Wanna Be World Traveler

Introduction:

My name is Sabine, mother of 2 wonderful boys, 5 and 16 years old, full-time employee, just returned to the USA from FANTASTIC but challenging trip in Europe.

Some more about me:

exercise, reading, movie theater

Symptoms:

urgency, blood, mucus, fatigue

Wanna Be World Traveler – With Colitis of Course

Hi UC friends,

I had been diagnosed with UC in 2008, I previously posted here (“When Do You Go to the Hospital? March, 2012″) about the original frustrating ‘journey’ – I am just living my life as a mother of 2 wonderful boys, 5 and 16 years old, having a full time paper/keyboard pusher job, and trying to stay active with gym membership and trying to spend more time on myself and trying to enjoy life.

As you all know that enjoyment can sometimes be hampered by having to deal with our UC challenges, for me it is always the terrible urgency, that can come at any time, but mainly in the mornings or in stressful situations (traffic, not knowing where a bathroom is, meetings…), of course there are also the accompanying friends of blood loss, mucus, fatigue and pain – but with those I can deal with without embarrassing myself.

We just returned from our European trip – including a visit to Italy and a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea for 10 days – I did breakdown and bought grown-up diapers……

As soon as we landed in Italy and we got our suitcases (and of course I make several stops in the airport bathroom), we get picked up by a non-english speaking driver to take us to our Hotel and on the drive from the airport to the hotel the URGENCY starts, Italy and lots of other old European cities don’t just have no public bathrooms, they don’t have any hiding spots when the urgency strikes….There I was hyperventilating in the van, not prepared to utilize my diaper…. one lucky thing was, the driver was able to make a right-turn and find me a little weedy area where I was able to hide myself… but what would I have done if we were stuck at a red-light? I guess use the diaper, which I don’t think would work too well for the # 2…….

The next day I stayed in the hotel and let my family do some sight-seeing without me so that we did not have to worry about bathroom breaks.

Once the cruise started, I woke up every morning at 5 am and got my system ‘jump-started’ with lots of black coffee and exercise and several potty visits, so that I was ready by 7.45 am to leave the ship, hopefully without any additional problems.

BUT I could never trust my body so I decided the diapers were a wise choice for the excursions. I did have to jump the bathroom lines at some of the hotels/museums a few time but thankfully NEVER had to use the diaper, so I am thankful.
I am so angry and frustrated at this disease, at my body’s inability to control the urgency; it is so demeaning to have to constantly think about my BUTTPROBLEM, possibly embarrassing my family or myself.

I had to make different wardrobe choices, mainly long dresses in case a ‘diaper change’ was needed, I mention that even though it sounds vain, because I worked hard in being able to wear cute shorts again after being pretty overweight and now having reduced my size by 4 dress sizes from a 14 to an 8!!!

Now that we are back in the US I am exhausted. How do other members in the community deal with this????

I want to do some more great vacations and need to see how other members deal with this.

Thanks so much
Sabine

Medications:

Currently taking: Apriso, Canasa, Align

written by Sabine

submitted in the colitis venting area