NCL Spirit Alaska 7/3 - 7/10: Are you sick too?

[borschski]

Here's my final update on this thread: I haven't posted for a bit as I ended up in the hospital this past Monday at 2am.

 

After extensive testing, Salmonella poisoning was confirmed. I went in to the hospital since the joint and lower back pain I had became intolerable (which I now know was an auto-immune response to fighting the bacterium). I also ended up with atrial fibrullation (where the upper part of the heart beats faster than the lower half). Not good.

 

All in all it appears extremely likely that this was contracted the last evening on the ship in the Shogun tepanyaki restaurant. I'll be reporting it now that I'm out of the hospital.

[AMichelle]

This handwashing discussion reminds me of something we saw at a little league ball game a few weeks ago. A little boy came out of the porta-potty which, of course, was filthy, stank and had no sink to wash in. He was looking at his hands as if they had something on them. He reached down and rubbed his hands on the grass, and looked at them again. Frowning, he licked both of his hands, rubbed them together, then wiped them on his jeans before skipping merrily away.

[Laura4cruise]

Oh dear, borschski! Sorry to hear that you had to go to the hospital. But I'm glad they found out what was causing your symptoms. I hope you are feeling better. :)

 

We had dinner in Shogun's Teppanyaki on the first full day of our cruise in June and nobody got sick. I'm glad you're reporting it.

[cruisingfromMN]

Borschski, I am so sorry to hear that it was Salmonella. I had lost touch with this thread a bit ago so I am just catching up with the news. Our 2 1/2 year old daughter nearly died from Salmonella Poisoning. She got it at a restaurant from chicken that was not cooked properly. She is now 6 but had a full year of being sick and in and out of the hospital many, many times. Long term, she has issues that the doctors cannot say was from the Salmonella but she was a healthy kid before the poisoning. Go figure. Take care of yourself. I hope you are doing better. Please keep us posted.

 

As a side note, by law in our state the hospital has to report Salmonella to the Health Department. Is anything like that happening?

[borschski]

Borschski, I am so sorry to hear that it was Salmonella. I had lost touch with this thread a bit ago so I am just catching up with the news. Our 2 1/2 year old daughter nearly died from Salmonella Poisoning. She got it at a restaurant from chicken that was not cooked properly. She is now 6 but had a full year of being sick and in and out of the hospital many, many times. Long term, she has issues that the doctors cannot say was from the Salmonella but she was a healthy kid before the poisoning. Go figure. Take care of yourself. I hope you are doing better. Please keep us posted.

 

As a side note, by law in our state the hospital has to report Salmonella to the Health Department. Is anything like that happening?

Thank you for the kind words and I'm sorry to hear about your daughter. By the way, I'm also in MN and was contacted by the MN Dept of Health after mandatory reporting from the hospital.

 

I've not yet contacted NCL until the final data comes in *and* due to the fact that it's nearly impossible to find a method with which to contact these people (no email; phone operators that are clueless to whom to report; etc.).

 

Good luck with your girl...

[cruise pup]

How long did the a-fib last?

[cruisingfromMN]

Thank you for the kind words and I'm sorry to hear about your daughter. By the way, I'm also in MN and was contacted by the MN Dept of Health after mandatory reporting from the hospital.

 

I've not yet contacted NCL until the final data comes in *and* due to the fact that it's nearly impossible to find a method with which to contact these people (no email; phone operators that are clueless to whom to report; etc.).

 

Good luck with your girl...

 

I have been thinking of you and hope you are doing well. I got to thinking about the trouble with reporting this to NCL and remembered that somewhere in my two inch thick travel folder that I had an address and email. I searched for it and here it is. Hope it helps. Do you know what type of Salmonella? I am curious if the state Health Department reports it when it involves a cruise. In our case, it was a restaurant so actions were taken.

 

Norwegian Cruise Line

7665 Corporate Center Drive

Miami, FL 33126

 

Attn: Mr. Colin Veitch, Chief Executive Officer

 

ALSO an Email address of of Mr. Veitch:

 

cveitch@ncl.com

[borschski]

How long did the a-fib last?

Actually, it's still here after 21 days. If it doesn't go away in the next week, then they put me on blood thinner for 30 days and bring me in and put the paddles on and zap me back in to sinus rhythym.

[borschski]

I have been thinking of you and hope you are doing well. I got to thinking about the trouble with reporting this to NCL and remembered that somewhere in my two inch thick travel folder that I had an address and email. I searched for it and here it is. Hope it helps. Do you know what type of Salmonella? I am curious if the state Health Department reports it when it involves a cruise. In our case, it was a restaurant so actions were taken.

 

Norwegian Cruise Line

7665 Corporate Center Drive

Miami, FL 33126

 

Attn: Mr. Colin Veitch, Chief Executive Officer

 

ALSO an Email address of of Mr. Veitch:

 

cveitch@ncl.com

 

This is great....thanks! Here is the email I just sent:

 

Mr. Colin Veitch

Chief Executive Officer

Norwegian Cruise Line

7665 Corporate Center Drive

Miami, FL 33126

 

Mr. Veitch,

 

From July 3-10th my wife, two children and I joined her cousin, husband, two daughters and a friend on a cruise to Alaska through the Inside Passage. It was our first cruise and ended up being memorable for a reason I'd prefer had more to do with Alaska than bacteria.

 

I wanted to alert you to the fact that it is highly likely that the salmonella poisoning I contracted on our cruise occurred at the Shogun restaurant on the ship the evening of Friday, July 9th.

 

Thankfully I had already returned home to Minnesota by 8pm on the 10th since two hours later I began shivering uncontrollably as I began to fight off something. I slept Sunday, Monday and Tuesday; attempted to work Wednesday through Friday; and ended up in the hospital Sunday. Within two days initial lab tests had already shown salmonella growth in the stool sample taken from me upon admittance.

 

As it turns out the salmonella poisoning caused in me an auto-immune response that attacked my lower back and faciliated arthritic inflammation in my knees making it far too painful to walk. When I was admitted to the hospital, I was also in atrial fibrillation with a fever and rapid heartbeat and was placed on the cardiac care floor.

 

Fortunately I am significantly better now and have been able to return to work and my hope is that the arthritic inflammation will cease in total soon and the atrial fibrillation in my heart will return to normal.

 

 

REPORTING TO NCL

With respect to NCL, it's imperative that you're aware of this so as to be able to take steps to ensure this doesn't happen again.

 

Though I'm still awaiting lab test data on my daughter's stool sample (she seemed to have a milder bout) as well as that of her cousin (all of us ate at the same meal that evening), I have pictures of the chef flipping eggs, standing them up, cracking them with a spatula (which -- if contaminated with salmonella from the eggs -- went on to touch food and my food was first making it likely this is why I was the hardest hit).

 

While on our cruise I witnessed significant efforts on the part of the crew to ensure that cleanliness was paramount and that measures were taken to ensure that nearly 3,000 people on-board were minimally at risk to bacterium and virus. Still, salmonella contamination in the food supply still came aboard.

 

If I can provide you or your staff with any additional data, please contact me.

 

--

<contact info removed for privacy>

 

[cruise pup]

I really feel for you. To experience this chain of events triggered by the salmonella must be extremely frustrating. I sometimes go into a-fib but medications I'm on seem to help me into sinus quickly. A friend of mine had to have the the cardioversion (I believe that's what it's called) and was fine afterwards. His wife was more of a wreck from it. He went ahead and did exercise as soon as he got home from the hospital and she had a fit.

 

I wish you a speedy recovery and please keep us informed on your condition.

[natalunia]

Wow! I go away for a few days and I miss a ton. I truly hope you get to feeling better. At least you sought medical care. I know too many people who hate going to the doctor and would end up dead in the same situation you were in.

 

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, and I am sure your letter will receive a speedy response for someone at NCL... maybe Mr. Veitch.

 

Anyhow, I now know to avoid the tepanyaki and stick with my sushi...

 

Natalie

[cruisingfromMN]

Hi Borschski, How are you feeling? Any response yet from NCL? Hope you are well and please give us an update when you can. You may want to find out what type of Salmonella you had/have. This will help you to understand expectations of your illness. For our daughter, she had one of the worst varieties as far as longest acting and potentially fatal. She was seriously sick for six months and as I mentioned earlier had many complications which required several hospital stays over the course of a year. I hope that you are on the mend! Let us know.