March 29, 2023 • 20 mins
This new docu-series follows the lives of a diverse cast of healthcare pros, including paramedics, nurses, emergency physicians and surgeons. On this podcast, we speak with two of the people featured in Emergency NYC: David Langer, MD, and his patient Julian Primiano, a young opera singer who underwent brain surgery. Dr. Langer is the chair of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital, one of several Northwell hospitals where filming took place. Others include: Cohen Children's Medical Center, North Shore University Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Huntington Hospital and South Shore University Hospital. Cameras even followed one Sky Health flight nurse through her day-to-day working Northwell's state-of-the-art emergency helicopter service.
Both Julian and Dr. Langer share their struggles and triumphs and what it's like to watch their journey on Netflix.
More from the experts
-
Dr. Langer shares his experience suffering a spinal cord injury in this op-ed in MedPage Today.
-
Lenox Hill Hospital first in Manhattan to use brain mapping technology
-
Learn common causes of pain under the left rib cage.
-
Have pain under the right rib cage? An emergency medicine physician breaks down the most common causes, and what to do for each.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
We're not just COVID doctors and COVID nurses and we're not just
healthcare heroes.
You know, we didn't just show up, you know, in March of 2020.
This is something we do every day.
The different pieces of the puzzle in Emergency NYC are reflective of that
from the helicopters to the ambulance driver, to the nursing, and
obviously to us as surgeons.
And I think we can all celebrate this show as a reflection of what we
(00:29):
do individually, what we do as a healthcare system, and what we do as
a healthcare provider for the greater good.
Welcome to 20-Minute Health Talk.
I'm Sandra Lindsay.
Today we are speaking with two of the stars of the Netflix docuseries
Emergency NYC, which is out today.
(00:52):
I gotta say, there's a lot of buzz around this exciting show, which is
actually a spinoff of the critically acclaimed series Lenox Hill.
Both are created by Ulari films and both follow the lives of a cast of
healthcare providers.
Like one of our guests today, Dr.
David Langer, he's the chair of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital
(01:17):
and vice president of neurosurgery for Northwell Health's Western
region.
I visited Dr.
Langer at his office on Manhattan's Upper East Side to talk about the
show, his own experience becoming a patient himself following a
serious spinal cord injury, and what people can expect from Emergency
(01:39):
NYC.
We were also joined by one of his patients, Julian Primiano, whose
dramatic story is captured in this new series.
Talking to them, I felt like I was right there with them in the
documentary and I think that's what people are going to take from
this.
Again, this binge worthy series is out today and I encourage you to
(02:04):
check it out.
But before you do, here is our conversation with Dr.
David Langer and Julian Primiano.
Dr.
Langer and Julian, thanks for joining me today.
Your stories in Emergency NYC were just so powerful and I am
encouraging everyone to go out now and stream Emergency NYC.
(02:29):
All episodes are on Netflix and ready to go.
Dr.
Langer, what are you most excited for the public to see when they
watch Emergency NYC?
Yeah, I think the series is much more bigger.
It's a reflection of the disparate parts of not just a hospital or
(02:55):
patient experience.
This is a very broad look at lots of different
pieces of a large health care system in the greatest city in the
world.
And I think there's a couple of things in the trailer about the sirens
are the soundtrack of the city best line.
Best line that I think is really true, that a siren means that
(03:18):
somebody's struggling.
I think it's as tough as it is to sometimes when that thing goes by,
here's one now, you know, as I reflect on that, and I think that to
me, that's what the show does.
A siren is the first step.
It's a call for help.
And then that's when that switch gets flicked and initiates a series
(03:39):
of dominoes that hopefully results in a great outcome like Julian had.
And so I think perhaps that's the gift the show is trying to portray.
It's up to the public whether there's something to that or not.
I think it will, but I think that's what I'm most excited about.
Part of your story, Dr.
Langer, involves Julian, who is joining us today to share her story.
(04:05):
Julian, how did you get connected with Dr.
Langer?
I was connected via the emergency room, so I had come straight here.
Well, what brought you to the emergency room?
I was having symptoms of faintness.
I was drooling from the left side of my mouth.
I was having no expression on the left side of my face.
(04:26):
I just wasn't feeling myself.
I would want to sleep until 01:00 in the afternoon when I wake up
every day at six, and I knew something was wrong.
I waited a long time.
I hid my symptoms for about a month because I was too nervous to kind
of speak up and said I had a problem and we could have had a major
problem.
And then a few days before I came to the emergency room, I had taken a
(04:50):
photo and I had sent that photo to my mom.
My husband and I were at a wedding, and my face looked very concerning
to her.
So she said, please, when you get back into the city, go to the
emergency room.
We found out that Lenox Hill was with Northwell, and so we came up
here at 09:00 on a Sunday, and they admitted me to the ICU
(05:10):
immediately.
And the next morning I was with Dr.
Langer and Dr.
Boockvar.
Then what happened?
What did Dr Langer say to you?
What was going on? Down in the emergency room,
after they took the CT scan, they had told me that I had a mass in my
brain on the right side.
It was quite large.
And then after that, we found out more with the angiogram the
(05:33):
following morning.
And then Dr. Langer and Dr. Boockvar2 were able to tell me exactly what it
was.
It was a cavernous malformation.
Not to be immediately concerned, but it was definitely something that
would need to be eradicated within a month or so.
So, Dr Langer, what is a cavernous malformation? A cavernous
(05:55):
malformation is basically a kind of
tumor.
I mean, not cancer, but a tumor.
It's like a mass that's made up of blood vessel tissue.
It doesn't have a direct blood supply.
It's sort of like a mulberry with, like, little or BlackBerry.
It has little tiny little pork parts to it, little cells of tissue, of
(06:16):
a vascular tissue.
They bleed, they rupture or ooze, and then they enlarge, and they can
be very chronic.
And she had quite a large one with a lot of what's basically what's
called mass effect, because the size of the mass was putting pressure
on her motor areas of the right side of her brain, which resulted in
this kind of drooling.
This is primarily in her facial area.
(06:38):
So these can present with seizures.
They can present with mass effect like Julian had.
They can present with bad headaches.
Depending on their location, and based on the size of this and the
degree of neurological deficit she was having and her age and her
medical health, we felt that it was relatively urgent to remove this
(06:58):
so as to avoid any kind of progressive neurological deficit and
recurrent bleeding and massive and pressure on the brain.
Is this very common?
Not particularly.
I mean, probably less than 1% of people have, and they can run in
families.
They can be familial.
But Jullian's isn't one of those types.
People with familial ones with multiple cavernous malformation, she
(07:18):
really just had one.
In young patients, they're one of the more common causes of a
neurological complaint because young patients don't have as high of an
instance of things like regular stroke or some of the other causes of
acute neurological deficits.
So, as a group, cavernous malformations will be a higher percentage in
(07:39):
young people of those that can cause the kind of symptoms that Julian
had.
So you're admitted you come to the Ed.
What thoughts were going through your head then?
For the first second, I was terrified.
I just couldn't believe what had happened.
Your life is moving so fluidly, and then all of a sudden stops.
(08:01):
Stops.
Everything stops.
So my parents had to change their life.
Everyone in my life changed their lives for me, and they really showed
up.
And I had to show up for myself and for them and stay positive,
because just as hard as it is for the patient and for myself,
it's tenfold for the family members.
So I just knew I needed to go into positivity mode immediately, and
(08:25):
that's exactly what I did.
So, Dr.
Langer, tell us about Julian's surgery.
Well first of all, I think initially when we came in, we should
know what she had.
This could have been a cancer.
It could have been a tumor.
It could have been a bunch of bad stuff.
Once we knew this was really a benign problem, certainly we could tell
her a good story.
We gave her some options, like we could wait this out and see if it
(08:46):
happens again.
But because of the size of it, I think we were concerned that if it
bled again, that it could be even worse.
Because it wasn't an area where she was going to suddenly we didn't
think she would suddenly die from it or become really sick.
So that's kind of the nature of these things.
But, you know, I think, again, her husband was a doctor.
We could I could have a very frank discussion with him.
(09:06):
Yeah, I was well, again, my husband being a doctor, he was very
adamant about the sooner, the better.
My parents were a little apprehensive.
Of course, it's brain surgery.
It's scary.
It's things you see in the movies.
It's definitely, you know, Dr.
Langer does it every day, but the normal, average, everyday person
does not.
You see them on Netflix.
(09:28):
You see the brain surgery on Netflix?
Yeah.
Yeah, you see it on TV.
So my parents were very apprehensive.
But they trusted my husband, they trusted me, and they trusted the
doctors.
So they said, whatever you feel comfortable with, we'll move forward
with that.
And I'm so glad that we did it when we did.
Definitely no regrets.
(09:49):
So, Julian, you have a master's degree in opera performance from the
Manhattan School of Music.
Were you performing before your diagnosis?
Yes, I was.
I was performing a lot, actually, as a soloist, soprano, classically
trained.
Also do musical theater as well, but mostly opera.
(10:11):
Well, I can't wait to hear you someday.
What was life like before your diagnosis, your recovery, and what is
life like for you now?
So before, very energetic.
Like I said, I'd wake up, big routine, go to the gym, go about my day,
go to work.
But then during the diagnosis, I was in the hospital for a while, and
(10:35):
I was home.
I had some seizures following the procedure, which was expected, and I
was home for about four months.
I had to have someone stay with me, which was my mother at the time.
She stayed with me all day long.
My husband would leave to go to work around 05:00 a.m..
She would come down from her apartment at that time.
We would have breakfast together.
(10:56):
We would go about the day together.
And then my husband would come home.
And then it was his turn to look after me.
And we started small.
We would go on.
Like I said, I love to walk New York.
I walk all over all the time.
And I couldn't do that anymore.
So two blocks here and there was a huge feat for me during that time.
(11:20):
Why is that?
Were you weak?
Weak on a lot of medication.
That must have been very scary.
Were you scared?
Terrifying, yes.
So what is life like for you now?
What are you doing?
What are you up? Now
it's wonderful.
I feel so much better.
You look fantastic.
Thank you.
And like I said, coming off the medication and working with my
(11:42):
epileptologist to figure out when is the right time to make the
changes, I've just been seeing so much improvement in my day to day
neurological, how I go about my day.
Her post up course is difficult.
She was a trooper, especially someone who's so energetic and beautiful
(12:05):
and bright and has all this stuff going for, and all of a sudden she's
on all these epilepsy meds that weren't all working.
They basically slow your brain down.
She was struggling with the speech and just doing simple things.
And we knew that there's something that we could cure, was curative
and would leave her to live to have babies and get married to her
handsome husband and do the things that she wanted to do.
(12:27):
And that was, I think, the most important thing she had to understand.
But the fact is, it how to come out because we didn't want her to suffer
from irreversible neurological deficit.
You always want the best outcome for your patients, and I knew we did
the right thing.
But the fact that she wasn't feeling great and was just so taken down
by the seizures was rough.
And that's why it's so great seeing her like this.
(12:50):
Obviously, you know Julian's case and story better than anyone.
Having brought her from diagnosis to surgery to now being with us
today, is there a particular moment captured in the show that stands
out from Julian's story?
I mean, frankly, the scene that I find the most, that resonates with me most in
(13:10):
Julian's story was when I went to see her husband in the waiting room,
that's the hardest part, seeing him there and knowing how much he
loved her.
And then his emotions.
Those are the things that are the most satisfying in what we do
sometimes.
All the mechanics and all that, it's great to do really cool stuff.
(13:36):
I wear my heart on my sleeve, obviously, and I'm an emotional person,
which some neurosurgeons aren't, to be quite frank.
And sometimes you're being that way isn't necessarily a good thing
because we struggle with such difficult problems.
But these are very dramatic times sometimes in our business.
And so when you go out there with a good news, that's great.
And that's something that I think, for me, resonated the
(13:59):
most for me, that came in the show for sure.
It's been a year since you've seen Dr.
Langer and vice versa.
What is it like?
It feels like yesterday for me.
We spent a lot of time together.
He was very just I mean, every day at the end, after, he
would do his rounding after his surgery days, he was there at like,
07:00, which was never really the best time for me because that's when
(14:22):
I would take my medication.
So I would be very loopy.
And usually when I would see him, I would see three of him, and he was
just great.
He would make me laugh quick 15 minutes of his time.
It really just means the world.
Dr.
Langer, what is it like seeing Julian after over a year?
Well, one of the best things about our business is that the nurses
(14:45):
always miss out on, honestly, is we see people at their worst and they
come back to us.
And it never ceases to amaze me of how much improvement you can see in
people when you see a patient who's recovered her energy
is back.
That brightness is in her eyes.
I can see now she's back.
(15:06):
And I didn't necessarily see that a year ago.
And in fact, she grew her hair longer, and you can see that it's hard
to even recognize her, given where she was.
So that's really the gift that we get.
And that's the reason why I went to nurse surgery in the first place.
And so seeing her over there was like, whoa, you look great.
(15:30):
That's a big difference.
The creators of the show, Ruthie Schatz and Addie Barash of Ulari
Films, spoke to E.
News about why a show like this is important, and I want to get your
reactions to what they said, because I thought it was interesting.
(15:51):
We wanted to portray the vital importance of each individual while
revealing the complexity of the healthcare system and its many moving
parts.
Their raw acts of humanity are usually only witnessed during the most
fragile moments of a person's life, but are necessary for all to see.
(16:14):
Dr.
Langer, why do you think a show like this is important?
Well, I think that, first of all, taking care of people is a team
effort.
And I'm lucky enough to be working with a nursing staff and a group of
people that's committed to making people better, whether it's
neurosurgery or spine surgery or what have you.
(16:37):
I think that the show is emblematic of that.
We see in Julian's case, a very simple problem that to her and
her family, she's the most important thing on Earth, and she comes
here asking for help.
And then we provide a structure and a group of people that's committed
(16:57):
to that.
The moving parts from the neurologists and the PA's and the nurses to
the OR staff and the techs and then the ICU staff, and then, again,
nursing all the way through.
Obviously, my own story plays a big role personally, which is very
different.
Having been on sort of both sides as doctor and patient was really
(17:22):
sort of interesting.
The fact that these people are filming my life when I have a spinal
cord injury, so that's really crazy.
Wow.
I understand you were in a skiing accident that left you paralyzed.
Initially, when this happened,
the whole idea of breaking your neck and being quadriplegic and
(17:46):
then sort of coming back while the cameras are around, maybe one of my
closest friends I'm not a particularly religious person, and one of my
closest friends is very Catholic.
And he told me, he said something like, you must have had an angel on
your shoulder.
And I think that there was an element of trust and something just this
(18:12):
happens for a reason.
It must have happened for a reason.
And this is going in the right direction.
And the fact that we can tell a story like that, especially with the
public sort of knowing me from the prior show, there
clearly was that was part of it.
I can't explain it necessarily, and the way it worked out, obviously,
is truly extraordinary.
(18:33):
But there was this incredible difference between kind of being a
patient and being a physician.
The difference of that, it was just wild.
And it ended up carrying a significant place in the show and in my
life, to have that forever is really a privilege, and I'm humbled by
(18:56):
the whole thing.
Well, I'm happy that you did well.
You are doing well.
You look almost as great as Julian.
So, Julian, this series is out in the public for people to see.
What do you hope people take away from this?
What do you want them to know about cavernous malformation, your
(19:20):
story?
What do you want them to take away from this?
Well, first and foremost, I want them to take away from watching the
series that any hospital system is,
I mean, it's amazing,
these people work so hard every single day.
I think the nursing staff at this hospital is some of the best I've
ever seen in my family.
(19:42):
They just rave reviews.
And then next for my story, I think, don't be nervous to say
something.
Get to a hospital if you need to, because there's people like Dr.
Langer.
They're ready and willing to help you.
So I worked in the ICU for over 20 years here, so I know the nursing
team, and I know that we have some of the best nurses at Northwell,
(20:05):
but also here at Lennox Hill.
I'll come back someday.
Julian, Dr.
Langer, thank you so much for being our guest here on 20-Minute
Health Talk.
Your stories were so powerful, and I know that it will resonate with
so many people out there.
(20:27):
And if you think their stories are dramatic listening to the
podcast, wait until you see it on netflix emergency NYC.
All episodes are out now.
Until next time, I am Sandra Lindsay.
Thank you for listening.
We're not just COVID doctors and COVID nurses and we're not just
healthcare heroes.
You know, we didn't just show up, you know, in March of 2020.
This is something we do every day.
The different pieces of the puzzle in Emergency NYC are reflective of that
from the helicopters to the ambulance driver, to the nursing, and
obviously to us as surgeons.
And I think we can all celebrate this show as a reflection of what we
(00:29):
do individually, what we do as a healthcare system, and what we do as
a healthcare provider for the greater good.
Welcome to 20-Minute Health Talk.
I'm Sandra Lindsay.
Today we are speaking with two of the stars of the Netflix docuseries
Emergency NYC, which is out today.
(00:52):
I gotta say, there's a lot of buzz around this exciting show, which is
actually a spinoff of the critically acclaimed series Lenox Hill.
Both are created by Ulari films and both follow the lives of a cast of
healthcare providers.
Like one of our guests today, Dr.
David Langer, he's the chair of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital
(01:17):
and vice president of neurosurgery for Northwell Health's Western
region.
I visited Dr.
Langer at his office on Manhattan's Upper East Side to talk about the
show, his own experience becoming a patient himself following a
serious spinal cord injury, and what people can expect from Emergency
(01:39):
NYC.
We were also joined by one of his patients, Julian Primiano, whose
dramatic story is captured in this new series.
Talking to them, I felt like I was right there with them in the
documentary and I think that's what people are going to take from
this.
Again, this binge worthy series is out today and I encourage you to
(02:04):
check it out.
But before you do, here is our conversation with Dr.
David Langer and Julian Primiano.
Dr.
Langer and Julian, thanks for joining me today.
Your stories in Emergency NYC were just so powerful and I am
encouraging everyone to go out now and stream Emergency NYC.
(02:29):
All episodes are on Netflix and ready to go.
Dr.
Langer, what are you most excited for the public to see when they
watch Emergency NYC?
Yeah, I think the series is much more bigger.
It's a reflection of the disparate parts of not just a hospital or
(02:55):
patient experience.
This is a very broad look at lots of different
pieces of a large health care system in the greatest city in the
world.
And I think there's a couple of things in the trailer about the sirens
are the soundtrack of the city best line.
Best line that I think is really true, that a siren means that
(03:18):
somebody's struggling.
I think it's as tough as it is to sometimes when that thing goes by,
here's one now, you know, as I reflect on that, and I think that to
me, that's what the show does.
A siren is the first step.
It's a call for help.
And then that's when that switch gets flicked and initiates a series
(03:39):
of dominoes that hopefully results in a great outcome like Julian had.
And so I think perhaps that's the gift the show is trying to portray.
It's up to the public whether there's something to that or not.
I think it will, but I think that's what I'm most excited about.
Part of your story, Dr.
Langer, involves Julian, who is joining us today to share her story.
(04:05):
Julian, how did you get connected with Dr.
Langer?
I was connected via the emergency room, so I had come straight here.
Well, what brought you to the emergency room?
I was having symptoms of faintness.
I was drooling from the left side of my mouth.
I was having no expression on the left side of my face.
(04:26):
I just wasn't feeling myself.
I would want to sleep until 01:00 in the afternoon when I wake up
every day at six, and I knew something was wrong.
I waited a long time.
I hid my symptoms for about a month because I was too nervous to kind
of speak up and said I had a problem and we could have had a major
problem.
And then a few days before I came to the emergency room, I had taken a
(04:50):
photo and I had sent that photo to my mom.
My husband and I were at a wedding, and my face looked very concerning
to her.
So she said, please, when you get back into the city, go to the
emergency room.
We found out that Lenox Hill was with Northwell, and so we came up
here at 09:00 on a Sunday, and they admitted me to the ICU
(05:10):
immediately.
And the next morning I was with Dr.
Langer and Dr.
Boockvar.
Then what happened?
What did Dr Langer say to you?
What was going on? Down in the emergency room,
after they took the CT scan, they had told me that I had a mass in my
brain on the right side.
It was quite large.
And then after that, we found out more with the angiogram the
(05:33):
following morning.
And then Dr. Langer and Dr. Boockvar2 were able to tell me exactly what it
was.
It was a cavernous malformation.
Not to be immediately concerned, but it was definitely something that
would need to be eradicated within a month or so.
So, Dr Langer, what is a cavernous malformation? A cavernous
(05:55):
malformation is basically a kind of
tumor.
I mean, not cancer, but a tumor.
It's like a mass that's made up of blood vessel tissue.
It doesn't have a direct blood supply.
It's sort of like a mulberry with, like, little or BlackBerry.
It has little tiny little pork parts to it, little cells of tissue, of
(06:16):
a vascular tissue.
They bleed, they rupture or ooze, and then they enlarge, and they can
be very chronic.
And she had quite a large one with a lot of what's basically what's
called mass effect, because the size of the mass was putting pressure
on her motor areas of the right side of her brain, which resulted in
this kind of drooling.
This is primarily in her facial area.
(06:38):
So these can present with seizures.
They can present with mass effect like Julian had.
They can present with bad headaches.
Depending on their location, and based on the size of this and the
degree of neurological deficit she was having and her age and her
medical health, we felt that it was relatively urgent to remove this
(06:58):
so as to avoid any kind of progressive neurological deficit and
recurrent bleeding and massive and pressure on the brain.
Is this very common?
Not particularly.
I mean, probably less than 1% of people have, and they can run in
families.
They can be familial.
But Jullian's isn't one of those types.
People with familial ones with multiple cavernous malformation, she
(07:18):
really just had one.
In young patients, they're one of the more common causes of a
neurological complaint because young patients don't have as high of an
instance of things like regular stroke or some of the other causes of
acute neurological deficits.
So, as a group, cavernous malformations will be a higher percentage in
(07:39):
young people of those that can cause the kind of symptoms that Julian
had.
So you're admitted you come to the Ed.
What thoughts were going through your head then?
For the first second, I was terrified.
I just couldn't believe what had happened.
Your life is moving so fluidly, and then all of a sudden stops.
(08:01):
Stops.
Everything stops.
So my parents had to change their life.
Everyone in my life changed their lives for me, and they really showed
up.
And I had to show up for myself and for them and stay positive,
because just as hard as it is for the patient and for myself,
it's tenfold for the family members.
So I just knew I needed to go into positivity mode immediately, and
(08:25):
that's exactly what I did.
So, Dr.
Langer, tell us about Julian's surgery.
Well first of all, I think initially when we came in, we should
know what she had.
This could have been a cancer.
It could have been a tumor.
It could have been a bunch of bad stuff.
Once we knew this was really a benign problem, certainly we could tell
her a good story.
We gave her some options, like we could wait this out and see if it
(08:46):
happens again.
But because of the size of it, I think we were concerned that if it
bled again, that it could be even worse.
Because it wasn't an area where she was going to suddenly we didn't
think she would suddenly die from it or become really sick.
So that's kind of the nature of these things.
But, you know, I think, again, her husband was a doctor.
We could I could have a very frank discussion with him.
(09:06):
Yeah, I was well, again, my husband being a doctor, he was very
adamant about the sooner, the better.
My parents were a little apprehensive.
Of course, it's brain surgery.
It's scary.
It's things you see in the movies.
It's definitely, you know, Dr.
Langer does it every day, but the normal, average, everyday person
does not.
You see them on Netflix.
(09:28):
You see the brain surgery on Netflix?
Yeah.
Yeah, you see it on TV.
So my parents were very apprehensive.
But they trusted my husband, they trusted me, and they trusted the
doctors.
So they said, whatever you feel comfortable with, we'll move forward
with that.
And I'm so glad that we did it when we did.
Definitely no regrets.
(09:49):
So, Julian, you have a master's degree in opera performance from the
Manhattan School of Music.
Were you performing before your diagnosis?
Yes, I was.
I was performing a lot, actually, as a soloist, soprano, classically
trained.
Also do musical theater as well, but mostly opera.
(10:11):
Well, I can't wait to hear you someday.
What was life like before your diagnosis, your recovery, and what is
life like for you now?
So before, very energetic.
Like I said, I'd wake up, big routine, go to the gym, go about my day,
go to work.
But then during the diagnosis, I was in the hospital for a while, and
(10:35):
I was home.
I had some seizures following the procedure, which was expected, and I
was home for about four months.
I had to have someone stay with me, which was my mother at the time.
She stayed with me all day long.
My husband would leave to go to work around 05:00 a.m..
She would come down from her apartment at that time.
We would have breakfast together.
(10:56):
We would go about the day together.
And then my husband would come home.
And then it was his turn to look after me.
And we started small.
We would go on.
Like I said, I love to walk New York.
I walk all over all the time.
And I couldn't do that anymore.
So two blocks here and there was a huge feat for me during that time.
(11:20):
Why is that?
Were you weak?
Weak on a lot of medication.
That must have been very scary.
Were you scared?
Terrifying, yes.
So what is life like for you now?
What are you doing?
What are you up? Now
it's wonderful.
I feel so much better.
You look fantastic.
Thank you.
And like I said, coming off the medication and working with my
(11:42):
epileptologist to figure out when is the right time to make the
changes, I've just been seeing so much improvement in my day to day
neurological, how I go about my day.
Her post up course is difficult.
She was a trooper, especially someone who's so energetic and beautiful
(12:05):
and bright and has all this stuff going for, and all of a sudden she's
on all these epilepsy meds that weren't all working.
They basically slow your brain down.
She was struggling with the speech and just doing simple things.
And we knew that there's something that we could cure, was curative
and would leave her to live to have babies and get married to her
handsome husband and do the things that she wanted to do.
(12:27):
And that was, I think, the most important thing she had to understand.
But the fact is, it how to come out because we didn't want her to suffer
from irreversible neurological deficit.
You always want the best outcome for your patients, and I knew we did
the right thing.
But the fact that she wasn't feeling great and was just so taken down
by the seizures was rough.
And that's why it's so great seeing her like this.
(12:50):
Obviously, you know Julian's case and story better than anyone.
Having brought her from diagnosis to surgery to now being with us
today, is there a particular moment captured in the show that stands
out from Julian's story?
I mean, frankly, the scene that I find the most, that resonates with me most in
(13:10):
Julian's story was when I went to see her husband in the waiting room,
that's the hardest part, seeing him there and knowing how much he
loved her.
And then his emotions.
Those are the things that are the most satisfying in what we do
sometimes.
All the mechanics and all that, it's great to do really cool stuff.
(13:36):
I wear my heart on my sleeve, obviously, and I'm an emotional person,
which some neurosurgeons aren't, to be quite frank.
And sometimes you're being that way isn't necessarily a good thing
because we struggle with such difficult problems.
But these are very dramatic times sometimes in our business.
And so when you go out there with a good news, that's great.
And that's something that I think, for me, resonated the
(13:59):
most for me, that came in the show for sure.
It's been a year since you've seen Dr.
Langer and vice versa.
What is it like?
It feels like yesterday for me.
We spent a lot of time together.
He was very just I mean, every day at the end, after, he
would do his rounding after his surgery days, he was there at like,
07:00, which was never really the best time for me because that's when
(14:22):
I would take my medication.
So I would be very loopy.
And usually when I would see him, I would see three of him, and he was
just great.
He would make me laugh quick 15 minutes of his time.
It really just means the world.
Dr.
Langer, what is it like seeing Julian after over a year?
Well, one of the best things about our business is that the nurses
(14:45):
always miss out on, honestly, is we see people at their worst and they
come back to us.
And it never ceases to amaze me of how much improvement you can see in
people when you see a patient who's recovered her energy
is back.
That brightness is in her eyes.
I can see now she's back.
(15:06):
And I didn't necessarily see that a year ago.
And in fact, she grew her hair longer, and you can see that it's hard
to even recognize her, given where she was.
So that's really the gift that we get.
And that's the reason why I went to nurse surgery in the first place.
And so seeing her over there was like, whoa, you look great.
(15:30):
That's a big difference.
The creators of the show, Ruthie Schatz and Addie Barash of Ulari
Films, spoke to E.
News about why a show like this is important, and I want to get your
reactions to what they said, because I thought it was interesting.
(15:51):
We wanted to portray the vital importance of each individual while
revealing the complexity of the healthcare system and its many moving
parts.
Their raw acts of humanity are usually only witnessed during the most
fragile moments of a person's life, but are necessary for all to see.
(16:14):
Dr.
Langer, why do you think a show like this is important?
Well, I think that, first of all, taking care of people is a team
effort.
And I'm lucky enough to be working with a nursing staff and a group of
people that's committed to making people better, whether it's
neurosurgery or spine surgery or what have you.
(16:37):
I think that the show is emblematic of that.
We see in Julian's case, a very simple problem that to her and
her family, she's the most important thing on Earth, and she comes
here asking for help.
And then we provide a structure and a group of people that's committed
(16:57):
to that.
The moving parts from the neurologists and the PA's and the nurses to
the OR staff and the techs and then the ICU staff, and then, again,
nursing all the way through.
Obviously, my own story plays a big role personally, which is very
different.
Having been on sort of both sides as doctor and patient was really
(17:22):
sort of interesting.
The fact that these people are filming my life when I have a spinal
cord injury, so that's really crazy.
Wow.
I understand you were in a skiing accident that left you paralyzed.
Initially, when this happened,
the whole idea of breaking your neck and being quadriplegic and
(17:46):
then sort of coming back while the cameras are around, maybe one of my
closest friends I'm not a particularly religious person, and one of my
closest friends is very Catholic.
And he told me, he said something like, you must have had an angel on
your shoulder.
And I think that there was an element of trust and something just this
(18:12):
happens for a reason.
It must have happened for a reason.
And this is going in the right direction.
And the fact that we can tell a story like that, especially with the
public sort of knowing me from the prior show, there
clearly was that was part of it.
I can't explain it necessarily, and the way it worked out, obviously,
is truly extraordinary.
(18:33):
But there was this incredible difference between kind of being a
patient and being a physician.
The difference of that, it was just wild.
And it ended up carrying a significant place in the show and in my
life, to have that forever is really a privilege, and I'm humbled by
(18:56):
the whole thing.
Well, I'm happy that you did well.
You are doing well.
You look almost as great as Julian.
So, Julian, this series is out in the public for people to see.
What do you hope people take away from this?
What do you want them to know about cavernous malformation, your
(19:20):
story?
What do you want them to take away from this?
Well, first and foremost, I want them to take away from watching the
series that any hospital system is,
I mean, it's amazing,
these people work so hard every single day.
I think the nursing staff at this hospital is some of the best I've
ever seen in my family.
(19:42):
They just rave reviews.
And then next for my story, I think, don't be nervous to say
something.
Get to a hospital if you need to, because there's people like Dr.
Langer.
They're ready and willing to help you.
So I worked in the ICU for over 20 years here, so I know the nursing
team, and I know that we have some of the best nurses at Northwell,
(20:05):
but also here at Lennox Hill.
I'll come back someday.
Julian, Dr.
Langer, thank you so much for being our guest here on 20-Minute
Health Talk.
Your stories were so powerful, and I know that it will resonate with
so many people out there.
(20:27):
And if you think their stories are dramatic listening to the
podcast, wait until you see it on netflix emergency NYC.
All episodes are out now.
Until next time, I am Sandra Lindsay.
Thank you for listening.
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