My ship may sail without me tomorrow

[CRUISE4JANE]

OP- Haven't read every thread on this post. Glanced at it today. Glad you are ok after your surgery. Just take care, don't go to work too soon and just start to plan another cruise. Hopefully, you can get off of work soon to have it. No one knows what can happen before they cruise. Glad you had insurance. Have a speedy recovery :).

[cruisinsassy]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!! This thread really has helped me too. :D

 

I called the surgeon's office today (thanks to the great advice here!) and found out that they hadn't even gotten my referral yet. So I called my regular MD's office and they explained to me that it typically takes 3-4 office days to process any referral the physicians have. I explained to them my sense of urgency due to the cruise and they "expedited" the referral. :) After about 20 minutes, we found out that the earliest the surgeon could get me in for consult was next Tuesday!!! AAgggh! So, I called the surgeon's office again and explained my situation. I told them I would be more than happy to come in anytime if they had a cancellation. Luckily, I work right next door to the office as well and explained that to them too. The staff at that office said that they would talk to all their physicians in the office and see if they can sneak me in somewhere! Keeping my fingers and toes crossed! I have trip insurance as well, but the whole family has been really looking forward to the cruise. My DH said that even if I have the surgery 2-3 days before....he will haul all the luggage, etc. I just need to get myself on the boat and heal there! lol!!

 

In the meantime, today was the first day I have actually started to feel nauseated. Not sure if it's been nerves/anxious about the situation or being more in tune to symptoms now that we know something is wrong? I am continuing with the pain, but still nothing bad. Just a stitch in my side too.

 

Thanks for listening and the advice. :)

[vacruizer]

Just thought I'd give everyone an update. I've been alternating days of feeling pretty good and then kind of run down/sick again (not like before, but not right either.) I felt pretty rough today so did not go back to work. I've also been running a low grade fever on and off ever since the day of the surgery. I'm hoping it's nothing, but have an appt. tomorrow with the surgeon to check on it along with a couple other issues I've had. I'm hoping it's all normal or something small. I just want to feel normal again! :p

[vacruizer]

Vacruizer.

 

I'm glad the surgery was successful and i hope you have a full recovery and cruise again soon, :-)

 

I have to see a vascular surgeon this week for possibility of removing a blood clot in my left leg. I was diagnosed with DVT last October and after 7 months on blood thinner I still have a blood clot. I went to see my regular doctor last Thursday, and he said I need to see a vascular surgeon. He thinks I need a stent in my leg. They said, it'd take up to 2 weeks to schedule an appt, and I figured it d take 2 to 3 more weeks to have an appt with the surgeon. On Friday morning they called to make an appt with the surgeon on Tuesday morning..

 

I know having a blood clot is dangerous, but its more dangerous when I'm in a wheelchair.

 

Oh, no - so sorry! I've been up and walking plenty since my surgery, but have had some weird leg pain so I think that along with the low fever is why they wanted to see me tomorrow when I called the nurse today. I'm really hoping it's nothing. Kind of scary. They made sure to tell me if the pain got worse or my leg started to swell or turn red I needed to call them back right away. DVT scares me as I know someone who had a clot go to their lung after a surgery.

[MDSue]

Oh, no - so sorry! I've been up and walking plenty since my surgery, but have had some weird leg pain so I think that along with the low fever is why they wanted to see me tomorrow when I called the nurse today. I'm really hoping it's nothing. Kind of scary. They made sure to tell me if the pain got worse or my leg started to swell or turn red I needed to call them back right away. DVT scares me as I know someone who had a clot go to their lung after a surgery.

 

What a rough ride you have had! Please keep us posted on your appointment tomorrow. I know this must be nerve-wracking and disappointing that your recovery is stalling. Please take care- and don't let your work push you into going back to work too soon. I went back after 5 days (but mine was elective-not while having symptoms), but your body needs time to recover from the stress it has been through

[sharecruises]

Hi just checking in from computer in my hotel lobby, had great time in Seattle, sail tomorrow but was thinking of you

 

A friend of mine went back to work too quick and has had problems with her knee after a successful surgery.Hope you take it easy and get better, don't let your office push you too quick. Sending happy healing thoughts your way

[tazco]

Great. Are you going to frame it?

 

Morbid but my wifes surgeon gave hers back in a small bottle.

When I had my gallbladder out they gave me a little plastic bag filled with the stones. I had been to Colombia several years earlier and brought home a little plastic bag filled with emerald chips. Found both bags while cleaning out stuff and can't tell them apart (oh well, guess one of the kids will get the stones in the inheritance:D).

[Thoth]

I am ready to cry. Been looking so forward to leaving on the Pride tomorrow to celebrate my 40th birthday next week.

 

Starting having some tummy issues about a week ago that have been getting worse and worse. Had chest pain start mid-week and ended up having a full heart work-up and stress test on Thursday. All were fine, they gave me an antacid and told me to enjoy my cruise. Kept feeling sicker and sicker yesterday with tummy issues and dizziness. Instead of loading the car this morning we went back to the ER where they said my gallbladder has sludge and they are testing for an ulcer that will take 2 or 3 days but that I need to see a surgeon to get my gallbladder out. :( Then they told me it was up to me whether or not to take the cruise.

 

We could technically still leave early and drive up to Baltimore in the morning, but the way I feel now there's no way I can make it 5 hours in the car. Can't eat, can barely drink, and too dizzy to even finish packing.

 

To top it all off, I called CSA travel insurance today and I probably won't be covered for cancellation since the dr. said it was up to me whether or not to travel - even though I have the ER paper work diagnosing the gallbladder issue and advising removal. My only hope is that the surgeon can see me next week (don't know how long it will take to get an appt.) and certify I wasn't fit to travel.

 

I'm so bummed - never thought I'd be in this situation. But I honestly can't fathom getting on the ship feeling this bad.

 

Sorry for the long rant but had to vent to some folks who know how painful it is to be sitting here sick on the eve of your cruise knowing you probably won't be onboard tomorrow. :(

I know how you must feel, I've been there myself.

But fret not, there will other cruises and you will enjoy that next one when you feel up to...that much more !

[Thoth]

A few years back my parents and I had a trip to Las Vegas booked which he & Mom had to cancel. The doctor's clinic gave us the paperwork and we re-booked the very same trip for the next year. Sounds as if the Op will get the money back if they nag the clinic for papers.

As for seeing doctors, I have found a preferred third option...after hour/walk in clinics. Just today I was in terrible pain and my regular doctor was booked up and I didn't wish to visit the ER. It didn't take long to see a wonderful doctor at the walk in clinic, who changed my prescription. No need to suffer I say !

[golfadj]

So how are you feeling?

[cruisinsassy]

So how are you feeling?

 

Was wondering the same thing. Hope things are well vacruiser! :)

[vacruizer]

I'm hanging in here. Recovery has been a bit slower than I'd hoped. I'm hoping to finally go back to work tomorrow.

[thomarvin]

Take tomorrow too. Then you also have the long weekend and next week you will be so much better. Not worth it for one day. If you are anything like me, once i start something I want to keep going. If you go tomorrow you might keep going and then regret it on Saturday.

[MDSue]

I'm hanging in here. Recovery has been a bit slower than I'd hoped. I'm hoping to finally go back to work tomorrow.

 

Don't push yourself- we all recover at different rates and you were quite sick before your surgery so I imagine it will take awhile to get back up to speed.

 

Hopefully, you'll be planning a replacement cruise soon!

[emmtee]

I've read this whole thread in one sitting. I'm so glad you're finally on the road to recovery now, but when I was reading about your long wait in the ER, I was getting so angry on your behalf. :mad: Comparing your experience and the experiences of the others who have chimed in, I feel like my local hospital must be the best in the world. Honestly, though, even my experience in the ER in Estonia was far better than what you described. (Long story short: See avatar - Compound fracture suffered on a shore excursion, surgery that afternoon, three days in the hospital, missed St. Petersburg, but rejoined the cruise in Helsinki. Oh, and it happened on my 44th birthday.)

 

I remember several years ago waiting 4 hours in the ER with my mother who had a hernia and needed surgery. I don't know what they did to fix it, but their system is much better now. In the last year and a half, I've been to the ER 5 times (admitted 3 times, released 2 times). Before my first ER visit, I had gone 11 days with abdominal pain, fever, reduced appetite, and fatigue/weakness. While I was waiting for my ride to the ER, I started vomiting. I think they must have thought I had the flu, because they initally assigned me to the lowest level section of the ER. After the CT scan revealed that I had diverticulitis with a perforated colon (I was in septic shock), they moved me to a higher level and I had emergency surgery as soon as they could assemble the surgical team. Surgery was successful, but it took me 5 days to wake up - something about my electrolytes being off. I was in the ICU for 10 days and in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks total. After a follow-up surgery 6 months later, I had 2 more ER visits for abscesses, and was admitted both times for 3 days each.

 

I had also visited the ER a month following the emergency surgery for pain. (They suspected the gall bladder, but the ultrasound found nothing and the pain finally went away.) More recently, I was in the ER for what I think must have been food poisoning. (I take a medication that can have a serious side effect that presents with flu-like symptoms, so I have to be careful.)

 

Anyhow, at no point in any of my ER visits did I have to wait to be seen. For the most recent visit, someone was already registering when I got there, so I had to wait 2 minutes for my turn. But at every ER visit, once I registered, I went immediately to the triage nurse and then was wisked away to a room. After changing into a gown, I'd get an IV and whatever drugs needed to make me comfortable (anti-nausea or pain meds) while various tests were run. The nurses and doctors would come and go, but they were just a call button away, and all the rooms have little TV's to help pass the time. The time I was there for the pain, they ran tests (ultrasound, etc.) and I saw one of the surgical residents who had been around for my emergency surgery. After they ascertained that my pain wasn't serious, I dressed and waited in an inner waiting room for maybe 30-40 minutes for the results of other tests, but that's all the waiting I ever did. The times I was released, I was in and out in 2 1/2 hours or so. The times I was admitted for the abscesses, I was sent to a transitional area to wait for a room to be assigned. It took several hours, but I was comfortable and attended to, and I wasn't clogging up the ER. I think that's their secret to keeping things flowing. Whatever they're doing, it's working. I love my hospital. :D