As anyone that follows this blog knows that I am very open about my life as it relates to dealing with Crohn's disease. Whether or not you have Crohn's disease, everyone out there has what I call "bathroom stories", a.k.a. emergency situations with no bathroom in site. The difference is, if you have Crohn's disease, many of those stories do not have "happy endings" and happen way too often. I have always found it much easier to be open about those situations. The mental anguish that comes with accidents or near accidents can be tough to deal with. I find this much easier to deal with through humor. I actually have family and friends that ask me to retell stories because of how funny I tell them.
One of the most memorable for me took place in 1992. I had just gotten divorced a year earlier and was living in a condo on the Jersey shore in a town called Sea Bright. It was a December day and I was taking my then 5 year old daughter Jill on a Disney cruise. Jill was at her grandparents house which was about 30 minutes north of where I lived and on the way to Newark airport. We were flying to Fort Lauderdale and getting on the cruise ship there. Our flight was at 10:30 a.m. and the ship was scheduled to leave the port at 4 p.m. Anyone that has ever been on a cruise knows that the ship always leaves on schedule and if you don't make it on board on-time, you are left behind and lose your money you spent for the cruise.
As I left Sea Bright it was cold out and raining. No big deal, I thought. The problem was, once I got inland and away from the ocean (salt) air, the rain turned to ice. My route to Jill's grandparents was via the Garden State Parkway. The parkway was a sheet of ice. In addition to that, I was driving a sports car at the time, which made it that much more difficult of a drive. One of the keys to managing Crohn's is to do whatever it takes to avoid any stress. Because of this, I had left myself plenty of time to get to the airport. I was literally driving 10 mph in the right lane. No cell phones at that time, therefore I couldn't call Jill's grandparents to let them know why I was late. The stress was starting to churn in my gut. Now, I was only 2 miles south of the exit I needed to get off of. Those 2 miles, unfortunately, included getting over the Edison bridge. I barely made it to the top of the bridge, when I saw a lineup of police cars blocking everyone's path. At that very moment, because of the ice, they had decided to close the bridge until they could get salt and sand trucks there to make it safe. 10 minutes went by, then 20, then 30. No way to call to let them know where I was, along with the fact that now we were getting very close to being behind schedule to make our flight. BAM, a severe cramp from the stress rips through my stomach and there better be a bathroom nearby. Yeah, right. On a bridge, in my car, surrounded by hundreds of other cars. What to do? One thing I can tell you about being in a situation like that is, I don't care what anybody else thinks. I gotta do what I gotta do. I calmly got out of my car and went to the trunk where there is ALWAYS a roll of toilet paper. Got the roll, got back in my car, climbed onto the passenger seat, facing the back of the car. While waving to the people in the car next to me, I did my "business" onto the passenger side floor mat. Cleaned myself up, very calmly got out of the car and dropped the mat over the top of the bridge into the Raritan river. About 20 minutes later they opened up the bridge. I picked up Jill and got to the airport to find that our flight was delayed 90 minutes because of the ice. We got on the delayed flight and made it to the ship with literally minutes to spare.
All of us with Crohn's have dozens of stories just like that one. As tough as it is to deal with Crohn's physically, what may be worse is what it can do to you mentally, if you let it. Share your stories with loved ones. Talking about it becomes a therapy of sorts. Holding these things in is not a good thing.
Pretty much an average day today. Been feeling great ! Had a typical eating day of cereal for breakfast, a shake after a great workout at the gym and then birthday party leftovers for dinner.
On to the weekend and football.
One of the most memorable for me took place in 1992. I had just gotten divorced a year earlier and was living in a condo on the Jersey shore in a town called Sea Bright. It was a December day and I was taking my then 5 year old daughter Jill on a Disney cruise. Jill was at her grandparents house which was about 30 minutes north of where I lived and on the way to Newark airport. We were flying to Fort Lauderdale and getting on the cruise ship there. Our flight was at 10:30 a.m. and the ship was scheduled to leave the port at 4 p.m. Anyone that has ever been on a cruise knows that the ship always leaves on schedule and if you don't make it on board on-time, you are left behind and lose your money you spent for the cruise.
As I left Sea Bright it was cold out and raining. No big deal, I thought. The problem was, once I got inland and away from the ocean (salt) air, the rain turned to ice. My route to Jill's grandparents was via the Garden State Parkway. The parkway was a sheet of ice. In addition to that, I was driving a sports car at the time, which made it that much more difficult of a drive. One of the keys to managing Crohn's is to do whatever it takes to avoid any stress. Because of this, I had left myself plenty of time to get to the airport. I was literally driving 10 mph in the right lane. No cell phones at that time, therefore I couldn't call Jill's grandparents to let them know why I was late. The stress was starting to churn in my gut. Now, I was only 2 miles south of the exit I needed to get off of. Those 2 miles, unfortunately, included getting over the Edison bridge. I barely made it to the top of the bridge, when I saw a lineup of police cars blocking everyone's path. At that very moment, because of the ice, they had decided to close the bridge until they could get salt and sand trucks there to make it safe. 10 minutes went by, then 20, then 30. No way to call to let them know where I was, along with the fact that now we were getting very close to being behind schedule to make our flight. BAM, a severe cramp from the stress rips through my stomach and there better be a bathroom nearby. Yeah, right. On a bridge, in my car, surrounded by hundreds of other cars. What to do? One thing I can tell you about being in a situation like that is, I don't care what anybody else thinks. I gotta do what I gotta do. I calmly got out of my car and went to the trunk where there is ALWAYS a roll of toilet paper. Got the roll, got back in my car, climbed onto the passenger seat, facing the back of the car. While waving to the people in the car next to me, I did my "business" onto the passenger side floor mat. Cleaned myself up, very calmly got out of the car and dropped the mat over the top of the bridge into the Raritan river. About 20 minutes later they opened up the bridge. I picked up Jill and got to the airport to find that our flight was delayed 90 minutes because of the ice. We got on the delayed flight and made it to the ship with literally minutes to spare.
All of us with Crohn's have dozens of stories just like that one. As tough as it is to deal with Crohn's physically, what may be worse is what it can do to you mentally, if you let it. Share your stories with loved ones. Talking about it becomes a therapy of sorts. Holding these things in is not a good thing.
Pretty much an average day today. Been feeling great ! Had a typical eating day of cereal for breakfast, a shake after a great workout at the gym and then birthday party leftovers for dinner.
On to the weekend and football.
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