75. Stroke Survivor Insights: What We Wish You Knew

In episode 75 of the Survivor Science podcast, I dive into the realities of life after stroke and what we as survivors wish others understood. From the invisible challenges like fatigue and the mental load of recovery to the misconceptions that still linger, this conversation is about creating a deeper understanding. I share lessons from my own recovery journey and highlight insights from others in the stroke community, including caregivers and those outside our circle. This episode is for survivors, caregivers, and anyone curious about the resilience it takes to navigate life after stroke.

It’s not just about sharing what makes recovery so demanding; it’s about helping others see what’s possible with the right mindset and support. Whether you’re a stroke survivor looking for validation or someone supporting a loved one, this episode offers a candid perspective on the struggles, the triumphs, and everything in between. Tune in for a real and honest conversation about what it means to live and thrive after stroke.

Hey there! If you’re a stroke survivor, caregiver, or someone navigating recovery, I want to invite you to check out The Center by Survivor Science. Head over to center.survivorscience.com and join a community that understands what you're going through.

And if you’re not quite ready to join, that’s okay! You can still access free resources at survivorscience.com 

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Transcript

0:07

Welcome back to another episode of survivor science. This is episode 75 and I am pumped up here as I am fresh out of the shower, not sorting through my hurry for a change. And if you are watching this, you're going to see. Me without a hat. That's right. I decided to. Take a break from the hat. I, uh, it's been getting on my nerves slightly. I've lost so much weight that none of my fitted hats fit anymore. So I'm taking a break and it would be beneficial probably for my forehead. If I took a break because I run with hats and I've got this cut on my head that I've had for almost a year now. And it's time to, uh, stop wearing hats when running. Let it heal up real quick, which is not going to be real quick because nothing ever heals quick when you're on blood thinners. Uh, that's a topic for another day. But, uh, yeah. Welcome to episode 75. I'm really pumped up. As you can tell fresh out of the shower. Uh, had a little break from phone calls. So yeah. This episode, I want to hop into, uh, the reality of life after stroke. But that's just the reality because we all live the reality day after day. And we know it's not easy. It's a, it's a lot. It's a lot of work. It's uh, sometimes I might make it look easy. I know some people make it look easy to me. And it's not. Um, but the reality is as a stroke survivor, we have to overcome a lot of challenges. A lot of different things. And I think in this episode, we're going to chat about some of the things that we as stroke survivors really wish people knew. Had a couple people reach out to me, suggest some things I'll bring them up. Uh, nobody wants to be named, so that's fine. But, yeah, there's a lot of different things to this episode. Obviously it's all for all the survivors out there. Caregivers, family members, anybody involved in the stroke community. But more so than that, I want to involve the people that are not strokes if I were just because God knows. I think every strokes are out there. We'll say this to you. Do everything you can to. Try not to be part of this club. This is the club that nobody welcome to the club that nobody ever wanted to be a part of shout out to. Alicia over at Sao. She's the one who said that at first. Uh, hopefully one day I'll get her on the podcast and I just, uh, I love when she said that, because obviously it resonated with me. This is a club that I never wanted it to be a part of. No offense. I think we can all agree. Um, Yeah, this is it's interesting journey. I'm not like mad about it, but I also could very much picture my life. The way it was prior to my stroke and that doesn't seem. Listen, it's not bad now, but it definitely wasn't that bad then. And, uh, Yeah, I think there's a lot of lessons to. To learn. Sorry, I got a runny nose. It's fun. It's cold here in Florida. I know it's a cold to anybody else in the world, but it's a. Whatever, um, Uh, nobody cares about my ma my runny nose, but it's annoying me. And, um, I record all these podcasts. Oh, we getting them all on YouTube this year for all the episodes and going through the back catalog. But anyways, The big topic, the main point of this episode, episode 75, which is kind of an, uh, You know, it's not a huge milestone, but it's a mile. So. And so what are some of the things we as stroke survivors want other non stroke survivors to know? I think a lot of us in the community as chokes, VARs, want to help other Shokes to ours because we know how hard this is. We know how difficult it is. And anything we can do to help. Lessen the load. Ease the burden. Um, whatever we can share, whatever you can glean from things that we can share, I think is super important. Listen, it's kind of like social media. It's always weird when people don't like things or people on heart things. That's free. Like. Why not share. What we already know. I mean, I'm not saying don't make money. I'm not saying don't, you know, sell your, your, your courses or. Whatever you do, don't sell like thousands. I mean. Do whatever you want. To be honest. Yeah. Like if you are an expert in something and you've really mastered in. Uh, field, I think you should sell a lot of that information, but you could also share a lot of it. No. Survivors science. I give a lot of things away for free people. Tell me all the time I should charge more money, this, that, and the other thing. And as you know, honestly, I probably should, but I also just want to do the thing, because if you don't start, you'll never start. Um, You know, but I've talked about that too. Sometimes we can get so far ahead that we, we forget to circle back and figure out yeah. You know, Whatever I love doing this podcast. I just want to share my story. Share. What I've learned, what other people learn, what, what people want to talk about in this stroke community? Because this is again, is a. It's a great club. I love being a member of the show community now, but I also could. Very much. Imagine my life prior to the stroke and it wasn't so bad, but I, again, I know how hard this is and I think we can all agree. It's hard on us sharing the information within the community is great. But I think more than that. What's picker this all like. It's really. Sharing with people who are not stroke survivors, because the. You don't. Again, I look back at my own story. Everybody's got a different take here, but I think it's, um, Looking back. I wish somebody had told me, I wish I'd known sooner. Hey Wil, you're doing a lot of things wrong. You've got a high blood pressure. You should stop smoking. Stopped drinking cut out the crap because otherwise. This is going to be what's happening. This is going to be what happens to you? Am I God, would I have. I mean, I think I would've listened to myself. I probably wouldn't have listened to myself, but I like to believe. Had I known how different life would be, how tough things are. And listen, they're better. But it could be easier. Um, I remember doing a Tik TOK video back in the fall with my son, when he was at football practice one day, I was like, when will walking? Or running ever feel. Normal again, because now I walk and that's great. I'm out of the wheels here. I've done a lot of work on that. I talked about that endlessly. We know how many thousands of miles I've run. Awesome. It's still doesn't feel normal. And what do I mean by normal? I mean, I mean, effortless, I mean, the way. Walking running or doing anything felt the majority of my life. Even now. Uh, day in and day, day out. I have to think about every single step. Where I'm stepping helm stepping. I notice it by stepping is off. I notice if. Things don't feel quite right. And it's, it's just constant and I'm sure there are some ways and some things I could do to. You know, work around that. I think running's probably honestly, I'll be, I'll be honest. Yeah. Like when I run, I probably don't think about it as much. But I think. It's just did. It's not going to go away. Uh, hopefully maybe one day I'll, I'll go so many miles on somebody's feet. On my feet. That it will feel that way. But I'll be honest again. Because that's what I do here. So reasonably, I think I talked about it last episode. Um, I stopped taking some B12 for my multiple sclerosis because I just ran out and I didn't think it was any big deal. And it, uh, anyways, got it back on the menu for my pillow locks. I have been ticky it I've been working on things. I'm doing some more strength, training and bike riding at the gym. And it does seem as though. M S is that fun thing that rears its ugly head at when it feels most convenient to Ms and a. Yeah, just to have it a little bit of drop foot on the right foot this week. Um, again, going to see some people. See what's up, make sure nothing is super wrong. Nothing feels wrong. It just annoys the crap out of me. Because why? Because I take all my vitamins, I take all my medicines, I do everything right. And Ms is like, nah, Eh, Oh shit. Well, Uh, I feel like you are going to have drop foot for a week. Hopefully, this is temporary. Uh, my suspicion is that my body is still kind of. Getting back on track with getting the B12 back in the body. Anyways, long story short, that's just part of life. Um, And we deal with things as they come. A lot of interesting conversations today and yesterday and later today. But, uh, and more on that. On Friday when we recap kind of the week, but, um, okay. So let's focus on this show. I'm sorry. I'm all over the place. Maybe. Maybe I shouldn't shower before podcasts. Cause I'm on fire and all over the place. So, what are the, some of the things that we as stroke survivors generally wished people knew, you know, I, I, I think this is a broad topic. We could probably do multiple episodes in this. Uh, a lot of people said fatigue. I agree. Yes. But I feel like this one's been beaten over the head, but maybe not. It's not about needing naps. I think. What I'd really want people to know is that stroke is a brain injury. If you're not familiar with stroke, I highly recommend getting up to speed on stroke because God knows. You don't want to have one, if you can avoid it, obviously not all. It's not avoidable in every single case, but the more I talk to people, the more I learn. Whether it's, you know, some women I've met have had stroke because they were on birth control because they had a kid like that. That just seems unfair. Um, There's some people who seemingly have it for no reason that were in great shape that were runners like eat healthy, exercised. And then just had like some random thing happen. Um, That. Those are kind of like, that's kind of the 20%, right. Then you take the 80%. So they say. Of people like myself. I was drinking. I was smoking. I was, I had hypertension. I had so many things wrong with me. That's probably why I've. So over-corrected over the last five years. I was doing absolutely everything wrong. Again, smoking. I had undiagnosed CLPD. I had sleep apnea, had no freaking idea because my wife is deaf and oh, my kids just didn't mention it. And, um, you know, again, just, I D I was doing a lot. My diet was crap. Like wasn't a care care, my body, I wasn't resting. I wasn't sleeping. I wasn't doing any of the things you need to do. So to circle back to fatigue, my body and my brain were just ready to explode, including my heart, because. I didn't slow down and, you know, fatigue is a real thing for a lot of stroke survivors. I. Still can't slow down because the way I battle fatigue, I definitely had fatigue year one and year two. There's. Absolutely unequivocally year one. Almost every stroke survivor I've met has some sort of fatigue, at least in year one. Why because your brain needs to recover, it needs to heal. You've got to start to learn how to adapt to whatever situation deficits you're left with after being diagnosed and having a stroke. You just need time to heal. Again, The brain is like the major. Piece of the equation. If your brain is not in good shape, you're probably not going to be in good shape physically, mentally, or emotionally. So that. That healing that needing a nap. That's you call whatever you want, but the brain needs time to heal. It's just, it's just science. Like so, you know, yes, there's going to be some fatigue. You're going to be overstimulated. You're going to have a lot of things coming at you. A lot to deal with. Fatigue. Is broad, but yes, every stroke survivor is going to be exhausted, tired, and need time to heal. The mental load of recovery. That's part of fatigue. Again, this goes to the invisible battles. We fight, like there's a lot of physical disabilities. Some things don't kick in right away. Sometimes people like myself, try to do everything in a year. One that also is not wise. So, yeah, these are some of the, just, just a few of the things that we're touching on today, but it's, um, You know, I. Uh, probably to my detriment. I'm one of those people, like I wasn't, I don't know. I had an old strip, my stroke out. Was that a weird time? It was right before COVID so. By the time I came out of inpatient, I, and I went back in for the EMS, came out of inpatient the second time. That was when COVID happened. And so I don't have a real clear indication if my experience, I'm assuming it wasn't normal. But I would go out a little bit, but nobody was really out. So it was a little easier for me to fake a smile going through the store on the wheelchair, in the wheelchair cart thing. That I never thought I'd have to use. But, yeah, there's so many invisible battles that we as stroke survivors are facing. It's, it's hard to explain to people, but I think the best way. That I can explain. It is like, Or the best example rather is that when I had my stroke, I went into the hospital. Before I had my stroke. I walked in on two feet at 530 pounds into the hospital. You know, they. Brought me back. They caught the AFib. On the heart monitor while they were checking my, all my, my, my vitals before they. And the lucky if he caught the AFib. That's why they admitted me. At that point I went in, I have. I eventually wound up having this stroke while in the hospital. They didn't catch it. Long story short didn't know about TPA. Didn't get tip TPA. Um, But the explanation, the point I was trying to make is here. I walked into the hospital December, 2019. Less than five days later. It would be another 18 months before I'd walk again. And at that point, I didn't know if I'd ever be able to walk again and that's just. That alone. To go from literally pretend you go into a hospital on a Friday. You wake up on a Saturday. And you can't walk. Like that's weird. So, if you can wrap your head around that you can wrap your head around like, That's one of the many pieces that a stroke survivor goes through when having a stroke. And that gives you some perspective probably. Think how weird about that will be for you. If you're somebody who does, you know, you currently walk, you. You've not had a stroke. But, you know, somebody who's had a stroke. Think about how weird that is too. Walk into a hospital. 24 hours later. You can't walk. You could barely talk. I couldn't move my hand. The way I went in, not in great shape, mind you, but I was still cognitively well, could speak everything was on fire. Like. You know, other than the fact that it was 500. 30 pounds. Other than the fact that I was 1,230 pounds, you would not have been able to tell that there was much wrong with me. Fast forward 24 hours later. I'm in a hospital bed. I can't talk. I can't write, I can't read. I still can't write. I couldn't go to the restroom. I couldn't go to the bathroom. Like. Nothing. That's weird. That is. Stroke in a nutshell. You know, the other thing I get a lot and people are like, oh, how are you doing? I'm doing good, man. I put a lot of work into this. I work really hard, but like, Listen, you can work as hard as you want on stroke, but sometimes stroke. Multiple years out. I'm not going to say stroke always wins, but like, You're never done recovering. If that makes sense. Like. It's it's gotten easier over the years as I put more work in, it's all compounded, but like, I still can't write like, I can't, I can write, but I can't write like the way I want to, certainly not the way I used to, not that day that I went into the hospital. Certainly not like that. Not December of 2019. When I was sitting on the other side of the room, looking out the window. Behind the computer working for, you know, a big web web agency, you know, in my previous career. Doodling in a notebook now I'm not right like that yet. Uh, and we're five years out. So. You know, it's a. It's hard. It's challenging. There's there's a lot to it. And I had some notes and I don't like the notes that I wrote down. So let me think about this for a minute. I'm going to take a quick pause. And just think what are some more. Things. I mean, I really, honestly, as a stroke survivor, who's putting in a lot of work. Almost every day for the last five years. I don't think people appreciate how much work it takes to. Get to, uh, um, And I'm only using myself as an example because. I don't want to mention anybody individually. I'm not having a guest on this, this, this episode. So it was just me. You know, it's. To be 530 pounds. And to now, B. Less than 250 pounds does that means I've lost myself. In body weight. More than myself. You know, I made a joke. Months ago. At 530 pounds, it was like Jason, Kelsey, Asia's brother, Travis, Kelsey. And then, you know, And now I'm just down to Travis, his size and probably a little under, so that, that in itself is a lot of work. And. I said the last, last episode or last week. I don't think as a, as, as. Somebody who had a stroke with a bit of a heart thing. Uh, it was not a heart attack, but my heart was obviously under significant stress to have a stroke part B part of that. I had a fib, you know, that's. Uh, Sort of misfiring. Uh, out of balance arrhythmia and you're in. In your, in your heart, basically a yard is not in sinus rhythm. It is now. That, that was probably, you know, when that, when I got it back in rhythm, a couple of years after the stroke, that's probably what helped a lot of my mobility. And really pressing on and getting back into the gym though, I wanted to. But this is not easy. This is not easy. I can't iterate. I can't reiterate that enough. The strokes whoever's out there, know this, but it's just, it's hard. You know, there's, there's a lot of struggles. There's there's work. There's family. There's like I had this discussion with somebody today. And they're like, oh, how do you say so motivated? I mean, man, I got three kids. Away. Uh, family. My parents had passed the year before my stroke. Like there. I don't know. I mean, I have friends, but the nobody's coming to save me. And I don't know, there are two choices either I quit, which I'm not really into, or, or I push forward and I figure it out. And again, But there with that, it should be said there are a lot of emotional weights, um, that come with it. There are a lot of internal struggles and battles. There's ego. You know, which I talked about a bunch and I think a lot of stroke survivors have where, you know, you just kind of think, oh, I'll just pop back to the way I was or. You know, I still struggle with this. It's it's it's. There are challenges. Um, I was always used to doing everything kind of. Because I could, because I wanted to, because it was faster. And. Each day I'm reminded that a. As far as I've come and I certainly could get further. There are limitations. I can cognitively keep up with the best of them. I. I can probably keep up with most, if not. The majority. Um, But there are, there are speeds that certain things I can't do to speed that. I used to be able to do, like, whether it's speaking, you. Most people would say I speak pretty clearly. Obviously I'm a little tired today. As I'm recording this, but generally speaking, most people can not even tell I've had a stroke. Which is good again, that's good for me because that means putting in the work it's paying off. Great. Also very much not helpful. Because again, all this work put into it is, is a. Is challenging and stroke is relentless. And again, I know I'm repeating myself. I have terrible notes for this, this, um, This episode, I wanted a bunch of rabbit Q and a things I think. You know, Again, it's a club. Nobody wants to head. I mean, it's great to be part of the club now, but it's, it's really not one I recommend joining. I recommend figuring out your. Your whatever, whether it's discuss, um, some kind of demons, whether it's, um, weight loss, whether it's food, whether you're struggling with a lot of things, whatever you can do. To give yourself the best chance to never be a part of this club. I highly recommend. Because if you or somebody, you know, Uh, has had a stroke. No, it is challenging. And again, I don't think Eddie's strokes who are out there is looking for pity. Um, it's more just about understanding, like, There's a difference between sympathy and empathy and, you know, It's hard. It's hard for everybody to get on the same page. It's it's it's just. You know, Uh, if somebody seems like they want to talk, talk, you know, if somebody says, oh, I had a stroke and they don't say anything else, let them be, um, I think a lot of things, you know, what's discouraging to me is I think. I think of this. In the context of be me, right. I'm now in my forties. Going back to school for an MBA. And really wanting to join. You know, I love what I do with survivor science and, but I'd really want to be a part of an organization and team again, right. Because my kids are a little older. I've worked really hard on my body and my brain. I feel sharp. I feel like I could do anything. And I still think sometimes people see in my bio or in my headline or on my social media. Oh stroke survivor. And they, they, they sort of conjure up these things of what I am or who I am. And yes, I'm also the loud mouth, the podcasts or the. Somebody trying to bring awareness to stroke and stroke awareness and build a community and build something that doesn't currently exist. And you know, that slow going. And so. People will make judgements or they just make assumptions more likely. And it's just like, you know, I gotta be honest. I love a challenge and I welcome anybody to give you. I've heard it said before. A number of people have seen me move and do things. They're like, they're like, you're moving faster to me and I didn't even have a stroke and I definitely didn't have a stroke and have. So. It's just interesting to me, because again, I know if I'm facing these challenges. I got to imagine other survivors is facing similar upheld battle on the regular. Um, And I think it's important cause strokes two hours. Yeah. There are many different types of stroke survivors, too. Right? There's many different types of strokes as you've likely heard. Um, hemorrhagic, ischemic, uh, AVM. There are all suck. If I'm being honest. Um, And it doesn't mean stroke survivors, no longer have goals or dreams or ambitions. I think a lot of us do. I think many of us do. But there are two camps. There are the Debbie downer camps and there are those that are trying to get after it and do things and help. And whether it's helping other survivors helping themselves like. Even as strokes are just able to help themselves and get back to work and do things and all these things like that's helping, that's helping society. That's helping motivate, that's helping show other people what's possible. Yeah, it's just, it's it's really interesting to me. Um, So, uh, let's see if there's anything else that pops off for me. We talked about emotions. I mean, Again, this is, this has kind of. I wanted to plan a better episode for episode 75, but I feel like, I think some of the big takeaways are like, you're never done recovering as a stroke survivor, and that's an important message. For Schuster overs, non chokes. Folks survivors. Caregivers, family members, friends dammit my hands all over the place. The invisible battles. You just it's, it's really hard to know. And. Listen, this, this again is both sides. It's it's, it's the survivor's side, but it's also the other side. We need some understanding and some empathy. And it's always a balance and it's working things out. You know, because you can't imagine how hard this is, unless you've actually been through it. Again, I referenced the walking into the hospital one day and the next day. Paralyzed. Like that is a. Bizarre. Feeling that I can't. Really even articulate to the level it deserves, but it is like, Beyond bizarre. I mean. Uh, I don't want to say the wrong thing here, but. There are similar instances. Perhaps, like if you think about veterans, which we've talked about before with PTSD and. Soldiers who have gone off to war one day, things are fine. And the next it's chaos like that is. Very much what stroke is like. I just can't reiterate that enough. I can be. Again, I think, I think a big thing too, is a lot of stroke survivors, you know? I'm a little proactive. I'm pretty loud. I'm pretty big. Unfortunate to be that way. So people don't say these things to me. But they might say I'm just somebody else. Um, The the. People who. Some people may perceive to be, um, not as sharp as you think they are. They might vary. It could be, they might not be. But the better chances they have some sort of aphasia. A speeds. Um, A speech. Related, uh, deficit as a result of stroke. You know, it's, it's, it's not quite as easy for stroke survivors. Including myself who talks all the time. Um, To get the words out that I say, you know, Think about brain fart, we all know what a brain fart is. Uh, But that's stroke on a daily basis versus a once in a while thing. Sometimes it's just harder. It's not harder to process. It's just harder to process as quickly, I think. And everybody again is different. There are plenty of trucks, drivers that have full processing speed. Some even better than before stroke. Um, You know, but if you're looking for. A stroke survivor to have excellent. Perfect clear speech throughout the day. That is going to be rare, not a possible, but it just takes a moment. Um, you know, some people like myself, I used to be great at speaking off the cuff on the fly. Didn't need to warm up. Didn't have any breathing issues. Um, Yeah, it's just, things are different. And I think we want more people outside the community to understand. We're we're more than capable. I mean, if, if you're shucks over and you're up and walking in your. Doing certain things like, yeah. It's always a balance. Um, you might have slight things that you need help with here and there. Like maybe a hand, like I still hate button down shirts because I hate doing buttons. I could do a lot of things, but I. You know, my desire to button a shirt is pretty low. She did it on the list. Again, it's handwriting and buttoning buttons are probably my two lowest and two weakest. Things left, but there are plenty of other things I can do. Um, So, yeah, it can be discouraging sometimes because I feel like even myself I'm fighting battles against, uh, just society or. What people think, you know, and maybe it's my own fault. Um, who knows. But really, yeah, really like. I think one, a good way of describing this, that recovery recovery has never done. You can get a lot, lot better. I think we've seen that with guests on this show, we've seen that. You know, Myself. I feel a lot better. I feel amazing. Honestly, I feel better than I felt in my twenties and thirties. And, um, Yeah, but there are changes, then things are different. And I think. Even five years out and hopefully not. Too much longer. But for the foreseeable future stroke is like the goalposts moving every single week, which is fun. Sure, but also frustrating. Um, Let's see. Yeah, I know this episode. I tried to squeeze this in, in between calls today. And I. I thought I had much better notes in front of me. I took a bunch of notes yesterday and I either had misplaced them or, or. Whatever, but it had a whole bunch of things that people want to talk about. And, um, hopefully we touched on a lot of them. I think we did. Again, talking about stroke every each and every week, three, three times a week on podcasts. I tend to repeat myself, but I'm sure not everybody's catching every minute of every episode. So I think it's super important to talk about. We'll talk about it many more times. Uh, coming up, uh, I got a couple of new guests on the docket for the coming weeks, but another really fantastic stroke server just today, really looking forward to have a conversation with him, he actually has. Like me, he's not just a stroke survivor. He has, um, not, he does not have an S he has, um, I don't want to give it away. He has something else that is, is in the similar family. He's had that for about 15 years, give or take, and now he's had, um, I don't think that they're directly correlated to is, is, is longer-term thing. As that. We'll ask him on the show because he. He's had a couple of strokes now, uh, older gentlemen, but very sharp, very fed, uh, really excited to talk to him. Had a great call today. I really enjoyed talking to him. Funny too. Cause he's, he's, he's done some similar things that the cat, a podcast about his thing previously years ago. The stroke sort of, kind of. The first one was fine for my gathering. The second one was okay. Unfortunately, he didn't just have one because as we all know, For a variety of reasons you might have more than one stroke. Um, I am fingers crossed hopefully only going to ever have that one. But, you know, Never say, never knock on wood. Uh, but that's my hope is that, uh, it's one and a one and done is my hope. I. I'm hoping Ms. As the. The other thing that I get to deal with forever, which is fun. Um, But yeah. Uh, let's see. So that'll be really fun. That's coming up, uh, later in the month. So Friday we'll be in those solo episode. We'll recap the week got a couple more calls today and tomorrow. I'm sure. I'll have a lot of fun things to bring on Friday. So that's really good. If you think of anything that I didn't talk about today that you want me to do. Mention, uh, on Friday's episode or bring back up on another episode. That would be great. Share that with me. Let me know. But yeah. Uh, I guess, you know, what's the one thing that you wish people stopped saying to you? Cause I know, I wish everybody was out talking to me. Uh, not stroke survivors and not the stroke community, but generally the people outside. I mean, I meet a lot of nice people. A lot of people that actually are. You know, They like to check in. They want to check in because I've talked to them. Cause I've. Connected with them on a personal level within the neighborhood within. You know, my, my general community where I live. That's all fine. What I really don't want to do is. I don't want to answer questions for people that really don't know me. Don't care. I dunno. I, I know it sounds a little weird, but I like talking to people. If they're curious about stroke, if. You know, they've seen me or they've heard my story or they know something about it. Always happy to answer a question, but I just meant like the people that. That try to pretend to be polite. And they, they want to pretend like they care, but they don't give a shit. Those who I'm tired talking to. So, um, Yeah. Again, what's the weirdest thing or, or, or one of the things that you wish people stopped saying to you and, you know, what's one of the most. Uh, surprising things. That's helped you recover. Something to think about for the week. Let me know on social. A if you've got a good answer, you want Bergen up on Friday's episode? I definitely do that. I am super tired. I'm talking today. So I'm exhausted. Uh, But I hope you enjoyed episode 75 of the podcast. Uh, I know I did. I know. Uh, I'll be back again Friday. To wrap up the week and I hope you're having a great start to your January of 2025. Don't forget. Check out survivors sides, the website, sign up for the newsletter. Sign up for the blog. Uh, if you're interested, check out the community, I still have that special going on right now. Uh, big news, big news. If you're listening and you made it all the way to the end, I'm thinking about doing a little Facebook group. Despite my best intentions. So we'll see that my pop up here in the next couple of days, um, Okay. So our science.com podcast. To Riverside and it's dot com to go get previous episodes or wherever you get your favorite podcast and a. Yeah, go check in on yourself. Have a great rest of your Wednesday. And I will see you back here on Friday. All right.