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Episode 6 - 'From struggle to strength' interview with Harvey Haworth · Tom's Hirschsprung's Podcast

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You are listening to Tom's Hirshprung's Podcast, where our provide a look into the
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remarkable experiences of the most inspiring people around Hirshprung's disease and sports. Hello and
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welcome to episode six of Tom's Hirshprung's Podcast. This week I have another very
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special guest. You may know him as Half and Health on Instagram, and
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today's special guest is Harvey Howarth. Welcome to the podcast. Thanks, Tom
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gritz Field. Awesome. So we're going to cover a number of topics today.
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We're going to cover your diagnosis of lightis. We're going to go through
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what that was like with surgery. We're also going to cover a very special
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activity that you're doing at the moment, which is training for the Manchester Marathon.
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We'll cover that a bit later on and who you're doing that for and
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how that's going. But before we before we move on to that, we
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will dive straight into your diagnosis if that's okay, And this was around sort
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of well, the diagnosis was a bit later, but the first symptoms of
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colitis was around twenty sixteen, was that right, Yeah, exactly. So
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I'll give you the whole backstory to how about twenty twenty four from twenty sixteen.
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I suppose it's worth prefacing it with what Colitis is part of inflammatory bow
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disease and its inflammation of the large intestine. So whenever you hear the word
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itis, I think inflammation. Now, back in twenty sixteen, we rewind
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back to that point. I was doing my GCSDS. You know, life
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was good. I had a great group of friends around me. I was
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doing all the sports I wanted to do. I couldn't complain really. I
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was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to go kayaking in the French house,
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so I applied straight away. Now, at this point I had very little
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experience of kayaking at all, you know, whether that's in a pool or
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in a French ravine. With that stead, I started training with a group
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of guys that also signed up and all was going well. So we first
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started off in a pool, learning roles to make sure, you know,
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we weren't didn't just the whole time swimming in France, and after a few
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sessions winded up going out into the rivers to get to get some real life
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experience rather than just paddling about in a pool. So We're traveling about the
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North of England and finding the best kayaking sponsor practice. And I look back
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on this part of the whole experience with quite a lot of fondness of how
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lucky I was to be able to do these things. I think I've maybe
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spoke too soon, to be honest, Tom, After one trip to a
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river in Bury and I f you're from the North of England, you may
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know that a river in Bury or around Berry would not be the most hiking
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place to kayak. After that trip, I was very very ill. And
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when I say ill, I mean violently sick, a sort of ill,
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thrown up night and day, and almost lost a stony weight overnight. And
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you know, they say, hines, I was twenty twenty and so being
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able to just look back on this, that's where I think this whole downward
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spiral into getting Collier started. So fast forward to a couple of years later,
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and you know, throughout that time, throughout twenty sixteen twenty seventeen,
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I was okay, but I'd still had some stomach issues. We then get
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to twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, and I started seeing symptoms, so you know,
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bleeding. I was rushing to the toilet a lot. As a naive
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teenager, I thought it was just bad eating. I thought I'd just had
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a really bad diet, and so I thought, this is fine, I'll
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just crack on with it, you know, eat better. But it didn't
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go away, and it got so bad. I was going to the toilet,
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you know, twenty thirty forty fifty times a day. It was immense,
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really, and I was drained from it, very tired, waking up
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every night, you know, every half hour of the night, didn't really
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sleep. So then we get to July twenty eighteen, which is when I
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was diagnosed, and yeah, so that's that's where we get to my diagnosis.
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Yeah, yeah, you said you said you were very sporty or still
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am or still are? Sorry, what type of sports did you do sort
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of before before twenty sixteen? So I suppose I was really into athletics,
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so I did earlier on I did. I got to national level at biathlons.
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I was also really into rugby until that got stopped by when I fractured
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my pelvis by running too quickly. So I didn't even you know, I
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didn't even get tackled or anything. I just ran too quick, so yeah,
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not not too sure if that's a flex or not. But yeah,
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so athletics and rugby were the key ones. Swimming I was alternative on swimming
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team at school, so yeah, I was. I was quite active.
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As soon as I started getting the symptoms, that quickly decreased because it's so
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debilitating. I just can't do anything for sure, for sure, just out
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of interest. What position did you play rugby? Wise? I played outside
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center position, exactly the forwards. So you were triathlete, national biathlon,
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played rugby, very very active. So there was no no inclination beforehand,
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no family history, nothing beforehand before the diagnosis. No, it came completely
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out of the blue, you know, and we've not experienced this before.
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And you know, with an illness like IBD colitis or Chrohn's, it's not
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just you that it affects. You can see that it affects other people around
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you, just from the perspective that they care for you, you know,
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and they're looking out for you. I'm quite a stoic, so I think
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I put up with more than perhaps I should have, and that's why I've
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left it too late. But as I say, hindsight's twenty twenty. And
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if I've known sooner, then I would have gone sooner. But as a
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teenager, you just think, I think anything other than going to the doctors,
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especially as a teenage boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Sometimes it's
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exactly the last place you want to you want to think about guys. You
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know, I'll deal with it. I'll put up with this, I'll put
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up with that. And then suddenly you think, right, okay, I
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probably should do something about this, and so you put up with it or
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put it off or whatever it might be, for a couple of years,
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and then you got sort of end of a levels around sort of twenty eighteen.
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Was it one particular thing that make you go, right, I've got
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to go to the doctors now? Or was it just a constant I just
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can't put up with this anymore. To be honest, I think I've got
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my parents to thank for making me go to the doctors. I yeah,
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like I say, I thought it was about my diet. I didn't think
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anything anything else. You know, I've never heard of IBD when it did
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get diagnosed, so I just thought it was down to what I ate.
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I really did lose a lot of weight, and it's only when I look
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back at pictures from around my time of diagnosis that I realized I was severely
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ill. You, I just couldn't see it. At the time, I
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thought I was fighting fit, but really I was fighted for my life.
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So yeah, once, once I've got a diagnosis after increased blood loss,
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urgency, go to the toilet weight loss. I saw a first consultant.
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We sat down, we talked about my symptoms. I explained that I was
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seeing blood in mobile movements and has an experienceing urgency, and then he has
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to examine me. Now, Tom, I've never been examined before. By
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that point, I didn't really know what it meant. Turns out it's it's
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something I didn't want, really, but knowing how to happen. An Equick
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tip is just relax for anyone who is going through this, don't try and
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tense up. When you have an examination. The feedlom will be like,
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you need to go to the toilet, you don't, don't worry, so
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you know, I was only seventeen and eighteen at the time. None of
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us was what I anticipated. But following that examination, I was put in
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for a full colonoscopy for conclusive evidence. So that was it was quite a
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quick diagnosis. Then I take it from well, I mean it would have
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been quicker if I'd gone to the doctors. Quicker I suppose maybe it could
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have been a year earlier. But in terms of actually going to the doctors
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and then seeing a consultant, I think I was quite lucky in that sense,
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because I've heard horror stories of people having to wait months and months and
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months to see someone. But yeah, as once i'd seen a consultant first,
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it was a matter of weeks before I went in for the colonoscopy and
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and had had confirmation that I had collitus. That's pretty quick. That's pretty
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quick. So when you said you thought, right, it might just be
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my diet. It might just be on I'm not eating so well, or
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this, that and the other. Did you try any particular ular dietary changes
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before going to the doctor, Before going to the doctor? You know,
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at the time, I think i'd well past my driving test in twenty seventeen,
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so that I was driving to to you know, sixth form to school,
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and so it was very easy. And to work as a lifeguard,
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it was very easy to pick up a you know, mackis or a KFC.
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But outside of that, I don't think badly. So I think I
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just put it down to something because how could it be anything else. Yeah,
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I mean in terms of diets, it was more after the diagnosis where
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I was desperate to try anythink that that came into play. Where I was
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trying things like you know, the carnivor diet. I was trying just juices.
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I was trying to just fish because I was desperate. Tom. I
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was really desperate to try and slow down the pace at which things were happening.
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Was there any sort of logic behind that or is it just I'm going
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to try this or was there an actual piece of research that you thought,
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well, I've seen this, I'm going to try it. After diagnosis,
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I I really concentrated on understanding the illness and I did a lot of research.
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As I saying, two diets, and then you know, some people
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said it worked, but I think I was too far down the line if
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there was any chance of anything working going to want. You know, I
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was looking at research papers, reading them all the time. It was like
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a second job, and I was reading it, yeah, and reaching out
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to researchers in different countries, finding out about their research. So I was
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quite i say, committed to try to find something that would work for me
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in the whole nine yards then exactly yeah. A consultant described one of my
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main IBD doctors described the medication journey as a ladder. So you know,
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you're on one wrong and then if that doesn't work, you go to the
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next one. If that doesn't work, you goes to the next one.
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And in total, I went up eight runs before we decided nothing's working.
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And you know, you hold out hope with every medication and you feel in
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the first few weeks that some are working, some definitely don't, and some
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one gave me a horrendous reaction. It was the first one that gave me
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a horrendous reaction. So yeah, you do hold out hope. And I
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think I pushed it, like you say, the whole nine yards to try
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and find something that would work. So if we if we touch on medication,
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because there was there was there is a story that you have told about
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a particular medication. I don't know if you wanted to go through that now,
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absolutely, yeah, yeah, sure, And I suppose I'll start this
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off by saying I had a reaction to this medication. It doesn't mean someone
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else trying it will. I think it's a pretty tame medication because it's the
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first one that most people are put on. I think I was just unfortunate
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in this instance. I the first medication I was put on was something called
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mazzellamine or mazzalazine, and it's part of a five ASA drug family, so
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it's generally the first point of call for IBD treatment due to its orally administrated
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and it targets general information in the GOD and its delivery method is quite clever,
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so it's it's delayed, and so it kind of opens up and works
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once it's in your large intestine. So I'll started on the low dose of
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it, and it was I think two point four grams per day, which
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equated to six tablets, and after eight weeks that didn't work, so we
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double the dose dose. And you know, after starting masalazine, I was
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also prescribed with steroids, so pregnice alone, which was the most effective thing
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that worked for me. But with the ramifications of it and the things that
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can can cause with the bones, I couldn't be on that for too long.
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So after eight weeks I increased the masalazine intake, and over the course
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the next two months, the medication just wasn't working. My symptoms remained the
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same, and I was really struggling. Adding on to this, you know,
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as we spoke about before, I was quite fit before this. Now
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I was feeling really unfit. And when I say out fit, I mean,
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you know, the stairs just felt like my worst enemy. I was
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struggling to get up a set of stairs without needing a rest at the top.
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Driving, not specifically driving, but getting into my car felt like a
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burden. I had a VW Polo at the time, and I'm six foot
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four, so you know, I had to bend down a bit, but
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I shouldn't be out of breast the car. Little Didano. I was suffering
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from an acute medical condition called pericarditis, and I thought, how on earth
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could I have thought I was just so unfit and had been eating badly.
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It's almost comical to think back on that now. The turning point for me
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with these issues of feeling really unfit and you know, tights around my chest
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was that one day I was walking back to my car after college. I
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got to my car and I struggled to lift my bag into the boot or
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trunk any Americans that are listening, and then I set off home with my
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hand on my chest. Halfway home on the motorway, I called my dad
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because I was in so much pain. I said to him, Dad,
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I'm going to go to the GP. My chest is really really hurting,
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and I think it checked out. So I said, okay, half,
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that's fine, but let us know if you need anythink. Five minutes later,
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I called him back. I said, Dad, I'm going to the
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hospital. I love you, And you know, I was in the worst
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pain. I felt it in my chest and down my left arm. I
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thought it was a heart attack, and I thought it was important to tell
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my dad I loved him because I really thought that was it. I thought
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I was going to die that day, you know, on the motorway,
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driving to a hospital, still probably half an hour ago. Now obviously i'm
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speaking here, so I'm still alive, Yeah, exactly, not speaking from
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beyond the grade now that would be a podcast episode, but yeah, it
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was definitely the close STUF felt to actually dying. So I got to the
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hospital after meeting my parents along the way to swap cars and pushed swiftly through
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to a and E had an ECG to do an echo cardiogram with my heart
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and the result was I had peracarditis. So what is paracarditis. It is
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where you have something called a paracardium around your heart, which is basically a
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sack around your heart that protects it. Mine had filled with fluid and I
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had a lot of fluid. I think it was just try of two liters,
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which means it was putting a lot of pressure on my heart as it
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was trying to beat. That's why I was feeling so much pain and pressure
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as I was lying on my side in bed or lifting anything. And so
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I then had to have what they call a procedure. It's not an operation.
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It's a procedure where you go into an operating room or stood up but
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still slightly on a decline, and then they take a big needle, a
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kind of comical size needle from your sternam up into the pericardium and withdraw the
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liquid. That was quite an experience that I won't forget. And you know,
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there were there were student doctors there while I was talking to them as
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this needle is going into me. Yeah, an experience I won't ever forget.
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After a few days in the hospital. Yeah, I heard over a
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liter of fluid and the normal kind of range is about fifty mils in in
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the pericardial sack. So yeah, as I say, extremely rare, but
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it was. It was quite an experience and then got to live through.
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And I think Tom, in your introductory podcast, you said that the things
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you've been through have made you stronger. And I can absolutely attest to that.
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You know, I was already a stoic, but I think I can.
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I can put it with quite a bit. And like you say,
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you got a quite high high paint, high pain threshold, and more than
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just pain but kind of just day to day life stuff. I can put
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it with. I think sure. Yeah, yeah, I just got to
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pick up on two things that you said. For that one, thank you
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very much for saying trunk as well, because I have a fifty percent of
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people that listen to this podcast are either from Canada or America, so thank
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you for catering to them. I always like to please our worldwide audience absolutely.
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And secondly, you had student doctors there around you. I've obviously had
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that experience as well, with student doctors coming in for me and my appointments
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because of the rarity of the condition, and they they want to study and
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and yeah, and and and sort of see a conditioner in its rarest form.
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Were they there because your pair of card p carditis was so rare or
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were they just there just because I think it was a bit of both.
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It's even that even the doctor or consultant who did the procedure said, it's
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incredibly rare, especially when it comes to the medication I've been taking. And
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so yeah, they definitely seemed intrigued, and I think, you know,
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it can feel a bit daunting having student doctors in there because they conceive young
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growth. But at the end of the day, the way I think of
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it is, firstly, it's it's a medical setting and they're the next generation
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of doctors. So when I when I'm sixty or fifty sixty, fifty sixty,
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they're going to be the doctors treating me. So you know, it's
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the same when you go for a you have to go for a coronoscopy.
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It can feel a bit embarrassing, but the fact is these doctors and these
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medical professionals do this day in day out, and so that's you know that
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they get it. And they see this all the time, so it's nothing
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to be embarrassed about. Yeah, no, for sure. I Mean every
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doctor I'd deal with is just incredibly professional. They do it, as you
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said, they do it day in day out. Yes, it might feel
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odd for us going through you know, various procedures, surgeries, whatever it
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might be, but no, they're they're very professional. They do this,
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do this all the time, and do it incredibly well. So yeah,
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if if anybody dies, have student doctors in I mean almost take it as
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a I took it. It's a source of pride really that I'm that rare
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that everyone has to come and see me. So it's it's yeah, I
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looked at the other way rather than who are all these people and why you're
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looking at me? Yeah, I just kind of said, well, yes,
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I'm very very rare, and yeah you've all come and come and see
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me. Yeah, exactly. I was a laugh and a joke with them
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before the needle took away every breath in me. How How was How was
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that? Then? So a giant needle stick, a cartoon sized needle,
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shove it into chest and just draws, draw the fluid and that's it.
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Yeah, exactly. So Yeah, the room gets a bit darker and not
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not metaphorically literally and then yeah, they scan and check where that pericardium is
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so they don't end up punching your heart, which don't. It didn't happen.
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Sorry, I feel like I'm scaring people here, but it's very rare.
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Yes, and yeah, so but it all wants to plan. You
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know, you're awake. It's not it's not so much painful, but it's
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just more discomfort really because obviously gets said patient and it's over relatively quickly.
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There was a wait the whole time. Perfect. So were there any other
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surgeries that you've needed or was that really the only procedure you've had before?
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Well, so that was before my stona surgery. In that time, that's
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the only that's the only procedure I've had, So I've been quite quite fortunate
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in that sense. Yeah, as I said, I think I was.
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I was putting off any kind of surgery for as long as possible. Yeah,
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yeah, it's it's not it's not necessarily something anybody wants. It's it's
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more necessity. I guess. I don't think there's anybody who really wants to
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go under the knife. You know, but if you need to, you
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need to. It's you know, it's life saving in a lot of senses.
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But yeah, no, thank you very much for sharing that. So
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obviously you presumably set that medication to one side and said, yeah, I'm
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not using that again. So are you medication now? Are you medication free?
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Are you? I am medication free now? So i'd yeah, as
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I said, tried eight different medications. The only one that did work.
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That's between you know, oral take it, taking medication orally or going in
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for infusions. Nothing worked and the only thing that it'd work was steroids,
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but you can't be on them for a long time. And I had quite
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an immense moon face from it because looking back on photos recently, yeah,
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I couldn't quite believe how much are around place. I had, so it
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was comical. So but yeah, no, no medication now. I you
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know, once you've got colitsis I think you think you're always classed as always
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having it unless you have a permanent stone. I in my case, I
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have technically a temporary iliostomy because I still have my rental stump, which means
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that I could have everything reversed. I had to have a had to go
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to endosopy and the endoscopy sweet just the other week, and I do still
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have active colitis in my repton. So yeah, I'm not holding out on
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any reversal learning time soon. But to be honest, I'm not too bothered.
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I've got the freedom back that I once had. You know, would
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I choose to go to the toilet fifty times a day or three to four?
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Probably three to four. Yeah, like sense definitely makes sense. Okay,
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fantastic. There's another part that I just wanted to touch on as well,
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about serotonin. I was listening again to another podcast that you've done a
27:15
few years ago, and you talked about serotonin in the gut and but nine,
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serotonin is found of the gut, and serotonin is responsible for mood,
27:30
cognitive activities, reward learning, and memory. And if you've had sort of
27:37
any stomach procedure, that can really affect the levels of serotonin. And it's
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one thing that certainly I learned is how the stomach and brain are connected.
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What's sort of been your experience with that sort of psychologically, Yeah, you're
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absolutely right. I think there is a lot of psychology with this, whether
28:04
directly or indirectly. So the serotonin pieces. While if I'm fascinating and it
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explains so much about how, you know, what we can affect our mood
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and how illnesses within our our stomachs and our yea, our whole digestive system
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can really affect how we feel. And if we feel happy, if you're
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feeling drained or you've got something that's going on in your in your system,
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then that's really going to affect how your body produces serotonin. And therefore it
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kind of makes you feel the brain got axis and the brain got connection.
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I think is fascinating as well. In terms of the psychology, I felt
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that I think, for for instance, there were times where I felt if
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I went a colder environment, even if I was wrapped up warm, or
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if I went into a certain room even or if went into my car,
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it felt like an immediate switch for Okay, you can go to the toilet
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now, Harvey, you're going to you have to go there. And I
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thought that was a psychological trigger between my brain and my you know, my
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digestive system. So I think there's there's a lot there that needs to be
29:29
explored. But that's not to say it would you treat the underlying condition but
29:37
I think it would help a lot in terms of helping people with managing their
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own condition as it is fantastic. Yeah, no, I totally agree that
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that there is. There's an awful lot of psychology in any stomach condition,
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whether it be Crome's, colitis, hirsch Brown's, whatever that might be.
29:57
And yeah, definitely definitely some some research to be done, and there's definitely
30:02
some little bits of research out there, but not not a huge amount when
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it comes to serotonin. So switching gears, I'd like to talk about what
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you're currently doing, so you are, as explained in the intro, you're
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you're currently practicing is not the right word, but currently sorry, trading trading
30:30
for Yeah, that was the word I was looking for. I should know
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this being in sport, but it's late at night. It's yes, trading
30:37
for the Manchester Marathon first of all, And again I've never run a marathon,
30:45
But why did you pick a marathon to run? I've never on a
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marathon either, so it's quite a terrifying thing to consider. Even about eight
31:02
weeks out now, I think, roughly why did I pick up marathon?
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I think I like to push myself. The way it came about was a
31:14
friend approached me and that's if I wanted to do it, I could easily
31:18
said no, But as I said, I do like to push myself.
31:22
I did a ten k last year in July time, which I think was
31:27
the Manchester Great Great Manchester ten k, So I suppose the next natural step
31:33
would have been half marathon, but you know, I might as well have
31:37
jumped. I just jumped to the marathon himself. And you know, as
31:41
part of training I've had to do a half marathon and noise, so might
31:45
as well tick to off at once. Yeah, sure, yeah, no,
31:51
I totally totally get that being a random as well. But you said
31:57
that you are looking to run for a charity, and naturally that that charity
32:06
being Chromes and Colitis UK. What what kind of correspondence have you had with
32:13
them with them so far? So I'd reached out to Chromes and Class UK
32:17
a while back before i'd actually signed up to the marathon, and the reason
32:22
for that was because i'd originally well, I had a reson, originally plan
32:28
to do another event, but due to illness, i'd be able to unable
32:31
to even start it. So this was before i'd even had my surgery that
32:36
was quite unwell. So really I don't know what I was thinking at the
32:38
time, as I say, a bit of a stoic mood. I didn't
32:42
know how it I was. So I'd reached out to them back then about
32:47
doing some fundraising and they've been fantastic in helping give giving me supplies which I
32:52
still have in terms of you know, chromes and collective UK balloons. They've
33:00
given me a vest that I'll be wearing on the day and so I've carried
33:07
that through and yeah, i'll be I'll be raising money for them. In
33:10
terms of why then, we've been preempting a question here, as you'd expect,
33:15
it's because it's because I've had colitus. And the reason I've got my
33:22
bag is because of colitis, and you know, it affects it's a young
33:29
person's illness, it affects a lot of young people. And if there's anything
33:35
that can help advance, you know, progress in the area of finding a
33:39
cure for crones and colitis, the better because it stops anyone even getting to
33:45
the point where I've had to get to. And so whilst I'm glad to
33:50
have my bag, what I prefer not to have it sure, But yeah,
33:54
that's that's why I'm raising money for for crones and colitis UK. You
33:58
play the card, you tell effectively, don't you Exactly? Yeah, I
34:02
mean it's it's it's one of those things in you know, believe looking at
34:10
up to date research is at point four of the population have crones or collitus
34:16
one in two hundred and fifty people, so less rare than my condition.
34:23
But but yeah, definitely, definitely, very very important. I want to
34:32
talk also about training plans and about how how has colitis affected training plans or
34:43
has it affected training plans? So I suppose since having the surgery it's been
34:52
it's not been something I've had to consider it all in terms of natural colitis.
34:58
You know, my having the surgery, having a stone bag has eradicated
35:01
all concerned about having to rush to the toilet, with the exception of you
35:05
know, unexpected filling of the bag. Right, I've not yet I said
35:14
not to consider colitis specifically in terms of having a stona. I've made some
35:20
considerations there. If everyonem going out on a run, I'll put a fresh
35:23
bag on to make sure the adhesives as effective as possible. I don't have
35:27
any leaks. You know, I wear a support belt just keep things in
35:32
place. And yeah, otherwise it's been fine. I think I've been lucky.
35:38
When it comes to doing the marathon day, I am admittedly a bit
35:45
nervous about if I need to empty my bag at any point. You know,
35:49
forty two kilometers twenty six miles is a long way, and so if
35:52
I'm running, you know, I'm not looking for a two hour marathon time.
35:57
I'm looking for some five hours. That's stuff. A long time to
36:00
run and a long time to not empty your back. Obviously the facilities on
36:06
the way, but there won't be what facilities that will be maybe maybe most
36:12
accessible for people who need to empty a stoma bag. So usually in part
36:19
of my training, I've been keeping close to home doing loops as opposed to
36:23
doing you know, in and out straight line. Okay, yeah for sure.
36:30
So you talked about your your colliti is about staying fairly close to home
36:37
just in case you do need to do need to pop back for whatever reason.
36:40
One thing that that I've learned through doing research about stomach illnesses is that
36:47
obviously core strength has been it is going to be a bit trickier with those
36:53
with with stomach conditions, which which makes total sense because the muscles not quite
37:00
there and obviously core strength being a huge part of running. Otherwise you end
37:06
up well kind of like how I run, where I just end up stooped
37:08
over and because I just haven't got the core strength there. Have you had
37:14
to do more core strength work alongside your running or is it have you been
37:22
able to just do that via the running. I think any core strength work
37:27
I've done has been more passive in terms of, you know, through other
37:30
exercises. You're absolutely right. I think through being ill, losing so much
37:37
weight, having surgery, I've lost a lot of core strength, and you
37:44
know, after surgery, I've been very anxious, I think actually too to
37:49
do any direct abdominal workouts because I don't want to get a hurt you or
37:57
something like that. You know, it's it's not ideal to put it lightly.
38:04
So I do go to the gym and do you know, workouts,
38:08
but I don't focus on my core at all, to be honest. It's
38:15
however, having said that, you know, I've got a pt to make
38:20
sure I'm doing the right thing and not making a mistake in the way I
38:22
approach my exercises, and so as part of that, it's about keeping you
38:27
call tight. And so that's what I mean by saying it's not direct exercise
38:34
or to work out my core. It's more passive. So if I'm you
38:37
know, working out my chest, I'm keeping my call tight and held in
38:42
as I do a chest press or a bench press. So I think that's
38:46
helped. And in terms of running, obviously, like you say, it's
38:51
easy to just hunch over, so I have a kind of being active,
38:57
you know, making an active effort to keep upright or in the correct position.
39:01
I definitely played a part in that. And it also goes to not
39:06
just exercise, but sitting at home. I work from home, and so
39:10
making sure you've got you've got the right seat to support your back and keeping
39:15
you caught kind of secure so you're not you're not hunched over. Yeah,
39:21
yeah, no, I do that. Also suddenly you're you're tapping away for
39:28
four or five hours, whatever it might be. I'll obvious work from home
39:30
as well, and and you might start to have back ache or things like
39:36
that, and it's probably just because you've been hunched over. And so yeah,
39:39
but that goes for everybody, whether you've got stomach illnesses or stomach conditions
39:44
or whatever, making sure you're supported and all the all the usual, the
39:50
usual things. One thing I'll question I did want to ask you is through
39:57
talked about all the things you've been through from twenty sixteen to now, sort
40:00
of all the eight year journey that you've been on. What is life like
40:07
now? Life is so much better, Tom. You know, as I
40:13
said, I didn't want the surgery. I was trying to hold it off
40:15
for as long as possible, and so when we're going into sur but going
40:22
into surgery, I was looking forward to it so much because i'd really lost
40:27
hope at that point, and to kind of put that into perspective. I
40:31
went in for surgery on the twenty seventh of September twenty twenty one, I
40:37
think it was, and I woke up look, you know, hours later,
40:43
I looked down from a hospital bed and sort saw this bag attached to
40:46
me, and I just burst out into tears. And the tears weren't out
40:54
of sadness for having the bag. It was because I was so relieved that
41:00
the pain and all that suffering was over. I just couldn't stop crying.
41:07
The nurse was there, you know, kind of a mix between crying and
41:12
overdue us laughter. So I'm much better now. And I think you always
41:20
go into once you get colitis. You know, you've got got in the
41:24
back of your mind that surgery is a possibility, and so trying to hold
41:29
it off. You don't want it if you can avoid it. But what
41:35
I'd say to anyone is, you know, every cloud has a silver lining,
41:38
and this definitely has the silver lining, which is freedom. Yeah,
41:45
so definitely definitely glad to have it. And it's it's enabled me to do
41:52
more now than when I had collitus. And I'm definitely clear for that.
41:57
Definitely, no, for sure, thank you. That's yeah, that's really
42:00
well summed up. And so I keep saying final question, and I keep
42:06
having another question, who who has been your biggest support along the way?
42:12
What's the biggest people who've supported you? I suppose it comes down to a
42:16
few people, right, I couldn't pay it down to one. Firstly,
42:22
my family, you know, they've always been concerned for me, even and
42:28
then you know I had had my back and been to these appointments with me,
42:32
So thanks for my dad. My girlfriend has always been there, you
42:37
know when you've got colliitis and you're coming to get to the toilet all the
42:40
time. That takes a lot of patience and so that you know you're ready
42:50
to go out and suddenly you've got to dash to the toilet and then you're
42:53
waiting and she or she was waiting for me, So I'm really grateful for
42:59
her. And then it goes to you know, medical professionals either whether it's
43:04
ib D nurses who give the guidance on the ground about what to expect,
43:10
what's what's next, the consultants and you know stoneinusts as well, who give
43:17
you the guidance and support after surgery as to you if you faceing the issues.
43:23
I think what goes wider a field of going further afield. Sorry,
43:30
in terms of who I'm thankful for after surgery, I think support groups are
43:37
a massive part of helping you recover. For me, that came in the
43:42
form of joining stone support groups on Facebook. After you've had stoneA surgery,
43:49
you you've got to be quite careful with what you eat because you don't want
43:53
to get a blockage end the back in hospital. So I joined these Facebook
43:58
groups promon'ly, not just to see other people's experiences, but to ask questions
44:05
and to find out what kind of foods worked for them, so I could
44:07
make a good judgment on the foods I could eat and the foods I couldn't
44:13
eat. So it work quite nicely. I just searched up for food,
44:16
and if people have had a negative response to it overall, then I'll think,
44:21
okay, stair away from it. I should have done that before I
44:23
ate popcorn, because that was the one thing that really did not work for
44:29
me. Yeah, popcorn. That's interesting. Add Of all the foods you
44:35
could have said carry, you could have said spicy, hot wings, you
44:38
could have said, you know, popcorn would have been Is it just as
44:44
a side? Is it sweet or salty or is it just literally the popcorn
44:47
itself. Well, if you want a preference, it's sweet popcorn. But
44:54
I think it was the popcorn itself, you know. I think I knew
44:59
I was taking a bit of a by the day after I just felt like
45:01
absolute hell on earth, but made it through with having to go to the
45:07
hospital, so it was a lucky escape, I think. So. Yeah,
45:13
absolutely excellent. Well, Harvey's been It's been an absolute pleasure to talk
45:16
to you. Thank you. So much for coming on on Tom's Hirshbran's podcast,
45:22
and very lastly, where can people find you? So people can find
45:27
me on Instagram at half and health and yeah, great to see if anyone
45:32
has any questions, happy to happy to answer them. What I will finish
45:36
with is, you know, don't give up. If you're going through the
45:39
same kind of journey as me, and you know, all of what you
45:43
go through in life does make you a stronger person. And whether you find
45:45
medication that puts your emission or you find yourself facing surgery like me, there
45:52
is light at the end of the tunnel. And equip yourself with the knowledge
45:55
going into anything, because knowledge really is power and if you know what to
46:00
expect, it makes things much more montable. I can care. Absolutely fantastic.
46:06
Well said for Harvey, best of luck with the marathon. Hopefully,
46:09
hopefully talk to you again afterwards once you've once you've completed the marathon, we'll
46:14
see how it wents. We'll do a part two and we'll see how we
46:17
go. But thank you ever so much for your time. Pixt Loon,
46:30
thank you for listening to the podcast. Find us on Instagram. Tom's Underscore
46:34
Hirshprung's Underscore podcast. Listen to previous episodes on Spotify by searching Tom's Hirshprung's podcast