Holiday postcards from Ibiza to an IBS sufferer.

You envisage visiting and seeing places and things you only ever read about or see on TV or in films.

The reality
However, For Sian and I those sorts of vacations are something we have yet to do due to her severe IBS, which basically means that she is loath to leave her normal home surroundings or venture out from her comfort zone unless absolutely necessary.

My relationship with Sian started over 10 years ago, ironically we had both worked with each other for about a year or so in a local Bingo club.

Just before I'd started seeing Sian I had arranged and paid for a holiday abroad with a friend. The week we started going out together as more than work colleagues was the week that Id booked for my vacation.

Room for three
There was plenty of room left on our flight so my friend and I asked her if she wanted to go as we'd remembered her talking about her wish to travel the world and visit all these new places many times in the past when I worked with her.

After lots of pleading with her to come with us she declined and came up with all kinds of reasons why it wasn't a good time to go. I ended up spending two weeks away in Ibiza with a friend and had to resort to sharing my holiday experiences with daily phone calls back to the UK and a constant written diary in the form of dozens of written Postcards.

Postcards from Ibiza
I can remember visiting many different locations on my vacation and was constantly wishing that Sian was with me to experience it as well. The only way that I could do that was by writing a postcard from where-ever we were at that time which described the location we were in and what we were up to.

I'd literally write a message on a postcard, put a stamp on it and send it there and then via the nearest mailbox or at my earliest convenience when back at the hotel.

I visited all sorts of places that I knew Sian would have loved to see and experience, standing on the sand on the beautiful beaches looking at the sunsets and the waves crashing along the coastline.

We visited all the old streets, explored the Hippy market and experienced the culture of Ibiza but I felt a constant longing for Sian to be there enjoying it with me.

When I got back home 2 weeks later she had a pile of just over 100 postcards all sorted in chronological order. She said that she wished she'd come as well but was really happy to have experienced the holiday via my Postcard diary.

IBS sufferers and holidays abroad
The point I'm trying to get at, is that for Some IBS sufferers with severe IBS symptoms, long vacations or any kind of excursion away from their homes can be a real challenge.

After getting to know Sian better, I came to understand her fears: the journey to the holiday spot via train and plane, how she'd feel away from home, the change in diet, and the inevitable crowds of Ibiza. These fears were why she had declined to come with us in the first place. She was too embarrassed to admit it.

Hope for the future
I hope that in time and when Sian is ready we'll get to experience a vacation together in a foreign country.

I'm a natural optimist and always try to see the good in anything. I truly believe that one day Sian will be in a position where she feels ready to take a holiday abroad.

In fact her brother and his family have now immigrated to Spain so the chances of us going to visit certainly seem like a very good possibility for the future.

Kev d;-)

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