There are certain times when you are really reminded that your body just can’t do something that seems like a no brainer, simple thing. More specifically, my ostomy crept into my travel plans over July 4th weekend.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis) patients often have dietary restrictions. We have blockages/obstructions to think about. Any surgery will alter the digestive system too. Lot of trial and error. Sometimes fear of eating and/or using the restroom in public. I could go on.

Granted, this is hardly the first time my ulcerative colitis and ostomy has gotten in the way of plans or altered them somehow. I am sure I don’t even remember all of them.

But this time it was different.

We had holiday traffic to avoid and only limited times when we could (or should) be on the road. No one wants a six hour car ride. I certainly don’t. And I would feel awful putting someone else through that just because we had to leave at a certain time in order to accommodate me.

The most ideal time to have been on the road was to leave around 9pm Friday night. But since it is hard for me to eat during the day and I don’t feel comfortable eating before a long car ride, I wouldn’t have eaten anything until very late. That would have really been difficult for me. Even if I did eat beforehand, once I put something in my body, I am in the restroom the entire day. That would have added time to the trip and made me uncomfortable in the process.  So, we left Saturday afternoon and hit some traffic but thankfully, not enough to make it a miserable trip.

It ended up working out fine. Luckily, it wasn’t an earth shattering thing. It just would have been nice to have done things differently. It would have made the weekend a bit smoother.

This was also the first time I really had to factor my health into travel plans with someone other than my parents. It was nice to see that my mom and dad aren’t the only ones who understand, don’t judge, and are happy to do whatever to make things easier.

Frank, I hope you know how much I appreciate you “getting it” and respecting how I choose to manage my health.

It is just amazing to me how this disease creeps into your life. It can turn such simple situations into huge ordeals. But, I guess as long as you are surrounded by good people who you feel comfortable with, it is okay. Life should be about making things easier for others; especially those we love.