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November 2, 2024 36 mins

This week, Paula's guest is a familiar name - Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper. He's Ask Me Anything's first returning guest, but Soper has a story to tell after a year of health difficulties. He discusses what he went through after heart surgery last year, and gives his insights and advice on being a parent, his expectations ahead of his seventh child arriving in January, and his thoughts on the coalition government. 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am Paula Bennett, and welcome to my new Zealand
Herald podcast, Ask me anything. And one thing I've learned
in life is it's never too like to learn something new.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
So on this podcast, I talk to people from all
walks of.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Life to hear about how they got to where they are,
get some advice and guidance on some of life's biggest questions.
Now I have my first repeat guest, and it's because
he's so full of advice. It's good.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
I didn't stay full of himself.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
I said, well, look and.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
You already know it is.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
It's good than the laugh, which is everyone. So of
course it is news talk z bes Berry Sober been
drew quite a lot though. You see since we last talk,
it's been just over years since Barry underwent heart surgery
and it's been quite a journey and so we want
to get some advice on some of that. So Barry,
welcome back.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hello, Paula. You're very much of the pink.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Today, Very pink today, Yes, very much. So got but
going on and I just thought, you know, sneakers in
the suit and you're away.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
I sort of almost need sunglasses, but that's fine. That's
all right, I'll suffer.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, you'll be all right.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
I wear pink most days, and I haven't worn pink
all week, so I thought i'd overdo it today.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Excellent.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
How's that? Okay? Quick fire questions.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
If you can go to a pub for a drink
with anyone interesting, who would that be?

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Who would it be? Oh, dear, Nelson Mandela, that would
be interesting, it would be I've met him on several occasions, yeah,
and sat with him at a dinner.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
So yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
But by the way, he did, but he's dead unfortunately.
Well and here the picked Jesus he's dead too.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, well that's the problem.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
But she she did a lot of questions.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
You always go after the unentertainable, don't you really see?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
I would probably go Freddy Mercury at the moment, be interesting. Yeah, yeah,
he could be, and he would fit in quite well together.
Yeah yeah, yeah. And I do quite like my flamboyant
gay boys. I've got to be honest. Yeah, yeah, you know,
I like the theatrical Yeah they are.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Drink of choice.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Drink of choice, Oh dear, I love a NEGRONI yes,
but the one that I probably and it was funny.
I went to a whiskey tasting dinner about three or
four years ago. The British ambassador had put on it
was weird Whiskeys for fifty years old. And it was

(02:33):
a fairly small group and they're all waxing on about whiskeys.
And I said to the man who was called the Nose,
I said, Scotsman. Obviously, I said, so quaffing whiskey, what
would you suggest? He said, Johnny Walker Black? Really, and
I've always drunk Johnny Walker Black as a nice quaffing whiskey,

(02:54):
an easy one with soda.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, there you go, Yeah, there you go. Okay, before
we get to your health, I think that we need
to catch up on news. So we've got Hither pregnant.
So you've got a number two child coming along. How
old is Aggy at the moment.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
He's just over two and a half, yeah, going on five.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Really, he's a real character.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Well with you two his parents.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
He's just amazing. And you know, every day is a
different one.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
For a that curious brain.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Oh picks up on everything. I love it. And he said,
I took him down to newstalk, said be yesterday, walked
him down and he always says, Mama on the radio,
and then he says, Dad on the radio. And then
when he came in and he sat in the studio
for a while and then sat outside while mom and
Dad were on the radio, and he said, when we

(03:45):
were walking, when we were coming home, he said, when
I grew up, Iggy on the radio, you never know, yeah,
just like your brain had been thinking about it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
I just love that, the curing actually, and the curiosity
of it, you know. And when Steve brawny Us first
became a father, he used to write weekly about the
you know. And of course he's such a beautiful writer,
Steve is and with that sort of imagination. And I
just honestly used to look forward to I downloaded for

(04:18):
a hop on a plane, you know. And that was
seventeen years ago, by the way. And the reason I
know all this is because my granddaughter was exactly the
same age, so I could see through his eyes.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
Last thing about grandkids though, and you know it, Paula,
that you can sort of close the door and say
see you next time with your own kids. At my age,
if anybody had said to me at my age, I'd
still be having kids, said you're so you've got grandkids
I've got four grandchildren, wow, in Melbourne.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
And do you have quite a different relationship with them.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, it's terrible because they're overseas. Yes, and in this
business it's very hard to get away. And of course
they're so busy. I was there last week, Heather and
I and Iggy because Eggy was there to meet his
nieces and nephews and two of whom are older, well
three of whom are older than that, and we had

(05:13):
a joke about him being their uncle. Yeah. But and
a sister. Of course, my oldest daughter is forty two. Yeah,
so it was big sisters forty two. Yeah. But look,
they all got on well, they all played together. Eggy
didn't Paul rank, which was great. Nice, So we just
played like the rest of them.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, And there's something in the day.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
I mean, my family we have because you know, we
blended them or old ages and we've got all that
stuff going on a bit as well. And we we
decided years ago that were just do one hundred percent.
So we don't do step sisters or brothers or children.
We don't do halves, we don't do you know, we
do cousins. We just do one hundred percent, you know,
like we're family, although we said.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Week now about at the moment they're they're cousins. Yeah,
because it's too hard for him, I think too. I
said to Kate, my oldest daughter, I said, it'll be
fantastic when they all grow up and he's their uncle.
And I said, even more fantastic for you, Kate, because
when you're my age, he'll be in his early thirties.
And I would love to have a brother in his

(06:14):
early thirties. I really would.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
So you touched on it, and then I took a
slightly left, But that another baby at your age.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
I mean you didn't imagine that. It wasn't like I
would not.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Have I would, you know, if it was planned? Absolutely,
and you know, I mean, my health is much better
than it was a year ago, although a year ago
I never ever thought I had a health problem. And
that's what we'll talk about. Well that you know that
suddenly your life takes a change because your health is

(06:49):
something that you've always had in my case, and then
suddenly you lose it a bit.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
So becoming a dadd again is a big decision.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Well it is, and one can only hope that this
particular dad can live to see the youngest, the little
girl that's coming along in January. One can only hope
that I live long enough for her, first of all,
to remember her dad, although she'll have older brothers and
sisters who'll tell her about the dad. But I would

(07:20):
like to see it, get it to a reasonable age
so that she doesn't forget me, And that's certainly a possibility.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
But they are a lot of work.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Although, as you just indicated, grandkids are great because you know,
I mean, God, they go and I'm exhausted.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
Yeah, well, I see I because I every day during
the week, I give Eggie his bath and read him
a story and put him to bed. And he's always
been fantastic at that, and I love it. I really
genuinely love it. And I love getting home. I get
home early in the evening and Heather's still on air.

(07:57):
But I have a great time with Eggie. We've so
much fun. It's your little character.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, and so number two. But there'll be double work them. Mind,
you've got daughters.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
Don't and we do have a nanny, so you know,
we're lucky, luckier than many that basically because of what
we do. We certainly need time in the office. You
can't be there all the time.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Okay, Well, because it's an advice you know podcast. Well,
you know, we're just try and sneak a little bit
of a place in there. I'm not normally that platant
listening people. I've got some good advice. Okay, child number seven,
for you, there is a wealth of experience. What's your
number one takeaway from you your years of parenting?

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Well, to be there for them. You know. You know,
parents are very important to their kids even as they
grow up. You know, as I've discovered over the years
that you can only have one on your one mom
and one dad, and you know it is important that
you stay in touch. I would like to be in

(09:04):
touch much more with my two daughters in Melbourne, and
we're in touch, but when I say in touch, to
be there a bit more for them. And I've got
three children and Wellington who have grown up, of course,
and we're on the phone a lot, I go down
quite a bit.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
So do you parent the different children differently? You know
what I mean?

Speaker 2 (09:26):
You must have some set rules and things that you
that you abide by. But we're all quite different, aren't
we and what we respond to and you know, some
need more freedom some need a bit more rules and
boundary in their own right.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
Very very different. I mean, you know, if I look
at my six children that I have at the moment,
you know they're all different in character really.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
So did you parent them differently?

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Basically they were all parented exactly the same. Some are
more rebellious than others. Some were more bookish than I mean,
my daughter in Melbourne, I take my hat off to
her because she left school she couldn't be bothered with
it at sixteen, went on to do hairdressing and finished

(10:14):
her apprenticeship and was very much sought after in Wellington.
But she said to me, she said, look, I get
tired of people talking to me all the time. She said,
I thought I should turn this into a living. So
what she's done now she went out and studied sociology
and she works in the prisons in Victoria, Wow, with

(10:35):
prisoners that are being released. So I think, you know,
I said to her when I was there last week,
I'll take my hat off to you because you could
see a path and you could see what you wanted.
And I think that's the main thing with kids these days,
because there are many, many more pressures on kids today
than there were in.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
My time, and influences and you know, keeping them off
the screen and try your nuts that there were so
many other pressures in kids'.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Lives that we didn't have. When we were kids. It
was you know, you go into a little tree hut
and sit around talk and go out and play on trolley's.
It was about and play cowboys and Indians, which would
be most yps these days.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Okay, let's chat politics a bit, because we're one year
on from this government being in power. Actually you'll appreciate this.
Yesterday I was in the beehive and I went to
see as Cheer Farm.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
I went to see Minister Seymour.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
So we'd had our meeting and we came out and
of course I'm very good friends still with the Deputy
b well, deputy Prime Ministers with Winston Peter's office manager.
You know SPS, but people never know when in SPS
is right in the real world. So anyway, I was
out there and I thought, oh, I'll just go and
give her a quick hug and say hi, And so

(12:01):
I snuck into into the office and his door was closed,
so that's perfect. And as you know, and the behind
the doors into connection between and so I ran into
her and I went at large. Of course, she leapt
out and we danced around and we had a big
hug and all the rest of it. And I just
looked up in his Winnipe sitting at his desk with

(12:22):
that wonderful Rice just he did near the right smile
on his face, and I just looked at him and
I went because I just thought that the doors were closed.
Just I brought her and I just went, hello, Deputy
Prime Minister, it's I'm lovely for you to have me
in your office.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
Then he's you know, when you look at Peter's at
seventy eight, he's the most contummate politician. He saw the
large crowd he drew at his annual conference just a
few days back, which was extraordinary. Really think about eight hundred.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
That's one of the biggest for them.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, oh yeah. And it was the thirty one years
I think since he Blondon. All remember going out to
Alleleie and he launched off the back of a truck
with n Shearer, who was a former NAT minister in
the old days under Muldoon. But Winston was Look, whether
you like him or dislike his politics, he is a

(13:17):
continment politician. He knows how to intimate public. He is
and that's why as good as our foreign minister. I've
watched amongseas on many occasions, and I mean, Condolle's a rise.
I could you not used to batter eyelids at him
because Peters was. He's very good at engaging and looks smart,

(13:37):
looks the part of a foreign minister. And I think, yeah,
he's got the child that he's the most well suited
to him.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
So don't you think, do you?

Speaker 2 (13:44):
I mean, I think it looks like the coalition are
getting on quite well, that those that the three leaders
have certainly found a bit of their own.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Group's difficult. I mean it's never going to be easy.
I mean you've got egos to deal with and dero say,
David seam has got rather a large ego, although in
the past he was happy with an undersecretary when he.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
Was I've got no comment on.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
He is, of course sponsoring his end of life bill,
so he put a lot of work into that and
that was taken up by Brook van Valden and did
a very good job of it. But so you've got
egos to deal with, and he will of course be
Deputy Prime minister next year and Winston won't like that
because David Seymour and Winston Peters have never got on

(14:28):
just never seen eye to eye really on anything. But
I think they see eye to I on the country
and trying to do better for the country. I'm surprised
that Christopher Luxon hasn't maybe done better in the opinion
polls because he does get out. I wrote a column
relatively recently and talked about the need for him to

(14:50):
engage more with the public. Well, he does engage a lot,
but its relatability is the issue and whether he relates
because the media have had a field day of this
man owning seven houses, although shedding a few at the moment.
But if you saw a person that worked in top
executive jobs at Unilever and the CEO of there in

(15:13):
New Zealand making several million dollars a year, you'd say
there would be something wrong with him if he didn't
have investments and if property is his portfolio, there should
be nothing wrong in that. We should be celebrating the
fact that we've got a prime minister there's taken a
massive pay hit to come and run the country, and

(15:34):
I say that's a good thing. And I think the
unfortunate thing for Chris Luxon is that people don't see
the humorous side of him, and he does. He's got
a very good sense of humor. And I'll tell you
one little funny story and would sound something that John
Key would do. I was sitting and some of your

(15:54):
listeners will know the old Parliament buildings in Wellington, and
I was sitting cross legged on one of those of
the cheers where the constantined lift is. And it came
down and opened up, and there's an all vintage lift
and Luxeon climbs out and I was on the phone
and had my legs crossed with rogues on and he
gets out of the lift, pulls out his pocket handkerchief

(16:15):
and starts polishing my shirts. Is funny. Yeah, you know
a lot of people say, oh, it's greezing to the media,
but it's not. He's being funny and he has that
sense of humor. And it's a pity the public can't
quite understand that there is a side of Luxen that's
quite funny. But there's also a very serious side, and

(16:35):
that's to clean up the mess that they inherited, and
a mess they most certainly did inherit.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
What do you think they need to concentrate on in
the second year?

Speaker 3 (16:43):
Oh, well, the second year is well. They've concentrated a
lot on policy, which is very unusual for a government
to enact so much policy in the first year. And
they've given themselves a report card to work to every quarter,
which I think is good because it stands the test
of time.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Some of those ministers had really done the work in opposition,
so just picking up on them being able to roll.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
I mean, if you look at Eric Stanford, you know
she'd done that week.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
An old golden balls Simme and Brown. I mean this boy.
I remember when I used to work out in the
gym at Parliament and I had to see this boy
in the changing room and think is he old enough
to be at Parliament? And this wasn't that long ago
and here he is now. He's got so many portfolios
and I think, you know, for a young man, he

(17:31):
does an extraordinarily good job across he is across it,
across all what are fairly difficult portfolios, energy and what
have you.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
So second year then, so they have rolled it a
lot more.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
Well, now, aby've enacted a lot of work. Now now
they've got to put it into practice next year, and
that's that's always hard. I mean it's the old three
year election cycle. Normally you'd see them settling into power
in their first year, policy in the second year, winning
an election on the third year. But with this government,
it's been policy in their first year and now it's

(18:03):
enacting it and seeing it work in the second year
and then run for office. Although Chris Hipkins has been
quoted as saying he'll be the Prime Minister after the
next election and he's put a thousand bucks of his
own money on it. Well, I'm sorry, Chris, I would
think that thousands well and.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Truly lost interesting well, and then health is going to
be a big issue. I mean, you know, even just
with my farmer head on, and just think about the medicines.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
That are coming as well.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Look as we are certainly were seeing, you know, a
lot of breakdown in the wider health system. But it
airs just not an easy to interest.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
And it's even made harder when you had a Maori
Health Authority there that they disbanded and the number of
health boards around twenty what health boards they had that
they had to disband them. I mean, this is and
so then you have a glut of public servants pushing
hens in the industry, and you know, having been a

(19:04):
recipient of the public health service, these people work extraordinarily
hard in hospitals. And when the story came out recently
about having to speak English, the nurses and fifty percent
of them basically are foreign trained and many many Indians
work in the system. They are the most lovely people

(19:26):
to be tended to. They do speak their own language,
but when they speak to you, they do speak in English,
although it's difficult to understand because many of them have
face masks on, which makes it even more difficult. And
there were a number of occasions they had to say
to them very apologetically, look, I'm terribly sorry, I can't

(19:46):
understand your accent. We turned it into a joke. And
then they go and get somebody else that'll explain something
to me, and that's you know, they get. They have
a really hard time in health service. I think, and
I think those of us who have been patients in
it should show some more patience with the people that
are trying to help.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Them well and speak up for them, like you and
certainly for me, it's a it's a major thank you,
because the care that my own mother has had this
year has just been extraordinary and such a wonderful, diverse
and mixed workforce, but their care is just well, you
see wayos nicely because we're going to actually take a
short break now and then we're going to come back
and talk about your health. Oh God, and you skip

(20:28):
some people some advice, you know, as to how they
can how they can look after themselves and what they
have to do perhaps after they've had a bit of
a major health skier. Welcome back in to ask me anything.

(20:51):
Back with News Talk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper. So, Barr,
it's been a big year for you, and just is
it just over a year ago that you underwent the
first heart surgery.

Speaker 3 (21:05):
Yes, And if anyone had asked me prior to that
whether I had a major health problem, I would have
said no, really. And what happened was on the night
that I discovered it, I was scheduled to go to
Stephen Joyce's book launch and I had a message from

(21:26):
the doctor's surgery saying can you call. So I called.
I'd given a blood something.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Because you'd been out walking and here puffing to.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Coming up Franklin, Rhode. I was puffing a bit, yeah,
pushing the old pushchair, and it was progressively getting where
so Hit has said go to the doctor. I went
to the doctor, got a blood test, and then when
I rang the surgery of the book launch night, the
doctor there Paula's She said to me, listen, we're disturbed
about your blood showing and it's a dracone and I

(21:57):
think it's called the level of much too high. And
I went, Paula, can we talk about this tomorrow because
I've got a function I've got to go to and
she said, no, you're not going anywhere. You're going to
hospital now. So I ended up in hospital.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
I didn't tell him she didn't have a heart attack.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
I no heart attack. No, my heart's as healthy as
they Yeah, so I had. It was a major blockage.
My aortic artery was blocked with calcium ninety blocked, so
pretty massive. And I had two other vessels feeding the
heart that were fairly blocked as well, so it was calcium.

(22:36):
My cholesterol levels were always low, so I always thought
I'm really healthy. I used to run a lot, and
so I had no real indication other than never tight
chest or anything, just a shortness of breath and that.
When I went into hospital, they did some tests and
stuff and had me hooked up to every every thing

(22:57):
that you could possibly conceive of, and they let me
out at about two in the morning and they said,
you've got to go to a cardiologist. So I went
to cardiologist and he said you probably need stints, and
stints put in your arm and feed it into vein.
And so I went into an angioplast and his head
came around the corner of the curtain and said, mate,

(23:18):
it's much more serious. I've always been so flamboyant about
and I still am a bit. He said much more
serious and I said what And he said, yeah, you're
going to need open heart surgery. I've got big blockages.
I went, oh, okay. Fortunately I had private medical insurance,
and again for people that can't afford it, I understand

(23:39):
because it's very expensive, and I often thought what's the
point of having it, but it helped a lot. So
I went into a private hospital here had my heart surgery.
I was in on the Monday, and they wouldn't let
me out of hospital when I had the injury. Bless
They said, you can't at any time, because once the
artery locks, that's it. So I went and had the operation.

(24:04):
Felt really good.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
And it's that they cut your right down the yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
And I felt really good. But unfortunately I got up
to go to the loo. I was feeling really good,
took failures of my chest and I felt on top
of the world. And that's what I had to say
to anyone that has the surgery. You will you won't
feel that bad, and don't worry about going into it.
People do worry a lot, but it's not that bad.
They can do anything with the heart these days. But unfortunately,

(24:30):
on the way to the loo, mine stopped and so
they rushed in and did CPR. So it broke everything.
Progrims broke the chest bone. It broke everything, so you know,
because to do it, you've got to bring something back.
So they brought me back and I wasn't in a

(24:52):
great shape, so they sort of. I was three months
in hospital, to cut a long story, because I got
infected by them doing the sea because they can't go
out and sterilize their hands and it was a very
sterile area, so it was a very Then it became
very complicated and I had sex operations and.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
What else did they operate on.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Oh, well, they have to get into the lungs. They
had to do what they call a pectoral flat to
heal the wound. That's to bring a peak across. They
had a plastic surgeon and for that, so a lot
of operations. And they said to me, because they always
worry about you going under, so an aesthetic where he

(25:38):
might lose your marbles is still cognitive. And they said
to me, after one and I've been pretty deeply under
and I came out and they said, who's the Prime Minister?
And I went, just said, and they went the jaws dropped,
and I said, just joking. I was fine. I never
had the issue of the cognitive Their function was never effected. Fortunately, Also,

(26:06):
some of your listeners may think it is. But so
I'd say to anyone. And I've talked to, funnily enough,
a number of people because they know I went through
this and they are afraid coming into surgery. And I've
talked to a number. I said, listen, don't worry. Honestly,
don't worry about a thing because we have some of
the best cardiac surgeons in the world at Auckland Hospital.

(26:28):
Because I ended up in the public hospital after I
had a relapse, and so it was it was an
experience that I would never want to repeat. But three
and three months in hospital was like being in prison,
and I was, well, I haven't been in prison, but
I assume it's like it. And for the last two
months I was eating ice on the morning, ice at lunchtime,

(26:51):
and ice at dinner. That's all I was allowed to
eat two months, because they feed you intravenously, and it
was awful. And I couldn't read. I couldn't listen to anything.
So you were there almost in a vegetary.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
Couldn't you listen to anything?

Speaker 3 (27:07):
Well, because you've got people coming in all the time.
You've got so many tubes. You can't move. Your whole
room has to move. If you want to go to
the loop, well you can't go to the loop, you
just you know. That's the thing that I found, probably
the hardest, was that I was so confined to a bed.
I couldn't get out. So I was there, and then you.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Have to learn to walk again, because muscle you.

Speaker 3 (27:31):
Do, you know. And I used to look at people.
I'd see a window out my window and I watched
people walking along the street, and I was thinking, they're
so lucky they can walk, and of course then I
had to learn to walk again.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
But now I'm fine, So just to step back. So
if they if you'd had more symptoms and got in
there earlier, do you think it wouldn't have been such
an extreme operation.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
No, I think I think because I'd always gone for
annual checkout, so I'm not I've often said to men
in particular, that you know you check your car and
for a check up every year, we should be checking
your body in for a checkup as well. And funnily enough,
the last one, I had a thorough one and you know,

(28:15):
right down to the cegs and all that sort of stuff,
and they mention a calcium build up, but they said
it's natural for a maniversation. This is only about eighty
months before everything happened.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
So you're only simped in then for someone that's out
there listening, and that breathing was getting worse.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Breathe just and I'm an asthmatic, but it wasn't an asthma.
Sort of short breath, my slightly light headed, and you know,
when you're exerting yourself a bit, you're the lightheadedness. You don't.
You don't want to fall over, but you feel dizzy
and you the shortness of breath. You've got to stop
and just take a bit of a rest.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Carry on, all right, We're good to know because it's
just got to look at the other classic symptoms.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
So how are you now when.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
I was in hospital a week before last? Why pneumonia
and both lungs?

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Goodness?

Speaker 2 (29:08):
And is that just because from the illness a year ago.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
You're just gonna have to keep People have to think that,
you know, once you have once you have complications like
I had, other things can happen. And I've been in
hospital three times this year. Okay, so the first time
was with pneumonia. And pneumonia this is something else that
people don't realize. It comes on very quickly. It happens
within the space of half an hour. Suddenly you get

(29:36):
the jitters, you you get higher fever, and then and
you're not Your breathing is not too bad, but there's
something definitely wrong. And the first time was pneumonia. And
then the second time, we're on holiday in Fiji, which
your father nights, and there was a slight festering of
my scar. I thought, oh, this is weird. So my

(29:58):
cardiologist had the pleasure of getting my holiday picks with
those of my chest and I got back and when
I got back, he said, you're coming straight into hospital.
And I had my seventh operation, so they didn't open
it fully, but they opened me up a bit. And
that was in July.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
That was clean out yet get the gun cout.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
But then the residual is probably a week before last
I was in hospital with pneumonia, with the double mneumonia. Yeah, double.
But I'm you know, the stupid thing is that even
though you look at all those and what's happened to me,
I feel absolutely fine. And I'm fairly frivolous about health,
because you know you've got to have it. But you know,

(30:41):
everybody's got a diet some stage. And there's my brother
who died in his forties of cancer. He said to
me not long before he died, in fact, a few
days before. He was driving me down to the airport
and in the cargo and I said to him, he's
only forty six, And I said, must be terrible, Lenny,
facing the grim Reaper at your age. And he goes

(31:04):
sucking on a cigarette, goes, mate, mate, I reckon being
dead can be no worse than it was before you're alive.
I thought, yeah, it's something to think on that kind
of You know, we all die, you know, none of
us can avoid it. Unfortunately, it's right, and none of
us can avoid age, and you've just got to make

(31:27):
the best of it.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
You can avoid age by dying earlier, you.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
Guys, Absolutely true. I never thought I lost another brother
at sixteen, so I'm aware of that.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's so you've been in our house
system then a lot, and I mean we touched on
it before the break, but you know, just some amazing
people working really hard. But men, we are seeing a
system that's really creaking at the seams at the moment.
I mean, what did you observe from the inside out?

Speaker 3 (31:54):
Well, I think the only thing that you really observe
and you realize there's no point in getting cross is
when you ring the bell for the nurse. You know,
I've waited for half an hour before a nurse will
front up, and if you wanted to go.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
To the loo, it's a long time.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
That's a long time to wait. And you know when
I say to them, look, I've been ringing the bell
for the last half an hour that busy, and I
always have said to them, look, don't worry. It's yeah,
not about you. I know, the system stretched. And I
think that's the only noticeable thing that I felt being
in hospital was getting attention when you really need it.

(32:34):
And that was only for a p I mean, it
wasn't anything that was more serious than that. If it was,
then you'd have good cause for worrying that. Unfortunately for me, it.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Was incredible people.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
So has it changed the way you live? Has it
changed your outlook on life?

Speaker 3 (32:48):
Not really, No, I still push Iggy on his six
k walk that we go on around the waterfront, so
not really, it hasn't. I gave up drinking for quite
a long time. But you've got to you've got to
be aware of your health. I think my wife doesn't

(33:09):
think I'm nearly as aware as I should be of
my health. Health. But I often said to her, well,
look it's my health. I'm the one that's going to die,
and I'm really aware of it.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
And I am, yeah, yeah, but well you know you've
you've seen those symptoms of pneumonia and no, and you
you've had to act.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah. But but she would argue with me it's too late,
you leave it. But when I go into the hospital
and ask them, they say, with pneumonia, it's very hard
to get an early warning. You might be coughing up phlegm,
which you do you do with a health and a
chest infection anyway, But it's it's probably reading your health.

(33:50):
And I'm you know, I'd admit it. I'm probably not
the best at reading my own health. At the moment,
I'm still numb across the chest, but other than that,
I'm fine.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah. In the advice segment, what is some of the
best advice you've been given?

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Goodness, gracious me, there's so much of it that.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
What about health wise?

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Yeah, we'll just you know, I mean, just be aware
of your own health, be aware of your own limitations.
Probably don't do too much. And everybody says I'd never
take it easy enough, But I'm not the sort of
person that sits around and feels morose.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
No, but you read it, you would read.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
I read a lot and watched some of the Netflix
series and always fun.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
So okay, Well, it's called ask me anything, So this
is that one little bit you get to ask me something.
Though I feel like you've asked to me enough in
my life.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
No, but I reckon, you've got to be honest about this.
You're missing politics or do you think so? Ye see,
it's got a thinking.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
I'm trying to think whether I haven't, whether I do
or not do?

Speaker 1 (35:15):
Because my net.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
Miss the cut and thrust. That's what you loved in politics.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
My next reaction is no, I don't.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
But but then as I was saying, I was there
just yesterday and I did think. I've definitely got a
bit of mongrel and me.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
You've got to have, you know.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Yeah, yeah, so I did. I did like the cut
and thrust.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
And it's nice.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
I suppose what I do miss was I do think
it's something I was good at. So there's something you know,
you do take pride in something that not everyone's good at.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
So that's tells the neuralty that you ol Wayne would
love it.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
That sounds real.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
They would love a better competition.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Not not God, no, imagine imagine that.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Well, very thanks for coming back to chat. All the
best for the baby coming out. I'm very excited because
I like baby cuddles. If you want more from Barrie,
you can catch them every afternoon with Heather or News
Talk said b and that's it for another episode of
Ask Me Anything. If you've enjoyed this episode, please follow
me on Ask Me Anything on iHeartRadio where you get

(36:20):
your podcast. Make sure you check out some of my
past fabulous guests. Maybe you should go back and listen
to Barry eighteen months ago and then you can sort
of catch up again and you can double whamming of
that one. I'll be back next Sunday, though, with another
fabulous guest.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
I'm Paula Bennett. Ask Me Anything.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Goodbye,
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