Joy is still possible even when the path looks different than expected.
I never expected to get a chronic illness; I don’t think anyone does unless there’s a history of it in their family. Not so lucky for me, no one in my family had these issues (that I know of) so when I suddenly got very ill a few years ago, it was alarming. After being diagnosed with chronic gastritis, I realized I’ve had signs of this coming for years but brushed them off as a weird stomach bug.
Things shifted from “maybe just a bug” to something more serious in mid-2021. It started on my birthday, after dinner with a friend. By the end of the night, my stomach felt so full I could hardly breathe. The pain didn’t stop for hours and it went from happening every few days to every day. That’s when I knew I needed answers. I went to doctors, had blood tests that showed nothing, and eventually got referred to a GI specialist. By late summer, I was being scoped, tested, and even prescribed medication that would have cost $1,000 without insurance. But despite all that, I still didn’t have clear answers and because labs were so backed up from COVID testing, I wouldn’t for months. But I’m a planner so I had made travel plans before I got sick and wasn’t about to give up on them. I pushed through, went on the trips and I got sick sometimes while traveling (PS: I still do) but it also helped me learn how to listen to my body.
On one trip, I drove from Ohio to Florida over a weekend. It was ambitious and well planned, except I hadn’t accounted for getting sick. I did a good job packing food for myself except for one dinner, which I was going to eat out. For that meal, I decided to grab some chicken nuggets from a fast food place to get protein and an easy-to-eat-while-driving meal. A couple hours later, I experienced a lot of stomach pain, so much so that I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it to my room for the night. Had I known my test results, I could have researched foods to avoid, like fried food because it aggravates gastritis.
Going through experiences like that made me VERY aware of my body and forced me to re-connect with it, simply because I didn’t want to be in pain all the time. I spent two years tracking everything that went into and came out of my body and spent the better part of a year eating only vegetables, chicken, rice, and recipes from this book to heal my stomach. Because I had a lot of trial and error with food due to my delayed test results combined with the work I did to heal my stomach, I can travel again with more peace of mind.
I pack medications and supplements to support me throughout the trip, I know what works when I do get sick and know that I need flexibility in my plans for that reason, and I can now recognize my symptoms once they start happening. I’ve also figured out that if there is a food that I REALLY want to try that might upset my stomach, I’ll do it in the middle of my trip and only eat a small portion. That gives my body time to settle after traveling, and if I do get sick, I’m not on a plane or traveling while ill the very next day.
I share all of this because I thought my travel was going to be limited and unfulfilling with my illness. I love trying local foods and was really disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to indulge or try dishes that everyone talks about, but I realized food isn’t the only thing that I love about travel. Going through this helped me appreciate other aspects of travel that I also love but wasn’t as focused on before. Now when I travel, I walk around cities and towns popping into cute shops or to take a class, I visit museums and attend cultural events, and I try to slow down and actually take things in instead of checking off a list or taking pictures just for the gram.
While illness is now a part of my life, it’s not taken away my ability to travel. Instead, it’s reshaped how I plan for and experience my adventures and it has shown me that joy is still possible even when the path looks different than expected.
