cruise for terminally ill

[JHarry]

my wife is terminally ill and her last wish is a disney cruise. She is still in the hospital right now but when she gets out will require the use of a ventilator. if she had a doctors note would she be permitted to cruise? I have sent a letter to disney cruise lines but have not heard back from them yet.

[kitty9]

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your wife. God Bless you both.

 

This is going to be a tough one. I'm suspecting that Disney may have problems due to liability concerns. Traveling with a ventilator will be extremely difficult and I'm not sure the medical staff on any cruise ship would be able, or willing, to have to handle issues inherent with a ventilator. My mom was on a vent on a couple of occasions, and all I can remember is the vent alarms going off all hours of the day and night. The need for suctioning and other procedures may be beyond the scope of the on board medical persons. Perhaps if you volunteered to bring your own nurse with you, but I'm not sure any cruise line could devote one of their staff to attend your wife on an on call basis.

 

All you can do is wait and see what happens. But I wish you all the best.

[PennyAgain]

Good luck to you both!

 

Get the brochures. Get cruise posters. Doll up her room. Talk about the cruise. Let her enjoy the experince of doing the planning. You'll have to be an actor, but you are doing it for her. Rent cruise videos and bring her photos and stories you can get here on Cruise Critic.

 

If she can make the cruise, it will be a dream come true, but if she can't make the cruise she will have had something nice to think about and talk about with you.

 

You will be blessed in everything you do for her.

 

Call Disney and ask for the brochures and posters and tell them why you need them. They will come through for you.

[patseacruiser]

My prayers and best wishes for you and your family.

[cusyl]

I'm so sorry about your wife. Sending prayers your way. The suggestion of planning for the cruise is an excellent one, something to look forward to.

However, it sounds like she is too ill to actually go.

[katisdale]

One thing not mentioned so far is the access to electrical power. I would ask her doctor how much battery power (if any) the ventilator has. Then I would make sure the ship could give you access to an uninterruptible electric source. Finally if you are certain you are going to attempt this I would see if you could get an experienced vent nurse to travel with your wife. In the event the ship loses electrical power, the nurse will know how to manually ventilate your wife. I would not want to leave this to the ship's medical crew who probably haven't seen a ventilator in many years.

[xxoocruiser]

You're such a loving husband to try to make this dream come true for your wife. Prayers go out to you , your wife and family at this time.

 

Though Disney like's to make drreams come true and have done cruises for termininally ill children though organizations such as Make a wish Foundation. These are highly organzied trips in which many medcial people volunteer to go along to assist the special needs of those passengers and cost is uinderwrited by private funds. That's generally not the case on an indvidual basis. All of us of Hope that your wife gets her dream but realistically this may be tough one to pull off .

 

 

Some things that may not have considered :

• The On-Board Medical Team is very limited at best. The infirmary is staffed by 1 nurse may be 2 nurses. Who are employees of the cruise line. If there's a doctor it's generally a passenger that signed on for a week or two in exchange for a cruise. So it's never certain about their field of medicine. I was on a HAL cruise one time where the On-Board Doctor for that week was actually a Dentist. Yet he qualified as he was a doctor. So if there is any medical need that requires more than an asprin, bandaid or motion sickness pill you can pretty much count on having to be air lifted off the ship to the closest hospital.
  
• You would have to plan on bringing and paying for a private full time nurse. It's highly unlikely the cruise line will not provide you one .
  
• Transportation to the ship ? - If you plan to fly, Commerical Airlines probably don't allow ventillators on board . So a medical flight may be required. If driving you may also require a medical transport to the ship. This is all something that has to be checked into.
  
• You have to consider if Disney can meet any special dietary needs that may be required.
  
• You should request a Handicap Cabin . You'll need it for all the equipment. A HC cabin with a connecting door to second cabin for the nurse would be the best confiquration.
  
• Check your medical insurance. Are your covered for foreign travel ? The ship goes to foreign ports so you can't be asured you would be airvac back to the USA in the event of a Medical Emergency. Does it cover medical air evacution? If you don't have sufficient coverage you will need take out a seperate travel insurance policy. Most Travel Insurance Policies will wave pre-existing conditions if purchased within a specified time period ( on average 10 days ) from the initial booking date. Disney would also require you to have insurance
  

There are special cruises for people who require dialysis at sea. Though this is not the same as being on a ventilator, they just might be able to help you with this wish if Disney can not. Just a thought . May not help but at least it would be worth a try. http://www.dialysisatsea.com/

 

As someone else said decorate her room, watch tapes, play cruise music , get Mickey T Shirts and print on them " I'm going on a Disney Cruise " and anything else that can be doesn easily. Asks friends and family to help. You'll be surprise who comes through for you ! Work on the planning together. A big part of the dream is in the planning. She already knows how much you love her to have gone to all the effort of trying to make all her dreams come true. Don't forget you've already done that by being such a wonderfull, loving, caring and supporting husband.

 

I wish you all the best and hope that Disney helps to make your wife's dream come true.

[JHarry]

heard back from disney and it is doable. now to get her out of the hospital. she had a trach and feeding tube put in today so she should be able to talk again in a few days and this will make her happy.

[kitty9]

I'm happy that Disney said it's doable. But, who's going to handle the feeding tube? You're going to have your hands full with this, and I wish you the best

[PennyAgain]

Disney does help to make dreams come true! Sir, you are one in a million. I wish you and your wife the very best.

[boating girl]

I'm happy that Disney said it's doable. But, who's going to handle the feeding tube? You're going to have your hands full with this, and I wish you the best

 

A feeding tube is actually one of the easier things to handle. I am sure they have learned if she's home from the hospital. No ventilator is necessary now? I am wondering how large the ventilator unit would be.

[xxoocruiser]

heard back from disney and it is doable. now to get her out of the hospital. she had a trach and feeding tube put in today so she should be able to talk again in a few days and this will make her happy.

 

Congratulations ! Keep us posted. We're all praying that things continue to work out. ;)

[greytgrlz]

Best of luck. I hope you are able to make her dream come true

[Ms Ann]

Weather you take the cruise or not, you will be learning a LOT! You will learn all about using the vent, suction,changing trachs, using the ambu bag, etc, etc.

 

Oscar has come home twice with a trach, so one learns to live with it quickly. His vents has a battery life of 4-8 hours depending on what settings he was using. There was a back up battery also.

 

It will not be easy, and both of you will need to make some decisions about what you can reasonable expect to do while on the cruise. I also recomend finding a nurse to accompany you. Being a care giver 24-7 is hard enough, doing so on a cruise with a terminal patient will be emptionall exausting. Take a releaf person!!!

[Starr Mtn]

Bless you for the love you demonstrate for your wife in helping

her dream come true. Others above have posted excellent

recommendations.

 

You definitely need cruise insurance. Not only for medical services

that may be needed onboard -- but more importantly if you need

medical evacuation to a land-based hospital.

 

Based on my review of cruise insurance and waiver of pre-existing

conditions: I've been advised the passenger must be diagnosed

as certified something like "medically able to travel" at the time

the insurance is purchased.

 

I certainly don't want to put a damper on your wonderful and

thoughtful plans ... but I also don't want you to get caught in a

position where you do not have proper insurance.

 

So please check out insurance and it's limitations prior to booking

your cruise and insurance. From what I've read on this Board -

third party insurance is better than purchasing from the cruise line.

 

Truly hope your wife's dreams come true ! And the idea for decorating

her room with travel items and booklets, etc. sound wonderful.

 

God Bless,

[CUFETZ]

Traveling and cruising with a vent is very doable-we have done it numerous times. My daughter has been on a vent for 22 years and loves to travel. Her vent weighs 17 # and is smaller than most purses. It has an internal battery that lasts for 10-14 hours and an accessory battery that will provide another 4. Ships have back-up generators so the loss of power would not be a real issue. We always bring nurses trained in her care with and I am also a nurse. You will need relief and caregivers if your wife goes home and she will not be released from the hospital without caregivers in place, as well as extensive training on your part. Flying is also very doable but requires planning and coordination with the airlines. Certain ventilators are approved for airline travel and other considerations such as transfers, wheelchair stowage and seating need to be arranged well in advance. All of that said, I'm not sure what you mean by "terminal". If she is unstable or ill such a trip and be very fatiguing and might put too much stress on her fragile body, resulting in a less than enjoyable vacation. I might be careful using the word 'terminal" with the cruise line and they may require a physician's certification of her health and ability to travel. After considering the pros and cons as only you can I hope for the best for you both.