S2.Ep16 - Birthday Tears and a Week Long Hospital Stay

Transcript

Felicia Devine: Hello and welcome back to episode 16.

Natalie Richards: Hi, hi.

Felicia Devine: Hi, Natalie.

Natalie Richards: Oh, I'm so happy to see you.

Felicia Devine: and know it's been, i just looked, we recorded last 25 days ago.

Natalie Richards: Okay, that sounds about right.

Felicia Devine: It's been three weeks. Yeah,

Natalie Richards: It is crazy, actually. Yeah, it's been a wild few weeks.

Felicia Devine: yeah it has.

Natalie Richards: That's for sure.

Felicia Devine: It has. You have quite a few updates, Natalie.

Natalie Richards: Yeah, we have... Did we have Wilma the last time we talked?

Felicia Devine: No.

Natalie Richards: Oh my gosh, that's right.

Felicia Devine: Wilma was about to be picked up the next week.

Natalie Richards: Okay, so there's like some serious things that have happened.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Yeah, we have Wilma now and she is a little... She is.

Felicia Devine: Spitfire.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: She's really good. Like she, she really is so good and she's very sweet.

Felicia Devine: Oh.

Natalie Richards: She's very smart, but my goodness is she sassy.

Felicia Devine: Yes.

Natalie Richards: sassy.

Felicia Devine: Oh, yes.

Natalie Richards: she is sassy yeah

Felicia Devine: It's different too because you're used to like, like Gator was the newest entry into your home and that's like a boy.

Natalie Richards: I know. and he was a yeah And he was a year old when he came into the picture.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. So it's just interesting that you have like a female and a puppy.

Natalie Richards: so to have a girl is really interesting. Kyle was like, oh my God, I should have gotten a male because she's so stubborn.

Felicia Devine: No.

Natalie Richards: Like she really has like, she is her own being.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Felicia Devine: Has personality. Yeah. Now she integrated with the inside dogs or just with Gator.

Natalie Richards: That's for sure.

Natalie Richards: All, but Gator's the one who likes her the most.

Felicia Devine: Oh.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. which is so funny.

Felicia Devine: Oh.

Natalie Richards: He loves her.

Felicia Devine: He's like a friend.

Natalie Richards: Yeah, he is. I think he's been like desperate for a friend. It's so cute.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: And Kyle doesn't really like bring him around other dogs all that much because he doesn't really trust him.

Felicia Devine: Oh my goodness.

Felicia Devine: No, no. Unless they're like working dogs.

Natalie Richards: Right. so and they don't get to like play.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: you know So Gator doesn't play.

Felicia Devine: yeah

Natalie Richards: Like he literally doesn't.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: so He's like out in the yard, like on his back with his belly up and she's like climbing all over him. It's so cute.

Felicia Devine: So he's like learning how to play with her.

Natalie Richards: He actually really is playing with her and he really likes her. She's like bit him in the balls a couple of times and she's like trying to nurse, I think.

Felicia Devine: What?

Felicia Devine: my God.

Felicia Devine: That's crazy.

Natalie Richards: It's like, Wilma, you are going to get eaten.

Felicia Devine: Oh my God. She's literally going to get destroyed.

Natalie Richards: He's literally going eat you.

Felicia Devine: He's going to chomp down on her one time.

Natalie Richards: But the one who's been the problem has been Duke.

Felicia Devine: Well,

Natalie Richards: He was like really not into her at all.

Felicia Devine: Really?

Natalie Richards: And he still, he like growls at her multiple times a day. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Just like not into it.

Natalie Richards: And now he'll like kind of come over and now he like licks her once.

Felicia Devine: Where's she living?

Felicia Devine: Oh.

Natalie Richards: And then he's like, he's just, he's a grumpy old man.

Felicia Devine: Anyone like you? Yeah.

Natalie Richards: yeah.

Felicia Devine: Is she inside or outside?

Natalie Richards: Yeah, she's inside.

Felicia Devine: Like inside.

Natalie Richards: kind of yeah for the most part. Like during the day she's inside and then she sleeps in the kennel in the garage overnight.

Felicia Devine: Different kennel than gator.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: So your garage is being taken over by dog kennels.

Natalie Richards: So, yeah, it has been for a while.

Felicia Devine: Oh my gosh.

Natalie Richards: Because Gator's is like a big run, like a dog run.

Felicia Devine: No, it's huge.

Natalie Richards: It's huge.

Felicia Devine: It's like, it's like the size of my master bathroom.

Natalie Richards: Hers is like a little crate. Like she's fine. But truthfully, like Gator's.

Felicia Devine: Does gators have a lid?

Natalie Richards: Yes, because he will climb out.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. He will climb out.

Natalie Richards: Mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: so is It's as tall as the garages, but like he could still climb over the top.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Right. Cause that's what they're known for. They're like climbing dogs.

Natalie Richards: yeah Yep.

Natalie Richards: Yep. So it's been fine.

Felicia Devine: Among other things.

Natalie Richards: It's been fun.

Felicia Devine: Now, how is her mold training?

Natalie Richards: He's been working on her. Good. He's working on scent stuff with her right now, like just getting her to like put her head in the box that he trains out of.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: And yeah, it's so it's good.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Has he introduced any mold yet?

Natalie Richards: She's very smart.

Felicia Devine: Or is he he just training how to train?

Natalie Richards: No, just training it correct. Just introducing how he's going to introduce them all.

Felicia Devine: To learn.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: Yeah, so it's not all that all that involved as of now, but she's doing well.

Felicia Devine: That's so cool.

Natalie Richards: She really is. And we brought her up to the lake. like she She's doing well, yeah.

Felicia Devine: Wow. My gosh. So do you bring Gator and Wilma?

Natalie Richards: hu We have four kennels in our truck when we go up there. like kyle Kyle has four.

Felicia Devine: I'm sorry, you take all four.

Natalie Richards: No. So he has two kennels in the cab of the truck okay with Gene. So Gene is in his little seat, like barely fitting.

Felicia Devine: is he in the middle and then kennel on each side? Oh,

Natalie Richards: No, so they're stacked. they're They're stacked like one on top of each other.

Felicia Devine: cause he folded the seat up.

Natalie Richards: So the seat comes up. Two kennels go in Gene has his one little seat.

Felicia Devine: So Gator's now kenneled in the cab? Yeah.

Natalie Richards: When we're driving, yes.

Felicia Devine: yeah

Natalie Richards: h And then overnight, then Kyle has bigger crates that are in the bed of the truck that is like a whole setup.

Felicia Devine: Yeah, like sleeping crates.

Natalie Richards: And and that's where all, yeah So they sleep in the bed of the truck with fans going and like he's got the whole thing.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: But we have four dog crates in this truck whenever we go.

Felicia Devine: And then you had to bring things.

Natalie Richards: And then we have things. So I like leave my things up at the lake for the most part and bring one, i bring one bag and that's it.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Oh my gosh.

Natalie Richards: And food.

Felicia Devine: huh That's crazy.

Natalie Richards: It's so funny. So it's, we're like decked out, decked out.

Felicia Devine: How involved?

Natalie Richards: It's actually insanity.

Felicia Devine: Well. for For as many dog crates as you have, we have bicycles.

Natalie Richards: Correct. So everybody has their thing. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Every family does its own thing. That's insane.

Natalie Richards: It's really funny. i'll send I'll send you a picture of it. It's ha quite, quite interesting.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Wow. Wow. Okay.

Natalie Richards: So it's been fun.

Felicia Devine: You have to tell me about your father, Papa John.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. Yeah, I do. I do. You had an update though too, didn't you? Did you have something fun?

Felicia Devine: Yeah. It's honestly so depressing.

Natalie Richards: What do you mean?

Felicia Devine: it's It's just depressing.

Natalie Richards: Okay. what Well, so is my dad's story, so we might as well.

Felicia Devine: Yeah, but it's not about me.

Natalie Richards: not All right, fine.

Felicia Devine: see

Natalie Richards: Okay. Well, it has been a very interesting... God, what day is it today?

Felicia Devine: It's middle of, wait, it's end of July.

Natalie Richards: The 19th. Okay. So it's been two weeks. So, okay. Another thing that happened in this three weeks is Jean turned four.

Felicia Devine: Oh my gosh, you're right.

Natalie Richards: Right. It was 4th of July and then it was his 4th birthday.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: And that kind of is where the story is going to begin because he had we woke up on his lovely 4th birthday and we had the plan you know to go to Toy Story 5.

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Natalie Richards: This is the day after the 4th of July also.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So like we do an entire day's worth of stuff on the 4th of July.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Yes.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: So it was a whirlwind. It was a whirlwind day.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Very fun. Super fun.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Jean loved it. So we wake up and I'm kind of just like, you know, just a little little out of it. I'm like, happy birthday, Gene. you wait Oh, he wakes up.

Natalie Richards: I put streamers on his door, okay?

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: For when he woke up, he would open his door and there would be streamers.

Felicia Devine: Stop. He hated it.

Natalie Richards: He hated hated it. he hated it he so immediately upon waking up, he is he starts bawling the second he sees the streamers.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: No. Oh, no, Natalie. You had no idea.

Natalie Richards: He woke up he goes, why would you put those on there before I woke up?

Felicia Devine: Oh, he was sad you did it without him?

Natalie Richards: He just didn't like it. Like he just didn't like that it was a surprise.

Felicia Devine: Oh.

Natalie Richards: He's apparently not a surprise guy.

Felicia Devine: Okay, okay, we're learning that.

Natalie Richards: So, okay.

Felicia Devine: Lesson learned.

Natalie Richards: Lesson learned. No kidding. Okay. So we, we, we remedy the day. Okay. We come out and there's like, there's other decorations that he did like because his presence were underneath them.

Felicia Devine: You recover. Okay.

Natalie Richards: So all was well.

Felicia Devine: Oh, okay, okay.

Natalie Richards: Okay.

Felicia Devine: Yes.

Natalie Richards: Meanwhile, I think Kyle got home like a few hours late from work to that night because it was the 4th of July.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: so I think he got home at like four or 5 AM.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I don't even remember. So it's, It's not a great start to the day.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Okay.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So we're opening presents.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Kyle's dead to the world.

Felicia Devine: yeah

Natalie Richards: Gene's loving his presence and it was really fun. We're going about our day. I'm getting ready because we're going to go to toy Story 5 in the movie theater with my parents, with Matt and Quincy, with Carson.

Felicia Devine: it

Natalie Richards: We're all going to sit there in the movie theater and then we're going go to Hibachi for dinner because that's Gene's favorite.

Felicia Devine: Oh my gosh.

Natalie Richards: And i had this whole, you know, the whole day it was just planned, ready to go.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: It's going to be super fun. All of his favorite things. So I'm getting ready. He's playing in the sink with water. Okay. And he does that almost every day.

Natalie Richards: Like, and he's very good about it. He doesn't get water everywhere.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Like he's very good. I go with Wilma to do something in our bedroom for one second and I come back out and water is everywhere across the entire kitchen. Like both ways on the countertop, all like down in between the stove and the cabinets, pooling everywhere.

Felicia Devine: Oh my gosh.

Natalie Richards: And I immediately, i start bawling because for not really any, real truly like that's why I was, I just was like, oh my gosh, I don't think I can handle this right now.

Felicia Devine: Mold.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: You don't cry often.

Natalie Richards: No. And I was all, I was sitting there like, why am I crying about this right now? And I was uncontrollably sobbing for 20 minutes.

Natalie Richards: I could not stop. And I'm like cleaning it.

Felicia Devine: Was Kyle home?

Natalie Richards: No, he was gone. He had already gone to work. I don't even understand why.

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Natalie Richards: Well, I do now. and I now understand why I was crying. So in the midst of like cleaning up the water, my phone is like in a pool of water and I see my mom calling me and I'm like, I just set it to the side because my phone, I take it out of the dripping water and I set it to the side.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I'm like, I can't i can't talk to you right now.

Felicia Devine: I can't answer this, Anita. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: but Meanwhile, I'm bawling, crying for no reason. because it's really not a big deal. Like I've cleaned up water before.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I'm getting it cleaned up. It's not a big deal, but I can't stop crying. So I like pull myself together. i'm like, okay, it's going to be fine. The day is going to be fine. My mom, I call her back because I have like three missed calls from her. And she texts me. She says, we're going to the yeah ER. Something's wrong with dad.

Natalie Richards: And I go, oh my goodness. So I call her back. It had probably been like 20 or 30 minutes. I think they had just gotten to the yeah er and they had admitted him, thankfully, that he got right in because the ERs in our area are not so good about that.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Like you could go for like a real problem and sit there for five hours.

Felicia Devine: Oh.

Natalie Richards: waiting to get in.

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Natalie Richards: It's bad. So that was nice. So so I call her like, what's going on?

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: What are the symptoms? She said, well, he's he was pulling staples up from yard. Oh, a few days before this i forgot this, I forgot this part of the story.

Natalie Richards: A few days before this, Kyle and my dad had gone up to the lake and they redid like, I think 12 of the stairs down to the lake. So like, They took out, they ripped out the wood and replaced it with new, which is like a major job when you're having to go up

Felicia Devine: Oh. The wood?

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: 60 more stairs in order to get to the part that needed to be replaced.

Felicia Devine: Whoa. Yeah. Okay.

Natalie Richards: So it was a big job. So they had just done that. And it was very strenuous, but he felt really good when he came back. He was like, I feel fine.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: Kyle was dead. And my dad was like, yeah, I'm fine.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: Like, okay.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: and So Kyle goes, I need to work him harder next time.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: like go, I don't know, but he he did fine.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: 70.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Wow.

Natalie Richards: He's going to be 71 this year

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So he's, he's getting older, but like, he's very active and he is very healthy.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Physical.

Natalie Richards: He's very physical.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So, so he's outside. My parents are doing all kinds of stuff at their house, like renovations, just like fixing things that just need to be redone basically after 20 years of living in a house. So there the whole screened in porch on the outside had to be re-screened or something.

Natalie Richards: The parts were rotting. I don't even know. So he's repeatedly bending bending over and pulling staples out of wood and probably like hundreds of staples.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: So it's like multiple repeated all the way down, leaning over a banister basically, pulling staples and coming back up.

Felicia Devine: oh Oh.

Natalie Richards: Like he's fully leaning and coming back. He comes back in the house after doing that and he's like dizzy a little bit, disoriented. Like he was walking and he would like kind of lean into a wall as he was walking by the wall, right?

Natalie Richards: They go to church.

Felicia Devine: Oh

Natalie Richards: He's driving to church. I don't know why, he did.

Felicia Devine: my God. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: He's like missing the green arrows to go. And my mom's like, John, it's green. And then they get to the turn in church and he like doesn't go where they usually go to the parking lot. He like keeps going straight.

Natalie Richards: which is something he's done like millions of times, like literally millions.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: And he makes the wrong turn and she goes, are you okay? And he goes, I don't know. i don't think so. So he's like admitting that something is not right, which is weird for him because usually he's very much like, I'm fine.

Felicia Devine: Whoa. Not right.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So he admitted, he's like, no, I think something might be wrong. So they go to the ER for not really any...

Felicia Devine: Did Anita drive?

Natalie Richards: I don't know. actually don't know that information. Probably not.

Felicia Devine: You're like, didn't ask.

Natalie Richards: Probably not.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. He probably was just like, okay, direct me.

Natalie Richards: He probably drove himself to the ER.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: r I don't know. I don't know.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: So they were just going to go get checked out because he's like, something's weird. still was a little vague, but for him, that all is weird.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Like that's very alarming symptoms for him and for him to say something's wrong.

Felicia Devine: One for him to admit that something is wrong.

Natalie Richards: Like that, that was enough where I was like, I don't like the sound of this.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Uh, and like the dizziness and the, like, just weird, just really weird.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So they get to the er I, that's when I get ahold of her. She doesn't have service in the ER. It was like this whole mess.

Felicia Devine: a

Natalie Richards: She could, she had to use like the nurse's phone to talk, to call me.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So I'm getting like a random number calling me I'm, it was just weird.

Felicia Devine: yeah ordering

Natalie Richards: So they're getting scans kind of, and she's like telling me what they're telling him. And basically they ordered nothing for the most part. It was, she's like telling me what they're doing and I'm like, okay, well make sure they, they do, you know, like a CT angio and like all this, stuff like they need to go through things.

Natalie Richards: these stroke tests. Right.

Felicia Devine: yeah yeah

Natalie Richards: cause that's, kind that's what I was thinking it was at that point, like a really early stroke. I mean, we kind of know how to, how to look for these things.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: We kind of have it pounded in our heads for our entire schooling.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: It's kind of like, this is a little weird.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Right. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: she then relays that information to the doctor And i end up getting a call back from that random number and I expect it's my mom.

Natalie Richards: It's actually the doctor calling me.

Felicia Devine: Oh.

Natalie Richards: And she goes, so I hear you have some problems with what I'm ordering.

Felicia Devine: Natalie.

Natalie Richards: And I'm just like, oh, how do i how do I address this situation? How do i and so I'm being very nice.

Felicia Devine: What?

Natalie Richards: I'm being very nice.

Felicia Devine: Why was she older younger?

Natalie Richards: Younger, younger, younger yeah ER doc. I couldn't even believe, couldn't even believe it. And she goes, I just, you know, there's there's not really symptoms to warrant this.

Natalie Richards: We're going to order a head CT, a plain CT, basically plain without contrast, which is just looking at his brain.

Felicia Devine: So just looking at his brain.

Natalie Richards: And I go, so what is your preliminary diagnosis?

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: And she goes, well, we don't, we don't really have one right now.

Felicia Devine: Like, what are you looking for?

Natalie Richards: And I go, so why are you even ordering the head CT?

Felicia Devine: like if you don't even have a generic idea of what's going on, what are you ordering?

Natalie Richards: i like You don't even have a clue what you're looking for? it is protocol to do that first to check for a but brain bleed, which, okay, fine. He didn't have a headache at that time at all.

Natalie Richards: No head pressure, nothing. So it was kind of just like, i I don't know what you're looking for, but I don't think you're looking for the right thing.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Either way.

Felicia Devine: So you're going back and forth with her?

Natalie Richards: Okay. So they no, I was being very nice. I was just like, I really think he needs some sort of vascular testing.

Felicia Devine: Yes.

Natalie Richards: i i really would like that to be done.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: i understand the symptoms are vague right now. And she's just like, yeah, I just don't think we have we have anything to warrant ordering that right now. I go, okay. i said, you know what?

Natalie Richards: Yeah, you you do what you feel is necessary. And I'm not there. Like if I was there and I was seeing him, I probably would have pushed a little bit more.

Felicia Devine: Right. And they're in Rockford.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. So we were like 40 minutes away. i would have come there, but my mom was like, I don't know. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe he is just having, he didn't really have any other symptoms.

Felicia Devine: Maybe he's dehydrated and vertigo.

Natalie Richards: Right.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Like so maybe it's nothing. I'm like, okay, yeah, maybe it's maybe it's nothing. I don't know. Seems a little weird. So they did the plain CT. Nothing shows up. Oh, really?

Natalie Richards: Interesting. They send him home. They send him home. They don't do anything further. Nothing. Okay. So he gets home.

Natalie Richards: we, was happening at that time with our life? We were driving in because we were still going to go to the movie. Like we were like, just let us, we're going at least be in Rockford.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: We'll be close. Like if you need us, let us know.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Right. But I wasn't going to go like bombard the ER if it really wasn't a problem. Right.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So I should have, but I didn't. So we're at the movie, I think at that time, she texts me, we're heading home. I go, okay, awesome. Like, I guess everything's fine. Right.

Natalie Richards: They get home. i get another text. She goes, His whole call me and I called her and she goes, his whole left side is numb. They got home and he basically had all of these symptoms.

Natalie Richards: So his whole face went numb. His arm went numb. His leg went numb. He was having a hard time walking. Like he couldn't even hold him, like stand up on his own because his whole leg was not working.

Felicia Devine: They

Natalie Richards: So at that time, they didn't even, he he said, no, don't call anybody. I don't want to go back to the ER. They don't they think nothing's wrong with me.

Felicia Devine: they don't know what they're doing. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: They don't know what they're doing.

Felicia Devine: Oh, no.

Natalie Richards: She calls 911.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Paramedics come within minutes, but then he still, he didn't have like hand motor things. So they still were like, well, I don't know if you're really having a stroke. And he was saying he didn't really want to go anywhere. So they stayed there for 30 minutes at my house at my parents' house, just chatting.

Natalie Richards: Because he's he can talk. Like he he didn't have the droopiness necessarily.

Felicia Devine: He wasn't slurring.

Natalie Richards: He wasn't slurring. So I can understand where the confusion comes from. However, there are some other symptoms here are very alarming.

Felicia Devine: and also the fact that they' it's all left-sided.

Natalie Richards: I know.

Felicia Devine: I'm like, oh, let's talk about the brain.

Natalie Richards: Very alarming. Okay. Okay.

Natalie Richards: Anyway, literally brain level.

Felicia Devine: Brain level.

Natalie Richards: Hello, people.

Felicia Devine: Yes.

Natalie Richards: it's It's just kind of like actually ridiculous. I don't know if we really do get it pounded in our heads so much so that we really do know how to recognize

Felicia Devine: Okay, so everyone's just like standing around talking. i don't know. That's the only thing we recognize.

Natalie Richards: But do people, do they really not know how to recognize that a stroke is happening? I don't understand.

Felicia Devine: I don't know.

Natalie Richards: So this is just like part one of the whole saga. Okay.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: This is how it began. So he, finally, they get him to the hospital

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Felicia Devine: So they he agrees.

Natalie Richards: He agrees to go. They take him to a different hospital because we thankfully we have three options in our area.

Felicia Devine: Thank God.

Felicia Devine: Option A, B, or C.

Natalie Richards: So they take him to a different hospital.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: All of them are bad in different ways. OK, and we know that they're bad in different ways.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: But for this, apparently this one place was going to be the place to go. OK. So they take him there. Thankfully they give him, that they're calling me again. We're at dinner now.

Natalie Richards: They're calling me on the phone. The doctor's talking. He goes, so unfortunately your dad had a stroke. I go, yeah, i know.

Felicia Devine: I knew this at 11 AM.

Natalie Richards: i'm I'm aware.

Felicia Devine: eleven a m

Natalie Richards: Yes, I know. I know he had a stroke. Thank you. hygiene. And they're like, well, we have to give him this, this particular medication. I go, yeah, I know.

Natalie Richards: Give it to him now. Give it to him. Like they have to give him the clot breaking medication. And they're like explaining. I'm like, no, this is an obvious thing that you need to do.

Felicia Devine: yeah

Natalie Richards: Go get daddy and have him help you go potty. Okay. You can have them go take them to dad. Okay. So I'm like, he needs the the TPA or whatever it's called, trippoint whatever that, I can't remember what it stands for.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So he needs that clot breaking medication. So they they got him to the hospital. They obviously did another scan. They did the appropriate scan.

Felicia Devine: Oh my gosh.

Natalie Richards: Okay. And my mom's talking to their neurosurgeon friend. He's telling her that, yes, he needs, he need he's obviously having a stroke.

Felicia Devine: having a stroke.

Natalie Richards: He needs this particular scan. I go, yeah, that's the one I told him to do hours ago.

Felicia Devine: Mm.

Natalie Richards: So they finally did it. found us They found the stroke. It's in a smaller part of the brain, thankfully.

Felicia Devine: OK.

Natalie Richards: So it wasn't, that's why he wasn't having like the speech issues.

Felicia Devine: Or the motor.

Natalie Richards: I forget what it was, what the area of the brain was called. Something weird. P2 or something like that. We referred to it as like the P2 area, which I don't even know what that means.

Felicia Devine: i don't know if we label it like that.

Natalie Richards: I've never, I don't think we label it like that.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I was like, I don't know what that means, but whatever.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: So it obviously had some sort of motor motor control to the body.

Felicia Devine: o

Natalie Richards: so they give him the medication, but it was seven hours later. So they're supposed to do it within four. But now he the doctor said, we can do it within nine.

Felicia Devine: Oh God.

Natalie Richards: We don't really know what's going to happen. But- but we can do it, administer it see what happens. The clot is really small is what they said.

Natalie Richards: So it should work really well.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: Also, you know, we don't have to worry too much about like major adverse effects, which is good.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: And I was like, okay, fine. But they had to put him into the ICU to monitor for bleeding, which, okay, fine. Yes. Very reasonable.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: i and I agree with all of that.

Felicia Devine: and

Natalie Richards: Yes. And my mom, you know, she didn't know what all that meant, but I'm like, yes, he needs the medication. I have no problem with that at all.

Felicia Devine: Right. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Very reasonable. I'm not against all medication, right?

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I don't like the medical field, but I'm not against all that. Because it's an an emergency, a true emergency.

Felicia Devine: Right. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: i've I've got you.

Felicia Devine: Warrants medication.

Natalie Richards: I'm on the same page.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I'm good. We got it.

Felicia Devine: hu

Natalie Richards: Okay. So, and I'm, I'm prefacing all of this for our later discussion for the second half of of this, of this whole, of this whole scenario.

Felicia Devine: For the later medication. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I have no problem with medication when it makes sense. Right. And when it is an emergent situation, absolutely. Please do, do what, do what you need to do.

Felicia Devine: Absolutely. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: okay. So he's in the ICU has the medication, has more CTs, whatever. Everything looks good. He wakes up in the morning has zero symptoms, zero. All of his numbness is gone.

Natalie Richards: i go there in the morning and we're talking like everything's normal.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: And it was truthfully like he was a okay.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Everything's good. Blood pressure was high. but they expect it after a stroke.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: So like naturally you want the perfusion be high.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Felicia Devine: To increase. Okay.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. So that's like, they didn't do that on purpose. That's what the body does post-stroke. It increases blood pressure to increase perfusion the area.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: Amazing.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Look at how, and they're saying all of that.

Felicia Devine: Smart the body is.

Natalie Richards: They're saying all of that. They're like, this is a natural thing that the body does. Like this is, you know, we're going to let that happen and we don't have to have to worry about bringing it down.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Bringing it down.

Natalie Richards: We're not, want to bring it down.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: We want it to stay high to increase healing. Okay. So that was day one. And day two, he was in the ICU for two days. Meanwhile, in the ICU, he's literally normal.

Natalie Richards: And you're I'm walking by all these people that are near death in the ICU and I'm getting to his room at the very end.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Felicia Devine: Oh my God.

Natalie Richards: And he's perfectly fine. Okay.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: it was and That was miraculous.

Felicia Devine: A miracle.

Natalie Richards: Like, thank God.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Thank God he's totally fine.

Felicia Devine: okay Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Okay. So then we have second phase of our story.

Felicia Devine: Jeez, John. Run away, John.

Natalie Richards: At that point, I wish he would have.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I came back to the hospital that second day night or the first day night. I can't remember. Second day of this whole thing. It was after work. I saw him again. he was still doing really well, but I like said bye to him and I like had this pit in my stomach when I left.

Felicia Devine: What?

Natalie Richards: And I got to my car and I was like, I don't feel good at all. Like I don't feel good. And he was fine. And I was just like, I don't feel the same way that I felt when I left this morning.

Felicia Devine: The first time, yeah.

Natalie Richards: Because at the morning I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. Like everything's good.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: He's going to get out of here. Everything's fine. Well, I don't know if they can discharge them right from the ICU. think they, i don't know if you can be just discharged right from ICU. Right.

Felicia Devine: Like you, I don't know if you can qualify from like critical care to gone.

Natalie Richards: Right. So I think they had to transfer him to some other floor.

Felicia Devine: Step down unit.

Natalie Richards: Okay.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: i had Before I left, I had heard that they were transferring him to the cardio floor. And I'm just like, oh boy. When he was in the ICU, they did every test possible on him. They did multiple echoes on his heart. They were trying to figure out where this clot came from, right? He had a contusion on his leg like a month before and went on a couple of flights. And I was like...

Natalie Richards: maybe that could have caused a problem.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Right.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: so they did full leg ultrasounds, making sure that he, he had no clots.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: And I was very happy about that. And I actually, i pushed for all of that.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Like he needs to have all these tests done just to make sure, just to make sure they were, you know, hung up that he doesn't go to the doctor.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. To just have a workup. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: i get it. It's fine. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: I get it.

Natalie Richards: I get it. It's fine. He doesn't go the doctor, but he's good. you know

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Doesn't have any symptoms. He's fine. so so But they did all these tests. They made sure he didn't have a hole in his heart that maybe a clot from his leg could have could have come up and caused a stroke, blah, blah, blah.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: They did a lot, and I'm very grateful that they did all that. However, now we know that he really is totally fine.

Felicia Devine: and

Felicia Devine: and

Natalie Richards: They still, okay, so they changed him to a cardio patient. And they're like, ooh, this blood pressure is still a little high. Ooh, we don't like that all of a sudden.

Natalie Richards: so the neuro guy on the ICU floor says, oh, no, need the blood pressure.

Felicia Devine: Was like, this is great.

Natalie Richards: Amazing. Your body's physiologically doing what it needs to do. The second he changed to a cardio patient, they're like, oh, no, we really don't like this. And it was down from what it was before, naturally, as the body does.

Felicia Devine: It's slowly coming back.

Natalie Richards: Brings it down. I wasn't there because it was late at night. They gave him lisinopril to bring his blood pressure down.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: And then we are on this whole cascade of problems from there.

Felicia Devine: events

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Natalie Richards: So overnight, it was like his his blood pressure was not really being regulated. They gave him I gave him a statin at that time too. His is cholesterol was perfect, if not even low.

Natalie Richards: Okay.

Felicia Devine: And they gave him a stat.

Natalie Richards: they're They're looking for problems at this point. And it's just purely like standard of care, normal hospital protocol.

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Natalie Richards: Like you get a beta blocker, you get a, or no, you get a blood thinner. they started him on a blood thinner, which, okay, reasonable, fine.

Natalie Richards: started them on blood pressure meds and a statin because that's just what they do post-stroke. Okay.

Felicia Devine: Oh, no.

Natalie Richards: And I'm telling my mom, please don't let him do that. Like, please.

Felicia Devine: No.

Natalie Richards: And she just isn't refusing it at that time. And I'm like, okay, fine, fine, fine.

Felicia Devine: She doesn't have like, yeah.

Natalie Richards: And I'm like, the statin is not going to kick in for a month or two anyway, whatever. i don't care. It is what it is.

Felicia Devine: Yeah, we can take them off it later.

Natalie Richards: But they're giving him all these things and And he's never been on a medication like that in his life ever, ever, ever, ever.

Felicia Devine: andie

Natalie Richards: The only thing he's probably ever taken in the last 20 years maybe was an antibiotic for a sinus infection.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: That's literally it. So he's coming into this situation with nothing. And then they're giving him all this stuff and his vitals are kind of going like this a little bit.

Natalie Richards: They're like, they're going up and down. Nothing's really stabilizing.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: He's getting a headache. He's getting like, there's all kinds of like stuff happening.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Meanwhile, he is discouraged as hell that he wasn't getting out of there because he was supposed to get out of there.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Like after the ICU, it was supposed to be like, okay, you're good.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Everything's fine. Bye. The next day, i think it was the next day after that, he was in the room and they had been giving him these medications now.

Natalie Richards: And they rush in because his pulse is now like high for whatever reason. His pulse was sitting at like 55 the whole time, like he he which I think is his normal, which is low, but it was like very much what his normal probably is.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: And they rush in because it's like 114 or something. And they go, sir, are you okay?

Felicia Devine: Resting.

Natalie Richards: And he's sitting there texting like nothing even happened. He's like, yeah, I'm fine. What are you talking about? Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So they found that he went into AFib, but he had no physical symptoms of it. No, like, like he didn't feel the symptom.

Felicia Devine: Like he didn't feel it.

Natalie Richards: Okay. It was there. It was tracking. It was AFib for sure.

Felicia Devine: Oh

Natalie Richards: But then his, but so then of course they bring him more medications. They bring him a beta blocker to bring the, the pulse down. They bring up like all this stuff.

Natalie Richards: And I don't even remember at that point. Oh, started him on a heparin drip. because that's their protocol. I'm literally sitting in this situation and i'm I'm about to lose my mind.

Natalie Richards: Like I'm actually losing my mind because in my soul, i still believe that it was a created experience.

Felicia Devine: my gosh.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: from being in the hospital and medication.

Felicia Devine: Medication.

Natalie Richards: Now, I'm not going to deny that maybe he has had AFib before, and maybe that's where this clot came from, from the stroke. I don't know. It's very possible. And because he has no symptoms while it's happening, he could have been having it for a very long time.

Felicia Devine: a

Natalie Richards: His brother has AFib.

Felicia Devine: Right. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: There's a lot of people who have AFib. A lot of people who are also walking around in normal life in and out of AFib and they're A-OK.

Felicia Devine: With Ava.

Natalie Richards: All right?

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: They're not in a hospital.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: Okay?

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Natalie Richards: so So he's still like... Basically, they're they're doing all this stuff to like try to control his vitals, and his body is just going back and forth.

Natalie Richards: It's yo-yoing. At one point, they gave him a blood pressure med again that brought him then down to 90 over...

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: 90 over 50 or some crap like that. It just was like, oh, maybe we shouldn't have given him that much right away.

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Natalie Richards: They gave him like a double dose because it was, you know, in the 160s again.

Felicia Devine: Hi. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: And they're like, oh, well, we'll just give him a double dose right now.

Felicia Devine: Oh my God, Natalie.

Natalie Richards: I truly, truly, and I know that they're used to people coming in there that have that are on eight medications and they're trying, you know, they are used to doing this stuff.

Felicia Devine: He's like a science experiment.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. They had to like figure out the, yeah.

Natalie Richards: But like, this is a body who is physiologically working and they are going against the physiology of the body.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Oh my gosh.

Natalie Richards: upsetting, frustrating, unaligned. I, there is no word. Like there's no word for what I was feeling because we are so not of the medical fields.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Like that. yeah

Natalie Richards: And we're so just like, we were asking questions.

Felicia Devine: is it

Natalie Richards: We were definitely like pushing back against the doctors a little, but not in like a bad way at all.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: but they knew.

Felicia Devine: Right. You were just like, give me the reasoning.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. And he was just an unusual patient.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Right.

Natalie Richards: Like they were like, he's really fine.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: And I mean, don't understand why all this is happening. who And I'm just sitting there. It's because he's in the freaking hospital for now, the fifth day in a row. and he's.

Felicia Devine: And God forbid he's going to get a freaking infection just sitting there.

Natalie Richards: No kidding. So he's sitting there at truly the whole time.

Felicia Devine: and Yeah.

Natalie Richards: He was normal. Like he's sitting there completely normal. And that was probably more upsetting than anything because I'm like, this is truly for no, he's in here for not really any reason right now.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: And they're not going to let him go. I'm thinking that this whole time.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I'm like, this feels like a jail situation, at least to me.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: And he was feeling that too. Every nurse who would come in, he goes, okay, can I go home now?

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: When can I go home? How's this going to help me get home? When can I when can i get out of here?

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: Like he's...

Felicia Devine: They're going put him on the psych ward.

Natalie Richards: literally And he's literally perfectly fine, like perfectly fine. And they just keep coming in and they're just like, you know, we just want to make sure that everything is good.

Natalie Richards: This is really, you know, like this is really not a good thing for your body to be doing right now. And we're just really trying to, you know, make sure that we're doing the right things and get you on the right medications.

Natalie Richards: And then, you know, since you've been estranged from the medical field for a long time, we need to just make sure that we're that we're doing all of this and that you bring your cholesterol down to a 70 that they said, you really, sir, you really need to get your cholesterol down.

Felicia Devine: No. Well,

Natalie Richards: 70 is like death. That's like,

Felicia Devine: and also like cholesterol is what is a precursor to your like sex hormones.

Natalie Richards: no kidding. To every hormone in your body, to your brain, to brain healing. I'm like, you

Felicia Devine: Are they sponsored by Cheerios, General Mills?

Natalie Richards: are kidding me. You're kidding

Felicia Devine: who's Who's paying them?

Natalie Richards: So these conversations that I'm sitting through, I actually feel my brain exploding as they're talking because I just can't actually do it.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: And thankfully I was in the car on the phone with, for one of them, because I actually, my face in person would have been actual shock and

Felicia Devine: Was in shock. Yeah. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Where they're telling him, you know, we just, oh gosh, I forget what that one was. That was before the AFib had happened. They were telling him all this stuff about like, you just need to be on a blood thinner and a beta blocker and and a statin for the rest of your life.

Natalie Richards: And that's just going to be that's going to be your your life.

Felicia Devine: Oh no. Story.

Natalie Richards: That's what we do.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: That's just what we do. They're not actually looking at him as a person at all.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Mm-mm.

Natalie Richards: and looking at his blood work at all because his blood work is pristine, at least from their perspective.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right.

Natalie Richards: I'm going to run my own, but there's a lot of things I'm going to do for him after the fact.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: But okay.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: So then we're basically in the realm where he's not coming out of AFib on his own.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So he's like stuck in AFib pretty much, I think for three days.

Felicia Devine: Yeah, his body's like, hello.

Natalie Richards: And it, And, and I'm sitting there, I'm like, we're having so many conversations and it's just like, I don't think he's coming out of this if he's in the hospital.

Felicia Devine: i can't help myself.

Natalie Richards: And also, can you just, can you just leave and see what your body naturally does?

Felicia Devine: They're not gonna let you go though.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: And just like, let's just see, you can always come back in and do a cardioversion procedure as an outpatient. That's how they usually do it. It's an outpatient procedure.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: so that's that was what they were dangling in front of him at that point was like, okay, you can get the shock procedure and everything's going to be good and you'll be fine, blah, blah.

Felicia Devine: That's insane.

Natalie Richards: blah And I'm like, okay, yeah, it's intense, but it does work a lot of the time. it has like a 90% efficacy. I know all this stuff because I know what the risks the risks are and there are risks.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: You're sedated. There's a risk of being sedated.

Felicia Devine: They literally jolt you with an AED.

Natalie Richards: like and they Yes. And he still has he has like the burn marks on his chest.

Felicia Devine: Wait, he did it?

Natalie Richards: like it's Yeah, he did it. So, okay, we're getting there. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: my god.

Natalie Richards: So they're dangling this carrot in front of his face, right? Like, okay, you could get this shock procedure, but we we don't want to do it till Friday. We want to try these meds to try to get you out of it, you know, on your own.

Natalie Richards: And I'm just like, just do the freaking shock procedure at this point. Like if that's going to get him out of here, then get him out of here.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Scare the guy. Boo.

Natalie Richards: Literally.

Felicia Devine: It's like hiccups.

Natalie Richards: I'm like, you cannot be on any more of these medications. It's crazy.

Felicia Devine: Oh, no.

Natalie Richards: So they tried to do oral metropylol first to bring the pulse down. And I go, why are we doing that when it's going to do nothing for the AFib? Who cares if his pulse...

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: He's fine. He's sitting here fine.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: Obviously, we don't want his pulse to be in the hundreds forever. I get it.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: But once you do the shock procedure, if it gets him out of AFib, his pulse is coming down.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: Why are we just giving him a medication in the meantime? just because. i did I just was like, this is dumb.

Felicia Devine: yes

Natalie Richards: was being very nice. Like I'm not being nice right now because I'm so annoyed.

Felicia Devine: Right. Right.

Natalie Richards: But like I was being so nice.

Felicia Devine: You're in hindsight. Yeah. Right.

Natalie Richards: And they're just like, this is just what we have to do. It's just what we have to do. b bla oh my God. I just can't. I have these these doctor's faces like burned in my mind. i just can't even, can't even handle it.

Felicia Devine: And you're trying to like keep it together.

Natalie Richards: and then that wasn't working. So then they said, oh, we're going to start him on a drip beta blocker medication. And my mom told me that and I come into the hospital and they hadn't done it yet.

Natalie Richards: And she goes, they're going to start him on a drip. And I go but like, if you're trying to get out of here, that's a bad idea because he's then going to be physically connected to something.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: And once that happens, he's not coming off until they say he can come off.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: And I don't like that.

Felicia Devine: No.

Natalie Richards: You can refuse an oral medication, but like once you're hooked up, it's it's a lot harder, right?

Felicia Devine: Mm-mm. Right.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: So I'm just like, I don't feel right about that. That was like my turning point. I was like, I don't feel right about this at all.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Like this is, I was like getting emotional. I'm like, this is not aligning with anything that we have going on right now. I don't like it.

Felicia Devine: Right?

Natalie Richards: So the nurse then comes in as we're having this conversation, as we're talking about it, she comes in, she goes, okay, I have the drip to start for you. And I'm, I just ask her, I say, can we just have like 30 minutes just to discuss a little bit more about like what our next steps are going to be? Can we just have 30 minutes before we start the drip?

Natalie Richards: She goes, okay, you can have an hour. Cause I'm going to go to my lunch. I go, okay, fine. Great. Thank you.

Felicia Devine: Great.

Natalie Richards: Amazing.

Felicia Devine: don't have time to escape. don't have time to pry the the window open.

Natalie Richards: Amazing. Yeah, I know. like, okay, let's go. Let's get out of here.

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Natalie Richards: So, so she says, sure, I'll go to my lunch and I'll come back. 10 minutes later, the cardio, the, I think he was a cardiologist. He comes in with his nurse practitioner.

Natalie Richards: First thing out of his mouth, he says, don't piss off the nurses. Don't piss off the nurses because if you, I'm going to write a formal complaint about this. If you tell them to go away, they're not going to come back. If you have a real problem,

Natalie Richards: And he said, he said this we are the experts. This is a place that you listen to the experts. There's there's a few places that you listen to the experts. The hospital, the police station, and the courthouse.

Natalie Richards: You listen to the experts because we know what we're doing.

Felicia Devine: Oh, Natalie.

Natalie Richards: And I literally... I'm sitting there. I go, trust me, that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to piss off the nurses. Really, I'm not. I might want to piss off you. I didn't say that. But really not No.

Felicia Devine: But the nurse didn't seem mad at the time.

Natalie Richards: no So he goes into this whole thing and we set we get into another conversation about about the shock procedure. And we say, okay, are you going to like tell us the risks of that procedure now? Or like what are the risks of this medication that he's going on?

Natalie Richards: What is going to happen with that shock procedure? Do we actually think that's going to work?

Felicia Devine: okay

Natalie Richards: And what are the risks for him? And she goes, oh, there are no risks for you.

Natalie Richards: And I'm sitting there like, hold on, what are you talking about?

Felicia Devine: I'm sorry.

Felicia Devine: There's risks in walking across the street.

Natalie Richards: Correct.

Felicia Devine: I can list them out.

Natalie Richards: I go, i know what the w risks are because I already looked them up.

Felicia Devine: There's risks involved with everything.

Natalie Richards: So can you verbally tell me what they are, please?

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Legally, you're responsible for telling me what risks are.

Natalie Richards: They go for him, for him, we're not, we're not concerned about anything.

Felicia Devine: It's called informed consent.

Natalie Richards: We're more concerned about him staying in AFib and having a pulse this high. We're really concerned about that. It makes my pulse go really high. to That's what she said. It makes my heart rate increase to have your heart rate like this.

Natalie Richards: So you really just need to be on these medications. I just was like, old

Felicia Devine: what? You almost want to laugh at her.

Natalie Richards: kind of, it was comical.

Felicia Devine: And this is the same doctor that started the conversation with like, don't.

Natalie Richards: This this was no this was then like part of the team. There were like multiple people of the team who were saying these these various things.

Felicia Devine: Okay. Okay.

Natalie Richards: so Nobody would tell us what the risks of the procedure were. Nobody did. And they said, when we go in for the procedure tomorrow, if it happens, if this medication doesn't work to get him out of AFib, then we'll tell you then.

Natalie Richards: Okay. Okay. okay I kind of, that doctor left who said that stuff about being the experts. I started crying because I just was like, A, I'm a people pleaser.

Natalie Richards: And that was, this whole situation is just really hard for me.

Felicia Devine: really hard to hear.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. For me to go in here and not say, okay, yes, yes, I trust everything that you're saying is really difficult, but I also know what feels right.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Well,

Felicia Devine: but and you, you're just asking for time to make a decision, which is legally what you're allowed to do.

Natalie Richards: Correct. We're just asking questions.

Felicia Devine: You're not refusing anything at the moment. You're just asking questions and asking for time to discuss.

Natalie Richards: No, just asking questions. And asking for time. So we said, okay, we'll consent to this drip because maybe that will get him out of AFib and maybe he doesn't have to do this cardioversion procedure at all. That was the allure. Okay. so we said, okay, fine. Sure.

Natalie Richards: Put him on the drip, whatever. I wouldn't have, but that was, that's what they decided to do.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: and that pretty much was like, you're going to do the drip or you're like, we're not going to it pretty much like it was, there wasn't really much of an option.

Natalie Richards: They're like, you're, you you could kind of have to try this.

Felicia Devine: Oh no.

Natalie Richards: If you want to do the procedure tomorrow, like you have to do this drip, which was, kind which was silly, but it must've been an insurance thing.

Felicia Devine: Oh, in order to the procedure, you had to start there. Okay.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: which I get, I get that there's like all these, these protocols, there's these

Felicia Devine: Protocols.

Natalie Richards: factors in the background that are dictating all of this stuff. I do understand that. I really do. But that makes it even more frustrating to me that these doctors can't think for themselves and look at this patient in front of them as an individual, that is crazy.

Felicia Devine: That's insane.

Felicia Devine: and

Natalie Richards: So when we were in the room talking about the drip and that doctor, that horrible doctor came in, I should say his name, but I'm not going to.

Felicia Devine: He doesn't deserve any credit.

Natalie Richards: he doesn't deserve He doesn't deserve anything. there was a patient care advocate that was in the room talking to us, kind of like in the midst of the nurse leaving.

Natalie Richards: And that 10 minutes she came in and took my dad's blood pressure and sat down and was like, okay, get how's the food? Like how's, she's just like asking us the experience.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: We were like, at that point it was good. Like every, everybody's very nice, very respectful that we're asking a lot of questions there. I know they think we're annoying, but like,

Felicia Devine: We just want to know.

Natalie Richards: We kind of want to know.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: And she goes, honestly, it's good for the residents to hear these questions so they can learn. They learn how to respond and they start thinking a little bit differently. i think she goes, that's really good.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: She was an older lady. She's retired technically, but she like works at the hospital here and there. So she's like talking to us and we say, you know, we're really just very uncomfortable with this whole this whole situation because this the hospital and medicine is just not what we do, right?

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Not that anybody wants to be there, but it's so far away from like

Felicia Devine: Right.

Felicia Devine: Your true north.

Natalie Richards: who we are as a family our like internal values, right?

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: It just doesn't align. So she's like, I totally get that. Like it's a a very hard thing. And she goes, yeah, he doesn't have all the things that all these other patients have.

Natalie Richards: He's not on 10 medications. They don't really know what to do with that. I go, yeah, they really don't.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: They really don't. So that was really nice to hear from her. She hears that whole conversation

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: with that doctor that came in. And she came back the next day and talked to my mom. I think it was right before he was going to be discharged. And she goes, just so you know, like that, I don't even know actually who that doctor was. I don't think he's like actually employed by the hospital. He's like a contractor. somehow.

Natalie Richards: And she goes, just so you know, a nurse would never do that in this hospital, what he said. and like the nurse came back in too. And she was like, oh, I like that you guys are asking questions. I think it's great.

Natalie Richards: We said, I'm sorry if that was like a bad thing to do offensive to you.

Felicia Devine: offensive

Natalie Richards: She goes, oh no, I have no problem with it. I think it's great that you're asking questions. It's way better than not. It's really interesting. So it truly was just like a doctor problem.

Felicia Devine: His perception of what happened.

Natalie Richards: It was his perception of the situation. Yeah. So then the next day we were still all going to go to the lake because I had to remove myself at that point.

Natalie Richards: After that, after that experience, I kind of was like, you know what, dad, you get to make your decisions at this point.

Felicia Devine: John, I'm leaving.

Natalie Richards: I'm, I'm out.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I'm out. Not really, but like, I was like,

Felicia Devine: No, but like you were like, I've tried to intervene.

Natalie Richards: You're good.

Felicia Devine: We're not making much progress.

Natalie Richards: You're going to, they had planned that cardioversion procedure the Friday we were going to go up to the lake.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: It was what it was. I was putting it all like up to God at that point. Like it, it was going to be fine.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: And, so he was supposed to go in for that procedure at noon.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: We were going to go to the hospital on the way to the lake at 10, just like right when visiting hours started. Okay. My mom was also getting there kind of around the same time at 930. She calls and she goes, they already took him in.

Natalie Richards: Which at that point didn't surprise me at all because they didn't want to hear from us at all anymore. However, i did ask my father, i said, what did they tell you before you went into this procedure?

Natalie Richards: Because they just

Felicia Devine: As far as risks.

Natalie Richards: did I'm afraid did they give you an informed consent he goes yeah they gave me a consent form

Felicia Devine: Basically signed his life away.

Natalie Richards: to sign uh-huh and I go did they tell you any of the risks and and benefits or anything did they talk to you about it he goes no they came in they said here we're taking you for your procedure here's your form right yeah isn't that interesting

Felicia Devine: Before visiting our start, we're going to get you in there before your family shows up

Natalie Richards: It was bad, bad, like, like bad, bad.

Felicia Devine: He has an asterisk by his name in that hospital.

Natalie Richards: So they gave him the procedure, got him out of there. He got him out of AFib, thank God. But he was, he was sedated and he had, he definitely had like symptoms of that, like coming out of sedation for the next few days.

Felicia Devine: Well, Anne was literally electrocuted.

Natalie Richards: and was electrocuted. Oh, so then they get to recovery and he goes, I have this like tingling by my elbow, like my left elbow. There's like, it's tingling.

Natalie Richards: And I'm just like, oh God, what's happening now? this just was great. But I go, okay, that's the, like the meridian from the heart.

Felicia Devine: is

Natalie Richards: Like your heart meridian goes right by your elbow.

Felicia Devine: okay

Natalie Richards: they They couldn't figure it out for the life of them at the hospital.

Felicia Devine: Of course they couldn't.

Natalie Richards: Of course, my mom's like telling everybody and she goes, I taught all of them the but I go, I'm sure they wanted to be taught that that was the acupuncture meridian for the heart.

Felicia Devine: I'm sure they thought, oh sure, it's the meridian. These bunch of cuckoos. Oh, my gosh, Natalie.

Natalie Richards: Like, thanks, mom. That was good. That's good. I'm sure they wanted to know that. But anyway, if anybody else now has tingling post-cardio version, they're going to know that, oh, it's the heart meridian.

Felicia Devine: heart meridian. Whoa.

Natalie Richards: Isn't that, so thank God.

Felicia Devine: So when did they discharge him? They give him the cardioversion?

Natalie Richards: Right after, right after.

Felicia Devine: No, you're joking.

Natalie Richards: I'm not even kidding.

Felicia Devine: They didn't even monitor him.

Natalie Richards: Barely. They were like get this guy the heck out of here.

Felicia Devine: Don't let him back here.

Natalie Richards: He was there for maybe like a couple more hours, but they were just like checking. Once that happened, he was gone. I couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. So anyway, was a lot.

Felicia Devine: Wow. That's insane.

Felicia Devine: Anyway, my nervous system's fried.

Natalie Richards: Pride. That whole week, I just was like, it was consuming my entire being. Like it was, oh my God, I cried 10 times a day.

Felicia Devine: You probably haven't cried that much in years.

Natalie Richards: Oh, meanwhile, through this whole thing, I'm doing like three emotion codes on him every day. Like I'm literally releasing every trapped emotion that my dad has.

Felicia Devine: Oh my gosh.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: Just because it was the only thing I could do. I couldn't do anything. I did adjust him in the hospital.

Felicia Devine: Good. Hi, Jean.

Natalie Richards: Here, buddy, this is for you. Can you say hi to Felicia? Hi, everybody.

Felicia Devine: Hi.

Natalie Richards: hi I know you can't hear. i have the headphones in. Sorry. Can you go take those to dad? You want to sit with me? We're almost done.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So, yeah, it was like the most it sounds dramatic because he really was totally fine, but it was like one of the

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: You were so out of your element and out of control.

Natalie Richards: hardest. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: It was, it was, it really did feel like every cell in my body was screaming that this was not right.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: And I knew it from that second day when I left him and I had that feeling, i was like, this is bad.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. You knew.

Natalie Richards: This is going to be bad.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: So still to this moment right now, there still are a lot of conversations going on because it's like, okay, what does this mean now?

Felicia Devine: oh

Natalie Richards: Like, does he have AFib all the time? We don't have a clue.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: We don't have a clue. So like they want him to, of course, be on a blood thinner the rest of his life. Is that necessary? I don't know because we don't have any data. So we're trying to to formulate that data over this next month.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: And it's like, trust me, I am not going to do nothing.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: like that yeah We will be doing the opposite of nothing.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: But are we going to be going the cardiovascular route? I don't know.

Felicia Devine: Well, maybe a private clinic would be better anyway than like the emergency room.

Natalie Richards: Yeah, we're going to find something else. But right now he has a follow-up with that horrifying cardio cardiologist.

Felicia Devine: Oh

Natalie Richards: And I said, anyone else, literally anyone else, anyone else.

Felicia Devine: my God.

Natalie Richards: So yeah, it's fair it was very interesting. But it's just like still my mom is thinking something is still very wrong. And I in my gut really think that there's not.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: So it's kind of tough for that reason.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Thankfully, I've told her the reasons why he does not need to be on a statin for the rest of his life and why he does not need a beta blocker bring down the pulse that naturally is at 55 still.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm. Right.

Natalie Richards: That's what they want him on.

Felicia Devine: Okay. Currently?

Natalie Richards: That's what they left. Yes. That's what they left him with. They said, sir, you need to be on a beta blocker, metropolol, and a statin and a blood and eloquence for the foreseeable future. And his pulse rate is at 50, between 40, honestly, and at all times the past two weeks.

Natalie Richards: And they want him to be on beta blocker.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Natalie Richards: And if we didn't know any better, we would have he would be.

Felicia Devine: You would have been. His pulse would be 30.

Natalie Richards: and he he's supposed literally be like, are you alive, John?

Felicia Devine: He's

Natalie Richards: I don't know.

Felicia Devine: <unk> hibernating turtle.

Natalie Richards: so like I feel really bad for other people because they don't know...

Felicia Devine: Oh.

Natalie Richards: this side of physiology. And I really do trust the physiology of the body.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: And I say, you know, if he, i don't know, we're going to try to get the AFib figured out.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: If he actually gets into AFib, I don't have a clue.

Felicia Devine: Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.

Natalie Richards: don't have a clue. So and that's kind of where we're at right now. It's like, does he have a problem or was that a hospital induced problem?

Felicia Devine: Driven problem, yeah.

Natalie Richards: I don't know. It makes sense that the stroke originally was from a clot from AFib.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: That's reasonable, but it happened immediately after very unusual activity, very unusual that he would never do on a normal day.

Felicia Devine: Activity. here Right.

Natalie Richards: And I just don't believe that that's going to happen to him again.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: But would I put him on natural blood thinners for a while? Yeah, I would.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I would put him on natural options.

Felicia Devine: Saffron.

Natalie Richards: star anise, star anise works the same way as Eliquis.

Felicia Devine: o Yeah. but that Yeah.

Natalie Richards: who So it has the same, same mechanism of action, just not the side effects.

Felicia Devine: Nice. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: turmeric is also natural blood thinner, which he cannot take with

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: the real blood thinner because it actually works so well that it it would be far too much between star anise and the turmeric.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Felicia Devine: You'd have so slippery. Your blood would be so thin.

Natalie Richards: Like it actually would would kill him probably.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So they really do work.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Tons of magnesium.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: He's going to be on like eight different forms of magnesium because that

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: Right. Smooth muscle. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: We're going to work on vagus nerve. We're going to work on all kinds of stuff because it's an electrical conduction problem.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Problem.

Natalie Richards: So we just need to work on the electrical conduction and he's been chronically dehydrated probably for the last 30 years of his life.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. He needs a conductor. He needs assaults and yeah.

Natalie Richards: So he needs salts and and all of that. So that's kind of the plan, at least in my mind.

Felicia Devine: okay Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So I feel very good about that plan, truthfully.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: so there we are. it was, it was wild.

Felicia Devine: That's crazy.

Natalie Richards: It was really, really wild, but he did come up to the lake with us. He, heed the whole time he was like, I have to get up to the lake with my family.

Felicia Devine: Oh, he did. Oh, yeah.

Natalie Richards: i just want to be up there this weekend with my family. How do I get up there with my family?

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So he came up for the last like day that we were there.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So, and he stayed a couple more.

Felicia Devine: Good. Good. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So they're trying to take it easy.

Felicia Devine: Good. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: They're very concerned about him doing any sort of activity right now, which I don't know that I really agree with either, but whatever.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Maybe he just needs to be supervised.

Natalie Richards: He does. He needs to not do maybe what he used to do for a while, just while he's monitoring himself.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: But then i don't know. What does that do to somebody then too?

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: Like, does this create more of a problem or is ignorance bliss?

Felicia Devine: Right. Like sedentary lifestyle lead to, yeah. i

Natalie Richards: That's kind of how, like how he just doesn't have a worry in the world and he's been great.

Felicia Devine: isn he

Natalie Richards: And I just like, why bring in worries?

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I don't know.

Felicia Devine: Thoughts, traumas, toxins.

Natalie Richards: We can, it is, and it's a very real thing.

Felicia Devine: It's a thought.

Natalie Richards: Like it's a very real thing.

Felicia Devine: And he, he was, he was, Categorically traumatized by thoughts, traumas, and toxins.

Natalie Richards: 1 million percent.

Felicia Devine: So the homie has a subluxation.

Natalie Richards: So now he's like still coming off. I'm no kidding. So i did I adjusted him in the office and his blood pressure and pulse were like beautiful right after, which was great.

Felicia Devine: Wow.

Felicia Devine: Good.

Natalie Richards: so

Felicia Devine: Good. Okay.

Natalie Richards: So he's monitoring himself, but he doesn't have a good way to know whether he's in AFib.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: They didn't give him a heart monitor upon leaving the hospital. They said they were going to and they did not. So he needs to get one.

Felicia Devine: I'll text you after.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: We have someone in our family that has some electrical issues and we have we have something.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: So I'll text you after.

Natalie Richards: Beautiful.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. I don't want to say it online because i don't want to like give medical advice to people who are like, I don't want other people to listen to what I'm saying.

Natalie Richards: No, that's fine.

Natalie Richards: Right. Right. Right.

Felicia Devine: Not what I'm trying to do.

Natalie Richards: Also, none of this story is medical advice.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: It's just...

Felicia Devine: Again, like my story, don't listen to what we did just listen to our story.

Natalie Richards: Just, you know, I will be treating this in a very very holistic way and a more comprehensive way than anyone would ever treat it and the medical realm.

Felicia Devine: Don't do what we did. yeah

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: And maybe that does involve some medications.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: I don't know.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Maybe it does. If anything is warranted, i can understand it.

Felicia Devine: hu

Natalie Richards: I really can.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Right.

Natalie Richards: i do not understand a beta blocker.

Felicia Devine: You're like, give me the science and I can get it. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: I do not understand a statin and I kind of understand aliquist, but I would rather do something different.

Felicia Devine: Right. Right. There's like natural ways of doing what that's designed to do.

Natalie Richards: There's other options. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: That's not synthetic.

Natalie Richards: Right. Correct.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Correct. And he is having some Some side effects from that too. So, but we don't know if that's even just side effect coming out of the hospital.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I don't know.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: I don't know. He's like traumatized. I'm traumatized.

Felicia Devine: yeah I'm traumatized for you. That's very scary.

Natalie Richards: It's crazy. So we're done with these situations now.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. I know.

Natalie Richards: Okay. No more things for you.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: no more things.

Felicia Devine: Well, that's for another day because I had another terrible event.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. What in the world you did?

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: you want to talk about it?

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Cause it's really short cause it's like depressing.

Natalie Richards: Let's do it. what the heck let's just bring it down bring it down a level bring it down

Felicia Devine: So so

Felicia Devine: let's just bring it down even more. So i waited three months to get an iron transfusion.

Natalie Richards: who

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: oh yes yes yes yeah

Felicia Devine: So I finally got scheduled. I got scheduled like It was like six weeks out. So by the time it was scheduled, so like when it came down to like actually getting the infusion, it was three months post-procedure.

Felicia Devine: Now, the iron transfusion is supposed to help me get more oxygen capacity into my body because I lost so much blood.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: It's not because I'm like inherently anemic.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. No.

Felicia Devine: It's because I had a blood loss issue.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. To help bring your energy levels up a little bit.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. So like I exert energy and I literally just tank. Like I went on a 10 minute bike ride the other, like a couple weeks ago with Giuseppe and I literally got back to the house.

Natalie Richards: Oh,

Felicia Devine: I was like laying in the lawn. i was like, Dan, I'm going pass out.

Natalie Richards: oh

Felicia Devine: Like it was so bad.

Natalie Richards: no. No, it's so bad.

Felicia Devine: So bad. So I was hopeful that like this transfusion would just like get me a little further along in like oxygen capacity because like I'm fine at baseline, but I know like at the end of the day, i just don't have the capacity that I could.

Natalie Richards: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Right.

Felicia Devine: i was like, okay.

Natalie Richards: And that may not come back for a while.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. And they said it could take up to six months for you to start to feel better.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: and I'm like, okay, but like, could I try sooner?

Natalie Richards: Yeah. Right.

Felicia Devine: Felicia.

Natalie Richards: Can we hack this? Because I think i think we can.

Felicia Devine: Felicia, don't get ahead of yourself.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Now I will say I'm like doing other things.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: I'm taking like iron and copper liquid. I'm taking beef liver. I'm taking, uh, lifeblood, which is another blood pill anyway.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. Are you doing spleen?

Felicia Devine: So yeah.

Natalie Richards: Do you have anything with spleen in it? You do, right? Is that, does lifeblood have spleen?

Felicia Devine: Uh, the, yeah, I think it does. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: It must.

Felicia Devine: Something has, something has spleen in it.

Natalie Richards: Something has spleen. Okay.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. One of the few.

Natalie Richards: Okay.

Felicia Devine: So i get to this long-awaited three-month appointment, right? I'm like, today's the day.

Natalie Richards: Oh, here's Kyle.

Felicia Devine: i get to the...

Natalie Richards: Sorry.

Felicia Devine: Hi, Kyle.

Natalie Richards: Sorry.

Felicia Devine: oh my gosh.

Natalie Richards: but She says, hi, Kyle.

Felicia Devine: Kyle's first experience on the pod.

Natalie Richards: The pod. His first appearance. okay sorry.

Felicia Devine: What's so funny is that was like identical to Jean, just like a floating head.

Natalie Richards: First of one. I know, right? It's the same head.

Felicia Devine: So I get to this appointment. I've been waiting for it for so long and they're like, okay, so there's this like

Felicia Devine: high risk that you could have an allergic reaction. So we do a five milliliter test dose before we give you the actual hundred, no I'm sorry, five milliliter test dose before they give you a thousand milligram bag, which is like a normal size, like bag.

Natalie Richards: Okay.

Natalie Richards: Oh, my.

Natalie Richards: What would the allergic reaction be coming from?

Felicia Devine: it's from the preservatives inside the bag or like inside the, it's like the fillers, right?

Natalie Richards: Just.

Natalie Richards: oh okay.

Felicia Devine: Okay. Great.

Natalie Richards: Interesting.

Felicia Devine: So if there could be a reaction, guess who has it?

Natalie Richards: do we have filler free? Do we?

Felicia Devine: Yeah. I'm like, can I just chew on a bar of iron? Like what is going on?

Natalie Richards: Oh, my God.

Felicia Devine: So they are like, yeah, like here are the risks and here are like the things you should, they literally gave me a laminated sheet of symptoms to look for. Like during this five.

Natalie Richards: Isn't that interesting?

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: This is proper informed consent. Huh.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Funny.

Felicia Devine: I know. So they're like, okay, so look at the sheet.

Natalie Richards: Funny.

Felicia Devine: Do you understand everything? I said, yes. They're like, okay, we sit with you and they push a milliliter a minute for five minutes.

Natalie Richards: Wow. Okay.

Felicia Devine: For the testos. Okay.

Natalie Richards: For the testos.

Felicia Devine: So it's, yeah.

Natalie Richards: Oh, God.

Felicia Devine: So it's all in the IV.

Natalie Richards: Yes.

Felicia Devine: So we're sitting there, we're sitting there, chatting. I'm like, oh, like today's the best day of my life. Like I'm going to feel better.

Natalie Richards: I'm going to be great.

Felicia Devine: Like i was like, tomorrow I'm going to new woman.

Natalie Richards: Oh, no.

Felicia Devine: She's like, all also this takes three weeks to kick in. And I was like, oh that you should have filled me in on that first.

Natalie Richards: o shoot

Felicia Devine: So we're doing it and we get four minutes in and I start getting an allergic reaction. And I'm like, okay. And she's like, like anaphylaxis.

Natalie Richards: Of what? Like, oh, you were. So you started like having a hard time.

Felicia Devine: Yeah, so I was getting like flush.

Natalie Richards: but Yeah. Okay.

Felicia Devine: I like started sweating profusely. I started getting super itchy everywhere.

Natalie Richards: And you do have history of anaphylactic reactions.

Felicia Devine: Anaphylaxis. My ears just went like full of fluid.

Natalie Richards: So, oh God. Yeah. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Like it was like, you know, my hearing started to go dim.

Natalie Richards: Classic. Yeah. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: So she like immediately pulls the testos, flushes me with saline, and then gets me three rescue meds. IV steroid.

Natalie Richards: Oh, great.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Love this.

Natalie Richards: Good. More.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. IV steroid, IV pepsid, which is supposed to be an antihistamine and then oral Tylenol.

Natalie Richards: Oh, yeah. I've heard that. Why?

Natalie Richards: What?

Felicia Devine: I have no idea. She's like, here you go.

Natalie Richards: What?

Felicia Devine: Gives me all of it. And I'm like, okay. I literally told her at the beginning, I said, have to give me Tylenol, I might cry. Like, I couldn't tell you the last time I took a Tylenol.

Natalie Richards: Right?

Felicia Devine: My poor liver trying to detox what just went in and now you're just dunking it up.

Natalie Richards: Oh no. All of that stuff all together?

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: no.

Felicia Devine: So i'm like, okay, get if that's like the protocol. See again, following suit with the experts.

Natalie Richards: Hold you, but come around here. Jeannie. Hold on, Jeannie is here. Come here. Come around here, Jeannie.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: You can sit here and you can watch with it Okay. Mommy, I just want to hear.

Felicia Devine: Hi.

Natalie Richards: You want to hear for just a second? Yeah. Okay, then Felicia has to tell a story, okay?

Felicia Devine: Hi, Jean. I love your haircut.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Can you hear?

Felicia Devine: yeah yeah

Natalie Richards: time, took me to Petsmart and my grandma. And then we went to Petsmart and

Natalie Richards: unbety dragon my us And his hands up for me so he wanted me so so so you wantned meat So you want me to take that little guy home.

Natalie Richards: Oh, yes. The bearded dragon was telling him.

Felicia Devine: Oh, the bearded dragon wanted you to take him home?

Natalie Richards: Yeah. Okay.

Felicia Devine: Okay.

Natalie Richards: That was a good story, Jean. Thank you.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Thanks for being on the pod.

Natalie Richards: Thanks, honey. Guest speaker.

Felicia Devine: So I trust in the experts, right, Natalie? We're trusting in the experts.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: And they said, take these three medications and it will be fine.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: I said, gotcha. Great.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: Take the three medications. They're like, okay, now we have to wait 20 minutes for them to kick in and then we can try again.

Natalie Richards: I'm sorry. what

Felicia Devine: So they're like, so we just complete the test dose. And then if you don't have a reaction, then we just continue. And I'm like, complete the testos.

Natalie Richards: I'm sorry. The test dose created a reaction. Wouldn't you just stop?

Felicia Devine: No, because apparently this happens all the time. You give the three rescue beds and it covers you for the duration of the rest of the drip.

Natalie Richards: You're kidding. God, what else does it do to you?

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: Sheesh.

Felicia Devine: So, so they're like, oh, we just finished the testos.

Natalie Richards: Okay. Okay. Okay. okay okay

Felicia Devine: And I said, that's interesting because it's only one more milliliter.

Natalie Richards: Gosh, I love this yes so much. So my.

Felicia Devine: So they gave me the one milliliter and I was fine. And I was like, okay. So then they're like, now we can start you on the 1000 milligram bag, which is a full bag. Like it's, it looks like Coca-Cola.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. Yeah.

Felicia Devine: It's dark brown.

Natalie Richards: Dark.

Felicia Devine: They're like, yeah. So they're like, okay, so now we start you on the bag. Okay, great. They start me in the bag. It's an hour drip. I get 10 minutes into it.

Natalie Richards: Oh, my. Oh, no.

Felicia Devine: All our reaction. They're like, oh, this shouldn't happen.

Natalie Richards: This is asinine.

Felicia Devine: No, literally. there Yeah, this shouldn't happen. You're like on those. You have those rescue meds in you like that. should You shouldn't have another allergic reaction.

Natalie Richards: However, they do not know who they're talking to.

Felicia Devine: Yeah, I'm like the queen of if something could go wrong, it does.

Natalie Richards: guys Problems. Are you kidding me?

Felicia Devine: So, Natalie, I burst into tears. I burst into tears.

Natalie Richards: Of course.

Felicia Devine: And they're like, we understand you're frustrated. I was like, no, I truly don't think you understand the level of frustration here. I thought today was going to be the end of the story.

Natalie Richards: Mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: thought today was going to be the chapter turning. I thought today was going to be marking when I start feeling better.

Natalie Richards: Mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: Like I was so deeply, deeply disappointed.

Natalie Richards: Mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: And so just, I felt like I just couldn't get over it.

Natalie Richards: Oh.

Natalie Richards: Yeah.

Felicia Devine: And I'm just so upset. And i I had waited so long.

Natalie Richards: Gosh darn.

Felicia Devine: It had been so traumatic. And then to go into two allergic reactions, to be told you can't get this.

Natalie Richards: Mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: any Like, I just was at my, like, wit's end.

Natalie Richards: That's so awful.

Felicia Devine: I was so mad.

Natalie Richards: Yes.

Felicia Devine: And I just was like, fine. Okay, whatever. And I had to pay for it.

Natalie Richards: Wow. And you left? Of course.

Felicia Devine: I was there for three and a half hours.

Natalie Richards: You were okay after that second reaction?

Felicia Devine: Well, they, nothing, they can't.

Natalie Richards: What did they have to do then? it oh my

Felicia Devine: So they just flush you with saline and hoped, and they send you on your way. So I ended up getting a raging headache. I don't usually get headaches.

Natalie Richards: Interesting, really from the medication.

Felicia Devine: I had a raging headache for four. Well, I got it done Tuesday. Today is the first day that I really, truly don't have any symptoms.

Natalie Richards: Wow.

Felicia Devine: But like the first three days post whatever, I don't know if it was a headache from the preservative. I don't know if it was a headache from the steroid. I don't know if it was a headache from a combination of everything.

Felicia Devine: But it was like I couldn't even like see

Natalie Richards: I'm sure everything. oh my gosh.

Felicia Devine: I was so down and out. So anyway, I'm very flustered. dan and I are weighing the odds of like, do we even try another brand or do I just like live with fatigue and call it a day?

Natalie Richards: Oh, God. i don't think it's possible for it to last forever. But the fatigue.

Felicia Devine: What? No, I know. But I'm just saying like, I was hoping to close the book.

Natalie Richards: But to just, right. You were really hoping that that was going to be the deal.

Felicia Devine: And like, how many people do we know that just go and get iron transfusions are fine?

Natalie Richards: e Yeah, they're totally fine.

Felicia Devine: Why do I have to have?

Natalie Richards: Are there other brands that exist that don't have preservatives?

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Yeah. No, they all do.

Natalie Richards: No, they all do.

Felicia Devine: But some are like gentler versions.

Natalie Richards: It's just some are different.

Felicia Devine: Like this was supposed to be the like mega monster of like biggest dose, longest lasting, like heaviest hitter.

Natalie Richards: yeah

Natalie Richards: I see. yeah I see. I see.

Felicia Devine: Well, with that apparently comes more symptoms.

Natalie Richards: Maybe that's a lesson.

Felicia Devine: Okay. Lesson learned.

Natalie Richards: yes

Felicia Devine: But I didn't know.

Natalie Richards: To ease it. Right. No. and

Felicia Devine: Like the doctor just ordered the prescription.

Natalie Richards: And they find it not to be a problem because it's just they're doing what they usually do.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Yeah, so highly frustrating.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. I get it. i get it. But man, are we individual. Holy crud.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. So I've given up on hope that it's going to be a quick end because it's not a quick end and that just is what it is.

Natalie Richards: oh okay.

Natalie Richards: Oh, that's awful. Hi, Jeannie.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: You say, I'm sorry, Felicia. Oh, Jeannie is so, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Felicia Devine: Oh, he's sleeping. Yeah, that's how I feel, Jean. can't even open my eyeballs.

Natalie Richards: Felicia is so tired.

Felicia Devine: I'm the most tired girl.

Natalie Richards: He's so tired. who

Felicia Devine: Jean, are you still napping?

Natalie Richards: No.

Felicia Devine: Really?

Natalie Richards: No. Only if, yeah, I'll get you strawberries in a second if you're good boy. Okay. I'll get you some. I want strawberries right now. I'll get them for you in a second.

Felicia Devine: We're almost out.

Natalie Richards: Okay.

Felicia Devine: Actually, we've gone so long.

Natalie Richards: We're almost done. We are almost done.

Felicia Devine: People are probably sick of us.

Natalie Richards: Oh, we have. We are. Oh gosh. What was I going to say?

Felicia Devine: We were talking about napping.

Natalie Richards: Oh, napping. Yeah, no, he doesn't nap anymore. Bye, Kyle. they're Sorry, there's a lot of things going on. I'll let her out. Mel's coming to get her? At three. At three, okay.

Natalie Richards: Yeah, he doesn't nap. In the car, if it's like 5 p.m., then maybe he'll fall asleep, which I would rather he didn't because he is up till at least midnight.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. Right. Yeah. eleven 11. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: really, really.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: He's up till 11 on a normal night. It's ridiculous.

Felicia Devine: Jeepers.

Natalie Richards: But he doesn't wake up till 9.

Felicia Devine: Right. Right.

Natalie Richards: So it's fine.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: i i will I will take that.

Felicia Devine: Yeah. You'll take it. Yeah.

Natalie Richards: Yeah. So, yeah.

Felicia Devine: All right. Well, that was a long-winded, depressing podcast, but I'm

Natalie Richards: I'm a bird. Mama bird. It was kind of a sad one, wasn't it?

Felicia Devine: Hopefully, we can turn the corner and go have some like more lighthearted conversation soon.

Natalie Richards: Mama bird. Hopefully. bird. Hopefully we have all learned lessons. I see the bird. I see the bird, Jean. Hopefully we've all learned lessons. I know I have.

Natalie Richards: And I do know that everything happens for a reason and happens to teach us lessons.

Felicia Devine: Yes.

Felicia Devine: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Richards: Mama, mom.

Felicia Devine: Yeah.

Natalie Richards: So I've learned a lot. I am so convicted to never find myself in a situation like that ever again.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: And it really solidified my she solidified my decision to certainly not have a baby in a hospital. That's for sure.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: Holy moly.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: I would have lit that.

Felicia Devine: You're a victim.

Natalie Richards: I would have lit that place on fire.

Felicia Devine: Right.

Natalie Richards: Oh, my gosh. so Oh, it's a robin, honey. It's a robin. so it's got the big really a big head.

Felicia Devine: Well, until next time.

Natalie Richards: prude head. Okay. Okay. Bye, Felicia.

Felicia Devine: Bye.

Natalie Richards: Bye.