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The HEAT IS ON!! · The QuadCast

• John McAleavey: Hello again and welcome to the Now Four Men and an SCI podcast. I'm John McAlevy, joined as always by Barry Monroe, Sasha Rabchevsky, and our newest knight at the round table, Dr. Trevor Dyson Hudson, is joining us. And before we get rolling, boys, I wanted to just say that ⁓ I had an opportunity. You don't really have an opportunity to get to to meet some of your idols in this world, and I Had one ⁓ a month or so back when there was ⁓ an in service going on at Kessler Institute where I work and where Dr. Trevor works, and I got a chance to meet not only Matthew Roderick, who I've interviewed a couple times on the quadcast, ⁓ also the great ⁓ Louise Phippsenft. I got a chance to meet Louise and give her a big hug. And also my good friend here on the top left quadrant, Mr. Barry Monroe. It was great to Barry: Yeah. John McAleavey: To finally press the flesh and not just see you in the corner of a screen, but ⁓ we were actually in the same room together and it was ⁓ it was really great seeing you, Barry. Barry: Great seeing you, Johnny, and meeting with Trevor too as well. It was a great time. Thank you. John McAleavey: It was. And the only thing that's the only thing left now is we gotta get Sasha. I gotta get a chance where, you know, we could get together and break some bread. Hopefully the four of us will have an opportunity to do all that. And and why don't you ⁓ maybe Barry and and and and Doc tell us a little bit about what that whole ⁓ two day conference was all about in a nutshell before we hop into today's topic. Sasha: And that was it. For those who don't know. Thank Barry: Mm-hmm. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. Barry: Why don't you lead off Trevor, because you were a host of sorts. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Sure, sure. So we were hosting a get together. ⁓ a couple of years ago, we launched a navigation program at Kessler Foundation and Kessler Institute for Rehab to help people, newly injured people with spinal cord injury and their families navigate that kind of confusing time from when you're in the acute care hospital and you're starting to think about going to rehab. And you're just overwhelmed with things. And then once you're in rehab transitioning back out into the community, a lot of people just feel like, you know, you're leaving the friendly confines of rehab hospital. Your life has changed completely. And you're in this new environment. This rehab hospital is a new person almost. A newborn, newborn. John McAleavey: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: And then you go home and it's like reality hits you. That's one where you realize that your life has changed forever because you're back in your environment where you you know, you were before your injury, you now are having your injury. Now for a lot of people, that's when it really hits home. They realize that things won't be the same. But it's also scary for the family 'cause you just feel you're you've left that protective bubble. of the rehab hospital and there's a lot of people feel like they're dropped off a cliff or jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. And so the navigation program is to help people navigate that process. And ⁓ and even ⁓ over time we all can transition. You you maybe we're independent and as you age things change and you need assistance and and that can be you go in the hospital and you come out and Barry: you ⁓ Trevor Dyson-Hudson: ⁓ you need navigating later in life. So this program is there. And so this was something we started at Kessler, but there's great centers across the country and up in our friends up north in ⁓ Canada. ⁓ are doing similar programs. So what we did was we we reached out to as many people as we could think of that had centers to see if they had navigation programs and to bring everybody to Kessler for ⁓ I guess it was two days, right? Two days symposia to just talk about navigation and share our thoughts and what may ⁓ what a program may look like and Barry: . Trevor Dyson-Hudson: how we maybe could implement this at other places and perhaps get it funded on a continuous basis. So it really was quite nice to just a meeting of minds to to hear about all the different programs. And as you said, John, see so many heroes, you know, people that we hear about in the community who are advocating. So all in one John McAleavey: Yeah. All in one room. Barry: All of them are. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: About sixty or seventy people. So yeah, we're sorry you weren't there, Sasha. But it really was and this is not the the you know, the this is not a one off thing where, you know, we we plan on continuing this in years in the future. So and opening it up to others for sure. Sasha: We do. John McAleavey: How about you, Barry? Barry: We've talked about this in the past. It's like, it's just criminal right now, how they release people from rehab in such short and stays. And I think the best phrase I heard coming out of that those few days was, it's akin to falling off a cliff. It really is. Without the support in the community, which we're trying to really reconcile and catch up with, people are really thrown to the wild. It's tough and it's tough to watch. so hopefully some solutions come out of it, some ideas that we can... pool our resources together and that's the plan. John McAleavey: Yeah. You know what reminds me, we do something at Kessler called ⁓ Lunch and Learn and it's a it's a week long Sasha: So crazy, very psyched. John McAleavey: ⁓ series of lectures of which Dr. Trevor takes us through the ⁓ skin management portion of it. I I do ⁓ I kick off on Mondays with sp introduction to spinal cord injury and then we do a lecture on bowel ⁓ bowel management, bladder management, skin management, and then also a transition home. and it's one of these things now with iPads, we go around to the room and say, you know, would you like to to Partake, you know, we could bring an iPad in and it's you know, you can you can monitor this if you want. And oftentimes we have patients that say no, they don't want to do it. ⁓ I remember when I was an inpatient, the great ⁓ Sandy De Leon who was with us, there was no ifs, ands, or buts. She was gonna drag your hindquarters down to that room and I thank the good Lord that I did because I hearkened back to those lessons I learned all those years ago and I tell people now, you know, you're gonna be home in three weeks and four weeks. Barry: Thank John McAleavey: And the call bell's not gonna be there and you're not gonna be having or have an aide come in to help you with whatever you're going through. So you really should take part in a lot of this stuff. And I think that's basically what what the guys are hitting at here, Sasha, is that we're sending people home too soon, too unprepared, and it's like thrown right to the wolves. Barry: Thank Trevor Dyson-Hudson: And I just remember, I mean, ⁓ maybe Barry, Sasha felt the same. You too, John. I didn't want to go to those classes. I just wanted to be in my room, you know. I I just or you go there and I see, you know, I'm a quad with l impaired hand function. And, you know, there's all these paras who can do all these things. They're already, you know, going out. You know, I was doing my rally rehab at Mount Sinai and my roommate was a para and he was going out to John McAleavey: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: the store and coming back with stuff and I was just barely trying not to pass out. Yeah. So yeah, and it's not until you go home that you realize what you don't know what you don't know, right? You have to do that bowel program for the first time solo or you wake up with a pounding headache and you're like, what? Like your worst headache in your life and you're like, what the hell's going on? Sasha: Yeah. John McAleavey: Yeah. Sasha: Yeah. John McAleavey: Bingo. Sasha: So, so, so... Barry: you John McAleavey: Mm-hmm. Sasha: So Barry, let me ask you this with Trevor's lead in. how is it you come to this meeting, are you seeing things here in the States that are different than in Canada? I mean, what's going, like in other words, I know that the BC group up there, the Vancouver Health, I think they've got the huge initiative also for transitioning. You've got the KESA, but I guess the question is where the resources come from for all this, right? Barry: You know, it's the one common thing is everybody's sort of figuring it out with what they got. But there are lot of commonalities to what we're doing both sides of the border. I could, it's interesting these pockets of different things that in a perfect world, they, Trevor, would all be unified together and bringing all the things. But I think in our case, just look at us as another region, there's not a lot of differences. in terms of north and south of the border when it comes to figure out increased peer support, navigation, peer coaching, whatever you want to call it, they're all the same. Sasha: Yeah, I guess there is a structural problem for us here at least is that, once you get out of discharged, there's no real strong programs. John McAleavey: Yeah, well Sasha: to follow you up with 120 counties we have in this state. So it's a very ⁓ isolating thing. And so when you talk about these wonderful centers and the abilities, it's kind of far reaching for even this state. to think about that at this time. And it's frustrating because when you think of Kentucky, you think of two primary institutes of research, But, it's lot of research, but yet we don't delivering that terribly much. And that's the, because we don't have an infrastructure for it. Certainly Lexington doesn't. Louisville has a much better clinical infrastructure, but they're not a model system. They can't, they don't have all that yet. So it's a very, I guess the point being is no matter where we are geographically, really does dictate how much we're able to do. But that's why with the invention of AI and everybody's iPhone, we need to start having a centralized database, user-friendly stuff. John, Mary, I know that you're working with Aaron Phillips on these things and there's stuff going on at University of Pittsburgh. I just worry about, okay, well, which version are you going to use? Which version are you going to use? It's again, we're rabbit-holing ourselves. John McAleavey: Yeah, yeah. And it Trevor Dyson-Hudson: But I I think you raise a good point. So I mean these what ⁓ what I just see as can be such a positive influence for people are these like Zoom platforms or these where you can actually visu I mean it it's not as good as actually being and seeing each other in face person to person, but it's better than nothing, right? And ⁓ you can at least connect to people and not feel so isolated and Sasha: Yeah. Well, and I zoom every so often onto United Spinal's, some of their stuff. It's amazing. You just see 120 non-faces. You don't get hit like non-nays. mean, but you know, there's people out there that are tuning in because it's a common thing. And therefore, we should be using those platforms, you know, in other capacities, you know. Anyway. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, absolutely. John McAleavey: Yep. Yep. Well, I wanted to ⁓ to bring that up right off the top because i as again, it it really was ⁓ a pleasure to ⁓ to get the chance to meet Barry in person and some of my other folks that you know we both we all kind of said at the end it we're all sort of pulling on the same rope here. ⁓ and it's I I'm honored and ⁓ to be pulling on the same rope as a lot of ⁓ you know you three gentlemen here and and those that were in the room. It's ⁓ it's ⁓ we're all trying to do good and help our fellow fellow brethren out. So ⁓ that was good from right off the top. And ⁓ today we are experiencing something outside Sasha: ⁓ John McAleavey: side that we're gonna talk about today that affects all of us and ⁓ at this point I would like if we had a if we had a budget for this program I would actually be playing a song. I'm gonna take us back to 1985 and the power station and and the lyrics were some like it hot and some sweat when the heat is on. Some like it hot and decide that they can't go on. Some like it hot, but you can't tell how hot till you try. Some like it hot, so let's turn up the heat till we fry. ⁓ the great Robert Palmer who's no longer with us. Yeah. But Barry: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Right now. Yeah. Sasha: 85 that was a year of my accident John McAleavey: Yeah, yeah, we go back. So it's hot guys. I know here in Jersey I think ⁓ d ⁓ Trevor, I think it's in in the low nineties and I think tomorrow and and Thursday are gonna be a hundred, a hundred and two we're supposed to get to and Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. Yeah, that's that's the absolute and the heat index is probably gonna go up to probably a hundred and ten or so. John McAleavey: Yeah. So I have become a potted plant. I've already canceled ⁓ Jane knows that I will not be in this week and she gives me my blessing. She tells me she doesn't want me to come in. I canceled my P T and O T for the next couple of days and I am gonna hunker down here in the air conditioning because you know, it's dangerous for us. It's ⁓ a and we all have some stories about ⁓ how we've, you know, run into some trouble with the heat and I and I figured maybe we could We could go around the horn. I know ⁓ Doc you've got ⁓ quite a story that you would like to tell us and maybe you could before you get into telling your story, you know, p give a little brief what what A D is and how it affects us and what levels and who who's affected by it what spinal cord wise. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Right. Yeah, sure. So ⁓ you know, these temperatures certainly serve as a reminder that we as people with spinal cord injury really have to be careful in hot weather. Or even just with intense sun. ⁓ you know, that could happen in the fall. And again, you know, so we always think of spinal cord injury as affecting the motor. And the sensory systems, but it affects the autonomic nervous system. And when we talk about autonomics, we're often thinking of fight or flight or rest and digest, but the autonomic nervous system plays a role in temperature regulation, right? So thermal regulation. So if you think about it, so when you get hot, normally people will sweat, and that helps them cool off. Cool the skin. Your blood vessels at the surface of your skin dilate. That helps dissipate the heat that's been kind of building up in your core. So for people with higher autonomic dys dysfunction, ⁓ they you know injuries above T6, especially because that's above where the blood vessels of the gut are. Barry: . Trevor Dyson-Hudson: we can be especially prone. So, you know, what will often happen is you you're out on a hot day and you're not getting that normal response. You're not sweating. You're not vasodilating. And for a lot of people, you know, as a quad, you're cold all the time. And so actually it feels really nice to be out there in the sun and you're getting nice and toasty. And then at some point you go, ⁓ my God. Sasha: you Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: I am hot. And when that realization happens, it's probably too late. And there could be some subtle signs. You know, one of the things that I notice is I start to get a runny nose. John McAleavey: Mm-hmm. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Or ⁓ get some nasal stuffiness. So these are some very subtle signs of autonomic dys dysfunction or dysreflexia. I don't get the like with my full bladder or bowel, you the pounding headaches or things like that. I get some of the more subtle signs. And so that that can be an early sign for me that I'm ⁓ Barry: . Trevor Dyson-Hudson: that I'm starting to overheat, you know, so you know Barry: . Trevor Dyson-Hudson: So it always, you know, what can you do? Well, always think ahead, right? Don't wait until you feel overheated because then it may be too late, right? So I always think one of the things that I've started to do is carry a spray bottle with water in it. That misting can kind of create a a sweating effect. There's something called a a misty mate that you used to be able to get in places like back when Kmart was still around, but Walmart, but these these things that you can pump up yourself, fill up with water, pump up and ⁓ and spray yourself. They're kind of miniature versions of what you see on the football sidelines for football players and soccer players who are trying to cool off. You know, wear loose-fitting clothing. avoid direct sunlight if possible. I think about some of the Barry: Okay. John McAleavey: Okay. Sasha: Hats, hats. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: That's absolutely it's amazing what a hat can do. You know, and and not only a hat but a bandana, right? Potentially that you carry with you. And so a bottle of water and preferably ice water if you can do it or a a jug of ice because over time that ice will turn to cold water, which you can always use. But I still remember a bunch of us getting together Barry: it. Sasha: You John McAleavey: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: at the Meadowlands to watch a soccer match during the summer. We're all bunch of quads in Paris sitting on the blacktop tailgating and ⁓ suddenly realizing that we're getting kinda toasty on that black. But you know, you try take a band they were laughing at me 'cause I took a bandana and threw it in the ice water and draped it over my neck and pretty soon everybody was doing the same thing. So I think it's just Sasha: Yeah. John McAleavey: ⁓ jeez. Sasha: Hahaha John McAleavey: Monkey see, monkey do Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, I think it's just trying to think of those things to try to help cool off your body. And then realizing when we went to go watch the match inside the Meadowlands, the sun is beating down on us. And actually at field level, I really feel for the athletes, the temperatures down at the level of the field are are much higher. So it's just you really have to think ahead whenever doing things, you know, as a person with a spinal cord injury. If you like baseball games and you go to a day game, you know, just just plan ahead and be prepared. Yeah, exactly. John McAleavey: Yeah. Sasha: Make sure you get a shade. That's the thing. Getting out in sunlight, you have to be diligent about getting out of it. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: You you may need to take a break and go to the vendor area to try to cool off. ⁓ John McAleavey: Yeah. Or you gotta find a friend who has those luxury suites to go into one of those air conditioned boxes. Friends with benefits, right? Sasha: I thought. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And and really just don't be afraid to use ⁓ air conditioning to be proactive. You know, and and you know, I I I talk, you know, so you would talk about stories. I think all of us have kind of a potential scary story. I certainly I have a number of them, but the John McAleavey: Sure. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: The one that really kind of rings true, or the the scariest of them all, was actually way back in 2011, ⁓ where I was actually coming from a conference, maybe Sasha might have even been there. It was a spinal injury conference in Washington. And we knew it was early June, but we it was gonna be hot like it is now. And so we tried to plan ahead, my girlfriend and I leaving town. We would left early in the morning, but unfortunately on our way out of town the muffler went on my car. So I had to stop at a center to get it repaired. And ⁓ John McAleavey: Off. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: ⁓ so as I was sitting in the center there, I was slowly starting, even though I was in a shaded waiting area, you know, the doors opening, closing, it's Washington D C in the summer. I'm slowly getting warm, so I'm already hot by the time we leave. And ⁓ get on the road around instead of leaving around eight o'clock in the morning, we're on the road at around noon or John McAleavey: ⁓ Brutal. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: maybe two o'clock in the afternoon, so it's high heat. And as we're leaving Washington, of course, boom, we hit the traffic. And then of course there's construction going on. So we're in stop and go traffic. So we're just sitting there. And that's when I realized my air conditioner wasn't pumping out cold air. It was actually just blowing hot air on me. John McAleavey: Baking. ⁓ dear God. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: So we're sitting there in traffic with the windows open. There's really no air movement. And that's when it went from bad to worse. I just started seeing stars and things like that. And I just I knew ⁓ we we cleared the traffic and I was just feeling worse and worse. But I was I was honestly scared that if I pulled over and waited for an emergency vehicle to get to me. I I might not make it that long. So so I didn't have AC and so I just was driving as fast as I could. But ⁓ in the process I was scaring the hell out of my girlfriend. And and I was actually just trying to hold it together because my brain was really starting to melt down. I mean, there's a reason why they call it heat stroke. John McAleavey: Wow. Sasha: Yeah, you have AC. You John McAleavey: Mm-hmm. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Because your brain is and so I was just focused on trying to get to an exit that had a fast food place that I could get out of my car, get and get into an air-conditioned environment and drink cold water. So we eventually got to a McDonald's. My my girlfriend had to drag me out of the car. She wheeled me into the McDonald's and I we found a table and Sasha: Mm-hmm. John McAleavey: That grief. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: I I I couldn't speak. I was at a point that I I couldn't I my brain was just function not functioning and she just went and got cold ice water for me. And for about two to three hours I just sat in that McDonald's drinking cold water and trying to cool down until I I felt at least well enough to get back in the car. She had to drive because I I was shaking. I was I was a basket case. So yeah. And ⁓ I mean thankfully, you know, I started to recover. I started to feel more human. I could speak in intelligent sentences. So about two or three hours into our trip, we hit you know Pennsylvania. I was starting to feel better and I could start driving, but boy. John McAleavey: Wow, that's unbelievable. Sasha: you Trevor Dyson-Hudson: That was really scary and ⁓ you know, I I feel lucky to have survived that incident, so John McAleavey: Yeah. How How were the people at ⁓ McDonald's people? Were they ⁓ helpful? Did they kinda know what was going on? Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, I don't know what the they must have been wondering what the hell yeah, nope, they left us alone. I mean what was nice, it was actually Yeah. It was actually one of these Sasha: McDonald's is a haven guys. When I was living overseas man, it's the only place I knew where I could go that had accessible bathrooms. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. John McAleavey: Well the mayor McCheese could have brought you over a McFlurry or something like that to give you you know, come on. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. I I don't know what people thought, but they they clearly saw it. I thought I you know, my girlfriend was there, they left me alone, we were just sitting there drinking lots and lots of ice water. I mean the thing you have to realize too is if you're consuming that much fluids you just you have to keep an eye on your bladder. ⁓ you know, for me I have a leg bag. Yeah, you Sasha: I'm John McAleavey: Yeah. Wow. Sasha: And that's the catch-22 about going to beaches or anywhere you don't want to have to pee so you don't drink and guess what? That's a recipe for ⁓ a stroke. mean, it is a constant worry for me when I go out now, especially because over the years I don't thermoregulate like I used to. Barry, I can remember one incident where we met in Cleveland and you had just drove down from Toronto. ⁓ my God, I don't think you look like you were purple. Yeah. I mean, look like Opa Lumpa. John McAleavey: It's Barry: Ha ha. And I could barely talk. So the air went in my van and it was ⁓ one of those strange days in October where it was like this and knocking on a hundred and I guess I must have been about two hours out when I was starting to feel it. Got there, got out, ⁓ had my care with me and I just saw Sasha. John McAleavey: Yeah. Mm. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. Barry: Love your brother, gotta go, get straight to the room to, I think about two hours later, against a two hour window, finally come back and it reminds me that these stories are always like, you see these national Greek geographics and these reptiles in the desert, right? They only come out at night and they're cold blooded so they can survive, but they're not anywhere around in the heat. And it's like that too. Sasha: Yeah. John McAleavey: Yeah. Barry: It's funny, know, you know what I think about this lot, every time you hear these incidents of during the summer training camp of NFL players and college players dying from heat stroke. And the one thing I do know about all this, and I think we can all attest to this is that we still are heating up even after we're inside and cooling down. There's a window that's kind of scary that no matter what you're doing, it's still, it takes a while to hit in, but. The one tip I was going to just leave with this is when it went back and this is going back to the points we're talking about the beginning of this is that these are things people talked about in rehab that they kids now don't get that kids, whatever the people don't get those tips that someone said to me, if you're ever in this position, get a bag of ice and drop it on your crutch and run cold water on your wrist and on the back of your neck because that's where your blood is flowing. John McAleavey: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. John McAleavey: Ha ha ha. Barry: or a wet towel. These are the quick things you can do for immediate relief. And I thought, yeah, and of course water. I I've been out where I just say, throw the bucket on me, knock it to me, take the hose, I don't care, just go for it. Word's been that bad, but yeah, I hear you. Sasha: ⁓ Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. Yeah, no, it's amazing how cool in water can be. Sorry about that. Yeah. Just water. I mean, it's really just continue. I had a second similar incident. And I think it really is that, you know, in your brain, you you you air conditioning is so important in tur especially if you're in your car out in this heat. And I you know, I think of the incidences where I've had problems are when my car's air conditioning was broken and I was thinking, ⁓ ⁓ well if I can just do this, maintain a speed, I can keep cool air coming through the window. The trouble is during the summer or they're doing road construction and that's John McAleavey: Right. Yeah. Sasha: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: That's when you you hit stop and go traffic and then you're stuck and you really you really are. You you really have to be you have to think proactively and like get off the road and maybe take some secondary roads where it's a little more shaded because a lot of interstates are just out there in the sun. There's not a lot of shade and you're stuck. Sasha: Yeah. I've actually have I've stopped at underpass one time because I was just I just it was like a long stretch of road the car was Again, it's like you guys AC was out If it had all windows like what they call it for 65 for windows down 65 miles an hour So hey, so that's that's really what it was but I just was so overwhelmed I was actually Barry: What about you, Sash? Trevor Dyson-Hudson: ⁓ I never heard of that. That's great. Sasha: I was like losing breath and I'm a T5. It wasn't, you I shouldn't have to complicate, but I just realized it's Mother Nature, get out of the sun. So I did an underpass and I saw the people pass under the same one because it wasn't a bridge to be seen in other direction. Barry: Wow. John McAleavey: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I I've had some experiences where I think some of it might have to do with the backliffing that I'm on, where I just get completely washed out, where I have to come home. Some days I'll come home from work and I'll just sit in my chair and I and I really and truly am a potted plant. I can barely lift my arm up. And I just have to just lay here. I put the I sit with the A C and I put the fan on, like a hundred miles an hour. If it comes off the ceiling there it's gonna lop my head off. It's going so fast. So I I just sorta have to get my bearings straight and then I I had one incident where I was down ⁓ my family has a house down at the Jersey Shore and the air conditioning we don't have central air there. We have like the units that are in the wall and they don't necessarily work all that great and we had a really like a rogue hot day that came up and I just remember yelling to my family like I am not feeling well. This is this is not good. and my niece and nephew were younger and we didn't want to frighten them and I was getting I I think another thing that happens guys is that we get to scaring ourselves in a way and that doesn't help everything. It starts to snowball. So so what we did is we have an outdoor shower. I got in we they just put me in the outdoor shower and just crank the cold water and in the meantime my next door neighbor who is an absolute Barry: . John McAleavey: Prince. He's a wonderful guy. He ran out to like Lowe's or the Home Depot or something to buy a new wall unit to put in, but for maybe a half an hour I stood in the shower there with the cold water rolling on my head and ⁓ Barry: . John McAleavey: I was still scared the you know what out of me and ⁓ it it it can really frighten pe and people have no idea what we're talking about. You know, they're thinking, ⁓ yeah, you guys go out in the sunlight and it feels great and I I don't know how people do it. I have a good friend that lives now out in ⁓ Scottsdale, Arizona, and he's always telling me, Come on out and visit, come on out and visit and one of my able bodied buds went out there recently and he went to a a spring training game or the Cactus League, I guess they call it Sasha: Yeah. Barry: you John McAleavey: Out there and he said, John, I had to leave I couldn't sit there. It was blazing hot at ten o'clock in the morning. He said, I had to seek shade. He said, You would have been like a a raisin. You would have shriveled up and died. So I don't know if I if I could, you know, have you guys ever been out to that sort of weather? Have you have you felt that? Like Vegas or or or Arizona? How do you how does your body I mean, can you go outside for more than five minutes? Barry: Yeah. Yeah. Not good. I got it. got it. I got it. I want to share a story with you about the heat and cold in Canada and US. And it's kind of we had this ⁓ Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. Sasha: Not long. Not long. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Not not for long. Not for long. Barry: program, so many even know that there's a lot of neurotrauma injuries in the sport of hockey. And sorry, you guys like to say ice hockey, it's a hockey. Okay, so, and what happens is between spinal cord injuries and the course concussions. So we had a program called Shoot for a Cure with the, and it was in partnership with the NHL Players Association and some of the NHL teams. So we'd go around and speak to teams and, you know, work on programs and things like that. So we had a chance to go to Arizona. Sasha: Hahaha Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. Yeah. John McAleavey: Yeah. Barry: the Phoenix to see the Coyotes. For those of the hockey people or non-hockey people out there listening, they used to be the former Winnipeg Jets hockey team that moved to the desert. So a lot of the same people, yeah, and a lot of the same people that were with the team staff-wise, we're all from Winnipeg moving to Arizona. And so when I was talking to them, I said, how are you finding the difference? mean, John McAleavey: Thanks, Gary Bettman. Mm. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: ⁓ Barry: The nickname for Winnipeg in Canada is called Winterpeg. It's cold. It's a cold, cold place. So he says, Barry, it's not much different. He said, in Winnipeg, we'd have our cars plugged in and the automatic starters. And we basically would start our cars half an hour, let the heat run and warm up. And then we'd run out to our cars and hop in. Phoenix, we'd start our cars with the air conditioning crank, let them go for half an hour, then we'd run out to our cars and hop John McAleavey: Ha ha ha. Sasha: Yeah. John McAleavey: Ha ha Barry: But the funny thing is like I've been to Vegas in August, I've been to Phoenix in June and it's like, you guys know this, you're wheeling across the parking lot and literally your tires are sticking to the asphalt. That's hot. That's hot. yeah. John, there's no good way to answer your question. just keep moving, man. And don't stop because you can't sit in that stuff. It's terrible. Sasha: Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. John McAleavey: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, okay. You can't you can't hang out, unfortunately. It's really and as Larry pointed out, I mean, it takes you hours and as you observed, all of us observe, it takes you hours to cool off. It's not like you just ⁓ drink a cold drink and or sit in an underpass for five minutes to cool off. It takes you an hour or two to actually have your body temperature kind of John McAleavey: Yeah. Yeah. Sasha: Acclimate. Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Come back down. Yeah. John McAleavey: Yeah. Yeah. I know ⁓ a a lot of friends that I have here and and some of my family, you know, my parents' friends and all, ⁓ their their idea was to, you know, live their life here, work hard and then when they retire, move down to Florida or move down to, you know, head down that way. And, you know, I've visited Florida over the years, ⁓ prior to my accident and now after my accident. And I have to tell you that like even in the winter up here in Jersey, you go down there and it is hot in Florida. I I mean, ⁓ you pick and choose your spots. I I don't know whether I could live in Florida. So I I I mean, where are people like us? Yeah. Sasha: home. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. Sasha: I lived there in the 90s and I loved it, but that was because I was young and barrow. I was fine, know, not worried about that. But again, I I faced the same things, especially on the beach. What did you get on the beach? I mean, if you don't have an entourage with you, you're screwed because you know, nothing but hot everywhere, you know, and umbrellas, unless you bring one that don't exist, you know, typically. Barry: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. John McAleavey: Yeah. Sasha: Yeah, I wanted to share something with you real quick because a friend of all of ours Kim Anderson and I were at Banff Back in 2003 and we were it was a lake and they decided to host a talk outside Now mind you we're way up there and the Sun is heating down and it was the first time I have had autonomic dysreflexia But Kim and I were just gotten to be friends. I Real eyewitness really experienced with what somebody can go through what Kim went through just for me to be able to get her, her get out of that situation, took, you know, was not trivial because it was a very inaccessible place. They put us down there. They didn't think about you. There no shade. And then she was just like, what did they not get? That was 2003. I don't know how much they changed, you know, but those are things that you don't think about until they hit you, you know. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. John McAleavey: Right. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, no, I don't think it ⁓ it is, it is. I I mean ⁓ my girlfriend calls me lizard man because it is. I mean I could be a sunny a sunny day in in the weather in the winter if the sun's out and it's beating on me, I'm warm. Right? But ⁓ likewise in the summer. John McAleavey: Yeah. Sasha: Yeah, cold-blooded animal. Barry: See? See? John McAleavey: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: ⁓ it's at first it feels great because I'm cold. I just my default is cold. And so when I first go outside it's really nice. But like I said, it it it's not long before I start to overheat. And once I my ⁓ brain registers that I'm warm, it's gonna take me a while to cool down from that. ⁓ John McAleavey: Yeah, yeah. Sasha: Well, I don't know about you all, but what I go through pretty much on a daily basis now with the weather is I'll be out and I'll be doing things and I come home and my air conditioning is at maybe 75, it's not that high, but I get chills. it goes just the opposite pendulum, you know, and I'm wearing a sweatshirt when it's 95 degrees outside. John McAleavey: Yeah. Barry: It's a crummy time of year and I love the summer. I love the sun. I love getting out of the winter. But when you're in an office or working all day in the air as a quad, you're sitting in one spot. I'm frozen. And then I got to go outside. I get in this kind of heat. Yeah. And it's like the opposite. And of course I get one of those summer colds all the time because I'm going hot, cold, hot, cold, but I need to warm up. I remember John McAleavey: Yeah. Sasha: I miss like an oven. Barry: You know, all these conferences we go to, right? And we'd be in New Orleans and stuff like that and all the quads, we kind of just break time and shoot right for the outside. It's thinking hot, but because we're sitting in the air the whole time, we're freezing and it's, you can't win. But there's, I mean, I don't know. I can wind my way out of this, but I don't know. It's just, it's, Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. John McAleavey: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, we're meant to Sasha: But Trevor, think going back to what your original thing is, that if you're going to do things like this, which is normal, we do crazy things, have a plan. The spray bottle, I hadn't thought about that since I used one, but nobody taught me and I kind of forgot about it. But it was something I used to use back in the day, you know, a lot, you know. Barry: And I go to Home Depot. I'll say this is the plug for Home Depot. I don't know, John, if you're getting any royalties from this one, but they have a mister and you know those orange Home Depot buckets? You buy the bucket. The mister sits right on top of the bucket. It's about this wide. It's a fan, but it also has a pump and it pulls the water up and it miss out to you. I got one sitting here and it's great. It looks like shit, but it's great. John McAleavey: Sponsored by Home Depot, yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, so Sasha: No. John McAleavey: Ha ha ha. Sasha: I'm sorry. Barry: It's designed for contractors when they're working inside in the summertime in a warm place. You you're framing a house, it's like 100 degrees. But these things work. And so when we had the odd patio time when you're out somewhere and you're not dressed up or anything like that, it's like, I just throw the mister on and it's coming at me and it's like golden. It's golden. John McAleavey: Yeah. Sasha: ⁓ okay. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. John McAleavey: Yeah, yeah. It's a DIY or over there. Yeah. Barry: And it wasn't my idea. Somebody smarter than me suggested. Sasha: Okay. John McAleavey: You know what else I think i is important guys and I I know it's tough ⁓ because it's not inexpensive is ⁓ I live here with my mom and you know ⁓ as you guys, the the hot is tough for me, the cold is also tough for me. and with you know, rolling blackouts and things like that, we finally just went ahead and put in a a home ⁓ generator for the house so that if if the power goes out it's not gonna affect us and ⁓ because I remember like I told you about that time at the shore when that thing went out, man, I was in a bad way. So I always feel confident that at least I have this to you know, home base here is something that ⁓ that I can take you know, solace in. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, no, that's a really great point, John, because you know, when when you have these high temperatures, you you get these alerts from your you know local electric company saying, you know, potential blackouts, ⁓ because everybody is just it's a huge draw on the grid. Everybody's got their AC going and and so you could do that. Or you have storms that come blowing through and could knock the power out for a little while. Barry: If John McAleavey: Yeah. Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: And ⁓ you know, you could be trying to sleep at night and just the temperatures are only especially here in the New York metro area in New York, New Jersey, temperatures w during the extreme heat times can maybe give the the lowest it gets is maybe eighty degrees at night and that's that I that you can't cool off from that. John McAleavey: Yeah. No. No. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: You're you're lying in bed there, dying with your window open, no air blowing in and it's eighty degrees, so Yeah. Yeah. So you just a and again with d I don't wanna John McAleavey: Yeah. It's just getting hot air blowing in your face, right? Trevor Dyson-Hudson: dissuade people from going out and having fun. But I I just think you have to plan and like you said, Sasha, I mean it's amazing what a hack can do for you. An umbrella to just make sure the heat isn't beating on you and a nice big ⁓ you know ⁓ cooler full of ice and water and just all these things, you know, to just potentially drape over you that are wet to help you cool off. You know, just plan ahead and you you can go out and enjoy enjoy the summer. Just just be smart. Sasha: I can remember when I was younger and didn't really have a care in the world. had a fanny pack I carried around. That was all I needed. Now I got a backpack. I got a backpack and a backpack. was just like making sure I got all my stuff with me just in case. My Giver bag. John McAleavey: Pick and choose your spots. Barry: You know, but- John McAleavey: Like a bag lady, right? We have all our stuff. Yeah, yeah. Barry: If I could write a letter to a new injured me, I want to go back to what Sasha said is that you have to have a plan, but it's almost like it does take a couple of incidents to figure it out that you got to, it's like a stepping stone. There are a lot of little warnings saying, okay, hang on. You're going to be out. Like, first of you're out. Where's my safe space for cooling? What do I have with me? Worst case scenario, I got to dump water over my head, something like that. But you got to think about Sasha: Yeah. Barry: regulating how the signs of it, okay, it's starting to turn because when you finally figure out you're too hot, it's almost like it's too late. And then you're in crisis mode and you got to figure out that I need to hit air. But I think that's the key for if we're passing a message out to anybody that's listening, it's like, ⁓ know the signs early and then do what you need to do to kind of stop that. Just hit inside shade. You know, if it's not the humidex going through the roof, shade is good. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. Sasha: Right, and that's what Trevor was saying, yeah. Barry: shade makes the difference in the world. was out for a wheel on the weekend and it was getting hot and but the humidity wasn't stupid but I was realizing okay you're an idiot you're you're two miles from or miles from home and okay how are you gonna figure this one out so literally on it's just in a neighborhood but I was I would find the shade the trees the way this the the sun was I'd stay on the side of the street where the shade was. So every so many yards, I'm like bam into shade, bam into shade. So I thought I'm getting my way home that way. Or I'd say, idiot stop. Just stop for a few minutes and just cool down before you go on. But you gotta think of it that way, these are the little steps you need to take. But back to the question, you're so right, you need a plan or it could be fatal. Sasha: Timing it. John McAleavey: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. John McAleavey: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, and just be prepared. you know, I whenever I do it for road trips and I guess I do it for work because I always travel with two bottles of water. But, you know, you're fine when you have AC, but if your car breaks down alongside the road, your AC's not gonna work. You know, if your car overheats, if something happens and you're sitting on the side of the road in the heat with the sun beating down, you immediately have to get that door open. Get your windows open. Be proactive. Don't as you pointed out, Barry, don't don't wait till you feel feel hot. ⁓ you know, and and call for help as soon as you can. Call it triple. John McAleavey: Yeah. And worst comes to worst, Doc, would you would you recommend people just going if you if you're in a bad way going to the emergency room? Trevor Dyson-Hudson: ⁓ boy, that's a tough one, right? Because we've had our conversations without going to the emergency room. I think it's yeah, I mean if you're in a if you're in a bad way, obviously, absolutely. You know, I mean, I I probably, you know, ⁓ you know hindsight's a wonderful thing, right? So the fact that I'm still here means I was able to manage those things okay. ⁓ you know. Sasha: Yeah. John McAleavey: Yeah, we yeah, they don't know what they're doing either. McDonald's, maybe that's it. McDonald's, go to McDonalds. Sasha: I'm sorry. John McAleavey: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Would I have benefited from being an emergency room? I don't know. because you know, is the emergency room necessarily any cooler than where I am? And, you know, with my girlfriend and ⁓ and ⁓ McDonald's ⁓ counter there, I can get ice ⁓ on demand and ⁓ drink water. Whereas maybe in the emergency room I'm waiting to be triage. So I think John McAleavey: Right. That's true. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: You know, sometimes you have to take matters into your own hand and just try to John McAleavey: Yeah. Barry: Johnny, we are we are working this for you right now. Trevor is like plug in Mickey D's. I got Home Depot going. ⁓ You know, like what else do we need here? Like they gotta be knocking on your door any minute now looking for their right to check. John McAleavey: That's it. That's it. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: That's right. That's right. Sasha: Thank John McAleavey: Yeah, yeah. We should ⁓ that's absolutely right. Well I I I can attest to what a ⁓ D C summer's like. ⁓ two years before I had my injury I worked ⁓ I lived in Greenbelt, Maryland and I worked in D C for the summer and mother of Pearl, was it warm down there? ⁓ my god, it was so hot and ⁓ I was right out of college and Like a like a moron, you know, I had put on a a couple of pounds in college where you're having late night pizza and drinking beers and so to try and work some of that off I was wearing one of those like ⁓ wetsuit things on and running in the neighborhood and was just sweating all this I I don't know how I didn't have a coronary in that kind of weather, but yeah, it gets hot out there. One last one for me guys, 'cause we're we're running up against Father Time here. ⁓ do you guys go into Sasha: Bye. John McAleavey: Do you swim at all? Do you go into the ocean? Do you go into a pool? Is that something that w where we can we can cool off as well? Sasha: I have a swimming pool and it's like a godsend. mean, it's, have a, I used to just, you do it the old fashioned way, which I don't need any help, but it would take me a half hour to get it out. But now I have a crane and it's just a lifesaver. And it's a really good way to have good neighbors too. They come over and patrol and do things. But yes, ⁓ in essence, yes, cooling down. And that's where I go back to going to the beach. It's a catch-22 because the beach, you're in the water how long? How much else are you just in a sandy, nasty kind of grit, like pretending you're loving it? Yeah. Or you're stroking out and smiling at the same time with a selfie. John McAleavey: Yeah. That's great. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: That's true. John McAleavey: Right. Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, I mean how do you get into the water? ⁓ are there I mean it is, it's almost like torture, right? Because the water's there, yet you can't get in there, right? what are they gonna do? Wheel you in in your wheelchair? I mean, I guess if you're lucky they have one of these beach chairs. John McAleavey: Right. Yeah. Sasha: Yeah, exactly. John McAleavey: How you get in, yeah? I I know. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: But yeah, I sadly, I mean, I grew up loving the beach, but now it's just like I ⁓ to me going to the beach is low on my list of enjoyable things 'cause I'm just gonna go there and bake and then just yeah, need to go cool off somewhere. So John McAleavey: Yeah. Sasha: Yeah. John McAleavey: Yeah. Yep. Sasha: Well for me I'll be honest, I'm not being benevolent but I also feel like being the, literally the drag wheel. I don't want them to feel that you know they can't do things you know and if I gotta be sentenced to a place like that just well at least when I used to drink a lot, hey it was fine now it's kind of like okay. Choose my platforms. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and you have to think, I mean, drinking alters your abilities, body your body the ability of your body to regulate too. So you're drinking beers at a beach or ⁓ or you know, even you know, go I liked you know, I used to meet up with some friends, go to the Jersey shore and eat at a restaurant and you'd be in the restaurant, you're you're not in the direct sunlight, but it's still hot. Sasha: Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: And you're drinking beers and you're not I would still get plenty toasty ⁓ not in the direct sunlight with it being like eighty or ninety degrees and you're just you're out in the air, ⁓ not in the air conditioning because you're you're trying to enjoy the nice ⁓ ocean breeze, but it it's still just too hot. John McAleavey: Yeah. Sasha: Yeah, press. John McAleavey: Yeah. I like to tell people they they ask me like what what what is it you know, sometimes people ask me what it's like and you know, I'll tell them about what I live through and they say, What about weather? Would you do you like weather? And I say, You know what I really need? If you could give me like sunny and like seventy degrees, then I'm all set. That's what I said. That's you just Yeah. Barry: San Diego, San Diego, San Diego. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah. California, Southern California, like Santa where I Santa Barbara. I went to school in Santa Barbara and it's the temperature's pretty none of the humidity. In fact, when the when it w they would complain about it being humid coming from the East Coast, it'd be like, what are you talking about? Sasha: San Diego, I'll you the same day. John McAleavey: Yeah. Sasha: ⁓ John McAleavey: Yeah, you stole what I was gonna say. That I then tell people I have to win the Powerball because to move out to the beaches in San Diego you need to win the Powerball. But yeah, we went out there for a ⁓ my niece got married there about ten years ago. And ⁓ my god, it it's just so the not only is the scenic so majestic and beautiful, but the weather, there's a breeze and y it's just yeah, that's that's where I wanna go. So ⁓ keep Yeah. Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Yeah, but you really do have to be a millionaire. You're right, John, unfortunately. John McAleavey: Keep pumping all the keep ⁓ saying all the names of these great companies. Maybe they'll help contribute to all of that. Yeah, yeah. Well, this this was a perfect day. I'm looking out the window here at the sun blaring down on me for for us to convene and and talk about ⁓ conditions for the community to be aware of and ⁓ to to plan ahead. Those were the a lot of the big catchphrases we hit on today as far as Sasha: you Trevor Dyson-Hudson: Exactly, exactly. Sponsor us. John McAleavey: staying safe in this weather. We want t everyone to enjoy the summer and the spring, but we want you to do it safely and and ⁓ we've got some words of wisdom from the crew here. ⁓ Barry Monroe, Sasha Rabchevsky and and Dr. Trevor Dyson Hudson. ⁓ and I'm John McLeavy and we ⁓ we look forward to having you join us in the future where we'll have ⁓ a number of other topics that ⁓ that we're gonna hit on and if if there are any issues that that you would like ⁓ to hear us bloviate and riff on ⁓ you know please reach out. You can you can find me at ⁓ email address is jmacalvi at comcast dot net and ⁓ we would be more than happy to ⁓ to accommodate you in that respect. So thank you again for joining us and and we look forward to seeing you in the future and enjoy the summer safely.