23. Understanding Overwhelm After Stroke: Untangling the Web of Sensory Overload After a Stroke

A couple of quick notes before we hop into this week's episode. So it did record the podcast of video and audio with Riverside. First time really trying it out. I think it came out pretty good. I you know, struggled a little bit. If I'm being honest with looking at the camera while recording the podcast, probably would have helped if I had better notes and a better outline for this week's podcast. But you know, I think all in all pretty good. First Run for sure. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I had a good time. I think we're gonna keep trying it and get these up on YouTube for people who like a little visual with the audio. And just, you know, trying something new. So thanks for sticking with me this week while we try something new. Anyways, that'll be released early next week. Really, I just have to get the channel in order. It's really not about editing the vein of a little deal. do very little editing of the podcast podcast. Episode on sensory overload is informative for you. Hopefully you learned something, I hope you enjoy it. I know it's not something commonly talked about with stroke and stroke survivors. So hope you find value in this episode. And again, check out Elise's YouTube channel. She just released a video last week on it. It's great. I highly recommend it. So again, hopefully you enjoy this episode. The things that I want to talk about war Titan, which was the book by John D. Rockefeller that I was trying to recommend and show on Netflix is quarterback where I learned that I really don't like Patrick mahomes all that much. Anyways, let's hop into this week's episode episode 23 of Global's? My name is Schmierer Welcome back to another episode of The Lobos thriver podcast today is episode 23 of the podcast and I am excited because we are using riverside.fm for the first time to record the audio and we'll see about releasing the video. I can already tell you, it's gonna be awkward. We'll get it out of the way. We're just going to see how it goes. And we'll deal with it as it comes. So again, welcome to episode 23 of the lovable survivor Podcast. Today, we are ironically focusing on sensory overload, which is a fantastic time to start filming an audio podcast. So we're going to talk about recognizing, managing and handling sensory overload. We've talked about overload in the past and how we get overwhelmed as survivors. Of course, everybody is different. No need to say that every time ad nauseam. But we all know our brain plays a crucial role in jeopardy our senses visual hearing, taste, touch and smell. And you know, I can only share my experiences with this. But it is overwhelming to be quite honest. We're gonna talk about little different things that I you know that I noticed with myself, you may have noticed similar things with your experience. If you're a caregiver, you may have noticed a family member is different in certain things and perfectly fine with others. I mean, again, you know, we don't need to really say it, but no two strokes are the same. And they're all very different. We all have different, you know, deficits. We all have different, unique challenges we face as survivors. I think I am no different than a lot of people. I just happen to be now 40 years old, which is about 25 years younger than the average age of a stroke survivor. But yeah, no different from me lots of the same challenges you may have found you've got a lot of the same. In fact, I can tell you one right off the bat, because I'm already finding it very difficult than recording this podcast episode. Looking at the camera, maintaining eye contact that is a really difficult one for me. Now I could probably do better by slowing down using a teleprompter. I don't do that. You know, this is the first time I'm recording and doing video at the same time. So it is overwhelming for me. So again, that's why this is an ironic episode. But I'll tell you it was inspired by a YouTube video that I watched last week. You probably have seen it the post stroke channel on YouTube but I believe her name is Elise. She does a fantastic job with her channel. She is As an occupational therapist by trade, and had a lot of good information, you know, you might find some of it repetitive, depending on how long you've been a survivor. But nonetheless, I feel like it's a great a great resource for people that are maybe just looking for something. Maybe it's earlier days for you with your show. So definitely check it out. Again, she's got a great channel on YouTube poststroke highly recommend it. I definitely enjoy it because I think he speaks. Well, I mean, you know, everybody has their own take, I just like it because I feel like she's speaking to me instead of at me, because a lot of stroke, you know, everybody means well, but a lot of times, I feel like even my own doctors at times are speaking at names to me. You know, that that data, of course, varies for everybody. You know, again, let's hop into this week's episode. Because there are lots of things sensory overload is a big topic. You know, like many topics are well, wide ranging, you know, areas we can go into, we can do deeper dives, I think this one will be sort of a broader overview. And then we'll go deeper, as you know, as people need or want or things come up or people have questions. Even this week, it got some great questions coming in. They're not related to this, but they were good questions that I will hopefully get answers out in future episodes of the podcast. You know, and going back there are, I think there are things we've talked about, though, it certainly could be revisited, you know, like overwhelm, which this is kind of kind of along the same lines. But this is specific to sensory overload. And again, everybody's situation is unique. So give us some of the things that I've experienced and how I dealt with it, or how I'm dealing with it. And, you know, again, there are no perfect solutions are just suggestions that this is what I tried, this is what I thought I needed. This is kind of what worked, this is what didn't and we'll go through that throughout today's episode. So yeah, I guess when it comes to sensory overload, I think initially, I didn't realize this was even a thing because by the way, it sounds like I just happen to be an introvert, I enjoy quiet time. I have three kids, I have a wife, I have a very busy life on top of being a stroke survivor. And dealing with Ms. You know, there's just a lot of things going on in my life. Because I'm now 40. So, you know, a lot of the things I didn't see early on as, and then the to be clear, they're not even problems. They're just things that I experienced differently than I did before my stroke. So again, I thought some of these things were because I'm an introvert, because I am six foot eight 325 pounds, like I had no problem with people generally but like, I like I like my face. I like I loved the pandemic and six foot rule. You know, I was like 10 feet at all times. You know, I always do this. And I kind of flail my arms like I do the helicopter, you know, I could, if you took my wingspan, it's close to seven and a half feet. So I definitely like my space. That is true in every aspect of my life. I love my kids, but I I hate when they jump on me I like when they're two to three feet away. I love my wife, she is death. So her love languages touch ever since by stroke, you know, that has been a little bit difficult for me because I used to love holding hands and doing things and you know, it's just something I'm actively working on because it's not bad, but sometimes they get uncomfortable. And again, it's not like it's not like I can't live with it. It just feels different. Sometimes things are just different. And it's sometimes it's overwhelming. And I don't know why sometimes, you know, sometimes it's obvious why but sometimes it's not obvious to me and I'm just like, you know, one of the things that really, you know, I kind of became aware of this when I started to drive again, I really didn't drive most of 2020 because I was in a wheelchair most of the time. So it wasn't really until 2021 When I started driving it I was doing small, you know, five minute 10 minute drives nothing overwhelming basically straight line driving. And I noticed that I was experiencing a lot like there's just a lot of things going on like I could I, it was very different from the way I handled other things. And I hadn't really noticed that initially, because I wasn't wasn't driving to was leaving the house a lot in 2020. So there were a lot of things that were kind of compounding. So I didn't recognize it right away as sensory overload, I just thought, well, you know, I haven't driven in a year, I mean, this all makes sense. And again, managing it, for me means just practicing and getting better. It has definitely gotten a lot better over time. Now, I drive comfortably, I wouldn't say I want to go on a two day drive, but I can definitely do, you know, a half hour, 45 minutes 45 minutes is some fast mother's daughter to the airport, or picking her up from the airport, rather, it was fine. It definitely was different. I had to, you know, pause a little bit, slow down at times, get in the right lane go a little slower than I'm used to. But again, it's fine. It takes practice. It's gotten better, I feel good. I'm now aware of sensory overload. And you know, I just there are there are triggers for me. So that is something to be aware of, like I used to another example for me is even right now, you know, I'm not really struggling on this podcast. But I'm reminding myself with a camera looking into it, having this conversation recording this episode of the podcast while doing video. I need to slow down. And the same thing happens when I have a conversation with somebody. I'm originally from New York, New Jersey area, went to college at Miami. So I've always been a fast talker, because I've always lived on the East Coast, I just talk fast because my brain moves quickly. It's still a thing. You know, and I think it's pretty common amongst a lot of people probably is that your brain moves way faster than your mouse, which is fine when you're fine. But when you're become a stroke survivor or you've had any any major brain injury or significant life event, you know, there is that slow down to speed up mentality, I have to constantly remind myself, it's super annoying. I don't like it. It's not the way I'd prefer to do things. But I get it. And so it's just one of those things. That's kind of like running honestly, because I last week I didn't do an episode of the podcast, I was feeling overwhelmed. I got behind it's the summer my kids are all over the place there's so much going on. So again, very timely that I'm talking about sensory overload and overload general feeling back on track this week, but it's it's challenging. There's there's there's things that are not impossible, but more difficult than they used to be sounds really be really being aware that have any strategies to manage those situations. Because, for example, I want to get better at things like I used to have many screens in front of me now I only have one or two. And that's fine. I don't think I really need more than two but I think it's you know, it's one of those things you deal with as as you get better. You know, I went back to one screen after my stroke. I've now edited a second screen in I did a third screen last year is a little too much. But it's okay, you know you just again, I've said it many times on this podcast but for everybody watching this is the first time we're recording a video so yeah, it's there's just a lot of things to manage and I think taking your time with them and recognizing them is obviously important thing number one for those who are not necessarily a stroke survivor, but maybe you're a caregiver or family member you play a significant role in somebody's recovery journey from a stroke or major brain injury. You know, I I would love to offer you know, some words of wisdom my even my own wife. We're on year three and a half she doesn't sort of understand this sometimes that I I'm very much a lot of ways in a lot of ways. Back to normal or back to close to normal. I'd be able to do a lot of things I was not a Buzu the first year after my stroke, in a lot of ways, I'm also back better than I was before the stroke. So while some things are not far from perfect still, a lot of things are better I no longer smoke I no longer drink i I'm very involved in family life and I was before but I definitely had room for improvement, pre stroke. You know. And so, this sensory overload, again, is something that snuck up on me a little bit, I wasn't aware of it, nobody really brought it to my intention as something that could be a potential thing to look out for. It wasn't anything I'd really read about before it was never mentioned. Asian patient we have you know, a lot of my output we have is, is focused on therapy, occupational therapy, just getting, you know, shoulder workouts, leg workouts getting walking. Now we're working working on running this year. You know, just finished up 285 days strong. As you can see, I am soaking wet in my hoodie was you should be very thankful that you're not on this end of the podcast today. Because I'm sure no matter how bad your senses have been affected by stroke, you do not want to be smelling me this episode. So I Yeah, it's hot in Florida in the middle of July. So I think the real feel was again, 122 Today, which was super fun for close to 13 and a half miles. But again, you know, just like sensory overload and running to you, I didn't just start running 13 miles, I've really worked my way up to that. So I know this little sidetrack, but it's a it's hard. Yeah, you know, a little bit of a brain fart there. But we can get overloaded, we can get overwhelmed. And I think some of the things for caregivers for family members to consider is that like, I don't have an issue with thankfully taste or smell. Or really hearing, although I've had little bits here and there. Like when I when I had the MS flare up back in 2020, I thought something was going on with my hearing. But that seems to have worked itself out really not a lot of vision problems. The only vision thing again, was that, for me was the driving initially kind of being overloaded and overwhelmed by all the cars going super fast. That has since subsided, I am much more comfortable now driving, it just took me a while to feel comfortable. And that's the thing too, you know, there are no perfect answers for any of these things. It's all sort of, I can offer up suggestions, and I can give you, you know, you just watch Lisa's video on YouTube, again, the poststroke channel, she offers up some great resources and suggestions. You know, it's really just about being aware of these things, things. And if you know, for example, if you feel like very light sensitive makeup makers, just you chances are as a stroke survivor, there are things you know, that I probably wouldn't have done before my stroke. But now that I am a stroke survivor and I put in the work and never really to be quite honest, I feel like I've done nothing that I've done but I'm doing as much as I can on a daily basis. I mean, I'm working out I've changed my diet I've changed my life I've changed my lifestyle. I've removed a lot of bad habits that can no longer drink and no longer smoke things that were not good for me very clearly not good for me are things that I have either completely stopped or almost completely removed from my life. I'm sure there are things we can nitpick you know, like sitting at the computer at night for probably a couple more hours when I could be doing something else you know, again, it's just I figure out what's worked for me and I put in all that work so back to the example is is lighting you know, change the lighting in your house if you feel like it's not working for you just have these conversations and again, have them with your family members and caregivers because this is really talked about a whole time and for a while. I'll be honest, I thought I was like a little bit crazy, because that's silly. I didn't think I was crazy, but I knew something was up and I couldn't articulate it. And I knew it was overwhelming in times like I again I associated being six 820 by balancing the introvert with, you know, just being generally uncomfortable with certain things. And I thought, you know, and I also knew that as a stroke survivor, a younger stroke survivor, I used to love comedy and improv and talking to people. Even as an introvert, I'm still pretty good at it. But I've definitely lost some confidence. And I think that was, you know, for several reasons, because I had a speech issue. In 2020, when I got diagnosed with MS really is I didn't actually lose my speech at all from stroke, I had a little slurred, slurred speech into early 2020. But it wasn't until the MS hit in February of 2020, that my speech really took a toll. And again, if I focus and I pay attention, and I say, Yeah, relatively calm, I do a lot of breathing exercises to stay calm and help me with sensory overload. That's, you know, that's another great tip I have is like, breath work and breathing. sounds really corny works really well for me, like I, that's what got me running to be quite honest. Because, you know, I no longer was smoking, I no longer was drinking, I've been eating healthy for a couple of years now during my recovery. And I plan to keep that up the rest of my life. So I really looked at it, and I was like, Oh, well, why can't I run better, because I wasn't breathing properly, I was always mouth breathing. Even after my stroke, even still, I slipped into it. But I really concentrate on those breathing. And that really helps me overall, with a lot of the sensory overload because I've learned to breathe properly, so I can control my breath better. I'm not always great at it, I'm not perfect at it. But I have the tools to do the work. And, you know, it helps me through these situations where I do encounter sensory overload. And again, you know, not to harp on it. But a lot of non survivors don't recognize this as a thing. And again, I'll tell you, it wasn't until I saw Lisa's video that I just couldn't articulate, sort of, I knew this was like a thing I was experiencing and a thing I wanted to talk about. But I was sort of lumping this into overwhelm, just the total overwhelm that you get as a stroke survivor, where you're just overwhelmed with everything where you're bombarded with information during bombarded with, you know, physical therapy exercises, or occupational therapy exercises, and you just tried to live your life. So you start, you know, mismatching things, sometimes getting bad habits. So you know, just my best recommendation is really make a list, you know, whether that's pen and paper on the computer. Like a lot of things we talked about on this podcast, you know, you've any harder what kind of recovery it's really about making a list and kind of seeing where you're at what you want to improve. Having that, that that goal because you're not going to improve everything overnight. And just constantly reassessing. Same thing here. You know, if light is the biggest problem handled lighting around the house, you know, that's not it sounds overall expenses, you know, changing some some light bulbs from the blue fluorescent to the the warmer yellow light, which I particularly don't like, but some people do, you know, just be aware that have conversations with your family, with your loved ones, with your spouse, with your partners, whoever you know, the important people in your life ARB and just let them know, because honestly, it's, it could seem weird, and rightfully so to a person who's not having these experiences. But when you have brain injuries popping up such a good video for the first time on episode 23. Here. Let me just burp my way through this. Yeah, I mean, not that your house is an airport. But I noticed this a lot in airports, which I have not been to too often since since my stroke, but it definitely happens. There's a lot of people moving going fast doing things like you know, the airport bothered me prior to my stroke. So again, I didn't recognize it so much. And really, this is hard to explain, but when you're when you're six foot 825 pounds like I am I mean I'm like, you know I'm like an everyday person. You know Shaq is his one of my favorite basketball players of all time and he's a big dude I met him many years ago when I moved to Miami, definitely encountered him saw him out in South Beach and things like that. And he's just a big presence, you recognize them right away. And I'm not saying I'm shocked, but like to the everyday world that I'm walking around in, like, people I forget, I kind of added like Shaq to an average person who's like five foot nine, and 170 pounds. Like, I mean, that was helmets. I was I was in grade grade. And to be quite honest, like, so like I said, right. The point is that things for me are just different. And this again, is was hard for me to recognize at first. So I can, I can totally relate if, you know, if you're having these issues. You know, and other things and people who will kind of not even your caregivers loved ones like I think it's on us, again, to disagree many years understand that. As survivor, it is important to talk to other people about things that you feel differently about, like human contact, eye contact is a little harder for me than it used to be. It's not because I'm, you know, I don't feel any particular way about it, it's just harder. Now, I don't know if it's harder, because sometimes I'm very tired. And like I noticed with my MS. In particular, I saw I don't know if this is stroke survivor or MS or combination. But later in the day, you know, if I've been standing, you're working out a lot, you know, my head gets a little, heavy, dark times, you know, like sometimes just want to do this to get my neck arrest. And that could be a strength issue. That should be something I talked to my my team about. However, eye contact is harder, it's not impossible. It's just harder. And it's not. You know, I think one of the things as survivors that when other people, when you're living in a world of people who aren't necessarily stroke or brain injury survivors, there are slight differences, that people will assume certain things that can you know, they're not wrong, but they don't, they don't understand. It's like, I don't want to like, I don't want to make people understand. And I'm sure you don't either. It's just, you know, having the conversation is important, because people they need to be aware, because they may perceive you to stroke survivor as somebody who doesn't make eye contact, and they might take that a certain way. However, you might be the best person on earth. And the only reason you're not making eye contact is probably the same reason I'm not making eye contact. It's not because it's that weird. It's just because like, it's too much. There's too many other things going on and our focusing on more than one thing. You know, that sense sense. Sometimes the stroke has been a blessing, I'm lucky to be alive. Because I don't know that I would have stopped drinking if I didn't have the stroke. I don't know if that I wouldn't have stopped smoking. I very much could have continued to really, you know, I always feel like it wasn't doing anything terrible to myself, but I really was doing not great stuff. It just I wasn't like deeply into it to heavy drugs. But I was like, I was drinking a lot. I was smoking a ton of cigarettes, I was doing things that were not healthy, that were not great choices. There were there's nobody was thankfully, I wasn't hurting really anybody but myself. You know, and in turn, I've heard I've hurt my family. And I've talked about that, you know, they've since obviously, obviously, they want me to be alive, I want to be alive for them. There's no doubt about that. We've all worked through things as a family and you know, my wife and my kids, I think they they've sort of understood, you know, they were aware of things at the time that maybe even I wasn't aware, I don't even think I was aware of what I was doing this saralee Like it was just we were living our life and things were comfortable and things were going okay, like we had just moved to Florida and 2019 By all accounts like things seem normal, but they really weren't. So you know, they give me a lot of leeway. They give me a lot of forgiveness. You know, they don't blame me for the Nobody. Nobody blames anybody for what happened. Like we've just gotten back brought a good path and on a good track. You know, and the reason this episode is so important to me is because I say this is one of the more challenging and difficult things that we've had conversations about because sometimes My wife won't understand my boys. They don't really, you know, for them, they don't see this too much. But like my daughter does, because she wants to have friends over all the time. And one of the things that I have an issue with this kid just because I'm a 40 year old dad now, and I really just enjoy my house, I enjoy hanging out with my family and my house. But I'm not a big fan of people coming over the house. That can be my own hang up, because I just want to chill in my house. I don't think I'm alone at 40 years old, I'm sure other adults who are parents feel this way. It's great when the kids have kids over. But I just want my own space. You know, you bought you get to a certain place in life, you feel like I just want my house to be my house, I don't really want to entertain guests. That's just not my thing. It's never been my thing. I mean, even when I was kind of the party boy back to college, and even after college, I never wanted to camp at home, I wanted to like go out if we were going out. My home was my place for me to chill and relaxing regroup, like I love reading a book. I love working on the computer, I love not being bothered. Again, that might be specifically a parental thing. So yeah, I mean, you know, I don't know if that is necessarily sensory overload, or just old man syndrome. So, you know, take that for what it's worth. But again, if you're having these issues, consider some strategies like cutting back on things. And really, just like everything else, like slowly working up. To improve the areas that you feel like you want to improve in, like there may be issues with sensory overload, there might be areas where you don't really mind, so maybe put them at the bottom rule lists and things that you're really trying to work on like conversations. Again, I really love talking to people and I noticed when I'm on Zoom behind the camera, at my desk at home, I'm much more comfortable than in person. So I need to work on in person again, because I've never had a problem with it pre stroke. But now I get very antsy and I can feel like muscles tensing up, like, I don't understand why I think it's because person, there's no microphone. You know, I'm always I love making jokes. I love laughing and having fun and being funny and being quick. That's another one that I've had some issues with. Is that I am still funny, I thank you and you wouldn't recognize on this episode. But I'm still pretty funny. I still really am very good at making observations and pointing out silly, weird random things in life. Love making jokes, but I do have a little bit of difficulty getting them at times. And that is very frustrating for me because I used to be like, super, super, super quick and sharp. Still pretty good. But, you know, there's room for improvement. So and, you know, on the other hand, will I live if I don't make major improvements in this area? Probably. It'll probably be just fine. Do I need to get better at airports? Because there's, you know, there's sensory overload in places I still like flying. I really like flying in first class. I don't like flying in business class. When you're six foot eight 325 bound do you do like flying period? I don't even think I like fall flying private. Below. I haven't done that recently or ever so well. I'm Private might be okay with me. But we'll see. You know, I can only hope to one day. Have that experience to let you know if files flying private is the best route for me. My guess is it's probably fine. Because it eliminates all the things I hate about traveling which is airports and other people and gross things and oh my god. I'm having an anxiety and panic attack just thinking about being an airport as we're talking here on this episode. So again, just to wrap up today's episode because I am exhausted. I can tell you I'm experiencing sensory overload as we speak because I'm just tired from looking at the camera trying to look at my notes. This is a very different approach from how I usually record the podcast. But I gotta say I like this. I think we're gonna I'm going to try to see how I can Be Less talking head. Yeah, maybe we can do microphone that is a little bit. I keep looking that way because they added a little monitor. Yeah, there's microphones and right. Yeah, I love I love the SMB seven. It's great microphone, but it's not the best for on camera work. But yeah, again, go go, go check out Elise Newlands YouTube channel. poststroke Weir's is highly recommended. She and I just connected over on LinkedIn. That's a great resource. Yeah, yeah. And just kind of wrap us up sensory overload, a common agenda. It's not talked about a whole ton, which is why I wanted to bring it to the podcast. And why I'm so glad that Elise brought it up on her YouTube channel. Because, you know, it's not talked about enough. It's very, it's common, but it's very uncommonly spoken about. And it's, it is manageable. To be honest, I know it can be tough, especially if you're kind of a newer stroke survivor. If you're just starting your recovery journey. You hear a lot of things and without proper context, you know, she kind of brushed it off. I know I did, because people would tell me Oh, you're young, you're lucky you'll bounce back. I heard that but like first two plus years. All I can say is I think it does get better. Do it. It takes a lot longer than you think it is. You know, it's sometimes it's painful, physically, emotionally, it definitely takes a toll. But I can, all I can do is is offer words of encouragement, like I do try to do every episode is that if you put in the work, I promise you, you will see the returns they may be much slower to return than you want. Again, something I wish people told me because I was trying to do things so fast. In the beginning, I was probably burning myself out in my own recovery you know, but I'm thinking back now. I mean, I worked out this morning. That worked out this afternoon, I run a half marathon today. Today happens to be with the 285th day in a row of running since I started back on October 6 though of running every day. I don't know how long this streak will go. Like I said it's been gone for 35 days I'm feeling pretty good about it you know, so it does work things do change yeah, this was fun. I really want to get better at this I'm glad I hope you're I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'm not really going to have any calls to action today on you know, go to the website check out the podcast sign up for the newsletter for sure. But yeah, let's do a couple recommendations real fast before we set this episode on already 36 minutes in which would be a little long for you to be awesome ideas or topics you want to discuss definitely email podcast at lol So Robert calm the website, you can send me a contact. Anything you want to talk about you want me to discuss. Yeah, this week has been a lot of strangely enough movies, which is weird because I really am not one of those guys that like sitting around watching movies. When I do work at my desk in the evenings, I usually watch you know, some kind of mindless Netflix show or or audible is my favorite. I love Audible. You can see back there I use the the Amazon Echo to play it I use the app on the TV. A lot of good books. gonna recommend Whitney Cummings, which I think I always recommend with the is a fantastic comedian. She's got a great podcast. So go check out her podcasts because she's amazing. She's super talented. I've been a fan for a long time. She used to be on Howard all the time back in the day. She's got a book out that I have not started but I am really looking forward to digging into get real quick. Let me see what book Am I the books that I haven't falling asleep to this week on? Audible is let me look at my library. Oh yeah, by the way, Whitney Cummings book I'm fine and other lies that that is a book that I cannot wait to get started. I just had to finish Bran Novak's book which I think I mentioned last week st to Baltimore. Very good. Yeah, hang on the Yeah. All right. Well, no, I don't think I mentioned it. But a couple of weeks ago, I finished Jimmie Johnson swagger. You know, considering he coached cowboys, I'm not gonna lie. I'm a big fan of jimmie johnson even though I hate the Cowboys. So yeah, that that's it for books, podcasts, you know, broadcast with these podcasts, definitely to two bears. One cave, great podcast. Also, big shout out to and I don't think I've mentioned this, but I, maybe I have my cell my sister had a baby back in June, which I'm super excited about because I am an uncle now for the first time on my side of the family. So my sister and brother in law had a baby. welcome him to the world back in June. Very excited on and the reason I'm thinking of that, because the other podcast I'm going to recommend is calm down podcast with Erin Andrews and Karissa. It's a great podcasts. I love it. They're back on their show. And I heard and they announced that I, which I was unaware of, and I think most of the world was unaware of unless you're inside the inner circle of Erin Andrews. But yes, she just had a baby. She welcomed a baby to the world a couple of weeks ago. So that's awesome. Because I know she was dealing with IVF I watched her episode 160 Last night was really good. You know, I think IVF is something I'm not super familiar with. But it was really interesting episode of the podcast because she's been trying for a really long time to have a child. And she Welcome to her baby boy to the world and got lucky, you know, and in sharing her story of surrogacy and that whole process because she tried for a really long time. I think she said like, I don't know what she tried for nine years or tried nine rounds of IVF. But boy, that was heartbreaking to hear I didn't realize she had tried so many times. I knew she had cerebral cancer, so I knew there were probably some some difficulties there. But so excited for her. I mean, I don't know her personally, I just I've always been a fan of Erin Andrews. Being a fan of sports. You know, her and Chris show is great. Really love it. So shout out to Erin Andrews on welcoming her baby to the world. Go check that podcast out. And we'll leave it there for recommendations. You know, there's always TV happening, so just put something on. But yeah, we'll leave that episode there. So yeah, Episode 23 In the books sensory overload. You know, again, check out the YouTube channels. If there's any questions suggestions, feel free to email the podcast podcast at local survivor.com We'll see you next week for episode 24. Sue, have a great weekend. Bye for now.