June 11, 2008

Traveling with CF

I'm 3 days late typing my monthly CF post! We are going on a 2 week trip to TX & KS, so I thought I would post about traveling & CF:

1. Nebulizer & Allergy medication-This is part of her daily routine, but will be a little more critical as we travel. We will be traveling to places with new allergens that could cause a flare up. Also, we will be in different humidity levels. San Diego is more humid than AZ (we're going to the Grand Canyon on our way back), but much less humid than TX.

2. Gatorade-We live where it's 80 degrees is a hot day, and in TX and KS right now that would be a relief. Those with Cystic Fibrosis lose salt quickly and therefore get dehydrated quickly. Have you tasted Gatorade? Yuck. But we have to have plenty on hand and make sure Samantha is getting plenty in her! Yes we call it juice.

3. Enzymes-This is probably the trickiest part of traveling. Right now we have an easy routine. She takes her enzymes with yogurt. For those who don't know, we dump the contents of 3 capsules into her yogurt to eat before each meal or snack. Only the food she gets for the 1st hour after her enzymes actually benefits her. She is finally doing great with weight, and we don't want this trip to set us back. We've purchased a ton of applesauce containers (since they don't have to be cold). We've also scheduled sit down meals instead of eating on the road. This way she'll be good and hungry (not that she's not always hungry) when it's meal time.

On an food note (completely unrelated to CF), we will have no crackers in the car the whole trip! This is going to be quite radical for us, so please pray for all these details!

Update: Steph & Natasha both asked me good questions that I want to address. No crackers in the car because they are just so entirely messy. I want to get to TX with a semi-clean car and that's my best chance. Our plan is fresh fruit each day (which even convenient stores carry now!) Samantha will love this as she is a fruit FREAK, but she is normally supposed to eat things with higher fat content. In Timothy's limited diet, he'll eat bananas and he has taken bites of grapes, oranges, and apples.

Smoke is a continual concern with Samantha. This is another area we feel blessed here in San Diego because California is a smoke-free state (indoors, that is). The one ironic thing I find is that employee smoke areas are always at the doors entering places (grocery stores especially), so often we have to walk through the smoke to get inside. I digress. The major cities we're traveling to are smoke-free, and most of the small towns we're going to...okay, I just realized I haven't thought about Podunk, New Mexico! I had been thinking about our destinations with family, but not the small towns on the road trip. We may just have to buy the fast food, and then go find a park to eat it in. We've done that in the past when we travelled here with our dog. Thank you, Steph, for helping me think about that!

4 comments:

Stephanie Kay said...

Every month I am blown away by how complicated your life is! I take so much for granted (not that traveling with small children isn't complicated). Thanks for sharing some of the details of your life.

Just curious why no crackers?

Also, one of the culture shocks that caught me last year on our trip South was smoking in public places. It's outlawed in all public buildings (except a bar and I'm not going there) in RI. I know cigarette smoke is very bad for Sam. How are you going to handle that? = )

Anonymous said...

Why no crackers....? My husband would say because they make the car VERY messy! I will be rpaying that your trip goes well!

Stephanie Kay said...

I hear ya on the crackers thing!!! That's why when we travel we make regular stops for meals and snacks. A rest stop usually has nice picnic tables to eat a snack at and little legs can run for a few minutes.

Anonymous said...

We were just in North Carolina, apparently the home of tobacco. It was really strange because there were "smoking sections." Who knew restaurants still had those?