Latest / Crohn's & Colitis Unfiltered / Fighting for her gut: Melissa’s relentless battle with ulcerative colitis

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Fighting for her gut: Melissa’s relentless battle with ulcerative colitis · Crohn's & Colitis Unfiltered

0:06
I wasn't really familiar with ulcerative colitis.
0:09
I mean, I knew of it, but I didn't know the ins
0:12
and outs of it. And the doctor was like, oh,
0:14
you have ulcerative colitis, come back in a couple
0:17
of months, let the dust settle. And like really
0:20
wasn't. overly informative or overly tactful
0:24
for the diagnosis. So I was kind of left on my
0:27
own to sort of digest it and take it all in and
0:30
figure it out. This is Melissa, who got diagnosed
0:34
with ulcerative colitis at age 46 in Boston,
0:37
Massachusetts. Melissa's journey is one of inspiration.
0:42
Not too long after her diagnosis, doctors recommended
0:45
she have surgery to remove her colon. But Melissa
0:48
refused. She was not ready to let go of her intestines.
0:52
Today, she's telling us all about her IBD experience.
0:57
This is Talking S*** presented by Colitis Unfiltered.
1:00
My name is Franck Tabouring and Melissa, welcome
1:03
to the show. Thank you, Frank. Glad to be here
1:05
today. So let's get right into it. I think, you
1:09
know, what's really easier for the audience is
1:12
to maybe set a little bit of a context. So it'd
1:14
be great for you to maybe give us a very brief
1:18
summary of your IBD journey, you know, from diagnosis
1:21
to today. Tell me a little bit about your timeline.
1:25
So going back, I was first diagnosed in 2018.
1:29
And I first started having symptoms of diarrhea,
1:34
urgency, and was really quite sick and was hospitalized
1:37
for about 12 days. And I was treated with IV
1:42
antibiotics, like I had a parasite or something.
1:45
And it wasn't until the last day where they did
1:48
a colonoscopy on me and they said I had ulcerative
1:50
colitis. And I was literally sent home to let
1:54
the dust settle. And I had lost a ton of weight
1:57
and progressively got more and more sick where
2:00
I was blacking out. Led me to go see another
2:04
doctor for another opinion. At that point, my
2:07
hemoglobin and hematocrit were at critical low
2:10
numbers and I needed blood transfusion and was
2:12
hospitalized again. And I was then started on
2:17
some IV Remicade. and that eventually ended up
2:21
not working for me. And then I went advanced
2:25
to another medication called Intivio. That didn't
2:29
work. I eventually then went to a third opinion
2:32
and found another doctor who was really not afraid
2:36
to push the envelope and do a combination drug
2:39
therapy to try to knock me into remission. And
2:42
that was really what set me straight was this
2:46
third doctor. So it was like a very long journey
2:49
to get stabilized. And in the meantime, everybody
2:53
wanted to take my colon out. When I was hospitalized,
2:57
and when I was hospitalized, it was days at a
2:59
time, I'm talking 12 days in the hospital, and
3:03
they were all at my bedside, ready to remove
3:05
my colon. And I wasn't having it. I didn't want
3:09
to have my colon out. I thought I was young.
3:12
If there's another way out, By golly, I was going
3:14
to fight for it. And I did. So anyways, I found
3:18
my way, found the right doctor, found the right
3:21
remedy, the right prescription, and was able
3:24
to get stabilized. But it took a long time. It
3:27
took a couple of years. So you said that, you
3:30
know, the symptoms just showed up. Like, how
3:32
did you realize something was wrong? The diarrhea
3:37
that I was having was not like I had a bug. or
3:42
like a stomach flu, something like that. There
3:45
was urgency, the consistency. Then I started
3:51
rectal bleeding. And so it wasn't long where
3:53
I'm like, oh boy, what's going on here? This
3:56
isn't normal. This isn't a normal type of bug.
4:00
And I was really wiped out, exhausted, where
4:04
I was flat lying and couldn't lift my head. I
4:07
was literally brought out in an ambulance. Wow.
4:11
One thing that I sometimes think about is this
4:13
very moment where, at least for me, I was sitting
4:16
in the doctor's office and he broke the news
4:17
to me, right? He said, I'm afraid it's not good
4:20
news. You have ulcerative colitis. And to me,
4:23
so many questions popped into my head. I was
4:24
like, wait, what? So I want to ask you, whatever
4:27
physician diagnosed you, how did he or she break
4:31
the news to you? And also when you heard this
4:34
term ulcerative colitis, what went through your
4:36
mind? Wasn't really familiar with ulcerative
4:40
colitis. I mean I knew of it I but I didn't know
4:43
the ins and outs of it and at the time I had
4:46
been so sick and was hospitalized not knowing
4:49
what it was Part of me was like a relief that
4:52
it wasn't cancer You know cuz I didn't know what
4:56
it was and then the ulcerative colitis was like
5:00
I Was a little overwhelmed at first to be honest.
5:03
I you know, I had to you know Take it back and
5:07
it was the doctor was like, Oh, you have ulcerative
5:09
colitis. Uh, come back in a couple of months,
5:11
let the dust settle. And like really wasn't overly
5:15
informative or overly tactful for the diagnosis.
5:19
So I was kind of left on my own to sort of digest
5:23
it and take it all in and figure it out. So,
5:26
uh, it wasn't a great experience in many ways
5:29
on many levels. Right. So basically. the first
5:33
time you heard the term, the doctor didn't necessarily
5:35
go into details and explain to you, hey, this
5:37
is an inflammatory bowel disease, nothing really,
5:40
just said, this is it. No, it wasn't until I
5:42
got to the second doctor that I really got some
5:45
great information. I think this is a common problem
5:50
for a lot of people with colitis. At least the
5:52
stories that I hear is that either doctors write
5:55
it off or they just write it off as IBS or they
5:57
don't really follow up. Personally, Because you're
6:00
working as a nurse as well, right? Why is it
6:03
that doctors don't really take the time or don't
6:05
really listen to the patient and become more
6:07
proactive right away? Well, I can tell you one
6:10
thing that I encountered is that there's gastroenterologists
6:15
that are general gastroenterologists, and then
6:18
there's gastroenterologists that are specialized
6:20
in IBD. And that makes a whole world of difference
6:24
because, you know, The guy I saw first he could
6:28
been a specialist in in reflux disease, you know
6:31
or saw everything But does he really you know
6:34
live and breathe ulcerative colitis and Crohn's
6:36
disease on a daily basis? No, you know, he's
6:38
because he's a general gastroenterologist I did
6:42
not believe he knew the ins and outs of the ulcerative
6:46
colitis So it really took finding someone that's
6:49
super specialized in inflammatory bowel disease
6:52
to sort of treat someone, you know, the best
6:57
way possible. You mentioned at the beginning,
7:00
but could you quickly take us through the types
7:02
of medications that you went through sort of
7:04
and which ones worked and which ones didn't work?
7:07
Yeah. So at first I was on mescalamine. Then
7:11
I went to Remicade. Then I went to Intivio every
7:16
eight weeks. Then when I got to the doctor that
7:20
was the specialist in IBD, She put me on Zeljanz
7:27
in conjunction with Antivio every four weeks.
7:31
And it was that combination of those two medications
7:36
that really knocked me into remission. So then
7:40
I was able to wean off of the Zeljanz and maintain
7:44
the Antivio. And that's where I'm at today is
7:48
on the Antivio. But I went have recently gone
7:50
from every four weeks to every six weeks. That's
7:54
great. Antivio, that's exactly the treatment
7:56
that I am on now. And for me also, it's been
7:59
the most stable one. Very glad to hear that this
8:01
is the one that keeps you in remission and that's
8:03
actually the one that keeps me in remission right
8:04
now as well. I was on prednisone too during in
8:07
-between while I was finding the right doctor.
8:10
I was taking prednisone like crazy because it
8:14
was stopping the bleeding and I was taking it
8:17
totally against medical advice. But I was so
8:21
afraid to have my colon out. I was like, if it's
8:23
going to stop the bleeding and buy more time
8:25
till I can find the right doctor and get the
8:27
right answer. I was doing that, you know, which
8:31
is not good to be on long term steroids. Exactly,
8:35
yes. And I mean, I always personally refer to
8:38
prednisone as sort of a blessing and a curse,
8:40
right? Blessing because it can help you short
8:43
term, but curse, you know, all the side effects
8:45
and what it does to your body. How did you experience
8:48
the prednisone? Did you have very notable side
8:50
effects? This is a question that a lot of people
8:52
with colitis that I talked to and they struggle
8:53
with prednisone. What was your experience being
8:56
on that medication? Yeah, I mean, the ulcerative
8:59
colitis has brought so much you know, with body
9:02
image. I mean, there was one point I had lost
9:04
a lot of weight because everything I was, you
9:06
know, consuming was going right through me. And
9:09
then when I was on long -term prednisone, I had
9:12
like a 30 pound weight gain. I had, you know,
9:16
hair loss. I had weight gain. I had mood swings.
9:22
I mean, yeah, not good side effects, but it saved
9:27
me because I was stopped bleeding and it bought
9:30
me some time. So you're absolutely right, the
9:33
blessing and the curse. You mentioned earlier
9:36
that you were advised or was recommended to you
9:39
to just remove your colon to beat this disease
9:43
essentially, and you refused. What did you do
9:47
mentally also for yourself in refusing to go
9:51
that route? When the first doctor told me to
9:53
go home and let the dust settle and I had gotten
9:55
progressively worse and made it to that second
9:58
doctor, He admitted me right away into the hospital.
10:02
I needed blood transfusions. And he basically
10:04
told me, I never would have let you out of the
10:06
hospital in this condition, you know, back from
10:10
the first doctor. And he basically said, you
10:13
know, that they didn't do enough for me. It was
10:15
like a fire extinguisher and a forest fire. You
10:18
know, they just did not. you know do enough for
10:21
me and he said that I had severe pan colitis
10:24
which is colitis in the whole entire colon so
10:26
there was not one section of my colon that was
10:30
saveable and that I really was a candidate to
10:33
have the the colon out and that I should really
10:35
consider it and uh you know I said well I don't
10:39
want to do that and that's he started me on the
10:41
remicade and you know it wasn't long because
10:45
I was on the remicade only a few months and he
10:47
said It was it stopped working. I started having
10:50
like the breakthrough bleeding and symptoms came
10:53
right back within a few months and he says well
10:56
I can start you on in tibio but really you should
10:59
have the colon out and I I had a very hard time.
11:04
I had a very very hard time, you know digesting
11:07
that like what's gonna happen to my life? I was
11:09
only 46 years old. Is that necessary? Is there
11:13
anything out there that can you know get me out
11:16
of this? And I just kept pursuing. I'm like,
11:20
I need another opinion. I need to find another
11:22
doctor. And it turned out that doctor one was
11:27
not an IBD specialist. Doctor two was not an
11:30
IBD specialist. The third one was. And by the
11:34
time I got to her, she said, yes, you have a
11:38
very severe case, but she was willing to sort
11:41
of, you know, try things out and do some experimentation
11:46
with the medications to see if I couldn't get
11:49
to a remission where I had a chance of not getting
11:52
my colon out. It's remarkable that you actually
11:55
stuck with your opinion and you didn't listen
11:57
to the doctors. And I understand that a lot of
11:59
colitis patients out there, they get diagnosed
12:01
at a stage where they actually don't have any
12:03
other option anymore. And I think, you know,
12:05
again, you know, sort of this lack of sort of
12:08
subspecialty maybe is coming into play as well.
12:11
The same thing happened to me and this was while
12:14
I started on Remicade and after about a month
12:16
or two, it didn't really work quite yet. I was
12:18
feeling better, but my doctor basically told
12:20
me, listen, if this doesn't work, this is maybe
12:24
something that we should consider, right? Surgery.
12:26
And I still remember to this day, I was actually
12:28
sitting ironically enough on the toilet and I
12:32
sort of processed everything and I said, no.
12:34
And I just said, this is not going to happen.
12:37
So over the years, I thought to myself, Listen,
12:40
everybody always talks about sort of brain -gut
12:42
connection, right? And I'm the first one to say
12:46
that certainly the medication, the treatment
12:49
was what pulled me into remission. But I always
12:53
said, I think the mindset sort of keeping that
12:56
strength, it probably helped a little bit. I
12:59
don't want to say that it sort of kept me from
13:02
using my colon, but What's your stance on sort
13:06
of like using your mind and having just sort
13:09
of, I don't know, either positive mentality or
13:10
fighting spirit and how it can help somebody
13:14
through, through struggles. Oh, I'm all about
13:17
it. Do you believe that? Absolutely. The perseverance,
13:20
the determination, you know, I also, you know,
13:23
it had a lot of stress in my life. So I, you
13:26
know, I meditation yoga, then I got into, you
13:29
know, diet. changes. And, you know, certainly
13:33
I will never discount my gastroenterologist that,
13:36
you know, saved me and all the wonderful things
13:40
that, you know, the medicine field is doing,
13:42
but they were not into diet recommendations.
13:45
I can't tell you how many times I was told you
13:48
can eat a regular diet. It's autoimmune. You
13:51
can do what you want. It doesn't matter what
13:53
you eat. You have your colon's failing, you know,
13:56
get your colon out. But I got to tell you when
13:59
I did all of those things, the stress management
14:02
and, and the food changes, you know, and, and
14:06
the mindset things started, you know, to turn
14:09
around. So, um, I'm a firm believer in all of
14:12
those things to that, you know, we, we, our bodies
14:15
can heal ourselves and, and there's a lot of
14:18
things that you can do. Yep. Yep. I think it's
14:21
a really good combination of having that fighting
14:24
spirit, the mindset, and then the right doctor,
14:27
the right treatment plan. And, uh, you actually
14:29
have a, worthy shot of experiencing remission
14:32
and staying in remission. So speaking of remission,
14:36
actually, once we get better, once we heal, even
14:40
though we know it's not a cure, so we should
14:42
never take remission for granted. A lot of us
14:45
we sort of reflect on our choices we make in
14:48
life, especially to our bodies. What sort of
14:51
lifestyle changes have you made, you know, since
14:55
remission or what lifestyle changes have helped?
14:58
you better manage your disease. Yeah. I mean,
15:02
that's a great question. You know, and this is
15:05
one good thing about this whole IBD journey for
15:09
me is that it put me in a place where I am ultra
15:14
conscious about my sleep, my stress, my diet,
15:19
all of those things I am, you know, ultra conscious
15:23
on a daily basis. So that's a good thing, whether
15:26
you have IBD or not, right? So that's been sort
15:31
of the blessing here is being have this conscious
15:34
contact about wellness on a regular basis. How
15:39
has this disease changed you as a person? Well,
15:44
I've learned not to take anything for granted.
15:48
Health is wealth. I mean, What if you know when
15:51
you have like a close call like that and you're
15:54
hospitalized, you know for days on end I mean,
15:57
I wasn't working. I wasn't I wasn't near family.
16:00
I was away at a hospital. I mean so really, you
16:04
know Not taking anything for granted and and
16:09
really prioritizing health Without that, you
16:13
know, what have you got I basically prefer to
16:17
as my IBD journey, where we're actually the actual
16:20
disease is a blessing and a curse as well, right?
16:24
Curse because we suffered a lot, but then a blessing,
16:26
it just sort of allows us to revaluate our lives.
16:30
How do you relate to that, that IBD being both
16:33
a blessing and a curse? Does that resonate with
16:35
you? It totally resonates and probably very similar,
16:38
you know, to you. The curse is definitely All
16:43
of the suffering. I mean it was it was so stressful
16:46
navigating the health care system the doctors
16:48
Finding the right medication, you know, and then
16:51
all the physical suffering. I mean I had You
16:54
know weight loss. I had weight gain. I had hair
16:56
loss. I mean You know the fatigue, you know,
17:00
I had low iron levels all of that stuff I mean
17:03
that that was definitely, you know the curse
17:05
and and and having this, you know disorder and
17:09
disease and then of course, you know On the flip
17:12
side, the blessing, I have learned so much about
17:16
the disease. I'm able to help other people. I've
17:22
learned about diets and foods and supplements
17:25
and wellness. I don't think I ever probably would
17:28
have tried doing yoga or meditation prior to
17:32
this. So there's a lot of blessings. That's great
17:37
to hear. You mentioned when you were at your
17:40
worst, you sort of were not able to be around
17:43
family so much. How has the disease, especially
17:46
also when it was active, impacted your relationships
17:48
with your friends, with your family? And also
17:52
how did they react? And I'm sure they didn't
17:55
know much about ulcerative colitis either. Was
17:57
it difficult for them to understand the disease?
18:01
How did you communicate with them? What was that
18:05
like for you? Yeah, that was a little challenging.
18:08
I'm one to isolate. I don't want to talk shit
18:13
with everybody. So it was a little challenging.
18:18
It's not like you could say, oh, I'm diabetic.
18:22
It's a lot easier to say something like that
18:25
than to say, I have diarrhea. I mean, I guess
18:32
that caused a little bit of separation and a
18:35
little bit of a barrier with, you know, talking
18:37
to people and communicating. You know, people
18:40
say, how are you? And it's like, you know, you
18:43
don't want to say, oh, well, I went to the bathroom
18:45
10 times or I'm bleeding. You know, those are
18:48
not things that you necessarily want to talk
18:50
about. And it becomes challenging to have conversations
18:53
about your health, you know, even when it's with,
18:56
you know, close friends and family. It's sometimes
18:59
was challenging. Yeah, you mentioned the word
19:03
isolation. And I think that's definitely also
19:06
something that happened to me when I was flaring
19:07
and I was at my worst. I actually wanted to be
19:09
alone. I sort of retracted into my own bubble
19:11
and wanted to suffer basically by myself in silence.
19:17
So yeah, how did you navigate your flares? And
19:19
did you also experience this sort of isolated?
19:22
feeling or not wanting to be close to anybody.
19:24
Yes, I absolutely did. I mean, I wanted to be,
19:27
you know, home. I wanted to be near the bathroom.
19:31
I certainly didn't feel social, didn't feel like
19:34
having fun, didn't want to go out. I mean, when
19:37
I, during a flare and to go out, I mean, that's
19:40
if I had to go somewhere, I'm packing a change
19:43
of clothes and thinking ahead about where's the
19:46
bathroom and how long am I going to be and how
19:49
long is the drive? And you know, so I didn't
19:51
want to deal with any of that. It was just like,
19:54
leave me alone. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not
19:56
talking. I'm not doing anything. We don't have
19:59
the energy at that point to actually do anything
20:03
or literally care about anyone else but ourselves,
20:06
right? So it's one of those moments where it's
20:08
actually okay to be very, very selfish. And I
20:11
always advocate for that, you know, take care
20:13
of yourself first, and everybody else has to
20:16
wait, right? So what advice would you have for
20:23
people like friends and family supporting someone
20:26
with IBD, someone that is entering a tough stretch
20:31
or is flaring constantly, what would you tell
20:33
these people who are around the person like that?
20:36
I would say not to ask too many questions, let
20:39
them know that you're there for them and support
20:41
them and ask them to let you know if there's
20:44
anything that you know, that they that you need,
20:47
you know, and provide space for that person if
20:50
you're getting the feeling that they want to
20:52
be alone, that that's okay. And I think that
20:55
that's helpful to know both for the person that
20:59
has the ulcerative colitis to know that people
21:02
are there for you and they're only like a phone
21:04
call away without being overly intrusive about
21:09
what's going on and what the status is. I think
21:14
the best thing that people can do is let you
21:18
know that they're there but that actually wait
21:20
for You know us to reach out to them. I think
21:23
that that's the best sort of support that that
21:26
they can show right? So one of the reasons why
21:30
I started this initiative and why I also want
21:34
to raise awareness about Colliders Crohn's IBD
21:37
in general is I think there's a lot of common
21:39
misconceptions still out there. There's a lot
21:41
of stigma. There's actually a lack of awareness
21:43
based on what you have experienced. What are
21:46
some common misconceptions in your eyes about?
21:49
colitis or IBD in general. I think people don't
21:54
understand that as like a long -term chronic
21:57
illness or that it's, you know, autoimmune. I
22:00
think a lot of people confuse IBD with IBS and
22:06
they don't, they just don't really understand,
22:08
you know, the complexity of it. What do you think?
22:15
Besides just trying to raise awareness and talk
22:17
about it. Do you think there's anything else
22:19
that we could do to educate people better? You
22:24
know, I've seen a lot of activity more recently
22:27
in the past year than in years prior like from
22:31
the Crohn's and colitis foundation I see them
22:34
doing a lot of marketing a lot of publicity a
22:37
lot of events to raise awareness I think there's
22:41
a lot, there's a movement. I see people on TikTok
22:47
and other social media platforms that are very
22:51
open, people that, young girls in bikinis that
22:54
have colostomies. I feel like there's a lot more
22:58
openness about it. So I feel like there's a movement
23:01
out there that's going in the right direction
23:04
to help people understand. And so today, we've
23:10
kind of arrived at the present now. How are you
23:14
feeling? You feel like you really have this disease
23:16
under control for now? Are you feeling good?
23:20
Do you feel strong again? Like, how are you feeling?
23:23
I feel great. I feel great now. You know, the
23:27
ulcerative colitis is in remission. I've recently
23:31
been able to decrease my doses of the Antivio.
23:35
I have my mental health things that I do. I have
23:39
my diet that I follow. So yeah, I'm feeling fabulous
23:43
and back to normal. That's really great to hear.
23:48
Yeah, that's great. Perfect. So I have two questions
23:51
for you before we wrap this up. We were actually
23:54
talking right before we started recording a little
23:58
bit about The difficult healthcare system, specifically
24:02
United States, you were diagnosed there. I was
24:05
diagnosed there and I suffered through my worst
24:07
in the US as well. And, you know, one of the
24:10
things that my doctor always told me was, Oh,
24:12
you actually have very good insurance. And I
24:13
thought, Oh, that's interesting. Great. But then
24:17
oddly enough, the bills for the Remicade treatments
24:20
showed up and I looked at the number and it said,
24:22
$20 ,000 and show what the insurance would take
24:26
care of. But then I saw amounts in the thousands
24:29
of dollars that I would still have to pay out
24:32
of pocket. So healthcare, this is one of the
24:35
issues. Insurance, another issue where people
24:38
who are newly diagnosed tend to struggle with
24:41
sometimes, not just in the US, but mainly there
24:43
as well. I think other struggles that people
24:46
are experiencing is diet and how to handle that.
24:50
And you and I both talked about this. You're
24:53
sort of having an initiative that you're launching
24:57
or in the process of launching in terms of trying
24:59
to help people as well, right? Like, or coach
25:01
them. Can you tell me a little bit about what
25:03
your initiative is and what you're doing or planning
25:06
to do in those fields and trying to help people
25:09
out? Yeah, so I'm a nurse by background. I have
25:14
spent many years actually working in the insurance
25:18
industry. But I was also had many years experience
25:22
as a case manager and doing motivational interviewing.
25:25
So I am between my lived experience, personal
25:30
and professional experience. I am opening it
25:34
up to help people that are out there suffering,
25:36
that need help navigating the health care system,
25:39
that need help setting goals and making changes
25:42
in their lifestyle. And so, you know, I feel
25:47
like you know, I can give back and I'm looking
25:50
forward to doing that. So I'm, you know, have
25:54
my sub stack open and for anybody that wants
25:57
to, wants to reach out, I can provide individualized
26:01
coaching sessions or consulting. Perfect. I'm
26:04
going to put that link as well into the show
26:06
notes so that people can quickly access that.
26:09
So then Melissa, my final question for you is
26:12
one looking into the future. And this is how
26:16
we want to we want to part. Do you think we'll
26:19
see a cure to colitis in our lifetime? Oh, I
26:23
know there's already been so many advances, even
26:26
since I was diagnosed seven years ago in the
26:28
medications. If you go on TV, there are so many
26:31
new medications out there that it's just unbelievable.
26:36
As far as a cure goes. Hmm. That's difficult
26:40
to answer. I know things are going in great directions.
26:45
but it seems to be going in the big pharma direction.
26:50
As far as curing autoimmune disease, I don't
26:54
know. That's a really tough question, a great
26:58
question. You got me stumped on that one a little
27:00
bit, but I think it's a holistic thing. I mean,
27:07
autoimmune, pardon me, I can't help but think
27:10
it's triggered by stress. you know, by our diets.
27:17
There's a lot to this. And I think it's a question
27:21
that we honestly can't really answer, but I'd
27:24
like to ask it because, you know, we all have
27:25
sort of our mindset and most of us, at least,
27:28
you know, who've been living with the disease,
27:30
who are in remission, we'd like to have this
27:33
positive outlook, right? And as much as I myself
27:37
would love to see a cure, I think the more treatments
27:40
we can find, the better people have a shot at
27:43
Going through a prolonged maintenance and remission
27:46
of the disease as well. So I think progress is
27:49
being made there. You're absolutely right. Well,
27:52
Melissa, thank you so much. This has been a really
27:54
fascinating conversation and I really want to
27:57
applaud you as well for wanting to share your
27:59
journey. I think this is really one of the key
28:01
elements that we need in raising awareness. It's
28:04
not just to talk about what the disease is and
28:06
what it does, but to also share personal experiences
28:10
because yes, Everybody is different, but we share
28:14
a lot of the same issues, challenges and also
28:17
victories as colitis patients. So thank you so
28:20
much again for taking the time and sharing your
28:22
story. And I wish you nothing but the best with
28:25
your continuing remission. Thank you so much.
28:27
I appreciate being here and best of luck to you.
28:31
Thank you. That's it for today's episode of Talking
28:35
S*** presented by Colitis Unfiltered. I'm Franck
28:38
Tabouring and if this hit home, or hit your gut.
28:41
Do us a favor, subscribe to the show and follow
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