38. Finding Hope and Support: Will Schmierer and Rosa Hart Discuss the Many Sides Stroke Recovery

You What's up, everybody? Hope you're having a good weekend. Sorry, the podcast is late this week. I know I don't need to say sorry. And I know you don't care that much. However, it is a great episode and with the holiday approaching or Thanksgiving approaching holiday site season is a pause. I wanted to kind of put this out in between because you know, it's a little bit of a weird thing going on this week with a holiday here in the US. Anyways, first guest of the podcast, Rosa Hart. She is a stroke nurse navigator. I actually think that it's incorrect. She she she has a story that she'll tell she is a nurse navigator. She worked in the stroke ICU for many years before becoming a nurse navigator. I did ask her specifically what that is because it depends where you go. Could be a billion things could be a million things. She's also she's not a stroke survivor, but she is a podcast host she hosts her own show on stroke with the Norton healthcare system based out of Kentucky, in the US a really good health care partner and you know, system it looks like they have a lot of good stuff, lots things in YouTube, they support this her show, she does a show called stronger after stroke a little different than mine. It is from a similar versus from more the nursing side, I guess, more clinical, for sure. She's definitely not a stroke survivor. But she's seen a lot of transformation. She's worked in ICU, she's seen the good, bad and ugly, she's seen amazing transformations. You know, her podcast again is stronger stroke definitely worth checking out. I recommend it highly. You can also catch her over on YouTube, or I'll put all her details and links in the show notes. But yeah, you know, it's a lot of frequently asked questions, a lot of things she's said saying over and over and over again to different patients and I think she really does hit the nail on the head I think she's trying to do kind of a very similar thing to me is you know, there is hope obviously for all stroke survivors that every journey is different but giving people nuggets of information that they may not otherwise be able to find or may have a hard time finding or there might be clinicians that are backed up for months. We talk a lot about a lot of things my journey her journey a lot of the crossover I you know I tried to it is the first interview is not my best probably but you know we get better with each episode we get better as things go. I think for me, there's a personal connection because I'm a survivor. She's a nurse now there's there's a there's a thing there. Well, yeah, great interview really enjoyed her time. Really appreciate her coming on. Hopefully we'll have her on again in the future. So yeah, enjoy this first episode with Rosa Hart. And we'll see you soon. You welcome back to another episode of the level survivor podcast. This week in Episode 38. We're shaking things up, changing things up. We're having a guest on the podcast this week. I'm excited to welcome Rosa Hart. Chi is a floor ICU nurse a now she's a nurse navigator. podcaster with multiple podcasters, which is super exciting for me, because I also have multiple podcasts, and maybe more coming soon. So I'm excited. We've had 37 episodes solo, I've talked about a lot of things. I have lots of things to talk about in the future. But I think it's great to talk to other people in the field, other people working with other individuals, whether it's broadly, whether it's directly I think getting new perspectives, having new information, just chatting things, you know, things that you think as a survivor are going to work. Sometimes they work sometimes they don't. So a lot of trial error. We talk about that a lot on this show. Anyways, I'm going to stop blabbing. We're going to hop right in and chat with Rosa and get to know rose a little bit more. So welcome, Rosa, welcome to the podcast. You are really the first guest to this show. And I'm excited to have you. Well, I feel very honored. Well, somebody who's willing to share the spotlight with it is a change of pace, but I actually would like to share the spotlight. It's probably no, you. Yeah, I'm sure you know from having also a podcaster your podcast is stronger after stroke recovery podcast. You also have another podcast Dan sarta Up in here, but yeah, I just know, I just know, for me finding people, this I don't know if you've found this to be the same. But finding other strokes of ours actually is not hard, but I think finding others stroke survivors and kind of getting them out of their shell and, you know, I think they want to talk often. And I think not everybody's into podcasting, some people are more just want to zoom, have a chit chat. That's okay. But I feel like there's a lot to learn. There's a lot of things to share. Few and far between, in my experience they do you know, they're different groups. I mean, yeah. Advantage of podcasting, a lot of the times is people feel like they get to listen in on that conversation and be part of it without the, you know, anxiety of Oh, am I gonna think of me or am I gonna say something dumb? And they're not. They're not worried if anybody of you heard me says anything dumb. Right, right. Right. Exactly. And I think, I think, you know, as as a podcaster, and kind of a big guy. I think I've said that a million times of this podcast, I'm 643 25 pounds. And for me, I did improv. I did stand up comedy back in Miami. Like, I have no problem being in front of the camera. I'm used to being stared at dogs. You name it. Yeah, yeah. It's a weird thing. It's, it's a blessing and a curse. But yeah, let's let's kind of get into it. I want to hear your your story. I mean, not to be boring and generic, but like, Yeah, let's go back to the beginning. Yeah, like, Well, I was gonna say, Yes. Back, do you want to go? Um, yeah, let's start with the, uh, you know, we I think you've been in nursing for a while. So we probably start with that. I mean, obviously, you just said you're born in Tennessee. So we'll go with that. But um, so I went to nursing school here in Louisville, Kentucky. And I started working at Norton health care in 2013. And I've started and I see you. And from the beginning, it was the stroke, neuro ICU. And so I didn't know that there was a whole bunch of different specialties that were afraid of dealing with stroke patients, because there there can be so many rapid changes. It was just what I saw every day. And I learned neuro assessment like from the beginning. So that was really great. And I worked in the ICU for eight years. And then I got to become the stroke nurse navigator for the system. So what that means is, I don't work at the bedside anymore. I call patients after they are discharged from the hospital. And they've had a stroke. And I talked to them about their medications. I asked they know what they're for. And if not, I answer, like those questions and what side effects to watch for and then identify barriers to them being able to get the care that they need, like, Can they afford their medications, or did the order not get them to the pharmacy, and so they've been without their medications, since they got home, things like that, or they don't have a primary care provider, and I'm connected to one of those. And then they won't even be able to get refills if they don't have a primary care. Also getting them connected to our Norton Neuroscience Institute, neurologists for follow up in the bridge clinic. So that was the role that I was hired to do. And podcasting was kind of an accident. Yeah, that's a that's actually, you know, we'll talk about that too. Because I think, in my experience, I know the place I was out here in Florida, they kind of gotten into podcasting, but they kind of dip in and dip out. I think it was pandemic related. Probably because I think it started just before and they tried during a Yeah, I don't know. I have no idea what I've heard a statistic that the majority of podcasts have three episodes. Yeah. Then the majority do not go past I think 14 or 15 episodes, which is fair. I think I Yeah. Yeah, it definitely involves systems and you have to figure it out. Kind of what you have to say, right? So if people think, Oh, I have something to say, and then they talk about it for three episodes. Well, that was it. Yeah. Now, thankfully, stroke is something you can just keep talking about. Because it's a lot. It is a lot it is. It's interesting. How, you know, do you when you found yourself working as an ICU nurse on this? I mean, did you you just like you said, you just kind of got tossed in there, so to speak, like they just bred and trained. Yeah, but it's not like I was like, oh, I knew somebody who had a stroke, that's where I want to work, right. But then because that was the patient population that I was most familiar with, you know, I saw a lot of worst case scenarios, and I saw some best case scenarios, and that, for wanting those best case scenarios to be the norm, and anything I can do to help improve outcomes for people who have had a stroke, it feels like, you know, there's so many people that I couldn't help from, like, even if we did everything we could, they still had a worst case scenario. So I don't know, it's kind of, I don't know, therapeutic for me to see somebody do better gives me because it's really bad. If you Yeah, with people a lot. You know, as nurses, we get really empathetic and connected to our patients. And so if we're losing patients, then you know, we're with them on the hardest days of their lives. So I would like to see them get better. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've said it before, I think, you know, I don't want to generalize, I don't want to say anything about. I mean, it says a survivor. I have thoughts on being a stroke survivor. But I think, you know, I said that before, I think there are very few things quite like stroke. I think, you know, I don't know, personally, anybody with Parkinson's, but I've seen Michael J. Fox over the years. Yeah, I have a mess, too. i i Honestly, I've never talked about ms on the show, really, because I just it's such a secondary thing for me. But I also know people have asked who have really, you know, different kind, they have different side effects. It's it's much more of a thing for them. So, but yeah, I think Parkinson's and stroke are two of the biggest things to probably. I don't know, I can't think of anything like, you know, it's, it's not the same as breaking a leg or breaking a finger or her breaking a bone. I mean, people. I'm not saying heart attack is not serious. It is obviously series of kills a lot of people. But the overall deficits, I think, in my experience, I don't, again, I'm sure you probably have seen something somewhere in nursing over your career. That is pretty hard as well, but you know, I? Yeah, yeah. It's, it's really, the Norton Neuroscience Institute, we treat patients with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, ALS, right? Yeah. Honestly, like, stroke is a lot of the time in acute situation where it kind of hits you out of nowhere. And it's, then all the others are pretty gradual in onset. And so and then they might take a long time to diagnose to, they have to go through a process of elimination, whereas with a stroke, it's like, all of a sudden, half your body doesn't work. And then you're like in the shock of, well, what do I do now, whereas just with all the others, they can be, in some cases, a lot more debilitating than, for instance, your stroke, like you've recovered so well. When we first met, you had just run seven miles. So really, you're in better shape than me. So I just ran 17. Before this Dublin team. Yeah, that was afternoon. Okay, I might do three more today. We get through a marathon. Somebody's saying but all right. Just trying to be an inspiration. Yeah, keep going. Yeah, I mean, there's so many interesting things. I mean, I love talking to nurses. I love and appreciate all the nursing, you know, I've seen good, bad and ugly when I was in facilities. I'm always a little surprised when people are I know people have tough days, especially as a stroke survivor. There are, you're in shock. You're kind of don't know what's going on. I'm sure it is exciting for you to go from bedside, working with patients, which is lovely and rewarding, but also taxing and tiring, I'm sure because I'm probably not the norm, but I'm probably not alone. I mean, if you have another several 100 pound man who's had a stroke and you've got to pick them up with a gait belt and bring a whole team in there. That's for PT even if they got to like move when you when you're when you're working as a nurse on the floor, right. Like they just need help moving somewhere. I mean, yeah, it's just we're a team. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm thinking back to this. Just talked to a friend yesterday who's also so our I for some reason, when I went back, the second time, I got diagnosed with MS. I got to go back to the place I was at here in Florida for another round of 30 days in Beijing. And couldn't walk still just got diagnosed with MS. I was so big, I was in a wheelchair, I my shoe off for some reason and decided it was a good idea to go reach for that shoe. Because I wasn't walking. I wasn't able to walk for a long time. And I fell out of my chair and it was awful. Because I had to do is fine. I was a big guy. There's plenty of padding, but they had to bring a whole year in which I'm sure you don't want. Yeah, I was so big. They had that thing. So like, it was so embarrassing. Like, they're picking me off the ground, and they're all worried. I'm like, Dude, I'm just, I'm just a 500 pound guy who's just had a stroke. I can't believe me, it's the least I concerned just be laying on this floor. Can't fall farther if you're already on the ground. Right? Yeah. And you can't really, I mean, it's hard to hurt yourself falling out a wheelchair. I mean, you got to it was a good, yeah, I just I can understand why somebody who is working in nursing for a while would love the opportunity to transition to a role where you're helping people transition from, because that's essentially what it is, right? You're you're helping people who are kind of on the way home game planning, getting equipment for the home getting, you know, you'd need a game plan when you when, you know, if you're lucky enough to go to an inpatient facility, and then from there, you know, not that anybody's doing this on purpose. But it is kind of like the Wild West is still to this day, they just kind of like I remember when I left, it's like, yeah, here's your papers, we're gonna wheel you out, you get the car. And it's like, by, yeah, and I don't have to feel like that. So I'm so thankful that at least for my patients, they have me that they can call as a real person, not a robot is what has, if you have questions, I'm not a nurse practitioner or a doctor, but I don't know the answer. I can find it out for you and talk to the team. So and to be fair, in my experience, it was very, very strange is bound to have everything happened right before the pandemic, like the pandemic, I think it was that like that we were the world decided to shut down. I was crying. I remember I was watching basketball in, in the hospital facility, and it's like, that was the end of NBA basketball, that we can double NCAA, or Yeah, NCAA Tournament. And like a, it's like, that's what it was real. Yeah. Yeah. And they were like, Okay, we got to figure out how to get PPE and all this other stuff. Like, we don't mean to be mean, but like, by like, St. Patrick's Day, and we have to figure out how to what's going on in the world. So Right. It was interesting. The wrong kind of March, but yeah, yeah, it was not exactly what I needed after. Yeah. But anyways, in 2020 I didn't know what Jess was. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, it's uh, it's, uh, you know, I guess I've been around for a while because I went to school, after college for radio and broadcasting, it just kind of was going to get into it. But that's I got into it right as radio was pretty much like, seriously cut out. But like, it was just like, radio was definitely no longer rude. The heavy medium it was in the 90s and early 2000s. So back when we were prepping the record on our, on our tapes to catch them. Yeah, tapes and CD players. Like to sell my car, right? To sell the car with a CD player. And the guy's like, oh, there's a CD player here. I was like, yeah, it's not that old. But it's. Yeah, that was Yeah. So we kind of talked about, you know, your journey, getting into the nursing thing. A lot of questions, because I'm always curious about others experiences and like, guests, you know, I'd love to talk about your podcast, because I thought, I think you talked about some really good topics. I still haven't listened to those episodes that I specifically talked to you about last week. Because I did take the first step in talking to my primary care, which I think is actually a great thing that you do. Because I was in a similar situation as a 37 year old adult male with a family, three kids and a wife. When I was in inpatient, all that first quarter of 2020, I had yet to establish a primary care here in Florida because we had just moved and I in hindsight, wish I had established that relationship before because we maybe could have avoided things. But you never know. Hindsight. Yeah, I think. Yeah, hindsight is definitely 2020. But yeah, love to hear about more about your podcasts and like some of the guests that you've had on and things that you've learned and yeah, things after being on the phone with with stroke survivors who had just got out of the hospital, there are a lot of brief, recurring, frequently asked questions, topics overall concept Oops, that I ended up repeating myself about a lot. And there's a lot of conversations where maybe somebody needs to talk to me for an hour to person. Right. And it's hard to get through a whole lot of people. When you're having quality conversations that take a while, like, I don't want everybody well. Um, so there were some frustrations with that. And along the way, in 2020, I started a podcast reviewing restaurants with a friend of mine. And it was very low tech, and still is just a little local thing. But I was very consistent with it. And I'm on season three of that now. I'm here in Louisville, Kentucky. But I was so consistent with it, that people at Norton were listening to it. And like, with masks on somebody in the elevator in the hospital I was working on was like, podcast girl, and I was like, yes, so good. So in the course of that, um, the Norton Neuroscience Institute decided they wanted to start making podcasts. Because Norton healthcare had been making progress in several different ways. There's one called Med for nurse practitioners to get to us. And then there's one called plugged into nursing, which is kind of like continuing education for nurses. But it's not CS. But it's like reinforcing education. And so they were like, well, more Neuroscience Institute should have podcast. And so they asked me, Hey, you do podcast? Would you like to do one for stroke? And, yes, that's a really great idea. Bounce? Well take some time and come up with some topic ideas and get back to you. Two hours later, I came back with two pages of topic, and who I was not an interview about it. And so there were like, I guess there's a lot of material here. Yeah, there is. And so that was how the idea was born. was just kind of a combination of things falling into place. Nice. Yeah, I think. I think you're definitely on it. You're definitely right. There's no shortage of topics and there's no shortage of shortage of angles. I think, you know, mine very similar to yours. But I think mine is different in that I'm the big thing I always kind of not complain about, but like, I appreciate anybody who's helping elders stroke survivors in any capacity. But one of my frustrations as a survivor is that a lot of times, physical therapists, occupational therapists, they're all amazing. I really, really, really been this I've run into like, one doctor in the course of the last four years, that was not so great, but mostly I have great experiences, I'd love it. I think I'd be would have gone back to my inpatient place and see my nurses more but COVID kind of through that whole thing off for me. You know, but so many people have played an important role in my recovery and without them I wouldn't have even had the opportunity I think sharing the information like you said, it's like there's so much and there's so many things you don't even think of as survivor probably even as a longtime nurse working in this industry. It's like you don't think about things until they kind of just like oh, yeah, right. That might be a thing and it's like I'm surprised more people aren't doing it to be honest I think right right right right. Right yeah right yeah right all right yeah yeah yeah, yeah, honestly I just again I was talking to my friend yesterday I met her for coffee and she's a stroke survivor a little younger, she I guess, I never know what the classic classification of a younger stroke survivor is, but she's in her 40s. So we'll go with Yes, she's the younger one. At least my take that younger is under 65. If we're going to say 65 is the average age then I would say anything under Yeah, it's a it's an interesting thing. But I think, yeah, what you said is so important because I feel like there's really good information how it's presented really makes a difference. And sometimes yes, you could say things you know, I think you probably hear this a lot. It's it's a journey. It's a process that's all true. But sometimes are things that I think like heart you know, the American Heart Association stroked out or oral stroke organization all great information, but it's always like it feels a little put on or not put. I mean, I know it's meant well, but it's not it doesn't it doesn't? I know because I want the answer because I'm digging like a maniac to find things. But not everybody is me. Not everybody is insane. Nobody's not every stroke survivor is researching. I mean, the the rabbit holes I go down are unbelievable. Yeah, well. Well, that's the thing to like, like my podcasts like I you know, this show is like, I I love that people are doing things like be fast. And it tells you my story, which we won't get into here. But like there are people in the medical profession who are working in facilities who probably should review be fast because yeah, because of big endless Yeah, it's a no and that's and that's fair. Yeah Right right. Yeah. Yeah, that was actually something you said last on, I think, I don't know if I heard the whole episode or I heard a clip of another episode because you had spoken to somebody and it was the it was the headache specialist. I forgot the person's name. But yeah, what you said resonated so much with me, it's like, the information that you're able to gather in half hour, 20 minutes, even if it was an hour and you broke it up into several episodes. It's like, you don't have to absorb it all at one time. But it's like there if you're having you know, obviously, what we're doing is is sharing journeys and sharing stories. We're not I mean, you're a medical professional, but like nobody's taking that and taking that as the gospel but it's like it's a it's a help in the right direction. It's you know, if you're feeling this way you might need to X Y and Z it's a it's kind of sparking conversation. It's sparking you know, I didn't know I was a mouth breather my whole life right? And this is the one that chaps my ass because there until I read the Brett book breath by James Messer. I didn't realize how bad mouth breathing was because it Listen, it's better than nothing. Breathing through your mouth is better than not breathing at all. Fair. Right, right. And I think back to like all the hospitals in the US, and this drives me crazy, because it just does. It's like a spirometer. I have like 17 of them in my house, because of all the times I've been to the hospital, you go to the hospital, get a free spirometer nobody has ever and I'm not blaming nurses, I never asked either. It's just like, it's in every hospital bed, whether you broke your foot, whether you're a woman giving birth, like it's a tool that is in front of every person that facilities in America, at least half nobody takes five minutes to just show you as a patient, how to properly use it, like they should, but they all ignore it. And we I did too. I just like I was like, I'll do my breathing. Okay, like, you know, I think we all do that, right? We're like, Oh, I'm breathing. I don't need to do my breathing exercises like definitely. Right, but I think my point, my point is, I think if somebody takes like five minutes and really sit with a patient, it says, Hey, this is this may seem stupid, but let's just sit here for 510 minutes, because I'm telling you, if you do this, and then you do a little bit more, it actually will work. Whereas I think the reality is, everybody just says, Did you do this? And the patient say, Yeah, sure. I mean, I would have I'm the only person that's ever lied. I doubt that highly. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah. Because you don't hear a lot of people talking about oh, the spirometer is the thing that changed my my journey. Have you ever heard anybody save this parameter? Or was the life changing event during the recovery? Yeah. Right. And I think I was probably lucky, because but yeah, I mean, I definitely used to be clear, I used it when I went back later, down the road for elective heart surgery, because I had my stroke was kind of heart race related, and they had to do some things. So it is a good tool. I just, I kind of wish that I knew. I almost wished instead of the spirometer they just put a copy of breath on everybody's like tray table at the hospital on day I hear your breathing actually makes sense. Yeah, yeah, the auto book is a good one, right? Yeah, cuz I switch to audiobooks when I had my stroke because I couldn't even hold a book so and no, I couldn't, I couldn't hold the thing. Imagine being six foot eight and then going into a wheelchair and both hands don't work. It's very surreal. Not to make it but well, because the stroke was the right side for me. And then the MS. The month later, the left side so I was a big hot mess. I was like a wet fish shadow water literally like, yeah, it was a it was something. Um, but yeah. I guess you know, I don't want to keep you too long today. But I do want to ask a couple more questions. For me, as a survivor, I know there are things that I've learned over the last couple of years, both about myself that like I guess, over the course of your career and the things you've seen one, what is one thing that you know, it's hard to boil that down to a word or a sentence but like if there was one thing two survivors that are going through this or maybe they're hopefully out of the acute phase that is kind of where I'm trying to come in is obviously not the initial but like real life after because I'm still pretty, pretty young by all accounts so you manage life and like we're just like a big tip or a thing that you've noticed. Yeah. That might be helpful to somebody out there kind of just going through this and I'm sure you do this on your show as well. But yeah, it's kind of like a I mean Right yeah. Right All right right Right Yeah, I think that's I like that a lot. I think that's something I've kind of learned honestly in my in my journey. You know, because I think I was a certain way before and honestly since the day I had my stroke, I think it's unfortunate, but I think when you have a stroke and you realize, after the very initial phase of it, you realize what is actually going to happen. What's happening. Yeah, you kind of immediate, at least for me, I immediately was like, okay, one I have to figure this out, too. Let's, let's be smart about things like, yeah, I say it now. It just took some time. It takes some time, that's for sure. When I put my head on the pillow every night, do I feel good about who I am? What have I accomplished? Like? Yes, of course, obviously, as a stroke survivor or anything, like you said, like anything in life is like, yeah. Yeah. Right. Like if I forgot to buy milk, it's not the end of the world. But you know, some people are not going to be happy in the morning. Yeah, exactly. Yes, yes. I've been telling myself. I know, I know, I'm working on this because I think I've talked about this to you. But I've also talked about it on the podcast, I think. I've gone from being addicted to different things in my life, particularly alcohol prior to my stroke. I'm very lucky that alcohol did not take my life and that I had the stroke and I just sort of goodbye alcohol, which worked for me doesn't work for everybody. It just to feel kind of thankful that I never had to go to the 12 step because it was like, my life's done. Like, don't need it. Don't want it. Don't care. Yet, but then now I filled my addiction with running, which is fine, but also, I can't get mad about it. But I'm like, yeah, do I need to like you just said, Do I need to run 26 miles? Every? Yeah. Last week, I only ran three marathons some a little like to elite. I know. It's ridiculous. But yeah, I That's a good one. I really liked that. I think, um, you know, I always encourage people to do that. Because it's like, I know, it is a lot. I think I could talk to you for 10 hours. A problem here is so many things. It's like no, no, no, it is because it's such a hard thing. And you've had such, you know, you have your own podcast, you've had a short, endless amounts of you know, I want to keep positive. Yeah, before we go, though, let's, let's wrap up with something a little bit more fun. Well, not that stroke isn't fun, but I certainly as I always say, I wish that I knew more than I did prior to and I wish things were different. Not that I'm I'm very much willing to be the person. Like if somebody has to take one for the team. I always say this to like, I'd rather I go through it than anybody else in my family. Honestly, I'd rather I go through it than anybody else I know or don't know that. If the buck stops with me, that would be great. I don't think I'm the end of stroke, unfortunately. But you know, it's there. I just, I do try to kind of not be an inspiration to people but I just do really want to show people that like you can be a certain way and hopefully if you are listening to this that means you're a survivor that means you get a second chance at life that's a big thing for me. I think a lot of survivors kind of at least the ones I know feel that way not everybody which is I think the unfortunate part but that is always a bummer is actually no one of those and it's that is that is a tough it's tough. That's the bet for me. Actually. I think it's tough because I feel Oh okay yeah yeah yeah yeah, that's, that's how I got into running I just wanted to like I was like I was no longer a cigarette smoker. I'm like, Oh, well I don't smoke cigarettes, I should just be breathing better. But I wasn't because I didn't realize you actually had to put effort into fixing your breathing like it wasn't bad but it could have I found out it could be better and then that started running and like I wasn't trying to lose weight I wasn't trying to do I was just trying to kind of consistently be a little healthier. I was really trying to listen to my doctors who are like, oh, you should run I was like, brother. Um, so at that point, it was well over 300 pounds. I was like you ever see a 300 pound plus six foot eight runner? Like, you hear that? A lot? No. Yeah, yeah, the Atari had to the guy that. I mean, they were saying this back when I was still in a wheelchair was like this. I've heard some things from some doctors and like, you know, I'm sitting in the wheelchair in your office. I guess they did. I mean, I'm the first one to one of my early adopters. But, you know, I use that as motivation. Honestly, he's like, he's like you. And he was giving me the honest truth. I think he just, it's hard to hear that the first week your stroke is like, I don't want to hear that. It's gonna take a while because I hear that all the time. It just takes time. And it does for everybody out there. He does. But now you're hearing it from a stroke survivor. Not a doctor who's walking around and he's two feet two feet doing fine. But yeah, so anything you know, just to wrap this up anything anything you're reading watching a could be stroke related doesn't have to be at all. I just read a book that I really enjoyed. I mean, I read a lot of books because I do it on Audible while multitasking. So I would love to hear any recommendations you have Oh Nice nice. I have yet to watch the last season because I'm in denial that last season so I keep waiting I don't even know because I watched I watched all of it and then I know I think seven might be separated and gallery. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great chat with us. Yeah yeah you know, I gotta say, I've never been to Kentucky, which is surprising because my daughter got into Kentucky and now I wish she went to Kentucky. She just didn't. At the time. Yeah. It's actually I've traveled around the world. I've never been to Kentucky and I thought about today because I was like, Oh, I'm talking to Rosa later. I was like, ah, because I was I was double checking that you're on east coast time because you tactically are on the east coast but your East Coast time and I was I was just wanting to see if there's five or six year time yeah yeah, it's certainly a possibility. Although I am trying to, you know, you brought up movie Days is the time of year where I would love to take a family vacation but during the holiday Is is super expensive and only not only do I not enjoy traveling after stroke I do not enjoy traveling by airplane primarily has something a lot to do with the six foot eight Parsh portion of it and then I have three kids and a wife whose death so you can imagine how much fun this will be at the airport oh no that's not that's not a big deal to me I'm used to that I used to drive from Miami to Jersey all the time when I was in college so what it was it was one road and it's straight up I 95 So didn't even have to do matters make it turn off the highway yeah so that's that's what starts to scare me is going off off the east coast i i know people from Kentucky I think I like Kentucky. I think I do well in Kentucky actually personally about Kentucky you you said something really interesting that I identified I heard this on your show but is Kentucky in fact the state with the most stroke or like is it was something about Kentucky and stroke like there seemed to be more strokes in that is wild because ah yeah, that's right, I would have thought more manual labor to in rural areas. But I guess what, it doesn't matter if you don't ton of you could do all the manual labor in the world. But if you're smoking and then sitting around 90% of the other time, it's yeah, it's probably a bad combination. Well, that is surprising giving given given the state of the states I wouldn't have necessarily guessed that I would. Yeah, hopefully. Yeah. Hopefully people will hopefully be able to hear stories from other people and just man I can't I cannot I cannot emphasize it enough and I'm sure you can either. It's like you've seen the bad good bad and ugly I've participated in the good bad and ugly and I I don't recommend it I recommend changing lifestyle before right right right right yep, yep yep. Yep. I have because I had it. Did you know I had it? Yeah. Yes, yes. I always encourage people, especially I've talked to friends who think they have sleep apnea. I'm like, go get that fix. Not only will you think the mask is annoying, but let me tell you, as somebody who's worn it, you wake up feeling refreshed, you feel alive, you feel better. I also, you know, I tried Chantix probably 1520 years ago when I was in or just out of college, and I really wish I had stuck with it because it worked pretty well. But at the time, there was no other option. Cigarette wise. I mean, I don't want to get into specifics about smokey obviously do what is best for you. But I think there are tools now that have been proven that yes, they're not great either. But there are options to weaning off things. And honestly, this is from a guy who never thought he'd stop smoking or drinking. I have stopped both. I regret doing both. I didn't even do it. Because I liked it. I just did it just because it became habit. And now, I also don't pressure people to stop smoking. But I'm just like, it's weird, because I never thought I'd stop. And it's, it was hard initially. But now when I smell smoke, I'm like, I want to, I'm back to the old way of like non smokers who smell smoke, like it is not pretty. It's gross. And I don't want to judge anybody, but like I because I for years, I swore I wouldn't stop. And I it had, I'm sure. I mean, I had a lot of things not working my favorite from my stroke. But you know, you can change but it's hard and you could wind up in a spot. That is much harder to get back to normal. You know, I look kind of normal, but trust me, I'm not normal by any stretch. Yeah. So you know, we had that. So our washing machine. Especially not with three kids. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, I do want to thank you for taking the time today, Rosa. Lots of good information. Lots of great things. I sure. You know, I'm sure we could talk again, I'm sure. I'd love to have you back. Many things we could talk about. There's so many things again, with stroke. It's an endless thing. from all perspectives, because, you know, one thing we didn't talk about today, just thinking off the top my head is like, caregiver support. Like, you know, there's a lot of, again, there's a lot of stuff, but if people don't know where to look, people aren't really talking about that much. It's just hard. Yeah, so again. Yep. Yep. Yeah, for sure. Yes. And I'll put all the links in all the links to your shows, both shows and all the social media so everybody can get that. I'll put that in the description. And yeah, thank you so much for being with us. And hopefully we'll talk soon. All right, bye. Just to wrap everything up on this episode 38 of global saw our broadcast. Just remember and everybody you can check out Rosa, on LinkedIn, you can check out neuroscience, northern neuroscience, Norton Neuroscience Institute in our new health care, pros, a heart on LinkedIn, lots of links and all the things will be in the show notes. So you just click it and go. But thanks again to our guests. Hope you guys found this episode valuable. We learned some things hope we had a good discussion. I hope there's more things we can learn in the future. And I just really want to thank Rosa again for being the first guest on this podcast and coming up with a couple of weeks we have a few more guests. So we'll go back back and forth between solo episodes and guests episodes that we're raising and having a good start to the holiday season. Hopefully you're going to if you're in the states are enjoying Thanksgiving this coming week. Hopefully you're enjoying loved ones around you. Now it is the holidays. Anyways, I'll be back next week with episode 39 of the podcast app. Live