Moving and Bathroom Stress

The day before my wife and I left on our Greece trip, we got a call from our townhouse association. There was an opening for a bigger unit. The unit would add another bedroom, full bathroom, and a finished basement. We put ourselves on the waiting list, and actually our name came up! It was an opportunity that we could not pass up. That being said, a whole other sense of urgency and anxiety started to kick in. Yes, there are plenty of bathrooms, but what happens in between the move? Where do I go? Who do I call?  Here I go again!

Eating and bathroom stress while moving

We planned the move to be on a Friday. We had the movers coming over at 8 am, and we planned to work all weekend. The reason why was because we had to be out of the old townhouse by Sunday night. That gave us about 2 ½ days of moving. Plenty of work with not a lot of time to do it.

The problem was that I had to plan when to eat. The reason was, so I didn’t have to stop numerous times to go to the bathroom. Even when I did plan to use the bathroom, I wanted to make sure that I was not in between houses. The struggle was real!

Plans to control how much I had to use the bathroom

Bland meals

Strategy 1: My wife and I made sure that most of my meals that weekend were just carb and bland. We went with the bread, chicken, and rice diet for me. We stayed away from vegetables, to lessen the number of times in the bathroom.

Keeping bathrooms available

Strategy 2: We had to clean the entire old house. We decided to clean the bathrooms lasts, and stock them both with toilet paper. In the new house, there is a powder room on the first floor. Moving things into the new house was easier then moving things out of the old house. I didn’t have to climb stairs anymore to go to the bathroom. You have no idea how annoying it is, knowing I go to the bathroom twenty-five times a day. I will have to say that it was great exercise.

Less stress about the bathroom

Strategy 3: I had to just really take it easy. I had to stop thinking about the bathroom. The move was just to the other side of the development. Since we were walking things over (so we did not have to pack everything), it might have taken a little bit longer, but I shouldn’t have stressed the way I did.

Staying close to a bathroom

Strategy 4: Teamwork! My wife really took one for the team. She volunteered to clean both bathrooms back at the old house. This allowed me to be within a bathroom’s reach. I was at the new house moving things in.

The weekend with my stomach went very well. Once again, it takes some planning and sacrifices for it to be successful. With Crohn’s, you never know what kind of day you are going to have. You can, however, minimize the chances of a flare-up. Be prepared and “Crohn’s on!”