“My stoma doesn’t hold me back” | Surprise Trips with an Ostomy

IBD & surprise trips

Anyone who knows me will know that I don’t really do surprises. Due to my IBD and stoma, I like to be able to plan what events may be coming up as I will most likely need a toilet and if I am having a bad health day then I like to be close to home so I can get back safely and sleep should the fatigue take hold. If I feel like I get caught out with unplanned plans I tend have a slight meltdown and a massive panic (if you have read my previous blogs, a spur of the moment trip to Bruge back in 2017 left me crying in an underground carpark due to not being able to book a hotel last minute). 

I thought that we were going to be having a chilled birthday and wedding anniversary weekend with breakfast at my favourite place called Weathered & Worn followed by a trip to Scotney Castle and a meal in London on the Sunday. 

It was our daughters 13th birthday on the 9th of September so we had our orders that the birthday princess wanted us up at 6am to celebrate with presents and cuddles before she needed to head out to school. 

I started to get ready for work and I received a WhatsApp message from my husband saying that I needed to pack an overnight bag and what I would need for the next few days. He was being rather sketchy but I put that down to us being absolutely knackered from a late night and an early morning. He told me we were heading to London for the weekend and staying at our Aunts & Uncles London pad for the weekend. 

So I spent an hour panicking and flapping getting my stuff and stoma supplies packed up, along with packing up all my birthday presents to take with us. Headed over to my brothers as he was looking after our pup and he lives next door to the train station so we got free pup sitting and parking in one hit. 

My brother was also being rather odd and I can read him like a book. He kept smiling and I was saying why are you so happy? Well it turns out he was also in on the entire surprise, as well as my entire family, daughter & in-laws. 

So off we head to the train station with a suitcase, I honestly thought my husband was using the suitcase due to my clothing, present and wedding anniversary present issues….. Seemed to make sense that one suitcase was easier than 3 overnight bags, plus I am a bit of a princess at times and he does all the donkey work as he calls it. 

We got to East Croydon and Ben presents me with an envelope, I said “why are you giving me wage slips when I am not in the office?” He said “no open it silly, that’s where we are going over the weekend”. Well I may have caused a slight commotion at a rather busy platform, my automatic response to overly grand gestures is to swear… then I started crying (happy tears of course) along with a few cheering commuters once they realised he was treating me and not cheating after the small swearing incident.

Staying in Paris

My husband had presented me with tickets to Paris on the Eurostar, we had to get a move on to St Pancras to catch the train to Paris. 

I have always wanted to go to Paris; I am a secret romantic and I have always loved watching French films, along with an unhealthy obsession with Moulin Rouge Musicals in my teens and later adult life. 

We were staying just up from the Moulin Rouge in Memart. We rented a lovely little studio flat above a restaurant and our first night was amazing; we are pretty efficient when travelling and made good use of the metro and Google maps for walking. We went and saw the Louvre as well as walking a fair distance down the River Sien. It is always great to sit and people watch with sitting outside the small little bars whilst consuming a fair few cocktails. It was also the first time I have ever used my ability to speak French, I will be honest I was always better at reading and writing French than speaking the language, My husband is fluent in the language so with a little help I got there with ordering and speaking and that was a lovely experience for me and a proud moment as well. 

Saturday was my birthday so I got pastries and coffee in bed and opened all my presents, I felt a little guilty as there was a fair few and my husband had been hefting the suitcase about the previous day. Ben said that the morning was to be spent how I wanted, so we went back down to the metro and went shopping at Forum De Halles, there was an Eiffel Tower charm that he wanted to get for my charm bracelet and there was the Maison Berger shop that I had been itching to go to (Maison Berger is a diffuser that you burn oils in to scent a room) and the only shop over here is in London. 

Toilets, food & top tips when in Paris…

I do have to admit that toilets are easy to come by in Paris, many of the cafes, bars and restaurants have toilets, they also have the sliding door toilets on the streets, the ones in the shopping centre were manned and you paid to use them. So managing my stoma wasn’t an issue and didn’t impact the trip for me at all. 

We went for Dinner at a steak restaurant recommended by friends called Sacree Fleur, it was amazing and I may have left there slightly tiddled… and with a Steak knife that was given to us to celebrate our love and first wedding anniversary (that was fun getting through security checks). 

Saturday night was spent going to see the Eiffel Tower & Notre Dame. We had a rather late night and were so happy to see the bed in the wee morning hours. 

Word of advice, Paris is more about walking so make sure you take some very well worn footwear, our blisters had blisters…. I was walking about in some trainers that I only tend to wear for short time periods and not 20 miles of walking in a 48 hr period. Also they are very casual, jeans, a nice top and trainers isn’t out of place. 

Sunday Morning we had a late start and had breakfast in Memart, I had an amazing Broiche toast and salted caramel ice cream with some much needed caffeine. We then had to head back to Gare De Nord and had lunch before heading back to London. 

I thought getting married last year just after my birthday was a surreal experience, but this year absolutely topped that and it has to be one of the most amazing, lovely experience anyone has ever done for me. Before my husband my birthday was only ever celebrated by my mum and best friend. Other than my Mum, my husband is the only other person who has made the effort for my birthday. My ex tended to forget or just not bother so I tend to never expect anything if that makes sense. 

Still thinking about that trip puts a smile on my face, my husband a lovely human and even now he can still surprise me.  

I have since booked our next family trip to Bruge in December to take our teenager to an Authentic Christmas market, plus I had Mum guilt for being away for the weekend even though she was in on the surprise. 

I think over the last 8 years I have established that my stoma doesn’t hold me back and tends to be more of an after thought that is ticking over in my subconscious, I will always sing Pelican’s praises with regards to stoma care products as I got my life back after testing out their contour range after my second placement surgery and I have come on leaps and bounds since that surgery.

As always 

Many thanks for reading 

Louise Xx