5-17-11 - The Ensemble Fills in for Rosie and an Interview with MMFC

In case you missed it....

WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY AND COLONOSCOPY FEARS
Janette started today's broadcast from the Sirius Studios in Manhattan!  She said the ensemble was filling in for Rosie who was out of town doing some "kid stuff" for a few days.  Rosie will be back on Thursday.  Jeannie was running late because the trains were down in NYC and Deirdre said her roof was leaking from the absurd amount of rain they're getting!  Janette joked that Rosie was most likely in Dollywood with her kids.  Shoshana was extremely nervous because Mark Paul Gosselaar was at the Sirius studios today!  For those who aren't familiar, Mark Paul is Shoshana's favorite celebrity.  She was a HUGE fan of the 90's television show Saved By The Bell.  Shoshana said she tried stalking him a little today but didn't really get the chance to talk to him yet.  She said she was feeling a little like she was going to throw up just thinking about him being near!  Pete then tried to teach Shoshana how to say, "Will you take off your clothes?" and "Let's make babies." in Dutch because Mark Paul is fluent in Dutch.   Shoshana then joked and asked if she should take off her engagement ring in case Mark proposes. Then she said perhaps she, her fiance and Mark could all get married!  The threesome jokes started flying.  According to Janette, when you're with two men "things" just get in the way.  And according to Deirdre, when you've got two women involved you sometimes get ignored!  See, good educational threesome tips! Good to know, good to know.

Deirdre and Janette then discussed a pact they have.  Janette has promised to get a colonoscopy if Deirdre promises to get a lung x-ray.  It's both something they're terrified to do so they promised each other to go through with the test if the other one does.  The thing is, Janette already made this promise to Shoshana and didn't follow through with her end of the deal.  Shoshana is terrified of needles and promised to get her blood tested.  She did it!  But Janette still has yet to fulfill her end of the deal. Janette said it isn't the actual test that scares her as much as the prep for it.  She said she doesn't like the idea of having to poop like crazy the night before and she's legitimately afraid that there will be sound effects coming from that bathroom that her boyfriend will hear.  Shoshana suggested Janette just play loud music to drown out the noise! Pete encouraged Janette to remember she might lose a few pounds during the process as a benefit.  Deirdre discussed her fear of doctors and Janette talked about how she's been sick ever since she came back from Ukraine on her Medical Mission for Children trip.

JANETTE'S TRIP TO UKRAINE WITH MMFC
Janette recently returned from a medical missions trip to Ukraine where they treated very badly burned children.  She said she only had a suitcase filled with light sweaters on her trip and it was very cold over there!  But there was no time for shopping because she was there on a mission.  But she said the trip, on a whole, was tremendously fun!  Janette didn't even realize it but literally the night before she didn't know where they were going.  All she knew was  they were to fly to Munich and meet some guy named Val.  Other than that she knew nothing and she said she loved the "not knowing" because it was exciting!

Janette said the driving in Ukraine was terrifying.  She said the drivers drive very fast and their roads are littered with horrible potholes.  She got yelled at for buckling her seatbelt because the gas tanks in the cars over there are so close to the engine, if they get in an accident the car will catch fire.  Everyone over there knows someone who has been burned to death in a car from not being able to get out because of a seatbelt fast enough. She said they stayed in a "bed and breakfast-ish" place but without the breakfast.  And she visited a radio station and tried to turn them on to Howard Stern!  

Janette then took several calls from listeners, all of whom tried to encourage her to get a colonoscopy. One caller said the procedure wasn't that bad and she didn't even have to have anesthesia.  The caller said she didn't lose any weight from it and Pete said that was because she "sounds" skinny on the phone.  The caller said the doctor told her she looked very clean inside because she obviously ate a lot of vegetables and exercised a lot.  Janette took another call from a listener who was also afraid before she got her colonoscopy but said it wasn't as bad as she feared.  One caller whose husband is a gastroenterologist explained the different types of anesthesia to Janette and assured her no matter what, she wouldn't remember anything afterward.  She encouraged Janette to start her preparation early for the test, take her time with the liquid she has to drink and schedule the procedure for first thing the next morning.

Just then, Lou announced he saw Mark Paul Gosselaar walked past the studio and he said he was fairly sure Mark was looking for Shoshana!  

EDUCATED WOMEN CHOOSING PROSTITUTION AND A CENSORED MAGAZINE
Janette and the staff then discussed an article that stated educated women are sometimes choosing prostitution because of the poor job market.  Shoshana said while she would never choose that line of work she said she totally gets while people do.  She said it pays well and she would get it if someone decided to go into that line of work because of the tough job market.  Deirdre said she understands it too.  Shoshana said she'd rather be a pimp/madam than a prostitute.

Janette took a call from a listener who used to be an escort.  She recommended a website erotic review . com (it's porn and I'm not sure it's safe to click on, btw) where you can read the stories of the escorts from the Johns' perspectives.  Anyway, this woman was an escort for 3-5 years and she really liked it. She said if you made a 90 minute appointment with a customer there's really only like 6 minutes of sex and the rest is just talking.  Janette asked her which was worse, the talking or the sex?  The caller said it depended on the guy!  She said some of her friends were concerned about her safety but not everyone knew she was an escort. The caller said it was always important to her to verify the client's identity by checking his address or work before she met him.  Janette asked her if she was ever scared and she said at the very beginning she kept knives in between her mattresses for protection.  The caller said financial desperation made her go into it but after she honed her skills she stuck with it because she liked it!  The caller said the job was very empowering.  Janette thanked her for her call and for sharing her story.

Janette then took a call from a female impersonator who used to go out dressed in drag.  He went to a straight bar once and a man hit on him.  When the man found out he was truly a man, he was so shocked he offered him a job and the caller became a drag stripper!  He was hired for events where he would strip and the crowd thought he was a woman until he revealed he was actually a man!  He said it felt like a big "F you!" to every straight person who ever made fun of him growing up.  The caller also said the job made him feel very empowered and Janette totally understood where he was coming from.

The staff then discussed a censored magazine where the cover of the magazine is of a man with curlers in his hair, with his shirt off.  Barnes and Noble and Borders are censoring the cover because it looks so much like a topless woman.  Pete feels if women can't be topless then men shouldn't be topless.  He feels it's ridiculous to set the standards along the sex lines.  He said if he wasn't as hairy, there would be no difference between his breasts being out there and a woman's breasts being exposed.  Deirdre pointed out how in Becoming Chaz they didn't show his chest on television until he had his breasts removed.   Janette isn't a fan of anyone walking around without a shirt except their co-executive producer James!  Sexual harassment?  lol  Janette said James can take his shirt off anytime he wants to!  Janette then wondered why men feel the need to pee in public whenever they feel like it and Pete admitted he does that!  Pete said he peed in his backyard when his house was being renovated and Shoshana asked him if he was an animal!

GAME: FAMOUS CHARACTERS THAT VANISHED OR WERE REPLACED
During this game, James described famous sitcom characters that were either replaced or that completely disappeared from a television show.  The player had to recall the show or the character.

ROUND ONE
Pete: The sitcom character Chuck Cunningham left this show after only one season, never to be heard from or spoken about again.  The answer was Happy Days and he got it correct.
Deirdre: Will Smith's Aunt's character was replaced on this show?  The answer was Fresh Prince of Bell Air and she got it correct.
Janette: On Roseanne, it became a long running joke when this character was replaced. The character's name was "Becky" but she didn't know it.
Shoshana: When the second half of this famous comedy duo left, the title stayed the same.  The answer was Laverne and Shirley and she got it. 

ROUND TWO
Pete: When she walked off of Cheers, Time Magazine called it one of the greatest career stumbles in history.  He said Kirstie Alley but it was Shelley Long.
Deirdre: It was Charlie Sheen who replaced Michael J. Fox's character on this sitcom. It was Spin City and she got it correct.
Janette: They gave this Cosby Show actress her own spinoff and then she got pregnant and was replaced by Jasmine Guy.  The spinoff was A Different World but she didn't know it.
Shoshana: This sitcom child star suffered from "middle child syndrome" when he went upstairs to play and never returned again.  The answer was Family Matters and she got it correct.

ROUND THREE
Pete: When Suzanne Somers walked off the set, first they cloned her and then they replaced her with a different character.  What was her character's name?  The answer was Chrissy and he got it.
Deirdre: This recently ended long running ABC series once had a sheriff who disappeared and never came back.  Maybe she got off the island?  What show was it?  It was Lost but she didn't know it. 
Janette: Much to boss Hog's surprise, Bo and Luke suddenly became other people.  The answer was Dukes of Hazzard but she didn't know it.
Shoshana: She joined the cast of Saved By the Bell as Screech's girlfriend then disappeared.  The answer was Tori Spelling and she GOT IT AND SHE WON THE GAME!!!!!

JEANNIE ARRIVES, JANETTE'S TRIP WITH MMFC AND DENNY SNYDER
Finally Jeannie arrived in the studio after taking three hours to get to work!  She said the train she normally takes was canceled and she had to drive in.  Janette told Jeannie her friend and doctor Denny Snyder, from the medical missions trip, was going to be calling in.  She said they oftentimes repair cleft lips and palates on their missions but this time in Ukraine they repaired burns.  Janette said a mission has never made her as emotional as this past one did and Janette played an audio clip of when she called in to Larry Flick's show on Sirius OutQ while she was over there.  Janette cried describing to Larry what she saw.  She said she had seen 8 children just that morning, all under the age of 3 burned terribly.  One baby in particular was bandaged from head to toe.  All Janette could think of was the pain she's felt when she's burned a finger in the past and she cried imagining the pain that baby must be feeling.  

Janette then introduced her colleague with Medical Missions for Children, Denny Snyder who was on the telephone for the interview.  Denny said not only do they do surgeries but they also train doctors on their missions.  Because of the previous trips to the Ukraine, the doctors have been able to learn so much from the trips that they haven't lost a child in over 10 years!  Denny explained that MMFC sends volunteer surgical teams all over the world.  They've been to a dozen countries and this is their 20th year!  He said everyone who is involved in the missions works on a volunteer basis.  And Janette said anyone who donates to MMFC is really part of the organization!

Janette asked Denny why they go to Ukraine.  He said the physicians in Ukraine really want to take care of the patients even though they're lacking in some training techniques and some technology.  But he said the backlog of patients is overwhelming there. Janette asked Denny to explain why there are so many burns in Ukraine.  He said it's partly because of many things including lack of safety standards, lack of education about safety, open fires, lax building codes, prevalence of gasoline and non-fire retardant clothing.  He said Ukraine really needs an education program about the danger of fires/burns. Denny and Janette agreed that burns are some of the worst injuries a human being can sustain.  He said a person who is severely burned will be affected the rest of their lives and many never recover fully. He said for a person to get a better level of function and appearance it may require many operations. It's even more complicated when you're dealing with a child who will grow.  Denny said if the outer covering of a growing limb is damaged irreversibly, the rest of you cannot grow and develop and the deformity will become worse and worse.

Denny explained that they get to teach the doctors in Ukraine many medical techniques such as how to use a tissue expander and how to do a tissue transfer.  He spoke of one story about a child who had 3rd degree burns with no functioning skin left.  He said the child's skin couldn't regenerate without surgery. The patient only had a little part of her scalp left and with tissue expansion they were able to eventually cover her head again with hair.  They discussed many of the individual cases and success stories they've had on their many visits to the area.

Janette said the missions are made possible because of the many volunteers from all over the world. She said when a human is in need and we have the skills to help and they don't, we have the responsibility to assist in whatever way we can.  Janette said we all have culpability and because the world feeds us, in one way or another, and we must feed them back.

Janette said she's been asked why the Ukrainian doctors can't just come here to train.  Denny said in Ukraine it's very difficult to get a Visa and it's better if we help them build the system there to help because that's where the patients are.  Denny said MMFC has plans to go to Peru, Ecuador, the Philippines, China and Rwanda this year.  And next year they plan to go on 16-18 more missions.  But Janette pointed out that MMFC could do as many missions as they have money for!  She encouraged listeners to help, even if they can only help with a small $10 donation.  She said everything counts and if everyone gave just $10 that would be a lot of money in the end.  She said there's nothing that feels better than helping a little baby that you know will have a better life because of your donation.  And she reminded listeners to go to the website and her blog to find out more information.  You can also buy a smile for a child for just $300 - only $25 a month!

One of Janette's great friends, Larry Flick, decided to have dinner with friends at home and they donated the money they would have spent going out to MMFC!  She encouraged people to be inventive and find a way to help if they can.  And Janette reminded listeners that 93 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to a mission.  Visit MMFC.org for more info!

Watch one of Janette's videos of her trip with MMFC below.

Janette thanked everyone for listening and closed the show.

and that's what you missed - kw
11 shows left....