What happens when a rural doctor opens a scan report in the middle of his ER shift, and it's his own? Dr. Peter Crane — a board-certified family physician in full-time rural practice in Idaho and host of the podcast Doctors Making a Difference — joins Dr. David Spiro on HuMed to talk about the night he read "26 centimeter, likely sarcoma" with patients still waiting, and the long road from radiation and major surgery back to full-time practice.

Dr. Crane took over the practice of the doctor who delivered him, in the town where he grew up, caring for patients "from the cradle to the grave." He describes finding the mass himself at 4 a.m., finishing his shift after reading the report, and feeling almost ashamed to be sick. He talks about the surgeon, his own medical school preceptor, who made him promise six weeks off, the two residency friends who took over his entire practice, and the moment of clarity that convinced him he would choose medicine all over again. It's a candid, hopeful conversation about compartmentalization, burnout, life without anonymity in a small town, and being the kind of doctor you'd want for your own family.

In this episode:
– Reading his own "likely sarcoma" report mid-shift
– Compartmentalization: survival skill or harm?
– The surgeon who made him promise six weeks off
– Two friends who took over his whole practice
– What really matters, and why he'd still choose medicine
– No anonymity: doctoring in a small town
– How a rural family doctor stays current in everything
– Fixing burnout with sleep, staffing, and better schedules
– "I don't trust doctors, but I trust you": trust and misinformation

Chapters
00:00 "26 centimeter, likely sarcoma"
00:17 Meet Dr. Peter Crane
01:54 Taking over for the doctor who delivered him
02:50 Jet-lagged at 4 a.m.: a mass in his own abdomen
04:09 When your practice partner is your doctor
06:41 What a doctor feels when it's his own mass
08:20 Reading his own CT report mid-ER shift
09:42 Is compartmentalization healthy?
11:56 Warning signs he missed, and feeling ashamed to be sick
13:07 Biopsy, waiting, and a rare diagnosis
14:41 His surgeon: his own medical school preceptor
15:43 What really matters in life
16:42 "If I got to do it again, I'd be a doctor"
18:36 How being a patient changed the way he practices
19:17 Nerve damage and the long road back
20:49 Doctor and patient in the same small hospital
21:55 A rash check on aisle 13: life without anonymity
23:29 Why every doctor should practice rural for a while
26:16 How a rural family doctor stays current in everything
28:02 Six weeks off, and the friends who covered his practice
30:36 "I just do everything every day"
31:31 When helicopters can't fly: tele-critical care
33:45 Burnout before the tumor, and what fixed it
36:58 Misinformation and vaccine hesitancy
38:19 "I don't trust doctors, but I trust you"
39:19 Why we need more doctors making content
40:36 Closing reflections

HuMed unveils the human side of medicine, hosted by Dr. David Spiro, MD.

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He looked fit, ate well, exercised, and had a calcium score of zero six months earlier. Then, at 34, Dr. Stephen Hussey had a widowmaker heart attack.

Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age nine, Dr. Hussey, a doctor of chiropractic with a master's in functional medicine and author of Understanding the Heart, spent his adult life trying to do everything right. In this episode, pediatric ER physician Dr. David Spiro talks with him about the heart attack he suffered alone during COVID, the frustration of feeling unheard in the hospital and being labeled noncompliant, his decision to depart from the standard medication plan, and the stress he believes set the stage for it all. David also presses him on the hard question: how can he know what actually drove his recovery? The episode ends with what nearly dying at 34 changed about his life and purpose.

CHAPTERS

0:00 "I had a widowmaker heart attack at 34"

0:16 Meet Dr. Stephen Hussey

1:39 Asthma, allergies and type 1 diabetes at age nine

2:53 "I felt like a pincushion" and the nurse with the magic kit

4:19 Giving bad news to children and families

7:25 From patient to health practitioner

9:17 What "avoiding toxins" means to him

10:33 Sauna, sweat and microplastics

14:13 A heart attack despite a zero calcium score

17:53 What a widowmaker heart attack felt like

21:28 Alone in the hospital during COVID

23:30 Labeled "noncompliant"

25:23 Why he declined the standard medications

27:00 A new blockage in his leg

29:04 Light, sauna and circadian rhythm

33:58 Semmelweis and challenging medical dogma

35:17 How does he know what worked?

37:43 Stress and the nervous system

41:38 The 36 hours before the heart attack

43:28 Heart attacks without blocked arteries

45:44 "Stay in your lane": answering his critics

47:55 Heart disease, obesity and insulin resistance

51:43 What nearly dying at 34 changed

54:44 Closing

Watch the full video on YouTube: HuMed with David Spiro, MD

Follow HuMed on Instagram: @humedpod

HuMed unveils the human side of medicine through real stories from clinicians. Guests share their personal experiences and views, which are their own. This episode is for storytelling and education, not medical advice. Talk with your own doctor before changing any treatment.

After years in emergency medicine, Dr. Vassily Eliopoulos (Dr. Vass) coded a man in a rural Wyoming ER who was his age, had no other risk factors, and looked exactly like him. That night pushed him from the ER toward longevity medicine and cardiovascular prevention.

In this episode of HuMed, pediatric ER physician Dr. David Spiro talks with Dr. Vass about why doctors neglect their own health, the "golden handcuffs" that kept him stuck, how therapy and CBT-I helped him heal from years of night shifts, and why he believes disease care and true health care are two different systems. He also walks through his longevity pyramid, built on community, purpose and sleep, not supplements and saunas.

CHAPTERS

0:00 He coded a man who looked exactly like him

0:28 Meet Dr. Vass: ER doctor turned longevity physician

2:05 The code in Rock Springs, Wyoming

4:48 Why doctors neglect their own health

8:13 The lost art of healing

11:03 "We're training technicians, not physicians"

15:07 Trapped in a broken system

18:18 The golden handcuffs

20:44 Healing from decades of night shifts

28:30 Disease care vs. true health care

35:37 Why no one told Dr. James Wittig he was sick

39:04 Advice to his younger self: don't let fear decide

42:32 Dr. Vass's longevity pyramid

44:55 What dying patients talk about

47:51 Purpose: the old dog and the rabbit

51:21 A quarterly "board meeting" with his kids

53:16 Fasting, thermal springs and community

57:54 Closing thoughts

Watch the full video on YouTube: HuMed with David Spiro, MD

Follow HuMed on Instagram: @humedpod

humedpod.com

HuMed unveils the human side of medicine through real stories from physicians. This episode is for education and storytelling, not individual medical advice.