that point. And I think that was that was a big part of what I was kind of thinking about is like what was his life like what you know where it's it feels like such an unfinished story to me both from like how did we get to this point and then also what happened to him afterwards.

SPEAKER_04 31:49

Agreed.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

And so you know his fear around like am I going to be able to get healthcare um you know obviously I I think he did because he was in an emergency situation but we literally don't know anything about you know so there's this this unfinished nature of what happened that I think I I keep going back to um and and one of the interesting insights I think about maybe if you look at more details of the story is the fact that I remember looking inside his car yeah and it seemed like his whole life was inside his car.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Yeah right so there's like other pieces that you're like okay if he's living out of his car what led to him to be able to get there and like so many other things too. Right.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

Um yeah um I yeah unanswered questions yeah and I kind of wondered about that with you because you work in an ER so you know are you constantly getting unanswered questions or do you do you get follow-ups with people like what is your experience of that in general with patients?

SPEAKER_01 32:53

For most of us for most of the time with us we don't get answers. So to be in emergency medicine to be comfortable in emergency medicine you have to be comfortable with the idea you may not always know what's going on with a patient. So sometimes we get answers a good amount of the time right so essentially if someone comes in let's say they have appendicitis we do a scan a CT scan and we find that out that's great. But a lot of the times we'll people will come for different things and we don't know they still have the pain but we couldn't to the best of our technology figure out what was going on with them. But we don't know and I go to sleep at night being fine with not knowing but I have heard stories of people let's say who start off emergency medicine residency and that fear and discomfort with not knowing is the reason why they leave the specialty and just never will really know at the end of the day. But we unfortunately have to be uncomfortable so we have to be very comfortable with that unknown because we don't discover everything. Yeah. And in in ideal medical settings if we don't know then we usually try to give a patient follow-up with either their primary care uh shout out to primary care primary care are other specialists who can help them continue the investigation. And I say depending on the healthcare system whereas that could happen maybe in a universal healthcare system like Canada it's not always the reality in the US so that is what it is unfortunately.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

Yeah that's tough. Yeah that's that's definitely a hard part of your job.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Yeah definitely um I think you get accustomed to it and don't get me wrong there are some cases I still continue to think about uh because we are human at the end of the day and some things pierce through um you deal with people and maybe not deal with people you help people rather on usually the worst day of their life they're in pain they are struggling they they themselves or their family is concerned about their life so you are there with them and you always wonder especially for some people who still leave in pain um or maybe get discharged and maybe go some other place because like they uh with the remedy you gave them they naturally work like there's so many unknowns but I do think we still have to have at least for me uh a bit of cognitive cognitive dissonance because if we continue to think about every single patient it's too difficult to kind of hold on to that all the time.

SPEAKER_03 35:35

Right. Yeah I'm I'm honestly really grateful that I've only had that experience in one situation because for me it's like the way that I think about people is that's a whole universe and I'm like there's a whole story and there's a there's a beginning a middle and an end and then like what why haven't I got any of the other threads and I've been I think so much of the way that I've been thinking about um this incident and this experience has turned into me concocting different versions of this and kind of thinking about it in different ways. Which I think as in thinking about it in the way of like well maybe it was this ending or maybe it was that ending or like maybe it was this thing or that thing that brought him there. But I think you know I just want to I want to say something about um your being there on somebody's worst day of their life or or like a a worst day um is that something that I noticed in in that moment and what I thought was really cool as your friend um was that you first of all immediately took control of the situation which is really great but the second thing that I noticed is that you made the patient Jake feel really safe and um he immediately trusted you in a way that felt like because you had introduced yourself and said like I'm going to take care of you there was this sort of feeling of immediately I think of him kind of like being in on the journey with you. And I noticed that he kept looking to you when he when you had eventually brought him to the sidewalk and he was lying down and he was kind of sitting and he was trying to talk to the cops and stuff I saw him like his eyes just kept going to you to be like am I okay am I like there was sort of this feeling of um like you're my per you you were his person. And um to use another medical show's terminology, but but you were like his safe person in that moment. And so um I think even just thinking about like the medical professionals who are there in that moment for somebody at the on the worst day of their life or like in in when they're in that much pain um playing that role for them and being that person that they can kind of turn to and be like is is what's happening okay like should what decision should I be making or whatever it is that they're kind of looking to you for um that that was also really cool to see you in that role for for a patient.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Yeah I've thank you for sharing that I've never kind of thought about how I come off to a patient when I'm interacting with that situation. But yeah that's that's like super cool.

SPEAKER_03 38:11

Yeah it was like it was such a weird experience honestly or like weird beautiful um to be in this kind of like emergency situation and just observing everything like I didn't really have a role uh somebody else was on the phone with the cops you were handling you know there was like there was nothing for me to do but just watch um you caught the keys I caught the keys closed your door didn't get a ticket there you go there you go pause and I ran got my workout in um no but uh but like I I think that that that was kind of it it was cool to be the eyes in that moment to kind of like witness you doing your thing and like it it was sort of like being in the audience at your comedy also where you know I'm like I'm not I don't have a role here except to be an audience member. And so it was just an interesting thing to kind of go from like watching you um do your comedy and then watching you do your do your day job or night job sometimes. Anytime of the day any time of the day yeah exactly but like you know that that that in itself is just like I don't know like I I think that you know not to put like a really cheesy bow on it but there's sort of something cool about friendship where part of our role as a friend is to be like a witness and an audience member to somebody else's like great joys and successes and like beautiful things too. So so anyway so that was that was just like for me a really cool part of it beyond the um the kind of intensity of what was also happening and like you know I this is obviously a couple years into it. And so I've had time to process all of the different factions of like iterations of like what was going on.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

But um but yeah I think like thinking about that as like kind of a very intense first of all experience but then also like um a really cool experience to see your friend kind of shine in in that way also that's that that is a beautiful reflection of yeah I mean you you have a way with words homie so um I appreciate that but I actually think that it's like a uh perhaps like a great way to um uh like bring this episode to an end um it a very intense situation right but a situation which I think uh we both kind of notice different things about each other in that very intense setting um and it's just kind of like a a beautiful reflection about one um friendship to how uh a lot of people deal with a lot of different tough things um you never really know in which situation you might be called upon to help other people out as well. Uh we didn't expect that definitely not right what a way to end your birthday exactly right yeah I forget it was my birthday as well so oh but on that note um thank you guys for joining us for Pitta Punchlines. I do want to say that if you are dealing with a mental health crisis, I do want to give some resources that are available to anyone. These are specific for people who are listening in the US so if you're having a mental health emergency obviously call 911 but if you're just having mental health uh crisis that you are concerned about want to get help for uh consider dialing the number 988 uh in the resource available for you for that and also if you just want to text there is 741741 just text home to that and that has a resource available for you as well. Anyways guys this has been hit the punchline thank you for joining for this episode and we will see you next time