David Curry-Bryan: Medical School & Anesthesiology | #40

David Curry-Bryan is an Anesthesia Technician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. His goal is to one day become a doctor and is currently studying for medical school. David and Tom discuss his experience working long shifts at the hospital. David tells us what it was like working through the COVID pandemic. He also shares some wisdom about how to cultivate a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

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Transcript

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Welcome back to another episode of the drive program. My name is Tom driver and today my guest is David Curry, Brian. David is an anesthesia technician at the New York Presbyterian hospital. His goal is to one day, become a doctor and is currently studying for medical school. David. And I discussed his experience working at the hospital what it was like working through the COVID pandemic and he shares some wisdom about how to cultivate a healthy and balanced lifestyle This is episode 40 of the drive program with guests. David Curry, Brian.

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So we were just talking about me moving to Tampa, right. So, post-graduation did you, didn't you move to New York or what, what was your journey right after that? Yeah, I'm, I'm actually still in New York as we speak working in the hospital. I think it's the, the technician. So uh, as you can imagine, I'm in the hospital still as a nation is fighting the world actually providing with COVID. So it's been a roller coaster ride. Yeah, man. You were there right through the, the big parts of the pandemic, correct? Yeah. Oh, wow. And so was your plan always to go into anesthesia or is this something new that's come up post undergrad? thankfully I've had a lot of things that been able to put me in place to be in this hospital, be in this place. As you know, I did EMS for a little bit in college post-college for a bit. at the time there was a gap inside the hospital for anesthesia technicians. a lot of the skillsets were relatable in like the current or previous supervisor. He ran EMS, so he knew the quality of care he would have received, like bringing in someone that was an EMT and then training them to be a technician. So he took their shot in the dark at me and I, I I've been here since well. Okay. So this kind of fell into your lap, then it was, it was not always the plan. No, not at all. Not at all. Okay. So I, I know that this is like a very exciting career to go into. So what are some of the challenges and what are some of the exciting parts about. Working with anesthesia. Like, I don't even understand anything about, about how this works. Yeah. Most people, they know anesthesia, just like, okay, get the laughing gas from the dentist. Or like, if you go into surgery that they might put something on your nose, count back to like zeros as best you can. Like you don't even remember it. But um, truly what I ended up doing, I work with the anesthesiologist in the operating room. what that could entail is simple day-to-day things when everything is working. Okay. Me helping monitor the patient help put the mask on them to provide sedation via whatever the gases and drugs that we're allowed to use. And then like, in the most extreme of cases, when things start to go south, like whether it be like RN cause anesthesia, they focus on the airway. So if there's something RN that goes down or something that goes down on the procedural side, wherever that might be on the body we're there with the crash cart where they're helping stabilize the patient, trying to get better access to different veins. Because I mean, at that time they only have an IV in one arm and let's say you lose blood. We want to be able to like give you some faster than the way what you're losing. So can be an extreme, but thankfully I haven't had to see too much of the extremes. That's awesome, man. And so this is very similar to when you were an EMT, right? It's it's if things go south, it turns into a very similar scenario is when you were doing that position in college, right? Oh yeah. So back in college. Yeah. Like I said, when I did EMS, things can go from fantastic to. Oh, my God code blue. We need everyone all hands on deck. And I also work in the neonatal unit, which is like new born babies. So sometimes when they come out in the labor room, they're not always like as responsive and like, they're not doing what normal babies should do when they come out. So we have like a rapid team to come in. They ended up doing like some CPR on them sometimes. Like it can go anywhere, but pause real quick. What was the question? Did I leave? I got lost in it. I know you started talking about babies and then I lost my train of thought too, but I don't even know, man. It's okay. It's okay. I thought of, like, I thought I was like a bunch of more questions anyways. Yo. So I was going to ask, I was going to ask, why did you become, oh wait, do you remember. I'm going to say, let me turn on the fan real quick. It's not even facing me. Okay. Okay. That's fine. Keep it authentic. You know, that's fine. Yeah. Keep it real. I think there's, I think there's like an ASAP Ferg verse on work where he's like, man, he's like, he's not going to crack the window. Cause New York don't keep it down or something like that at the beginning of his. Yeah. That's how it be. New York stay be fricking loud. If you close it, you're not getting ventilation. Especially in the winter time blood, he is sad for the building and that's it. The only way you're going to breathe a cooler at office, or you open up a window, but it would be too loud, outside some solves crack that thing. You got to take the pros and cons then man, man. That's what happens when you live in the city? That's wild. Do I've never, I've been to New York like once or twice. I've never live there. Man, I wanna, I want to ask you a lot of different questions. David. It's been too long. I'm overwhelmed So I was going to ask why he became an EMT, but then I remembered because that helps you like in your path to become a doctor. So I know you want to be a doctor one day. Let's just start with why, like, why do you want to be a doctor? the reason why I want to be a doctor is because I want to be able to always be challenged. And I mean, I'm not saying that any other. Facet or clinician that is a little bit lower on the totem pole in regards to being a doctor. Not that they're not challenged, but I want to be able to be given my worth. You know what I mean? I I'm, I give them a hundred percent to learning. I give a hundred percent of my patients. I give a hundred percent to like bettering myself on the rag. I I'm going to shoot for the moon. I'm going to be there. I want to be able to give the highest level of care that I can give and then work with great other minds alike and you know, care for people better. That's what it really boils down to. Yeah, man, we lived together and I feel like that was very true throughout that year. I could see the, you put in a hundred percent into everything you were doing and not just that, at sometimes I've worked too hard, but you had a very like balanced life and you knew what a hundred percent was and you knew, you know, how to, how to put your schedule in the perfect order so that you could give a hundred percent to your school, your EMT job, your friends, your, you know, your hobbies. I don't know how I fricking did that to me looking back. It's crazy. I told my girlfriend, I was like, yo, like I got to get back into the mood. Yeah. Crack down for studying or whatnot. And it's like, I was like, yeah, like I might go to the gym at extreme hours and then get up and study and like early mornings, late nights. But like, I gotta do what I gotta do. yeah, man, you are very regimented. I, I've given a hundred, like 110% at times in my life, but then for the next six months I give like 80 or 70, you know, because I didn't, I didn't balance it all. I didn't, you know, have my life scheduled out the perfect way. I just went hard and then I was like, I can't do this. And then I had to like take a step back, you know? So I've always been impressed with not just like you, give it a hundred percent, but you, you seem to know how to do it, like in a sustainable way, you know, for long periods of time, it seems like you're still going hard. don't get me wrong. I've slowed it down. I had to, I had learned the hard way in life just to kind of take a step back and like, like reset. Cause I mean, I was going a hundred percent, like you said, and trying to balance it all and juggle and like eventually you get too many circus balls that you're juggling all topples over and it comes crazy. So I had to reset reallocate priorities and just Mabel to like again, prioritize 100% at certain times and uh, be able to execute efficiently if I want to get to where I want to be, you know? Mm. For sure. Ma'am so when it comes to like giving your all and stuff like that, you know, you could have easily gone into tech or business or something. Why do you want to. Put all of your energy into a medical profession where it seems like the stakes are higher, you know things could go wrong, you know, there's, there's, people's lives at risk. What is there? Is there like a piece of responsibility you feel like, Hey, I'm I can handle this kind of life. So I'm going to do this or are, is it just, you're very, very interested in that kind of like education or, or what, what is it that pushed you in this direction? Truly, it's an encompassment of everything that you mentioned. Like it's always going to be a desire to learn and to get better. Like you said, I could have given a hundred percent into tech, but I mean, even though back in high school, I took like a Java class. I was decent at it and like could have gone into that realm, but it didn't catch my mind in the same way as being able to like care for others and be able to understand why setting. We're occurring to them. Like, eh, I guess the humane aspect of it, because it's not saying like computer science, people aren't good there, you guys are the company. You guys are the doctors of the PC world. Man. You guys know the ins and outs that you can try to diagnose stuff. Like, I mean, I could look at it and understand, okay, this is the language is the format, but I won't know how to like go through and every little step that is wrong with the processes and fix it in order to like, let's say, get rid of malware or like run the program, whatever you guys are trying to do. You guys are like the doctors of the PC world, which is forever to be. The Metro versus are going to be forever. So, yeah, man, I like that. You said that, I feel like if there is like an AI robot in the future, then we will be the real doctors. Right. I mean, if it's like a true life form, then we'll have to step in there and do open-heart surgery, but it's like going to be just fixing his database and stuff, you know? But like we have fricking technicians, Stryker represent representatives that come through to like fix machines and stuff like that to do laparoscopy opics or surgery. So like you have people basically in, you know, those little arcade, drastic parks, simulators, where you get like the mounted gun or like the wheel on there, and you're in an enclosed curtain area. So if you'll surround sound like that's what they're basically putting themselves into and they're moving the machines to do laparoscopic surgery. They're not doing an external incision to get inside. They're using. Basically probes to go through a set area and then cut in fakes and do whatever they gotta do without opening the wound or the site of the procedure. Well, that's pretty crazy. Yeah. You guys are you guys work hand in hand with us in a sense. Okay. So there, they actually have like little tiny, you know, machines and cameras and they can just go in and it's almost like playing a video game or something, but it's, it's real life. Yeah. To be honest, it's wild. That's crazy, dude. I also feel like with VR technology, the education part of being a doctor is going to be so much better because you could like zoom in. I guess I already have this probably on certain like websites, but to like be immersed in like, you know it kinda reminds me of like magic school bus, you know, when they, like, they like shrink down and they go into the person, like, you know, in a VR headset, I feel like you could, you could really learn the human body by like zooming in and, and studying these things like, you know, from, from being like that magic school bus size basically, and kind of like, you know, seeing it from that perspective or just getting it from all different types of perspectives, you know? I totally agree with. Yeah, man. That's dope. That's I bet I bet the tech in your hospital is pretty impressive. I mean, you just told me, but that makes, that makes a lot of sense, man. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So I mean like, like I said, you guys have a very important role in the future, just like we do in regards to like sustaining human life, you know? Well, that's good now. I feel more important, although I don't think any of the systems I work on for work are sustaining life, but at least I'm part, I'm part of the help. There you go. Hey, you may not be it, but if you teach something to someone else, someone younger, it might inspire them to do something great. So, Hmm. Well I'm okay, man. You're, you're flipping, you're flipping the script back on me sensei. But yeah, so when it comes to. When it comes to like, just being a doctor, isn't there some oath you take, like what I'm curious about, like, what is like the seriousness of like the responsibility of a doctor? Like what, what is that oath? Or like, what's the gist of it? basically it's that even, even without being a doctor being clinical, in a sense, a hands-on with the patient, you take this oath to be like, I will do anything and everything in my power knowledgeable to me to make sure that I could preserve human life, like, and not just cast it to the wayside. And by even as EMS, we, we gotta be like, okay, we gotta do everything we can. If we don't know the answer, we got to call someone else that is above us to come through and check out the scene and kind of evaluate what's best to do. So again, it's just B being ethical and care being respectful and care because everyone has different values and beliefs and like, they want to be treated different way. For example, like there's some people in the operating room, if they lose blood, the Jehovah witnesses, they get this machine that technically extracts whatever they lose, cleans it and gives it back to them instead of going to the blood bank. So like, we got to take into perspective other people's beliefs and religions and stuff. So again, it's to maintain the highest level of care irrespective of like race, ethnicity, denomination, et cetera. So when it comes down to like these, these ethical issues, In the game time, moment, right. Is, is leadership going to be a very important part of making that decision? Because you have someone who's probably in charge of the team, they're making decisions, but like what have you realized that, oh, it's unethical if we do this or it's not the right procedure? Like How does the the medical team function, in these game time situations, how does leadership play a role or how does ethics play a role? Like in the moment, Sure I can give you an example of that. I actually had an a case maybe three something odd months ago where I had come down to just help another technician of mine close out some rooms, cause we've been far and few in the past few months, the years in regards to the number of techs. So help them close out for the next day. But he was like, Hey, come through a quick to this one room and happened to be a medical emergency going on. So we, we push in the code cart. We have like the anesthesiologist and the surgeon. Those two are kind of like the top two guys and the circulator nurse, which would be a tier below. Those are the top three people necessarily. Running the show in regards to like game time decisions. And so the anesthesiologist is going to make sure that the airway is safe. That's primary focus too. We try to get a line into the person and whether it be through the arms or through the legs or feet, whatever, just to be able to get any blood or medication access from a different site as necessary. When we were able to maintain everything and bounce everything the doctor in the room debriefed with kind of the team and just be like your job here, blah, blah, blah. What happened? Okay. When you start feeling this way, what should we do? But just to make sure that there is understood that everyone understood what went wrong. Highlighted areas of needed improvement in regards to like getting out of said emergency faster and efficiently. And she made sure to address the person, people about what they did just so that everyone had a learning moment. And so if let's say the anesthesiologist or the surgeon or the circulator nurse, Makes some sort of ethical decision jointly, unethical decision jointly or something like that, you are allowed to speak up. And if you're not heard and it's not like being basically cause you're allowed to revoke and dispute and figure things out and hash things out and make sure that things are done ethically. But if you still believe that it's not done, there are checks and balances in place that you could submit to. Let's say the standards board for the case that happened and they can review what happened and then they can take further action from there. So in the moment, it's not always going to be the time to speak up because you know, someone's life is on the line and to mess up that chain of command could. I could put everything in jeopardy. Right. But, you know, within the hospitals, like I guess structure judicious judicial structure, there is a place to tell, like reflect and, and improve for the next situation, I guess. Yeah. That seems super important. Right. That feedback loop of, of learning and, and, you know, improving on, on the situation. Right. I mean, that's, I mean, it can't be more important anywhere, but in those types of situations and it's crazy because sometimes like this happens to veterans, not even just young, new nurses or young or doctors and stuff like that, like it could literally happen to anyone and they have to have these sort of checks and balances in place, just so that the sense of power or hierarchy doesn't doesn't stave them away from being able to learn or to better themselves. It sounds like there's probably just a, a good amount of paperwork involved in, in, in these jobs to then, right. I mean, yeah. Oh yeah. You got, you have to have like documentation, anything and everything. If you touch a patient, you've got to document it. If you put an IV in a patient, you got to say where, how much fluid, what happened? Like you got to document everything. Yeah. I work in technical support and it's like probably two thirds or three fourths, you know, write-ups and documentation. And like only a third or a fourth of the time in my actually working with code or technology, you know, just because like we were talking, talking about, you gotta to learn from the past mistakes and improve upon things and just have everything there to, to reflect on, you know, it seems, seems Like I said, like we were saying, you know, more crucial with these life or death situations, but I gotta be the doctor for the tech world as well. There you go. There you go. So what about like your education? How has your journey been? Have you been in school? What, what is, what is a doctor's like educational journey and like, what stage are you currently in? So currently I'm in a phase of taking my examination because that is going to be a part of basically my application going to school. It's just. When the high schoolers trying to apply to colleges, they have to go through their SATs or actsh. And so I'm just like everyone else. When they're trying to go through higher education posts undergraduate, they ended up going, they take their GRE, or if you're trying to grow a law until the L set and stuff like that. So this is like specified from Madison. And so that along with the applications are necessary in order to get me into like whatever schools I'd like to get into. So I've cast my net far, far and wide, or I, sorry, I will be casting my net far and wide. And I have like a spreadsheet of information of schools that I potentially want to go to broken down to like a two location, two how many years it would take, whether they start in a strictly by annually or if they start quarterly, you know what I mean? So I'm, I have it all broken down in the sense once I'm able to collect. Yeah. The whole application together, along with my test scores and send that out to set colleges. Okay. So since undergrad, like you haven't taken any classes, right? This has just been like all real life experience. It, it has. Cause I didn't know if there was like some sort of intermediate degree you had to get before you like, just go into med school. So there, there can be in a sense we'll see, from my applications, whether that is necessary can be not pushing the option out the window and it wouldn't hurt of course. But that that said courses you're talking about it's called like a post bachelor degree. So it's like, once you get your bachelor's you kind of get like a few refresher courses, like an accelerated one or two year program, and then it will like put you into the medicine career in a sense. Like you already be on track with said school or whatever partnerships the school has to put you into your medic medical career. But it seems to me like the experience you're getting is probably just as good or maybe even better than any schooling. Right? I mean, well, currently right now it allows me to get a real life idea of how the hospital works and it functions in and outside the operating room. In regards to how different departments work with each other, along with me being able to be in the operating room and learn about how let's say. What part of the eye they're working on and why it looks like this and what, like, some of that I've learned. And so it's cool when I get to see it. And it's like a little aha, that's dope. And then other things it's like, all right, what is that? So ask either the doctor or I'll research it on my own. So in a sense, yes and no. But I know in regards to when it comes to the application time and Mike referrals and stuff like that, a lot of the doctors, they, and even nurse the nurses they've appreciated the work I've done for them. And they've, they're like, Hey, I know you're not going to be here long. Just let, let me know when you're ready to get out here and I'll write a little something for you to get you in a way. So I was like, all right, I appreciate that. Hell yeah, man. That's awesome that you're making good connections and getting good references right now. So what, what has piqued your, like out of this interest, what has piqued your interest the most? And you've been like, well, I need to go research that or ask about this. What kind of. Subjects or situations have really, you know, intrigued you. So I guess more recently I was sitting in the room talking with these anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists about an epidural that we put in our spinal, I should say and to the patient. And basically what that does. We're, we're trying to, you probably understand this, like in the labor room when we do C-sections and try to make sure you basically number the body from the waist down so they don't feel anything. So that's easy extraction. When they do cut into the mom to pull out the baby. But basically when we were putting in that needle we were trying to understand why we were not necessarily getting the needle in the right spot. Me, we not being me. I stand on the side and help like pass things to them. They are the ones that actually put an actual medications and the needles. But we were trying to figure out why we were having an issue with this one lady. And we're talking about how and also what she was at risk for. She had like a slip disc. So we're like, do we go head on, do we come from the side? Where's the disc located and atomically to where we're trying to get into. And so they were saying like she had some deformity or something in our back that didn't allow us to go directly in. So when she curls over, she needed to do a little more, which is kind of hard when you're pregnant. Cause you got a big baby on the front side, but she needed a curl a little more in order for us to get right in the like spinal cord. In order to give the anesthesia she needed for the spinal. Thankfully we numb the site. She doesn't really feel too much. The only thing it's like a poke in a different direction until we get the right spot. Well, that I've heard about those. Those seem painful. Well, mothers, the troopers, when they do that if it's a high-risk thing, especially because we've gotten a lot of mothers and mothers that I've seeing an operator and they've been closer to the age where surgeries or natural birth can be at high risk, both the mother and the baby. So C-section is most optimal. Sorry, I cut you off. Were you about to say something? Not better. No. Okay. So, so situations where, like the thing that interests you the most right now is like situations where someone's in pain and it's like, well, this process could be improved, right? Like why, why can't we do this? Or what can I learn that that would ease the pain or make this all go smoother? Or is there even a different technology we could be using that, you know, that could, could just smooth this whole process over for, for our patients. Right. I mean, my mind thinks in that sense, but there's not much I can necessarily do because like hospitals have certain contracts with different vendors and different companies and stuff like that. And they're like, it let's say I talked to you and you say, you know, someone that knows someone that has access to the VP that basically. Every time it talk to them, the next person it takes about a week, week and a half. And then like, because they had a meeting during that process of word, getting up to them. So by the time you even get word or they get word of your idea, it's too late, they've already signed a contract. They've already had things set in place. So You can make note of things. You can make them aware, but like being able to like provide this new groundbreaking idea, it's kind of hard to do well. So you're young, right? You're going to be in this field for a long time. So to zoom out let's say in the next 30, 40 years, like what. What processes, what technologies in the medical field do you think are going to be improved? Do you hope can be improved or that you, like, what do you predict? You know, the hospital in 30, 40 years, it looks like, and then near the end of your career, and what excites you the most, like the potential the hospital is going to be very interesting. A lot of things are going to be a lot smaller in the sense you know, how I explain the drastic par game booth, whatever. I feel like the laparoscopic surgeries that utilizes machine, they're going to be kind of more like the Oculus, where they put the little headset on and they're using like the wireless stuff. I think that'll be kind of like the next generation of laparoscopic surgeon. In regards to anesthesia though, I can't really see too much changing other than the supply that we use with the technique. Once we learn there's a better way to intubate someone or extract blood from someone without causing bruises or whatever might be the case. the technological or the advancement in anesthesia may not be as drastic as the procedural, the surgical side effects. So hopefully just all in, all less invasive, right? We have more microscopic technologies. Like if you have like a clogging your artery or something, you could swallow some nanobots and they can just like go in there and clear that out for you, whatever, whatever that can be done without basically to being too invasive, hopefully things start trending in that direction. Oh, yeah, definitely a possibility. I mean, nanotechnology has come a long way just within our lifetime. So who knows what 30 years could be? What, what is, what has been the improvements in our lifetime? Like what, what, what's the difference between now and 30 years ago? I mean, 30 years ago, I feel like we really hadn't had too much nanotechnology. It was more over like one of those Saifai fantasy things like an agent Cody banks, where it's like the guy and just stuff in the nanobots, like eat them from the inside type stuff. But now I feel like we, we have more of an idea of how to control technology and the smallest of sizes to do various amount of functions without necessarily Causing damage, like you're saying right now, I think they're still working on, of course patenting a lot of things. Being able to get people to undergo nano surgery. I, again, I don't, I'm not I don't know too much about nano surgeries, but I'm just speculating. Like there, there are a lot of road bumps before we actually started seeing this implemented at a hospital. Do you think we're gonna like this stuff with like Neuralink and Elon Musk? Like, do you think we're going to really be able to understand the human brain and rewire it in different ways? Do you think that's achievable in our lifetime too? Cause I know we basically know nothing about how the human brain is wired and how to repair issues with it. And that controls like all the systems in the body. Do you think that, do you think that that's a realistic goal for us to, I mean, he was talking about like solving things like Alzheimer's or stuff, those kinds of brain issues. If, if they can like implant, like a little, like, you know, piece of technology in your head and brain. Yeah. Does that, does that get you excited? Do you think that that's like maybe too far out for the next couple of decades or, or I don't foresee it being too far out because of the way, for example, the way we we've been able to create vaccines and spread them quickly, but from like the polio era of polio to now, like technology has advanced so rapidly, like, and even for even better example, we used to have TVs at cathodes in the back, the huge fricking bubble. Now these things are flat. So I don't doubt that we'd be able to. At least have a better understanding of how brain map the brain works and we'll have better brain mapping. And I feel like there are going to be a lot of breakthroughs within the next 10, 15 years, depending on how things, how fast patented procedures are going to be allowed. I'm excited to see it. I'm not going to be the one standing in line to get my, my head shit though, but I I'm all for learning about how everything works. Because again, we want to be able to, as doctors like cure to these as being able to get rid of ailments and kind of like bring brighter smiles to these patients that have been in pain for God knows how long, you know what I mean? So, yeah, man, Yeah, man. I, my biggest worry is that stuff like that will emerge, but it'll be super expensive and it'll be basically unavailable for most people. So we'll see it's if a, the tech exists or B if, if it's even reasonable for someone like me to ever dream of affording that kind of, treatment, you know? Oh yeah. So you're gonna take a test soon, right? And then hopefully start medical school. What is that? An eight year process and then yes. Well, the school school part is. Words, like not necessarily a lot of time in the hospital, that part is four years. So basically just classes and a few labs and whatnot. But once I go through my fourth year, I'll be able to apply to certain hospitals to work in certain programs. So once I do that, I'll do four years of residency. Let's see. And from that I could like specialize, let's say in like anesthesiology or dermatology or nerve block stimulation, or does there, there are so many different things. The list can really go on cause they're doctors for everything and the science behind it is way too much for one person to just like, know it all. There are plenty of things I can end up going into. It'll really just depend on truly how well I do and what I, what I take a knack to skillset wise when I'm in that setting, you know? So since you're in the anesthesiology setting, do you, do you think that this is something that you might go into are, is it a, is it a strong potential or, or how do you feel about this specific setting? I am not opposed to it. There are just a lot of things you've got to take into to play. Like I see these guys, some of them don't even flinch when, like, I feel like a patient's going crazy. They're just like, do I hold the head up? Like that crack a joke to that person real quick. All right. We're getting something on a monic. Cause you gotta let the patient respond when she. Whatever um, maneuver or intervention to them, you gotta be able to see improvement or decay if you want to call it. So like the, these guys are so casual and calm with it. And if it really goes south that's when you really call the code and then you've got other people like helping you out. But I, I don't know. I, I'm not opposed to it. It really just depends when I go through that whole like residency process if I enjoy it, but that's really what it boils down to. Or if I really can endure the workload besides the psychology of actually being in that room, cause I've handled the psychology, being a room, let me make sure that, that my skill sets up to speed and up to par, you know, Yeah, man. I would have a mental breakdown, dude, if anything went wrong or I like, if I get a cut, if I get like a cut on my hand, like I can pass out. I can faint. That's how like weak I am when it comes to medical stuff, I'm almost like I was almost nervous to interview you, but like, you know, abstractly, I can handle it, but barely do that. Don't worry. I haven't hit anything where you get squeamish. I try to like, not do that for people's ears. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. I mean, it's, I don't want to avoid it either because it's a, it's a fact of life and, you know, someday I'm going to be in that hospital bed and I hope I need to face some of those ideas, at least abstractly before I get there. So in the second half of medical school you'll be in like, hands-on, it seems like you'll be getting paid for that in some way. How do you make money for the next four years? Like, you're going to be so old. You're going to be like 28 to 32. You're just in school or are you supposed to just take out loans or, or how do you, yeah, man, I feel like you've always been on top of your mind. Sorry, go on Umbro. My credit, my credit score is like ridiculous right now. And I'm, I'm thankful for that. So I, I'm not terribly worried in regards to be able to get alone. It's just to make sure that I see the process through so I can start paying off those loans once I get out, you know? What I was going to say is I feel like you've always been on top of your money. Like you were, you were telling me how good your credit was in college and stuff. I was barely even thinking about that. Right. And I, you know, I was going to ask why or how, how you've been so honored, but I feel like that's the reason, right? You've always known that at some point in your early thirties, you're going to have to stop working and take out loans. And you basically had to be on top of your money from the beginning of, of undergrad in order to, to, to, like you said, be eligible for loans and, and make it. So I feel like that that goal is what kind of forced you to be so strategic and, and, disciplined with your, with your finances, right? Yeah, definitely. Everyone's stressed having some sort of credit because in early two thousands, you know, everything was thriving, but like the markets were turning towards credit over cash. And like, I mean, that was the slow turn from like the nineties and whatnot. But eventually, like we live in a credit based system and my mom ended up realizing my grandmother and up teaching my, my mother's like, you got to have credit if you're going to survive in this world. And so my mom was like, all right, as soon as you get to school, like a field would be mentally mature enough to have a credit card. Mind you, I did have some friends in high school that I have credit cards. I mean, co-sign with their parents, but they were starting to build credit early in order to allow themselves I have a record. So if they want to would say. Take a crack. They want to get a car on credit, or if they want to like start taking on a mortgage loan, they have a longer credit history with where a bank will just be like, yeah, take it. Whatever you pay, you pay your stuff. So, yeah, man. But yeah, like, let me just stay on top of it. Cause I know credit is going to be big. that forces you to budget and make sure that you have enough to keep your bills paid. I think I probably told you this back in the day, but I was like a waiter, barely making any money at Chili's for a while. And like, I just couldn't manage a credit card until I got out of college and had a salary. Right. Like it was just too tempting for me. Put everything on there and not be able to pay it off. So did maybe a quick tangent because I want to jump back into medical stuff, but do you have any advice for people on how to manage their money, how to think about it or, or how to just build credit when, when you don't have a big fat salary, you know, like when you're an undergrad the idea really is if you're, if you're working only during the summertime, save, save as best you can. I know it's going to be hard to like, not just kinda hang out with the friends and go on trips and spend money on this and that, and go to seven 11, but save where you can. And when you do make a purchase, like make sure you, you can be able to pay it off within like one and a half, if not two pay cycles. Just so bad, like it's not lingering, it's allowing your credit score to go up, showing that you can pay things roughly on time. Of course the more you pay the better, make sure, like, if you're going to make a purchase that you can be able to pay at least two thirds of it, just like off the jump, even if it knocks your bank accounts to zero, but like you just mentally know you have a buffer that like you're not necessarily going to go broke within that pay period and a half I can throw an example out there. I got myself a snowboard. I'm an avid snowboarder as you know, Tommy and mass nut and back, back in Virginia. So I would, my sophomore year after I, I I'd gone out there. I was like, oh, I'm definitely gonna get addicted to this. So I, I went online, went on Zumiez and I saw it on the, during the summer to them that a bundle package, boots, bonding, and board for like 4 99 or 5 99. And that's like dirt cheap in the world of like skiing. If anyone knows anything, like things get expensive in two seconds. But I really, I was like, all right, I'm working, I'm making, let's say$700 a week. I'm hanging out with my friends every once in a while and going to Wawa after work. So like, that's going to go down, but I know I can at least pay two thirds of this off. And like with the current. Work week or OT that I can add. I can definitely pay this off within the next pay cycle, or I can stretch it a pay cycle on the half, but at least I know I'm not going broke when I'm trying to like pay off this credit card. Bill, why do you like to snowboard? What's that passionate about for you? To be honest, it was just one of those things that I always enjoyed watching. Like, whether it be cartoons from like rocket power or just watching like X games and stuff like that, I always got, I knew I'd have an interest for it. And for some reason when I was a kid, I was like, you know what? When I get, when I get older, when I get into college, like I told myself this in middle school, I was like, Eventually learn how to snowboard and like, I promise you JMU and his proximity to Massena and was no had no correlation with me applying down there. And like I tell a lot of people, I actually applied to JMU on a blind when, so like when I got down there, I fell in love with it. Just like so many other things just worked so well with what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go in life. So including the fun stuff of snowboarding. So that's awesome, man. Yeah, man, I did a whole interview with someone about snowboarding or now like We did a big 30 minute section about snowboarding, but it just seems like such a good activity for your mental health, you know, just for being active, kind of working through thoughts, being part of nature, but, but not like chilling in nature. Right. Enduring nature, like putting it, it's almost like the cold shower mentality right. Of just, you know, it's freezing. Yeah. It's like putting yourself out there, surviving the hill, you know, it's, it's conquering nature and it seems like a very empowering activity, you know, to be, to be a fan of most definitely. It it's, it was my soon, the still is my serenity in regards to uh, next day from the city. It, it allows me to, like you said, be in nature during COVID, there really wasn't too much you could do. And my being outdoors was kind of one of the only things you could do cause of social distancing. Well, what a better place to be, except on other than being on a mountain where you can ski or snowboard and kind of be at bay from people and still keep some spacing. So yeah, I, I'm thankful I've picked it up when I did and have gotten better. I've met a lot of great friends through it. It's cool. I get to actually hang out with some clinicians outside of work cause they ski and snowboard. So. That's awesome, man. Yeah, dude. Post-college, I've been trying, it's been hard for me to make friends around other activities other than drinking. Cause I've, I've been basically quit drinking at this point, but it's, I used to make all my friends through drinking activities. Right. And so, you know, I, you actually can't surf here on the west coast of Florida. It's kind of a bummer, cause there's no really waves here, but certain things like surfing and snowboarding are the type of activities that I really want to surround my friend groups with, you know, and you know, maybe you get a beer afterwards or something, but I feel like that those are some fabulous activities to bond over and be passionate about and go, go do with people, you know? Oh yeah, man, like I mean I've been keeping my focus also on snowboarding, like besides snowboarding, I should say Like tennis and golf, as you know, it was on the club, tennis teams. that's a great kind of outdoor solo activity if I really want to, because in New York they have a lot of wall balls per se, like, so you're able to kind of play tennis on the wall and still kind of get your activity and social distance. What do you call it? I go to the driving range sometimes just to work on my golf game. Like a lot of, a lot of fun, bro. Like, especially once you get past that hump of just like sucking, but it's really fun. Yeah. I've never gotten quite into tennis or golf. I feel like. W what are the, why are you passionate about those activities? What separates those from, you know, basketball and, and other things? You can always borrow, man. Like I get that. My mom definitely got it back then and I kind of wish I still had the shot to. To do more ball when I was younger. But aside from that, like you get longevity with tennis, you get longevity with golf. A lot of people, they there. I say in customer show, you shoot the shit on the golf course or the tennis court. So that's where it kind of ideas, envelop. That's where kind of people are just like brainstorm and randomly, like when you're playing ball, bruh, let's be real. You're huffing and puffing 90% of the time when you're done. Like, you're like, right, bro, I'm gonna hit the shower, head home here. You're not really like, oh, let's grab a beer. Let's go talk about some ideas. Like, like same thing with football and some other sports. So for you, tennis and golf are more social hour or there they're equal social hours as they are like an activity you go do. Right. You can really bond with people. Okay. Yeah, exactly. Like, especially nowadays. I don't feel old, but I know other people feel old and like tennis and golf are kind of like low impact, low intensity. So I'm not going to say great minds, but all minds about sort of can thrive without necessarily being left out. Yeah, man, basketball pick-up games there. They're very competitive. They're very intense. You know, you might get on the same team with someone and have a great day, but overall, right. It's a very competitive atmosphere and it's gonna be less likely that you really. You hit it off with someone on the other team. It's more likely you're going to go home and complain about them or something. Right. Where something like tennis is you can play an intense game of tennis, but you can also play a very chill game of tennis and really just, kind of lob it with someone and, and chat and, and not take it to that competitive level where I don't think, I don't know how you could possibly do a one-on-one game of basketball and have it be like chill, you know, it's gonna turn serious quick. You know, at that point it might as well just be a shooter on, in the gym, you know? Like, it's like, I'm a feed. You, you go run around and then like get open type of thing. Like there's going to be no, one-on-one where you're gonna be talking about ideas, stuff like that, where it's chill, you know, what type of ideas, like what type of people play tennis? Like what are their other interests? Like? I'm so curious now. I mean, you got some, you never know who is working on what are talking with, who. Even though it's not necessarily on a tennis court or golf where I ended up having this conversation. But like someone I work with family, there was a bunch of engineers and they have like this product it's like a pressure cooker that like fries, pressure cooks and you have an app on your phone, which will teach you how to assemble meals, what temperature, how to cup, blah, blah, blah. And like you can hit start and it'll lock via Bluetooth, the pressure cooker to device. And it'll start cooking for you. And you can check the meal and check the progress would be your phone. stuff like that, you, you never know who's working on what and no, just to be a conversation, especially when we started drinking, just rent. Things come up and be like, oh, I did this with somebody like that. It's like, oh, word, you did that. Like, how did you get into that? I'm kind of interested in that like random, big start coming up. It's kinda like, like when the old guys hanging out at the fricking bowling alley, taking their beer and throwing a ball, like they're just shooting the shit. But like they're kind of chatting it up. Yeah, man. Yeah. That just reminded me of another tangent, you used to always give me this wisdom when we lived together. And one of the ones that stuck with me is something called the itis where you said you would always eat right before bed. Cause you said it helps you sleep, you know? And I have trouble sleeping. So any trick, any trick that can help me sleep? I usually like write that down or, or, or just remember it, you know? So what are you like into cooking or is that something you're kind of passionate about? Or, or do you have any other like wisdom when it comes to just nutrition, diet, cooking, anything, anything in that. I'm actually meal prep, a lot of my meals for the week to be specific. I'm your practice? My work days and I have a little leftover for when I come back from the gym, I get a little hungry when a phone, when I munch on something small with my protein shake. But yeah, I, I meal prep because I've, I've worked three 13 hour days consistently. And then sometimes I'll do like OT, which will be either eight hour, another 13 hour shift. So I kinda need to be able to have food ready to go daily because I don't have time to kind of cook every day. And also still get rest, you know, cause my alarm goes off at like four 30 in the morning. I gotta be at work by six and then I punch out at 7:00 PM. Well, that's a long essay dude and I do like three back-to-back bays. So it's like. When I come home, I'm just ready to crash. So then do you get it pretty long weekend basically then, right? Yeah. I, on average I can have a four-day weekend. Wow. That's awesome. Oh yeah, dude. So beautiful. I can hop on a city. I mean, a hop on a plane, be out of the city and go visit some other people. I can just stay local, get a lot of things done in the city. Like groceries, grocery shop without having the rest of New York fighting for the same supplies on a weekday instead of a weekend. I can go to the park and do other things and I have a million people fighting for the same space. Like it's, there are a lot of pros that come with it, but you will be burnt up by the end of that day. Three shift, man. And I just tell you, but surprisingly enough, I still go to the gym after that. I, cause I know for a fact that I don't have to be anywhere the next day. Well, all I got to do is bring in the pre-workout bringing everything. Cause I cycled to work. I bring, I bring like one of those fuse, 45 liter bags or something like that. Pack my lunch, pack my gym clothes, pack it all cycled to work. And then I'll cycle to the gym. And then I after work and get a quick hour and a half, two hour workout come back. Like I said, whatever meal prep, I have left eat that with my protein and snooze for God knows how long, because I don't have to be anywhere the following day. Yeah, man. A night lifters are elite, bro. Don't never sleep on night lifting dude. That's that's some fun stuff right there, dude. Oh yeah. The David Goggins says, man, sometimes you ain't trying to be in the zone and do it, but I mean, mile one, you're struggling. By the time you hit mile two greatness pools, mediocrity through the mud, into the mud dude. I, I, one of my favorite questions is like, who are your inspirations and stuff like that. It has Goggins wanting your inspirations. I like to say yes, because, well, I'll backtrack and say, I learned about guidance during the pandemic, or like headed into the pandemic. One of the other from my previous roommate back in the Bronx he, he used to be in the military. So he, this is how he like, found out about David Goggins and another inspirational speaker Jocko. The, these guys were like serious, like guess cornerstones and helping him get through workouts, get through certain scenarios. So I ended up learning about them through, through him and like, I'll put on like an hour, hour and a half, like of the motivational speeches or monologues and just start going at it. And I'm like, I listened to it. I embody it, especially when they're saying like the whole. Part of self-discipline boils down to self discipline. Is there it's whether you're going to grab it and go for the ride, you know, and like corral in that, the discipline, it all boils down to you. And so those guys are like kind of one of my, like main two guys that I listened to when it comes to like, kind of getting in a zone, psyching myself up to get something done. So I know those guys, I think it's like Goggins says 30% or something is most people, maybe that's not right. Maybe it's like 60%. Most people push themselves. And they think when this, all I can do, it's really only like 60% or something. I don't even know the number, But his advice is usually like to push yourself to be uncomfortable. Right. So in what ways. have you pushed yourself to be uncomfortable since undergrad? And have you challenged yourself outside of your career? I pushed myself to my level of uncomfortability. Like in that regard is just anything, everything I do just learn and understand like, even in regards to for me, I I'm, I haven't touched base on this yet, but like going back to the meal prep thing, I, I live with my partner, my girlfriend and we meal prep. We cook all the time. Like cooking is kind of pivotal helps me stay in shape and kind of keep mean as I'm like running around doing 26 to 30,000 steps a day at work. But like, kinda remember like the course of the question, trying to get back to it. What was it again? How do you push yourself to be uncomfortable? You said learning everything that you do. Okay. And so, yeah, like me being in relationship, like just striving to be a better person, making sure, like I have better time management for her, from me and myself being able to like study as well and get myself to where I want to be in life. Like pushing myself to be uncomfortable in the sense of being an advocate for myself at work and the hard work that I do. So I don't get kinda gypped and screwed because there are people like that around there. So just kind of being vocal and getting what I deserve in that sense. And then also uncomfortability and just kinda going out of the box and kind of putting myself out there more like, and that's kinda weird to say, cause I know from your standpoint, I'm already kind of an outgoing guy and people already like talked to me and stuff like that, but Trying things new. So um, prior to me having my girlfriend, like I never did charcuterie board and shit like that. I just thought it was, oh, whatever. It's like girls doing panty and stuff. Not as shit is fun, bro. Like, Hey, I don't know, you're getting eaten some like bank as she's and some other stuff like that. But like, I, I don't the example like that is basically like. Do something different? Do something slightly uncomfortable, like out of your realm of what you normally would do on your Friday or Saturday? You know what I mean? Yeah, man, I think I was talking to my friend, Dan, about this, about how doing something different. It helps you form better and stronger memories, right? Like even if you really love your routine, if it's the same routine every week, it's all gonna blend together. And then when you look back on it, it's just going to be like, what have I been doing for the past year? You know, it's just the same, you know, Netflix, or even if it's working out, it's the same routines every night, you know, but if you're doing cardio one week and lifting the next weekend, yoga the next week and charcuterie boards, you're going to have these rich memories to look back on and hold on to, I don't know. I almost think. time is like its own art, right? Like my life is, is who I am now. Like the body, the person, the, the way I can communicate, but also like my timeline is like this piece of art as well. And, and the friends I have, the activities I do, it's all, those are all paint brushes on like this big masterpiece that I'm making. Right. And you know, if I do the same thing for too long, it's just the same shade of whatever, you know? And it's just not exciting to like look back on and think about, and, you know, it's, it's very, it's very important, I think to switch it up and do new things all the time every year, you know, it's crazy that you say that because like for example, COVID it felt like time stopped, but like two years blue by bro. Everyone's was at home doing this and that minus those that were like in Miami and other places, but. Time kind of stopped for everyone. Everyone else was kind of in place sheltered and like had to work from home. So when you look back up, it's like, whoa, what happened two years literally slipped out and I barely did anything. I felt like I had these ambitions and goals in 2019. And then here we are in 20 21, 20 22, you know? that makes you take value at time and like appreciate time and try to seize time and not let it be wasted by those that are not trying to better themselves or learn new things and stuff like that. And that also leads me to my second references back at work. I have some coworkers they're from New York. they from the hood, the, this and that. When they heard, I go snowboarding, right? Black guy goes snowboard. And what the heck? My Louis, I kind of want to try it now. I guess if you, you go and you survive and blah, blah, blah. And so like, I started taking some of these cats out, like, gone out maybe three or four times with a bunch of other people and they've never gone before and they starting to get a hook. Like you guys are starting to figure it out. And they're like, yo, let me know when you go, let me know when you go. And they're like, they're realizing I gotta change it up. I got to learn something new or life's going to get boring and you'll feel meaningless. And like, there's no point to your life and stuff like that. You gotta, like you said, strengthen memories and involved because if not, your ideas kind of become incest and they're, they're not evolving into something new. Yeah, man. No, that's another big realization that I've had recently too is not only. Creating new memories, switching it up, but also sharing that experience with people like you know, not, not in the like social media type of way, but like if you're not really sitting down and like showing someone else a new experience or at least, you know, reflecting on it with someone or bringing other people into that experience, then it just kind of stays isolated. And it, it gets stale as well. Like I was doing a lot of interesting stuff with my app for a long time, but, but until the podcast like I was sharing the app, but I wasn't sharing that experience. I wasn't connecting with people and, and, you know, doing new things with people and that your life can get pretty stale too, if you don't either join people or encourage them to do your thing, or at least like you were saying with the tennis stuff, have interesting conversations with people on the regular, like things getting stale and whatnot. I knew myself, like during COVID I wanted to like get back in shape and stuff like that. And I, like you said, I did something that you asked me before doing something uncomfortable and like, I made it a thing to like work. at home because clearly gyms there, they weren't a thing during COVID you can't go and freaking hit the bench and do the Smith machine and other stuff like that. So I started hitting the jail jail house workout as they call it. Push-ups sit-ups pull-ups. And I gained access to like some like a kettlebell, some 25 pound weights, 10 pound weights and resistance bands, and started also working on flexibility. That's another thing, a lot of people start neglecting and it's another form of strength that is going to be key to your actual life when you get older. Cause once you get older, you start getting stiff and things break down. And so uh, yeah, I started doing that, but segwaying, like you said, back to this podcast, Oh, I was just saying the podcast has been keeping me sane. That's it? Like I moved during the pandemic. So it was hard for me to make friends, you know, so this has been how I connect with people and it's, you know, it's, I've almost been forced to do this in a way, you know, or else I wouldn't connect enough as much as I needed, you know, so I don't know. That's just been a nice, part of this for me is that it's been very therapeutic, That's kind of ironic because the way this has been for you, for me, just working out and working on my flexibility has kind of been like my sanity. Like everyone knows there's therapy and working out and running and doing cardio and stuff like that, but being able to do it during the pandemic and my roommate, he was working on jujitsu and like kind of a side story. He, he had this hip injury from being in the military and rucking with. 1520 pounds or 30 pound bag on your back or mile. So eventually wearing tear, build scar tissue and some damage in his right hip. But like, he started like getting the stretching and jujitsu and stuff like that. So we kinda like started building each other up physically and stuff like that through the pandemic. And then sometimes I don't know if you saw, but I would like post some stuff where I was like, just finishing a workout or just like doing a stretch. And even then some people are like, messaging me, like, Hey, like what's good for this. What's good for that. And I mean, granted, I'm not a doctor and PT and stuff like that, but I like share some advice and that's kind of been like my sanity and just being able to help people in that, even if it's specifically not the medicinal or medicine career, I'm like seeking, you know, I'm still being able to like, kinda get my foot in to helping someone else and better their lives. Well, also, you said like one of the ways you challenge yourself is to learn everything you do. Right. Not just go through those motions, but it's kind of hard to learn, learn something and master something, unless you're also educating other people as well. You know, like you can't really grasp a subject until you become a teacher. I feel like right thoroughly. And that's one thing in Memphis in my mom actually mentioned it. She's a doctor. She was saying in medicine, you first you learn it. Then you teach it. Cause that's when you know that you truly know it. So in again, in medicine, patient, everyone's different. what you might learn in the textbook is going to like vary from like someone let's say Puerto Rican descent versus someone of like Russian descent, like maybe their blood type or like the way they handle certain things varies. you just got to always be able to learn and be able to like fall back on whatever teachings you have and teach others in order to like, eventually learn from mistakes that will arise in your career. Hmm. So wait, did your mom work in medicine? And like if she did, I guess that's like an extremely important relationship to you then for she's I guess when guiding you, what, what kind of role has she played in all this? she's been very heavily involved in with us to making sure that I get into more one initially like undergrad, undergrad, or there's going to be the first step in getting me to where I wanted to be in medicine. And then to She she's been an advocate. She's like, make sure you apply and make sure you like reach out to this person, do that. If you have interest in this, here are some links in that. So she's provided me with resources to make kind of like my decisions and to where I want to be in medicine. She has her own plate kind of full right now, unfortunately. So I can't say she's been able to give a hundred percent of like maybe what she'd want to do to be able to help me. But she's been there. She's been a great resource in reference in order to understand some things. Yeah man, I, my dad's a lawyer and I never wanted to be a lawyer I'm like, but, but I've always wanted to start my own company and I don't have anyone in my family. That's done that. In fact, I've been recommended, like not to do that. It's like, Hey, you should stay the, you shouldn't take this risky path. So. even if she's busy with her own stuff, it must, it's nice that you have someone to, to be a mentor and to just talk through like some of the stuff you're going through, because I've looked for an entrepreneur mentor at times, and it's, it's hard to build that relationship with another adult. It's it's difficult. It's very difficult sometimes. So that's great that you have someone that can at least just nudge you in the right direction at times, or just understands, like, you know, cause I want to ask you certain questions about your career and I'm like hitting walls where I'm like, dude, I just don't understand. I'm just not going to understand what the heck you're saying at a certain point. Like if we jumped deep into the anesthesia stuff, it's going to be like right over my head, you know? No, no, I definitely hear you on that, but yeah, it's been good to have her in my corner because she definitely understands the day-to-day is that um, people go through in a hot. Yeah, man. And I feel like you need to talk about that stuff at some point. is it like some degree of like traumatizing to be in that hospital to see this stuff? It's hard to say the trauma, the trauma doesn't necessarily come. We can come from the patient, whether it be like pacing, getting sicker or patient, like going into an episode. And like, you're like, oh my God, that was like very scary. But we were able to bring them back. Sometimes it's that sometimes it, it, it, it goes down to the, just like in any corporation, just BS, politics and favoritism and stuff like that. So that's where more of the trauma and anx that most people feel. I feel like that's where it comes from rather than the day-to-day work with blood gore, whatever you want to call it. One other question I thought it would be interesting to ask is what kind of advice do you have for like the regular person, as far as staying healthy and like preventing, like ending up in some of these situations where they do need medical help? What w what do you do in your own life? We talked about like staying active and eating well, but yeah. What do you do in your own life to make sure that you don't require medical attention and what kind of advice do you think people need to hear in that realm? I'll go into that. And then I'm a small anecdote, which I didn't necessarily do the right thing, but um, the measures that took to physically be. And be alert a lot of me to kind of get away without necessarily seeking medical attention, but I'll digress and I'll, I'll focus on first, like focus on your physicality stay active, stay active in some sort of capacity, stay active and healthy by doing so, like you're able to provide your body with the necessarily fuel equipment to combat infectious diseases. Cause on the wreck, even by the microsecond, your body is like fighting off some sort of disease or bacteria that you inhale or ingested, just so that you don't feel it. And eventually feel sick. And I have to run to the bathroom per se, but like eat healthy, stay active, try to be active at least three times a week. I'd say like at least having one high intensity day so that you push your heart rate, push yourself to achieve new Heights. And even if you, get to the threshold of, let's say your, your weight versus like output maintain it, that you don't have to necessarily keep pushing further. Cause I mean, you could cause further strain and damage on yourself. But like I said, three times a week, one high intensity day, and also one of the days during the week stretch stretching is another major thing. Like flexibility is very key because a lot of people, they do a lot of jerks and cleans and moves and that without necessarily stretching said muscles. So they ended up tweaking, it caused a major damage. And therefore like the rehabilitation process is just like arduous because people either aren't consistent with it or like the pain itself is just like bad because you got a lot of scar tissue and this and that. So. Stretch stretching is very, very key in like making sure you have longevity in your life. And then lastly, rest, rest reps can or not last, I guess, but rest as well. Rest is key in regards to recovery is growth as well. Like reskin very many forms. Some people like me, I can do five hours a night, get up and go work at 13 hour shift. Whereas other people are like, no, I need at least seven. I need at least eight hours. But get rest, allow your body to recover and recuperate and listen to your body. And then finally hydrate and drink water By exercising, raise your body temp in order to help combat diseases and other stuff like that, that your body is might be undergoing, but hydration as well, cleans your kidneys, cleans your system and allows your body to also flush whatever it's fighting out of your system faster. So that like you have even less of a chance of realizing that your body was fighting something. And so like, for example, during COVID I, I was hydrating, I was drinking like two liters of water a day. I was doing volume of jailhouse workout. So like 200, 300 pushups a day with like 50, 60 pull ups. And then I'm doing like, 400, 500 crunches, and then I'm doing curls and other stuff like that. So I was doing volume and what that did was elevate my body tempt to just like fight off anything and everything, and I'd go shower, clean myself off from the day. Make sure there's no COVID on me. And then rest and recover, get good. A good like five hours of sleep. After I had some protein go to work, come back, work out, do the same thing, get that mental release that I need after a long day. Also get the physical buildup of like bettering myself, which is also mental as well. By doing the physical, I also allow myself to fight internally. Anything that could have. Infected me during that time. And so by doing that, like in drinking water, I feel like I was able to fight off COVID and not really catch it. And the only time I caught it, actually it was back about a month and a half ago. And even then it was just, my nose was running for about a day and then it stopped. And so I quantity and I was doing pushups. I was doing sit-ups like, I, I w I felt perfectly fine, but I was like, I'm not going to just sit here and like, give it the bacteria or the virus potential to like, overcome me just cause I'm laying in bed and being stagnant. Let me, let me get the body moving again. Let me drink more water and overcome this so that I don't get the adverse effects. Like most other people that ended up in hospitals or other people that ended up really getting kicked in the ass by COVID, you know? Yeah, dude, I I've been trying to implement a lot of these healthy changes over the last two years. I've, I've had the time to as well, which has been nice, but it seems very stressful to be told these things and to be like, oh, I got to force myself to drink so much water every day for the rest of my life or whatever it is. But the nice thing is, is once you start implementing some of these changes, your body expects them and you started doing them automatically. Like now if I don't drink enough water, I started getting very thirsty and I naturally start, you know reaching for the water without, and in the beginning, I'd have to like force it down, you know? I had this realization the other day too, because I've been eating a lot of Greek yogurt, and then we got this new type of Greek yogurt. It was like vanilla flavored. And I, I was like, Hmm, I don't like this at all. I don't like this. And then the next day I realized, oh, that yogurt had a lot more sugar in it than the one I'm usually used to. And I was like, oh, like my body, without even knowing, looking at the label and thinking about, oh, cause I used to have to think, well, this has got too much sugar. I don't want this, but now I'm like, oh, I didn't even like the thing with a lot of sugar, I naturally was just like, oh, I like this one. And I didn't have to consciously make that decision to cut the sugar out or anything. It just, I didn't know why I didn't like it, but I just didn't like it. And it's because I've been in a healthier place with less sugar in my life. And now a lot of sugar, a lot of sugar will upset me. Same thing. I cut out a lot of red meats. They'll now they'll upset my stomach. I don't have to worry about saying no to a steak. I'm just like, eh, I don't want it. You know, like I want the chicken instead. Things like that just fall into your life easier. Where in the beginning, when it comes to making the changes, it feels like, man, I'm going to have to force these changes, like the rest of my life, but it's not really like that. It's not, you'll start gravitating towards the healthier life, if you just point yourself in the right direction, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Right. Couldn't have said it any better myself. Uh, Nope. Hey one other thing I think I'd like to hear about is you said that you wanted to be a doctor go into the medical field to, to help people to really give your all towards people. So when you do a surgery or just any sort of treatment and it helps, what does that feel? What does it feel like to, to see a patient who's cured who came in with an issue they're leaving with, their health what, what does that feel like for you. For me, it feels good knowing about it. It impacted someone. See a lot of different things on a day to day. Like some days I'm, I'm working alongside an anesthesiologist and I room doing cataracts and sometimes I'm working alongside an anesthesiologist in the labor room The workload, especially because COVID put a hole on a lot of procedures and stuff like that. We've had an uptick just to like make up for lost time and it's been hard. Like you're, you're just churning out numbers, turning out patients this and that. And like sometimes some of these patients they'll like wake up from anesthesia, like, oh, it's home. Oh, wow. That was awesome. I don't remember anything. I don't feel anything like thanks man. And those little moments like that, it's like, all right. I, that was kind of low for just like those little moments can make your day and like kinda keep propelling you to enjoy what you do in life. Especially like, when, again, like I said before there they're bureaucratic nonsense that can derail your mind and kind of make you angry and stuff like that. Not to mention like what could potentially go wrong with your patient during surgery? You know what I mean? Like you're, you're cranking out surgery after surgery, so you're just praying for a smooth day overall. a little moments like that can really like really just make your day and make a smile. Dude, this is a tangent, but this reminded me of this tic talk. I just saw which it was like, you know, the movie, snow white. from her perspective, the apple ate actually did have magical powers because she took a bite of the apple and then she just passes out. So from her perspective, she takes a bite of the apple and then she just wakes up and then she's got like her perfect dream man there. And everything's good. Right. So if the movie was from her perspective, it was just. it just seems like a magical apple, but from like the, the real movie, there's all this chaos that ensures, and she's got no clue what's going on. It kind of reminded me of your anesthesiologist, patients who just wake up, like all this shit goes down while they're passed out and you're stressed out. But like, from their perspective, it's just like, Hey, that was easy. I was like, bro, we're going to put like, bro, that like, that was not easy. You have no clue. We were worried for a second where there would be some data like that. It's like, bruh, this was unnecessarily difficult. Like, well go back to the room. We're like, bro, why, why did this turn out the way it is? Like, I don't know, but just, I'm glad she's okay. I'm glad he's okay. Oh, well, this is, this is an intense turn, but so with, with death kind of being on the line, like, how do you, how do you think about death? How do you think about your own mortality and are you reminded that on the daily and then, and then how does that play into your life? Because at least a little tangent personally is, is like a philosophy is to like treat everyday, like it's your last, right? And that's just kind of a saying, but, but people have advised me or I've heard just like, if you really do think about like dying tomorrow and, and things like that, like, it really helps you live life in a better direction. So I don't know. Maybe you could speak to your brushes with mortality and how that change has changed your perspective in any way. Well, I've definitely had a few brushes with mortality outside of work. One of them, when I was headed to work, I got hit by a car fight, went to work this like Saturday morning, like five 50 in the morning, there was no one on the road. And like this one dude decides to like, not use this indicator or look where he's turning and then just completely like sideswipes me. So if he's coming up and making a right and I'm going straight, he's not looking no indication. And then just whips out of nowhere. But thankfully I saw him coming. I'm like, what the heck is he doing? Is he going straight, is making right. I can't tell. And I saw him slowing down, so I slowed down myself. And then thank God I did because it was when he whipped that. Right. Thankfully I was able to kind of hook myself at an angle and roll off the side of his car and then like legit, just kind of lay there for a second, like realize what happened and kind of get myself back up. specifics of that story, like nothing really Institute in regards to him because he was an immigrant in barely spoken English. He just kind of knew how to use Uber and collect money. But I basically, at that point I told him, I was like, yo, I'm good. Just go whatever. Through my bicycle, I shoulder walked about 10 blocks to work and then punched in my like whole wheel was bent like an S like, I couldn't even ride the bike anymore. The handlebars like fucked up. I was working in the labor unit to, in RERP to this guy, but I told this one doctor, I was like, yo I just got hit by a car probably like on the way to work. And I'm thinking I should probably. Like get an ice pack or something like, bro, go to the ER, downstairs, a good checked out. What are you doing? But like, I remember your question earlier as well, besides like the mortality question right now, you were like like what necessarily like kinda helps protect yourself. Like I feel like me being physically there and also mentally alert, allow me to like sustain damage without sustaining more damage that that I could have, you know, where some other people will, they get hit, they would have been taken out my ass, went to work. I threw the bike over my shoulder and kept walking. Like some people would have called an ambulance. They were like, I legitimately can't like, bro, I was able to bounce back. But again, like the back and mortality question, like moments like that, it's like, yo, I got. Start thinking of the future. Think of my life, make sure I like have both eyes looking around having one ear, bud, maybe a set of twos, like have an ear to the street and make sure that I'm not like going to get hit by something. Then another thing too, the mortality question, the one dude recently that was the news last Tuesday or Wednesday for the subway shooting. I'm not sure if you heard much about that, but like they ended up apprehending him like 10 blocks from where I live. Well, stuff like that, but like, thankfully I don't, I don't take the subway anymore. I I'd say I bike to and from work. So I deal with all the craziness, but like that's another reminder that you just gotta be thankful for the life that you do have, and you just gotta be vigilant all around. But in regards to the mortality at work, I did have an incident when I was shadowing a doctor back in 20, maybe 15 or something like that. Don and my ax 7 5, 7 area, Bon Secours medical center. Basically this one, like, let's say 70 year old lady, she was coming in for like a checkup because she was supposed to have something removed. She wasn't able to make her appointment or something like that. So she ended up coming to the ER because she felt something weird. so I go in, I'm shattering this doctor, we go in, we're just chatting. He was like 40 something years old, like recently divorced, but not. So he's like, oh my God, man, I can eat you up. Like just talking life and being jovial and youthful with this doctor. And. Fast forward two hours later, she ended up coding and dying and leg. It's like, what the heck? You, you were, you showed no signs of kind of like death. You, you showed life every ounce of it and sort of sorted away. And like, it's crazy how in an instant, your body can just say, nah, I'm good. And just like, turn a blind eye to you. And like, after that, like I was good in the moment I was good, like throughout the whole shadowing session. But like before I pulled out of the medical center, I kind of just sat in the car and I teared up like a little bit and I was like, damn, she was alive. And now she's not. And I just, through that moment, I felt like even though I didn't really know, know her, like I had a small relationship with her. Cause like she was my quote unquote patient. Like I was there in the room. I knew what was going on, why she was in the ER that day and everything, but she never made it out. So like that reminds you, just like, even when you do the best that you can do, like life can throw wrenches at you and you not, may not be able to save everyone, but keep at it. Keep, keep fighting to be better. Keep fighting, to understand why and keep fighting to be the best clinician person you could be. Yeah, man, for the first story, I feel like even if you were lifting weights all the time and even maybe doing cardio is probably the activities like snowboarding and tennis. Kept you vigilant enough to, almost Dodge that car or to like, like you said soften the blow, I've been working out a lot, but that's maybe a wake up call for me to do some more athletic type of activities because I just been worried about more long-term, you know, preventing any sort of health condition. But, if I go play some volleyball or some soccer, those kinds of activities that are going to keep me more alert in these random, just things that life can throw at you, you know, quick, Twitch fibers would have come in handy getting a car. You know, you usually use them on fricking like basketball or running or soccer, but like to Dodger Carlo in New York, that actually doesn't sound like the craziest story. Like the most unrealistic situation, dude. I know y'all got a lot of traffic, But, yeah, man, I guess so when, when patients come in and they're super sick and they pass away, it's, it's sad always, but it's not as traumatizing. It's not as unexpected and, and on a, you and me are people that are filled with life. And, and I feel like we both have a purpose here on this earth to go do, but God can take that away at any moment. Right. it doesn't always have a meaning. Like you meet people like that. There are certain people that, you know, either celebrities or people in my life that have passed away, not because of cancer or something, it's just an incident. And it's like, there is a lesson to be learned of like be careful or whatever, but sometimes there is no lesson, right? Sometimes it's just, I guess the lesson is to be happy with what you've accomplished thus far, because cause it could, yeah, exactly. Okay, last question. And then I'll let you go. Cause, cause I've been, I held you a little bit longer than I said. So What do you think is the meaning of life? I feel like this was one of your pledge questions. Yeah. One of my favorite, my, my favorite podcaster, he asked this question and I always love the answers to this one. So w what do I think the meaning of life is? Yeah. I'm trying not to get so logical cause you know, me, I can get philosophical and all this great stuff, but to kind of break it down, maybe two or small, quick things, I think life in the literal sense is to show love like a lot of different. Religious sex in ethical backgrounds and ethnic backgrounds their core values have been centered around love, morals, and morality. They've encompass had been focused on love. And so with that members like show love, even when you don't understand why someone's acting some sort of way. Remember to show love whenever you might feel upset, just remember show love, like in, in whatever, best way you can. No, one's going to be perfect. God knows we're not going to be perfect, but you just got to remember to try to walk in love. And then to the purpose of living is to keep living like the purpose of life is to keep living whether that is to give back because transfer of energy, transfer of knowledge is like, And being able to pass that along as the preservation and even the birth of new life. And so it just makes sure that you either, you, you pass it along that way, or you just keep fighting to better yourself and better others around you. Through that. You will find the true version of you, the meaning of life that is purposed for you, and hopefully be able to help others in finding their purpose or inspire others to find their purpose. Perfect, man, I think that's, that's a great place to end. Thank you so much. You, you are just an amazing person, David. I, I was always really inspired when I live with you. You just ooze with wisdom sometimes, you know, and I think you definitely showed that today and yeah, man, I, I just appreciate your, your life's goal, your mission, everything you're about. And just like I said, your, your lifestyle, the balance, the structure, and you're just someone that I think everyone should, should strive to be like, man. Oh, thanks, man. I appreciate that. I'm by no means not purveying any way, but I try to put my best foot forward and uh, being an example, you know? Well, thank you, dude. We all appreciate it. I appreciate you having me today.