In this episode of Resurface, Rachel and Stephen switch gears and play Agree or Disagree, a fast-paced, honest conversation about marriage, parenting, everyday habits, and the opinions couples quietly debate all the time.

From household quirks and communication differences to parenting philosophies and how men and women interpret the same situations differently, this episode is light, funny, and unexpectedly revealing. Some takes spark laughter, some spark debate, and a few open the door to deeper conversations we’ll explore in future episodes.

Whether you’re married, parenting, or simply enjoy listening to couples navigate real life out loud, this one’s easy to listen to and hard not to have opinions about.

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Can a marriage survive the “new normal” after trauma?

In this episode of the Resurface Podcast, we sit down for an open, unscripted conversation about marriage, recovery, and life after a medical crisis. We talk through what day to day life actually looks like when the baseline changes and routines, roles, and expectations shift.

The conversation covers stroke recovery, caregiver burnout, emotional fatigue, and the impact long-term healing can have on a relationship. We also allow space for humor and unexpected topics, because not every conversation about health and recovery is heavy. Sometimes the lighter moments matter just as much.

This episode is for stroke survivors, spouses and caregivers, and couples navigating life after trauma or major health events. It’s a real conversation about partnership, communication, resilience, and staying connected through uncertainty and change.

The Resurface Podcast focuses on health journeys, marriage, caregiving, recovery, and life after medical trauma through honest, real-life, and often funny conversations.

We discuss:

• Navigating marriage and communication after a stroke

• Our hidden reality of special needs parenting

• The "Hard" Questions vs. The "Fun" Questions

• Our childhoods and memories we hold

#strokesurvivor #marriage #caregiversupport #relationshipgoals #podcast #funquestions #lifeafter #specialneeds

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In this episode we sit down and share Part 2 of the raw, painful story of the morning our 4 year old baby not only had her first ever seizure, but went into status epilepticus and was moments away from cardiac arrest.

We discuss the ripple effect this has had on our lives, our sleep, our outlook and more.

If this story resonates with you, consider subscribing, sharing, or leaving a comment. Thank you so much for being here.

Find us below and don't hesitate to reach out! We would love to hear from you.

Find us on TikTok: @⁠resurfacepod⁠

Find us on Instagram: @⁠theresurfacepodcast⁠

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Email us: resurfacepodcast@gmail.com

Visit our website: ⁠www.resurfacepodcast.com⁠

Disclaimer: We are not medical professionals. The experiences, observations, and information shared in this episode reflect our personal journey and our understanding at the time, based on what we lived through and learned along the way. This content is not intended as medical advice and should not be used as a substitute for guidance from qualified healthcare professionals.

In this episode we sit down and share Part 1 of the raw, painful story of the morning our 4 year old baby not only had her first ever seizure, but went into status epilepticus and was moments away from cardiac arrest.

This is a story of pain, raw emotion, traumatic memories, complex PTSD, and the ripple effect it has on us today. We don't hold anything back.

If this story resonates with you, consider subscribing, sharing, or leaving a comment. Thank you so much for being here.

Find us below and don't hesitate to reach out! We would love to hear from you.

Find us on TikTok: @⁠resurfacepod⁠

Find us on Instagram: @⁠theresurfacepodcast⁠

Find us on Facebook: ⁠Resurface Podcast⁠

Email us: resurfacepodcast@gmail.com

Visit our website: ⁠www.resurfacepodcast.com⁠

Disclaimer: We are not medical professionals. The experiences, observations, and information shared in this episode reflect our personal journey and our understanding at the time, based on what we lived through and learned along the way. This content is not intended as medical advice and should not be used as a substitute for guidance from qualified healthcare professionals.

In this episode, we share the third of four major medical emergencies we experienced in less than five years. This was a season that tested our marriage, our kids, our mental health, and our endurance in ways we never imagined.

Just 30 days after Stephen suffered a stroke and underwent a carotid surgery, Rachel experienced a spinal fluid leak that left her bed ridden for months. What followed was not a straight line toward healing, but a cycle of relapses, severe pain, medical uncertainty, depression, and workplace trauma.

The patient became the caretaker and the caretaker became the patient. Needs collided and pain nearly broke us.

This conversation is honest and unfiltered.

We talk about:

• What a spinal leak (CSF leak) really feels like, physically and emotionally

• The toll of back-to-back medical emergencies on a marriage

• Navigating depression, isolation, and loss of independence

• How trauma compounds when there’s no time to recover between events

• The quiet moments no one prepares you for after the hospital doors close

We want to connect with you. If you’ve lived through medical trauma, workplace trauma or retaliation, cared for someone who has, or had your life ripped out from underneath you, you are not alone. This episode is part of a larger story, but it stands on its own as a reminder that healing is rarely linear, and survival often looks quieter and darker than people expect.

If this story resonates with you, consider subscribing, sharing, or leaving a comment. Thank you so much for being here.

Find us below and don't hesitate to reach out!

We would love to hear from you.

Find us on TikTok: @⁠resurfacepod⁠

Find us on Instagram: @⁠theresurfacepodcast⁠

Find us on Facebook: ⁠Resurface Podcast⁠

Email us: resurfacepodcast@gmail.com

Visit our website: ⁠www.resurfacepodcast.com⁠

Disclaimer: We are not medical professionals. The experiences, observations, and information shared in this episode reflect our personal journey and our understanding at the time, based on what we lived through and learned along the way. This content is not intended as medical advice and should not be used as a substitute for guidance from qualified healthcare professionals.

After everything that we walked through with our daughter's birth, the last thing we ever expected to hear was "Your husband has had a large stroke." But we did, less than 4 short years later.

In this episode we tell the full, raw story of Stephen's stroke from the beginning. From playing basketball, to riding in an ambulance, to the operating room, we leave nothing out. You will learn how we coped, what the doctors did (or didn't do), the reason for the stroke, the chaos that ensued, and Rachel's side of the story as his wife and co-survivor. You will hear about the residual impact, Stephen's healing journey, and his prognosis for recovery. You will hear about struggle, heartache, profound loneliness, grief, exhaustion, pain and purpose.

Stephen shouldn't be a stroke survivor, Mila shouldn't be a cardiac arrest survivor. Find out in Episode 4 what happened to Rachel just 30 days after Stephen's stroke.

We want to hear from you. We need community and if you do to, find us below:

Find us on TikTok: @⁠resurfacepod⁠

Find us on Instagram: @⁠theresurfacepodcast⁠

Find us on Facebook: ⁠Resurface Podcast⁠

Email us: resurfacepodcast@gmail.com

Visit our website: ⁠www.resurfacepodcast.com⁠

In this episode, we tell the story of the day our routine, scheduled induction turned into a stat C-section and a completely different birth than the one we expected.

One moment, everything was calm and planned. The next, our daughter was delivered with no pulse, a Code Baby was called, and we waited in the operating room not knowing if she was going to live.

We walk through what we remember from those first minutes; what led to a run into the operating room, each of our perspectives, and the shock of hearing afterward about the 30 minutes of CPR, the knot in her cord, and everything the team did to bring her back.

We also share what it was like meeting her for the first time in the NICU, learning about cooling therapy, and trying to understand a completely different start to life than the one we had prepared for.

If you are a medical professional, you might find this story uniquely fascinating or medically rare.

If you’ve gone through an emergency delivery, a traumatic birth, a NICU stay, or have a child with special needs, you might hear pieces of your own story here. And if you haven’t, this is our honest look at how our daughter’s fight began the moment she was born, and how quickly plans can change.

Stay tuned for Episode 3, where we talk about the stroke that turned our world upside down again just four years later.

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Email us: resurfacepodcast@gmail.com

Visit our website: www.resurfacepodcast.com

In our first episode, we share who we are: a stroke survivor, a disability survivor, co-patients, and parents to a special needs child.

We give an overview of the four medical emergencies that reshaped our family - a traumatic birth, an unexpected stroke, sudden disability, and our daughter's epilepsy diagnosis.

This episode sets the foundation for what Resurface will become: honest conversations about resilience, medical trauma, caregiving, and rebuilding life after everything changes.

Find us on TikTok: @⁠resurfacepod⁠

Find us on Instagram: @⁠theresurfacepodcast⁠

Find us on Facebook: ⁠Resurface Podcast⁠

Email us: resurfacepodcast@gmail.com

Visit our website: ⁠www.resurfacepodcast.com⁠