Medical services on board

[cb at sea]

Prior to a cruise we'd been planning for a year, hubby had to have a pacemaker inserted...the doctor said he was fine to travel...BUT, my husband was so worried the entire trip, it put a damper on the entire cruise. Now that he's been dealing with the pacemaker for years and years, he rarely thinks about it. Ask your husband how he feels about being away from his doctor and home.

It's not always an actual medical issue that can cause problems (and a heart issue certainly can!), but the emotional response to that medical problem.

[Cruise-Crazzy]

I had my aortic valve replaced less than 3 months before a Trans-Atlantic and British Isle Cruise (30 days). After the operation I was in Afib and got a pacemaker. My Doctors said I could go on the cruise and have a good time. I did have to see the ships doctor for routine adjustment of my medication. I had a fantastic time. During my next visit to my cardiologist I learned that my Afib converted to normal on the embarkation day of the cruise. Listen to your Doctor and get insurance. I hope you enjoy your cruise.

[lbfluffy]

Thank you all for your thoughts. My husband has a lot of questions for his cardiologist appointment Monday. He's upset that he couldn't get it into the SVT despite him being aggressive. It's crazy in the span of 3 weeks he has to SVT episodes and yet the procedure did not trigger it.

 

And we will ask about the pacemaker, but with the meds his heart rate has been great, maybe even a little low compared to mine.

 

Thanks.

[4cats4me]

Thank you all for your thoughts. My husband has a lot of questions for his cardiologist appointment Monday. He's upset that he couldn't get it into the SVT despite him being aggressive. It's crazy in the span of 3 weeks he has to SVT episodes and yet the procedure did not trigger it.

 

 

 

And we will ask about the pacemaker, but with the meds his heart rate has been great, maybe even a little low compared to mine.

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

Prayers for a speedy recovery and stabilization for him [emoji4]

 

 

 

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[trishh]

If I had to come to cruise critic and get treatment advice to pass along to my cardiologist...

 

...I'd be looking for a new cardiologist!

As a nurse I think that's hilarious!

[Hlitner]

If I had to come to cruise critic and get treatment advice to pass along to my cardiologist...

 

...I'd be looking for a new cardiologist!

 

LOL,,,,,to true. But, if the OP is asking if a ship's medical facility has the capability to do Cardioversion...the answer is yes. As to the quality of the staff in the medical center, who knows?

 

Hank

[jacketwatch]

As a nurse I think that's hilarious!

Same here.

Retired RN. 24 yrs. open heart.

[pablo222]

LOL,,,,,to true. But, if the OP is asking if a ship's medical facility has the capability to do Cardioversion...the answer is yes. As to the quality of the staff in the medical center, who knows?

 

 

All true. But, I wasn't replying to the original poster (although I did previously), I was commenting

on the 'advice' offered to the original poster.

[toxicfairy]

They have not suggested a pacemaker? My fathers girlfriend had this issue. She was in her 50's at the time and they were and still are very active people. She was getting light headed and dizzy said she would feel out of breath and they found it was her heart. They could not get it to stay at the proper rate ( she laughed and said she had bad wiring)because it's basically your body's electrical system. She had a monitior that she wore for so long and would have to call in and it gave a report over the phone of the heart rate during that day/ night. She wound up with a pacemaker. She hasn't slowed down since then.

 

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[trvlwrld]

last year my husband had a medical emergency on board and due to weather he could not be evacuated and we were 3 days to port-i know you are concerned about your husband, but from the spouse's stand point you need to be confident you can handle all that is involved (and there is alot of stress on you!) to make ALL the decisions and coordinate emergency travel arrangements-you MUST have insurance, but you will also have to pay for everything up front so you will need a minimum of 30K of credit on your credit cards. each ship is VERY different as to their ability to deal with each incident-we got great medical care but absolutely NO help in making travel arrangements back home despite having princess insurance-and good lluck trying to rebook on their slow internet! i've delt with some very high power stressful situations in my lifetime and am usually calm under stress, but this situation pushed me to the max----with that said, you certainly can't live you life worrying over something that may never happen-just wanted you to have info to make your decision-good luck to you both!

[jacketwatch]

They have not suggested a pacemaker? My fathers girlfriend had this issue. She was in her 50's at the time and they were and still are very active people. She was getting light headed and dizzy said she would feel out of breath and they found it was her heart. They could not get it to stay at the proper rate ( she laughed and said she had bad wiring)because it's basically your body's electrical system. She had a monitior that she wore for so long and would have to call in and it gave a report over the phone of the heart rate during that day/ night. She wound up with a pacemaker. She hasn't slowed down since then.

 

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Pacemakers are used for abnormally slow heart rates so what was the rhythm they treated? The OP has the opposite problem. Its too fast and you don't treat that with a pacemaker.

[toxicfairy]

Oh ok. Just know hers was an irregular beat that could not get controlled with medication. Either way good luck to the OP and safe travels.

 

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[jacketwatch]

Oh ok. Just know hers was an irregular beat that could not get controlled with medication. Either way good luck to the OP and safe travels.

 

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Indeed!

[Trevor Fountain]

Pacemakers are used for abnormally slow heart rates so what was the rhythm they treated? The OP has the opposite problem. Its too fast and you don't treat that with a pacemaker.

Exactly. I had a pacemaker fitted last October. I had a series of blackouts. They found I had 'complete heart block' which sounds really bad, but actually it is just a block of the electrical signals sent from the brain to the heart, and at times the heart just goes uncontrollably slow, causing the blood to the brain to pump too slow, resulting in too little oxygen, thus the blackouts. Been great since the pm was fitted, but a pm cannot slow a fast heart rhythm.

I think cardiologists are pretty good at giving you advice. They wouldn't tell you to go if they weren't as sure as they can be that you'll be ok. I would leave your decision as late a possible, and then ask again before going.

[jacketwatch]

Exactly. I had a pacemaker fitted last October. I had a series of blackouts. They found I had 'complete heart block' which sounds really bad, but actually it is just a block of the electrical signals sent from the brain to the heart, and at times the heart just goes uncontrollably slow, causing the blood to the brain to pump too slow, resulting in too little oxygen, thus the blackouts. Been great since the pm was fitted, but a pm cannot slow a fast heart rhythm.

I think cardiologists are pretty good at giving you advice. They wouldn't tell you to go if they weren't as sure as they can be that you'll be ok. I would leave your decision as late a possible, and then ask again before going.

The heart itself has its own intrinsic electrical systems and signals originate within it. The brain doesn't send signals to the heart. This is why you can be brain dead say after a catastrophic stroke but your heart keeps on ticking. You are correct in that a heart rate too slow as in CHB will cause dizziness or syncope or passing out as there is an inadequate blood flow. The normal heart rhythm or sinus rhythm originates in the upper chambers of the heart or the atria or more specifically the sino-atrial node and then works its way down an electrical pathway to stimulate the lower chambers or ventricles to beat and it's the left ventricle that pumps blood out to your body. In CHB those signals don't get to the ventricles. Ventricles have their own intrinsic rate but it's quite slow, in the 30's sometimes and not nearly fast enough to pump enough blood out to meet the bodies needs thus you get dizzy or pass out. A gal I used to work with had a pm as a child for congenital CHB and she is fine, runs like crazy and is healthy as a horse.

You can also get dizzy from an SVT or a very fast heart rate as it's too fast for the ventricles to fill with blood and O2 delivery is reduced this way too.

 

I am glad you are ok. Keep on cruising.

[jacketwatch]

https://www.ucsfhealth.org/conditions/complete_heart_block/

 

Here you see a nice illustration of how the electrical system is supposed to work.

[Trevor Fountain]

Thanks for putting me straight on that JW. I try not to get too hooked up on the technical side of medicine, as long as the experts looking after know what they are doing, which is quite funny as the surgeon who fitted my PM wired it up the wrong way around and I suffered a cardiac arrest. Still I was in the right place to get it restarted.

Sorry, don't wish to hijack the OP's thread, hope they go and have a great cruise and many more to come.

[jacketwatch]

Thanks for putting me straight on that JW. I try not to get too hooked up on the technical side of medicine, as long as the experts looking after know what they are doing, which is quite funny as the surgeon who fitted my PM wired it up the wrong way around and I suffered a cardiac arrest. Still I was in the right place to get it restarted.

Sorry, don't wish to hijack the OP's thread, hope they go and have a great cruise and many more to come.

 

Wow! Glad you're around to tell the story. 👍Best of luck to the OP.

[lbfluffy]

Thanks for your input. I know he has SVT which is the fast heart rate. It went into that rhythm twice in three weeks but this procedure couldn't get it into SVT. So the cardiologist did not do the ablation. I was just wondering if the medical facility could shock his heart. We've only used the medical center once for a cut that would not stop bleeding. It didn't cost much and our medical insurance reimbursed us.

But I'm wondering since we already have the cruise booked will they let us add on travel insurance now that he has had these episodes?

 

Also we have the citi card through Costco that does have some travel insurance included in our membership.

 

Again thank you all.

[ggprincess2004]

Thanks for your input. I know he has SVT which is the fast heart rate. It went into that rhythm twice in three weeks but this procedure couldn't get it into SVT. So the cardiologist did not do the ablation. I was just wondering if the medical facility could shock his heart. We've only used the medical center once for a cut that would not stop bleeding. It didn't cost much and our medical insurance reimbursed us.

But I'm wondering since we already have the cruise booked will they let us add on travel insurance now that he has had these episodes?

 

Also we have the citi card through Costco that does have some travel insurance included in our membership.

 

Again thank you all.

 

Just a few thoughts on insurance at this point - you need to take a look at the time frame exclusion on pre-existing conditions when it comes to medical evacuation, etc. I believe you have not made final payment so adding the insurance is not the issue, whether pre-existing conditions are covered is, and that also has to do with no change in meds within a specific time period. If they are covered, then there are the dollar limits of the coverage to look at. There is also MedJetAssist beyond the traditional travel medical insurance policies.

 

We never sail without travel insurance that includes medical coverage.

[lbfluffy]

Just a few thoughts on insurance at this point - you need to take a look at the time frame exclusion on pre-existing conditions when it comes to medical evacuation, etc. I believe you have not made final payment so adding the insurance is not the issue, whether pre-existing conditions are covered is, and that also has to do with no change in meds within a specific time period. If they are covered, then there are the dollar limits of the coverage to look at. There is also MedJetAssist beyond the traditional travel medical insurance policies.

 

We never sail without travel insurance that includes medical coverage.

 

 

I think I read somewhere there is a time limit with pre-existing conditions. However this never was a problem until this past June 14th. I will check this once we decide if we will take this trip or not.

[elliair]

The cardiologist said not to cancel the cruise yet. He says to give the meds a chance to work. He feels my husband more than likely won't have another episode. But since it wasn't found in the study i am not so sure.

 

My husband does not want to stop living his life. All this is new to us. My husband is 52 and never had any heart problems.

 

I haven't read any of the responses, so here goes mine. First of all do you have trip insurance? If not get it NOW! Make sure you get one with preexisting conditions. I believe TravelGuard offers such a policy. Your husband is correct, don't stop living your lives! Go on this trip and don't worry. 99% of the stuff we worry about never happens. I see sick people all the time on cruises, they are living their life. You will have a great time! DO IT!

[ggprincess2004]

I think I read somewhere there is a time limit with pre-existing conditions. However this never was a problem until this past June 14th. I will check this once we decide if we will take this trip or not.

 

 

You can add Princess travel insurance to your booking now, and won't have to pay for it until final payment. At least you can start the clock ticking on the pre-existing condition thing.

[jwattle]

Check your own medical insurance as well, ibfluffy. Since most of that cruise is in the U.S. (albeit Hawaii) it might cover you, including medical evacuation. I called and found out that ours does.

[elfinmagic]

If you are on medicare and supplemental nothing will be covered while on a ship no matter where it is - s Princess insurance is very good and is affordable - like 8% of the cruise fare and pays promptly after you get a statement from mediocre and your supplemental. GO and have a good time