I am lucky to work in a place where our lunch hours are so short and scheduled that we have the opportunity to eat as a family around the table pretty regularly. I also happen to work with really lovely people.
As families are want to do when there is no screen to stare at, they talk. The subjects we touch upon vary from our own families, worries, work, projects and vacations.
In listening to the people around the table I realised a few things. The first is the difference in financial ressources for those around the same table. The second is new to me too; how medical conditions affects how we think of luxuries like vacations.
I think everyone can imagine that being sick affects things like vacation. That is not exactly what I am talking about here though. I am talking how having a medical condition affects the sense of what feels luxurious, as did vacations that day.
We have been amongst the luckier ones, in that we have always been able to get away for at least a few days. We have been able to do it every year, including the year I was hurt and JM had surgery.
You may have guessed that we have to choose our vacation to fit with our limited finances that a long standing illness would cause. We usually would go wildlife camping, though we have camped at organised sites a few times over the years. We also go to New Brunswick to a house that belongs to the extended family. The only expenses tend to be the gas money and a few stops at affordable family restaurants or for coffee as we travel. In other words we are close to the earth cheap travellers.
Other than the financial side of how a medical condition can affect how we live, the condition itself may play a controlling part in all of it. Obviously someone who has reduced mobility, needs to keep in mind how they will get around: appropriate parking, accessible sites and adapted bathrooms.
For some, food is an issue; whether it be Crohn’s or colitis, food allergies or food intolerances, diabetes or limiting one’s salt intake because of health issues. Even being vegetarian or vegan could also have one scramble to find well balanced options.
None of these were really an issue for us. Our concerns were to be within an hour of a hospital at all times and if ambulance technicians could intubate the patient. Flights were out of the question.
Wherever we went, concerns about medication were the first and last thing on our minds. We have stopped a few hours out because we had forgotten the emergency pills that might slow down the dangerous seizures. We were able to get them in Quebec city because the pharmacy chain gave us the opportunity to transfer the prescription to them. We were able to continue on our merry way and were lucky that he did not need them on that trip.
Besides being aware of hospitals on our route, we adapted to the secondary effects that medication would occasionally cause. His loss of balance and double vision would sometimes slow us down but not by much. We adapted well.
By far our biggest hindrance to vacationing was the wait for everything medical. There was a 5 year period that we were afraid to let our guard down and relax. JM was on a number of waiting lists for tests and four brain surgeries. His seizures had become so dangerous we lived in a state of high alert. We were highly vigilant for signs of danger and jumped at every phone call in case it was the hospital for a test or one of his surgeries. We did not feel we could take off even for a few days. Both of our energies were wrapped up in keeping him alive and we were not willing to do anything that could jeopardise his chances at the medical intervention that may save his life.
Though I have been with this man for 30 years now, it took the status seizures for me to notice how his condition affected us. Either I am really slow or we adapt very easily. I vote adapt easily…it sounds so much better.
All in all, we have had adventures. In retrospect, we have taken chances and have been lucky…