As I mentioned earlier, I took Garrison to see Beauty and the Beast in Philadelphia ffor an overnight trip. It wasn't playing near us and Garrison LOVES it so several months ago when I learned tickets were going on sale for Philly, I jumped on it. One of my best friends, Heather, and her daughter , Erin, who is one of Garrison's best friends came with us. Thanks to Heather's husband we were able to use points to take the train instead of driving, which at the time seemed generous and helpful so we wouldn't have to drive in questionnable weather and Thanksgiving traffic but knowing what I know now was one of the biggest blessings ever.
We got to Philly with no incident and actually made it through dinner and the play fairly easily also. I was an anxious mess and went to the bathroom a ton to check for leaks and to change the bag when it got full ( whih is about every two hours). My anxiety and preoccupation with the bag decreased my enjoyment of spending the evening with a great friend and two of the most excited, beautiful Belle's you'd ever see-- but it was still really a great night. We shared a hotel room and Heather & Erin were incredibly awesome about how much time I spent in the bathroom and what I am sure was not a great odor (Garrison has gotten completely used to me "changing my bandage"). Unfortunately, by the next morning, my luck had changed. Probably due to really not having the right type of bag yet and exacerbated by what I ate at dinner the night before (I'm not sure what the culprit was but my output had changed and made me uber susceptible to leaks....and leak I did. I leaked and had to change my bag aboutt 10 times oer the course of the next 6 hours or so of checking out, going to a museum and getting on the train arriving to Union Station. Thank God for Heather. I do not know what I would have done if I was with Garrison alone. I would have had to bring her into a 3X3 stall at union station while I used baby wipes to wipe shit from half way down my legs, throw out my underwear and luckily change into a spare pair of leggings I had in my purse (unfortunately, the bag leaked again while on the metro back to our house and I just had to suck it up then). Heather would entertain both kids in a chaotic station and was such a wonderful, supportive friend when I would come out crying humiliated and defeated.
When I finally got home, I tried a different type of bag (a two piece convex system) that actually worked a bit. It was by no means perfect but I could get through a day wihtout a leak (usually). The catch there is making sure I had enough supplies and since I really went through them fast and you have to order them to be sent and you need your doctor to approve each purchase, I sometimes ran out and got stuck without the exact supplies I needed resulting in me needing to use something that wasn't as good and causing me trouble.
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