fftopic:I'm going to be gone for a while, to places where access to the internet is cost prohibitive and they bring me breakfast.
Try to keep the celebration down until I am out of the country. :drummer:
Be safe bud.
SeattleMike's cargo project
- Thread starter SeattleMike
- Start date
Be safe bud.
kmiller8821
New member
Try to keep the celebration down until I am out of the country. :drummer:
Have a great time with your wife Mike. Savor every moment. Smell every flower. I'm sure that cruise will be awesome!!!!
SeattleMike
New member
As most of you know, we split for an international cruise on the 24th of September. The first legs of this trip included stops at Vancouver, BC / Astoria, OR / San Diego, CA. The next leg was Hawaii, followed by French Polynesia, and then a direct shot back to San Diego.
The cruise line marketed this as a "vacation" but in retrospect I would have to label it "cultural tourism" because there are things I learned on this trip that I would never have learned had things gone according to our plans.
However, things did not go to plan...
The very first night dinner was both entertaining and disappointing. They had filled the slot to Vancouver from Seattle with whoever they could get: dinner (business casual) was like the world's largest cocktail party down at the "Boom-Boom" room. That was the entertaining part...
The food was far below our shared memory of the food we ate aboard the Diamond Princess. My wife and I have a running debate on whether the cause was due to the demographics of the passengers (50-70) or cost-cutting in an industry that is still reeling from all the economic bad news. Regardless of reason, the food sucked all the way around, for me. There were dishes that my wife liked, but they involved veggies
We headed out from Vancouver around 5pm, unknowingly headed for the worst storm I'd ever encountered... land, sea, or air. We discovered the problem when I got seasick in the middle of the night, long after Dramamine would have helped me.
The seas were so rough that the Captain came on in the middle of the night to advise us that hurricane force winds, according to the Beaufort Scale, were blowing the ship around and that our trip to Astoria might be scratched if the pilots deemed it too dangerous in the morning. Needless to say, the river pilots cancelled our appointment with the Columbia River and Astoria and we were sent along to San Diego, with decreasing seas along the route. This provided us with something I like to call "wishful thinking"; I was certain the seas would mellow out between San Diego and Hawaii.
I was wrong. Referring back to the scale of winds... we never dropped below 6 on the travel days. Which means I was seasick every day between San Diego and Hawaii and it only got worse once we headed out for French Polynesia. After we were denied our stop at Rarotonga, the next stop was our last chance at an actual docking. Fortunately, things got so bad for me between Fanning Island and Raiatea that I was removed from the boat and sent to the local "hospital".
A picture of the San Diego round trip portion of the cruise... roughly 30 days:
Rather than kill myself with a fully detailed review, I'm going to split this into two parts: one medical update and one travel/observational review.
Starting with the medical: Fanning Island is a technical stop but offers the passengers nothing, so we were not getting any medical care there and so we pushed on to Rarotonga... which was also closed due to bad weather. By this time I am constantly rejecting food and vomiting (dry heaves) every morning. I got on the boat weighing 235 pounds and I got off the boat weighing 210 pounds; none of the clothes I bought for this trip fit any longer. The first place we were able to stop was Raiatea (Rye-uh-tay-uh) but I decided to make an appointment with the ship"s doctor rather than go directly to the local hospital. I was hoping that the 24 hour period would provide some improvement but the next day I was unable to cross the room without completely losing my breath. So I told my wife to call 911 to come get me to the boat's medical bay. Whee! What fun we had in a wheel chair down to the bowels of the cruise ship. The doctor got me on oxygen and then declared he could not hear any breathing sounds in my left lung. We got to the "hospital", we were admitted to the emergency room for a quick X-Ray by a team of doctors and nurses that barely spoke English, who then proceeded to drain almost 3 liters of water from my left lung.
The next morning they determined that overnight I had seeped another liter into the bandages. They did another X-ray and found that my lung had refilled over night, too. So... they decided that I should be in a "real" hospital" and sent me on my way to Papeete (pa-pay-et-ay) via prop-jet. Serious attempts to communicate needs and pains and a major panic attack with a nurse got the attention of a doctor in Papeete, finally. For the moment we will skip the problems of doctors and nurses that don't speak your language and get to the decision to put in a chest tube to allow the left lung to drain. It hurt. It hurt a lot and the only option I had for pain relief was a gas they use that reminds me of nitrous oxide except it administered by oneself in the form of a gas bag on a tank. That was good, except for all the pain as they inserted a tube in between my ribs. Initially it was another 2.5 liters drained, but it reduced to 400cc-500cc per day over the next 10 nights. It took a few days to get me stabilized before they found the cause of all this: Pulmonary Embolism.
It's a long but accurate read on the symptoms and treatment and the likelihood of mortality. It also points out that cancer is a frequent contributor to the issue. Once diagnosed, they figured sending me home was the best plan. A week later I was flown on a Lear jet, 12 hours from Papeete to Seattle, tube in my chest, oxygen mask in place, and daily heparin shots. It was much nicer to be in an English-speaking American hospital, but then there were the 40-odd retellings of the story that followed. Not sleeping, not eating, more radiation treatment, further draining of the left and right lungs... that is my life right now. I get so out of breath climbing a single flight of stairs that I am relegated to the second floor and stuck wondering if another PE would be a mercy shot or a burden that leaves my wife impossibly screwed. I had another draining today, so we will see if it helps prevent more fluid build-up.
That's pretty much where I am for now. Enjoy the holidays with people you love. I'll put up another post about the cultural differences and challenges in the next couple of days. It was enlightening.
The cruise line marketed this as a "vacation" but in retrospect I would have to label it "cultural tourism" because there are things I learned on this trip that I would never have learned had things gone according to our plans.
However, things did not go to plan...
The very first night dinner was both entertaining and disappointing. They had filled the slot to Vancouver from Seattle with whoever they could get: dinner (business casual) was like the world's largest cocktail party down at the "Boom-Boom" room. That was the entertaining part...
The food was far below our shared memory of the food we ate aboard the Diamond Princess. My wife and I have a running debate on whether the cause was due to the demographics of the passengers (50-70) or cost-cutting in an industry that is still reeling from all the economic bad news. Regardless of reason, the food sucked all the way around, for me. There were dishes that my wife liked, but they involved veggies
We headed out from Vancouver around 5pm, unknowingly headed for the worst storm I'd ever encountered... land, sea, or air. We discovered the problem when I got seasick in the middle of the night, long after Dramamine would have helped me.
The seas were so rough that the Captain came on in the middle of the night to advise us that hurricane force winds, according to the Beaufort Scale, were blowing the ship around and that our trip to Astoria might be scratched if the pilots deemed it too dangerous in the morning. Needless to say, the river pilots cancelled our appointment with the Columbia River and Astoria and we were sent along to San Diego, with decreasing seas along the route. This provided us with something I like to call "wishful thinking"; I was certain the seas would mellow out between San Diego and Hawaii.
I was wrong. Referring back to the scale of winds... we never dropped below 6 on the travel days. Which means I was seasick every day between San Diego and Hawaii and it only got worse once we headed out for French Polynesia. After we were denied our stop at Rarotonga, the next stop was our last chance at an actual docking. Fortunately, things got so bad for me between Fanning Island and Raiatea that I was removed from the boat and sent to the local "hospital".
A picture of the San Diego round trip portion of the cruise... roughly 30 days:
Rather than kill myself with a fully detailed review, I'm going to split this into two parts: one medical update and one travel/observational review.
Starting with the medical: Fanning Island is a technical stop but offers the passengers nothing, so we were not getting any medical care there and so we pushed on to Rarotonga... which was also closed due to bad weather. By this time I am constantly rejecting food and vomiting (dry heaves) every morning. I got on the boat weighing 235 pounds and I got off the boat weighing 210 pounds; none of the clothes I bought for this trip fit any longer. The first place we were able to stop was Raiatea (Rye-uh-tay-uh) but I decided to make an appointment with the ship"s doctor rather than go directly to the local hospital. I was hoping that the 24 hour period would provide some improvement but the next day I was unable to cross the room without completely losing my breath. So I told my wife to call 911 to come get me to the boat's medical bay. Whee! What fun we had in a wheel chair down to the bowels of the cruise ship. The doctor got me on oxygen and then declared he could not hear any breathing sounds in my left lung. We got to the "hospital", we were admitted to the emergency room for a quick X-Ray by a team of doctors and nurses that barely spoke English, who then proceeded to drain almost 3 liters of water from my left lung.
The next morning they determined that overnight I had seeped another liter into the bandages. They did another X-ray and found that my lung had refilled over night, too. So... they decided that I should be in a "real" hospital" and sent me on my way to Papeete (pa-pay-et-ay) via prop-jet. Serious attempts to communicate needs and pains and a major panic attack with a nurse got the attention of a doctor in Papeete, finally. For the moment we will skip the problems of doctors and nurses that don't speak your language and get to the decision to put in a chest tube to allow the left lung to drain. It hurt. It hurt a lot and the only option I had for pain relief was a gas they use that reminds me of nitrous oxide except it administered by oneself in the form of a gas bag on a tank. That was good, except for all the pain as they inserted a tube in between my ribs. Initially it was another 2.5 liters drained, but it reduced to 400cc-500cc per day over the next 10 nights. It took a few days to get me stabilized before they found the cause of all this: Pulmonary Embolism.
It's a long but accurate read on the symptoms and treatment and the likelihood of mortality. It also points out that cancer is a frequent contributor to the issue. Once diagnosed, they figured sending me home was the best plan. A week later I was flown on a Lear jet, 12 hours from Papeete to Seattle, tube in my chest, oxygen mask in place, and daily heparin shots. It was much nicer to be in an English-speaking American hospital, but then there were the 40-odd retellings of the story that followed. Not sleeping, not eating, more radiation treatment, further draining of the left and right lungs... that is my life right now. I get so out of breath climbing a single flight of stairs that I am relegated to the second floor and stuck wondering if another PE would be a mercy shot or a burden that leaves my wife impossibly screwed. I had another draining today, so we will see if it helps prevent more fluid build-up.
That's pretty much where I am for now. Enjoy the holidays with people you love. I'll put up another post about the cultural differences and challenges in the next couple of days. It was enlightening.
kingpin748
New member
God that is depressing. Maybe this will make you chuckle.
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nashman69g
Member
Hope that your health improves and we continue to hear from you. Best of luck and God Bless.
Qjake
New member
Came here to read about your storage solutions only to hear this terrible news. I know from personal experience how fast your life can change. One day everything is great ya couldn't be happier to be alive, the next you'll be lucky to be alive in the morning.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery Mike!! You and your family are in our thoughts
Q
Best wishes for a speedy recovery Mike!! You and your family are in our thoughts
Q
DEKA3
Registered User, A.K.A. "elias"
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rickwol
New member
Hey Mike. I originally thought you might have found a better forum to hang out at or simply lost interest which eventually happens to many of us. So sorry to hear about your hellish but yet eloquently described experience. Wishing you and your wife all the best during the holidays while you continue on your road to recovery. Hang in there!
kmiller8821
New member
Mike,
It's great to hear from you! I'm sorry to hear your trip on the high seas didn't go as expected. We continue to lift your name up and wish you (and your wife) nothing but the best for the upcoming holiday. I'm sure you'll cherish the time with family and friends. Thanks for continuing to remind us never to take life for granted, your story is truly inspirational.
God be with you.
Ken
It's great to hear from you! I'm sorry to hear your trip on the high seas didn't go as expected. We continue to lift your name up and wish you (and your wife) nothing but the best for the upcoming holiday. I'm sure you'll cherish the time with family and friends. Thanks for continuing to remind us never to take life for granted, your story is truly inspirational.
God be with you.
Ken
Jeez Mike... so sorry to hear about your trip. I've got motion sickness and I know from personal experience how it feels when you are stuck vomiting with nothing in your system and no way to stop it. not to mention the fact of dealing with foreign medical care while having a language barrier (been there too).
Hang in there and keep your chin up; as mentioned... we're all rooting for you!
Okki
Hang in there and keep your chin up; as mentioned... we're all rooting for you!
Okki
Titanpat57
Senior Member
Sorry to hear the trip sucked bud...but hang in there...!:dammit:
Hope your feeling better back on terra firma...:hatsoff:
Hope your feeling better back on terra firma...:hatsoff:
