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Transcript

13: What to Expect in Season 2 · Still Caring

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Abby Fox (Intro): Welcome to the Still Caring Podcast,
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presented by Stillwater Medical.
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Joe Akin (Intro): Here, community is at the heart of healthcare.
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Katon Lunsford (Intro): Through honest conversations and shared experiences
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Abby Fox (Intro): we explore what it means to care for our health—
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Joe Akin (Intro): and each other.
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Katon Lunsford (Intro): Because better health takes a village
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and you're part of ours.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Hello and welcome to another episode of Still Caring.
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My name is Abby Fox, and I'm the PR and marketing manager here.
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And I'm joined by my co-hosts, Katon Lunsford and Joe Akin.
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Thank you guys for being here today.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Oh, we're happy to be here.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Thanks for having us.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): I introed us like this is just another episode, but it's not.
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This is the start of season two.
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We made it.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): We did.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Season two already.
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Yeah, it feels really good to be here and to have been able to share
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some of the episode with all of our listeners, all of you all out
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there, and hear their feedback.
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It's been great.
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Have you guys enjoyed it too?
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Yeah.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Oh, I've had a great time.
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Getting to talk to people in our community about their stories
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is just so much fun for me.
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And it's rewarding, and at the same time, it helps me learn, which I
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think, you know, as I'm getting up there in age, it helps to know more.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Distinguished.
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You know, _____ distinguished these days.
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That's so great.
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Well, and what has been really fun is, like, taking a moment to step
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back and kind of reflect on, like, what did we learn from season one?
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Your dream, Joe, of us being around a coffee table for season two.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): It's come true.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): It has happened.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): I'm telling you.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): So, that feels good
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to be having these conversations in more real-life settings too.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Well, and I think the thing is that us having this
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setting and having these conversations like this really is kind of modeling
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what we hope people take away from it.
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It's taking the healthcare conversations and making it a coffee table topic.
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Where right now, a lot of people just keep their healthcare discussions
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to themselves, or maybe at home.
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But I think we all believe that they're more impactful if you're
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having these discussions out in public with your friends and talking
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about these different stories.
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And really, that's why we've chosen the people that we've chosen to work with.
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So, they're people that know people.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Yeah.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): And because people know them, they're more likely to
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say, "Hey, did you hear that story about this person or that person?"
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And it makes it more relatable.
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Yeah.
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And then you can have these open conversations.
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And that's what we need, that's what we have to have.
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With everything that's going on in healthcare right now,
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this is a way of creating preventative measures, if you will.
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Because education is power, and we need people to be empowered.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Stickier when there's a person tied to it.
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And we know that there's a story and we see that context because
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sometimes it's, like, easy to get bombarded with, like, all the things
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we should be doing for our health.
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But when it's a story that you can remember and connect to, it
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resonates so much more in your day-to-day, I think, for sure.
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Well, we wanted to give people a preview about what's coming in season two.
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So, Katon and I were sitting down and talking through, "Okay, if there's
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a theme, what would the theme be?"
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So, Katon, do you want to share kind of the theme of season two as
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we've kind of identified it so far?
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We're about halfway in to filming episodes.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): So far, we think our theme for this season's
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going to be about, you know, how do we prepare for the unexpected?
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A lot of our healthcare stories aren't always something that we're planning for.
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And so, what do we do when, you know, life happens and we're in this new healthcare,
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it feels like a crisis sometimes.
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And how do we navigate that?
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And then, looking onwards from that, how do we tell our stories and, like,
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reflect back on that and use those as lessons to teach our community.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): I love that.
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And I love how it just kind of emerges.
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You know, there were several different threads we kind of could have pulled
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on for a theme, but that seemed to be the most persistent and the most
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consistent with each one of these stories that we have coming up this season.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Yeah.
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Because if you think about your own lives, rarely is something healthcare-related,
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something you need to get taken care of, rarely is it expected.
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It's not just, "Hey, you know, in a couple years, I think I'm going to throw
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my shoulder out and go get it replaced."
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You know, it's never like that.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): We didn't plan for that.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): And heart attacks, and I think we'll end up talking
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more about those types of situations.
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You don't plan for those things.
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But you can plan for them, you know, in a forethought way, and you
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can do things from a preventative perspective, which I think is
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really the goal of this whole thing.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Yes.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Absolutely.
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Yeah.
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And I'm just thinking of different things that stood out to me from some
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of the conversations that we had filming the first half of the season so far.
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And it's all of those types of things.
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I was thinking through and really just my heart was such, so touched
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by a family that I met, the Cabreras, and they were talking about how she
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had had a very normal pregnancy.
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And so, they didn't expect that when they had their son Julian, that they
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would be dealing with cerebral palsy.
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And so, what does that look like navigating the system and feeling
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like they were alone in that?
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And so, the fact that they were able to move here to Stillwater and get a
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community that was helping them through that, it just feels a lot easier.
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Like, you can handle it if you know somebody who's been through this or
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if somebody knows the person to call or knows the organization that has
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the grant, you know, and can make that connection for you just makes
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life so much better in the future.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Yeah.
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I talked to Dr.
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Linda Burks.
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And she has a book out, and it's about emotionally dealing with mentally
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dealing with transitions in your life.
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So, like, the family that you're talking about that whole thing, one,
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unexpected; two, it created a transition.
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They had to transition from the way life was to how life is going to
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be, and part of that was moving.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Yeah.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): And so, I think that in talking to Dr.
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Burks, it really resonated with me because at my age, the number of transitions
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that I've gone through, that our family has gone through, you realize, "Wow,
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I didn't do so well in that one."
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I really wasn't thinking through it.
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I reacted more than I thought.
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And it really made me step back and look at, okay, what other transitions
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might be coming, unexpected things.
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Can you plan for them?
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Where do you go?
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I really enjoyed talking to Dr.
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Burks.
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I think that people are really going to enjoy hearing what she has to say.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): I can't wait for that one.
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I haven't listened to that one.
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Katon Lunsford: I know, I haven't gotten either.
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That's awesome.
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I think like from the transition point, a lot of our healthcare
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stories are about it's one moment, and then it's what comes after that.
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And I really enjoyed Stacey Frazier's conversation with us, where she talked
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a lot about where she had one thing that was not normal, and it took a year
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and a half almost to figure out what the root cause of that problem was.
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And a lot of times for us, our health isn't just a
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temporary, you know, Band-Aid.
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It's something that's going to take many years or months to figure out.
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And so, I thought I learned a lot about resilience from her of how she, you know,
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just advocated for herself and wanted to find out what the answer was for
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her own health, because it's important to know what's going on in our bodies.
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Like Joe said, education is power.
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So, I think a lot of times those transitions are really important, because
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that's the rest of your life ahead of you.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Well, and I don't know that we specifically addressed this in
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any of our discussions, but thinking about Stacey as you were saying that, it's
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also about learning to listen to your own body because it's talking to you
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all the time in one way, shape, or form.
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And a lot of times, I don't know how women are, men—
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): don't say, Joe?
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Abby Fox (Host 1): The fact that you know that is great, Joe.
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This is good.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Men, I can tell you, we tend to ignore it as long as
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we can, for whatever reason it is.
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In some cases, we think it'll just go away.
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I mean, we're not the brightest sometimes.
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But listening to what your body is telling you so that you can potentially address it
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before it becomes something more serious, I think that's incredibly important.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Yes.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Yeah.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Again, kind of the point of this whole thing.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Right.
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Well, and it's reminding me of the conversation I had with Lance Walker.
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He is with the Human Performance and Nutrition Research Institute at OSU.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): That's a mouthful.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): I know.
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I got it out.
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I got it out.
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But anyway, I sat down with him and Zach Collett, who is
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a sports therapy and physical therapist trainer at Total Health.
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And I thought I wouldn't be able to relate much to their advice
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because, I mean, professional sports is not something I have ever done.
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But so much of what we talked about were the basic building blocks
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of, like, getting enough sleep, how do you foster resilience?
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And their answer was, you know, you do these basic things.
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You kind of lay this foundation so that way when the unexpected
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comes, you're ready for it.
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And then, two, one thing they pointed out to me was, like, top athletes,
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they're not planning to be comfortable.
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They are always putting themselves in spaces of discomfort.
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And so, taking it to the next level and figuring out what's what.
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And so, I was thinking about that in my personal health of, like, okay,
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how am I kind of challenging myself to grow and evolve with every season?
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Because as your body changes as you age, you know, you're like,
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"What is even possible for me now?"
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And sometimes it's easy to say, "Oh, I'm going to release that.
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That was an old season."
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But, two, what are the opportunities that are present to me today?
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And how can I lean into that and continue to get better and healthier?
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Yeah.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): I think figuring out how to continually challenge
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yourself to improve is a key part of just keeping your mind fresh.
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And I tell you, as you get older, and I say that, as I'm saying it, I'm also
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thinking, you know, I've known some people who aren't that much older that
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are dealing with mental health issues.
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And this kind of goes back to the Linda Burks thing and trying to
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figure out how to work through these different transitions.
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One of the guests that we'll be bringing in works at one of the
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retirement communities, and her whole job is about dealing with transitions.
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And I think that by the time people get into her facility, the
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speed of the transitions increase.
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And then, you're not just dealing with that individual's transitions, but the
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people associated with that individual.
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Everybody's going through different things.
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And those are all mental challenges.
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But on the flip side, as an individual, as you guys start growing up, it's
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continuing to keep that brain fresh by challenging yourself in different areas.
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So, it's a fun season.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): You know, there are some things that are unexpected,
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and then there are some things that should be expected but we
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just don't want to think about it.
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And we just don't want to go there.
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Sometimes I can kind of tend toward I'd rather not think about that bad
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thing that might happen or the end of my life that might be coming.
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But there's so much opportunity that you miss out on, that really you could if
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you were just brave enough to address it.
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You could tackle that together with your support system.
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Katon Lunsford: The more we practice that in making like taboo conversations
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feel less—you know, they're kind of hard and it feels embarrassing to have to go
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through certain transitions or, you know, deal with some kind of health issue.
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But the more that we talk about that, the more our community gets to
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improve and grow and be healthier.
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And so, I think that's a great point that sometimes it feels scary to think
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about that and talk about that, but it's important because it helps prepare us,
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but it helps prepare people around us too.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Absolutely.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Yeah.
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One of the interviews is with local radio host, Steve Daniels.
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I think you've both met him.
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Great guy, good friend, but he had a heart attack, and he's about my age.
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And one, I immediately thought about him, you know, making sure that he's okay.
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But my second thought was, "Wow, that could be me."
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And there's a bit of, I don't know, you step back a little bit
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and you start going, "Okay, what do I need to do differently?"
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And from having…
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How do I say this?
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Trying to have these types of conversations with people, especially,
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here again, especially for men, to go out and say, "Yeah, I'm at the age now
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where I could end up having a heart attack," where 10 years ago, I would
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have never had that conversation.
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And it's really eye-opening to be in that position where you're going, "Okay, I had
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a friend die of a heart attack a year ago.
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Now, I had another…"—Well,
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not a year ago, it's just a few months back—had another one that had a
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heart attack a week or two later, and all of a sudden you're going, "I
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really need to be thinking about this."
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Because my wife, when I'm doing work outside or something,
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she says, "Hey, don't forget, you know, you're older now."
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Abby Fox (Host 1): You got ______ wow.
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Why not?
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Joe Akin (Host 2): And I'm What are you talking about?
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I'm fine."
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And until you're not.
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And I think that's the whole thing, it's that get your head right
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before it's until you're not.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Yeah.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Yes.
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Yeah.
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And expectations is a whole thing too, which is what I talked with, you
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know, the physical trainers about.
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I'm like, "Sometimes we just want results right now."
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And so, changing your mindset to like what am I capable of right now?
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Getting that real time information from your own body of like how is this going?
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And then, adapting and living within the reality that you
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find yourself in, think, is key.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): But that goes back to that listening, paying attention
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to what your body is telling you.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Yeah.
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And doing something with it.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Yes.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Right.
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Oh, I was talking a lot.
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"Shut up."
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Abby Fox (Host 1): "Be quiet, I got to finish that."
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Yeah.
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Yeah
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Joe Akin (Host 2): I got to tell you, I am excited about one other
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guest that I'm going to let it be a surprise because it is very surprising.
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This individual's story is something that really kind of caught me off guard.
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It isn't the norm, and that's why I think it's so important to have this
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person come out and talk about it because I think it is going to open up
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a bunch of people's—a bunch of eyes.
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They're going, "Wow, that could be me.
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At a time in my life, I would have never thought it could be me."
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So, I'm excited about that one, but really this, the whole season
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I think is going to play out well.
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And having been through the first season, I think we all feel better about what
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we're doing, how we're doing it, have a better grasp on why we're doing it.
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And I do think everybody's going to enjoy it a lot.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Absolutely.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): I Agree.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Can't wait.
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Oh, thank you guys for being in this with us.
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This has been a fun one so far.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Of course.
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Katon Lunsford: Yeah, it's been really fun.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): And I can't wait to see what the rest of the season
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will bring, because we're only halfway in as far as filming goes.
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So, okay, before we depart, we got to end with our challenge to care.
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As always, do you guys have a challenge to care for the listeners today?
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For me, I've been talking about this a lot to people, Because
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we have a lot of negative things happening in healthcare right now.
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We've got a lot of funding cutbacks that are going to impact hundreds
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of thousands, millions of people potentially around the country.
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And I just want to encourage people as much as I can to have
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empathy for those around you.
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It not only about me, it's about you and it's about us.
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the more we can think about other people and how do we help you
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take care of yourself by having conversations like these, the better
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off we're going to be as a society.
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And I think that that is the key, is have empathy for others because
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one of these days it could be you.
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So, why wait until it is you to start going, "Oh, well, you know,
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so and so was going through that.
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I should have been there for them."
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Right.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Don't wait for that.
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You know, be there now.
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Have those conversations now.
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Care about your fellow man.
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And it's going to make all of us better.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): That's right.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): But yeah, I challenge everybody to have more
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empathy for the people around them.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): I love that.
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Joe Akin (Host 2): Yeah, I agree.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Well, I'm going to tag on.
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We're saving you for last, Katon.
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I wanted to tag on, because what I think as far as a challenge to care
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is just a challenge to share, really, because that's what I have found.
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Especially even as we've been on a break for this podcast, to watch
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different people kind of discover these conversations that were filmed
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a while ago but are still there, and then be able to share them with others,
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I think that's a really key thing.
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So, whether that's, you know, sharing a moving story that you heard, a
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podcast episode that you listened to, or just sharing something that you
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feel called to share on your heart or your own health experience, I think
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that's how we become better, is we just start that dialogue and open the door.
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Have a little bit of vulnerability to put something out there
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and see what comes back.
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Katon Lunsford: Yeah, I like that.
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Going off of both of them, I guess, like the advocation and the empathy and
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then having vulnerability for yourself, it's really important that you advocate
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for yourself and you listen to your body and then you do something with it.
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It's important to get, you know, not just your yearly checkups, but it's
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not taboo or embarrassing to have something that you're struggling with,
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whether it's physically seen or it's not something that people can see.
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It's really important that we take charge of our health because you're important
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and your life matters, and it's important that you take charge of that so you can
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have a full and happy and healthy life.
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So, that's just mine, is to take charge of your health and, you know, listen
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to your body and do something with it.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): We can all do that.
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Katon Lunsford (Host 3): Yes.
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Abby Fox (Host 1): Well, thanks guys for being here.
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We can't wait to share season two with all of you.
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Thanks for listening and watching, and we'll see you soon.