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Published: March 21st 2018
Friday, February 23rd - A Day At Sea
Remember how I keep referencing our perfect, special, comfy, luxury bed all through these cruising blogs? How I could just stay in it all the time and be so happy? How many times did I repeat that scenario? Many!! NEVER, NEVER did I think that is where I would end up 24/7. Yep, that is just what happened! Nooooooooo. Say it’s not true: I caught the flu! Nooooooo. I am confined to our bed.....the luxury one! Lulu stayed with me the entire time. But why does it have to be when we are on a fabulous cruise? Whyyyyy? More expensive than a hospital room!
I think I must have caught this killer bug while standing in line at the Panama Canal tourist stop......when we were in line for the short movie.....where the nasty mosquito landed on me. Maybe I have the Zika virus? Nah, but maybe but I don’t think so cause I never had any signs of a bite. People around me in line were coughing and spewing all over the place. Even though we both had our flu shots, I was not immune. I was an easy and welcome
Bev was cold in dining room.
They gave her a tablecloth to use as a shawl.host for this miserable disease. Just my luck! Rats! Move back away from me.
I snuggled down into our soothing bed. Cory was a wonderful nurse. He tried to do anything and everything to help me recover. I don’t think a faith healer could have made my recovery happen. I was doomed.
An announcement came over the speaker. The Captain stated there was a sick person aboard and the ship would be going to the closest land port to take this person to a hospital. OMG! Had he received word of my condition! Was I this designated patient? I knew I was sick but not hospital sick (maybe a little bit)....especially in a foreign country. Who reported me? Lulu said she wasn’t going to any hospital. Phew! No one came to evacuate me from our stateroom. I wouldn’t go anyway. The patient was a passenger who had had a stroke on board. There was a slight delay in our schedule while they got him transported to a hospital.
I was self medicating myself. When we travel, I pack enough medications and supplies to fill a small crash cart. On our last cruise, Sandy and I bought a
Enjoyed coming of friends
“The Chefs Are Coming” I missed them bunch of medications in a pharmacy in Mexico. Thank God, for that. I was shoveling them down like M&M’s. Kill or cure, I always say. I felt like I was more on the killing side, though.
I turned the TV to on-demand movies. I watched a movie called Miss Sloan but fell asleep half way through. Fortunately, Cory watch the last half. He said it was a very good movie. Can’t prove it by me. I slept all day. And all night. And on and on and on....
My meds must have kicked in a little. By dinner time, I thought I was up to going to the dining room. It was formal night again and lobster was on the menu. This called to me. I dragged myself from my mega pillow pile and threw on some fancy duds to join our group at our assigned table. Even with snazzy garb on, my face looked sickly. Eww. I should have worn a burka. I made sure not to get close to any of them and not to breathe in their direction. I was not pretty with my head down in my lap. I by-passed the many appetizers. My
An extra photo of Cory
Cory and one of our other waiters appetite was gone....goody! I asked for a ginger ale to drink. Yuck! It tasted real bad....funky? Rotten! Kind of made me sick again. Finally, the lobster was served to me as well as most everyone in our group. It wasn’t steamed, Maine lobster. There were 3 grey color tails that our waiter removed from the shells for us. Much appreciated....I felt weak. Nope....not tasty at all. Plus they were placed upon a pile of green looking mush. All this was too much....too yucky. If I hadn’t felt sick before, I did now. I excused myself and crawled back to our room and our inviting bed.....now becoming my assigned death bed.
We had previously made reservations for an excursion at our next stop: Grand Cayman. We would have a fabulous tour on Saturday, February 24th. Not going to happen unless someone could push me around in an iron lung! Fortunately, Cory was able to cancel our tour and get a refund. Whew! Sandy & Bev went ashore and browsed the local area near the pier. She took photos for me so I could see what I had missed. It looked wonderful! Such is life! Lulu was tense.I was sad. AND
sick! She and Bev also toured the Galley on the ship. Oh, how I wished I could have joined them. It looked so fascinating. And the facts they were told: unbelievable. Here are a few of them. Prepared DAILY: 1700 pieces of fish, 1400 lbs of poultry, 1700 lbs. of beef, 1400 lbs. of pork/pork products, 300 lbs. veal, 200 lbs. lamb, 1600 lbs salad, 400 lbs shrimp, 13 gal. mayonnaise, 1500 sandwiches, 500 lbs pasta, 2700 lbs potatoe, 2500 lbs cooked vegetable, 550 gal. soup, 1500 lbs flour. That’s not all but just to give you an idea what’s needed to cook for a crowd!
I stayed in our now “isolaction” bed all day (Saturday). I wasn’t nauseous but had no appetite. Only positive part of this wretched illness. I didn’t eat for 3 days. I lost 13 pounds being sick and dying. In the evening, when our room attendant, Rommel, would come in to make up the bed and room, I would put on the bulky bathrobe and haul myself out onto the balcony. Here I slumped in the chair while he did his work. He spoke with me through a crack in the door. I couldn’t
Cayman Islands
Visited by Sandy & Bev blame him. Lulu would wave at him.
Sunday (February 25th) was a repeat of the previous days: me, all coiled up and sleeping the day and night away. It was tough. On one of my many bathroom trips, I forced myself to stay up a little longer so I could fold up all my clothes to be packed. Our luggage was to be placed in the hallway to be removed for pickup on departure day (Monday, February 26th). Cory put all our clothes and items in our suitcases. It was exhausting. All I could do was watch. Thank God for Cory.
Finally, departure day (Monday) arrived. I mustered all the strength I had to get dressed and join our group to depart the ship. It went quite smoothly. We caught a porter that loaded all our bags and took us to the parking garage to get our car. Bev and Ed had gone ahead to their car in another location. We learned from previous experiences that in order to get free handicap parking, we had to have a ramp in the car besides Sam’s scooter. Sam had bought a simple ramp at a sale he had been to
at home. It worked! Yeah! And now, we were on our way back to Tropical Palms. I hadn’t sat upright for so long. I managed okay. Once back to our RV, I wasted no time crawling into our bed.....my Princess and The Pea bed....it’s comfy, too, but the cruise ship bed beats it by miles! I should know, I was in it for days!
I stayed in bed for many more days. I’d try to get up and act normal but it didn’t last. I developed a wicked cough that I diagnosed as bronchitis. I wasn’t getting any better. After more than 10 days of living like a sick bedbug, I agreed to go to a walk-in clinic for help. Little did I know the wait would be so taxing on my weakened body. Three hours passed before they called me to the exam room. I almost thought I needed to be carried in by stretcher. I was good and sick now. The cheery doctor finally appeared and agreed with my diagnosis. She gave me a different antibiotic and cough suppressant. Another week plus passed, I finally could see the light at the end of the tunnel....No, not that
big, bright light. Each day I awoke and asked myself how I felt. My answer was always sick or dumpy. I told myself I would be well again when I no longer even thought about my status. Recently, that day arrived! Hallelujah! I was back! I was alive! I could move around and act normal. What a terrible, long ride I had been on. I pray none of you get the flu! Both Lulu and Cory stayed healthy. Early on, Cory acted like he was coming down with it but he fought it and came out strong. Good for him!
I still have a little, nagging cough. Someone said they had it for 3 months. Good Grief! All I know is that I feel fine and back to my old self. My appetite has returned. So have my pounds. Rats!
Have your sea legs adjusted being back on Terra Firma? We hope you enjoyed the cruise as much as we did....up until my health took a turn for the worse. Then, it was rough — for all of us. Lulu struggled right along with us. Now, she singing and dancing to a Happy Tune. She’s well rested.
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