Tuesday, February 10, 2015

My Crohn's Travel Kit

I know it's been forever since I said I would post this, but I haven't gone anywhere in forever! At least not until a couple of weeks ago when I went on a 10 hour road trip to visit my brother-in-law and his family, including my brand new nephew! So I finally got around to fully restocking my emergency travel kit. Because if you have Crohn's then you know accidents happen, and we're not talking about the kind when you wreck your car. We're talking about the kind where you wreck your pants!


My kit starts with a 15 qt storage solutions tub with snap down lid. This holds everything in the kit. It also doubles up as an odor barrier, we'll get to that later.

Let's have a look at what's in there:


1. Pantie liners, because I now have a Seton and it still drains now and then.

2. Calmoseptine - if your a Chronie and don't have this - go get it. Trust me, your butt will thank you for it.

3. Rubber gloves and fingernail clippers??? I use one finger of a rubber glove to apply calmoseptine. The clippers are used to cut off a finger, of the rubber gloves, or hangnails.... I'm always getting those.

4. Ondansetron - generic zofran. Prescribed because sometimes gut paint makes me nauseous. This helps keep me from throwing up. You put it under you young and it magically disappears, no worries about throwing the pill back up.

5. Tucks, I actually don't use these often anymore, but they were useful when I had active fistulas. Or ones that had just been drained. OUCH!

6.Thermometer, beings I have a history of dedisseminated histoplasmosis and am on lots of immunosuppressants I'm required to call my doctor if I'm running a fever. Beings it's not something I would remember to pack I keep one in here, now I don't worry about forgetting it.

7. Toilet paper, there are also many rolls of this in the truck, or at least there is supposed to be. This is my hidden back up roll. For those side of the road pit stops.

8. Gas-X, with my current strictures excess gas can be painful. This is especially true after a trip to mayo clinic (4 hour drive one way). Where I have either had a scope, or an MRI with barium,Yum.

9. Imodium, I'm not supposed to take this anymore because of the strictures I have, but sometimes it's the only way to get anywhere!

10. Baby wipes, to clean up after the paper towels take care of the big mess.

11. Depends adult diapers. Yes, I wear these on long trips. I would rather throw out a diaper then my underpants. Also I don't mess through them, so I can still wear the pants I had on and just change the diaper. It also saves the car seat, although because of the Crohn's I will not own a car without leather seats.

12. Plastic freezer bags. These are to put you dirty clothes in. You seal them into the zipper bags, then dump everything out of the storage bin and put the bagged clothes into the bin and snap down the lid. This is for order control.

13. My blue carry bag. I don't carry a purse so if I need to take a diaper, some rubber gloves, and my butt cream into a pubic bathroom I stuff it all in here to carry it in.

Things to take that are not pictured:

1. A change of clothes

2. Small garbage bags or plastic grocery store bags. To throw away your dirty paper towels and baby wipes.

3. Blanket and beach towel. The blanket not only gives you something to cover up with if you want to take a nap on your trip , it also gives you the added bonus of becoming curtains if you have to change in your vehicle - been there, done that. The towel is to cover the seat. :)

4: I keep unopened car deodorizers in the glove box. A Crohn's accident stinks. As in both "something smells bad" and the "this sucks" meaning of the word. In the winter I really like the vent clips, the heat really makes them smell good fast. In the summer you can at least put down the windows and drive fast. :)



Do you have anything you carry with you for those unexpected accidents?? Let me know in the comments below. 

Next time I'll catch you up with everything I didn't blog about last year. :)

Until next time,

Happy travels Crohnies!