Saturday, January 16, 2016

What Happens In Vegas.......

My wife and I just returned from a great trip to Las Vegas and it got me thinking how much more difficult it is for me to prepare for a trip compared to a "normal" person.  I have to think days ahead and prepare for what "could" happen as apposed to just getting on a plane and go on vacation.


Prior to leaving, I need to make sure I have all my meds in place, making sure they remained in the original bottles as they could be confiscated at security if they are not.  I also have to get extra travel insurance, just in case.  Insurance for those of us with pre-existing conditions, it only costs an extra $25, so worth every penny. The morning we left, I didn't really eat, just a little bit of my wife's muffin and a little water.  I don't want to have to have any problems before getting on the plane or on the plane.  I would rather not eat, then have to "worry".  I repeated the routine on the flight home as well.


Now, while in Vegas, it's not as bad because if I have to get to a washroom fast, there are plenty of public washrooms around, in the hotels and on the strip itself, so good on Vegas for that.  If you're like me though, I'm not fond of the public washrooms, our hotel room was not far.  We stayed at Caesar's Palace (great hotel).  Each day was planned, where most people just head out, if we were going to be out for a long period, I didn't eat, but we didn't go too too far.  We saw Cirque du Soleil's LOVE the first night (great show)...the show starts at 7, so we had dinner at 4 so I had time to go to the bathroom prior to the show.  I highly recommend Gordon Ramsay's Pub and Grill in Caesar's Palace.  I took power bars with me just in case, but never ate one. 
Breakfast the next day was at Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris Hotel, highly recommend as well, but instead of having what I wanted, I had to think what we were doing after breakfast, which was walking the strip and shopping, so I had French Toast with fruit, simple.  We had dinner at 4 again at the Bellagio Buffet because we were going to see Celine Dion at 730, again, giving me time.  With the hundreds of selections of food, I still can only eat a small amount of what's available.  I should say, I can eat whatever I want, but not if I pay for it later. The next day was breakfast at Terrance Point CafĂ© at the Wynn, highly recommend again and then at Gordon Ramsay's Pub and Grill around 4pm as we were at another show for 730, Terry Fator and the Mirage, another great show.
We were leaving the next day and repeated my routine for flying as when arriving.


All in all, I wish I could have had more to eat and I would have loved to have some drinks, but this is my life now and the life of a Crohnie sometimes.  I need to think ahead to avoid problems and to enjoy myself.  Drinking lots of water helps make me feel full.  My wife ate and drank whatever she wanted to and I love her for that because why should she suffer because of me.  I don't feel I lost anything and we had a wonderful time in Las Vegas.  I personally recommend Caesar's Palace for the rooms, staff, restaurants, shopping, shows and overall cleanliness.  Some of the hotels we walked through smelled liked we were walking through an ashtray full of sweat, so disgusting.

5 comments:

George For A Day said...

I have the same issues when I'm away, always having to plan ahead, not wanting to eat, then when I do eat, I loose my appetite because of the backlash! :( I have a post on preparing for travel if you are interested? http://georgeforaday.co/2015/12/14/travelling-with-crohns-how-to-survive-the-world/

Vern Laine said...

Thanks!

Unknown said...

My life is planned around bathroom visits...........what a pain. Glad you had a good time!

Vern Laine said...

It would be nice NOT to have to plan, but, there it is

Unknown said...

I'm new to this sight and actually don't need it any more but I thought I would share my story. I had what I would consider extreme crohns disease symptoms for over twelve years and blamed it on every aspect of my life that I could think of. I tried going off alcohol completely for a year, I blamed on eating to much cheap, spicy Mexican food, stress, etc.. I tried probiotics, plain yogurt (with some actual relief) and curbing behaviors to no avail. Things just seemed to get worse up to blood in my stools occasionally(can't believe AI'm sharing that and I'm sure that you don't want to read it sorry) So about a year and 4 months ago I was reminded that in the early 90's I had gone vegetarian and even vegan for a time and that suggestion led me to think that it would be cool to try a pescatarian diet for a small time just to change things up a little. I love seafood but can almost never afford it, luckily I'm a chef and can occasionally get my protein fix that way. For the most part though I'm largely vegetarian although I've never went out of my way to avoid broths and or vegetables that are cooked with meat as a seasoning etc.. I just don't consume animal flesh and that makes me a piss poor "vegetarian"to the veg peer group. I did't do this for ethical reasons and knew I couldn't be real strict about it if I wanted to remain a chef. so It hadn't occurred to me until about 4 months ago that I hadn't experienced any pain associated with bowel movements or that area in general for sometime. It came about much like the disease did originally one day I was fine the next I was making appointments with the "ASS doctor" and trying to figure out if I had swallowed some glass or something and conversely the symptoms just went away one day and I didn't even notice for some months that I was and am currently completely cured. So that's my story I changed nothing about my behavior except I stopped ingesting the flesh of mammals and chicken and reduced the overall amount of protein from animals pretty drastically. try it I bet the people who start/maintain these blogs wouldn't mind a bit if they didn't have to exist anymore.

sincerely, your fellow human being
Colin