Call the Nurse

In this episode of Call the Nurse, I’m stepping into this conversation not as a nurse or a host — but as a stepmom.

I’m sitting down with my stepdaughter, Emily, for an honest and vulnerable dialogue about what it was like experiencing her parents’ divorce as a teenage girl — almost 14 — and as an older sister who felt a quiet responsibility to protect her younger brother.

There’s a different kind of sensitivity when these conversations happen between a stepmother and stepdaughter. This isn’t about blame or rewriting history. It’s about creating space for a daughter’s voice — even when that voice reflects seasons that were complex, emotional, and imperfect.

Emily shares:

• What she remembers feeling during the divorce

• The weight of being “the strong one”

• Growing up with a driven, intense surgeon dad

• Gaining step-sisters and blending families

• Watching our family navigate difficult seasons

• When she began seeing her father as a person, not just “Dad”

We also talk openly about something that doesn’t get discussed enough — what teen girls truly need from their dads. Especially during divorce. Especially during puberty. Especially in the awkward years when fathers may feel unsure how to stay close.

Emily offers insight into what presence looks like, what distance feels like, and how a father’s engagement — or absence — can shape a daughter’s confidence, relationships, and sense of safety for years to come.

This conversation holds both strength and softness. It models what it means for a stepmom and stepdaughter to sit down with humility, respect, and truth.

If you’re raising daughters, navigating divorce, blending families, or simply trying to understand the emotional landscape of teen girls, this episode will meet you with honesty and compassion.

🎙️Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

TikTok: @callthenursepodcast

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@CallTheNursePodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: [email protected]

Thank you to our Sponsor,

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📞Call to Schedule: 661-949-8111

Advanced Imaging Center: Bringing Clarity to the Moments that Matter!

For years, Candis Melamed built her career helping others be seen. As the founder of a public relations firm, The Spotlight Agency, she has shaped stories from behind the scenes — holding space, amplifying voices, guiding others into visibility.

But at some point, she realized something powerful:

Holding space for everyone else doesn’t mean you’re meant to stay small.

In this episode of Call the Nurse, we talk about what it truly means to reclaim your voice — especially in midlife & also the unexpected power of midlife friendships — the kind that witness you, stretch you, and quietly call you forward. 

Candis discusses finding her own voice- rooted in her Jewish faith, shaped by her Iranian lineage, and strengthened by the women who came before her.

This conversation is about sisterhood, legacy, faith, motherhood, and visibility.

Because sometimes the woman who has always held space for everyone else…

is finally ready to take up her own space.

🎙️Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

TikTok: @callthenursepodcast

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@CallTheNursePodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: [email protected]

Connect with Candis!

https://thespotlightmethod.com

IG & Facebook: @thespotlightmethod

Thank you to our Sponsor,

Advanced Imaging Center! All your imaging needs under one roof such as :

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💻Visit their website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://aicscan.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a full list of their services!

📞Call to Schedule: 661-949-8111

Advanced Imaging Center: Bringing Clarity to the Moments that Matter!

In this deeply moving episode of Call the Nurse, Mindie sits down with Jennifer Osler-Bolton — a mom, a widow, and a woman who knows firsthand that love and loss can coexist. After losing her husband, a firefighter, Jen was thrust into a season of unimaginable grief. And yet, less than two years later, she found the courage to open her heart again — marrying another firefighter and redefining what healing can look like after loss.

Jen shares her journey through grief, the guilt and judgment that can come with moving forward, and the quiet strength it takes to choose love again. She also opens up about her powerful book, Always Kiss Me Goodbye, a reminder that tomorrow isn’t promised — and that every goodbye matters.

This episode is about resilience, faith, honoring the past, and learning how to live fully even when your heart has been broken. If you’ve ever loved, lost, or wondered if joy is possible after devastation — this conversation is for you.

🎙️Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

TikTok: @callthenursepodcast

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@CallTheNursePodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: [email protected]

Connect with Jennifer!

IG: @jjoslerbolton

TikTok: @jjoslerbolton

Purchase Always Kiss Me Goodbye on Amazon

https://a.co/d/0iZ9SUJ6

Thank you to our Sponsor,

Advanced Imaging Center! All your imaging needs under one roof such as :

-MRI

-CT

-Nuclear Medicine

-Bone Density

-XRay

💻Visit their website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://aicscan.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a full list of their services!

📞Call to Schedule: 661-949-8111

Advanced Imaging Center: Bringing Clarity to the Moments that Matter!

What does it mean to love someone so deeply that their pain begins to feel like your own?

In this episode of Call the Nurse, Mindie sits down with Camille Block, author of Hope for Secondhand Suffering: Tools for the Heart When You Can’t Fix Your Loved One’s Pain, for a tender conversation about love, advocacy, and the quiet emotional weight that can accompany caring for someone you love deeply.

Camille shares what it has meant to be her brother’s voice in a world where he cannot speak for himself — advocating for him through hospitalizations, long nights at the bedside, and everyday life in a full-time care facility. She knows his language when others don’t: the look in his eyes, the subtle movements, the small cues that signal discomfort, pain, or sadness — because she knows him in a way only a sister can.

As a nurse who cared for her brother Kevin, Mindie witnessed this love and advocacy firsthand — the gentleness, the attentiveness, and the emotional fatigue that can quietly build when love meets limits that can’t be fixed.

This episode explores secondhand suffering — the tenderness and exhaustion that can arise when your loved one’s pain becomes your own. It’s about learning how to hold compassion without losing yourself, and finding hope in care, connection, and understanding when solutions aren’t possible.

This conversation is for siblings, caregivers, parents, partners, and anyone who has loved someone deeply and felt the weight of wanting to ease a pain they could not take away.

Because sometimes love isn’t about fixing —

it’s about noticing, advocating, and caring for your own heart along the way.

🎙️Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

TikTok: @callthenursepodcast

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@CallTheNursePodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email: [email protected]

🗣️Connect with Camille!

Website: https://www.camilleblock.cc

Facebook:Camille Block-Author

IG: @camilleblock.author

Her book, Hope for Secondhand Suffering: Tools for the Heart When You Can't Fix Your Loved Ones Pain, is available on Amazon! 📕

https://a.co/d/gfzSOnA

Thank you to our Sponsor,

Advanced Imaging Center! All your imaging needs under one roof such as :

-MRI

-CT

-Nuclear Medicine

-Bone Density

-XRay

💻Visit their website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://aicscan.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a full list of their services!

📞Call to Schedule: 661-949-8111

Advanced Imaging Center: Bringing Clarity to the Moments that Matter!

In this episode of Call the Nurse, Mindie sits down with her stepson, Adin, for an honest and thoughtful conversation about growing up, family change, and finding your footing through divorce.

We talk about what it was like being raised by a successful, surgeon dad, how their father-son relationship has evolved over time, and the lessons learned—both the ones taught intentionally and the ones absorbed quietly along the way. Adin shares his experience navigating divorce as a kid, blending families, and adjusting to new dynamics with humility and insight beyond his years.

We also touch gently on sibling bonds, what it’s like watching someone you love struggle, and how those moments shape empathy, resilience, and emotional maturity.

This episode offers perspective for:

    •    Parents navigating divorce with teens

    •    Teens who feel caught in the middle

    •    Families learning how to blend with grace

    •    Anyone who wants to better understand the emotional impact of family transitions

This conversation isn’t about blame or perfection—it’s about listening to voices that often go unheard.

🩺 Because not all healing is clinical, and not all stories make it into the chart.

🎙️Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

TikTok: @callthenursepodcast

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@CallTheNursePodcast⁠⁠⁠

Email: [email protected]

Thank you to our Sponsor,

Advanced Imaging Center! All your imaging needs under one roof such as :

-MRI

-CT

-Nuclear Medicine

-Bone Density

-XRay

💻Visit their website ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://aicscan.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a full list of their services!

📞Call to Schedule: 661-949-8111

Advanced Imaging Center: Bringing Clarity to the Moments that Matter!

Ashleigh Ignelzi joins Call The Nurse for a powerful conversation on beauty, aging, and bold female leadership.

Ashleigh is the Practice Director for NassifMD Plastic Surgery & Med Spa in Beverly Hills, working alongside world-renowned facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Paul Nassif.

Before entering the world of aesthetics, Ashleigh built a successful career as an Emmy Award–winning sports reporter for ESPN and FOX Sports, telling stories from the sidelines and interviewing some of the biggest names in sports.

Now with over a decade of experience in aesthetics, she brings that same leadership, confidence, and storytelling into the world of beauty—guiding med spa teams, elevating skincare brands, and helping shape Beverly Hills aesthetics from the inside out.

We talk Beverly Hills culture, skin treatments, inner beauty, confidence, career pivots, and what it means to be a woman becoming—at any age.

Ashleigh goes beyond skin deep & redefines women aging beautifully, leading boldly, and being confident in who we are beyond mirrors and measurements.

This one will leave you inspired!

🎙️Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

TikTok: @callthenursepodcast

YouTube: ⁠www.youtube.com/@CallTheNursePodcast⁠

Email: [email protected]

NassifMD Plastic Surgery & MedSpa

https://www.drpaulnassif.com

Thank you to our Sponsor,

Advanced Imaging Center! All your imaging needs under one roof such as :

-MRI

-CT

-Nuclear Medicine

-Bone Density

-XRay

💻Visit their website ⁠⁠http://aicscan.com⁠⁠ for a full list of their services!

📞Call to Schedule: 661-949-8111

Advanced Imaging Center: Bringing Clarity to the Moments that Matter!

This week on Call the Nurse, Mindie sits down with Dr. Donald Wiss — a world-renown orthopedic surgeon whose career has shaped hospitals, trained future surgeons, and changed countless lives. Known for his skill, precision, and decades of leadership in orthopedic trauma, Dr. Wiss built a reputation many physicians spend a lifetime chasing.

But in this conversation, we explore the moment his life took a turn that no amount of medical training could prepare him for.

When his wife was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, Dr. Wiss made the extraordinary and deeply personal decision to retire early from a thriving surgical career to become her full-time caregiver. He opens up about that choice — the love behind it, the grief within it, and the identity shift that comes when someone who saves others for a living suddenly has to save the person they love most. He shares his incredible story in his memoir, One Life, No Rehearsal: A Surgeon’s Memoir of Healing, Heartbreak & Legacy.

We talk about the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s that families often overlook, the diagnostic process, and what interventions may help slow progression. But more importantly, we talk about what it means to show up for someone as a husband, not just a physician — the tenderness, the exhaustion, the heartbreak, and the moments of grace.

This conversation is for anyone caring for a parent, a partner, or a loved one… anyone worried about memory loss… and anyone who needs to hear that even in the hardest journeys, love still finds a way to speak.

It’s medical. It’s human. It’s heartbreaking and hopeful.

And like all the stories that don’t make it into the chart — it’s worth listening to.

🎙️Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

TikTok: @callthenursepodcast

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@CallTheNursePodcast

Email: [email protected]

Connect with Dr. Wiss!

Email: [email protected]

Purchase Dr. Wiss's Memoir- https://a.co/d/4CUBz12

All proceeds go to OPICA Adult Day Care & Counseling Center or visit ⁠https://www.opica.org/⁠ to donate!

Thank you to our Sponsor,

Advanced Imaging Center! All your imaging needs under one roof such as :

-MRI

-CT

-Nuclear Medicine

-Bone Density

-XRay

💻Visit their website ⁠http://aicscan.com⁠ for a full list of their services!

📞Call to Schedule: 661-949-8111

Advanced Imaging Center: Bringing Clarity to the Moments that Matter!

In this episode of Call the Nurse, Cedric the Entertainer takes us on a journey from Cedric Kyles to the icon the world knows today. Mindie & Cedric dive into the science of laughter, the art of healing through humor, and his inspiring story becoming an unstoppable force in entertainment. He’s broken barriers, changed rooms, shifted energy, and helped people heal one laugh at a time.

There aren’t many things Cedric hasn’t done, and yet his greatest gift might be the simplest one: he makes people laugh. And sometimes, that’s the medicine we need the most.

🎙️Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

Email: [email protected]

Thank you to our Sponsor,

Advanced Imaging Center! All your imaging needs under one roof such as :

-MRI

-CT

-Nuclear Medicine

-Bone Density

-XRay

💻Visit their website http://aicscan.com for a full list of their services!

📞Call to Schedule: 661-949-8111

Advanced Imaging Center: Bringing Clarity to the Moments that Matter!

When the caregiver becomes the patient, everything changes.

In this powerful episode of Call the Nurse, Mindie sits down with her friend and coworker, Taryn — a dedicated nurse, mother, and cancer survivor — to talk about the kind of strength you don’t learn in nursing school. Diagnosed with cancer at just 32, she was a newlywed caring for a newborn, and then later enduring the heartbreaking loss of her mother to the same disease, Taryn’s story is one of heartbreak, hope, and unshakable resilience.

Through it all, she’s maintained a positive spirit and a sense of humor that became its own kind of medicine — proving how much attitude can shape the healing journey. She also shares powerful advice on advocating for your own health, listening to your intuition, and speaking up when something doesn’t feel right.

Because sometimes, life support doesn’t come from machines or medicine. It comes from courage, connection, and the will to keep fighting.

🎙️ Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

TikTok: @callthenursepodcast

Email: [email protected]

🩺 Connect with Taryn!

IG: @tmlansing

Email: [email protected]

🎀 October is breast cancer awareness month 🎀

In this powerful and inspiring episode, Mindie sits down with fellow Arkansas native and ER nurse Bridgett Watkins, author of Marker to Marker. Bridgett’s story is one of extraordinary resilience — from navigating trauma and motherhood to finding healing through faith, endurance, and the courage to keep moving forward.

Raised in a family of championship mushers who raced the Iditarod, Bridgett learned early that survival isn’t about speed — it’s about perseverance, checkpoint by checkpoint, marker by marker. Now, she brings that same mindset to both her life in emergency medicine and her own journey of restoration.

Together, Mindie and Bridgett explore what it means to run the race of life with grit, grace, and a heart that refuses to quit — even when the trail gets rough.

Because sometimes healing isn’t found in the finish line…It’s found in the strength to keep going.

Connect with Bridgett!

Website

https://bridgettwatkins.com/

Email

[email protected]

Social

IG: bridgett_watkins

FB: bridgettwatkins

Book-Amazon

Marker to Marker 

https://a.co/d/fFeMeYt

🎙️ Connect with Mindie!

IG: @callthenursepodcast

TikTok: @callthenursepodcast

Email: [email protected]