We’ll Fly, We’ll Fly Away…

It’s less than a week til we fly from KC to Toronto and then to Heathrow (#$%^ non stop tickets were just too expensive). This morning I did a trial pack. We’ve bought two pieces of wheeled carry on luggage w a kazillion little hidey holes and zippered areas, and we hope to live quite well out of just those two bags.
So , as a tube feeder, I did a trial pack to confirm everything extra for tube feeding will fit into the limited space we have. The bigger of the two carry-ons will be like a Jack-in-the-box when TSA inspects it. The bag is packed to bulging and needs my “bum” on top to get the thing zipped.
So, will a tube feeder’s equipment alert TSA to check my bag? Well, my four syringes look like dynamite sticks on a xray. The extra Mic-key button kit (insurance that nothing goes wrong w my system) looks like a boxed up bomb. Should I just open the kit and take out what I need? After all, most of the stuff in it is for bed ridden feeders. I hate tearing open a $350 kit to get the single peg button out, just in case. It contaminates the button and allows the little balloon device to dry out and possibly crack when it’s installed. I’ve already thrown away one of these devices after a long trip. It was just too dangerous to use it later.
Then there’s the 18” snap on feeding tube itself. That will look mighty suspicious to an alert agent. And the pipe cleaner I use to clean it with. Could that be fuse material?And when they unzip one side pouch, twenty packets of small and large rayon sponges will eject like somebody just broke a piñata.
And when they find all that incendiary looking stuff, they may do the full body search AGAIN. I’ve been through this when my doctor’s note failed to protect me from probing fingers. One of the female TSA inspectors choked up when she shared w me a story about frisking an eight year old tube feeder. She didn’t realize how painful tubes are when disturbed, and she frisked right over the inflamed area, setting off waves of pain in the little girl. Unfortunately for me, what triggered this story from her was her fellow agent frisking over my tube area. I don’t know if it was the wince of pain or the muffled yelp, but both agents knew they’d hit a bad place. Dear God, I hope I get lucky this time and don’t go through the full body frisk.
Back to packing. We’ve managed to stuff enough for two to survive five days, and if we don’t find a laundry in York, we’ll be turning our underwear inside out for the rest of the trip. (just kidding about the underwear). And we’d better find an apothecary or a grocery store where I can buy some Ensure. Taking my own food is just too cumbersome. But I will pack a few cans so I can top off the tank when we hit Toronto. Maybe doing w/out food a few days would be a good thing. I’m starting to look the M&M’s I love to snack on.
I am so excited about this trip. Wish me well. I’ll post all the pros and cons of overseas travel for the tube feeder when I return. International data fees by iphone are just too high to blog on the fly. Btw, I had to pay to turn my smart phone into a dumb phone for overseas use. I thought that kind of ironic. All it will do now is dial a number. Anything involving data has been turned off.

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