Sickboy

That's a wrap for Movember 2021! Between the fellas, the moustache and fundraising competition has come to a close and the loser must now step up and get a moustache tattoo. So who lost? Tune in to find out. At the beginning of the month the boys put on a virtual live show and were joined by Mitch Hermansen, Movember staff, to talk about why Movember matters then they transition into a fascinating and valuable conversation with Dr. John Ollife, Founder and lead investigator of UBC’s Men’s Health Research program. They chat all about masculinity as it influences men’s health behaviours and illness management, and its impact on partners, families and overall life quality.

Buckle up this week. Literally. Put on your seat belt. We spend the first 10 minutes of this week's episode connecting with Mack while he's on the road in his souped-up sound-proofed car. Mack was born a double amputee and this guy is the ultimate trooper. During his youth he pushed through multiple surgeries and had an uphill battle with his own mental health, but it wasn't until he discovered his love for basketball that his life began to turn around. He got so good at ball that some folks in his small town believed his prosthetic legs were giving him too much of a leg up — ba dum tss.

Here at Sickboy we have the sleuthiest of listeners. Shout out to Britt and Hil for spilling the TEA. This week we talk about the future of nanobots when it comes to cancer treatement. Miracle workers or possible human killing mini machines? Speaking of existential events, we chat disability & climate change. Folks who are disabled are being left out of the conversation and will suffer unless something is done about "eco-ableism". Is there a COVID pill just around the corner? Fingers crossed. Finally in What The Hellth?! We examine a case where one couple unfortunately learned that Brazil nuts somehow have a way of getting into your semen. Sexually transmitted allergies are real folks.

You could say this episode has a lot of heart. AYYYOOO! Dr. Eilidh MacDonald holds a PhD in Physiology and Biophysics at Dalhousie University and is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. She joins the fellas to talk all things heart! We talk how one tests/studies the hearts of animals, how the heart can beat on its own for hours on end, and even how your heart responds to environmental/personal factors that allow it to accomplish the same goals. Not only that but we also talk about Eilidh's experience with COVID. She even got to ride a COVID bus. She's the coolest.

This week is a special one. A huge milestone for our favourite host with psychopathic tendencies. Him and his lovely partner Kyla are having a baby. But this wasn't some "hey let's make hanky-panky without a condom and pop out a baby"-type situation. No sir. This was a long arduous process of in-vitro fertilization. A process that can be extremely taxing physically and emotionally. Kyla walks us through the entire process and gives us a glimpse into how challenging it was for the both of them. We are so excited for Tay and Ky and this episode is one that means a lot to us. Thanks to all of our sweet potatoes who attended the live stream and chimed in with such lovely questions.

How would you feel if someone sold your grandma's dead body to the military only for them to strap her to a chair rigged with explosives and blow her to bits to see what happens? We go even further down the rabbit hole of the unregulated body trade black market and it just keeps getting weirder. Then, the future of cars could include some sort of apparatus that ensures you aren't drunk before the car starts. Sounds good to us!! But we're sure someone out there has something to say about their freedom. Two families are devastated after an embryo mix-up. Someone's going to lose their job over this one for sure. Finally, for WHAT THE HELLTH?! We go uber gross. Worms. Worms in the brain. Yikes!!

Miranda Field is a teacher from Saskatchewan supporting children with learning, medical, and mental health complexities. She has more than 15 years of teaching experience ranging from Kindergarten through post-secondary in mainstream, hospital, and supportive programs. This week she joins the boys to walk them through what teaching roles look like in a hospital setting. This big lesson here is that it's all about giving the child and the family a sense of normal within an environment that is anything but.

At 14 years old, Katy went to the hospital to get a peculiar little rash checked out. It started on her ankles, but before long has spread up her legs, torso, neck and face. The doc ran some blood work and sent Katy on her way. One day later that doctor frantically called Katy's mother informing her she needs to get Katy to an emergency department ASAP. Katy's platelet count was basically non-existent and she could bleed to death by the end of the day. Probably not helpful that she started her period that day too. This week Katy sits with the fellas to tell them the wild story of how she was diagnosed and eventually recovered from Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. Idiopathic = They don’t know what caused it. Thrombocytopenia = Low platelet count. Purpura = bleeding/bruising under the skin. Katy is a bundle of joy and a great story teller and we absolutely loved having her on the show.

This week's FGF is extra special! We have a secret ingredient from down under. Brian, Taylor, and Dick Rice are joined by Marc Fennell, host of "Stuff The British Stole" for a whole whack of weirdness in the world of health sciences. First thing first, flush your damn toilet before you sit on it. Otherwise, you run the risk of getting bit in the nuts by a cobra. Ever been so high that you forget everything in life, except for Batman? A unique exercise in gratitude. Finally a wild story out of the U.S. dealing with the unregulated business of selling corpses for “science”. Someone's gramps’ dead body didn’t end up being used the way they thought it would.

The WeCroak app is inspired by a Bhutanese folk saying: to be a happy person, one must contemplate death five times daily. This week the fellas are joined by Hansa Bergwall, the Co-founder of the WeCroak App and host of the WeCroak Podcast. Each day, WeCroak will send you five invitations to stop and think about death. The invitations come at random times and at any moment, just like death. When they come, you can open the app to reveal a quote about death from a poet, philosopher, or notable thinker. Here's the latest quote from my app - Jer: "As it is with a play, so it is with life — what matters is not how long the acting lasts, but how good it is." -Seneca