Episode 162 The Hosts of Bowel Moments

The Hosts of Bowel Moments – About IBD Podcast Episode 162

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Alicia and Robin, co-hosts of the “Bowel Moments” podcast, join Amber for a discussion about podcasting in the IBD community. Robin shares her IBD journey, including her diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, the complications that led to an ileal anal anastomosis, the later diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, and eventual J-pouch surgery. They also talk about the challenges of producing the podcast, the importance of therapy, and keeping up a social media presence. And: Robin makes a big announcement.

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Transcript

Amber Tresca

I’m Amber Tresca and this is About IBD. I’m a medical writer and patient educator who lives with a j-pouch due to ulcerative colitis. It’s my mission to educate people living with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis about their disease and to bring awareness to the patient journey.

Welcome to Episode 162!

My guests are Robin and Alicia, co-hosts of the Bowel Moments podcast. Bowel Moments features real talk about IBD, with guests that include people living with IBD, healthcare professionals, and researchers. And they do this while sharing a drink.

This is actually the second part of our conversation. Robin and Alicia ask me the questions on Bowel Moments episode 121, published on October 16, 2024. So, by the time we got to the second half of our discussion, which you are about to hear, I already had a glass of wine, and could no longer pronounce the name of their show.

Alicia tells us why and how they got started on Bowel Moments, and we exchange our thoughts on the challenges of producing good audio without a budget. Then, Robin and I share notes on how we manage the emotions around taking in other people’s IBD stories while we are coping with our own challenges. Spoiler: the answer to that is therapy.

All of this plus Robin makes a big announcement and I did not cut it, so she is going to have to make good on her promise.

Amber Tresca 1:25
I have a very special guest. I have two very special guests here. First, Alicia, welcome to about IBD.

Alicia Barrow 1:34
Thank you, Amber. And I was about to say, well, I guess that covers Robin. I’m not sure why I’m here.

Amber Tresca 1:41
You’re, you’re, you know, you’re now our emotional support, human, I think you may have been Robin’s, but now you are mine. So that is what we’re that’s what we’re gonna love it, whether you like it or not…

Alicia Barrow 1:53
I love it and take it.

Amber Tresca 1:55
All right, and we also have with us, Robin, Robin, welcome to about IBD.

Robin Kingham 2:01
Thank you so much. I’m nervous to be on somebody else’s show.

Amber Tresca 2:07
Well, I will go host Amber will go gentle on you. First of all, I’m going to start with you, Alicia, because Robin lives with IBD. Alicia, you do not live with an IBD, but we’re going to let you into the space. So Alicia, tell me a little bit about the podcast that the two of you host together.

Alicia Barrow 2:26
Sure, yeah, our podcast is called Bowel Moments, and we It started out with just a kind of quirky idea that I pitched to Robin. And you know, as the person who doesn’t live with IBD, I don’t have the bona fide qualifications to be talking about it, so I definitely needed somebody as exuberant and charismatic as Robin to help me run the show.

Alicia Barrow 2:45
But yeah, our tagline is “Real talk about the realities of IBD served on the rocks.” And so we bring in people living with IBD, or healthcare professionals that are involved in the space, or researchers, and we just have them share their stories, very similar to what you do, but definitely not nearly as professional, a little more off the cuff and perhaps sometimes silly, but yeah, we have a good time with it, but it’s a great way for people to hear lots of people’s stories about living with IBD. So it’s, it’s fantastic. We have so much fun. Yeah, and

Amber Tresca 3:13
Yeah and it that comes through. I’m such a fan. I obviously listen all of the time and follow you on in all of the places. And just full disclosure, I do not normally drink for my own show, but we have been talking for a little while, so we are having a little bit of wine as we talk. So it might be a very special episode of about IBD after dark.

Amber Tresca 3:37
Okay, so Robin, you are also here with us. You do live with an IBD, a complicated type of IBD. You’ve had quite a journey. You’ve outlined it on your show. And I’m going to put some episodes in the show notes, where people can go and listen to you tell your story in more depth, but I want you to give me the cliffs notes of your journey. See, told you I like the word journey. I want you to, I want you to give the cliff notes of your journey with IBD so far,

Robin Kingham 4:12
Yeah. So I was diagnosed when I was 25 so 25 I’ve been living half my life with IBD, originally diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, very dramatic and traumatic. Entry into the IBD community, like most of us, ended up in the hospital for 21 days and left without a colon. I lived with an ileal, anal anastomosis, which is my ileum was connected. I mean, an ileal rectal anastomosis.

Robin Kingham 4:44
My ileum was connected right to my rectum for the like four inches I had left of my rectum for about 20 years, and in 2017-2018 I started having pretty severe symptoms, again, like different symptoms. New symptoms, and I leveled up to Crohn’s, and then just two short years later, ended up having to have surgery and have a J pouch now, so I actually have Crohn’s and a J pouch.

Amber Tresca 5:14
So you are only the second person I have known, and also had on my show that had an IRA. So they originally did that for ulcerative colitis. What year was that?

Robin Kingham 5:30
I got my IRA in 2001.

Amber Tresca 5:36
2001, and what was the decision making process between J pouch and IRA, or was there one? Did they give you one?

Robin Kingham 5:47
There actually was one. I was going to have a J pouch. And when the pathology reports came back, after they removed my colon, my surgeon, my colorectal surgeon, changed my diagnosis, my diagnosis to indeterminate colitis. And he’s like, I can’t tell if this is Crohn’s, and I don’t want to give you a J pouch if you have Crohn’s.

Amber Tresca 6:12
Yeah.

Robin Kingham 6:13
And so he’s like, you can have an ostomy, or you can have the IRA. And I had a two year old and a one year old. And I thought, what’s the worst that can happen? I’ve been living with an ostomy for a year. I’ll just go back to an ostomy. Why not give it a shot? Let’s see what happens. And so I was able to live with the IRA for 20 years.

Amber Tresca 6:33
That’s amazing, since also you would be the person that I’ve known that’s lived the longest with an IRA. Just real briefly, I wonder if you would contrast, for me, The thing that people worry most about, or I shouldn’t say everybody, but a lot of people worry about, is you go from ulcerative colitis and you have this situation where you’re having all this bloody diarrhea, and a lot of times you can’t hold it, etc, etc, with an IRA, there’s no reservoir, there’s no rectum, except what they leave you with, but a J pouch serves as a rectum. What was your experience of continence between the two?

Robin Kingham 7:09
Over the course of the 20 years it got better and better. Initially, I was on Imodium or lomotil. I think lomotil at first is what the surgeon sent me home with. But I am hard headed, and I do things the way that I want, and I did not want to be on even over the counter meds like I didn’t want to have to take that. So over the course of the year, after my reconnection, I weaned myself off of the lomotil.

Amber Tresca 7:39
Yeah.

Robin Kingham 7:40
And so the only time that I really paid attention to what my continence was, when I first met my husband. We were married for 15 years this month, we judged it by road trips. You’re going to think this hilarious. So when I first met him and we were driving from Texas to Louisiana, he’d have to stop at so many rest stops for me to go to the bathroom,

Amber Tresca 8:02
Yeah.

Robin Kingham 8:02
But then year by year by year over the course of our marriage, leading up so when I had to have surgery again, he’s like, Babe, we only had to stop at like three rest stops this time. Like, it’s so much better. So that’s how he judged, and I never paid attention to that. So over the course of the years, my body did adjust, I would say, at the end of my tenure with my IRA, it is about what I was at one year post J pouch surgery. So I was going to the bathroom eight or 10 times a day with the IRA, eventually.

Amber Tresca 8:35
Yeah.

Robin Kingham 8:35
But I was going at night, at least, at least once a night, without fail, with the IRA, I couldn’t make it pat you know, I couldn’t make it through the night, whereas with the J pouch, now I can sometimes sleep six or seven hours three years in with J pouch, but that’s, that’s what my life was, that’s how I…That’s how things were, that’s how I thought it was going to be. So I just made the best of it.

Amber Tresca 8:59
I hear that, yeah, they asked me, whenever I go in to see my team, they asked me how many times I go to the bathroom a day. And I’m like, I don’t know. I don’t count. I don’t even…[laughter]

Robin Kingham 9:10
Every once in awhile I threaten that I’m gonna put a dry erase board in my bathroom so I can just, like, hash mark it, 1-2-3, made it to five today.

Amber Tresca 9:18
Yeah, that’s a good idea. Yeah, maybe then I would know. because I don’t. It’s just, I just, It’s not a thing that is bothersome to me or troublesome, and I don’t like concern myself much with it, unless I unless I have pouchitis.

Robin Kingham 9:31
Right.

Amber Tresca 9:32
And it’s very clear. And then it’s like, it doesn’t matter how many times I’m going a day, I definitely have pouchitis, and I know what it is. So, yeah, that’s so, that’s so interesting. Thank you for giving that experience. That’s, that’s you are, like the rarest of the rare, my friend. So it was good to good. I don’t know how often they do those IRAs anymore.

Robin Kingham 9:50
So I’ve only met one other person. I’ve only met one other person with an IRA, and she actually ended up not having it for very long.

Amber Tresca 9:58
Yeah. Same with the person that I know who now lives with an ostomy as well. So, but I don’t think he had a problem with continence. I don’t think, I think, I think when he had it, until he developed fistulas, like it was, it was great. I think it was great for him as well.

Amber Tresca 10:12
So, all right, Alicia, I’m going to switch over to you now. Ready for the questions?

Alicia Barrow 10:16
Sure, I’m the least interesting person in this, in this zoom currently, but absolutely, I’m ready.

Amber Tresca 10:22
Oh no, no, no no, because you’re gonna tell me how you and Robin met, how this dynamic duo got together. How did that happen?

Alicia Barrow 10:32
Tell us your love story…

Amber Tresca 10:33
Absolutely.

Alicia Barrow 10:34
Robin and I worked together and at a nonprofit organization, and, yeah, we just really hit it off. At the time she was, I was working in, like, patient education, support, advocacy, all that kind of stuff. And she was working in more of a fundraising role, still doing all the other stuff too, because it’s Robin. And so we were working together because we kind of covered the same area. I think I was working you were living in Louisiana, and I was covering Louisiana. And so Rob was instrumental in my understanding that Louisianans are very unique people that do not necessarily trust right away.

Alicia Barrow 11:07
And so this was exceptionally helpful. And just it was just, I always had such a good time talking to Robin. We always had so much fun, and just kind of hit it off right away. And so She then moved into a role similar to mine, where it was education, support and advocacy instead of the fundraising. And so we got a chance to work together even more. And so that was great. And just, just a really fantastic colleague and a good friend. And so that’s kind of and then, of course, when I decided this would be a fun idea, which I shouldn’t laugh at that…

Amber Tresca 11:34
…when I decided…you did decide it was gonna be a fun idea, let’s start a podcast, which is, I’ve told, I’ve told the two of you, when people tell me that, I told them don’t do it, because of everything that’s involved. But yeah, so absolutely, tell me why you decided to start Bowel Moments.

Alicia Barrow 11:51
You know, it was one of those where I had started to listen to podcasts all the time, you know, I think I was driving a decent amount during that time. And so, you know, I was, I was out, you know, walking the dog and listening to these podcasts and driving and so it just, it seemed like such a great way to get education in such a different way than we were providing education at the nonprofit organization. You know, it was pretty traditional in like, webinars and in person seminars, which is fantastic, you know, there’s nothing wrong with those at all. And great way to get education.

Alicia Barrow 12:19
But I just thought this is such a like, a different way of reaching people and, you know? And so I thought, you know, it would be really fun to have somebody like Robin come and join me, because obviously me not having IBD that right? Like, why would people listen, you know, but having Robin is so open with her story, and so willing to share of this part of her life. And so it just seemed like, you know, she’s the right type of person to be able to be on the type of show that I was initially envisioning, which was that, you know, having people kind of sharing, mutually sharing experiences.

Amber Tresca 12:53
Did you have any experience in audio previously, or did Robin or — you learned on the job?

Alicia Barrow 13:01
Not at all. No so. And as evidenced by anybody who listens to our first episodes, I apologize. No… none, none. It was all very much self taught. I think Robin, fortunately, has like marketing background, and so she was, she’s, she is playing to her strengths, for sure, but I don’t know what possessed me to be like, I can totally just learn this brand new skill. It has gotten better. It’s definitely gotten better over the years, but I’m definitely not where I’d like to be.

Amber Tresca 13:31
It’s difficult, and it’s also difficult to take the time out to learn when you have a full time job doing a completely different thing, so you have to love it so, and I will say, like you, you’re better at it than you think that you are. So let me just think, let me just say that to you.

Alicia Barrow 13:50
Again…first episodes…Let’s just all, let’s all hearken back to the good old days and when this was not nearly as good. But yeah, it’s, I mean, fortunately, there’s YouTube, fortunately Audacity, which is, I think both you and I use Audacity has some really great tutorials. And so it was, it has been easier to learn than I expected.

Alicia Barrow 14:07
I am actually very proud of myself as a like, middle, middle aged woman. The fact that I learned something new kind of still surprises me and makes me pretty proud with some days, some days, especially when I’m like, what word was I trying to say? What was that question that I was totally thinking about and now that’s completely gone, middle age is great?

Amber Tresca 14:28
Yes, I will say the perimenopause is wonderful.

Amber Tresca 14:34
Coming Up: Robin and Alicia talk about how they make their partnership work.

Amber Tresca 14:53
I have a question, either one of you can take it, or maybe you can answer together. Tell me about your logo. How did you come up with the logo? Who drew the logo? Where did it come from?

Robin Kingham 15:04
I created the logo. I wanted something that was kind of campy, because Alicia and I are pretty humorous and sarcastic people in our everyday lives.

Alicia Barrow 15:20
Unserious. How about that?

Robin Kingham 15:24
I knew I wanted it to be a colon or intestines. It’s the whole bowel. I knew that she had to be holding a drink, and I picked champagne, because that is Alicia’s drink of choice. And so I kind of just put her together, piece by piece. She had to have glasses, because I wear glasses like, you know, just all these little things that came together. And so I built, I did not draw her. I cannot do that, but I built her from pieces. Um, yeah, so I made our logo.

Amber Tresca 15:55
Perfect. That’s every time I see it. Seriously, I I wonder about the origins of it. So thank you so much for explaining.

Robin Kingham 16:03
The origins of that logo is my brain, my little brain.

Amber Tresca 16:09
All right. Collaborations are tough. Let me just put out there. Collaborations are tough. And when you find someone that you can collaborate with, like you, I know I do. I hold on to them with like every ounce of grip strength that I have. So I’m wondering how the two of you split up the work and decide who is going to do what on the show. Alicia. I know that you do, you do like the content editing, and I think you do, I do. You do the mix and the and all of that as well. So there’s a lot more that goes into it. So who does what? Alicia

Robin Kingham 16:42
Alicia does do all of the production, and thank God that she does, because for the first few episodes, I couldn’t even listen to my own voice, like it took me. It took me a long time to be able to listen to my voice. So if she wasn’t willing to edit the episodes, zero episodes would be published right now because I could not stand the sound of my own voice,

Amber Tresca 17:03
Yeah.

Robin Kingham 17:04
But I do…Alicia does help with like guests, if she meets people or has ideas about guests, but I do most of the guest cultivation. Lessons learned the hard way. I do the screening call, like a discovery call with people. Usually I’m doing the outreach to try to ask people if they want to be guests. I do the social media. I have our handy dandy calendar of shows, so Alicia stays on track with which episode she has to edit for when. But I feel like that is nothing compared to the production work that Alicia does, because, I mean, again, the show would not even be published if it were up to me, because I can’t even listen to the sound of my voice.

Alicia Barrow 17:49
I am so. I mean, it really does play to our strengths, because I am so ridiculously bad at social media. Like, I if you go onto any of my social media platforms, which please don’t, it’s not worth it. I like, I haven’t posted on Facebook for, I think, seven years. It feels like at this point, so it’s, I would not be good at this. I would not be good at that part of it. And so and Robin does, like, keep us on task, keep us on track, keep us organized. And I just, I edit, and that’s what I do it just because, again, you and I talked about this Amber that does take it takes time, and it takes concentration.

Alicia Barrow 18:21
And so, you know, it is truly, I don’t know how you do it by yourself, because I there’s no way, there’s no way we would have been I would be able to do it on my own, because it’s yeah, it takes both of us really playing to our strengths. And you know, Robin is great at doing our social media and cultivating guests and making sure that we have, you know, different voices and different perspectives, and you know, and every once while, I throw a wild card into the mix and be like, “Hey, I met this person. We should talk to them.” And I’m sure Robin cringes every time.

Robin Kingham 18:52
No, I don’t. No, I don’t,

Alicia Barrow 18:54
I don’t know. There’s been some interesting folks. No, we all wonderful, all wonderful, all

Amber Tresca 19:01
All wonderful, 100%. Wonderful. So I had a question, and then it went completely…

Alicia Barrow 19:07
I’m sorry, I jinxed you…

Amber Tresca 19:11
So were, were either of you or both of you big podcast listeners before you started? And then what’s your relationship with that today, because I’ll tell you, one of the hardest things about editing my own show is that I can’t listen to a podcast while I’m editing a podcast. So what do you listen to? What do you like about listening to podcasts? And how long have you been a fan, I guess.

Alicia Barrow 19:11
Oh gosh, a long time. I mean, I can’t, no, I mean, you know, I I’m a huge this makes me sound really psychotic, but I really love a murder. Love a murder. So love a murder podcast. And so honestly, a lot of the ones I listen to are like true crime podcasts. I know that’s a bit everybody cringes a little bit…

Amber Tresca 19:56
It’s a little bit on the nose.

Alicia Barrow 19:57
Yeah, no. Sorry, I know. I really. Am. But I also love, like, radio lab and more perfect and, you know, like, I listen to, wait, wait, don’t tell me. So I have, you know, I kind of catch up on sort of my nerdy NPR shows as well. So I just, I enjoy having something to listen to that’s not music when I’m doing stuff. So I will very frequently listen like, when I’m mowing the lawn or when I’m cleaning the house, or when I’m walking the dogs, if I’m by myself, or when I’m traveling and I’m in the airport, you know, and I don’t really want to talk to people, I’ll listen to podcasts.

Alicia Barrow 20:27
And of course, I listen to, you know, yours. I listen to ours because I want to keep myself up on, you know, the latest in IBD, but for the most part, because of what we talk about, I do kind of like, I don’t go too far afield outside of that either so, but yeah, a lot of it’s either historica,l funny or murder or cults. Oh, I do love a cult show too. I am exactly that SNL parody. I’m like, murder show, murder show. I’m gonna listen….Yeah, that’s me.

Amber Tresca 20:59
How about you, Robin, where were you in your podcast listening journey when you started this, when you started Bowel Moments?

Robin Kingham 21:07
I might have listened to a couple of podcasts. Alicia reached out to me. I did not. I was a late adopter, okay? And also I am kind of boring. I listened to, like business podcasts and leadership podcasts, but I will watch Criminal Minds. I’ll keep it on in the background while I’m working. Like that is the noise. Like, I love a good murder show and cult show. I listen to books. Yeah, I so I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m doing the podcast now I can’t hardly listen to podcasts, but I listen to books.

Amber Tresca 21:50
Yeah, yeah, I do the same. That’s also the hardest thing about editing my own show, is that I can’t be listening to an audio book while I’m editing my own show. If I could, I would 100% do it. But there’s always something in my ears. There’s always a pair of headphones around my neck. Sometimes I have to remember to take them off, because I’m always listening to something. And I think also, and you can both, you know, tell me what you think about this, as I think also, it’s important to listen to other shows to get ideas. Hear how they’re doing things. Hear, sometimes, honestly, the quality, you know, and you know, and just to understand where sort of the podcasting industry is in terms of that. And Alicia, it sounds like you listen to a lot of shows that are probably, I don’t know, professionally produced, would you say?

Alicia Barrow 22:40
yeah, yeah, I don’t know that. I there’s maybe one or two that I have listened to that are a little less professionally produced. And you’re right, it is you get a little critical and a little less patient. Perhaps, you know when you’re the one that you you know what, what? How it can be done, what can be done? And I, myself was a was a guest on one podcast, and it was for my job job, not for this job. And they definitely didn’t edit me the way I would edit me. And so I had a hard time listening to that, because I’m like, Oh, I would have taken that out, you know.

Alicia Barrow 23:13
So I am a very vigilant editor, so I have certain things like I tried to take out a lot of the ums in like that in our podcast. And so when I listen to podcasts that keep the ums in, it is because I’m so, like, weird about it. I’m weird about it. I definitely struggle a little bit. But then there’s I listen to the other ones that have, like, much better audio quality, or much better, like, audio production in it, and I’m so jealous, like, yeah, people that do really well with bringing in music in like you and I were talking about, you know, and are able to do like the voiceovers and add stuff. And I just, you know, I’m not skilled enough in that, nor do I have, frankly, the time. So I definitely, you know, I listen with envy and also with cringing at times at the same time. But yeah, no shade on anybody. Sorry, everyone.

Amber Tresca 24:01
No same I understand from, you know, working on my own shows that how difficult it is, so I try to have some grace. But there are times where I’m listening to a show and I’m like, you guys did not listen to this before you put it out into the world, because this was definitely something that should have been fixed before you sent it out. And not indie shows. Anybody who’s like us, who wears all the different hats, you know? I mean, honestly, we’re all we’re all in here doing the work we got to support one another. But if you have four or five minutes of ads in your show, I’m going to be a little judgy. That’s

Alicia Barrow 24:34
Oh god, yeah.

Amber Tresca 24:35
That’s how I feel about that.

Alicia Barrow 24:36
Yeah, there’s a new show I started watching. Not you can take this out if you don’t want to get like, everybody have a plug, but it’s called the but it’s called the dating detectives, and it’s a woman who is a detective and a comedian, and they bring people on who have, like, had like, insane, intense, really crazy relationships. It is pretty it’s funny. And also kind of, kind of, I think, similar to what we both try to do is add some levity. So. Humor, but also, like, provide some information.

Alicia Barrow 25:02
And yeah, they have so many commercials. A, I’m a little bit jealous of their sponsors and the fact that they have them, but B, also I it does take you out of the story. And so I do get a little frustrated because it’s like, yeah, it’s like, you know, three full minutes of commercials, and I’m like, fast forward, fast forward, fast forward. And so I get a little annoyed by that, but yeah, you know, if you listen to our show, we don’t have any ads. So.

Amber Tresca 25:24
Yeah, there’s a lot to unpack there, and I have, I have feelings about that, especially for what we do in this space, when you have somebody’s story and you’re trying to treat it with care and with respect. I’m not quite sure that a mid roll ad is the, is the way to go… but, but if somebody wants to pay me for a mid roll, you might, you might, will have to get producer Amber from over there, and she’s, she’s shaking her head, no, no, no, no, you will absolutely do a mid roll ad. Don’t talk yourself out of out of that one.

Alicia Barrow 26:00
That’s why it’s good for you to be the one doing the editing. Is that like you can…

Amber Tresca 26:03
Yes.

Alicia Barrow 26:03
…be more selective. It might not be exactly mid, but you can be more selective in where you put it. Like you can, you cannot interrupt a really, you know, kind of a moment that needs to happen together. You know, you can be a little more selective,

Amber Tresca 26:18
100% and that is part of the creativity, and that is one of the things that I love about Working with audio, is making those kinds of choices.

Amber Tresca 26:25
Up Next: Robin tells us how she copes with making a show about IBD while also living with it.

Amber Tresca 26:46
Robin, I want to ask you what this is a lot of work, and this is why. And I’ve told you guys this, and I say it to everybody else too, people that come to me and ask me for advice about doing a podcast, the first thing I say is, don’t. So what keeps you motivated to keep going.

Robin Kingham 27:01
First of all, it is a lot of fun. I have a lot of fun doing the show. I see the potential of where we can go and the people that can be potentially that can be impacted by hearing someone else’s story. I love talking to researchers. I love talking to researchers. They are so giddy about the work, and it is fascinating to hear their brains work in real time. And I love doing this with Alicia. But sometimes it’s hard. I’m not going to lie. Sometimes it’s hard hearing other people’s stories. Sometimes I…

Amber Tresca 27:43
Yeah.

Robin Kingham 27:43
…I do have a little trauma response in there and have to take a step back. I mean, it is a lot of fun and it is a lot of work.

Amber Tresca 27:55
Do you think it’s a little bit, what’s the word? It’s cathartic. You’re hearing someone else’s stories, and you are only and again, I will put links in the show notes, but you are not very far away from some really intense experiences of your own, which you shared on your show. It’s important. It’s important for people who live with an IBD to hear that, and it’s also important for people who treat people with IBD to hear that, to understand what happened to you, and so that for the next patient, things, things can get better. So tell me, though it it can be difficult to hear other people’s stories. Is there anything that you do for yourself, either after recording or at another time to sort of release that, that stress from living the IBD, talking about the IBD, doing all things IBD.

Robin Kingham 28:48
The first two years of the show, I also was in therapy regularly. I don’t think that I would have gotten through the first two years of doing the show, because we started recording before my J pouch, my first J pouch surgery, and then the traumatic surgery event happened, and we had to take three months off, and didn’t know if I was gonna be there to record the show, quite frankly.

Robin Kingham 29:13
And I think in April, we started recording again. My surgery was in December. We had to take three months off. In April, we started recording again, and then in August, we published our first episode, and we started with people who we knew, and so that made it easier to start, but then we started getting into stories that we didn’t know, and so hearing those stories in real time. I mean, I cried during shows, kept myself on mute. Had to schedule therapy, like texting my therapist kind of thing. That’s really what got me through those first two years.

Robin Kingham 29:49
This year has been a lot easier. Year number three has been a lot easier. We’ve also not been recording quite as many episodes that second year was. Crazy. We were publishing an episode every single week. I don’t know how we did that. I don’t know at all. I don’t know how we did that.

Robin Kingham 30:10
I had to go to Alicia and ask her if we could please slow down. And she was not sure about it at first, but now I think it’s she’s okay with it now that we’re in nine months in but I wouldn’t have gotten through the first two years without therapy. That’s my…that was my big thing. And I lived, and we had just moved to the beach, and so I took lots of walks on the beach, because that is my happy place.

Amber Tresca 30:33
Yeah.

Alicia Barrow 30:34
Yeah I don’t, I don’t know that, if people know this about our show, but yeah, like Robin said, we started out with people we knew. So we knew enough of their story to kind of know what we were going to get. But obviously we don’t know everybody with IBD and the IBD community, and so very quickly we started saying, you know, come on, other people, and we would kind of know bits and pieces of their story, maybe to start with. But for the most about what you’re hearing is us learning people’s stories as they’re telling them. And so you’re getting very raw reactions from us, anger, tears, you know, joy and so it is that’s, I think part of what’s fun about our show is that we do get a chance to truly get to know people and and hear their story just kind of completely raw.

Alicia Barrow 31:14
But it does make it mean it’s super, super challenging at times. You know, there’s Robin and I both cry in episodes. I There are times we leave it in, times I take it out, depending on whether it serves the show. I mean, I think David, David Rubins, is a great example of that. We thought, oh, it’s interviewing David Rubins. He’s this, like, high powered doctor, and he made us cry within the first three minutes, you know, damn it, David, so, you know.

Alicia Barrow 31:37
And it’s because we didn’t know this part of his life. We didn’t know this is, like, why he’s connected to this mission so deeply, and why he is the David Rubin. And so it was a beautiful thing, you know, to experience. But also jeepers, it can get, it can get real hard. And I, you know, and I have probably pushed Robin a little further and farther than maybe she was ready for at the time. So, you know, it’s a good thing we were taking a break or taking less, doing less episodes

Alicia Barrow 32:07
We recorded, also because of Robin’s job being so intense in the summer, we don’t record during the summers. And so last year, we’ve literally recorded, I think every…it was like three nights a week for probably two months straight. And so it was really intense. So it was all of a sudden, we were just getting all of these stories all at the same time,

Amber Tresca 32:28
Yeah.

Alicia Barrow 32:28
You know. And so it definitely it worked, I think, for this show, it just perhaps was not the, the psychologically safest thing for Robin. Sorry, Robin.

Robin Kingham 32:43
I live to tell the tale.

Amber Tresca 32:45
You have to be very careful when you’re when you’re telling your story, when you’re asking other people to tell their story. I think you need to be very intentional about it. So I appreciate you both going through that, because it’s not something that I’ve discussed on my show before, in this in this way, although I talk about it a lot with my guests, and a lot of times we’ll shut off the recording, and then we’ll talk for a little while longer with my guests, so that they feel safe and after telling their story, because even very close friends that I have had on the show, they will tell me something that I did not know every single time.

Amber Tresca 33:20
So it just goes to speak of the diversity of the IBD community. All right, we gotta wrap this up. Oh my gosh. It has been so lovely to get to know the two of you a little bit better, although, as I said, I know you very well from listening to your voices all of the time. So I’m going to ask you, Robin, though, because you are the one that does the social media tell me, where can people find Bowel Moments and follow you all over the interwebs.

Robin Kingham 33:52
The best place to follow us is on Instagram, at bowel moments pod, we do have a Facebook page, but usually it’s just re used content from Instagram and I’m on Twitter. We do have @bowelmomentspod on Twitter as well. When we are interviewing like a professional guest that has a following on Twitter, we’ll, I’ll go over there and post it on there, but I don’t spend a lot of time on Twitter, because honestly, I do have a full time job that’s pretty demanding, and social media is a full time job on its own.

Robin Kingham 34:24
So usually, if we’re posting anything new, doing stories that kind of stuff, it’s going to be on Instagram @bowelmomentspod. And we do have a website, which I have not updated so, but you can go there and see bowelmomentspod.com.

Amber Tresca 34:39
All right, and are you available in all of the places that people can find podcasts, generally?

Robin Kingham 34:46
Every place that you listen to podcasts. Oh, here I can tell you this. Amber…

Robin Kingham 34:54
Yeah?

Robin Kingham 34:55
It is not launched yet. It’s not live, but it probably will be during IBD Awareness Week is our YouTube channel.

Amber Tresca 35:02
Oh, great. Oh, fantastic. Oh, great. News, breaking news on this show.

Alicia Barrow 35:09
Alright.

Amber Tresca 35:10
I love it. Thanks so much for sharing that with me. I’m not cutting that.

Robin Kingham 35:16
Don’t, because it’s going to hold me accountable. So I have to do it.

Amber Tresca 35:23
So you have to make it happen. You have to, yeah, all right. Alicia…Robin, thank you so much for coming on about IBD. I really appreciate your time, and I appreciate all of the work that you do….I know how much it is…for the IBD community. Thank you so much.

Robin Kingham 35:40
Thanks Amber.

Alicia Barrow 35:40
Thank you, Amber, that was so much fun.

Amber Tresca

Hey super listener!

Thanks to Robin and Alicia for taking the lead on scheduling and getting us all together and providing me with the audio from our marathon recording session. You can find their show, Bowel Moments, in any podcast app, plus you can find them on Instagram and Twitter, as well as on their web site, BowelMomentsPod.com. Plus, you can look forward to their upcoming YouTube channel, but if you’re listening to this after December 2024, it may already be live.

As always, links to a written transcript, everyone’s social media handles, and more information on the topics we discussed is in the show notes and on my Episode 162 page on AboutIBD.com.

Thanks for listening, and remember, until next time, I want you to know more about IBD.

About IBD is a production of Mal and Tal Enterprises.

It is edited, written, produced, and directed by me, Amber Tresca.

Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney.

Theme music is from Cooney Studio.

Robin Kingham 36:55
There you go, Alicia. Take that out.

Alicia Barrow 36:58
She’s taking a long time.

Robin Kingham 36:59
I’m taking a long time.

Alicia Barrow 37:01
I don’t know how I feel about this.

Amber Tresca 37:03
I will remove them. Don’t worry.

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