1 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:10,720 Kyoto and welcome to Swim Chats, a podcast about swimming. 2 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,600 I'm Shona Riddell, a writer and swimmer from Wellington Alteredo 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,200 in New Zealand. For each episode, I talk to a 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,640 different guest from our global swim community. 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,360 Please hit follow so you don't miss an episode. 6 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:25,880 To support the podcast, you can leave a rating on Spotify or a 7 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,440 review on Apple Podcasts, which helps other people discover it. 8 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:32,560 If you're a regular listener, please help me to keep running 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:36,600 swim chats by subscribing on Patreon for $5 a month, you get 10 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,040 previews of upcoming guests, the chance to ask questions, and 11 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,720 lots of good karma. To find out more, visit 12 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,880 patreon.com/swim Chats. There's a link in the episode 13 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:51,720 description. First of all, welcome to the 14 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,400 podcast, Kate. And I'll just explain to 15 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,560 listeners that we do know each other in real life. 16 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,800 I was going to say that we swim together and in swim squad, but 17 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,080 it's more that we sort of swim parallel to each other. 18 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:04,319 True, because we're in different lengths. 19 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:08,320 So I I've probably known you just over a year because I 20 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,960 think, yeah, I think I joined just over a year ago. 21 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,400 I know that you're, you're a sea swimmer and a pool swimmer, but 22 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,560 I don't know your, your sort of swim origin story of like when 23 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,120 you started. So would I'd like to share that 24 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,280 first for me and for people listening. 25 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:25,200 Sure. Happy to share that. 26 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:27,960 I actually swam as a child growing up. 27 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:34,960 So I swam in a competitive swim squad called Rainbow, I think it 28 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:37,640 was, and it was at the Boys and Girls Institute in Wellington 29 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:42,200 when that still existed. So lots of really early sort of 30 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:46,200 5:00 AM starts and getting out of bed at the crack of dawn. 31 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:51,200 And then I went on to play water polo semi competitively. 32 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,080 So I ended up in a team that was, I think it was the under 33 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:57,320 sixteens for Wellington. And I really enjoyed playing for 34 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,360 a club as well as school. So yeah, I really got into the 35 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,560 fun side of swimming through water polo when I was at 36 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,840 college. And then I had a bit of a break 37 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,520 from swimming. So when I got to university and 38 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,320 into my first job, I didn't really swim that much. 39 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,400 And then I moved up to Auckland in 2000, was looking to kind of 40 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,040 make new friends and settle into life up there. 41 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,000 So I joined a swim squad, an Adult Swim squad there at the 42 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,120 Tepid Baths down on the waterfront. 43 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:26,400 And then while I was there, some people said, oh, we do sea 44 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,200 swimming as well if you'd like to join. 45 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:31,880 And so I did a few sea swims with them and then I did my 46 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:35,720 first ever ocean swimming event, 2001. 47 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,320 Kept doing that, moved overseas for a bit, came back to 48 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,240 Wellington and then again kind of went back into the pool, but 49 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,560 swimming on my own. And then eventually I found my 50 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,680 way to Barb's group. I think through my hairdresser 51 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,920 at the time, it suggested that Barb was great and there were 52 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:56,560 really friendly people there. So I found Barb's group and then 53 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,640 I stumbled upon Teemon's for Nobos group. 54 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:02,120 Just was down at Freiburg one Friday morning and saw all these 55 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,280 people were having a lovely time and asked them in the changing 56 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:07,200 rooms, who are you and what's it all about? 57 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:09,800 And then I joined into to that squad as well. 58 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:14,600 So yeah, now I'm really into it. Sea swimming and pool swimming 59 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:16,360 kind of come and gone a bit throughout my life. 60 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:17,640 Yeah, that's cool. Thank you. 61 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:21,440 And you mentioning your hairdresser sort of made me 62 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,720 think about how, you know when we're swimming, like we don't 63 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:29,120 always know what people's jobs or professions are, and that 64 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,320 sort of can come up later. And so for me, I didn't know 65 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,560 what your day job was until you were in the newspaper, I think 66 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,880 it was about a year ago and you were profiled about living in 67 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,600 Wellington and you know, you're swimming. 68 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,320 Just while we're talking about jobs, do you want to talk about 69 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,200 your your day job? Sure. 70 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:50,080 You're right, though. Swimming is a great leveller, so 71 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,160 no one really knows what anyone does outside of what we do in 72 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:55,800 the pool or the sea. And I love that side of it 73 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,840 actually just being yeah, just being a swim buddy with lots of 74 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,200 people. But my day job is chief 75 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,240 executive officer at Volunteer Service Abroad. 76 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:09,160 I've been here nearly four years in this job and VSA, as we call 77 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:13,440 ourselves, scenes New Zealanders into lots of locations across 78 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,680 the wider Pacific for volunteering assignments, up to 79 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:20,480 two years for each assignment. And it is volunteer work, but we 80 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,960 do cover an allowance and accommodation and travel costs 81 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,280 and insurance. So yeah, we're a little charity, 82 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:29,920 but doing good work internationally. 83 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,240 Yeah, that's cool. And so as part of your role, I 84 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,680 imagine that you get to travel to different parts of the 85 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,600 Pacific and, and are there opportunities to swim where, 86 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:42,600 where you are like when you're not working? 87 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,000 Yes, I do get to travel quite a bit. 88 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,360 So I've been to all of our country locations which spans 89 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,840 from Timor Leste, which is really South Asia rather than 90 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:56,240 the Pacific, through Papua New Guinea, Bodenville, Vanuatu, 91 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,440 across into Kitty Bus and then into Polynesia, So Samoa, Tonga, 92 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,880 Cook Islands, Fiji. So I have been to all of those 93 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,520 locations in the last few years, but I have to say swimming 94 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,400 hasn't featured highly on my time there, which might sound 95 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:13,800 odd. But the reason for that is that 96 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:19,520 a number of those patients swimming is quite hard. 97 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:23,960 So due to pollution and the local areas that you're in, 98 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,080 particularly if you're in the urban centers, you just can't 99 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:29,440 swim. And the risk of infection and 100 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,600 illness is quite high. And also sometimes just not safe 101 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,480 to get into the sea. So it might be that there isn't 102 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,320 really a lagoon sitting and it's quite exposed to the elements. 103 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:41,000 So yeah, lots of different reasons. 104 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,720 And then obviously just being busy, so often I'm in and out, 105 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:46,960 quite a busy agenda of things going on. 106 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,320 But I did one good story from when I travelled. 107 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,920 I did get to swim at a beach called Bonegie and the Solomon 108 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,080 Islands, which is about two hours drive out of Honiara over 109 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:03,080 very potholed roads. And you get there and no one 110 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:06,760 else on the beach, get into the water and there's all these sort 111 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:10,160 of ships and planes and things that came down during the war, 112 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,680 which have now become amazing snorkeling and dive sites not 113 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:16,240 far off the beach. You come out there snorkeling 114 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,080 and suddenly there's just this amazing array of marine life and 115 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,480 things going on. Yeah, every now and then I get 116 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,280 an amazing experience like that in the water, but most of the 117 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:27,920 time it's it's just work. Yeah, fair enough. 118 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:30,400 Yeah, You're on a work trip. And it's also a reminder that 119 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,440 not everybody of water is swimmable, and not everybody is 120 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:37,760 as lucky as we are to have, you know, swimmable water. 121 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:39,760 Yes. Yeah. 122 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:44,840 I know that another of your roles has been with water safety 123 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:47,360 in New Zealand. Was that your swimming that sort 124 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:51,400 of brought you into that role or is that more a separate? 125 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:53,560 Thing, yeah. So I was on the board of Water 126 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:55,680 Safety New Zealand. I ended up being the chair for a 127 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,760 few years as well. And Water Safety New Zealand is 128 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,520 kind of like the peak body for the water safety sector in New 129 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:04,360 Zealand. So safe, life saving, Coast 130 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:07,800 Guard swimming New Zealand, but lots of little smaller kind of 131 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,720 groupings as well. And I did get into that because 132 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:15,160 I was really interested in water and safety and just how we could 133 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,040 do better in terms of the drowning problem in New Zealand. 134 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,400 And I was interested in continuing to do a little bit of 135 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,120 governance work as well alongside my day job. 136 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,480 So yeah, that is a really fascinating organization to be 137 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:31,240 part of and really interesting to see all of the different 138 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,680 sector groups that do really good work around water safety in 139 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,400 New Zealand, despite the fact we have one of the highest routing 140 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:39,440 rates actually in the developed world. 141 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:41,240 Yeah. It is still. 142 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:45,160 Yes, yeah, still really high. It's interesting. 143 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:47,960 It kind of fluctuates up and down a little bit year on year, 144 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,840 which could be related to climate or I think COVID. 145 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,480 Actually the numbers dropped a bit and then went up a bit as 146 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:56,600 people got back into open water activities. 147 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:00,040 So can be really influenced in New Zealand by changes that are 148 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:04,000 happening, but it is still high. And I know that you're a very 149 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,720 accomplished swimmer. You're in the fast lane and swim 150 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:10,160 squad. Have you done any long distance 151 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,920 swimming like I know you you've enjoyed being in swim events 152 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:16,280 over the years. Like what sort of distances have 153 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:17,960 you done? Gosh, I don't know if I put 154 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,800 myself in the accomplished swimmer category convened to 155 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:22,960 some other amazing Wellington swimmers. 156 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:31,320 Yes, the longest I have swam would be a 10 kilometre swim and 157 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:33,919 I did it with Fit and Able, which I think you might have had 158 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:35,559 others on the show that talked about that. 159 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,799 But there are great organization in the South Island that run 160 00:08:38,799 --> 00:08:43,280 swim adventures. So we went to Moana and swam on 161 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:47,480 Lake Branagh, which is a really big body of water, very cold in 162 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,960 winter but reasonable temperature in summer. 163 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:55,760 And and as part of that three or four days of swim adventure, One 164 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:59,000 of the parts of it was a 10 kilometer swim from one end of 165 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,840 the lake to the other. And the thing I really loved 166 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:05,040 about it was really well supported. 167 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:09,760 So we had someone in an IRB right alongside us helping out 168 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,600 whenever we needed, and there was also lots of stopping. 169 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,200 So it wasn't a race by any stretch. 170 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:20,120 We stopped every sort of half an hour or so, had lots of lollies 171 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,720 and snacks and drinks of water and even like a hot coffee and 172 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,920 things at one point. So yeah, I did it with a couple 173 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,560 of Swan buddies, which helped, but also just lovely kind of 174 00:09:30,560 --> 00:09:33,720 atmosphere and stopping lots and in really good conditions as 175 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:35,320 well. So I couldn't claim to be able 176 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:40,120 to do long distance at pace kind of fast swim events, but I 177 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:44,320 really love that one the. Other one that's that's massive 178 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:47,040 congratulations. I just. 179 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,160 Wanted to get there. We all felt like, Oh my gosh, 180 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:55,200 that was amazing and kind of a interesting experience because I 181 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,880 think that shows that probably lots of people can do that 182 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:01,120 distance, but we just don't quite put ourselves out there to 183 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:02,920 do it. Exactly. 184 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,640 The sort of thing that interests me is doing a longer swim sort 185 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,320 of in an atmosphere like that where you're not competing, like 186 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,560 you're just there to do it. Sort of nice people. 187 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,000 I would finally encourage it because lots of us, I'm not 188 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,120 really that interested in competing necessarily, but it 189 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:20,800 was just a really nice way to do it. 190 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:25,240 I did do the epic swimming in Taupo, but just the seven and a 191 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:29,160 half one seven and a half K, which is lots of loops around 192 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:31,720 and around. And I have to say I quite 193 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,280 enjoyed it, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the 10K. 194 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,600 You know, it was some good friends and kind of stopping 195 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:39,880 lots along the way. That was more my kind of style 196 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:41,920 of swimming. Yeah, mine too. 197 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:45,880 And I've, I've heard a little bit about the Lake Brunner sort 198 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:49,120 of trip that they offer. I didn't know there was a K as 199 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,440 part of that. And it's a S Island lake, so as 200 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,560 you said, the water temperature can be quite fresh. 201 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:57,640 Were people wearing wet suits for that there? 202 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,560 Were a few, yeah, say half and half, a few wearing wet suits 203 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:05,000 and a few not. And I think from memory maybe it 204 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,080 was somewhere between kind of 17 and 18° ish. 205 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:12,320 So for a Wellington swimmer, which I am, that's actually 206 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:14,760 pretty mild. And I don't wear a wetsuit 207 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:17,160 anymore. So I was non wetsuit. 208 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,120 And there was a yeah, a few of us that were non wetsuit as 209 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:22,240 well. But it was pretty relaxed about 210 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:24,280 whether you were a wetsuit or not, just whatever you felt 211 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:28,000 comfortable with. And do you tend to swim year 212 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,800 round in Wellington? I do now yes and I wasn't a year 213 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:37,760 round swimmer until about or after COVID till about 20 maybe. 214 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:42,000 2021 is when I started Norm Wetsuit and year round at that 215 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,320 point. And was that, you know, partly 216 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,480 because pools were closed and whole social distancing, or do 217 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:51,800 you think it just kind of felt like time to carry on through 218 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,040 the year? I think it was definitely 219 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,120 related to pools being closed. So I live in Island Bay and 220 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,640 working at home, I can see the hat, the water from where I am. 221 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:06,600 It was about August, I think it was that second kind of period 222 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,320 of lockdown in 2021. I just thought, you know what, 223 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,080 I'm just going to go and jump in the sea and have a go and see 224 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,480 what it's like. And I just did a lap or two up 225 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,800 and down in Island Bay and felt great and thought she's not as 226 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,840 cold as I thought it would be. And I think I can manage that. 227 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,000 And I also had been swimming right through summer without a 228 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,920 wet suit. And I've got a good friend in 229 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:33,320 Teammons group who kind of, we egged each other on and we were 230 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,800 both kind of jumping in for cold plunges after squad. 231 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:39,120 And then we looked at each other and we were like, maybe we'll 232 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:40,800 just keep going. Like why don't we just keep 233 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,000 swimming and see what happens? And if we get to a point where 234 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,000 it is actually too cold and we're not enjoying it, we can 235 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,280 always put the wetsuit back on, but just never put it back on. 236 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:53,200 And then it rolled around to summer again, and off you go. 237 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,200 Yeah, which was pretty amazing. And yeah, it does seem to be a 238 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:01,600 theme in Wellington that people shed their wet suits at some 239 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:04,760 stage and just enjoy that connection. 240 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:08,200 I'm not quite there. I mean, I found as soon as I 241 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,640 stopped bringing the wet suit, I just felt much more comfortable 242 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,000 in the water and a weird way. I felt cold, of course. 243 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,640 But yeah, my body was kind of in a better position in the water. 244 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:19,320 So I wasn't getting kind of my hips pushed up and things out of 245 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,720 sync and just so much more freedom to be able to move and 246 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:26,800 your arms and not restricted around the rest of your body. 247 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:29,600 Yeah, it just felt a whole lot better to be without the 248 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,520 wetsuit. But I did find it incredibly 249 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,480 cold to start with. And I'd have the full on shakes 250 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,840 afterwards and you know, take an hour to warm up and things that 251 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:41,600 that gets a little bit easier as well the more you do it. 252 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,040 Yeah. And do you just sort of learn to 253 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:48,000 listen to your body and you just sort of get more acclimatized 254 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,360 and figure out when when it's time to get out? 255 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:54,360 I think that that is the case. I definitely was a quite 256 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,880 cautious to start with. So we'd just go not even as far 257 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,320 as I thought I could go, and then come back and stay 258 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:05,560 relatively close to shore. And I always remember it felt 259 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:09,400 like quite a push to go even to the second or the third boy, or 260 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:11,280 even once I got to the lighthouse without a wet set. 261 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:15,120 That was an amazing moment of like, oh, actually I think I 262 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,680 could do this. So yeah, listening to your body 263 00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:22,480 and my good radar for it was, how do I feel after this one? 264 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:24,760 So often when you're in the water, it's really hard to tell. 265 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,960 Am I cold or am I just getting worried about it? 266 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,680 That afterwards I would know based on how much I was 267 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,520 shivering and shaking or whether I could hold a conversation in 268 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,320 the changing rooms or not. It's always a good taste as 269 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,400 well. Yeah, and how do you like to 270 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:43,000 warm up afterwards? I'm a big fan of the layers, so 271 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,040 I don't have a shower because I think that actually makes me 272 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:48,320 colder. So stay to straight out of the 273 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:50,240 water and then putting on heaps of layers. 274 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:55,520 So like a thermal and then a one jersey and a second jersey and 275 00:14:55,520 --> 00:15:00,520 the big swim coat, hats and gloves and lots of warm drinks. 276 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,520 So is try to carry a warm drink with me with its cup of tea or 277 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,160 just a bottle of hot water. And then of course coffee is 278 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,400 great. So food and warm drinks is good 279 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:13,400 as well. Yeah, cool. 280 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:17,600 And so this next part we can, I can cut this out if you, if 281 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:19,840 you're not comfortable talking about it, but I was going to ask 282 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,600 about your your trip and the long swim that you did over 283 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:25,560 there. Yes, yes. 284 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,640 Thank you. Are you all right to talk about 285 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:29,120 that? Yeah, I'd really like to. 286 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:30,080 Yeah, I'm happy to. Do that. 287 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:31,080 Yeah. OK, Cool. 288 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:35,200 So am I right that it was it was last year you had a family trip 289 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:39,240 to Europe and you'd planned quite a Big Lake swim? 290 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:43,560 So we went to Italy and we were up in a place called Largo 291 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:47,120 Daughter, which is about an hour north of Milan. 292 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:52,080 Really, really beautiful spot. And I did an event in the Ocean 293 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:56,320 Man series kind of halfway along the lake to another point on the 294 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:00,080 lake. So I think it was about 5, maybe 295 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,400 just over 5 kilometers. But as you can imagine, the kind 296 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:06,640 of that time of year, it was warm air temperature and then 297 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:10,880 warm also in the lake. So it felt probably longer than 298 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,480 a typical swim in New Zealand, just because you're grappling 299 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:15,560 with that change in temperature as well. 300 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:21,280 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, so it's hot European 301 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:23,200 summer. So that's something we're not 302 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,720 used to in Wellington. And I remember following along. 303 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:29,280 I think you set up a separate WhatsApp chat. 304 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,000 Yeah, I did. Yeah, yeah. 305 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,640 And what was the swim like on the day? 306 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:37,960 Like even 5 KS is still, you know, for most people, that's a 307 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:40,440 pretty big swim. That would be a good few hours. 308 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:42,840 Yeah, yeah, I mean, it was great. 309 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:47,120 I I guess the thing I noticed right away was those swims in 310 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:50,120 other parts of the world are such a big event. 311 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,600 I don't know if you've done 1 China, but they, there's all 312 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:57,800 this hype in there. It's like music and people 313 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:00,280 talking on microphones. There's so much going on. 314 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:04,400 Yeah, there was a lot and there was heaps of people. 315 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,319 I mean, there would have been, I think well over 1000 people that 316 00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:10,359 were competing in different events on the day. 317 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:12,839 So that was quite different for me. 318 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:15,880 I'd never done an event like that outside of New Zealand. 319 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:19,880 And the other thing I noticed was just probably because of the 320 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:24,040 logistics of it, there was quite a lot of, you know, time to get 321 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,960 to the start line. And then the finish of the event 322 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:28,920 was kind of an hour from where we were staying. 323 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:31,000 So there's lots of different logistics around it. 324 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:35,600 And then, yeah, just a lot more people in the water and some 325 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:38,800 pretty competitive people and all wet suit, wet suited up, 326 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,520 which I found fascinating how warm it was that people were. 327 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:45,680 I'd say most of the people were wearing wet suits, which really 328 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,040 surprised me too. Different kind of open border 329 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:49,720 culture. Yes. 330 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:52,840 And did you enjoy the good swim itself? 331 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:57,360 I think I found that I it felt like a really long way, even 332 00:17:57,360 --> 00:18:00,520 though I'd done longer swims. And I think that was partly down 333 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:02,680 to the, as I say, the water temperature, the air 334 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:06,000 temperature, the amount of kind of fessing about getting to this 335 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:07,680 hotline and all that kind of stuff. 336 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:10,320 But it was, it was great to do it and it was really good 337 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:14,280 atmosphere and good thing to do. So I definitely recommend it to 338 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,800 other people if you're planning a trip to Europe or all other 339 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,960 parts of the world. I think they do similar swims as 340 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:23,400 well, but not as low key as New Zealand is what I'd say. 341 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,360 Yeah, that makes sense. And also, you know, it might 342 00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:28,800 have felt a bit longer because you're doing it by yourself, 343 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:30,400 right? Like I'm assuming you didn't. 344 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,560 Yeah, yeah, I think. We find a different feeling too. 345 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,600 I think so. Shine I I had my family there, 346 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:38,920 obviously, but they're not swimmers. 347 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:41,280 So I was kind of on my own on the swimming front. 348 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:43,800 And yeah, it kind of reminded me. 349 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:47,040 It's quite nice to have swim buddies who can kind of, you 350 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:49,680 know, go to the start line with you and, and have a chat and 351 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:51,680 things. So yeah, yeah. 352 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,680 And then I found the recovery afterwards quite hard, but I 353 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,120 think that's because we were travelling straight away. 354 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:02,560 So the next day we got on a train and went down to the. 355 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:05,600 And then I'm really happy to talk about kind of what happened 356 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,200 next because I had a seizure essentially a day and a half, 357 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,160 maybe 2 days afterwards in Venice. 358 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:16,000 So it was all quite an extreme kind of experience and I don't 359 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,280 think it, well, I know now that it wasn't related to this woman 360 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:23,600 necessarily, but probably that put me into a state where I was 361 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,880 potentially dehydrated or yeah, kind of other things going on in 362 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,360 terms of over exertion that might have contributed. 363 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:30,560 Yeah. Yeah. 364 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,600 And yeah, I'm, I'm really sorry, but that happened to you. 365 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,480 I remember thinking at the time when you sort of said what 366 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,760 happened after you got back. But you know, that sounded quite 367 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:44,320 scary and also quite surreal. Was that the first time you'd 368 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:46,760 had a seizure? Yes, absolutely. 369 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:51,080 I'd never had a seizure before and I don't remember any of it, 370 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:54,840 which is is also another really surreal thing about seizures or 371 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,360 any kind of medical event that kind of leaves you unconscious. 372 00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:01,360 So I now know that it was a tonic clinic seizure, which used 373 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:05,320 to be called a grand Mal seizure back a few well quite a long 374 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:07,240 time ago. And subsequently I've been 375 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,320 diagnosed with eucalypse. So I'm happy to kind of talk 376 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:13,440 more about that because it's been quite a major kind of shift 377 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:15,840 in terms of life changes. But at the time I. 378 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:19,040 I was walking, we'd had a busy day kind of out and about in 379 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:23,200 Venice and then was walking through the streets. 380 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:26,680 And I have no memory of this, but I think I kind of stopped 381 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,680 being out of talk coherently to my partner and daughter. 382 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,480 And the next thing I was on the ground, you know, shaking, 383 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,080 unconscious. And then I woke up and I was in 384 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,960 an ambulance boat of all things. But that's how it goes in 385 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,560 Venice. So they don't have ambulance 386 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:45,400 that drives obviously, because there's no streets. 387 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:50,720 So I was in the boat and I actually made a phone call. 388 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,080 I don't really remember this, but I made a phone call to my 389 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,360 partner to say I'm in a boat, where are you? 390 00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:57,440 What's going on? And that was when I realized 391 00:20:57,440 --> 00:20:58,880 that clearly something had happened. 392 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:04,160 Ended up in the emergency room at the Venice hospital, but what 393 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,200 turned out to be nearly 24 hours. 394 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,080 Again, quite a fascinating experience and easier in 395 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:11,560 hindsight when you look back on it. 396 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:16,040 No one spoke English really, so everything in Italian. 397 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:20,360 I was in a room full of other patients who were also talking 398 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:24,000 to each other in Italian and sharing food and having a chat 399 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:29,200 and lots and lots of different testing, which really kind of 400 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,880 led to the potential that they thought it could have been 401 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,240 epilepsy but needed more assessment and things to look 402 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:37,720 at. So suggestion was go home, get 403 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:39,600 some more assessment and see what's happened. 404 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:42,640 Yeah. And how did you find the journey 405 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:44,960 home? Like were you still recovering 406 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:49,560 from the seizure at that point? In hindsight, yes, I was, but I 407 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,160 don't think I really knew at the time that that was the case. 408 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:59,360 So yeah, I felt quite the least way I can describe it as I felt 409 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:03,560 like I kind of had perhaps kind of head injury type symptoms. 410 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:08,720 So really tired, really kind of light headed and not quite with 411 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,120 it. Almost struggling to find words 412 00:22:11,120 --> 00:22:14,360 from time to time, so not quite able to string together 413 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,480 sentences or get things coherent in my own mind. 414 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:22,240 So I didn't quite know at the time that those are, they call 415 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:26,320 it postictal, but post seizure symptoms that are really common 416 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:29,520 and particularly when you've had a tonic clonic seizure because 417 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:31,880 of the deep impact on your brain at the time. 418 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,960 So, yeah, so we changed all our flights and ended up on quite a 419 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,960 long stretch back to New Zealand via Germany in the end of all 420 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:42,520 places, which, you know, again, I have kind of mixed amounts of 421 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,560 memory of, but I just remember getting back and thinking it's 422 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:52,880 great to be home, yeah. And when so how long was it sort 423 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,640 of before you were diagnosed? Like what was the. 424 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,360 Yeah, like after you got back to New Zealand and then the 425 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:01,400 diagnosis, was it a long wait or was it something that happened 426 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:02,520 fairly quickly? It was. 427 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,480 A fairly long wait, but I imagine other people have waited 428 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:09,040 much longer for diagnosis so I can't complain really. 429 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,560 And I think the New Zealand health system has been amazing 430 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,000 from my perspective. So I was diagnosed in late 431 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:17,920 September. But in order, in order to 432 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:22,000 diagnose epilepsy, the criteria essentially are that you need to 433 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,760 have another seizure. So more than one seizure within 434 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,880 roughly kind of 12 months to two years as the general rule. 435 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:30,240 But it could be longer than that. 436 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,880 Or, and, or you need to have epilepsy confirmed on an EEG. 437 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,520 And an EEG is the one where they stick the nodes all over your 438 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,000 head and then do all sorts of different procedures to try to 439 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,800 induce a seizure from an eclectic perspective and then 440 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:50,640 see what your brain is doing. So for me, I saw my GP straight 441 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,800 away and then I was quickly referred to the neurology 442 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:57,960 department at Wellington Hospital and they sent me for an 443 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,560 EEG really fast, which will happen quite fast as well as a 444 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:05,040 brain. And the brain MRI thankfully 445 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,560 came up fine because sometimes with epilepsy, there might be 446 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:11,920 lesions on the brain or things that are causing the seizures. 447 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,960 But the EEG showed what's called epileptic spikes, I think they 448 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:19,000 call it, which is where your brain, the electrical activity 449 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,920 in your brain is suggestive of seizure activity. 450 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,280 So, and then I had a couple of or one other at that time, minor 451 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:28,320 kind of seizure. So it wasn't one where I fell 452 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:29,920 unconscious. So we're shaking. 453 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,000 But the thing with the epilepsy is that there's a whole spectrum 454 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,000 of different seizures that can happen. 455 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:39,560 So I'd had another minor seizure and then I had the EEG which 456 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:43,080 confirmed epilepsy. So that combination of things 457 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,920 meant by late September I've been diagnosed with epilepsy. 458 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,360 Well, and at that time, did you know other people who had 459 00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:52,040 epilepsy? Was it something you were very 460 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:55,040 familiar with? I knew nobody at that point. 461 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:59,040 There was no family history of it, which is sometimes the case. 462 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,920 There was no, yeah, sometimes it's based on having a head 463 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:04,880 injury earlier in life or things like that. 464 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:06,480 But I didn't have any of that history. 465 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,360 So I didn't have any family connections. 466 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:12,640 And I also, at the time, wasn't aware of any friends that had 467 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:14,960 epilepsy. But it is quite a hidden thing. 468 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:18,600 So unless you know or that person has decided to share it, 469 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,680 there'd be no reason why you might suspect that someone has 470 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:23,040 epilepsy. It's quite interesting. 471 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:27,240 I was looking on the Epilepsy New Zealand website, which I'll 472 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:31,360 link to, and I think it said there were 65 million people 473 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,320 worldwide who have it, which is a lot. 474 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:38,920 I mean, that's not, I think it's .8% of the world's population. 475 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,920 And like, there are different types of epilepsy, but it can 476 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:48,880 affect anybody basically sort of different ages, genders, you 477 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,720 know, populations. Do you know if it's common to 478 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:56,360 develop it later in life? Yeah, I think your steps are 479 00:25:56,360 --> 00:25:56,800 right. So I know. 480 00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,840 So I've heard it's 1% of New Zealanders, so it'd be about 481 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,840 right, kind of .8 of the worldwide population, which is 482 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,480 quite a few, right. But it's still only 1%, which I 483 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,440 guess means you're unlikely to know someone, but you're 484 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,040 probably walking past someone on the street day-to-day, but you 485 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:15,360 wouldn't know. Yeah. 486 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:19,480 So I, I think a, yeah, I was really surprised to be in that 487 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,120 1% because I didn't have any of the history. 488 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,880 But the more I read about it, the more I realized that it can 489 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:30,160 develop at any age and often with absolutely no, I think it's 490 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:35,080 60% or 65% have absolutely no known cause for the eclipse. 491 00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:37,640 And then there are though, a number of people who might 492 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,040 develop it, particularly in childhood, I think who could 493 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,520 grow out of it, so to speak. But at my age and stage of life, 494 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:45,320 you don't necessarily grow out of it. 495 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,600 It's something that you have for the rest of your life that 496 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:49,560 really common to have no known cause. 497 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,600 Wow, And since your diagnosis, have you come into contact with 498 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,920 any other swimmers who have epilepsy, whether they're in New 499 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,360 Zealand or anywhere else? Like cuz they're sort of a 500 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:04,440 group, you know, like not not necessarily a support group, but 501 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,720 just people that you can talk to who are in a similar boat to 502 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:09,680 you. I've struggled to find many 503 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,240 shine it and I'm happy to talk about kind of what I've done to 504 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:14,960 managed swimming with epilepsy because that's not an easy 505 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:16,840 thing. I think the first one of so the 506 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,680 specialist told me a few things when I got diagnosed in this 507 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,360 order. So you can't drive, you can't 508 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:26,360 swim and you can't travel for the foreseeable future. 509 00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:29,560 So I was like, OK, that actually takes out quite a lot of what I 510 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,600 do, both in my spare time, but so at work. 511 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,720 But I've worked our ways around all of those things in different 512 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,280 regards. I found a bit of information 513 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,200 online, particularly about swimming in the pool, nothing 514 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:44,560 online about swimming in the open water, a bit about kind of 515 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,120 what to do if you're just paddling in the shallows, but 516 00:27:47,120 --> 00:27:51,120 not much about actual swimming. And then I did come across one 517 00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:55,000 woman who's in Barb's group, Shona, and I think her name's 518 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,080 Jenny, but I'm not 100% sure because I haven't seen her very 519 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:02,200 much at Barb's lately, who did come up to me and say, hey, I, 520 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:05,760 I've had epilepsy. I understand. 521 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:11,040 I think she had a brain lesion. So she was able to have surgery, 522 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:14,160 which then removed the kind of likelihood for seizures. 523 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:18,720 So that is really the only person that I've had just a a 524 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,240 slight brush with in terms of swimming and epilepsy. 525 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:26,400 Yeah, which isn't much, is it, considering how many swimmers 526 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,040 there are in Wellington. But maybe people listening to 527 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,960 this podcast like someone will be a swimmer with epilepsy. 528 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,160 They might be overseas as well. Yeah. 529 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:36,960 Cease listeners and you know, maybe they can make contact as 530 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,400 well and they'll have they'll have advice and experience and. 531 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,440 Yeah. I'll also mention that I'm 532 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,760 recording this in March. Today's the 23rd, and this is 533 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:51,760 quite timely because March the 26th is Epilepsy Awareness Day 534 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:57,840 and the theme is Purple Day. So it's hashtag Purple Day and 535 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,920 then people are encouraged to wear purple, which I am today, 536 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:04,000 even though this is an audio podcast, but I'll wear it again 537 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,960 on the 26th, hopefully. Did I say 26? 538 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:08,560 Yeah. Good. 539 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:10,880 OK, that's Epilepsy Awareness Day. 540 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,760 Is there like I know you were only diagnosed sort of in the 541 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:15,840 last year. Are you planning on doing 542 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:18,520 anything to sort of mark the day or? 543 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:21,720 Yeah, it's funny. I've had a few thoughts about 544 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:23,560 what I could do because I would like to. 545 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:26,800 I think raising awareness is really important, not just for 546 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,240 like me being able to tell my story, which is lovely, but I 547 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,680 think I'd love just to meet other people, particularly in 548 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,120 the swimming community or even in the work kind of seems to 549 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,400 maybe do similar jobs to mine because you can learn so much 550 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:40,320 from other people that do have it. 551 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,640 And yes, I struggled with what to do this year because it's all 552 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:47,720 quite new for me as well. And I had thought that I might 553 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:52,320 get some swim caps printed or some towels and kind of sell 554 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,640 those and raise some money. So I know, but I've left it all 555 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:56,800 a bit late. So I don't think I'm going to 556 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:58,480 make it for this for this people day. 557 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,400 But maybe that's a next year thing if I can get organized. 558 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:05,200 So what I'm going to do for this one is actually just share my 559 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,560 story a bit more widely. So this is great to be able to 560 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:11,960 come on your podcast, but also I, I will share some information 561 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,720 with Epilepsy New Zealand that they can put up through their 562 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,480 channels. And yeah, just really keen for 563 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,400 people to kind of know that it's a thing and that it exists. 564 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,680 And then hopefully people might reach out and ask me questions 565 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,800 or I can actually just find some other people to chat to about it 566 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,000 because it's something I don't know much about and I still 567 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,040 don't know many people who have had it. 568 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:35,560 I did, and now that I've got it and talking to other people, I 569 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:39,840 did find out that one of my previous work colleagues, his 570 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:42,560 daughter and his wife both have epilepsy. 571 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,960 So that was really helpful actually just have a coffee with 572 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:49,960 him and a chat about what it's been like for how Maggie says a 573 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:53,280 supporter of his his family. But what they've found helpful 574 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:54,640 as well was really helpful for me. 575 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:57,200 Oh, that's good. Yeah. 576 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,600 And you've been, you've been continuing to swim, you know, 577 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:05,800 with modifications, obviously. So in the pool for example, have 578 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,000 you had to do anything differently? 579 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,520 Yeah, I, well, the first thing was when I came back from Italy, 580 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:16,520 I'd actually dislocated my shoulder during the seizure and 581 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:20,320 ended up tearing muscles and my shoulder subscapular I think it 582 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,320 was. So that was quite good because 583 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:24,880 it meant I had to get back into swimming slowly. 584 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,600 So that was one thing the specialist had said, first of 585 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:30,320 all they said don't swim. And then they said, well, if 586 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,280 you're going to just really manage your energy and listen to 587 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:37,120 your body, so don't start off 1,000,000 miles an hour, you 588 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,000 know, just go slowly and also tell the lifeguard. 589 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,800 So if you're in the pool on your own, tell the lifeguard. 590 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,560 And I did start doing that, particularly at Freiburg and 591 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:49,600 they were awesome. So it's kind of a little bit 592 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:51,720 nervous at first because I thought they might turn around 593 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,960 and say you can't swim, like go, go get your clothes back on and 594 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:56,840 leave. But actually they quite often 595 00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:59,280 stood at the end of the lane and kind of had a look at what I was 596 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,960 doing. So I felt really comfortable 597 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,560 with that. And the other thing I've done in 598 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:09,120 the pool is kept swimming with the squad, so and told people so 599 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,480 I told enough people that were particularly in my lane, like 600 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:13,320 you say, showing we're kind of in different lanes. 601 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:17,200 But most of the people that are in my lane know that I've got 602 00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:20,600 epilepsy. So if I had a seizure in the 603 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,720 pool, they would notice hopefully, because I would stop 604 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:25,960 swimming obviously, and potentially start to start to 605 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:27,840 sink. So knowing what to do, just to 606 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,320 pull the person out, get them on the side of the pool and do the 607 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,960 right things from there. So the pool has been relatively 608 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,360 easy, although I've just taken it slowly and kind of figured it 609 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:40,480 out. As I say, the open water was 610 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,400 much harder to figure out. Yeah, just with the poll, you 611 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,040 mentioned when you had your seizure, you dislocated your 612 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,240 shoulder. So obviously there's a risk of 613 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:53,560 injury when you have seizures. So just for people listening, if 614 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:56,560 you're at the pool when you have a seizure, obviously pull you 615 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:01,040 out, but but also should people be sort of cushioning you to 616 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,280 make sure that you don't hit your head or anything like that? 617 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,800 Yeah, great question. So, so the reason I dislocated 618 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,640 my shoulder, and this is no offence to my partner, but he 619 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:15,840 was trying to sort of wrestle me into the recovery position along 620 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:17,960 with a couple of other people that were supporting me at the 621 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:19,880 time. That might seem like the right 622 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,280 thing to do, but actually it's the wrong thing to do if 623 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:25,240 someone's having a seizure. So what you should do is first 624 00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:27,160 of all, get the person to safety. 625 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,680 Or if they're, you know, if I was already outside the pool, 626 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,360 like in the changing room, for example, just move objects away 627 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,440 that are potentially things that I could knock up against if I 628 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,960 was shaking in particular and get me to the ground. 629 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:42,280 So I'll probably be on the ground already if I've fallen 630 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:46,160 unconscious, but safely getting the person to the ground and 631 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,920 then actually leaving the person to seize up. 632 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:53,720 So it might be that, you know, my arms and legs are both moving 633 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:56,680 or I'm just moving a little bit, but don't touch the person while 634 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,400 the seizure is happening, which is really important to stop 635 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:03,480 things like tore muscles or dislocations of joints and 636 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,480 things. Because the nature of a tonic 637 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,840 clonic is that tonic clonic means that you're seizing up and 638 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:11,920 then your muscles are relaxing as well. 639 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,760 So if you catch someone halfway through, you can pretty quickly 640 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,760 injure them. But you're right to cushion the 641 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:19,480 heat. So the heat's the main thing. 642 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:22,520 So, you know, maybe Chuck a towel under the air or something 643 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:27,639 just to cushion the head. And then once the shaking stops 644 00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:32,960 or the seizures over, if I was unconscious, you know, come back 645 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,560 to consciousness, but be really out of it. 646 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:38,840 So you might be what I was, for example, really unsure where I 647 00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,760 was, you know, what's going on, where am I and I might be quite, 648 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,719 you know, wanting to get up and kind of walk away. 649 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,800 That actually just getting the person to sit somewhere quiet 650 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,840 and safe and comfortable. And then I wear a little wrist 651 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:58,320 kind of band on my smartwatch, which has anhi number, the 652 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:00,280 number to call in case of emergency sets. 653 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:04,080 That's a thing that means that whoever's with me doesn't 654 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,480 necessarily need to know who I am or who to contact that you 655 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:08,200 could quickly find that inflation. 656 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,600 And the other thing is if the seizure happens in a pool, 657 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:15,400 calling an ambulance is A and I think that's because obviously 658 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,040 the likelihood of drowning is much, much higher, but also 659 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:21,040 secondary drowning is an issue as well. 660 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:22,640 So I might have been hailed water. 661 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:25,400 So even though I'm looking OK and I'm kind of sitting up and 662 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:27,600 conscious and you still need to get checked out. 663 00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:30,600 Afterwards, Thank you. And you sort of touched on 664 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,880 earlier that you're also starting to get back into the 665 00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:36,240 sea. Do you want to talk about? 666 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,240 Yeah, the. Process around that and tell how 667 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:40,840 that works for you. Yeah. 668 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:44,680 Well, as I say, I looked far and wide for information about this, 669 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:48,280 tried to come up with all sorts of innovative ways to swarm. 670 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:51,560 Yeah. And in the end, I decided that I 671 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:56,120 needed to weigh out my own level of personal risk that I was 672 00:35:56,120 --> 00:36:00,520 prepared to take, knowing that there was absolutely a high risk 673 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:04,360 that if I had a seizure, it would be really dangerous. 674 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:06,840 And the open water, because you're much further away from 675 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,880 help, obviously. But for my own kind of physical 676 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,400 mental health, it was really important to me to be able to 677 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:14,720 keep swimming and doing something that I enjoyed. 678 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:18,920 So I did definitely took a good couple of months off swimming in 679 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:20,880 the open water. And then I got back into it 680 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:24,200 slowly, just bobbing and dipping with friends kind of close to 681 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,600 shore. And then when I started open 682 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,360 water swimming again, two things I did I think have made the 683 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,640 biggest difference. So swimming only in shallow 684 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,080 water, so where I can stand up, but also the person who's 685 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:38,080 swimming with me can stand up, which means that if they needed 686 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:41,400 to Get Me Out of the water quickly, it's much easier to 687 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,640 kind of to do that. And the second thing is I swam 688 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:48,680 with a tether. So I think it's designed for 689 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:52,320 triathletes, swimmers maybe, where someone's supporting 690 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,240 another person and needs to be staying really close together 691 00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:57,560 with that that person. So it's like a couple of waist 692 00:36:57,560 --> 00:36:59,960 belts with a bungee cord between them. 693 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:03,480 And that just means that I know I've always got a swim buddy 694 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,120 right there so you don't end up getting separated. 695 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:10,840 But also, if I had a seizure and I needed help, the cord would go 696 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,320 touch pretty quickly. And so it's a signal to the 697 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:16,000 other swimmer I kind of need to stop and check out what's 698 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:17,280 happening with Kate. Yeah. 699 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:18,800 So those are the two things I've done. 700 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:22,080 Telling people you've got Eucalypse is the key thing. 701 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:25,440 And so, you know, Barb and team on both know, for example, say 702 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,280 they kind of keep an eye out for me as well, but particularly in 703 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,600 the water, having people that know that you've got the 704 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:33,600 condition that things might happen, but hopefully highly 705 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:35,400 likely it won't happen, but it could happen. 706 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:39,320 It's really cool that you can keep swimming because I mean, 707 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,880 it's, it's a big part of your life, right, For one thing. 708 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:46,680 And you know, for a lot of us, it's a, it's a social thing. 709 00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:49,040 And it's also that connection with the water. 710 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:50,760 Yeah, yeah. So. 711 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,640 Yeah, I'm really pleased. Yeah, same to you. 712 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,720 But you can keep doing it. Yeah, I think because you do get 713 00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:00,440 told lots of things you can't do when you get diagnosed with a 714 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:02,880 health condition. Epilepsy is no different to lots 715 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,640 of other ones, I'm sure. And initially I did focus a lot 716 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,080 on what I couldn't do and sort of, you know, you can start 717 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,200 thinking, gosh, this is terrible, you know, I can't 718 00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:15,600 drive a car and I can't swim. But then for me, like once I've 719 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:19,520 figured out ways to adapt and to get around those things, it 720 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:20,880 actually made it quite interesting. 721 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,400 So some of the things that I've done now, like shallow swimming 722 00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:27,560 is really fascinating because you see a lot more things under 723 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:31,080 the water, particularly around Island Bay and places that you 724 00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:32,960 just don't see when you're quite far off. 725 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,440 Off land it's a different experience. 726 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:39,560 So weirdly this kind of being some advantages to the 727 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,240 adaptations. Even things like not driving, I 728 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:45,200 get lots of lifts for people and it's really lovely to have car 729 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:48,440 chats and catch up with people, which is another advantage 730 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:50,200 really, Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. 731 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:52,840 Yeah. I like how sometimes changes, 732 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:55,440 even though they're very unexpected, they can give you a 733 00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:57,080 different perspective on things, right? 734 00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:00,040 Or there can be unexpected benefits. 735 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,200 Yes. And I imagine a big part of 736 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,200 things would be rebuilding confidence. 737 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:09,680 Is that fair to say? Like, you know, having a medical 738 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:12,680 episode can be a bit of a knock. Yeah. 739 00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:16,040 To sort of physical confidence and emotional confidence. 740 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:20,360 Yeah, definitely. And I think because I didn't 741 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,040 experience like I did experience obviously, but I didn't 742 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:25,440 experience seeing the seizure happen. 743 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:30,480 I think for those around me, it was much more traumatic in some 744 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:31,920 ways. And I've heard that from other 745 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:35,120 people who have seen someone have a seizure maybe at school 746 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,600 or at work or somewhere and they remember it really vividly. 747 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:41,520 So since I've heard epilepsy, it she, a lot of people have said, 748 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:44,600 Oh my gosh, you know, someone at school and you had a seizure and 749 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:46,160 we didn't know what to do. And it was. 750 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,600 So I think it must be quite terrifying for those people that 751 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,640 are observing it. And for me personally, there's a 752 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:58,920 degree of you don't quite feel as confident and invincible in 753 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:00,640 terms of what could happen to you. 754 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,480 But I do feel really confident actually that someone would come 755 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:06,520 and help. So that's that's kind of a cool 756 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:09,920 thing as well, just knowing that there's not much you can do for 757 00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:11,920 yourself actually, when you're having a seizure, you're very 758 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:13,520 much reliant on people around you. 759 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:20,000 Yeah, yeah, I, I haven't had a major medical episode myself, 760 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:24,080 but I've had very close family members have major health 761 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:27,320 diagnosis. And I know that there can be 762 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:31,360 quite a roller coaster with emotions and just sort of 763 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:33,280 processing all the new information you get. 764 00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,680 Especially like, like you said, the medical side can often focus 765 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,840 on what the person can't do, like what all the limitations 766 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:42,120 are. But I can't remember where I was 767 00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:43,480 going. I had I had a point and a 768 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:53,440 question. That it's not entirely solution 769 00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:56,040 focused as well about how to get around those things you can't 770 00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:57,360 do. So the swimming thing, for 771 00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:00,040 example, I've figured out, as I said, what I wanted to do. 772 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:02,880 And then travel's been really interesting as well because 773 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,720 that's a big part of my job work wise. 774 00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:08,840 And I am, I will be back travelling internationally very 775 00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:11,280 soon. But even just kind of working 776 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:14,440 through all the steps to figure out when am I safe to travel and 777 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:16,080 what do I need to do differently. 778 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:19,000 And yeah, so there, there's definitely a lot to think about 779 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:22,200 and it can get quite depressing if you start to kind of go down 780 00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:24,400 that rabbit hole of all the things you can't do. 781 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,880 But I've had to be really patient and also just try to 782 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:30,680 focus on the things that are going well or the adaptations 783 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,600 that I I came back. So yeah. 784 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:37,400 So when I remembered what I was going to say, but yeah, 785 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,080 basically, like I know that when you're in the sort of immediate 786 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:43,000 aftermath of the diagnosis, you're just sort of taking it 787 00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:45,040 day-to-day and sort of processing. 788 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:48,880 And then there can come a point where you start being able to 789 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:51,560 think ahead and maybe make goals, even if they're different 790 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:53,920 goals. And it sounds like you might be 791 00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:57,280 sort of reaching that point if you're able to plan travel and 792 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:00,920 think about things you want to do in the future there. 793 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,560 Do you feel like there's somewhere you want to take your 794 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:06,600 swimming at the moment? Or are you just sort of happy 795 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,240 with things as the way they are and just see see sort of how it 796 00:42:10,240 --> 00:42:12,560 goes? Yeah, yes, we're just so to the 797 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:13,760 first part of what you're saying. 798 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:16,960 The other thing with epilepsy is you end up on anti seizure 799 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,400 medication very quickly. So that's the first line of 800 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:23,800 defence and for some people that works and for some people it 801 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:25,680 doesn't. So luckily I seem to be in the 802 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:27,680 category of people that it does work for. 803 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:30,520 So it controls the seizures. But even getting used to that, 804 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:32,800 you know, like you say, you kind of have all these things you 805 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:35,560 have to get your head around. That's been quite an interesting 806 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:38,800 learning experience and trialing different medication that works 807 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:40,720 or doesn't work, dealing with side effects. 808 00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:44,720 So you're needing to settle that down in terms of swimming, you 809 00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:47,000 have kind of been pondering because normally I do have a 810 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:49,960 swim kind of goal or event on the horizon. 811 00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:53,720 But this summer I've intentionally not put any events 812 00:42:53,720 --> 00:42:57,160 in the diary and partly because I can't, but also just wanted to 813 00:42:57,160 --> 00:42:59,680 kind of take it day by day and see what happens. 814 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:02,360 One goal I did have was just to try swimming in some different 815 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:05,760 locations in the shallow water, which has been really good. 816 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,640 You know, it's great to go with Bob to Plummeton the other day 817 00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:13,320 went out to Titahi Bay with another friend, even went round 818 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:15,960 to the other side of Miramar Peninsula with a couple of 819 00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:18,280 friends recently. And so lots of kind of 820 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:21,000 interesting swums where you can look at things underwater. 821 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:25,640 But I'd like to thank, you know, maybe by next summer, seizure 822 00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:28,400 free obviously. And with medication working 823 00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:32,200 well, I'd like to think I might be able to get back to some swum 824 00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:34,800 events. I don't have any huge ones. 825 00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:38,080 I think I just want to kind of we'll back up to confidence from 826 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:41,080 a distance perspective and yeah, I'll kind of take it a step at a 827 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,640 time and see what that might look like once I've got my head 828 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:46,400 around epilepsy and how it all works. 829 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:49,200 Yeah, that sounds very like a good idea. 830 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:52,680 And do you have swim events in New Zealand that were particular 831 00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:55,360 favourites that you wouldn't mind doing again? 832 00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:58,400 Yeah. Well, I've never done the one at 833 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:02,200 Blue Lake and so that was on my list to want to do at some 834 00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:03,720 point. So I'd love to do that. 835 00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:09,080 I've done their Run Your Toto swim a couple of times and 836 00:44:09,240 --> 00:44:11,880 although it's a hard one, like it's an early start and it's 837 00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:15,880 quite a long way that from on your Toto Island, which is up in 838 00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,800 Auckland back to Saint Heliers Beach. 839 00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,200 I'd quite like to have another go at that because it's a really 840 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:23,400 interesting, interesting swim to do. 841 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:26,720 I really enjoyed the fit and able swim adventure, so I'd love 842 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:28,840 to do another one of those at some point. 843 00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:31,320 Yeah, I just think there's so many cool places to swim in New 844 00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:34,160 Zealand and lots of places I've just not been to. 845 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,040 Even getting up to Lee or go to Ireland or somewhere and having 846 00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:39,400 a look at what's going on there would be amazing. 847 00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:41,240 So yeah, lots of things I'd love to do. 848 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:43,640 I know. Yeah, there are so many amazing 849 00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:45,680 options, aren't there? Yeah, yeah. 850 00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:51,360 The final question or not, not necessarily final, but it's 851 00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:54,000 quite broad. But is there any sort of call to 852 00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:57,560 action you would like people listening to this to do so? 853 00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:01,320 I'm going to publish it on Epilepsy Awareness Day on the 854 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:04,000 26th. Is there anything you would like 855 00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,400 people to do in terms of visiting the Epilepsy New 856 00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:11,840 Zealand website or doing something in particular to sort 857 00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:13,880 of raise awareness or support people with epilepsy? 858 00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:19,920 The thing that I'd love people to do is just to become more 859 00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:22,760 aware. And that might just be, yeah, 860 00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:25,160 like you say, having a look on the Epilepsy New Zealand 861 00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:28,760 website, if you know people who've got it, maybe just being 862 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:32,360 curious in the questions that you ask or looking seeking to 863 00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:36,080 learn more about it. But I do think it's one of those 864 00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:39,000 things with, because it's so invisible to other people, it is 865 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:41,360 a really hard one for people to get their head around. 866 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:43,360 And I don't necessarily like myself. 867 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:46,320 I don't necessarily need a lot of extra accommodations or 868 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:50,480 support at this point, but I have really appreciated those 869 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:52,760 people that are just a bit curious about it. 870 00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:55,720 I've appreciated all the people who've gone, hey, you can't 871 00:45:55,720 --> 00:45:57,520 drive, can I give you a lift somewhere? 872 00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,280 Or, you know, do you need a swim buddy? 873 00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:01,880 I think those things are really helpful. 874 00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:04,800 So maybe it's thinking about what it is, getting a bit more 875 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:06,560 aware about it. And if there's someone in your 876 00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:10,240 life that has epilepsy, I think having a chat to them and 877 00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:12,520 perhaps asking them, you know, is there anything I can do 878 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:15,480 practically to support you? Those things will be great. 879 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:18,320 Yeah, that sounds good. Because sometimes people are 880 00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:20,560 worried about saying the wrong thing, aren't they? 881 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:23,120 Like, I know I worry about saying the wrong thing to people 882 00:46:23,240 --> 00:46:25,880 because we're not always taught what to say. 883 00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:29,840 Yeah, I think so. And I've noticed some people 884 00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:32,080 might say things like, are you feeling better now? 885 00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:35,560 And it's like, oh look, I am like I'm feeling pretty good. 886 00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:39,160 But you never be Sir 100%. I think it's the same as someone 887 00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:41,880 who's maybe had a has a heart condition which is for the rest 888 00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:44,240 of their life. Or a brain injury, right? 889 00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:45,920 Or a brain injury, great example. 890 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:49,680 So you're managing it, but you're managing it as part of 891 00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:50,960 who you are for the rest of your life. 892 00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:54,800 So I think just being careful about the types of questions you 893 00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:57,720 ask, but also the way you frame them is, is really helpful. 894 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,760 So that you're conscious of the person living with that 895 00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:06,280 condition for the rest of their life, but that there are lots of 896 00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:08,600 things they can do and and they're kind of working it out 897 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:12,200 for themselves. Yeah, and it hasn't been that 898 00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:15,160 long since you were diagnosed, but do you feel that people are 899 00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:19,120 growing an awareness of epilepsy and what it is over time or is 900 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:23,280 it too soon for me to ask? Yeah, I honestly, I don't know 901 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,000 the answer to that. I I mean, I have to say from my 902 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:29,000 own perspective, I had no idea. Like I didn't really know what. 903 00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:30,640 I had no idea really what it was. 904 00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:34,040 I, I thought I might have seen it in movies or in ATV show or 905 00:47:34,080 --> 00:47:37,080 something, but I was probably quite scared of it. 906 00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:39,600 So when I was told I was diagnosed, I thought, Oh my 907 00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:42,400 gosh, I'll be having seizures every week and I'll be, you 908 00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:43,880 know, I have to give up my job and I'll. 909 00:47:43,920 --> 00:47:48,000 But in reality, actually for a lot of people, it's not at that 910 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:50,040 extreme level. It's something that's just 911 00:47:50,040 --> 00:47:55,840 always there in the background. So yeah, I think it's it's one 912 00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:59,760 of those things where if you don't know, then you won't 913 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:01,800 necessarily understand what it's all about. 914 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:05,120 And I don't think we can all be experts in every health 915 00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:07,320 condition or medical thing that's out there. 916 00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:10,560 But maybe even just me having it and talking about it would mean 917 00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:13,800 that people might say, oh, I know Kate or I know of Kate or 918 00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:15,080 I've heard Kate talking about it. 919 00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:17,920 So I might go and just find out a bit more about it, which is a 920 00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:20,480 great thing I think. Cool. 921 00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:23,400 Well, but yeah, thank you, Kate. I really appreciate you coming 922 00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:27,920 on the podcast to tell your story and to to help people 923 00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:31,280 better understand epilepsy and swimming with the epilepsy. 924 00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:34,040 I imagine like there'll be people listening to this podcast 925 00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:36,800 who want to get in touch or have their own experiences. 926 00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:40,920 So I'll put the, you know, podcasts, contact details and 927 00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:45,560 the show notes, and I'll link to Epilepsy New Zealand, Yeah. 928 00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:47,640 Is there anything else you want to mention that we haven't 929 00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:49,840 covered yet? I guess one thing I do just want 930 00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:54,360 to be careful to say is that what I've described as my 931 00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:57,760 experience and also what I'm comfortable with. 932 00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,880 So I'm not necessarily advocating that anyone with 933 00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:03,560 epilepsy could get in the sea and just, you know, start 934 00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:06,760 swimming or advocating that everyone can get control over 935 00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:09,960 their seizures with medication. There are all sorts of different 936 00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:13,600 types of epilepsy, and there's also different levels of risk 937 00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:15,640 that people should or could be taking. 938 00:49:15,720 --> 00:49:18,040 So I did want to be really careful to say that because 939 00:49:18,080 --> 00:49:20,840 that's the other thing I've learned is that you have to just 940 00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:22,560 be mindful of what works for you. 941 00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:24,760 So I think that's important. Yeah. 942 00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:27,600 And just, I think I've just been so grateful for all the people 943 00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:30,360 that have offered help, whether they knew about epilepsy or not. 944 00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:32,640 You know, they've just been really curious and really came 945 00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:34,720 to help, which makes it so much easier. 946 00:49:34,720 --> 00:49:36,920 That's great. Yeah, that's awesome. 947 00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:38,640 OK. Yeah, that's a really good point 948 00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:43,240 about also everybody's an individual and health and safety 949 00:49:43,240 --> 00:49:47,080 disclaimer. And I mean, the thing was 950 00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:49,920 medical professional. Yeah, sure. 951 00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:52,600 And the thing with swimming is it doesn't necessarily mean. 952 00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:55,400 Yeah, So I think you need to swim to enjoy it. 953 00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:58,400 So it doesn't necessarily mean jumping in the water and 954 00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,280 swimming exactly the same distance that I might have done 955 00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:04,120 a year ago. It can be just as fun to be like 956 00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:06,760 splashing around in the shallows and having a great time with 957 00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:09,880 your friends. So I think, yeah, just accepting 958 00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:13,080 what you can do and maybe doing that in a way that works for you 959 00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:14,880 is such an important thing to remember. 960 00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:18,840 Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is a really good way to sum 961 00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:21,920 up the the episode and yeah. And the podcast in general. 962 00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:24,280 Like we, yeah, we all connect with the water in different ways 963 00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:27,280 and there are lots of different ways to find joy in it. 964 00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:29,240 So, yeah. Thanks so much for your time 965 00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:31,040 today, Kate. Yeah, you're welcome. 966 00:50:32,720 --> 00:50:34,440 Thanks for listening to Swim Chats. 967 00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:37,000 If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend or 968 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,280 two. Also, remember to hit Follow to 969 00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:41,360 be Notified when I post new episodes. 970 00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:44,560 To help other people discover the podcast, you can rate and 971 00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:48,320 review it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. 972 00:50:48,800 --> 00:50:52,680 If you're a regular listener, please visit patreon.com/swim 973 00:50:52,680 --> 00:50:55,760 Chats to support the pod. Enjoy the water and we'll see 974 00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:56,360 you next time.