It is hard to keep hope alive, to be fair, because
you don't know what's going to happen next. You
don't know what tomorrow is going to be like.
Are you going to be loads worse and be mushed
in? Or can you slowly get better and then it's
time for the next one? Hope is a weird thing
because even if you're really well, you've still
got that thing in the back of your mind about
the next flare. And that always takes its toll
on you, always. So it's very difficult to have
hope, but I think everyone does with IBD. You
always hope that this is going to get cleared
up and then you might have a bit of remission.
And then you always know deep down there will
be another one, though. Welcome back to Colitis
Unfiltered. My name is Frank Tabering, and on
this podcast, we talk all things IBD. Today,
I have the pleasure of speaking with Claire,
who got diagnosed with indeterminate colitis
at age 18. in Nottingham, UK. Claire, welcome
to the show. Hello, thank you very much, Frank.
So everybody's IBD journey starts somewhere.
I would like for us to start going back to the
beginning. For you, could you tell us a little
bit about how the disease started to manifest,
first symptoms, what happened, the time that
you realized that something was wrong? It was
quite easy for me, actually, because I... Mine
started like a bang. It was severe straight away
and I had to go in hospital at those times. So
I know to the day what happened. I'd gone out
with some friends. The next day I was going to
London to visit my sister. So in my bag, I got
my purse that had quite a few bits in it, like
train tickets, a bit more money than normal.
I don't know why I took it out that night, but
anyway, I did. And halfway through the night,
when I went to the bar to look at my purse, the
whole purse had gone out my bag. And that was
my trigger. I still went to London. And while
I was in London, I started to feel unwell. I
had really bad diarrhea and just felt really
ill. And I managed to get myself back home eventually
after a few days with my sister. And I started
to get a real severe pain on my right side. And
I had to have the doctor out. He checked my tummy,
pressed down, released and various things. And
he thought I had appendicitis. So he said I had
to go to hospital. So I went to hospital. And
that's when they realized it wasn't appendicitis.
It was something else. During that first week,
like I say, I was quite young. I think anyway,
18 is quite young still to have anything like
this going on. They didn't really tell me much
at first. They did various tests. I had a sigmoidoscopy
where there's the camera that goes so far up.
Barium enema, a barium meal. I had various things
like that. constantly being sick as well and
running to the loo and he said I remember him
coming to the bed the junior doctor and saying
you will have to have an NG tube if you carry
on being sick so that panicked me at that age
I'd never been to hospital for anything else
and so eventually I kind of wasn't quite so sick
they put me on different tablets and stuff and
then I was on a drip And I was just generally
feeling so unwell. And after that, it was about
10 days in there, they got me on steroids and
things, and things started to improve. And it's
really weird. When you've been so ill and you
suddenly start to improve, it's quite a euphoric
feeling. You think, God, I feel better than I
ever have kind of feeling. And eventually they
said, you know, take these tablets and off you
go and we'll do a follow -up. The problem was,
what I didn't know, my parents didn't know as
well, I had to stay on these tablets. I thought
I was just taking that batch and that was it.
So I came off them and did another flare and
I was another 10 days in and all those kind of
things. So there was a lot of not knowing. There
wasn't much information coming from them. Eventually
he came to my bedside and said, look, you've
got inflammatory bowel disease. Not sure which
one you've got. Could be Crohn's or ulcerative
colitis. There's a thing called NACC, which at
the time was the National... Association of Crohn's
and Colitis is now Crohn's and Colitis UK but
back in the day it was called that nothing online
obviously back then in the late 80s early 90s
there was nothing really to no mobile phones
that you could google or anything like that so
very difficult in those early days of knowing
what on earth is going on here what's going to
happen to me yeah just generally quite scary
yeah absolutely and typically at least these
days You have a colonoscopy or some further testing
and you get a pretty clear diagnosis, right?
Well, you have colitis, you have pancolitis or
you have Crohn's disease. And what was it like
for you to then navigate life immediately after
this more or less detailed diagnosis and not
knowing what it really was that was going on
inside you besides the word? inflammatory bowel
disease, but we're not sure which one. How did
you navigate this uncertainty? Very difficult
at that age because I was going out with friends
and, you know, it's that kind of age where you're
going out to the weekends, having fun, blah,
blah, blah, having a drink. Obviously, every
time I went out, I felt unwell. Even when they
reduced me on the steroids, if I got to a certain
point on the steroids, it would start, the symptoms
would come back, so then I'd have to grow back
up. It was just awful because... I did have a
close friend at the time and she knew what was
going on and everything, but I don't think she
quite understood quite how horrible it was to
live with and why I felt so unwell and couldn't
go out and things like that. It should be brilliant,
don't get me wrong, but no one knows until you've
had it. It's pretty common that steroids are
referred to as a blessing and a curse, right?
Because the blessing is obvious. It can pull
you out of your symptoms pretty rapidly. But
there's a lot of side effects. They're only meant
to be taken short term. So what was that like
for you? Did you experience a lot of side effects
to the steroids? And how long were you on them?
Well, because I'd had these flare -ups. The very
first one, I was probably on them for quite a
few days in the hospital. Then I came out and
flared again another 10 days. There was another
load of intravenous steroids and then onto the
oral. And then that happened for a little while
until they kind of balanced me out. I got the
moon face. I was starvingly hungry. I had everything
in sight and wide awake at night. It was one
of those kind of things. But yeah, the moon face,
yeah. I mean, it does go once you come off them,
but it's unexpected, really. It's very weird.
It really is. It really is. So you're on that
for a while. How did your IBD journey continue
from there on? Take us a little bit through the
next. weeks months even years because ultimately
what i want to get to is to the point in your
life where you start to feel better it should
take a little while to feel fully better because
i always had a flare at least once or twice a
year that was enough to go on steroids again
they put me on old salazine which was one of
the like salazine kind of family which seemed
to help then i i got married. I was still, I
got married. I had children and had a flesh pretty
much just before I was giving birth. So, but
yeah, there was lots of difficult times for me
because I ended up being in hospital when my
daughter was only two and my son was four. So,
you know, they'd come and visit me and it was
horrible because they'd have to go. And it was,
it was just awful at that, that sort of young
age, teens to twenties kind of thing. regularly
having flares and regularly feeling really poorly
but generally improved with steroids again and
it was one of those I was on and off steroids
for many years probably because back then they
didn't really have the biologics weren't around
originally and so it was all those kind of things
and she tried me on nicotine patches that was
one of the things she thought would work and
I had some really obscure things like that and
then eventually I they gave me they put me on
azathioprine which I did feel quite unwell at
first sickly but then I got into it and I was
absolutely well for 14 years after that with
the acethypin. I had the odd little funny thing
but nothing like I was and it really kept me
on an even keel so as soon as I came off them
a month or two later I was back in a flare and
it was so horrible because I thought I've been
all this time and now I'm back in this flare
and it was horrible. you know, having accidents
at work and just generally horrible. And then
I took time off. It was in December 2015. This
was by now about 10, 11 years ago. And that flare
grumbled along and I started to get worse and
worse. I felt a bit bedbound -ish by the time
I'd done. I'd got anal skin tags that were swollen.
that they appeared suddenly, and apparently that's
a Croden's thing, which I didn't know. I was
very well nourished. The gastroenterologist was
okay, but I think they kind of left me more than
they did back in the day, whether it's so busy
with the NHS, and I kind of almost disbelieved
a little bit, if you like, as to how bad I actually
felt. The colonoscopies did show severe flare
with ulcers, but it was just left -sided right
up to the... under your rib it was that kind
of but it didn't go all the way around my bowel
but it never cleared and it became worse and
worse so eventually after they didn't really
listen to me particularly my husband took me
to A &E because I started to not be able to wee
and I know that can be a sign of sepsis so off
we went to the hospital I got an award and the
next minute the colorectal surgeon came to see
me and he said Claire you are so unwell that
bowel's got to come out how about tomorrow and
that was so scary just to suddenly bang there
you go it's coming out tomorrow I mean I knew
all about stomas and ileostomies because obviously
when you've got this disease you do come across
it a bit in literature and stuff the actual when
they're told you've actually got to have one
it's absolutely terrifying and um but I was so
ill I thought I've got to do it Anyway, he said,
we'll see what this CT is like. And if it's bad,
we'll take you down Sunday morning. And Sunday
morning, I went down. And because I'd been so
unwell, he said, we're going to have to do an
open surgery. We won't remove the rectum just
yet because you're not going to heal very well
because you're unwell. We'll do that at a later
date. So that's what happened. I went down for
surgery. I was on the high dependency unit for
four days, but she said I would be because they
wanted to make sure I was well looked after.
And, yeah, just recovered from there. But I was
in hospital for nearly three months because I
had a rectal stump blowout. So the stitches didn't
hold in rectum. It caused pelvic sepsis. So I'd
have a catheter put up there. And it wasn't fun.
I'd have a nasogastric feeding tube. And there
was a lot of unwellness there, mentally as well.
I did go into a bit of a depression in the hospital,
thinking I'd never get out again. And then from
there to here. healed up they removed the rectum
and now i'm left with fistulas down that end
but very well elsewhere so the actual stoma is
great uh it's just the down below bits that aren't
great now but i think that's that happened because
i was so unwell when i had the surgery i think
it's kind of a knock -on effect from all that
yeah well it's a lot to dissect there so Yeah,
it's quite a story. It's quite a story indeed,
yeah. And I want to jump back in time shortly,
but since we're on the topic of surgery, I think
you said something there that stuck with me that,
you know, you basically had, what, less than
24 hours between a surgeon telling you, hey,
we need to take out your bowels. How about tomorrow?
You mentioned that that was a very scary moment.
So you only had very limited time to process
this. first of all, the fear, and then sort of
the reality that set in that, hey, in 12 hours,
I'll be in surgery. How did you deal with that?
How did you prepare to accept what's going to
happen to you in that very short amount of time?
It was difficult. The stoma nurse came to visit
me because at least I had time for her to cite
the stoma. So they put a little dot as to where
would be best for me. And I chatted to her a
little bit about it. And there was a lady next
to me. in the bed who'd had one so you know I
mean I'd got a bit there and because I was quite
unwell still I wasn't although I was fearing
it I also wanted to have it as well at the same
time I thought maybe it'll make me really well
and I didn't imagine the problems I'd have during
that short time after but you know in my mind
I thought maybe just maybe I won't ever have
to deal with this lot again and my son said to
me you know it's a diaper and all those meds
you'll never have to be on those you know that
kind of heavy duty stuff the steroids and that
it was very difficult I was very frightened and
when they took me down I remember them they're
going to like the pre -theater room where they
do the anesthetic and I just said to him I'm
really really scared can you give me something
and then he said yeah of course and then give
me something and I don't remember anything after
that luckily I just don't I couldn't go through
with going through into the theater and all that
business it was very scary sure sure so that
that was sort of the probably one of the worst
moments or one of the worst parts of your IBD
journey today how are you feeling are you still
being are you still on medication um are you
and this is one of the things right because a
lot of people there's this misconception that
you know you have surgery and all of a sudden
your IBD is cured how is that for you How are
you feeling today? I mean, I'm well in the sense
that I don't have these flare -ups at all. I
obviously don't go running to a toilet because
I'm not able to. It just goes in the bag. So,
and I put weight, quite a bit more weight on
than I was. I was very skinny back then because
obviously you're unwell and things like that.
And the weight just never went on. Now it does.
It piles on because you're so well. But because,
like you say, I can't draw a line under it because
I'm now... got these fistulas um perianal fish
you know crohn's disease or whatever it is they
think it is perianal crohn's it's never gone
medication wise i'm not really on anything bar
the old painkiller for that but yeah it's not
ended the story i can't draw a line under it
i'm not fully well in that respect because it's
it's all connected to me it's all connected to
what happened so i've still still got that to
deal with you were well for About 14 years, you
mentioned. Then you had a big setback, surgery.
Today, do you feel that you've gotten your life
back? If it was just the stoma surgery, I would
say absolutely. I think they should consider
that more as an option rather than a last resort.
That's how I feel about it. I think some people
would hugely benefit from it. I know they're
scared and everything, but their life will be
changed. for the good mostly if it was just the
stoma i would say yes my life is so much better
and it is it's i can still say it is but i still
have these other issues where i'm leaking and
doing from another part now so that that bit
i can't quite get over yet because it's it's
since i had the surgery so it's been 10 years
now and i've had many surgeries on that part
I've had a flap surgery they've took muscle out
my thigh and so I've had some big surgeries down
there which hasn't cured it so I can't say I'm
fully well but that is a complication not really
what most people would get after a stoma surgery
if I wished I'd had it a few months earlier than
I did and I think I'd have recovered quicker
and better so if you focus on the more or less
positive then. You said that part of your IBD
journey, you definitely feel better. For people
who are scared of surgery, for people who think
that this is the most horrifying thing that can
happen to them, even though it might make them
feel better, what's life like with a stoma? When
I first had it, when I was in the hospital, when
the stoma nurse first came and said, well, we're
going to change your stoma bag, I said, I don't
think I can look at it. I'm not ready for it
yet. You know what I mean? And so she did it
for me and I didn't look at it. The second time,
she said, let's have your husband in and we'll
try and see if we can do it together and blah,
blah. And I had a quick look at it. It was a
bit grim. It's a weird thing to have there. But
you just get used to it. It's part of, you know,
it's so, so weird. You get used to it. The bag's
nothing. You have the odd bit of like the odd
leak and blah, blah, blah. But in general, you
can't feel it. You don't know it's there unless
it's filling up and you need to empty the bag.
But you can't feel it. There's no nerve endings
in it. So you could actually feel like you're
100 % better. But it is a weird thing to see
for the first time. Yeah, it takes a little bit
of getting used to and then it becomes part of
you. It becomes part of your life as well. Now,
you know, you were not well. then you went on
the azathiopine, you were well. And one thing
with IBD patients is that, you know, once they
have the chance to either go into remission or
they get a chance to experience a period of feeling
well, there's a certain sense of fear that creeps
in about, hey, when is the next flare going to
show up? Or will I get worse again? Will I get
so worse that I might have to do surgery at some
point? your experience is interesting because
again you were really unwell then you got better
and then sort of it really hit you hard years
after your diagnosis how did you keep hope alive
when it just felt that wow you my body really
is working against me now gosh that's a difficult
one um It is hard to keep hope alive, to be fair,
because you don't know what's going to happen
next. You don't know what tomorrow is going to
be like. Are you going to be loads worse and
be rushed in? Or can you slowly get better and
then it's time for the next one? Hope is a weird
thing because it's a bit, you feel more, I don't
want to say depressed, but even if you're really
well, you've still got that thing in the back
of your mind about the next flare. And that always
takes its toll on you, always. So it's very difficult
to have hope. But I think everyone does with
IBD. You always hope that this is going to get
cleared up and then you might have a bit of remission.
And then you always know deep down there will
be another one, though. I think, yeah, I always
knew I would have another flare. Even after those
14 years, I never really thought they were gone.
Because I'd had so many previously, I thought,
there's no way it's gone fully. I just didn't
believe it. Absolutely. No, I can see that that's
a way of thinking that you don't really have
a choice but to submit yourself to because it's
a traumatic event, right? Or a series of traumatic
events. But before I want to ask you a couple
of questions about that part, I want to go back
in time. You were diagnosed at a very young age.
And one might argue it was a crucial or is a
crucial age in a human being's life. What was
that like for you to not only be diagnosed with,
at that point, indeterminate colitis, but to
also navigate those crucial years, this end of
the teenage years, beginning of your adulthood?
What was that like for you? I started with anxiety
issues and panic attacks and things like that.
And I think it was down to that. in case I had
a flare or felt unwell when I was out I used
to end up carrying I used to feel sick and actually
be sick if I had this anxiety attack so I'd have
to carry like a little bag with me in case I
felt sick and it did actually cause me a few
issues I'd you know plan to go out be quite excited
about it when it came I'd start feeling really
unwell and sometimes I'd end up not being able
to go sometimes I'd go and then be all right
whilst I was there I always had this anxiety
about going out and I do think it was probably
down to the ulcerative colitis at that age. When
I met my husband, I told him he was absolutely
fine and he's been fabulous all the way through.
So I was very lucky in that respect because obviously
he's put enemas in me. I mean, you've probably
had them before where you've had the foam enemas
up there. He's helped me with that. Yeah, just
generally all those horrible things. So that's
one thing. But then you enter into motherhood.
That's a whole different ballgame because when
we're flaring, when we're sick, we have the tendency
to want to be alone, to isolate ourselves, potentially
to suffer in silence, right? To just deal with
our pain ourselves. But when you have kids, you
don't necessarily have that luxury. So tell me
how you navigate in motherhood. I was very, very
lucky that my mum and my mother -in -law were
either semi -retired or not working anymore.
And they were just brilliant. If ever I was in
a flare -up, because my husband would obviously
still be working, so he couldn't necessarily
have them and things like that when they were
very young. And they just took over completely
for me. So I didn't really have any problems.
I was so, so lucky. And I know not everybody
has that at all. They may have no family. And
I cannot imagine how will you feel, do you want
to flare how you could look after kids? I just
don't know how you could do it. I mean, people
do. I know they do. And they just push through
it and take them to nursery and take them to
school. But I was lucky enough to have a family
that could rally around at those important times.
Yeah, that's great. Now, how do you explain kids
that mommy is very ill? When my daughter came,
well, my son, he wasn't so bad. He was a bit
older and he was fine with granny and nana and
things like that, you know, mostly. But my daughter
was a bit younger and I remember having to tell
her, you know, I'm just going to be in either
hospital or I'm well up in bed, whichever it
might be, you know, because I've got a poorly
tummy and I'm not very well. And just generally
telling them those kind of things. They took
it fairly well, to be fair. I mean, a lot of
time they'd come running up. to talk to me if
I was in bed but that was fair enough you know
I can't I'd want to see him generally but I just
couldn't play with them or do things like that
so in general they were fine and I found it not
too bad to explain to them they seemed to understand
vaguely mummy was poorly and when I was in hospital
mummy's poorly but I'll be home soon you know
a few days I'll be out that kind of thing because
they could see me they'd come and visit me when
I wasn't in my worst state obviously they could
come and see me And know that I was all right
and fine and would be home soon. You share your
story and part of your story online as well.
I've read some of your stuff. And on one of your
blog posts, you, and I quote, wrote, life does
not have to end after a traumatic event. It just
changes. What do you mean by that? Explain the
change. Because you're never going to be. I mean,
this is the surgery, I guess is what you're talking
about, maybe, yeah. You're never going to be
the same as you were before, I don't think, because
mentally you had a really challenging traumatic
experience, maybe had to have counselling, which
I did have to have a bit, even was diagnosed
with some amount of post -traumatic stress at
the time. What helped me and what I think got
me back to being more or less me was doing my
blog and joining the local ileostomy association
that we have here in the UK and doing things
like that. Because I think talking about it absolutely
helps get it all out there. It was therapeutic
to me. My husband sometimes said, oh, don't put,
you know, you don't have to go too far with what
you put. I said, yeah, but this is the truth.
This is, you know, this is how it was and this
is how it is. So, yeah, I mean, sometimes I think
my blog can go the other way and may scare a
few people, maybe. But on the other hand, people
may want to know. And so I've had quite a lot
of good. things from it i've not really had any
negative uh things from my blog but i that that
is what helped me get back to almost being me
like say almost because my body has changed i've
always got this bag stuck on me now and i'm never
ever gonna get unless some miraculous you know
new medication or something comes along new surgical
skills it'll always be there so i am different
in that respect You mentioned your body changing.
I think when you look at social media today,
especially if you look deeper into IBD communities
that are online, you see a global, I don't want
to, maybe, yeah, maybe I could call it an awakening
of some sorts of people really opening up about
life with IBD, about life with an ostomy. You
see so many women posting photos in bikinis with
their ostomies and not just to pose, but to really
show that it's perfectly okay. For you, how did
IBD impact your body image? I was very thin because
I was unwell quite a bit. So I don't think I
would have worn a bikini. I was so thin. Now
having a stoma, I do wear a bikini. It's so weird.
And yet I'm much older. I've obviously got parts
of my body I don't like anymore because I'm getting
older. But I will still wear the bikini. There
are times where I might wear one little cover
-up. Depending on how I feel on the day, I still
get the odd bit people are staring at me kind
of days. And other days, I don't care. You know,
they can ask me or not. So I still get that a
bit. I like to see it on social media. It is
helping the stigma of having stoma and IBD. It's
helping people understand what IBD is and how
serious it can be by having these really seriously
major surgeries that you have that will change
your life completely. Absolutely. It's part of
making the invisible visible, I'd say. And yeah.
So as an IBD veteran, we've talked a little bit
about introspection. We talked about the physical
aspect. As an IBD veteran, how has IBD changed
you as a person? It's made me a bit more caring
of others, weirdly. Other people's ailments or,
you know, disabilities. Because I know. what
it's like to be looked at maybe or go to a disabled
loo and be looked at thinking you look alright
but knowing deep down I'm not. So I don't question
it as much and I feel for other people's journeys
of whatever that may be and I do think I'm a
little bit more caring person and want to help
and want to talk to people about it and if they
can come to me I'm happy to talk about it and
that's what it's made me like. That's a very
good point. And this actually ties into my next
question is, like, we live in an age where you
can very easily find out a lot about IBD in a
matter of minutes. But I do feel based on what
I see online, on forums, questions that people
ask, maybe they've done their research, maybe
not. Maybe the research that they've done is
not reassuring them. They still ask those questions.
A lot of people don't know how to handle this.
They don't know how to deal with this. And one
of the things that I keep seeing is that people
who are being treated fine, but then maybe the
treatments fail or they just can't seem to escape
repetitive flaring, right? Or people that face
surgery. I would be interested in hearing from
you what kind of advice or message you have for
people who are not out of the woods, who are
not really certain about where their IBD, journey
is headed. I would say because there's so many
new things out nowadays and also my daughter's
just been diagnosed with Crohn's and they're
going to put her straight onto biologics. They
go we don't do any messing, no steroids nowadays,
it's straight on that. So there are a lot more
things that you can try and a lot more different
biologics even. There will be something. Like
I say, I flared for a long time until I had azathioprine,
which helped me and took me out of my flare.
If you cannot get out of a flare and they've
tried every opportunity and everything they can,
do not be frightened of the surgery. Get yourself
fit and well for that surgery as best you can
and talk to people who've had it and who aren't
the ones who kind of say, you know, you get them
online that are a bit frightening you and things
like that. go into the ileostomy associations,
any of these kind of places, and get the real,
and they'll show you all the leaflets about what
to do to make yourself well enough, what things
to eat, what things to, you know, all these kind
of things. I would prepare yourself for surgery
away in future, just in case it is something,
just so you know a bit about it, but know that
there are other things and something may suddenly
get you out of that flare. and it could be for
years like me it could be i know nobody knows
and all this kind of thing but once we once you're
on the thing that that's working it tends to
work for a while now if you could go back in
time and even though the day of the diagnosis
was sort of a little bit muddy, right? Because
we always go back to this indeterminate colitis.
So it was not really clear cut. But if you could
go back in time and you could face the 18 year
old you, what would you tell that person? I would
tell that person to advocate for yourself. Like
I say, I had a few times when the gastroenterologist
wasn't really listening. We had to push for certain
things, always push and get what. Because nowadays
they like you to not treat yourself, but know
when things are happening and know to go and
ask for help and maybe even start on certain
things yourself because you know what's going
to be happening. Make sure you get somebody,
a gastroenterologist or GP, who you can talk
to, who understands you and knows the sort of
things that you need. So make sure you push for
yourself always. That's one piece of advice that
I use a lot. And I think it's one of those things
that a lot of people actually are scared of standing
up for themselves. I am still shocked to see
that there are so many gastroenterologists or
doctors who... are not proactive clearly or who
do not inform their patients about ibd enough
don't make them feel comfortable enough or don't
do their part to build trust right in their patients
and i really do believe and and again this is
not limited to just ibd but with ibd specifically
it's such a it's such an almost at first embarrassing
disease right until you get to a point where
you're accepting what your body is doing to your
to itself but i always say the best thing you
can do for yourself is not just raise awareness
or advocacy but like you said advocate for yourself
and if you're specialist if your doctor is not
listening to you do everything in your power
to find someone else to find somebody who will
because you don't have time to lose you just
you just don't right so this is really resonating
with me uh as well i'm and um i'm a perfect example
because i've had So I lived in the US with my
disease. Now I'm living in Europe with IBD. But
in both cases, I found somebody that I trusted.
And when they told me that they would move hospitals
or move clinics, my first question was, can I
come with you? And so you have to be very, very
selfish. And you don't have to be afraid that
you're stepping on anybody's toes. You just do
what's best for you. And if that means just leaving
with your doctor, then do it. You know, that's
all I can say. I've had a similar experience
recently because when my fishing was all started
under Nottingham, I mean, they were great, but
they came to a point where they didn't really
know what to do next, or at least were giving
me options that were very scary at the time.
And I asked, there's a hospital in London called
St Mark's. I don't know if you've ever heard
of it. It's an actual bowel hospital. And I've
now been referred to them. So I'm under them.
So yes, I travel down there. I'm with the best
of the best. So do you know what I mean? It's
not going to happen there. It's not going to
happen anywhere. And so my husband used to say,
let's not be done. You know, we've got to wherever's
the best place. Absolutely. Absolutely. So Claire,
thank you so much for taking the time to speak
with me today. I definitely wish you all the
best. Hope that you're... IBD stays calmer and
that the complications as well is something that
you'll be able to keep at bay. And the same goes
for your daughter. So I really wish all the best
for her in her fresh IBD journey. And thank you
so much for being with us today. Thank you. Thank
you. That's it for today's episode of Colitis
Unfiltered. I'm Frank Tabering. And if this hit
home or hit your gut, do us a favor. Subscribe
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stories from the bathroom floor.