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In my day, we didn’t go to Google for answers, we asked our mother and she always knew the answer. Even if she didn’t. If I wanted to know how to get to  Norma Odeski’s house, my mother would say “Ya walk.” I would say “But where is it?” and she’d say “For God sake, Lynn Ruth, follow your nose.” And then I’d know Norma’s house was just around the corner.

If I wanted to know what the weather was going to be that afternoon, Mother would open the window, rub her shoulder and say, “It’s gonna rain, take an umbrella.” If it didn’t rain, I’d say “What happened?” and my mother would say “I took an aspirin.”  When I had a funny looking bruise, I’d show it to my mother and she would say, “Who have you been kissing?” and I’d say “How did ya know?”

My mother insisted she read all the answers she needed on my forehead. I came home from school one day with chocolate smeared on my face and said, “I have a stomach ache!”. My mother said “You never should’ve eaten that second slice of fudge cake.” and I said, “How did ya know I did that?”  She said, “I read it on your forehead.” and I said “Did it tell you I brought home another slice for you?” and my mother said “Don’t you get smart with me Lynn Ruth! Where is it?” I guess you had to be there.

When I ask my mother, “Why did Dale spit at me?” She said “It’s because he’s a nasty boy!” And I said “What made him nasty?” and she said “Ha! Read more…

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My mother believed in food. It was her remedy for everything that bothered us. If I was constipated, she’d say, “Stop complaining and eat prunes. I don’t care what color they coat your tongue, they clean you out.” If I had a fever, she never called the doctor. She fed me an apple and told me to watch my sister while she went to the movies. She said she had to get away from all my complaining, but I think she needed a cheap babysitter.

If I was listless, she’d cook up a batch of spinach, sprinkled it with lemon juice and said, “There. That’ll put hair on your chest.” What she meant was, it would make me strong. But I had no ambition to lift weights. Bulging biceps can spoil the effect of a strapless dress. The cleavage is all wrong. My mother thought spinach was the answer to anything fruit didn’t cure. If I gained weight, she’d boil another batch of spinach with even more lemon juice and say, “Eat that and you’ll get thin.” Actually, that worked really well, because I hate spinach. When she put it on my plate, the smell made me so ill, I couldn’t eat anything. It certainly made me thin. I got so skinny that you couldn’t see me when I stood sideways and that’s why I don’t have to wear a bra. Read more…

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In my day, we didn’t waste our money on electric blankets or heating pads, no sir. We used the hot water bottle for everything. My momma filled it with boiling water and wrapped it in a towel to put in the bed before she gave me a bath. When I got between the covers, the sheets were toasty warm. In those days, the hot water bottle eased aching muscles and tummy aches and my momma used it on our boils and abscesses to get them to pop. And you know what else she did? She wrapped it in a towel and put it on her head when we gave her a headache, which was just about everyday.

And she even used it for that most hateful, horrible procedure…the enema. Back then, everyone believed you must have a bowl movement everyday, but nice children didn’t call it that. They called it number two. My momma didn’t want us to advertise our functions to the whole world, so she told us to call it number four.  We foured, the dog foured and if we didn’t like someone, we’d say “He’s full of four!” Every morning we would report our condition to our mother and if our answer was no, the next thing we knew we were lying on our bellies in the bathroom floor and she was administering warm soapy water from the hot water bottle into our posteriors. Today, I can’t see a hot water bottle without reaching for the toilet paper and thinking of my mother. Read more…

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When I was a kid, my mother used vinegar for everything. If I got a bee sting she rubbed vinegar on it and if the kid next door bit me, she poured vingear on him and called his mother. There didn’t seem to be anything vinegar couldn’t fix in those days.

If you got the hiccups you drank a tablespoon of vinegar and they were gone. After your father pounded you on the back and your sister jumped out from behind the couch and screamed “BOO!” It was magic!

If I had a sinus infection, momma put vinegar in a vaporizer and made me inhale it until I started breathing again. She liked to help it along by pounding on my chest and if I turned blue, my sister jumped out from behind the couch and screamed “BOO!” Magic again!

My mom taught me to give my hair a vinegar rinse after I shampooed it to get rid of dandruff and those little bugs I got from the kid next door. Sore throat, gargle with vinegar and then swallow. The germs were gone and so was your appetite.

Vinegar and honey and a little cayenne pepper got rid of my cough, but if you boiled it with water, tomatoes, sour cream and peanut butter, you got soup! We got rid of warts with a mixture of vinegar and glycerine and we stayed away from toads. Vinegar may have kept us healthy, but I wanna tell ya, the whole family smelled like a tossed salad. Read more…

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Let’s give a warm welcome to our new co-host RN Shayne Mason. We are so glad to have him with us and just to show our appreciation we had all kinds of studio chaos waiting for him. Three in-studio guests, advice from our retired co-host Maggie McDermott, technical difficulties and more. Shayne took it like a pro! Not to mention he brings to the show a wealth of medical expertise and, of course, a grand sense of humor.

Shayne holds an RN, BRN, NP, is an instructor at USF (University of San Francisco) and a psych nurse at a clinic in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. That psych background will come in handy!

On the show this week is RN, humorist, author Terri Tate. What makes all the wrong things funny? Terri Tate will tell you. Terri claims that humor saved her life. Most people wouldn’t find two bouts of disfiguring oral cancer, 30 plus hours of surgery, 7 weeks of radiation, endless complications and a 2% chance of survival all that funny. Terri wasn’t laughing the whole time but claims that her sense of humor never completely deserted her. Nineteen years after treatment—alive and laughing, Terri talks about her remarkable path and her new book, As Is.

Wiz kid Cameron Harris is stops by for a visit. Some of you may remember Cameron, at the ripe old age of sixteen, started a podcast company (Harwood Podcast Network) that now boasts over 900 different shows. The line up includes IN RANGE Cameron’s show with his advice about how to live a healthy active life with Type 1 Diabetes. Cameron himself was diagnosed at the age of eight.

Also with us is D.C. Correspondent and National Nurses United Legislative Advocate Donna Smith. Donna gives a great answer to the question–why don’t we see this headline in the media: “For Profit Healthcare Poses Threat to Medicare, Federal Deficit, and Overall Economy in Coming Decades”

Read more…

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In my day, everyone shared their telephone line with their neighbor. When I was small, my momma would say to me, “if you ever need help, call the operator and stop complaining!” When the kid next door spit at me, I called the operator and she said, “Tell your mother.” I guess you had to be there.

You gave the number you wanted to call to the operator and she connected you from a central switch board. Those operators got to know everyone and they really cared, whether we liked it or not. Sometimes, I’d pick up the phone and she’d say “Lynnie Ruth, take off your mother’s high heels, she’s on her way home.” And sometimes she’d say, “Lynn Ruth, what are you doing?”

Nowadays, it’s the FBI that picks up. You have the internet but we had the party line.

I shared a party line with my high school Latin teacher, Henryetta Stateker. She was a heavy smoker with a nasty disposition. When I’d pick up the phone and she was breathing heavily, I knew we’d get that sweet subsitute the next day because Ms. Stateker’s asthma had kicked in.

That party line gave us access to everybody’s dirty laundry. I knew Mrs. Berlin was getting a divorce before she did. I knew they were taking bets in the backroom of the meat market and I knew the real reason Laura Hopkins had to spend that nine months out of town. Mr. Berlin knew too.

In my day, you could have alot of fun with the telephone. Read more…

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In my day we didn’t spend a lot of money on medications to cure depression. We didn’t have Zoloft or Paxil. If we complained my mom pushed us outside and told us to get back on the horse. What she meant was, get over it. Never did find that damn horse.

If we started to whine, she would pour herself a glass of red and say, “You kids are driving me to drink. Don’t you listen to Bing Crosby? You know, ‘You gotta Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the affirmative and don’t mess with Mr. In-Between.’ And, don’t get in his car either.”

We didn’t hospitalize people with depression. If someone in the family was acting funny, we locked them in the attic and we waved to them when we backed out of the driveway. And sometimes they even waved back and my mom would say, “See I told you. He’s fine.” We didn’t go to psychiatrists either. No one in his right mind would pay some stranger good money just to complain. We just talked out our troubles to our friends and if they didn’t listen, we talked to strangers.

Now don’t get me wrong, depression is really serious. But if you need a fast cure, get a horse.

Read more…

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Kelly Cassidy pictured with her 3 sons. WHO IS KELLY CASSIDY? She gets this weeks Golden Bed Pan Award. So what charitable act or cause has she engaged in? Hmmm. Who is Kelly Cassidy? Find out.

Welcome to Nurse Talk, where laughter is the best medicine. Dan is on the Island of Bursitis this week so our resident funny lady Lynn Ruth Miller sits in for him. Given our discussion about some pretty serious topics, Lynn Ruth finds a way to bring her compassion and humor to the table.

AND she’s back. Our friend and D.C. correspondent Donna Smith is with us. No one can articulate the D.C. health care news like Donna. She makes sense where there is no sense to be had. Ever wonder when you might hear about single payer health care again—good , bad or indifferent? How about Social Security and Medicare? Education? Listen this week for an update.

Later we talk with Canadian Musician Singer/Songwriter Brian Asselin. When a family member of Brian’s was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s—Brian wanted to make a contribution to help others going through the same thing. He did what he knows best—wrote a song to pay tribute. Listen to I Will Remind You.