Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. Subscribe to STAT+ for less than $2 per day, Unlimited access to essential biotech, medicine, and life sciences journalism, Subscribe to STAT+ for less than $2 per day, Unlimited access to the health care news and insights you need. This time the diagnosis was a stage 1b seminoma, and he had surgery to remove his remaining testicle, followed by hormone replacement therapy consisting of a weekly self-administered injection of testosterone. "It's crazy some of the things we do." It was my coping mechanism. He described the diagnosis as 'really hard' - especially since he was healthy and athletic at the time and didn't see it coming - and he recalled everything 'crashing down on him.'. "People have weaponized the term 'professionalism,'" he says, and use it to enforce impossibly high standards and inhuman behavior among healthcare providers. Dr. Glaucomflecken saved the day with just the right amount of humor and hitting the provided talking points to a T. Annie December 13th, 2022 Other This was really great, thank you so much. Another video depicts a patient agreeing without hesitation to a full body CT scan, lumbar puncture, colonoscopy, brain biopsy, and an experimental surgery where we replace your spleen with a second liver.. According to reports, only one to two per cent of testicular cancer survivors develop it again in the other testicle - but he was unfortunately one of those survivors. After the initial laughs, the Glaucomfleckens walked the audience through their incredible story. Grant Cardone, Written by: It doesnt take long to learn, and you can save a life. "I went the much easier route of becoming a doctor." How is that working out? A short format, very easy to edit and shoot, and it would work on my schedule. By day, the 35-year-old cares for the eyeballs of Oregonians in his practice near Portland. My "Dr. Glaucomflecken" alter ego began as a creative outlet to tell painfully specific ophthalmology jokes and to cope with my own health challenges. Robert Greene, How to Talk to Anybody, Anytime, Anywhere, Written by: Q: What does it mean to you to be a survivor? KRDO NewsChannel 13 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation. Kristin was headed to a graduate psychology program at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, while Flanary was set to return to Houston for medical school. And it does help you put a different perspective on things.. For undergrad, Flanary enrolled in Texas Tech University. As Dr Glaucomflecken's popularity has grown, so has his prop inventory. 'Its really hard having a diagnosis like that in your 20s because when youre in your 20s, you have this sense of invincibility, like nothing can hurt you, youll never get sick. Written by: Even as my pursuit of a medical career took me to the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in New Hampshire, I continued to do stand-up comedy when I wasnt learning the Krebs cycle or other things that med students learn that I dont really remember. Sometimes Ill still have to do some research, so Ill get on Reddit message boards and read what people love about being a neurologist or a cardiologist, so Ill get a lot from that. Q&A with William A. Flanary, MD, aka Dr. Glaucomflecken, provides a glimpse into his experience surviving cardiac arrest. Its my coping mechanism Sometimes thats all you can do, right? Thats why I love building this Glaucomflecken General Hospital of characters, Flanary told STAT. Q: What did you learn about being a doctor from being a patient? When she realized he was unresponsive, she called 911. For example, neurologists may have a slight rage stroke hearing someone described as having an altered mental status, which they describe as garbage terminology because it could mean anything from slightly confused to comatose. Is Homeostasis a Joke to You Water Bottle. In 2012, they had their first child. Whos to say what 2024 might bring? Telling jokes helped me to navigate the challenges of living as a cancer patient in my 20s. When we're faced with things in life beyond our control, whether you get sick or a family member gets sick or dies or has an accident, or a pandemic, we feel like control of our own lives is taken away from us, he explained. You cant tell jokes. His pandemic content on vaccinations have garnered the most negative response but he tries not to pay too much attention to the angry comments and messages, he says. I had this bad thing happen, I made it through, and now Im OK. What means more to me is that Im able to reach out to the public using my platform to create some meaningful change, and also sing the praises of my amazing partner. I made one too many jokes, got sent to the principals office, and received a conduct report to be signed by my dad. [5][7], Flanary created the Dr. Glaucomflecken Twitter account in 2016 out of boredom at a research conference. [2], In May 2020, Flanary suddenly went into cardiac arrest in his sleep. That has gotten a lot better, but it took a few weeks to get there. In addition, you can get exclusive access to our member-only sales and deals. "Psychiatrist here," one woman tweeted in reply to the light roasting. He sipped from his diet coke while showing off his skin-tight, belly-baring cycling jersey with matching bike helmet and sunglasses. The duo headed to Hanover. Written by: Will Flanary, MD, is not a typical ophthalmologist. Slowly, he regained consciousness. Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey. Written by: Dr. Glaucomflecken hasn't responded to me and probably won't. Go ahead and share this so he gets the message. $15.00. You will receive email when new content is published. "It was the dispatcher that I spoke to who recognized what was going on," Kristin says. Then one morning in 2013, Flanary woke up and felt a lump in his testicle. We dont like to work for long periods of time. His wife performed CPR on him for 10 minutes before paramedics arrived and resuscitated him. Theyre also put to use in Flanarys tried-and-true format, dating back to the insurance video: pithy clips in which a reasonable person encounters a preposterous system, and comedy ensues. He registered for a Twitter account out of boredom while attending a conference several years ago during medical school and began using it as a surrogate for telling jokes on stage. You must declare any conflicts of interest related to your comments and responses. A: Every specialty in medicine has a kind of personality, an essence, and theyve been the same since the beginning of modern medicine. A little tired, but thats pretty normal for us. "Now I'm at the point of no return. I just dont know if I can trust you, Flanary the patient responds. "I've walked out of my home office into some very strange situations," Kristin says. During his third year of medical school, he discovered a lump in his testicle. [Physically] I recovered just fine, Dr. Glaucomflecken said. This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity. "Comedy is a way to assert some sort of power over a situation in which you feel powerless," Flanary says. Q: How did this whole social media gig get started? It was also while he was a medical student at the Geisel School of Medicine that he was first diagnosed with testicular cancer (specifically, a highly curable stage 1a seminoma) at the age of 25. Q: What did you think when you learned you had a cardiac arrest? I may be old. The health care system is laden with power dynamics, and patients are at the bottom, he said, so I should never be perceived as making fun of patients, because thats not going to go OK., When things get a little more complicated, what it comes down to for me is: Do I believe that my ridicule of something is justified? he said. That can be a tricky proposition. Here, Dr. Flanary shares some of his experience. You can cancel your membership at anytime at no cost. It does highlight how wonderful family medicine doctors are though. Whatever you want us to talk about, well be sure to make it engaging and leave your audience laughing. On TikTok,. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Book a personalized video with Dr. Glaucomflecken on Cameo! Now, Will said he loves to bring others happiness through his viral videos. Over the ensuing months, hed set his sights on the idiosyncrasies of medical education, academic journals, and all of health cares many instances of institutions preying on people who are less powerful than them, he said. Ankur Warikoo, 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think, Written by: His idle hands first turned to Twitter, where hed amassed some 100,000 followers as @DGlaucomflecken, borrowing the German term for a glaucoma symptom because he wanted the most ridiculous word I could think of in ophthalmology. But soon he wasnt finding it as much of a challenge to be funny via text. Will Flanary, 36, who is anophthalmologist from Oregon City, Oregon, has not let his health problems bring him down. He also skewers emergency medicine and surgeons, but says he is careful around practices that are more sensitive or do not get the respect they deserve, like primary care doctors and pediatrics. The cause for the heart attack remains a mystery. Flanarys escalating popularity is all the more notable because his jokes, delivered in short skits, plumb the inane depths of American health care. Power of Social Media with Family Physician Dr. Mike | Knock Knock, Hi! That online conference is coming up Nov. 2-4 and allows you to participate in ACEP22 educational content from the comfort of your own home. On May 11, 2020, William A. Flanary, MD, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist, went to bed like every other night. Glaucomflecken account on Twitter as an ophthalmology resident, fresh off a second occurrence of testicular cancer. Get TikTok App . In front of a standing room-only crowd, Dr. and Lady Glaucomflecken delivered an opening keynote session packed with laughs (so many laughs!) His prognosis was good, but this would change their lives forever. Medical school can be brutal, and its making many of us suicidal. Flanary is hardly alone among doctors with TikTok accounts. Q: Does your family think youre as funny as everyone else does? Together and individually, we use our social media presence, impactful writing, creative endeavors, and multimedia keynote speaking to promote humanity, and a healthy sense of humor, in healthcare. While still in his residency, Flanary was concerned his medical comedy would get him in trouble. Flanary says he never considered comedy a realistic career option. Many members had tears in their eyes as they gave her a longstanding ovation for her lifesaving efforts. A: Thats a good example of one that surprised me. If I didnt find the humor in this awful situation, the gravity of it all would crush me. Q: I see that you are frequently hired on Cameo ($249) to send messages usually congratulations on medical school acceptance but also for wedding anniversaries. I hope to remind them of the importance of compassionate care. Im really good at finding my own testicular cancer! He laughed. In closing, she asked the audience to pay attention to the families of patients, the ones who are walking through the trauma alongside them. Better known as Dr. Glaucomflecken to the rest of the world, his humour has been a bright spot for his 1.3 million TikTok and 472.9K Twitter followers looking for a bit of levity amid the. He does this very clever combination of explaining some complex things clearly and humorously, Tworek said. In Germany, your oral-practical exam to graduate from med school includes each a professor/examiner from internal medicine, surgery, a specialty of your choice and a wildcard specialty. Interns get handicap parking, attendings catch the shuttle from the commuter lot. If you are asking a question, don't forget to check the sub FAQs, or do a search of the sub to see if your question has been answered already.. Failure to follow rules may result in your post being removed, or a ban. Its this sweet spot of demystification and comedy simultaneously.. A: I never get backlash from surgeons. Babe Ruth, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan competing at their peaks. Diagnosis Compression gonioscopy is key to properly diagnosing an acute angle closure. Exclusive analysis of biotech, pharma, and the life sciences. mountain-biking emergency medicine doctor, shortcomings of the American healthcare system, "Ophthalmologist Accidentally Agrees to See Inpatient Consult. For Flanary, comedy comes naturally. Flanarys best material balances the specificity of an expert with the nose for hypocrisy that typically comes from an incisive observer, said Heidi Tworek, a University of British Columbia history professor who studies health communication. William E. Flanary is an American comedian and ophthalmologist who performs under the stage name Dr. Glaucomflecken. If the IOP remains elevated long enough, glaucomatous optic neuropathy may occur, resulting in primary angle closure glaucoma. Click the topic below to receive emails when new articles are available. In the clip, he issues a reminder to his fellow viewers, "Health insurance companies don't care about you. That's my name.". Dr. Flanary is an ophthalmologist who specializes in satirizing the medical field with hilarious social media skits. Flanary is willing to take the gamble. Written by: Ultimately, performing comedy live became too challenging to keep up as my medical career progressed, so I turned to social media. If the later one would have been ophtho for me, I would have dropped out and painted clay doves for a living until I die. Dr. Glaucomfleckens success to date was unimaginable back in the spring of 2020. Thats effectively a personality loves to sit down.. "OK, OK, send me all your consults," he told the audience. 16:10 GMT 26 Nov 2021 Dr. Glaucomflecken Sticker Pack 01. Left untreated, it is a minutes-long prelude to death. I like knowing theres an end to my day when you get to go home. It was comedy that helped me through a diagnosis of cancer during med schooland again during residency. The criticism that rankles Flanary most is that his humor is "unprofessional." A: Were kind of boring. "I wasn't really looking for a boyfriend or anything at the time," Kristin recalls. And you present that to other people and you share a laugh about it on your own terms. [5][7], According to Robert D. Putnam and Cline Gounder, comedians like Flanary are "leveraging irony and exaggeration to expose the ills of the American healthcare system and the lunacy of global COVID vaccine inequity."[9]. He wasnt finding it as much of a challenge to be funny via text 2020, William A. Flanary MD! Concerned his medical comedy would get him in trouble '' Kristin says on ''... Competing at their peaks I never get backlash from surgeons new content is.! Physician Dr. Mike | Knock Knock, Hi lump in his practice near dr glaucomflecken heart attack power over a situation in you! Well be sure to make it engaging and leave your audience laughing day, the 35-year-old for. Of us suicidal else does his testicle their lives forever arrived and resuscitated him What was going on ''! 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