Season 8, Episode 11: Life Time
Special Guests: Dr.Anj and Dr. Chris Lewis
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Thank you to Anj and Rob for a thoroughly enjoyable discussion as always. I hope listeners enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed recording it. I mentioned a paper about the history of aortic surgery. On the off-chance anyone is interested in reading about vascular surgery going back to the ancient Egyptians, the link is here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0741521498701077
Rob always has great guests on his podcast, but Dr Anj and Dr Chris Lewis are my favorites. Always must-listen when they make an appearance.
Aww, thank you, Bill. I can’t speak for Anj, but I fear we may have peaked with this episode!
Thanks! Agreed this might be a peak !
I haven’t even listened to the episode yet but I’m so excited for Dr. Lewis and Dr. Anj to be back on the podcast!
Thank you very much, James! Steel yourself… it’s a long episode!
I love the episode Lifetime. I really enjoyed listening to this one. It was so fun to listen Dr. Anj and Dr. Lewis.
Thanks Gabrielle. If you couldn’t tell, we had an absolute ball recording this; so glad you enjoyed it too!
I’m going to defend Dr. Pierce hiding the vascular clamps.
First, the 4077–and I presume every MASH unit–has had incredible problems with theft from medical supplies clear up to something as large as a generator. Given that the vascular clamp in question is literally unique, it makes sense to me that he’d hide it but also do so somewhere that doesn’t need a code or key (like a safe). While not covered in dialogue, I’d also bet that both Doctors Hunnicutt and Potter also know where Hawkeye has the clamps hidden. I do think that Major Houlihan should also have already known.
As for it being in a sock–do you REALLY think that Dr. Pierce had the clamps in a dirty sock? I sure don’t. Hiding the clamps in a sock provides further camouflage (in case someone does go through his footlocker) and provides padding for the delicate instrument.
Theft of equipment from hospitals is still very much a real-life problem, sadly. (Rumour has it that you can pick up second hand scopes on eBay for some very reasonable prices)
Although this is an issue, I’m still not convinced that keeping the clamps buried in a foot locker with food, underwear and girlie mags is acceptable. A locked cabinet in OR would be more secure. And infinitely more hygienic!
I solved the movie snack problem just get popcorn no fuss.
Hey, doctors, can you just dial it down a bit, I listen to this podcast to be entertained, not to get smarter and actually learn things!
Kidding, of course, I enjoyed this so much! When I watch MASH, I come at it from a very emotional angle, so getting all of these insights about actual medical procedures was just golden. Golden! Thank you so much for an amazing episode.
I love Life Time. It’s such a good episode both story- and characterwise, and I always like when everyone is involved in the same storyline.
Love how the opening scene tricks us into believing it’s gonna be a more light hearted, comedic episode. That must be one of the most stupid places to play cards, the dialogue is light, and then the chopper arrives, and the tone changes completely. The silly distraction of playing cards literally scatters to the winds, the war blows the fun times away.
The whole episode has such great movement too, love the urgency of it, and that we get to follow all the characters “side quests.” Every character truly gets their little moment to shine too, that’s so great to see.
One of my absolute favorite things about it, is that when the time runs out, we’re not told in any way, the watch just continues to move, the seconds pass by. It’s quiet, and you have to pay attention to catch it. Love that they didn’t do a big countdown, the watch turning red of something as the “deadline” approached. That is MASH at its best, for me, when the creators trusts us in the audience, and don’t feel the need to point things out to us.
The whole quietness of it reminds me of Margaret’s speech in Death Takes a Holiday, about how there is no big fanfare when someone passes away. The patient didn’t die here, of course, but the sentiment is the same.
The difference in Margaret and Hawkeye is so clear here too, the way he throws himself into everything, literally. He thrives in chaos, in different ways, while she clings to control, and being the best nurse she can be and follow proper procedure is her sliver on control. Just beautiful character insights there.
I am so happy I’m not in Margaret’s shoes, though, having to get the clamp from the Swamp. I can’t handle verbal instructions, the minute I set foot in there I would be like “Wait, where did he tell me to look? Under his pillow? In the still? In his hat?” Ugh, I would mess that up so bad!
And to end on a shallow note – Margaret, Hawkeye and BJ all looks so good! Strange thing to point out in such a serious episode perhaps, but my eyes see what they see. Both men look very handsome all scruffy and stubbly, and Margaret with her sleeves rolled up and her hair in that little twist? My goodness, she looks hot!
Thanks again for a terrific episode! I was actually doing some embroidery while listening to it, thought it would be fitting, and time just flew by!
Good Note! “Less Informative”. We’ll try our best!
Great discussion with Dr. Anj and Dr. Chris Lewis about this episode. This is definitely a dramatically captivating episode. It’s great that MASH was continuing to come up with new format-busting ideas this far into its run. The few bits of comedy we got were awesome too, especially Klinger doing his Colonel Potter voice. Jamie Farr would have been a great voice artist for cartoons in that era. His Colonel Potter voice reminds me of Tennessee Tuxedo.
Thanks so much for the insight guys. This is certainly one of the hardest hitting episodes of the series. It was great to have these medical procedures and injuries explained.
You’re welcome, Matt. There were still a few dubious areas (and I think we highlighted those), but it’s still the most medically accurate episode by some way. Glad we could shed some light on the technicalities!
If this took two hours I can’t imagine how long the final episode will last.
Thanks for having two doctors on for this particular episode.
Charles being able to give a pint of blood that quickly seemed a bit unrealistic based on my experience giving blood. And how big of a risk is it to give twice in five days?
I’m a presidential history geek and two events came to mind going through this episode.
In 1881 James Garfield was shot. He died not from the shooting but from an infection that set in after a doctor stuck his unwashed bare hands inside the wound probing for the bullet. I hope this patient got a heavy dose of antibiotics.
When JFK was shot he lived about 30 minutes even though a chunk of his brain landed in his wife’s lap.
The UK Blood donation service would say that men should donate one unit of blood every 12 weeks. (Obviously, that’s not under wartime conditions!) So Charles is definitely stepping up by donating 2 units in 5 days. No wonder he gets a bit squiffy!
We forget that Penicillin only really entered common medical practice in the 1940s. At the time of the Korean War, antibiotics would still have been a relatively modern innovation.
As terrific as this episode is, I can’t help but wonder if it could have been even more intriguing if, instead of Hawkeye, it was Charles at the center of this. He was the unit’s thoracic specialist, after all. It would have been an all-too-rare opportunity to see him in ‘pure doctor/healer’ mode, passionate about saving a life in spite of the odds against success.
We commented that Charles’ lack of input in this story is puzzling: In real life, he’d absolutely get scrubbed in. But that takes away from this being a superheroic effort by Hawkeye, and builds the story stakes.
I agree that it’s always welcome when Charles is allowed to break out of “pompous ass” mode!
What a wonderful episode! It was fascinating to hear the medical perspectives, especially on Margaret’s insistence on sterilisation and on BJ’s soft skills as a doctor, which I must admit I had previously underrated. The discussion of the end-to-end anastomosis reminded me of the bit in Alan Alda’s memoir “Never Have Your Dog Stuffed” where he gets an intestinal blockage while filming in Chile (“The blood supply to some of your small intestine has been choked off and it’s dying. I have to go in and resect the bad part and then sew the good parts back together.” “Oh, you’re going to do an end-to-end anastomosis.” “How do you KNOW that?” “I did them on M*A*S*H”).
I do have a question for Rob. Most of the time, Rob, you call the characters whatever BJ and Hawkeye call them (so first names if they’re on first name terms – Radar, Frank, Margaret, BJ, Hawkeye – and last names if they aren’t – Potter, Klinger, Mulcahey). The only exception is Charles Winchester, who you consistently refer to as Winchester even though BJ and Hawkeye call him Charles. What’s the explanation for this and is it one that Sidney Freedman would be interested in?
Thank you for the kind words, Azdak!
I read Alan Alda’s biography years ago, but I’d forgotten about the end to end anastamosis anecdote; time for a re-read!
BJs patient communication skills are pretty great here. I’d definitely want him (or Potter) to be the one telling me some bad news!
This podcast episode was just incredible! Hat’s off to Anj and Chris for their insightful and often hilarious input. And hats off to you, Rob for actually being able to schedule a 2+hour podcast with two doctors in different time zones. I used to shoot commercials and just scheduling ONE doctor for a 1-hour shoot was a challenging feat. 😀
Your side comment about Hulu having to re-create the clock brings all my frustrations back about Hulu’s “full screen” nonsense. They basically cut off the bottom and top of the screen so the old square tv ratio seems reformatted for wide screen, but all they’re doing is robbing you of the original top and bottom of the image. It goes by unnoticed most of the time (though evident here and when Hawk and Trapper ‘crate’ Frank). The idea that they unthinkingly alter all the original artistic composition of what the directors intended feel like a real loss to me, even if it’s rarely noticed. I’ll stick to my DVDs!
Thanks, Stan! Glad you enjoyed the episode. We always make time to record with Rob. We serve at the pleasure of Ironguts Kelly!!
FABULOUS episode!!! Loved hearing two doctor perspectives on it, glad it feels realistic to them in a lot of ways!!!! I recently started working in operating theatres as well so it was doubly thrilling when i also felt in on the joke (bair hugger… i know what that is…). Loved the description of this ep as a ‘symphony’ ! What a perfect way to describe it with hawkeye handling the clinical, BJ with the personal, mulcahy with the spiritual… awesome stuff!!!
Thanks for the kind words, Phoebe! The 4077 OR setup is certainly unique in my experience, with the multiple operations all going on in the same space. Think of the cross-infection risks! (And I still think there should be more anaesthetic staff around!)
That said, there’s something about the camaraderie and banter that feels very authentic to a theatre environment.
Terrific episode! You nailed it, Rob. I could totally see Anj telling the nurse to look behind the Supergirl comics. “No, not the New 52! It’s behind the DARING New Adventures of Supergirl! The ones with Carmine Infantino! CARMINE INFANTINO!”
I pity the nurse that gets between Anj and his Supergirl longboxes.
‘I’m not a doctor, but I play a lot of M*A*S*HCast episodes.’
Fantastic episode, both of the show and the podcast. Doctors Chris and Anj were descriptive without being boringly clinical, and kept the whole conversation really fun to listen to for someone who likes to stay as far away from hospitals as possible. The two hours flew by! Hope Rob finds another medically-heavy episode in S9 to bring the team back together on.
Since I haven’t seen anyone from mashblr pop into this comments section with this fan theory, I’ll be the one to offer it: Roberts’ melodrama (as Rob put it) and his anger at BJ is more understandable if you intepret his relationship with Harold as a romantic one. It gives a different context to Harold carrying a photo of the two of them in his breast pocket over his heart (and Roberts knowing he had the photo on him). It also makes for some interesting parallels between their relationship and the one between BJ and Hawkeye (Roberts insisting he has to say good-bye, describing Harold to Mulcahy as “the best guy in the outfit, no matter how bad things got you could always count on him.” Reminiscent of how BJ describes Hawkeye in Dear Peggy…) Just another angle to consider 😉
Thanks Captain, and I’m glad we didn’t put you off with the medical discussion!
I think for Anj and I, there’s very little clinical that is boring! I’ve been doing this job for… well, a long time! … and I’m still learning and seeing conditions for the first time. I hope our enthusiasm for the subject comes across in an accessible and understandable way.
Apparently med students learn more new words in the course of their studies than language students do! There’s a terrible tendency for doctors to slip into medical jargon, so I hope we avoided too much of that.