Travel?

Recently we took a car trip that required 2 days of driving each way.  (Why did we drive?  We have a dog who is part of our family.)

What did we learn?

One of our daughters drove one way with us and helped with the driving.  I no longer do highway driving, which puts the burden on my husband - it takes WAY too much executive functioning/multi-tasking/keeping track of many critical things at the same time.  I could have managed the quiet back roads early in the morning

• We will start early and get off the road before the afternoon rush hour.

The dog sleeps a lot, but I can't safely walk him because he pulls, which puts extra stress on my husband.  The dog is finding the trips wearing, as he gets older.

• Since the dog is elderly, and gets worn out by long trips, we aren't scheduling any more driving trips in the near future.

I used my phone to schedule medications, and didn't miss a single dose, but exercise was much harder.  I remembered to do my physical therapy and Qigong, but forgot the cardio, as well as swallowing/voice exercises.  A vacation visit is so shapeless, delightedly so, but that means the usual cues are missing.

• I need to use my phone to schedule exercise so I remember to do it, the way I schedule medications..  There is also seated cardio that I can do in the car (lots of Youtube videos)

I wore a diaper just in case I didn't quite make it to the bathrooms on time - since when I gotta go, I gotta go right now, and pads might not be quite enough.  As it happens, I didn't need it, but I was glad to have it.

• I'm going to continue to using the diapers.  Amazingly, these fit fine under my clothes.

We plan exactly what to bring,  complete with a spreadsheet for planning.  This has meant less lugging stuff into the motel room for my husband, but it did take thought, conversation, and trial-and-error.

• We try to talk about what's working - and not - throughout the trip.

Travelling - and sitting - encourages, um, constipation.  We both get really tired (even though I'm just sitting). 

• Build in time to use the bathroom.  Less Rush! Rush!

We thought about how flying might bring different issues.  For example, it's easy to throw my bed rail in the car, but it's unwieldy for a plane (but it helps me get into and out of bed, as well as keeping me from falling out).  Questions on a support forum resulted in many helpful responses including:

• Portable bedrail, check it, send it ahead to the hotel, and the TSA's information about getting through security checkpoints while disabled.  The community rises to the occasion again.

Long trips may not be for us any more, but there are ways to make them more bearable.

Images from Pixabay and Amazon.

Travel and urinary urgency

Every day brings challenges, but travel brings on a whole host of extras, some of them not what you'd expect.

Going to the bathroom becomes tougher, because...  where is the next bathroom, and will I have enough time to get to it?  Urinary urgency, anyone?

We stopped at a state "rest stop," once. The bathroom was across the entrance road, up a winding path,  up an elevator (!), across a lobby, and then the question - will somebody already be in the handicapped stall?  Got into the stall and figured out how to lock the door.  Got the clothes out of the way and sat.

Not enough time, no.

I wear a pad, but I wonder if that will be enough this time.  Time for a diaper?  They don't call it that, of course; they call it "adult underwear."

Then the other question: Will it hold enough?

Avoiding water is not an option.  I need to hydrate because my blood pressure is already low.

And if I fill the adult underwear with, um, pee, what then?  How does one get out of it?  And how does one discretely carry a "spare?"

I think it's time to hit the forums.  I'm not the first to deal with this, and the community will have experience.  Somebody has already had to cope with this.  Bless the community, its collective experience, its generosity to share, and its sense of humor.

Image from Walmart.com.