I haven’t really mentioned it to anyone, but at the start of the year I had a tiny little hospital stay. It ended up not being anything serious (as far as we know), but I was urinating blood, and when you have a new kidney you can’t really just brush off that kind of thing.
I didn’t have much time to pack, I just had to hop in a car and get a move on toward my transplant hospital where my team would be able to get to the bottom of things quickly. If something were wrong with my kidney, hopefully we could spot the issue and prevent it from causing any serious damage.
I don’t really have a “go bag”, as it were, but I keep most of my stuff in a backpack. If I find myself needing to spend a few days away from home, I just grab it and I am all set. The one exception to that is that I always have to take some extra time and pack the necessary toiletries: a toothbrush, deodorant, maybe a comb, and if I’m really feeling prepared, a razor.
It occurred to me, what’s keeping me from storing all of that stuff in a single bag, too? When I go somewhere I pack a toiletry bag and live out of that just fine for as long as I’m away. Why couldn’t I do the same at home?
So, I researched a handful of bags that can be used as a Dopp Kit, picked a relatively inexpensive but highly-reviewed one, and waited for it to arrive. Once it did, I was able to pack not only the essentials, but literally everything I use on a day-to-day (or even week-to-week) basis. Grooming kits, cologne, shaving cream, the works.
I actually like having all my stuff in one well-organized bag, rather than spread out across a handful of drawers. And if I need to jump in a car and speed off towards a hospital again? I just grab the bag on my way out.