The Wheels On The Bus

This Week!  Joanna is back behind the wheel of the big bus!

Navigating Health Insurance 

Mind-Bending Medical Advances: Dogs Detecting Parkinson's 

"Walk With Me " Upcoming documentary about navigating early onset Alzheimer's 

Some favorite things this week are 

The Hunting Wives & Happy Gilmore 2

Thanks For Listening!
Joanna Anderson & Sue Nicolaidis

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Transcript

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You Forgot (00:01)
This episode is brought to you by RubyCare Senior Living Advisors, your trusted partner in navigating senior living options with compassion and clarity. At RubyCare, everything starts with one simple thing, listening. Their Senior Care Advisors take the time to truly understand what matters most to you or your loved one, from health needs and personal preferences to location and budget. Once they get to know you, they match you with senior living communities that make the most sense because they know these communities firsthand.

Whether you're looking in Dallas, Fort Worth, or somewhere in between, RubyCare helps you feel confident every step of the way. They even assist with setting up and attending tours, offering guidance, resources, and thoughtful questions to help you make the right choice. And once you've found your new home, RubyCare doesn't disappear. They continue to follow up, offering support with everything from moving logistics to ensuring your happiness in your new surroundings. So if you or someone you love is exploring senior living, don't go it alone.

visit rubycareseniorliving.com to connect with an advisor and experience the RubyCare difference.

You Forgot (01:05)
Hi, and

thank you for tuning in to You Forgot That I Existed. I'm Sue Newk- I can't even say my own name. I'm Sue Nicolaitis. How did I just bumble over my name? Sue Newk. Fuck that. I'm here with Johanna Anderson. We are daughters with moms with Alzheimer's disease, and we want to share what we've learned from our caregiving experiences. We're talking the good, the bad, and the sometimes hilarious.

Jojo (01:19)
We can pause. Look at.

You Forgot (01:35)
We are definitely not experts, but we will find you the doctors, lawyers, therapists, and other caregivers that can help make your load just a bit lighter. While our focus on the podcast is dementias and caring for your loved one, we are also moms of college kids and dogs. We are wives and love all things food, travel, and pop culture. Our conversations inevitably will pivot into a besties chat with relatable personal stories.

We also love to share the books, shows, movies, music, or Instagram accounts that have been a big old bright spot in our week. So thanks for being here, Joanna. What's up?

Jojo (02:13)
Hi hi hi!

Everything is up. Everything is up for a Monday. I am like, like I get jazzed up. I sound like my mom and I just did jazz hands. That's so embarrassing. ⁓ When I have a, my mom used to do that all the time and now I do it. hands. When I have, yeah, I can't even, I like, don't even know I'm doing it. When I have a lot to do, I'm like pumped and I have so much to do right now. Like besides my travel job, which is also crazy busy right now.

You Forgot (02:20)
I never

Just.

Really? Cute.

Jojo (02:49)
And this is, guess this goes under like save it for the pod, right? Cause I haven't really told you much.

You Forgot (02:56)
No. Yeah, mean, yeah, it's definitely a save it for. Yeah, whatever. It's topical and you need to like.

Jojo (03:01)
And it just all happens. It's topical.

I'm like, I'm in like verbal diarrhea mode because I have so much to do and I get so excited about that. So this happened all so quickly. Matt and I have been brainstorming for a while on what we're going to do about our health insurance, because we have been on the marketplace health insurance, AKA Obamacare, ever since I quit teaching. And it's been really great. I mean, it's not great insurance.

And it's not cheap, but it's way more expensive without the subsidies that the government provides. It cost us around 9.50 a month to cover our family. Without the subsidies, it would cost us 2100 a month. That's undoable for us. We can't afford that. And unfortunately, because of the big, beautiful bill that was passed through, shoved through, pushed through, they're gonna get rid of those subsidies. And so we're...

We're not quite sure when, but we wanted to be super proactive about this because it's not just us on the insurance, it's the kids on the insurance. And so that adds like another level of pressure. We're still providing for them as we should be. So we were brainstorming and brainstorming and Matt had the great idea. He said, what if we went back to driving school buses? And he had done a little research and the McKinney Bus Barn is like six minutes down the road and they provide their bus drivers. This is so great.

full benefits, like group insurance. We haven't been on group health insurance in so long. Like I could cry, I'm so excited about it. ⁓ We've just had shitty shitty insurance. And it's really scary when the guy upstairs, not God, but Matt, gets skin cancer. Or, you know, he gets skin cancer a lot and my kids get sick and it's just, it's like frightening every time we go to the doctor, because you never know how much it's going to cost. It's not just a copay.

Like it could cost $600. He just had a skin cancer surgery. We get a bill after insurance for 700 bucks. Like it's terrible. So if you're on group insurance, please don't take that for granted. It is such a gift and it should not be connected to employment, but it is. Anyways, we applied to be bus drivers on a whim of course, cause I don't really think about anything very long. And,

They loved that we were former bus drivers and of course we charmed them and because we showed up like literally it was a Tuesday morning and we show up Matt's like randomly they're having a bus fare today. I was like I mean I don't know. I was like I don't know. He's like just just go. Well they hired us on the spot. So we had our first class. So full circle because we had to.

You Forgot (05:39)
I'm in.

Jojo (05:53)
We did this 30 years ago together.

You Forgot (05:55)
Explain to the listeners, I might have missed that, that you guys were both bus drivers in college.

Jojo (06:00)
So

this is how we met. We drove school buses in this little tiny college town where they basically just employed older retired people and then a shit ton of college students. So was like the best, most fun job because you're just with a bunch of college kids driving school buses. Now, back in the day, they let you drive when you were 18, which is actually horrifying.

You Forgot (06:29)
Crazy.

Jojo (06:30)
Matt was driving out of the high school he had just graduated from three months prior. Like that's insane. Like he was friends with the people he was picking up on the bus. Insane. I know. But that's how we put ourselves through college. It's a really great job. ⁓ It paid very well back in the day and honestly it pays pretty well right now too. ⁓ Anyway, so we went to class today. ⁓ We, I don't know, I think.

You Forgot (06:43)
That's funny.

Jojo (07:00)
By the start of school, we're gonna be driving buses. I think they're really pushing us through and rushing us through. I had to check myself first of all. You know, the universe is constantly kind of keeping me in check about sometimes, this is gonna sound narcissistic and this is like, I'm being very vulnerable. Sometimes I think I'm better than people. I know it's a huge fault of mine, huge.

You Forgot (07:25)
you

Jojo (07:29)
I know my kids make fun of me for it. Matt's like, calm down. Like you're overconfident sometimes and it comes across as bitchy. So I went into this thinking like, I'm a former bus driver. I'm better than everyone, blah, blah, blah. And the universe is like, no, you're not. No, you're not. There were some people there who, you know, maybe aren't doing this for health insurance. Maybe they are single moms who have kids at home. And so this is like really the only job they can do.

You we all are coming from very different backgrounds. And I went in being a total bitch. And then I realized all these people are just like me. Like they need health insurance. They need an extra paycheck. They're super nice. Nicer than I was. And by the end of the class, like I was like, oh my God, everyone's so sweet and I'm a bitch. But once again, the universe checked me. No one's better than me, but I am definitely not better than anyone else. And I somehow need that reminder all the time.

You Forgot (08:28)
No, I've never caught that from you. But I think it's funny to be like you only went in there thinking like that because you've done the job before.

Jojo (08:36)
Yeah, and then when they started going

over things, I'm like, well, shit, I don't remember any of this.

You Forgot (08:39)
Yeah. Oh,

I wouldn't dream of thinking that you'd remember things from 30 years. And stuff was weird. Yeah. And the

Jojo (08:46)
I'm overconfident. But a

lot of the people in this class have like literally been like big rig truck drivers, even though they're single moms. And so all the information was very fresh to them and I felt like an idiot. So I needed to feel like that. I needed to be checked a little.

You Forgot (09:03)
Yep.

Well, you do. ⁓ I mean, we had an episode. It was the valedictorian of everything. That was you. You thought you were going to be the valedictorian of bus driving class.

Jojo (09:14)
I think I'm the valedictorian of everything and I have to be the valedictorian of everything and I don't know if that's healthy.

Totally. I gotta get gut checked every now and then that I'm not always the best.

You Forgot (09:31)
That's so funny.

Jojo (09:33)
I know.

You Forgot (09:35)
I am, so for part-time work they give full benefits there.

Jojo (09:40)
full benefits and the insurance is so good. Not only insurance, you know, Matt and I are self-employed. So our retirement plan looks a little different than most people. We have ⁓ Roth IRAs that we contribute to. No one's matching that because it's a personal Roth IRA. But with the Bus Barn, they will match your ⁓ 401k contributions. I think up to like 20%. Like that's free money that we have never received.

You Forgot (10:05)
Okay.

Jojo (10:09)
teaching doesn't do that, Matt's been self-employed for 25 years. We've never gotten like a matching 401k and you are allowed to put 50 % of your paycheck back in to your 401k. that's, this is just basically going to be for me, like just all the money's going in my 401k and I get health insurance and I'm just so excited.

You Forgot (10:31)
That's good. My Denise Scalrin always, she drove a bus like after the kids were older and she went back to work and she loved it. And she would always be like, you should do it. like she would, she trained people and you know, she just, and they took really good care of her too.

Jojo (10:49)
I mean, I was shocked because obviously when we were driving 30 years ago that maybe we just never checked into it because we were still on our parents insurance. But I don't remember being offered insurance. I also don't remember going to classes. I swear they put me on a bus twice. It was a stick shift bus. And then they were like, good luck to you. I don't, I don't remember doing all this training.

You Forgot (10:58)
Right.

I can't wait till you get into a new bus. Like, I wonder if it's like...

Jojo (11:16)
Thanks.

You Forgot (11:19)
super different. mean, it has to be a lot more like modern. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jojo (11:21)
Well, they have air conditioning now and they're all like automatic and they have seats.

And you know what I was thinking? You know, like back in the day there was no cell phones. So the kids got like rowdy. They were bored. But I'm wondering if now the kids are just quiet on their phones. Wouldn't that be nice? Like they haven't had their phone all day. And so it might be like way easier.

You Forgot (11:38)
I'm sure. I'm sure they are.

I wonder what gray, well it'll probably be everything like,

Jojo (11:48)
I'm sure

we're going to start out as subs because apparently all the routes have been claimed, but they said it's a very high turnover job for people who are just using this as a gap job before they can find another job. So hopefully I get a route. I mean, I do miss being around the high schoolers. I loved that.

You Forgot (12:02)
Yeah.

We'll see how you feel in a couple weeks or after school starts.

Jojo (12:13)
my god, we had to do a physical test.

You Forgot (12:16)
Like to see if you could like throw a kid out the window or like.

Jojo (12:19)
Yeah,

you literally one of the tests I had to drag this bucket that weighed 150 pounds 30 feet or 30 yards. It was legit hard. I was putting like back in the day when I was 80 pounds heavier. That would have been easy. But I was putting all of my weight into this and you have to do it in like 15 seconds. So you can't dilly-dally. I had to run to the back of the bus.

Open the exit door and hop out. And those buses are tall. within like, I don't know, 10 seconds. But ⁓ my little guy that was like testing me was, this is not rude to say, he was on the spectrum. I love him. It's just the cutest. But you know, people on the spectrum are very black and white. And so the poor guy that was going in front of me wasn't doing as well. And he let him know. And so I was taking notes like,

You Forgot (12:51)
Yeah.

Jojo (13:16)
exactly like how he wanted it done. And so, at one point you have to stab the break with your foot. don't, I guess just sit, and he goes like, that's the way it's done. Did you see how she did that? That's the way it's done. And I was like, I'm the valedictorian of stabbing breaks.

You Forgot (13:36)
my God, no matter how old we get, when you are told like good job, it's like, it's so exciting.

Jojo (13:48)
Like, like I literally

wanted to call Gaga and tell her that I'm the best one at stabbing breaks.

You Forgot (13:52)
Yeah!

How did Matt do on his testing?

Jojo (14:00)
He did fine, but they didn't say he was the best. Yeah, one guy bless. He didn't pass the physical test at one point. I don't know why, but you had to put your right foot on the accelerator and then on the brake and then on the accelerator and the brake just to make sure your ankles work, I guess. But he was doing it too slow, like he wasn't taking it seriously. And guess what?

You Forgot (14:03)
Well, you were there, so.

Jojo (14:28)
He got put into the school bus monitor class. He's not allowed to drive.

You Forgot (14:35)
my god, was he older?

Jojo (14:36)
Nope. I just think he was

like being nonchalant and you're supposed to be very chalant.

You Forgot (14:42)
Gotta be shallot. I mean, good content. Maybe I'll just follow you on your first day.

Jojo (14:43)
I'm gonna have to be social.

I'm gonna have so many stories for you.

Yeah, come be my monitor.

You Forgot (14:58)
God, oh yeah, you're gonna have to have a monitor.

Jojo (15:00)
Well, only if I drive a specialized bus, which I would love to do that. know, Matt did that for years and every now and then I would be his monitor if I didn't have a route. It fun.

You Forgot (15:02)
⁓ Yeah. ⁓

I loved, my kids had the same bus driver every day through all of elementary school. And I remember being kind of leery about putting my daughter on a bus. She was five, right? You're five. You don't send your kid anywhere alone. And a neighbor who had a kid in kindergarten also, she was just like, my God, do it. It's so, it's amazing. Like they love it. And I was like, okay. I, ⁓

Jojo (15:23)
Yeah.

You Forgot (15:40)
I took her out to the stop and it was Mr. Mike and he was just like the best every morning, every afternoon. It was Mr. Mike. was, and they were so happy and he was so sweet and he knew every kid and we had that for five years. He was older. Yeah. And then he retired and they didn't tell us like in time, cause I didn't have, like all of a sudden it was like, where'd he go?

Jojo (15:54)
Was he older?

You Forgot (16:08)
And it was like, oh, he had to retire. I don't know if he got sick, but I mean, I would like march my ass to like Plano Bus Barn. Can you give this to Mr. Mike? I mean, he took care of my kids for a million years. I mean, I don't know.

Jojo (16:18)
Aww. I also put

⁓ Sloan on the bus first day of kindergarten, little five-year-old, but I was psycho and I followed that bus in my car. Like, what did I think was gonna happen? Obviously they've got it under control, but I had to follow just because, whatever. She was so teeny.

You Forgot (16:32)
I mean, because they're five, like that's

little and they love it. in, know, the elementary school was eight tenths of a mile from the house. I mean, I don't even think maybe it's a mile. I think it has to be a mile. But anyway, yeah. But, you know, you have to drive them so like, so inconvenient, especially when you have a little kid at home, another one.

Jojo (17:02)
I had to be at my high school at 730. Like there was, I had no choice, but the next year when Jack became a kindergartner, you know, second kid, I was like, get on the bus. See you.

You Forgot (17:13)
Yeah. Yeah.

Don't be a dick. See ya.

Jojo (17:17)
I was

like Sloan, make sure he doesn't get run over by a car. Like putting that on a six year old.

You Forgot (17:23)
I do the same damn thing. I don't think she looked out for her brother until they were like high school college. When they were little, they just coexisted.

Jojo (17:33)
They don't, yeah, they don't care.

You Forgot (17:35)
Now they're friends.

Jojo (17:37)
Alright, well that's what I have going on this week. Who knows what will be going on next week?

You Forgot (17:42)
I mean, like every time we talk you have a new job or class or project.

Jojo (17:50)
I I think I thrive when I have stuff to do. I just really thrive.

You Forgot (17:55)
And so how does this work? You work like six to nine and then you have the day and then you go back.

Jojo (18:03)
Yep, so, you know, I never really start my travel work till around nine anyways. So I can work from like nine to two, which is pretty much what I do anyways, unless I'm slammed and then go back, be home by five. And then if I have more work to do, then I'll just work in the evenings.

You Forgot (18:22)
Yeah, and there's a lot of, and if you don't get a route, maybe you'll just be doing like the field trips and all that stuff for a while.

Jojo (18:30)
Yeah, we were talking about that. Matt and I were laughing because back in the day, the guy that was in charge of assigning our field trips, his name was Troy. And I know a few people that listen to this podcast are going to totally know Troy. ⁓ he was so. So nonchalant, would give the field trips out based on popularity and guess who was popular, Matt and friend of the pod, Daniel. So they always got the field trips.

You Forgot (18:53)
that.

Jojo (18:59)
the good ones like to the zoo and then when I started dating Matt, Matt would get a field trip that needed two buses and be like Troy put you in on the other one. So that's I started getting all the field trips too. I would just skip class. Yeah.

You Forgot (19:14)
Nice.

This is going to be fun.

⁓

You Forgot (19:24)
You good? Yeah, who knows what happened? ⁓ Yeah, I have a little save it for the pod. It's a it's something only you would appreciate. So yesterday I was putting something in the recycling and I see this in the recycling.

Jojo (19:25)
Yeah, I was there and then you left.

Please touch.

Why it's, yeah, tell them what you're up.

You Forgot (19:52)
I'm holding up the

Costco Connection magazine. And it's a great magazine. It was in recycling. And I just casually, calmly picked it up. There was nothing gross in recycling yet. And I walked into my horizontal husband watching some crap on TV.

Jojo (20:01)
It's our favorite magazine.

You Forgot (20:19)
And I said, have you not learned anything? Like anything that he's thrown away, Costco checks before. He throws away the ad, the app. Like how do you think I plan my shopping? How do you think I plan when to go to Costco? Because you don't want to go before the sale starts.

Jojo (20:29)
No.

Correct.

You Forgot (20:49)
I need to know on Thursday, the last, what is it? last Thursday or last Monday of the month or whatever it switches over to new deals. But this.

He's like, I'm sorry. like, it's, it's like, I don't think I don't know if other people like it as much as we do. I mean, but it's really good. mean, there's recipes. tells you like stuff about the ⁓ creators of these small businesses that get picked up in Costco. That's always interesting. This week was a woman that started making ⁓ clothes for preemies out of like

Organic cotton or whatever the hell she's using but they sell it at Costco and I'm just like

I was mortified.

Jojo (21:41)
Well, I don't think the Costco Connections magazine gets enough love and maybe we need to tag Costco in this. I literally, it's so funny that you bring this up because when we walked in the door today from our class, someone must have gotten the mail and my Costco Connections was on the island and I literally squealed. A pure delight. It's like a huge drop of Xanax for me to sit down and read the Costco Connections.

You Forgot (22:07)
Well, I take it to the pool. Like it's like a pool, you know, like I read magazines in the pool and like this, protect your pets. It's their pet insurance. Did you know they had pet insurance? I did not know that. Figo pet insurance. And there's a great article in here on how to still utilize all the beautiful things of Costco when it's just like two people, which is what we are now in this house. And it's about, you know,

Jojo (22:11)
Yeah.

Did not.

correct.

You Forgot (22:37)
freezer like the maybe that was a plug to buy the food saver but I do need one for I want if my kids would like actually use it because it is great I buy a big remember the other day I showed you a picture of my dinner and you're like what's that protein and I was like it's a steak why does it look like that you know I was like it was I buy the big pack and then freezer save one at a time and there was some yes

Jojo (22:55)
Yes.

Yep, I do that with the ground turkey.

You Forgot (23:06)
and the beef. And also I realized that if you're an executive member, you get an early year now.

Jojo (23:13)
I know that's a new thing you get in at 9, cause why are they still opening at 10?

You Forgot (23:15)
All right.

don't know, because they treat their employees amazingly. I don't know.

Jojo (23:23)
My day is half

over at 10.

You Forgot (23:27)
Yeah. And I am executive only because like I would buy so much like when the kids were home, so they bumped me up. They were like, you should probably do this.

Jojo (23:36)
I can't sing their praises enough. In fact, as soon as we hang up, I'm going to get a rotisserie chicken from there. The two things they lose money on, hot dogs, rotisserie chicken. That's what you really need to be buying there.

You Forgot (23:48)
never came.

You're gonna go to Costco for like, do you know that I do that to you all the time? Like I make chicken salad out of one and then the other one. Like a chicken salad or chicken like salad? Like I'd made chicken salad.

Jojo (23:56)
That's what I'm making tonight.

I'm making a

cowboy chicken, cowgirl chicken salad, like black beans. I'm gonna grill some corn, green onions, red onion, make us, you know, and then you dip tortilla chips in it.

You Forgot (24:11)
Yeah

Yes, yum. Yeah, no, I made like traditional like chicken salad like a ⁓ sandwich chicken salad but yeah, that's my suit for the pod because I know you love the Costco magazine too and I Mean, I just don't it has all kinds of stuff in and also Kirkland brand paired with ⁓ I said paired because I'm gonna say something about wine they partnered with

Jojo (24:19)
yeah.

Bye.

You Forgot (24:40)
⁓ the director wine Coppola and the Kirkland brand new Cabernet is from Coppola if people care about that. I mean, so much knowledge.

Jojo (24:45)
⁓

Speaking of Cabernet, I know.

By the way, I have my Costco rebate check sitting up on my counter right now. I just need to use it.

You Forgot (25:05)
Yeah, like I it's like a rule in this house do not touch anything that says Costco.

Jojo (25:11)
And don't you

dare put it in the recycling.

You Forgot (25:14)
I don't understand how, like he just doesn't care. And I saw the magazine in there and I was like, I kind of was like, it must be the Rifleman, because I still get my dad's gun magazines. My dad has been passed for over 10 years at this point, I can't even remember. Yeah, like 15 years. And I still get Rifleman magazine. I mean.

Jojo (25:17)
I'm actually super mad at him.

That's crazy.

I'm

here.

You Forgot (25:41)
I guess they never told him he passed away.

Jojo (25:44)
Do you still read it?

You Forgot (25:46)
No, I've never even opened it. But I just think it's like a waste of them printing it, you know what I mean?

Jojo (25:52)
Okay, speaking of that, saw something on Instagram this week that I think is such a good idea. Where you hold a party where you force your friends to do things that they are procrastinating about.

You Forgot (26:03)
I saw

that, ⁓ I thought to send it to you and I didn't yet, or and then you posted it. I was like, my God, of course she saw that too. Or Al Gore was saying.

Jojo (26:14)
Because

I, like I had to, my compound pharmacy doesn't have a website and so you have to call in the refills. I would rather punch myself in the boob than do that. ⁓ So I've been procrastinating, but I was out of my progesterone, so I had to call. But maybe that's something we can have a party and then you can contact rifleman and get rid of that magazine.

You Forgot (26:38)
I know it's cracks me up every time I get it. just I mean, I guess he got like a lifetime membership with like joining the NRA something like that. But like, and then if they don't tell anyone, anyone died, you just keep getting it. I don't know. It's not like I ever changed his address at Rifleman magazine either. They just found

Jojo (26:54)
I guess so.

You Forgot (27:02)
some government thing and I don't know, he never lived here.

Jojo (27:06)
So crazy. So crazy.

You Forgot (27:09)
What is your save it for the pod? What have you kept me in the dark about this week?

Jojo (27:13)
Well,

I'm going to save my save it for the pod for after my favorite things because they correlate. Yeah. Do you have a favorite things?

You Forgot (27:22)
Okay.

⁓

I do, but should we talk about Alzheimer's first?

Jojo (27:32)
⁓ forgot about that. Yes. I, I, I have a mind fuck of the week that I read this week. Actually it popped up on the today show, which I watch religiously every single day. So there was this ⁓ report that, and it may be older because I kind of did some digging and it sounds like this has been out for a few years, but they are training dogs now to smell out Parkinson's. So.

You Forgot (27:58)
Whoa.

Jojo (28:00)
There's this new study from the UK and they trained two dogs, a golden retriever and a black lab to sniff skin swabs. So they're actually sniffing the sebum or the skin oil of all kinds of different people. And it was a double blind ⁓ trial, which is really reliable. That means the researchers didn't know who had Parkinson's and neither did the dog trainers. So ⁓ the results were that they got around 80 % positive rate for poc...

Parkinson's and then for ruling out people, was 98 % accurate. So basically what they're doing is they're having the dog smell sebum of people with Parkinson's and every time they sit down when they smell it, they get a treat. So then if they smell someone who doesn't have Parkinson's, they don't sit down and then they also get a treat. So they just kept doing that over and over. They did 200 samples and the dogs were so, so accurate about it.

You Forgot (28:35)
Whoa.

Jojo (29:00)
⁓ and so why is this important? First of all, tests like an MRI or a brain scan aren't really definitive when it comes to Parkinson's, like it is for Alzheimer's. And so people get misdiagnosed all the time. But if there was like this quick skin swab, ⁓ it could really be a game changer for people because dogs have like a hundred thousand more smell sensors than we do.

It's also cheap and early screening. Sometimes Parkinson's doesn't show up for like 10 to 20 years after the first symptoms. So you might get an earlier diagnosis, which means earlier prevention. it's just honestly a really, really good way to figure out if someone has Parkinson's or not. But I have a story that's related to that. Maybe this is my save up for the pod.

You know, Gaga, maybe I've told you this, Gaga always said she diagnosed my dad's diabetes way before the doctor diagnosed it. And do you want to know how she diagnosed it? Smelling his farts.

You Forgot (30:03)
with smell.

⁓ well,

I didn't expect that. ⁓

Jojo (30:10)
She said at one point in their marriage, his farts started smelling very different and very sugary. And she was like, I knew he had diabetes before he did. And she told him and he didn't believe her. And then eventually he was diagnosed with diabetes because he had the sugars.

You Forgot (30:33)
He got the diabetes.

Jojo (30:35)
You can't make this stuff up!

You Forgot (30:37)
Nope. Nope. I, I, God, they were close.

Jojo (30:43)
I mean, when

you know the different scents, it's, well, we grew up in a fart funny family. Like people were farting out loud and it was fucking hilarious. And I think Matt maybe grew up in a not like keep your farts to yourself. But then when he entered my family and everyone's just free flowing, now he is also free farting.

You Forgot (31:07)
Hmm.

Yeah, mean, our house is, think, farts are funny household

Jojo (31:16)
unfortunately, Jack doesn't think farts are funny. He's in the wrong family. He doesn't fart in front of us, and he's very offended when we fart.

You Forgot (31:28)
You're so, wow.

God, this podcast. Yeah, that's funny.

Jojo (31:37)
Sloan and Matt will do it to make people laugh.

You Forgot (31:41)
make you laugh,

make your son cringe.

Jojo (31:44)
Farts are so funny.

You Forgot (31:45)
okay. I'm just wondering if we'll have to cut that out. Is Deborah listening still or? just trying to be nice.

Jojo (31:48)
I think I've rendered you speechless.

my god. Okay. Well anyways, that's my mind. Fuck the wig.

You Forgot (32:05)
Okay, on that topic, this is kind of mindfucky, but not really. Yours takes the cake, farts and all. But ⁓ there's another documentary coming out. It's actually being screened tomorrow in like Toronto or something. But the writer and director had a piece in USA Today this morning. And...

I'm not gonna read the whole thing to you, but it's basically, her husband, kind of early onset, his name's Charlie, and they were on vacation and her husband was chatting away with some guy, and she was just thinking about how,

it might not be too long where these conversations kind of stop, right? Like it's just when it starts progressing and everything. And she gets a call about a new trial, the University of Southern California's Keck Medical Center, and they had a new trial. And she was pretty excited about it and wanted to, you know, get them there, but they would have had to like leave their like vacation and turn around and go back to LA and

you know, get in on it. they had like 24 hours, like, if not, they move on to the next person. And he was very clear and said, Why should we rush back to LA for a drug that is only a pile of promises? I feel, I feel way better here in nature slowing down.

Jojo (33:41)
Wow.

You Forgot (33:45)
We have great doctors. If this drug proves to be the one, I'm sure you'll find a way to get me back in. The only thing I know is that nobody knows what to do with this and we just have to keep living.

she said he also struggled to find his words sometimes, and then all of a sudden he comes out with that, and it's clear as day, and it's his wishes, they were like, wanted to be, she wanted, like, oh, we gotta go be a part of it. But I guess the documentary also touches on the fact that.

what are these drugs doing? Like, are they really preventing? we're throwing money at all the research and everything. Well, now it's getting all nice and cut, ⁓ instead of looking for ways to make the caregiver's life easier and enrich your loved one's life. So that's kind of like the basis of it.

Jojo (34:38)
is the name of this documentary?

You Forgot (34:40)
It is called Walk With Me and you can go to Walk With Me doc. It's like the, like that's their Instagram, walk with me doc. And then walk with me doc.com is where you can get more information. They're trying to get funding for the movie to be put out like distribution because yeah, tomorrow in Toronto and then.

it's gonna be in a bunch of film festivals and stuff like that.

Jojo (35:12)
I can't wait to watch it.

You Forgot (35:13)
I know and it's just, she just wants to spark a conversation not just about the search for the cure but also about the necessity to care honoring the people we love and the caregivers who make their journey more human and compassionate.

Jojo (35:32)
Well, I like that perspective. It's definitely a different perspective of maybe not rushing to try a new trial.

You Forgot (35:40)
No, it's a completely honest perspective too, because like I know if someone called me and said, ⁓ get your mom over here, like we can get this going. like, if we had to pick up from a beautiful vacation in Vermont, to turn where you're happy and clear thoughts and talking to people on the street and feeling like yourself again, then you turn around and go back and get in the study. And these drugs that

They're not like proven yet, you know? Until something says, removes amyloid plaque.

Jojo (36:14)
Yeah.

correct.

You Forgot (36:21)
They're all just kind of, I don't know, maybe improving mood, you know, stuff like that. But cognitive decline, it's gonna happen whether or not you take this stuff or not.

Jojo (36:35)
Yeah, unless they have some sort of procedure like an angiogram that can go in there and just drill it out. Listen to us, we're doctors over here.

You Forgot (36:41)
my god, that'd be cool.

We are not doctors, but we will find you the doctors, therapists, counselors, financial planners to help you.

Jojo (36:54)
Okay,

I Was This was like maybe Saturday I was texting with a friend because Matt and I are going up to Oklahoma City this weekend for his 30th high school reunion Which mayor Matt was I know I don't think I told you this Yeah mayor Matt was also the class president in 1995 so Can you pause it? you pause it ones locked out of the house?

You Forgot (37:10)
No, you told me he had to plan it.

Nah.

Sloan is home.

Jojo (37:26)
Sony went out to brunch with her friends. yes, Matt was the class president all four years. So that man was in charge of planning this. Anyways, so we're going up for that. Long story short, I was texting with a college friend of mine because that's how I met Matt is my college was outside of Oklahoma city. And we went, she and I went to a very, very small ultra conservative Nazarene liberal arts college.

And she was, and so we're going to meet for drinks or whatever. When I go up there, she was like, Joanna, you have got to watch the second season of shiny, happy people. So the first season was about the Duggar family and how fucked up that family really was. The second season is about teenagers that grew up in the nineties and the two thousands in a youth group and like these ultra conservative youth groups, which is totally what Matt and I grew up in.

So I'm like, duh, I'm gonna watch this. And Jack was in the living room playing a switch or whatever, but he became immediately enthralled in this documentary. I think it's only two episodes, but if you are one of those that grew up in a culture where you had to sign a purity contract, which I did have to sign, where you weren't allowed to watch the Smurfs, which I wasn't allowed to watch that.

where you had to throw out your rock and roll CDs or we made a big bonfire one time at camp and burned them. If you grew up like that, you have got to watch this documentary. First of all, mean, the names just start flooding back of these like alt Christian rock people that we had to listen to, like DC Talk. Have you heard of them? And then they started singing these songs and Matt and I knew

You Forgot (38:54)
you

No, I don't have this. yeah, yeah.

Jojo (39:16)
Every single word and Jack was just like jaw on the floor. He was like, how do you know these? we're like literally we're at church like five days a week. This is all we did so ⁓ a little bit about this documentary and that and there's a reason why I'm talking about this not just to slam our Childhood or how we grew up. We know that our parents were doing the very best they could and But during the 90s and 2000s a lot of Christian youth groups were preaching

that in my words, you were born a piece of shit, you will always be a piece of shit, and only one person can save you and that's Jesus. And if, and we were telling this to Jack, that we were always taught, you better be on the straight and narrow, because if you make one mistake, if you drink one beer, or if you smoke one cigarette, and then you immediately die, you're going to hell. Like that's, so we were, we lived in fear our whole childhood. And in fact, Deborah and I still laugh quote unquote about

A lot of people and a lot of our friends had the same fear called rapture fear. Have you heard of this? So anytime one of us came home and the rest of the family was not there and obviously there's no internet or cell phone, you automatically assume that everyone had gotten raptured, but you weren't good enough so you were stuck in hell. And this happened to us all the time and we think it's funny, but honestly, it's really trauma. It's trauma-based. We were taught this, that

If you couldn't find any of your loved ones, they were probably raptured and you're a piece of shit. you weren't. So, um, I know, I know. But if you talk to a lot of people like from my college or who we grew up, they're all like, wait, not everyone had rapture fear. I'm like, no, apparently most people didn't have rapture fear. That's a weird thing. So, um,

You Forgot (40:47)
That's insane!

Jojo (41:04)
At the end of this documentary, after they go over all like the crazy things that we all did and then we all said, and then we're trying to save the world and build God's army and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, this is where it gets really interesting. And I hadn't quite put the pieces together. So they start showing how this kind of culture, even though the guy that started all this teen mania went bankrupt, he was a total fraud. It never actually went away. All of these ideals.

And so they talk about politicians these days that are still pushing these like anti-LGBTQ laws or extreme gender roles where men should be the leader of the house and women should be submissive to men, ⁓ banning books in order to protect children. There's still, this is still in our culture. And it's because these politicians also grew up like the way I did, except their critical thinking never kicked in.

And so they start connecting the dots to, I'm gonna start naming actual politicians who are also grew up in this culture. Josh Hawley, he's the Senator from Missouri. He's been pushing the whole manly men should lead the family narrative. This sounds exactly what Bill Gothered and the Institute of Basic Life Principles were teaching way back in the day for all those homeschoolers that had to go through all that trauma. They also bring up

Ron DeSantis, especially with how Florida has been passing the anti-LGBTQ laws and restricting education by banning books. And this is all under the guise of protecting children and traditional family values. This all goes back to that Christian nationality that we, a lot of us were brought up in. And then the biggest one is Mike Johnson, who's the Speaker of the House. He's...

You Forgot (42:53)
Ahem.

Jojo (42:54)
actually quite scary because he outright says he believes in theocracy over democracy and that he wants to change the constitution to ⁓ reflect that and that they have figured out ways on how to change the constitution so that Trump can run a third term and none of this is illegal according to him. So he is pushing this cultural narrative into our politics and so basically the whole point of this documentary was like, hey, you know,

We've all kind of overcome, hopefully most of us, but it is right in front of our faces right now and it's so prevalent and it is still out there. So basically the whole premise or the whole point of it was your local politics matter so much right now. You need to be calling your legislatures. You need to be running for office if you can because it's out there and it's pervasive and it's already invaded our culture. Anyways, I thought it was really interesting.

You Forgot (43:53)
What is that called? Shiny happy people?

Jojo (43:55)
Shiny

Happy People Season 2.

You Forgot (43:57)
Where is it? What channel?

Jojo (43:59)
I would think it was on Prime.

You Forgot (44:02)
Dude. ⁓

Jojo (44:04)
I know.

You Forgot (44:06)
I mean, I grew up in church, but it wasn't like, it was never that hardcore. Like there was no, no, it was, was Baptist, but I realized too, it was a lot different than Southern Baptist.

Jojo (44:12)
It wasn't ear-based.

Yeah, I think northern religion will just be friendlier overall. Maybe not so crazy.

You Forgot (44:26)
It was literally all

like, love one another. You know, it wasn't, ⁓ yeah, that rapture thing. That didn't happen in my youth group.

Jojo (44:37)
Well, thank God.

I mean, I cannot wait. Friday I'm going out with my friend and we're gonna just yap it up about this documentary. She was like, my God, Joanna, have so much to talk about. Yeah, you gotta watch it.

You Forgot (44:50)
I'm gonna watch it.

We love a documentary. ⁓

Jojo (44:55)
Okay. ⁓

You Forgot (44:59)
I have a favorite thing this week.

Jojo (45:01)
Ooh, tell me.

You Forgot (45:03)
The hunting wives. Yeah, I didn't finish it yet. I kind of don't want to finish it. I think there's only like eight episodes. But it is so soapy and they're all these women are fucking each other. I was like, wait, what? Who? What? Where? It was so funny. I was just started laughing because first of all, Malin Ackerman, who I love her. She's such the

Jojo (45:07)
I started it.

Yes!

You Forgot (45:31)
the wife of the main guy. Yeah. Like she's so good, but she's like sleeping with a high school boy and then her best friend and then trying to make out with some other girl. I was just like, what is this show about?

Jojo (45:33)
of the governor.

exactly how I felt. was like I thought it was coming into something and then it did a whiplash.

You Forgot (45:56)
Yeah, like she walks in on our husband with a couple girls and she's just like, hi girls. I'm like, wait, what are we watching? So it's talk about an escape for any caregivers out there that needs something completely smut filled and murder filled and it was good. It's so it's good so far.

Jojo (46:17)
Yeah, you're definitely going to hell if you watch that.

You Forgot (46:22)
you there. ⁓ Okay, last week we talked about it too, but did you watch Happy Gilmore too? Yeah, it good. It's I mean, we're we're an Adam Sandler family. can kind of do no wrong. It's a silly movie. I don't think anyone was expecting it to be like, you know, some great piece of cinema. But I mean, it did the trick. It was really funny. Lots of cameos.

Jojo (46:23)
I know, I can't wait.

I did. Did you watch it?

my god, so many cameos and obviously it's not getting an Oscar, but it's just pure entertainment. Frivolous entertainment.

You Forgot (46:57)
Yeah, I like seeing. Yeah, it was fun. Bad Bunny. How the hell is he so damn funny? Like he is so funny. And I've seen so cute too.

Jojo (47:00)
Yeah, I liked it too.

Love.

How is he so talented?

You Forgot (47:12)
I was not that into the bad bunny until he played. Yeah, he's very, very charming. I've seen him do like a bunch of press for this and he's just naturally funny and good timing and then like in his accent just makes everything even cuter. I know. ⁓ What else? You got.

Jojo (47:16)
No, no, I'm a huge fan huge

Yeah, he's great.

⁓ he's so cute.

Well, I think that's it. pretty much verbal diarrhea'd myself all the way through. I know.

You Forgot (47:46)
You're gonna need a nap after that.

⁓ Next week we have a good interview coming up with Suzanne White, the caregiver warrior. So that's good.

Jojo (48:01)
Yeah, I'm really excited. She was really sweet. Like, I could be friends with her outside of the pod.

You Forgot (48:06)
yeah, totally.

Jojo (48:07)
Yeah, totally. Alrighty, I'm gonna go.

You Forgot (48:10)
Well, I'll let

you go. Do you have to go to bus school tomorrow again?

Jojo (48:13)
Yeah, well, if I pass my test tomorrow, I don't, so...

You Forgot (48:19)
Alright, everybody wish Joanne a good luck on her bus test!

I better not impede on my life.

Jojo (48:28)
I know, right?

You Forgot (48:29)
Yeah, know, we're gonna have to fuck off Fridays. What are we gonna do?

Jojo (48:33)
I can still fuck off between routes.

You Forgot (48:37)
Okay. Cool. As long as I'm fine.

Jojo (48:38)
Okay.

All right, talk later.

You Forgot (48:42)
Okay,

later. Bye.

You Forgot (48:48)
If this podcast means something to you, it would mean so much to us if you'd be willing to take 30 seconds to do these three things. First, can you follow or subscribe to You Forgot That I Existed? Following the pod helps you because you'll never miss an episode and it helps us because you'll never miss an episode. To do this, just go to the You Forgot That I Existed show page on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen and then just tap the plus sign or click on follow. This is the most important thing for the pod.

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