I started my month off with a cruise with my mother, my uncle, and a bunch of other people that they knew, some of which I either knew or was familiar with. We had a 12 person group, including one couple that were first time cruisers. Those folks hated it, well at least the man did. I think him having a bad time made for a bad time for the lady, but who knows. I just know that I had a blast and can't wait for my next cruise!
As many of you know, Hurricane Irma was starting to make her presence known in the Atlantic during the last week of August and first week in September, and she was heading for the Caribbean, right towards where our ship was supposed to be come a few days into the cruise. We had boarded the ship on Sunday, September 3, expecting to travel to Nassau, Grand Turk, and the Dominican Republic, but before we set sail we were informed that our travel itinerary would be changing to a western Caribbean cruise, to include stops at Cozumel, Belize, and Costa Maya. We rescheduled our dolphin excursion for the Costa Maya stop, and away we went!
Had a great day at sea on Monday, including a fun time at the pool. I got sunburned, and the entire pool was flashed by a lady competing in the lip sync battle. She had on a short dress and NO PANTIES as she was shaking what her momma gave her and the activities director realized she was showing off way too much and stopped her routine. It was embarrassingly funny though, I just can't imagine what she was thinking!?
We stopped in Cozumel on Tuesday, did some shopping, and boy was it hot and humid! Wednesday, we stopped in Belize and did some more shopping. After we pulled away from Belize, our captain made the announcement that due to the hurricane's expected path up the coast of Florida, we were not going to be stopping in Costa Maya and they were going to try to get us back to Port Canaveral on Friday, a day early, to keep us ahead of the storm. No dolphin excursion for us unfortunately. :-(
Thursday, we're having a nice day at sea, and late in the afternoon while were sprucing up for dinner, the captain comes on to make the announcement that we would not be going to Port Canaveral after all, as we would not arrive in time to get off the ship, and them to get safely out before the port closed due to the weather, and that we would be heading towards New Orleans. Oh and it would be Wednesday before they expected to get us back to Port Canaveral! You talk about some wild times on the ship that afternoon. My mother was down near guest services and witnessed a male passenger cussing out and physically threatening a female passenger (he was carried away by security), and she also said there were some women shouting about they were lesbian and proud, and couldn't wait to party in New Orleans.
Anywho, we made it to New Orleans, I got me some beignets, and away we went. I did not enjoy going down the Mississippi and back into the gulf on Sunday morning - first time ever being sea sick, and that's an experience I hope I NEVER repeat. So, so sick, almost all day long. The ship was rocking so much that they turned off the glass elevators and put barf bags outside each set of elevators. I toted my bag that my mother picked up for me to breakfast, and it almost came in handy on the way back to my cabin. (almost because I didn't get it to my face fast enough by Guy Fieri's Burger joint lol) I got some advice of things to do to help, and going to the highest deck, standing at the front of the ship and looking at the horizon helped the most. Thanks Rob! (Sorry David, I just couldn't bring myself to try a greasy burger)
So, I got an extra 4 days on the ship, and an extra 3 days of vacation time, which made for interesting times at work, getting all caught up AND planning for my medical leave that was set to begin on September 21.
Speaking of my medical leave - I'm due to return to work on Monday, October 2, and I'm pretty sure I'll be ready to go back. My surgery went very well on the 21st, other than the nausea trumping the pain that day. I was so sick to my stomach from the time I woke from the anesthesia until I got home and plundered through the medicine bag to find some anti-nausea pills. I did tell the recovery nurses that I was quite nauseated, and they didn't offer any additional meds other than what I was given during surgery. I was sent home with a pretty green barf bag (much nicer than the white one on the cruise ship that I toted around that Sunday morning), and slept until dinner time, nicely medicated on the oxycodone and fentanyl I was given before I left the hospital, and the nausea pill I took at home.
I've experienced minimal pain, only taking Tylenol on Friday and not having to dip into the prescription drugs even once. I've been so thankful for that, you have no idea! I had a similar procedure about 9 years ago, but with only 1 incision back then instead of the 3 this time, and that time the pain was excruciating. I've also managed to pop a couple of stitches, somehow without feeling it, and was told that they wouldn't do any re-stitching, they'd just let it heal on it's own. I see my surgeon next week to have the stitches removed and review the pathology report, and hopefully I'll just have one more appointment with him to ensure everything is healed up properly and I'll be good to go. The surgeon expects the pathology report to be good, and to not show anything other than the precancerous stuff they've seen in the biopsies.
And one last thing for September - tomorrow is the 5 year anniversary of my husband returning from his deployment to Kosovo. I thought about that this morning and am so thankful for him. He's been so good to me and for me with this medical crap, reassuring me when I need it, comforting me and making me laugh when I get down in the dumps about it. He even had the surgeon laughing when I had the initial consultation due to his complaints about a made up condition that he said he needed help with. Fast-forward to surgery day - we got to pre-op and the surgeon comes in, says he's going to get started with my procedure shortly, and he'd be taking care of Brian's problem right afterwards. Brian had the funniest look on his face at that! But unfortunately there was no family there to witness the exchange which would have been even funnier.
Thankful for my family this month!
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