My Trip to Turkey by Kelly Aitammou (Birmingham IA)

A holiday to most is a time of excitement but for me it was both excitement and worry. This would be my first adventure with Luca, my ileostomy. Honestly, I had no idea how she would react and that scared me, not knowing. Hi, I’m Kelly and I want to share my holiday experience with you.

The weeks leading up the holiday were the most anxious for me. I kept looking at pictures of Turkey online to get into the holiday mood but no matter how hard I tried, my mind always fell on Luca and on how she would react and behave. I kept getting nightmares about her blowing up on the plane or needing a hospital visit in Turkey. You could say excitement turned to dread.

To make it easier I made a list of everything I needed for myself and Luca. I ordered plenty of supplies. I even bought waterproof tape, new supply bags, swim shorts and a tankini in case I needed quick access to Luca. I believe I was very well prepared. Having  a list kept it organised and simplified things for me.

On advice from other IA members, I organized airport assistance. This was so easy. I just called the airline 48 hours before my flight and they organized everything for me. When the day arrived, my husband and I were ready. At Birmingham Airport we headed straight to assisted travel desk where they explained how the assistance worked. It was amazing -  I was taken straight through - no waiting in long queues with no access to toilets, instead within a few minutes I was through security and near a disabled toilet facility. Once on the plane my anxiety came back waiting for the inevitable bag blow-out, but to my surprise it didn’t happen. In fact, there was only a slight discomfort when taking off and landing. We arrived in Dalaman Airport, Turkey a few hours later. And before we knew it, we were in our taxi heading to our hotel. I was so impressed with how Luca was behaving. The hotel was so beautiful surrounded by mountains. It’s been a tough few years with getting my ileostomy, the pandemic and moving away from my family. I needed this holiday as a rest, a chance to think, and it gave me that opportunity.

Walking into the room for the first time seeing the white linen sheets on the bed gave me a small panic attack. I was unsure how I was going to sleep easily knowing a leak would be devastating.

I was also nervous getting into the pool: all these thoughts about leaking or people judging me were running around my head but with my husband’s support I braved it. Slowly lowering myself into the water, step by step until the water hit my chest: this was the one thing I had missed since having Luca I could not set foot into a pool over the fears, but I’ve always loved to swim and missed it so much. From that moment, my husband could not get me to leave the pool.

Turkey was so pretty and hot. We went to the local market town and walked for ages which was amazing. We even went up a mountain via cable car - that was scary.

All these worries and fears I created were put to rest almost instantly. The flight, the first night, the first swim and the first meal. With every new fear conquered, the rest seemed to fade away and I soon realised Luca was not holding me back as I had once thought. It was myself preventing me from trying new things and creating unfounded fears.

Don’t let the fear of trying stop you.

I want to thank my husband for supporting me through this journey and my friends at IA for the advice which was well used.