Group travel

Just got back from the first group travel after the transplant :)

Traveling in a group is always tricky...gets trickier when there are many restrictions and cautions to be considered. 

At the outset, one of the co-traveller started to sneeze and we had a long 6 hr car ride ahead of us. Phew! Out came the masks, hoping I don't catch an infection. Thankfully it was an allergy and not a cold.

My husband and I soon realized we were the party poppers for the highly energetic - active holidayers with us. I was never the early bird but, my anemia left me quite low on energy most of the days. 11:00 am was the earliest I could get myself out of the apartment most days. The usual practice of exploring every city on foot, exploring every sight and street regardless of the weather definitely did not excite me anymore. The thought of it made me tired. 38 deg centigrade did not help. I knew, walking in the sun and heat would result in a headache, resulting in high blood pressure, resulting in...

Only a transplant patient and the primary care giver understands the fear - each ache and pain that comes along might be related to the transplant. So there were days when I had to excuse myself and stay home - so as to not be seen as the perpetual whiner - the sick co-traveller. I knew that meant we would not see some of the "must sees" but it no longer mattered. 

While I have always followed a daily exercise regime, have managed to loose a lot of weight since the transplant, it clearly was not enough to keep pace with the fittest. 

• the schedule of my medicines 
• the need to watch what I eat and drink 
• the need to use the restroom frequently owing to the water intake 
• the body feeling low on energy...the need to take it easy...

All of these become needless interruptions for the foot loose, healthy fellow travelers out to explore the place, see and experience it all. For me on the other hand all of these necessary interruptions reassured and reminded me of the permanent nature of my illness. 

Being in a foreign land, away from my primary Nephrologist and center, made me extra cautious. While I try hard to keep the traveller spirit alive, the worst fear I have is being in an ambulance in a foreign country, not able to explain my whole medical history in a common language and getting some common, off the shelf pain killer/ drug that will cause damage to my kidneys. 

Such situations made me realize (once again) - there are far too many nitty gritty details to this illness. 

Perhaps the upcoming check ups next week will indicate how well I took care of myself during the vacation.

As of now, the lessons learnt: No matter how cooperative the group, sufficiently warn co-travelers about my constraints and the many ways it could potentially impact their plans. 

Sigh!