If the IOP remains elevated long enough, glaucomatous optic neuropathy may occur, resulting in primary angle closure glaucoma. Since then, it has evolved to incorporate satire of the US healthcare system, academic publishing, and the interpersonal conflicts that are pervasive in the medical system. A: I never get backlash from surgeons. Audible is a membership service that provides customers with a huge selection of audiobooks as well as podcasts, exclusive originals and more. Although sometimes it feels like the other way around. Ashish Bagrecha, Permanent Roommates: He Said, She Said, Season 2, Written by: While Kristin credits the hospital with saving her husband's life, she says she often felt overlooked and dismissed by those providing the care. Glaucomflecken, a term for a sign of glaucoma. On the other hand, some physicians attempts at white-coat comedy have veered into questionable jokes at patients expense. [4] While attending Dartmouth, he was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha. Are there additional benefits for Amazon Prime members? If you dont have any symptoms, you dont feel tired, you can go back to work, his CDC character tells a colleague in the video. After he recovered again, their family was dealt another blow when Kristin awoke in the middle of the night to find her husband unresponsive, breathing irregularly and making strange noises. Q: Does your family think youre as funny as everyone else does? Radhakrishnan Pillai, Written by: But five years later, in 2015, he discovered a lump on his other testicle. 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. But he uses his platform as speaker and comedian Dr. Glaucomflecken (@DGlaucomflecken) to spotlight how CPR saves lives in emergencies. The criticism that rankles Flanary most is that his humor is "unprofessional." Since 2016 he has become well known for making and uploading medical satire skits on Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.[2]. He was educated at Texas Tech University,[3] where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in cell and molecular biology. Reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine, You've been selected! He then enrolled at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, where he discovered his interest in ophthalmology. , updated Today, we're going to be doing a reaction video to Dr. Glaucomflecken's "Introducing the OB/GYN." Hi, I'm Doctor Rich, and my passion is to create silly videos you can watch and laugh. But Flanary had no illusions that the world wanted to hear self-serious rants from a private-practice physician in the Pacific Northwest, so he made his points the best way he knew how: making up characters and writing jokes at their expense. I started the Dr. This is my life with aphasia. Q&A with William A. Flanary, MD, aka Dr. Glaucomflecken, provides a glimpse into his experience surviving cardiac arrest. "It gave me that relief and just a sense of joy that I hadn't had in a while," he says. The duo headed to Hanover. Learn More While still in his residency, Flanary was concerned his medical comedy would get him in trouble. Each got a few thousand views and some enthusiastic comments, but Flanarys ascent to TikTok stardom would come only after a brush with death. Flanary's recovery was quick, but he needed an outlet to process his experiences. What humor does is it allows you to take that thing and you just break it apart. He wore a portable defibrillator at first and eventually had one implanted. His prognosis was good, but this would change their lives forever. The paramedics broke down a door and carried Flanary, who is 6 foot 4, from his bed to a hardwood floor downstairs. The idea is in the very early stages, Flanary said, but hes been working with an outside firm to press things forward. When the words wont come. He has described his own experiences using the organization after being diagnosed with cancer as "a lifeline". It helps to laugh in the face of pretty difficult situations. "I wasn't really looking for a boyfriend or anything at the time," Kristin recalls. Robert Greene, How to Talk to Anybody, Anytime, Anywhere, Written by: Transcript Will: [00:00:00] Knock, knock, knock. "The first one was a blow, because you feel like you're young and invincible and healthy and nothing's going to happen to you," Kristin says. In May 2020, his heart suddenly stopped beating in the middle of the night. He added: 'No one knows your testicles better than you, more than likely. Despite his best efforts, Flanary's irreverent style occasionally catches flack. 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. People want their doctors to seem like real people who are relatable.. They dont like the portrayal of the some of them as overworked, underpaid sympathetic figure, always doing some sort of fellowship. I always make sure that the object of ridicule is clear, Flanary said. You've successfully added to your alerts. 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.'. Fumitake Koga, Written by: "It was exhausting," Kristin recalls. Once a month, just check yourself.'. Flanary continued to recover, with the help of friends, family, and, of course, comedy. Then, on May 12, 2020, he went into cardiac arrest (not heart attack) and was saved by his wife, Kristin, who performed CPR. A: I was pretty confused when I woke up, and it took me a few days to process what happened. But it is all just balls.. 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. In 2016, he joined Twitter as Dr Glaucomflecken, and took to it like an eyeball to ocular fluid. People want the opposite. But Will's health problems didn't end there. Please check and try again. And lets go ahead and get you a COVID vaccine, Flanary, posing as the doctor, concludes. Honestly, it's surreal. Three days later, he woke up in an ICU bed, recovering from a cardiac arrest. As an Audible member, your subscription includes: Amazon Prime members can take a free 30-day trial and receive 2 credits that can be used on any 2 titles from of their choice. Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. It wasnt until I was able to do a rotation in ophthalmology at the beginning of my fourth year that I made the decision, so I decided really late. And we are happy youre here because uh, we have a wonderful []. Theres no benefit to it. Please see our. A roundup of STAT's top stories of the day. From his home in Portland, Ore., Flanary, who served as the Yale Medical School commencement speaker this year, talked about finding humor in the everyday, what he hears from other doctors and his side hack as a Cameo star. They think that by portraying the character that way, Im dissuading people from entering that field, which I dont buy for a second. Q&A with William A. Flanary, MD, aka Dr. Glaucomflecken, provides a glimpse into his experience surviving cardiac arrest. As a bonus they are also joined by Will's wife Kristen Flannary, aka Lady Glaucomflecken. Things patients do while waiting for the doctor | Take a nap | Play with expensive medical instruments | . than one million followers and more than 40 million likes. TORONTO (CTV Network) By the time Dr. Will Flanary was 29-years-old, he had already survived cancer twice. Private events across all areas of medicine. At 4:45 a.m. on May 11, 2020, Kristin woke up to Will making a strange sound in his sleep. For some reason, the powers that be thought it would be a good idea for my mom to teach her kid, who also happened to be the biggest class clown in school. Whos to say what 2024 might bring? But mainly, the young, mellow-voiced doctor focuses on the strong personalities involved in everyday medical practice. 2023 Glaucomflecken | Web design by Edge One Media | Privacy Policy. Ram Dinesh Sharan, Suno Mahabharat Devdutt Pattanaik ke Saath, Written by: "People have weaponized the term 'professionalism,'" he says, and use it to enforce impossibly high standards and inhuman behavior among healthcare providers. I may be old. Then, the surprise bills arrived accumulating charges for out-of-network care he received in the depths of his health crisis. Since 2016 he has become well known for making and uploading medical satire skits on Twitter, TikTok and YouTube. His wife performed CPR on him for 10 minutes before paramedics arrived and resuscitated him. [7], Since 2017, Flanary has raised money for the non-profit organization First Descents, which provides outdoor experiences to young adults who have been diagnosed with cancer. A: Thats a good example of one that surprised me. OK, but everyones tired all the time, can you trust people to know if theyre asymptomatic? the other character (also portrayed by Flanary) responds, before offering alternative suggestions that end up being significantly watered down. On May 11, 2020, William A. Flanary, MD, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist, went to bed like every other night. 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. In December 2015, he made his first (anonymous) contribution to GomerBlog, in the form of a satirical news report headlined "Ophthalmologist Accidentally Agrees to See Inpatient Consult. I checked it out and it seemed perfect, Flanary said. So he found an open mic near Dartmouth's campus, prepared a 10-minute set, and performed for an enthusiastic crowd of 50-60 people. Flanary is alive because his wife, Kristin, noticed his irregular breathing and performed CPR until an EMT could arrive and shock his heart back into regular function. How may I assist you today? He then had surgery to remove the testicle that had the tumor on it. Hi, we are the Glock Flecking. Commenting is limited to medical professionals. We love taking breaks. I've also learned that no matter what, none of you will ever learn how to use a slit lamp correctly., After the initial laughs, the Glaucomfleckens walked the audience through their incredible story. And each submits to a few minutes of Jungian analysis, care of the staff psychiatrist. These are things medical students have experienced, that residents have experienced its all relatable.. 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. William Sharp. We have a real delight today. 121. She performed CPR for an incredible nine minutes. Eric Jorgenson. "That's all we have.". In the years since, Flanary has raised more than $50,000 for the organization. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. "Nobody really likes a nag," Kristin says. Q: How did this whole social media gig get started? That leaves nights and weekends for the ring light, the iPhone, and Flanarys alter ego, an internet celebrity known as Dr. Glaucomflecken. He has two children now and is grateful his wife Kristin known on Twitter as Lady Glaucomflecken convinced him to start their family during medical school. Since 2016, when Flanary launched the pseudonymous Twitter account at a research conference because he was "bored as hell" Dr G's comedy has earned him hundreds of thousands of followers who eagerly await his next punchline. It was the spring of 2020, and the nascent Covid-19 pandemic had shuttered businesses around the country, including Flanarys private practice. "It's crazy some of the things we do." There was no medical explanation for the sudden cardiac arrest. By that time, he turned from blue and purple to gray. Whenever hes uncertain whether a given joke might go too far, he refers to a simple guiding principle: Be sure to punch up. There is literally no downside. (Interestingly enough, I just saw Louis CK talk about this same thing on Joe Rogan's podcast). By day, the 35-year-old cares for the eyeballs of Oregonians in his practice near Portland. 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. (Heres his iconic take on the EM residency interview.) Theres the warm but disconcertingly studious pediatrician, the charmingly alarmist dermatologist, the meatheaded orthopedic surgeon, and Jonathan, the loyal medical scribe whose dedication borders on sociopathy. I am Lady Glock Flecking. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. They're using honesty and humor to advocate for widespread CPR training, an overhaul of the way medical systems interact with patient's family members, and insurance reform. Q: Who was your biggest champion during that time? To comment please, Comments on Medscape are moderated and should be professional in tone and on topic. Flanary is writer, director, editor, and star, with the typical sketch foisting two or more of his characters into an instructively maddening situation that resolves with a punchline and perhaps some music, all in about 90 seconds. Morgan Housel, Written by: Things would gradually get a little more pointed, with jokes at the expense of disinterested emergency medicine doctors, overeager medical students, and, in a running theme, well-paid and under-worked ophthalmologists. "I would say it's been harder for my wife, in many ways.". In February alone, Dr Glaucomflecken released nine installments of his ongoing 60-second video series, in which a hapless medical student is thrown into the deep end by various specialists, from an elbow-patched psychiatrist to a mountain-biking emergency medicine doctor. OK, OK, send me all your consults, he told the audience. I made one too many jokes, got sent to the principals office, and received a conduct report to be signed by my dad. Written by: 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.. One thing Ive learned is that the videos that get the biggest reaction are the ones where there is an emotional reaction. Researchers are exploring how the brain helps prevent knee injuries, Even 3 mild concussions can cause cognitive problems, researchers say, Carolyn Hax: Boyfriends visits leave single mom with no time for herself, Miss Manners: What to do when a fellow diner was rude to server, medical students are living in a special kind of hell. "I got on to see, where are you all the time? A: Were kind of boring. But thank goodness for adrenaline. There are many YouTube reaction videos from doctors on Flanarys assessments of their character such as trauma surgeon David Hindin and neurosurgeon Martin Rutkowski who say the portrayals are spot-on. Will Flanary, MD, is not a typical ophthalmologist. ', The comments below have not been moderated, By You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here. Kristin is a superhero in her own right. We really enjoy sitting down. Many members had tears in their eyes as they gave her a longstanding ovation for her lifesaving efforts. We dont spam! I continued making content through the pandemic, a sudden cardiac arrest, and dozens of reports of people sleeping in their contact lenses with disastrous consequences. She knows the trauma of being a co-survivor and uses her experience to advocate for compassion for patients and their families. Advice for the relationships in your life and how to boost your own well-being. Thankfully, his wife was able to perform CPR until the paramedics arrived and they were able to resuscitate him. Thats why I love building this Glaucomflecken General Hospital of characters, Flanary told STAT. "I remember being very tired and telling her, I'm so tired. Ankur Warikoo, 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think, Written by: They have one thing in common being mocked by Will Flanary, an ophthalmologist known to millions in the medical world as Dr. Flanary, 36, has been on both sides of the stethoscope. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 3h Replying to @mkarolian and @DGlaucomflecken Spring 2020, aka early Covid, tiny @LGlaucomflecken rocked the CPR, so he's to educate & entertain us still 5 At first, Will wasn't sure what to do, since losing both of his testicles meant he would no longer be able to have children or make enough testosterone, which affects his ability to have sex. 2023 American College of Emergency Physicians. And then theres ophthalmology, where I get to sit down to operate. But unlike the many debunkers, explainers, and self-promotional plastic surgeons who populate the platform, Flanarys primary concern is with making people laugh. Paramahansa Yogananda, Written by: Flanary says the videos have taken him to a place he never expected, and hell continue doing it as long as his audience still watches and he continues to enjoy it. Thats kind of the way it works with me with humor. His Dr. Glaucomflecken alter ego has been a balm, not only for his colleagues, patients, and a pandemic-weary public, but also for himself. That's my name.". Eyeballs aside, he had found the perfect specialty for him. Now, Will said he loves to bring others happiness through his viral videos. If you trust your content, if you trust the message, then youve got to just go with it and accept that. DEALING WITH CANCER AND A HEART ATTACK. "One time, I walked out and he was in full clown makeup with Pagliacci music playing." "William Flanary" redirects here. Q: You made a video in March about Match day, where medical students match into residency, basically cementing their medical specialty. with the Glaucomfleckens. Sarah Cooper, a comedian who rose to internet stardom by lip-syncing to President Trump, parlayed her success into a 2020 Netflix special that was not particularly well-received, and then the election came and went along with her moment. In February alone, Dr Glaucomflecken released nine installments of his ongoing 60-second video series, in which a hapless medical student is thrown into the deep end by various specialists, from an elbow-patched psychiatrist to a mountain-biking emergency medicine doctor. And it feels good to be laughing with someone that knows what youre going through and knows the things that have been happening inside your own head that you havent put out into words.. Dr. Glaucomflecken lists . It allowed me to express frustration toward my genitals for having betrayed me as well as tell jokes about my life as a resident in ophthalmology. 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. Whatever comes next, Flanary says he'll keep making jokes, experimenting on new social platforms, and amplifying the voices of other physicians. Rogan & # x27 ; s podcast ) patients and their families just go it. # x27 ; s podcast ) Will 's health problems did n't end there our... Get to sit down to operate well known for making and uploading medical satire skits Twitter.: does your family think youre as funny as everyone else does 2016, he told the audience,... Sign of glaucoma n't really looking for dr glaucomflecken heart attack boyfriend or anything at the time Dr. Flanary. Membership service that provides customers with a huge selection of audiobooks as well as podcasts, exclusive originals more. His humor is `` unprofessional. him for 10 minutes before paramedics arrived resuscitated... 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