Episode Transcript
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Scot: I think the catchphrase of 2021 is, "Oh, didn't recognize you without your mask," when you see people in public.
Troy: Exactly. So that's how the bottom half of your face looks.
Scot: The podcast is called "Who Cares About Men's Health?" providing information, inspiration, and motivation to better understand and engage in your health so you feel better today and in the future. Also, just proving that it's cool for guys to talk about their health. There seems to be this misconception that guys don't care about their health because they don't talk about their health, so we're talking about it and we care about it and we want to build that community. My name is Scot. I am the manager of thescoperadio.com, and I care about men's health.
Troy: And I'm Dr. Troy Madsen. I'm an emergency physician at the University of Utah, and I care about men's health.
Scot: Dr. Madsen, this is our final episode of 2020.
Troy: Final one. Wow.
Scot: Yep.
Troy: I never thought it would be so good to say it's our final episode of 2020.
Scot: It's more . . . feels good to say goodbye to 2020.
Troy: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Scot: I got a little song in my head that's been rolling because the way my brain normally works is I usually have things placed to songs, and it can be songs from the '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000. It can be songs from anywhere. So mine is to Elton John, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," except for it's "Goodbye 2020. This year really sucks. I'd just like to forget about you. 2020, kiss my butt."
Troy: That's beautiful, Scot. I can't believe you didn't have a singing career, but that was so close to Elton John.
Scot: Yeah. Right?
Troy: But yeah. Now, I hear you. The message is loud and clear. Definitely loud.
Scot: Goodbye 2020. All right. But as one does at the end of any year, even a year as heinous as 2020. By the way, you know how they represent New Year's, they've got the old year, the old man, a little sash, and then they got the little new baby, that's a new year. I say we don't even invite the old guy to the party this year. I don't want him.
Troy: I don't know if we can. I think the old guy died of COVID, Scot.
Scot: Wow. That is dark.
Troy: It is dark. But that's the kind of year it's been. I'm sorry.
Scot: But you know, we tend to reflect. And I think it's still a good exercise, even in a terrible year to reflect on a few things. So that's what the show, at least the first part of the show is going to be about. It's going to be 2020 reflections. So we're going to do reflections. We're going to talk about wins because I think that's a good positive thing to think about. And then we're going to talk about on the horizon and that's what are we looking forward to in 2021? One, what do we want to work on? etc. So, Troy, do you have your list, and have you checked it twice?
Troy: You know, in terms of reflections on the year, my reflection on this year is it's hard to get perspective on it because we're in the middle of it. But this year will be the defining year of our generation. This is, in a sense, this is our World War II, our Vietnam, whatever you want to call it. Each previous generation I think has had their defining year or defining years. This will be the defining year of our generation.
And I think it's hard to put that in perspective right now just because we're in the middle of it. We're trying to get through it. We're just slogging along, and we don't know what the future holds. We're hopeful because of the vaccine, but this year has been, I think disruptive on par with war. You look at wartime and you look at what people went through in those times and the sacrifices they made and the disruption was in their lives, that's been this year for us. Scot, I think prior to this year, it's hard to really have what was the defining thing about our generation, about Gen X or about millennials. Certainly, there's the tech and tech boom and all that, but you look at the previous generations and what define them, this will define us, I have no doubt about it. So I think it's important to keep that in mind. And keep in mind that . . .
Scot: You're right. They'll write about this in history books.
Troy: This will be written about in history books. Yeah. This is unlike anything even those generations experienced in terms of just the health scare. My parents talk about getting the polio vaccine, and how, for them, polio was a scare for them and how it was an issue. This is not polio. This is something . . . Certainly, polio was very disruptive and had long-term consequences for a lot of people, but this has been disruptive on par with nothing like polio. Polio back then they talked about they didn't want to go in swimming pools and stuff. Now, we've cancelled all events, and it's been unbelievable just in a historical perspective. So I think that's important to keep to mind. That's my reflection on this year. This has been unlike anything we have ever experienced and hopefully unlike anything we experience, at least in the next decades.
Scot: And I want to drop this down. You're a history major before you went onto med school, right?
Troy: I was. I was a history major. Yes.
Scot: I think that's an important thing for people to know that you studied history, you have an idea of how this fits into the context of things. So that was really fascinating. I enjoyed that.
Troy: Thanks, Scot. Yeah. And I enjoy medical history. I've been a student of medical history. And again, people often talk about this compared to the 1918 influenza pandemic. It's similar to that as well, but again, there's really no one alive today who experienced that. And this has been . . . it's truly unprecedented in terms of anything we've experienced. And so, again, that's my reflection on the year. I think we look back on 2020 is really the defining moment of our generation and in how we responded to it and how it affected us. I think we're going to feel the effects of this for years to come, so in many ways.
Scot: I don't know what to say to follow that. So I think we'll move on to the next part of this.
Troy: Surely you've got something else, Scot.
Scot: Well, I've got a lot of stuff, but I guess I hadn't thought of it quite that way. I know it's been really disruptive. I know that for some people it's brought tragedy to their lives, and I know it's made times really, really difficult. But I was going to talk about some of the positive things that came out of this. Is that cool now?
Troy: Yeah. Well, that's a good thing to talk about, because I think that's a good piece on reflection too because it's been disruptive, but yeah. And we can talk about that more just what that means in a positive sense.
Scot: So let's move on to lessons learned. So what have we learned from this year, whether it's about ourselves or whether it's about other people? I guess I'm self-centered. I focused on lessons I've learned about myself that this time has taught me, that Troy has talked about this kind of unprecedented time, and I have three. How many do you have? How many lessons learned do you have, Troy?
Troy: I can't put a number on it, Scot, but I'll let you go first.
Scot: I have 86. Scot, 86.
Troy: So many lessons learned.
Scot: Lesson number one, I learned about myself is I need routine. And I have not had routine since March really. Sure there's been some routines, but I never built a new routine. The old routine, pre-March 2020 of my exercise, just even the process of going to work, that was a routine, that was a ritual that gave me some comfort, gave me consistency. I don't have that. I abandoned my schedule with meals, which I used to have to schedule out because I find that I don't eat if I don't schedule my meals. So I need to get back to routine. So that is one thing I learned about myself.
Troy: Yeah. It makes sense.
Scot: I also learned I need a transition point between things, and I'm just learning this now. Again, getting back to that. You get up in the morning, you shower, you eat breakfast, then you drive into work. And that's a great transition between morning life and work life. And then you'd have lunch in the lunchroom and you'd interact with people. That was another great transition point from morning to afternoon. And then the drive home would be a transition point from work to home life.
Now it just all blurs together, and I think it's impacting me. I think I have this slow drip, drip, drip, drip of constantly having something going on and not having those things to have a little bit of downtime.
And the other lesson I learned about myself is I like interaction with people. I consider myself fairly an introvert, but I do like some interaction with people, maybe not as much as an extrovert does, but sitting in the same room, the same four walls. I've been lucky I've been able to go into work on occasion to help out. So I am around a few other people, but I just really treasured that time. So these are just some my lessons learned I learned about myself.
Troy: Yeah. All interesting things. Yeah. I think probably a lot of us have felt the same way, Scot. And I think I've felt similar to you in terms of definitely missing the social interaction. And maybe that's a lot of what I've learned as well is just appreciating so many of the things you take for granted once they're gone. Just simple things like time with your parents. Just being comfortable just visiting your parents who may be older and may have some health issues, time with family. As we're in the holiday season and have missed time with family over this season, that has become far more important to me as well. And then having those Zoom meetings with family it's like, well, this is the best we've got, but I sure appreciate just having this right now.
But I think for me, the biggest thing to come from this year in terms of just lessons learned has been I think both from a personal and professional perspective of facing things that I was scared to face. As I went into emergency medicine, I knew I would be on the front lines, and I knew I would be potentially facing some scary things that could come up. And I went through H1N1 that whole experience about eight years ago, and that was scary because H1N1, there wasn't a lot known about it.
We were on the front lines of that, being exposed to this disease and I thought, "Wow, what if the day came that I were actually on the front lines of a really serious pandemic of something that's not H1N1, but a whole lot more than that?" And when this hit, when it became reality and we were facing it, I was scared. I'll be honest, I was very nervous. I was very scared, I was very anxious. And I've gotten through it.
And I think that's been a big thing for me personally, just both personally and professionally to face something that I was very scared about facing someday and I hoped I never would have to and getting through it. And just saying, "Hey, just get through the day, get through the week." And not knowing what the endpoint was or when things were going to get better or when things were going to improve, but just say, "Hey, this is what I have to do to get through this day and getting through it and just keep going, and keep moving forward." And then as time went on, feeling more comfortable getting over some of that anxiety, feeling more comfortable personally and professionally.
So that's probably the biggest thing for me. Hopefully, something that I'll take going forward is saying, "Hey, I faced a really tough situation." Something I was scared to face in the future, and I got through it and continued to get through it. And I think then you can take that lesson to a whole lot of things you face in life.
Scot: All right. Number two as we reflect on 2020, what were some of the wins, because as we've talked with Dr. Chan, it's good to show not only gratitude but I think it's good to celebrate the positive in the light of the negative. I think that's good for our mental well-being. And I do have a daily journaling practice. I call it my daily pages, my morning pages. I just write down whatever thoughts are in my head, and I try to write down some of the things that I'm grateful for or some of the things that I maybe did the previous day that I'm like, "That actually was cool. I'd consider that a win."
So I think at a time of pandemic one of my biggest wins, and I need to say that I normally might not think this, but trying to put things in perspective of the time we're living in, I'm pursuing my master's degree. I also teach part-time a radio class. I work full-time doing this for the University of Utah, and I also completed three more classes this year for my master's degree. They're done. Nine more credits towards my 36. So I was another quarter of the way closer to a master's degree in a time of pandemic where my plate was already full. So I think that's a cool accomplishment.
Troy: That's huge. Yeah. That's great.
Scot: And I think we can downplay those things. This year, I also learned some new skills because of COVID-19. We've started having more virtual press conferences in the public affairs office. I normally was never involved in press conferences, but now since we're doing them virtually, Troy, I'm not sure how I got nominated for this, but I've learned more about cameras and microphones for live things like that than I ever knew because I've been recruited to help with that. So that's been fun.
Troy: Yeah. And you've been the face of the COVID response for the university. The face is a pandemic.
Scot: I wouldn't go that far, but I have done something.
Troy: Scot C for COVID. Scot C Singpiel. Scot COVID Singpiel.
Scot: That's not what I dreamed of when I was a kid being a face of a pandemic.
Troy: This wasn't what you hoped for your future.
Scot: And I don't know if I got to say the physicians and the specialists and the nurses and the experts, they're really the face, I've just helped facilitate them getting their message out. But I have been in front of the camera more often than I have been in the past. I learned how to use a teleprompter this year, which is surprisingly hard. I read with a teleprompter and not screw up. And I learned the key is you got to read more slowly than I normally want to read.
Troy: Oh, right.
Scot: So you can process and I'm less likely to screw up. So that has actually helped me become better at this, although I still talk too fast in this podcast. You can tell I've actually slowed down from now that I've reminded myself I talk too fast.
And the third thing is I unraveled some nagging health issues that I had. So, last year, I don't know if you remember, I got really sick. In 2019 at the very end of the year. I ended up spending two days in bed, and my right shoulder almost stopped functioning. I went to a physical therapist. I went to a sports medicine doc. They worked through some stuff with me. I've been working on re-strengthening those muscles. I learned actually it was probably a nagging problem that had been developing for years from misuse and then accommodation. So I've had to relearn how to use that shoulder and re-strengthen it, and I feel as though I've made some progress there. And I'm working on my posture now because I have that hunched over posture. So those are my three wins, Troy.
Troy: Those are some big wins. Scot, my big win of the year I think I've been able to keep running. And it's funny as I listen back at our podcasts and our episodes, I think to myself, I talk way too much about running and I'm not. That's my New Year's resolution, I'm not going to talk on the podcast about running anymore. So this is my last time talking about running.
Scot: No. Not anymore, but I mean if you must . . .
Troy: This is it, Scot. This is it. This is the last you're going to hear me talk about running.
Scot: All right.
Troy: I run every day. I've run every day this year in spite of the pandemic and in spite of some dark times and in spite of something . . .
Scot: A crazy schedule.
Troy: Yeah. A crazy schedule and sometimes just really lacking motivation because all these races have been cancelled. The Boston Marathon I was going to run, that was cancelled. It was really hard to stay motivated this year, but I was able to run and I had set an informal goal to run a marathon every month this year. I certainly did not run a marathon every month, but I did run at least 12 marathons this year, just being marathon distance. Then a lot of that was just out on trail runs. So I'm really happy about that.
I reached a point in June where I was like, "Yeah. This is not going to happen." And then I said I'm just going to up my mileage and I'm going to get these runs done and do it. So I'm happy about that. That was a big win I think on the health and fitness side.
And I think you mentioned some things on the professional side as well. It's been a big adjustment for me just with research. My research just went down in the toilet this year. When we hit COVID, we had to take all of our research associates out of the emergency department. I wasn't able to do any data collection for any of my studies for six months. And then just trying to keep plugging along with research, I think adjusting and doing things more remotely, it's been extremely disruptive in that sense, but I'm happy that from a personal and professional standpoint, I've been able to stay productive with research and continue to publish.
One great thing that's come out of this is some COVID research we're doing, and a big group I'm working with across 40 hospitals nationwide, we're putting together some really interesting papers on COVID and predicting the diagnosis of COVID in the emergency department. So that's I think been a win for me of losing some things on the research side, but then being able to shift and be part of some larger collaborations to hopefully produce some stuff that helps us understand COVID better. So I think, like I said, personally, professionally, those are some of the wins for me this year.
Scot: Yeah. In a year like this year just even maintaining can be so hard, but you were able to maintain. So that's pretty incredible.
Troy: Yeah. I'm happy about that. Again, it was I think for all of us. And the fitness routine you had anything like that it's been a struggle, it has been a battle this year.
Scot: Or even at work, any productivity that you would normally have. So just celebrate. If you're listening and you've maintained, celebrate that. That's a win.
Troy: Yeah. And even not just . . .
Scot: It doesn't always have to be bigger, faster, or more.
Troy: Yeah. And it may not even be the same level it was in 2019, but at least maintaining some kind of routine, some basis there that you can then build on in 2021. That's a victory.
Scot: All right. That transitions us into the last part of our reflection, which is on the horizon. So what are you looking forward to? What do you hope to maybe continue to work on or improve?
So I think I need to come off the back end of what you said. You've been able to maintain and, in some cases, even increase your running distance, for example. I think on the horizon, I need to get structure and routine back in my life. And that can be hard because it takes cognitive effort to do that. It takes cognitive efforts to set up productive routines. It's not just something that happens. You actually have to, at least for me, I have to sit down and go, "Okay. What's my routine look like? How is this going to be able to work for me?"
So I'm going to make activity a priority again in my routine. I'm going to work on decluttering my life, getting rid of some of those things that really aren't adding value. Twitter scrolling, for example, not really adding value. Probably more detrimental than valuable. And I'm also going to try to find something I enjoy doing to help me find a better mental well-being.
So exercise is one of those things that you can do and definitely that helps your mental health. But you should also find some activity that you enjoy that gets you into that flow state that you can lose yourself in for a little bit just to allow your brain to reset. And I need to find that thing. I don't know what it is. And again, it's something you have to go look for, I think. I think sometimes it falls in your lap, but I think you have to actively go find it. And that takes effort and that can be hard. So that's what's on my horizon. How about you?
Troy: Well, Scot, I was going to say after your intro to this episode, have you thought about maybe auditioning for America's Got Talent or something like that? I don't know. I'm just thinking flow here.
Scot: Yeah. If you keep flattering me like that, there might be an encore. There might be an encore performance in this podcast. Yeah. You might hear that song again.
Troy: Scot, so I'm looking forward to, like you said, I think getting back into your routine in so many ways. And as I look forward, I think the optimistic outlook is July. That for me is hopefully the time where life starts to get back to normal. Maybe that'll get pushed to next fall. But just based on vaccinations and everything, I am looking forward to going back to sporting events. Man, I went through sports withdrawal this year like crazy. I got so tired of watching 1990s NBA basketball in the months of April and May. I would love to start going back to sporting events, to football games, and basketball games, and all that kind of stuff and concerts and shows and movies and all that sort of thing.
Again, it's hard to get too excited about it right now because I think we're maybe six to nine months away from that, but I'm very much looking forward to that. In terms of just anything else beyond that, I think, for me, I want to just keep maintaining. I feel like I'm happy with where things are right now. I want to continue just to maintain what I'm doing with running. And hopefully, we'll start to get some more races and events coming up so we can start to run some of these things with some groups and have some more social interaction there as well. And from a work perspective, I'm looking forward to work, maybe seeming a little more routine.
Scot: All right. Can we just get back to the boring old ER? Dr. Madsen: Could I just see abdominal pain and chest pain? Yeah. I would be okay with that. The stuff there before I was like, "Ah, someone else with abdominal pain." That's all right. I'm okay with that. Can we just have it be a little more routine? I'm looking forward to that as well of getting back to the good old ER without the constant disruption and changes and preparing for surges and all that sort of stuff. So, again, it's not 2021 necessarily for that, but I think we're going to be moving in that direction.
Scot: As you were talking about all the things that you look forward, movies, sports, going back to restaurants, it really dawned on me from a mental health perspective that a lot of those things that allowed us to deprogram and maybe even socialize have been taken away and you forget about those aspects of the things that you talked about. Those are things you have to actively figure out. I don't think many of us thought about we enjoy sports or we enjoy movies and we go to these things and what they're actually doing for us. Other than just seeing a movie, they're helping us emotionally and mentally unplug. And then when they're taken away, we don't realize we have to find that next thing and create that. And sometimes you have to actively go out and search for that, which takes mental effort. So I think my thought on that is if, like for me, if you don't have that, sit down and give yourself a half hour to figure out what that might be and maybe experiment with that.
Troy: Yeah.
Scot: All right. What are you grateful for? That's how we're going to end this show. What are you grateful for? I've got my three things. I still have a job, which . . .
Troy: Yes. That's a huge thing right now.
Scot: Yeah. And my wife is more or less working. Not to the capacity she used to, but she's more or less working, which I know a lot of people are dealing with, not only the financial repercussions of that but the self-worth repercussions of that when you aren't able to contribute and work. That's a mental health thing.
Troy: For sure.
Scot: And I like a lot of the people that I work with, so I'm lucky there. I'm also grateful that those in my life and care about have not been tremendously negatively impacted by COVID. I know that there are some people that have lost people really close in their lives in a very traumatic way. That has not happened in my life. So I am certainly, certainly grateful for that.
And I'm also grateful for our new dog that we have. He brings some chaos to our house. He's a new puppy, so we have to work with him a lot on mental, tiring him out not only physically but mentally with obedience and we have these feeding puzzles and we go out and do stuff with this new dog. But he also brings us some joy and he also brings us something to get out of our own heads, like we've talked about before. You can pay attention to this other thing for a while and interact with it and have fun with it. So those are the things I'm grateful for.
Troy: Yeah. I think my list is pretty similar to yours, Scot. I have I think experienced increased gratitude also for being employed. And even just for my line of work as well, it's been an interesting transition where a lot of people used to in March and April and May would be like, "Hey, thanks for what you're doing and being on the front lines." And that's gone away a little bit, but I think overall, there's really been a sense of appreciation that a lot of people have expressed for healthcare workers where maybe in the past you haven't felt that quite as much, maybe that's even more in the ER sometimes. Sometimes people you're working with there aren't super excited to be there, and they don't express a lot of gratitude. But I think I've felt a lot more just personally a sense of gratitude for the work I'm able to do.
And certainly for my wife, for Laura, for her support during a challenging time and for my family too. My siblings, my parents, we've had a lot of group texts and people have always just . . . My family has always been very supportive and just asking how things are going with work and what we're seeing and we've had a lot of chats back and forth about COVID in general and masks and all that kind of stuff. So it's been nice just in that sense, and I think, again, I've always appreciated my family, but certainly I've learned to appreciate them more during this time.
And you mentioned your dog, so I got to mention my dogs and my cats. We've fostered so many cats this year, and sometimes it's been overwhelming. And it's hard too because a lot of these are little kittens and these kittens, sometimes it's often cited there's about a 30% mortality rate for these little kittens. And we haven't had that many pass away, but it's probably been at least 15% to 20%.
Scot: Oh, wow. I didn't know.
Troy: And those times have been hard. Yeah. These little kittens that are born out in the wild, they're born out in some field and who knows what kind of care they've had and they'll be doing great and then they'll just pass away. And it's hard emotionally. But I am grateful that we have been able to have more time, I think, especially for Laura, where she's been home more and working from home. We've had over 50 kittens in our home this year. And I know that sounds insane. They haven't been there all at once. I think we maxed out at 17, but . . .
Scot: You are a crazy cat man.
Troy: I am a crazy cat man. That's what everyone asks about at work now too because anytime I do a lecture, I show the cats because they're all Zoom lectures now. So I'm like, "You guys don't want to watch me. I'm going to show you the kittens." So I'll show them the kittens. I have the kitten cam, but I'm known as the crazy cat guy at work. So that's what it's come to, but I'm grateful that we've had that opportunity to help a lot of kittens out, a lot of animals. I think fostering has been a big positive thing this year for a lot of people where they've been home and taking care of animals. So that's something I'm very grateful for as well that we've been able to do more with that and help a lot of animals out during this time. So it's been a very rewarding thing.
Scot: Moments like this, like this pandemic as Troy said, these generational defining moments really reset you to what's really important in life. And sometimes it sounds cliché. When things are good, being grateful for your health can sound cliché, being grateful for family sounds cliché, being grateful for . . . Just these simple things in life that we take for granted and a lot of times get put on the bottom rung of the ladder as we pursue other things in our life that we think are going to be more important. But moments like these are just a good reset, just to make you realize what is really important in life. So I guess that's going to be my final thought on our reflection. That's my reflection on our reflection.
Troy: Yeah. You're right. It stripped away just so much of life so that we're left with the essentials. And I think it's made us, number one, miss a lot of those things have been stripped away like we talked about. Sure looking forward to those things coming back, but certainly I think has made so many of us appreciate those essentials, where those have become so much more important to us, and we are very grateful that those things have not been taken from us and we really appreciate having them.
Scot: Goodbye 2020.
Troy: I'm not going to sing it with this guy.
Scot: You really sucked. I'd just like to forget about you. 2020, kiss my butt.
Troy: Let's mute it.
Scot: That is how we are ending the year 2020.
Troy: That is our farewell. Inappropriately performed number for 2020.
Scot: A very symbolic performance, isn't it?
Troy: Very symbolic of 2020.
Scot: And its awfulness.
Troy: In all of its train wreck.
Scot: "Just Going To Leave This Here," that's a segment where we talk about something that might have to do with health or it could just be random. Generally, it's just random. Just going to leave this here. I found a new little life's pleasure, Troy.
Troy: What's that?
Scot: I have a new life's pleasure. All right. So a lot of us are working from home. We are no exception. We are recording this remotely, so I'm in my home office. I have a little space here in my home office because my room tends to get a little cold. I have a chair that does not have a cloth-padded bottom. It has just an open mesh bottom on it. And I love putting the little space heater almost under my chair.
Troy: Okay. I see where this is going.
Scot: That feels so good and it's addictive. So I've turned it on, and it gets so hot that I have to turn it off. But then after it's off for a minute, I'm like, "I got to turn that back on."
Troy: Oh, it feels so good.
Scot: Because it's so addictive, it's so crazy. So not only warms my feet, but it warms whatever happens to be on the mesh portion of the chair. I just freakin' love it. That's my new little life pleasure. I look forward to coming up to my office and turning on the heat and having that happen to me for a little bit.
Troy: Nice. So you're like the little kittens in our house. They just position themselves right on top of the heating vent. They just love it. Sit right on top of it and you've got it positioned right there where it's keeping you nice and toasty where it counts. So glad to hear about that.
Scot, since we're finishing out 2020 I have to say my just going to leave this here is going to be one of the interesting phenomena of 2020 and that is, how many people do you know in your life who you have only known them with a mask on? And . . .
Scot: Yes. Yes, doc.
Troy: . . . would not recognize them otherwise.
Scot: I've thought about that with me. How many people like my class that I teach? I taught from home one day this week, the only day I taught from home I didn't have a mask on. That was the first time they ever saw my face in 16 weeks.
Troy: Exactly.
Scot: That was nuts.
Troy: There are so many people I work with who I have only known them with the mask on and I've not known them otherwise. And one person in particular, I could recognize him out in the crowd just because of his hair. He has very distinctive hair and he has very friendly eyes, but I had never seen the bottom half of his face. And then I was working with him, we were wearing those PAPRs, those helmet things that I sent you a picture of me wearing in our respiratory unit where you actually can see someone's full face. And I saw his full face, and I'm like, "Oh, that's how you look. Okay. We've been working together five months, so that's how you look. Cool."
But it's an interesting phenomenon, and I thought about that like how many people I work with like nurses or . . . We've had several new physician assistants and nurse practitioners who have started since March, residents. We've had residents, all new residents started, and medical students, everyone starting in July. So many people in my life I've only known with a mask on. So, someday, the mask are going to come off and we'll be like, "Okay. That's how you look? Cool."
Scot: Yeah. I think the new catchphrase . . . So the catchphrase for 2020 was, "Can you hear me?" Because of Zoom calls and being on mute or you're on mute. That might be the catchphrase. I think the catchphrase of 2021 is, "Oh, didn't recognize you without your mask," when you see these people in public.
Troy: Exactly. So that's how the bottom half of your face looks. Cover the bottom half. Okay. Now, I recognize you. Interesting phenomena.
Scot: All right. Time to say the things that you say at the end of podcast, because we are at the end of ours. So you can reach out and contact us anytime you want and talk about whatever you want if you have a specific health question for one of the specialists that's been on the show, a question for Troy, a question for myself or a topic idea. hello@thescoperadio.com. You can go to . And then our listener line where you can leave a message is not 801. It's 601?
Troy: 601 . . .
Scot: 55SCOPE. 601-55SCOPE.
Troy: Website is . You can subscribe on Apple, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate us five stars. If you like us, we'd love to get feedback from you. Thanks for listening and thanks for caring about men's health.