A Different Fear of Flying

"I'm going on vacation with my family" "I hope you're feeling 100% by then!"

This WILL be my family. Awww.

I fear travelling and I blame it on my Crohn's disease. I love being in new places, seeing new things, experiencing a different culture (ok, I'm going to the states from Canada, but you'd be surprised by the difference). But constantly being in fear of getting sick or, even more pressingly, needing to be by a bathroom at all times in a foreign place makes me beyond anxious. We've been planning our family vacation to the south for about 10 months, and I've been having anxiety dreams about it for the last 4 of those. 

There are the regular travel stresses: airport security, packing, just getting where you need to be when you need to be there. But when you have an illness you have a TON of other things to be concerned about. 

This is pretty much me. 

I have to make sure all your meds are in their original containers and they take up a LOT of space in your carry on so you have to account for that.

I have to be careful about metal detectors if you have anything not quite human inside you, i.e. my portacath. I get searched just about every time I fly. 

I am fearful of all the germs and recycled air that stays on the plane. I can't remember the last time I flew and didn't pick up a virus. 

I just got a new medic alert bracelet so that if I faint or something in the land of the free whoever attends to me will know what's all going on. 

I acquired anxiety medication for the flight because being in a situation with limited bathroom access pretty much makes me panic.

 I won't eat before going on the plane. I'm probably going to settle in for about 6 hours without food, which sounds bad, but is SO much better than awakening the beastly colon. 

Except put the meds in original containers.

It's just funny because I'm afraid of flying, but for totally different reasons than the normal person.