A month in a camper van!

Many of you know I was away the entire month of June on an EPIC camper van trip across the country.

I left my house in Sunapee, NH with a goal of spending at least a week in New Mexico. I’d never been to New Mexico and wanted to see a number of the sites and cities including Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Roswell, Albuquerque, Sante Fe and Taos. 

AND

On the FIRST DAY (!!!), only 1 ½ hours into the trip the tire pressure light came on, soon followed by the bumping of the right front tire and ultimately a completely flat tire that I could HEAR and FEEL the air coming out of an area on the top of the tire!

Multiple calls to the camper rental company and AAA, both companies showed up and the tire was changed. The van owner was great to deal with and luckily the spare tire was full-sized and I was on my way to Nashville, Tennessee to meet my daughter in a couple of days and with a plan to get the tire changed there. 

Focused on the flat tire, I regretfully did not realize that the “weeds” growing alongside the curb where I had pulled off was POISON IVY! (or oak or sumac or whatever! POISON something!)

So, by the time I arrived in Nashville a few days later, the couple of lesions that I initially thought were bites of some sort were full on contact dermatitis FOR SURE! All over both ankles, calves, thighs, forearms. Mind you, I’d been sleeping in a camper van, not taking a shower every day and not realizing that the oil from the plants was all over my sheets, comforter and clothes (and probably the dog, too!).

That first weekend and the second week of the trip were great because I had visitors BUT also atrocious because…

Itching insanely,

Scratching until hyper-ventilating (yes, I know that is not good!)

Not sleeping,

Lots of tears,

Figuring out laundromats that didn’t work to try to wash all the tainted bedding and clothing,

And

Considering turning the van around and coming home because I was SO miserable. 

QUITTING!

And

Allowing myself to be vulnerable…

To ask for help,

to reach out for some support,

and

not try to do it all on my own.

For the next month or so, I will be sharing lessons from this camper van trip to New Mexico and back. 

The first lesson will be vulnerability

Asking for help

Deciding you cannot do it all on your own

And 

Reaching out to ask for whatever it is you need – moral support (that was what I needed!), guidance, a shoulder to cry on (I needed that too!), help, someone to share with…

Whatever it might be – 

How do we as doctors ask for help? Show our vulnerability?

I look forward to sharing the learnings from a trip of a lifetime!

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