Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[Sunshine3601]

52 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I went to the doctor today that I waited 6 months to see.I was not expecting a miracle but I hope that he would be able to offer me some form of relief from the Parkinsons.

Ninety minutes of traveling in each direction .We arrived at the medical building and could not find parking.We saw a Valet sign and went to the area but nobody was working there .Then I saw a person leave a spot and we parked.

Less than two minutes to wait to see the doctor.I brought all my recent MRI reports plus the discs,all recent lab results ,all other recent test results.The doctor had absolutely no interest in seeing any of what I brought and no interest in what is ailing me.If I wanted to see him again his next opening was in June.Not a good day .

 

Sorry to hear this.   Why go back if he has no interest and did nothing?

[LucasLikesToCruise]

On 10/10/2022 at 7:05 PM, Arzeena said:

Lucas who likes to cruise, I am sending you a big hug. A lot of prayers. A lot of comforting vibes.

Thanks Arzeena I really appreciate the hug. 🙂

Edited October 12, 2022 by LucasLikesToCruise
Arzeena autocorrected to Arleen’s… LOL

[George C]

10 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

@George C

 

We are thinking about booking allure next summer. A couple questions 

 

Which airport do we fly into. 
 

Best transportation to hotel at port

 

Nice hotel , close to port one night. 
 

 

Ty. 

 

 

Hobby is the closest airport which is about a hour from Galveston Houston international is another 40 mins . Hilton and San Luis are both upscale hotels close to port , San Luis has a great steak restaurant and a piano bar both are close to other restaurants. In past we had limo , most likely now will either do Lyft or Uber.

Edited October 12, 2022 by George C

[LucasLikesToCruise]

On 10/10/2022 at 7:18 PM, Momof3gurlz said:

So sorry to read about all you’ve been dealing with.  I hope the assistance of the hospice team is giving you the support you need, they are truly amazing people.  I also hope you’ll continue to join in here for a bit of distraction, entertainment and encouragement.  

Thanks….. I going to try and be more vocal here instead of just a lurker.  I do enjoy the entertainment factor of everyone’s lives on here. 😂

[Lionesss]

7 minutes ago, George C said:

Hobby is the closest airport which is about a hour from Galveston Houston international is another 40 mins . Hilton and San Luis are both upscale hotels close to port , San Luis has a great steak restaurant and a piano bar both are close to other restaurants. In past we had limo , most likely now will either do Lyft or Uber.

 

ty

 

Just what I need to know. 

[LucasLikesToCruise]

On 10/10/2022 at 7:37 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

I'm glad you decided to share.  We are here for you.

I'm sorry to hear about your Mom spiraling out of control but it sounds like you are now getting the help you need so maybe it was a good thing that things escalated with her.

 

Being a sole care giver is very hard and you have been doing a wonderful job with your Mom and should have not feel guilty for calling 911.   

 

When Eric's Father and my Father were on Hospice we found the support they offer for both the caregiver and the patient absolutely amazing. 

 

It is not easy to watch a loved one deteriorate.  Please make sure you take the time you need too!   If you are able to just go for a long walk in a park with Olliver while a Nurse or Aide is with your Mom do it.

 

I'm sure Olliver is enjoying your companship too🥰  happy that you found each other.

 

 Sending you a big hug and praying that she passes peacefully. ❤

 

Thank you for kind words.  A couple of months ago when she was still fairly mobile with her walker, I couldn’t keep her in one place when she was hallucinating all the time.  It was a challenge for me to take Oliver out for a few minutes.  I would have her sit in the recliner and lay it all the way back and put a chair under the leg part so she couldn’t lower it.  It seemed cruel yet funny at the same time now that I look back at it.  It was the only way to keep her from falling and hurting herself when I had to do something.  Hospice even put a pressure mat with alarm on her bed at home  so I would be awaken when she would get up during the night.  Talk about some sleepless nights with that going off every hour.
 

But, for the past month, she has been a lot let active and will stay in bed when I tell her, so Oliver gets to go on plenty of longer walks now.   

[LucasLikesToCruise]

23 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

As you can see from the many quick replies, you already have an online support group.  Feel free to vent as much or as little as possible or not at all. No trips planned?  No problem. Weather updates, food porn, complaints about gas prices and pet pics are always appreciated. 

 

The effort you are putting in to take care of your mother is a testament to your character and to hers are well, for raising you to be the person you've become. As tired and frustrated are you may be, when all is said and done, you will be happy to know you've made the right choices.

 

Sometimes I forget how kind and friendly total strangers can be.  I am really lucky to have stumbled upon this thread the first day Dani started it even though I have never sailed on Royal Caribbean before.  I’m sure I’ll give them I try when I’m able to get back to cruising because of all the great people on here..

[LucasLikesToCruise]

22 hours ago, Keksie said:

That is so hard to go through.  My heart goes out to you.  Take care.

Thank you.  I have sure learned a lot lately, I should be able to fill in for a nurse or a pharmacist bytime this is all over.  LOL

[lenquixote66]

26 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Sorry to hear this.   Why go back if he has no interest and did nothing?

I am not going back.

[LucasLikesToCruise]

17 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Sending you our hugs and prayers 🙏.

Graham and Pauline 

 

 

Thank you.  Graham, you and Pauline are one classy act even though you drive on the wrong side of the road.  LOL

[lenquixote66]

12 minutes ago, LucasLikesToCruise said:

Thank you for kind words.  A couple of months ago when she was still fairly mobile with her walker, I couldn’t keep her in one place when she was hallucinating all the time.  It was a challenge for me to take Oliver out for a few minutes.  I would have her sit in the recliner and lay it all the way back and put a chair under the leg part so she couldn’t lower it.  It seemed cruel yet funny at the same time now that I look back at it.  It was the only way to keep her from falling and hurting herself when I had to do something.  Hospice even put a pressure mat with alarm on her bed at home  so I would be awaken when she would get up during the night.  Talk about some sleepless nights with that going off every hour.
 

But, for the past month, she has been a lot let active and will stay in bed when I tell her, so Oliver gets to go on plenty of longer walks now.   

Sorry to hear about your mother.I hallucinate at times from Parkinson’s.The scariest thing for me is when I look in the mirror and I see another face .The first time I freaked out .

[xpcdoojk]

3 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

All this baseball talk. Has anyone seen this thread started by Lenny? It looks like he’s trying to keep it going, but needs more participation. 😁

 

Haven’t seen it….

 

I am out. 😇

[LucasLikesToCruise]

16 hours ago, h20skibum said:

@LucasLikesToCruise I just wanted to add my thoughts to all those others that have been expressed here.  It is difficult.  My thoughts are with you.  Your mom’s cancer is the same type my daughter is fighting right now.

Thanks, I appreciate that.  I have been following along with what you have shared about you daughter.  There are some amazing treatments now and they can tailor them to the individual persons genes depending on the negative and positive receptors.  One thing I learned is that over time the receptors can change.  Mom always handles the various chemos really well.  They don’t think is the cancer that’s causing her to deteriorate so quickly but rather the rapid progression of the Parkinson’s and the dimentia.  
im sure your daughter will pull through all her treatments with flying colors.

[LucasLikesToCruise]

14 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

Lucas, you and your mom have quite the journey to this point.  

 

From what I have read, she is in the right spot for the best care possible and that also gives you some ability to recharge yourself between visits. I am sorry that all of this is happening to her and wish there was someway to undo all that is occurring.

 

This page is much like a family: there might be the odd moments of disagreement but when it is down to the wire, we are here to support each other. If you need a distraction or a break we will be here to help as best we can.

Andrew, she is still at home.  Here we have the option of doing everything at home (depending on the medical diagnosis and care plan). So I am still with her 24/7.  The nurses and aids come here to assist.  This allows them to have whatever medical supplies and medications here for their need during their visit or for my use to control her when needed.   The bedside table looks like opioids dealers dream LOL.  The liquid morphine does come in handy.  
 

I agree with your assessment about this thread being like a large, slightly dysfunctional family. 🤣

[LucasLikesToCruise]

29 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Sorry to hear about your mother.I hallucinate at times from Parkinson’s.The scariest thing for me is when I look in the mirror and I see another face .The first time I freaked out .

That’s would be quite frightening.  Luckily my moms hallucinations were 95% auditory and about conversations  with her sisters or other family she hasn’t seen in a long time.  The Sinemet helped slot with her mobility issues, but it was the Nuplazid that did a great job with lessening the duration and frequency of th3 hallucinations.  

[BonTexasNY]

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I hear that same story from patients who have been in the ER and then come to the office for followup. To this day I'll never forget the words of one of my professors in medical school, and that was a lot of years ago. He said never forget to put your hands on your patients. They will impart so much information to you and give your patients a sense of comfort. Of course, this was back in the day when we were taught the art and science of physical diagnosis without running everyone through a CT scanner. His words have served me well.

What you posted above reinforces the comment I once made.  You're the kind of doctor everyone wishes they had.

 

With the ER doc, he was treating an "ailment" not a person.  My x-rays came out negative for fractures so that's all he cared about.  Onward to the next patient....errrr ailment.

 

BTW I can't seem to quote multiple posts anymore.  I hit refresh but that didn't work so now I have to quote each post individually.

[NHProud]

My SIL and BIL are so excited to have their flights booked to London for King Charles’s coronation .  They are fans of all things British.  Every year my b’day card has been bought in London .  

 

@BonTexasNY Last week we spent 6 hours in the ER.  When we arrived there were 4 patients in the waiting room . Patients arrived and were seen and there we sat and sat. After 4 hours , I went up to the desk and asked if they had forgotten about us .  He then explained to me how they triage patients .  They see hundreds of patients . My niece is a 50 yr old ER doc and is burned out . 

 

@LucasLikesToCruiseLucas , so very sorry about your mom .  I hope , you get the help you need.  

Edited October 12, 2022 by NHProud

[Sea Dog]

Well it's going to be down to the wire. I was hoping when I heard the news of a new iPhone 14Pro Max with it's 48 mega pixels camera I could get one before my Liberty sailing this weekend. I ordered it but was told that they would not ship until after I would have left. Now it seems that it has shipped. Apple say it will arrive while on the cruise. UPS the carrier says I should get it by this Thursday before 7PM. I've got me fingers crossed that it comes on Thursday before we leave early Friday morning. It would be nice to do a Live review with the new iPhone and its new camera. The only problem will be uploading the raw photos because each photo could be 50-100mb's. So we shall see.

[Bailey & Sophie]

On 10/10/2022 at 6:54 PM, LucasLikesToCruise said:

 

Good evening everyone,  

I’ve been thinking about the best way to respond since Dani first asked about a month ago. I started to and deleted many replies.  Then when Sunshine asked I figured I would take a few minutes to myself, which I really haven’t had the past couple of months, and join the conversation again. 

The past couple of months have been really hectic and kept me quite busy and frustrated.  From the end of July to the last part of August I had to call EMS twice due to my moms Parkinson’s Disease Psychosis. For a little old lady (barely 5 foot tall on a good day) with dyskinesia from the Parkinson’s she sure could go from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde with no warning.  During the second time in The hospital she was started on Nuplazid, which is specifically for the hallucinations and delusions of PDP.  Since it usually takes four weeks before the effects of Nuplazid are seen, the plan was for her to go to a rehab facility for a few weeks to help build up her strength again as well and work on the doses of her other Parkinson’s meds and Seroquel and Haldol to help with the delusions.  

She was in a good mood when I took her to the rehab place the first evening, she ate well and settled into bed alright.  Well, the next day when I went there, she was a totally different person.  I just didn’t know what else to do anymore, I was beyond frustrated and exhausted from taking care of her 24/7 the past few years.  I spoke with the case manager there about options.  I said I can do almost everything myself with  her at home except when she goes bat ***** crazy on me.  That’s I hated having to call 911 but didn’t have any other options at the time.  She suggested going with a Hospice/Palliative care regimen.  With that we would have all the support that I needed to take care of her at home.  Especially since the last scans showed that the lastest chemo treatments were no longer keeping the tumors in check.  The only other treatments for trip,e negative metastatic breast cancer is very aggressive, and her body wouldn’t tolerate it any longer.

So it’s been about two months now since we’ve started hospice, and she is slowly goi g down hill.  Seems everyday I notice her a bit slower with thinking, moving and talking.  It’s just the nature of the beast with Parkinson’s, dimentia and cancer.  So far the nurse comes twice a week and an aid comes twice a week to help with bathing so it doesn’t fall completely on me.  There are several others in the office for the case manager or social workers that call and check up on how I am doing with everything.  This is the first time in all the years that I have been taking care of her 24/7 that anyone (including family)has asked how I am doing or if there is anything they can do for me.  

Anyways, I didn’t want to this to be long and drawn out, but sometimes I just can’t shut up, maybe it’s because I only have Oliver to talk to on a daily basis for so long LOL.  And I thought that maybe if anyone else is going through that same sort of thing with their fa,I.y members that I could possibly help with any questions.  One thing I will say for sure, hospice is nothing like I thought it was.  
 

So, this has been my life the last few months.  Now that I have a chance to come up for air, I’ll be more likely to join in the regular conversations although I didn’t have any trips planned for obvious reason.😎

 

 

 

My mom recently went into hospice. She is in memory care and it does take some of the pressure off of the regular staff there. Hospice is amazing. 

[HBE4]

6 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

All this baseball talk. Has anyone seen this thread started by Lenny? It looks like he’s trying to keep it going, but needs more participation. 😁

 

 

I need to boost my post count so I limit my Floataway lounge participation. 😁😁😁

[HBE4]

Good night tonight. Rangers beat Tampa 3-1 for a good start to thr hockey season.  Rangers looked good, hungry and aggressive.  They had complete control of the game from the first puck drop. Hope it continues for the next 81 games.

 

Yankees won 4-1 and the Phillies beat Atlanta.  A trifecta night. Could have been a quadfecta night if Seattle could have held a 9th inning lead against Houston.

 

Train ride home was packed with giddy Ranger & Yankee fans. Twas a good night. 👍

[jagsfan]

4 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I went to the doctor today that I waited 6 months to see.I was not expecting a miracle but I hope that he would be able to offer me some form of relief from the Parkinsons.

Ninety minutes of traveling in each direction .We arrived at the medical building and could not find parking.We saw a Valet sign and went to the area but nobody was working there .Then I saw a person leave a spot and we parked.

Less than two minutes to wait to see the doctor.I brought all my recent MRI reports plus the discs,all recent lab results ,all other recent test results.The doctor had absolutely no interest in seeing any of what I brought and no interest in what is ailing me.If I wanted to see him again his next opening was in June.Not a good day .

 

What a huge disappointment!

[brillohead]

Sheesh, you guys.... I'm stuck with the internet on Explorer right now, which makes dial-up look like fiber optic in comparison, and you guys seem to be posting more than ever!  

Starlink is supposed to be installed on Explorer in November, with live trials in December and hoping to be completely switched over by February at the latest (earlier if live trials go well).  

Can't come soon enough, this is driving me bonkers!

I'm in the middle of cruise #2 of 10, and all is well!

Carry on.....

[MJSailors]

Dear Lucas- You have been on quite the life’s journey taking care of your Mom.She is fortunate to have a son who is so dedicated to taking care of her.  Hoping that hospice will give you the support you need in taking care of her. Keep in mind that it is okay to ask for help because the help you receive will help her also.

   My Dad was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s and he passed at 73. I was 27 at the time. Since I am an only child,I helped my Mom care for him at their home for four years. It was often difficult, but it was an act of love and I have never regretted helping my parents in those years.Whenever I think of my Dad, it is not as he was during those last years,but when he was a strong and vital man who loved my mother and me very much.

   My Mom lived to be 93 and spent the last twenty years of her life as a widow. She came to live with my husband and me when it came to the point in her life when she no longer wanted to be alone. Luckily, she retained all her mental faculties as she aged, but had to deal with significant physical problems. During the last three years of her life, we had help from two wonderful aides. I considered theses women angels and they became part of our family. She was a wonderful mother and I considered our taking care of her as a way to thank her for the loving care she gave to me.

   Now, we are supporting a good friend who has been dealing with Parkinson's Disease for a number of years. Recently, he has begun to experience some hallucinations which apparently present as confusion of thought. He sometimes thinks his wife is someone else and he is confused in his house as he is convinced that he is in a former  house that was sold some time ago. At other times,he is like his old self, joking and having good conversations. We feel for his wife who has been caring for him by herself for so many years.They both are dear friends and we try to support them by helping with household tasks,doing errands and sometimes just listening. At times, I wish I had a magic wand that would take the disease away from our friend as then he would have such a pleasant life.

   Whenever I hear of someone who is afflicted with a serious disease such as Alzheimer’s,Parkinson’s ,cancer or other serious diseases, I often think of their caregivers. Since being one for both of my parents, I realize the struggles they face. As someone once said to me, when you see a person in a wheelchair,look up and give the person pushing the wheelchair a smile. That person needs care and support too.

Lucas, I wish you good days as you continue to care for your Mom. When her life journey is over,you will not have regrets over what you did to care for her.

MJ🙋🏻

[MJSailors]

Lenny- I am sorry to read that you did not have a successful appointment with the Parkinson’s doctor. It must have been very deflating to experience his approach.

 As I wrote in my post to Lucas, our friend also has Parkinson’s. He has started to see a doctor who is affiliated with Stonybrook hospital and,so far, he and his wife are pleased with this doctor’s care. If you would like, I could get the name of the doctor for you. 

Not to make light of your recent experience, but I am thinking that you must also be disappointed that the Mets have been put out of the running for a World Series appearance. Well, there’s always next year. Hoping the Yankees will have a better outcome. They won tonight’s game and the Braves lost,so there is hope for an interesting Series, at least for New Yorkers !

 

 

Bonnie- That is not good news that you are experiencing pain in that foot. Although the boot is cumbersome, hoping the support it gives takes some if the pain away and that the podiatrist can offer you some good insight as to what is happening with that foot.

 

@Ozark_Kid- Your dear Kenzie is a beautiful child with a loving heart. She must light up a room wherever she goes. You and your family are blessed to have her in your lives.

 

To all those dealing with illness, pain or discomfort these days, I hope you have some comfort with whatever you are dealing with now. 

To those that celebrated Thanksgiving in Canada- happy holiday!

To those traveling by ship,car or plane,safe journeys and wishes for an enjoyable trip and vacation.

 

Take care everyone !

MJ🙋🏻