A Practice Vacation

Today Dennis and I are filling another wish on Dennis' Bucket List. We are staying at the Nicollet Island Inn for the night. This is a historic building in Minneapolis, known for it's romantic get-aways. While we have eaten at the restaurant a few times, we have never checked in for the night.

It is also a test run for how to feed Dennis while on longer vacations.

With his new "J" tube, he must use a pump for his night feedings. We are really hoping that we can leave that at home when we travel. So tonight we will jerry-rig a pole to hang a bag from, and use the drip bags for feeding. The fear is we will not be able to set it at a slow enough pace for his intestines to take in the food and begin the digestion process before the emptying into the stomach. However, if it works, it will save us 20 pounds on luggage when we travel by plane.

We do have a letter from Delta (not our preferred airline, but the one we are stuck with in Minneapolis) saying we can check a bag for medical equipment at no charge. But this isn't really the problem - the issue is me loading and unloading a bag filled with heavy, but necessary equipment.

Here is an idea of what we take along:

1. Two diapers for each day. Not much weight, but lots of bulk.
2. Bed pads - same thing.
3. Pills (he is up to 25 assorted pills a day) and plastic tubes to inject the pills into his "G" tube.
4. A coffee grinder to pulverize the pills so they don't clog the tube
5. His computer for communication - while small in size, it weighs about 20 pounds.
6. His helmet and pads for walking. Lots of bulk, and the weight adds up.
7. His nebulizer - another 10 pounds. Perhaps we can get a script for individual neb treatments, but then we trade in bulk for weight.
8. Cans of food - he is taking in 3 cans of food each day and each can weighs about 2 pounds. This adds up on any vacation over 3 days.

So tonight is a practice night for saving 20 more pounds by not bring the feeding pump. Lordy, I hope it works.

Until later,
Ann and Dennis