Rupture: The World of BestGuessistan
A podcast for anyone living in the After—the part of life that begins when injury, illness, burnout, caregiving, or grief rewrites the rules. Conversations with clinicians, thinkers, and survivors about nonlinear healing, updated expectations, and building a life that works with the body and brain you have now.
Episodes
28 episodes
From TBI Survivor to Neuroscientist: Making Sense of Brain Injury
At 18 years old, Daniel Avesar survived a severe traumatic brain injury that left him unable to think, reason, or experience the world in ways he recognized. Doctors could explain his double vision, but they couldn't explain why his mi...
The Rupture of Losing Your Job | When Work Becomes Who You Are
Who are you when the role disappears?Modern culture teaches us to define ourselves by what we do. We introduce ourselves by our jobs, tie our worth to our productivity, and often struggle to separate our identities from our careers. ...
Designing Better Clinical Trials for Brain Injury Patients | Patient Advocacy Part 2
There is still no standard treatment developed specifically for concussion.In this episode of Rupture: The World of Best Guessistan, Wendy Lurrie continues her conversation with clinical trial experts Kelly McKee and Mindy Camer...
She Treated Brain Injuries Until She Had One
Mandi Dickey spent years helping patients recover from brain injuries as a board-certified neurology nurse practitioner.Then a car accident gave her a traumatic brain injury of her own.In this deeply personal conversation, Mandi a...
What Clinical Trials Really Look Like: A Patient Advocate's Guide (Part 1)
Clinical trials can feel overwhelming, confusing, and even frightening, especially for patients navigating a new diagnosis or searching for better treatment options.In Part 1 of this two-part Rupture conversation, Wendy welcomes patient ...
His Scans Were Clear, His Life Was Not | Rob Baugh on Living With TBI
After a traumatic brain injury during the pandemic, Rob Baugh was told what many concussion patients hear: go home, rest, and you'll be fine.He wasn't.Years later, Rob still lives with chronic headaches, aphasia, cognitive challen...
What Happens When the Healthcare System Doesn't Believe Women?
Women are more likely to have their symptoms dismissed, more likely to be diagnosed later, and more likely to be told that pain, fatigue, or serious medical concerns are "all in their head."In this special Rupture roundtable, Wendy bring...
Awareness, Affordability, Availability: The Concussion Care Gap
Concussion recovery isn't just a medical challenge. It's a systems challenge.In this episode, Wendy sits down with neurorehabilitation specialist Dr. Kellianne Arnella to unpack what she calls the "Three A's" of concussion care: Awarenes...
How COVID Destroyed My Career and Triggered a Mental Health Crisis
Before COVID, Lindsey Jennings was on the rise.A comedian, performer, and tour manager, she was building the career she'd worked toward for years when the pandemic abruptly changed everything.What followed wasn't one rupture. It w...
Eating Disorders in Adulthood: The Conversation Women Aren’t Having
Eating disorders don’t just affect teenagers.They follow women into adulthood. Into careers, relationships, motherhood, and everyday life.In this episode, Wendy Lurrie sits down with Fallon Morey to talk openly about something rarely...
The Rupture of Grief And What Happens When Systems Fail You
Grief isn’t just emotional. It’s structural.In this episode, Suzanne Barbetta shares the story of losing her husband to cancer at 45. But what follows is something rarely discussed. The collapse of the systems around her.Healthcar...
The TBI Disclosure Trap Nobody Talks About
What it means to live with a brain injury and decide whether, when, and how to tell peopleDo you tell people you have a brain injury?In this solo episode of Rupture: The World of BestGuessistan, host Wendy Lurrie explores...
“You Should Be Dead” → The TBI No One Diagnosed
Lara Benjamin survived a high-voltage electrical accident that should have killed her. But what no one realized at the time… was that her brain had been permanently changed.Years later, her symptoms began to surface. Vision loss. Daily m...
Why Clinical Trials Feel Out of Reach (and What to Know)
Clinical trials are often seen as a last resort. But what if they’re actually one of the most important options available?In this episode, Wendy talks with clinical trial expert Kelly McKee about how clinical trials really work, why they...
The Invisible Reality of Brain Injury | Dr. Melody Merati
What happens when your brain injury doesn’t show up on a scan… but changes everything?In this episode of Rupture: The World of BestGuessistan, Wendy speaks with neurologist and neuro-ophthalmologist Dr. Melody Merati about the h...
The 10–30% Who Don’t Recover: Living in the Aftermath of TBI
Most people are told a concussion resolves in 10–14 days. But for a significant group, it doesn’t.In this episode of Rupture: The World of BestGuessistan, host Wendy Lurrie speaks with Dr. Kellianne Arnella about the 10–30% of people ...
The Double Mind: Living With the Invisible Reality of TBI
A traumatic brain injury isn’t just the moment it happens.It’s everything that follows.In this episode of Rupture, Wendy Lurrie speaks with actor and audiobook narrator Suzanne Barbetta about the hidden, often misunderstood ...
Waterfall Rupture: Nina Scherenberg on Motherhood, Disability, and Survival
In this episode of Rupture, host Wendy Lurrie welcomes back Nina Scherenberg for an intimate and devastatingly honest conversation about what happens when one rupture becomes many.After a traumatic birth, Nina sensed something was wrong ...
Invisible Disability Is Exhausting | Fallon Morey on Autism, Anxiety, Masking & Systems Failure
What happens when nothing about the way you look has changed, but everything about the way you function has?In this episode of Rupture, Wendy Lurrie talks with Fallon Morey about invisible disability, the pressure to...
Rebuilding Trust After Brain Injury | The Reality of TBI Recovery
What happens when a traumatic brain injury changes your ability to trust your own brain?In this episode of Rupture, Wendy Lurrie sits down with Kim Lauersdorf to discuss the complex journey of recovery after TBI.They expl...
Lupus, Systems Failure, and the Identity Shift of Chronic Illness
What happens when your immune system turns on you. And the healthcare system is not built to catch you.In this episode of Rupture, Nina Scherenberg shares her experience living with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that reshaped her b...
Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI), Eating Disorders, Emotional Dysregulation & Stigma
Content Note: This episode contains discussion of self-harm, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), eating disorders, and related mental health challenges. If you are in the U.S., call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifel...
Living With Traumatic Brain Injury: Why Recovery Isn’t Linear
Traumatic brain injury can change everything. Not just how the brain functions, but how a person understands themselves, their limits, and their future.In this episode of Rupture: The World of BestGuessistan, host Wendy Lurrie i...
HR Leadership Is Failing Employees and How to Fix It with Marlo Green
What happens when the systems designed to support people stop working?In this episode of Rupture: The World of BestGuessistan, strategic HR executive Marlo Green joins the conversation to unpack why modern HR leadership is ...
The Menopause Penalty | Brain Fog, Ageism, and Leadership Loss
Menopause is not just hot flashes. It is a full body and brain shift that collides with modern work, leadership expectations, and a culture that still treats the topic as taboo.Wendy Lurrie sits down with leadership coach and brand consu...