Story Time: Surgery, Fear of Death, and a Dysregulated Nervous System

From the Heart with Rachel Brathen

Rachel Brathen

Society & Culture

4.7 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2026

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you are a mother, you probably know the feeling of fear well. In today’s episode, Rachel talks about the biggest trauma her nervous system is still experiencing today - the fear of something happening to her children. Lea had surgery this week which was a huge experience for their entire family. Rachel shares the entire story from start to finish, and beautifully puts the terror moms can feel into words. It’s a vulnerable episode about the root cause of our fears, a mother’s never-ending love, and how to regulate your nervous system when the ground beneath you feels shaky. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	On today's episode of the podcast, I talk about the biggest trauma I am still dealing with
0:07.4	in my life, or at the very least, the biggest trauma my nervous system is still experiencing
0:14.6	in my life today, which is the fear of death, and in particular, the fear of something happening to my children. My daughter had
0:24.2	surgery this week, which was a huge experience for the whole family and something that brought up
0:30.7	not just fear, but actual terror. And I get really vulnerable with you and talk about that today.
0:38.4	So thanks for listening and trigger warning.
0:40.9	There's a lot of talk about death.
0:47.4	Attention all passengers.
0:49.7	The Uber ride for Jeff's rugby team will depart in five minutes from Platform 15.
0:54.8	Your ride comes with six toilets and a refreshment's carriage that you'll empty within five minutes.
1:02.2	Thank you for booking your tickets on Uber.
1:06.0	Trains on Uber.
1:08.1	Let's jump in.
1:12.1	Hi friends.
1:14.0	Hi everyone.
1:15.4	Hello, hello.
1:16.8	How are we doing today?
1:19.8	I am sitting here looking out at my blooming apple tree right outside my window.
1:26.6	We have this apple tree that kind of pushes up almost
1:28.8	against the whole side of our house. And when it's apple season, I can walk out to my bedroom
1:35.4	balcony and I can pick apples from the balcony, which is pretty badass. And right now the blossoms
1:41.6	are just, oh, they're looking so gorgeous. I can smell it almost,
	...

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