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

[Coralc]

2 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

California pizza sucks.  I haven't found a good pizza, anywhere in this state, since moving here.  I'm sure it's out there somewhere but I haven't found it.

 

I've pretty much quick all fast food places in CA with a few exceptions. You can get a sit-down meal at Chili's cheaper than you can get a combo McD's or Wendy's. In n Out is still the best fast food value in CA.  Also, I eat from roadside taco trucks a lot... Three Carne Asada Tacos for $6 can't be beat and definitely enough food.  

I think Mountain Mike's has the best pizza (Canadian bacon). Togo's has good sandwiches. But none of it is inexpensive anymore. Since I don't eat hamburgers, we aren't affected by the price increases at many of the chains.  

[h20skibum]

23 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

That is all you need... I have taken my grand kids on a few cruises and all they had was birth certificates.  When checking in online nothing needs to be uploaded you just state what you have and they'l sort it out when you get there.  

 

When you are being checked in they'll take the documents away make copies of them and return them all back to you.  It slows the boarding process by 5 to 10 minutes but not anything serious.  

 

Enjoy Navigator, she is quickly becoming one of favorites.  I've got 4 booked on her over the next 10 months.

Thanks Dave.  That is good to know.  We are going on Utopia, and not Navigator, but we will need to check in while we are still in California.  I would like to time one of our trips to California to take a coastal cruise, either on Navigator or one of the Princess ships. 

[TravelGirlinDallas]

Someone is “helping” me work from home today. 😁

[Sea Dog]

Back home after a long day. Everything went well despite my nerves and anxiety.

 

Glad I got the sedation and was put completely out. Unfortunately it took 4 tries to get an IV in. First time no luck, second time no luck then a vein specialist came in with ultra sound and got in. Then right as they administering anesthesia the doc noticed the line had become clogged or something and that line taken out and a new one put into my hand.

 

They put me to sleep outside the room so I didn’t even see the MRI machine which was good.

 

I got the results back this afternoon and while I don’t understand it all it looks like 2 areas where rated PI-Rads 2 which is Low (clinically significant cancer is unlikely to be present) and one area was rated PI-Rads 3 which is 

Intermediate (the presence of clinically significant cancer is equivocal)

I had to look up equivocal to see exactly what that meant and it says “not clear and seeming to have two opposing meanings, or confusing and able to be understood in two different ways.”

 

It sounds also like they recommend doing a biopsy which is what I thought the MRI was supposed to bypass doing that. Either way it looks like I have going to have more visits to deal with this.

 

Back home now and having trouble urinating like I did after hernia surgery and eventually went to the ER and had a catheter put in. I am going a little bit better now. Hopefully my system will wake up from the anesthesia and I know they pumped me through with a lot of fluids. No drinking tonight and just sips of water to stay hydrated. Hopefully I will get batter.

 

Thank you my friends for all the well wishes and concern. I love you all very much.

 

 

[firefly333]

8 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Back home after a long day. Everything went well despite my nerves and anxiety.

 

Glad I got the sedation and was put completely out. Unfortunately it took 4 tries to get an IV in. First time no luck, second time no luck then a vein specialist came in with ultra sound and got in. Then right as they administering anesthesia the doc noticed the line had become clogged or something and that line taken out and a new one put into my hand.

 

They put me to sleep outside the room so I didn’t even see the MRI machine which was good.

 

I got the results back this afternoon and while I don’t understand it all it looks like 2 areas where rated PI-Rads 2 which is Low (clinically significant cancer is unlikely to be present) and one area was rated PI-Rads 3 which is 

Intermediate (the presence of clinically significant cancer is equivocal)

I had to look up equivocal to see exactly what that meant and it says “not clear and seeming to have two opposing meanings, or confusing and able to be understood in two different ways.”

 

It sounds also like they recommend doing a biopsy which is what I thought the MRI was supposed to bypass doing that. Either way it looks like I have going to have more visits to deal with this.

 

Back home now and having trouble urinating like I did after hernia surgery and eventually went to the ER and had a catheter put in. I am going a little bit better now. Hopefully my system will wake up from the anesthesia and I know they pumped me through with a lot of fluids. No drinking tonight and just sips of water to stay hydrated. Hopefully I will get batter.

 

Thank you my friends for all the well wishes and concern. I love you all very much.

 

 

Well I am happy to see your post and no positive for sure cancer. They always have trouble finding my veins. They say hydrate and drink lots of water thru night before helps with them sticking a needle in you. I just had cataract surgery and even though thru dont put you to sleep they do anesthesia to numb you up. And my gp they have trouble every time. If you need to again, drink as  much water the night before as you can. I have the same issue. More hydration they keep saying. 

 

Getting a biospsy ouch, more fun times. Sorry. Even if I dont always respond I have been reading along. Best wishes for continued no cancer. 

[StanleyandGus]

13 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

It sounds also like they recommend doing a biopsy which is what I thought the MRI was supposed to bypass doing that. Either way it looks like I have going to have more visits to deal with this.

At least they know exactly where to look. I’m sorry you’re going through this- it does seem to be one thing after another.

 

Hopefully, the biopsy won’t show anything.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

29 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I am going a little bit better now. Hopefully my system will wake up from the anesthesia and I know they pumped me through with a lot of fluids. No drinking tonight and just sips of water to stay hydrated. Hopefully I will get batter.

I'm sorry you are still having problems afterward. I hope your doctor will be able to put your mind at ease when you meet with him to discuss the results. Hang in there.

[Sea Dog]

35 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Well I am happy to see your post and no positive for sure cancer. They always have trouble finding my veins. They say hydrate and drink lots of water thru night before helps with them sticking a needle in you. I just had cataract surgery and even though thru dont put you to sleep they do anesthesia to numb you up. And my gp they have trouble every time. If you need to again, drink as  much water the night before as you can. I have the same issue. More hydration they keep saying. 

 

Getting a biospsy ouch, more fun times. Sorry. Even if I dont always respond I have been reading along. Best wishes for continued no cancer. 

What makes matters worse is that they say no food or drink after midnight when having anesthesia. So that could have been a factor. Thanks for your well wishes.

[jmh2006]

@Sea Dog  Glad you got through it and are home.  Sounds like you should always request a vein specialist in the future rather than getting stuck repeatedly.  It is a double edged sword, drink to get your veins plump, no drink or food after midnight 🤣  I hope they don't have to do a biopsy but maybe it would be good to have a definitive answer.  Thinking of you my friend!

[Ocean Boy]

21 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

What makes matters worse is that they say no food or drink after midnight when having anesthesia. So that could have been a factor. Thanks for your well wishes.

No food your drink because they don't want you to vomit and risk compromising your airway or aspirating the stuff into your lungs.

[Sea Dog]

7 minutes ago, jmh2006 said:

@Sea Dog  Glad you got through it and are home.  Sounds like you should always request a vein specialist in the future rather than getting stuck repeatedly.  It is a double edged sword, drink to get your veins plump, no drink or food after midnight 🤣  I hope they don't have to do a biopsy but maybe it would be good to have a definitive answer.  Thinking of you my friend!

 

In the past they have usually gone in on my hand. Not sure why the did the arm this time. The vein specialist used the ultra sound and got a good vein. Not sure why it clogged as they started anesthesia. Nothing is ever easy with me.

 

 

3 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

No food your drink because they don't want you to vomit and risk compromising your airway or aspirating the stuff into your lungs.

 

Thats my understanding. Yes that could be serious and could cause death.

[HBE4]

7 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

Check you bookings if you buy the deluxe beverage package.  Best sale I have seen in a long time.  My upcoming Odyssey cruise had the deluxe beverage package for $59.99/day.

 

Thank you for the heads-up. I just checked mine & it's still $69.99/day (reg price $100) same as it was when I booked my cruise. 

 

In the past (5 years ago), the low $50 range was always by cutoff point. I actually was thinking of posting a question here to ask "Is $70 the new $50?" 😄

 

I'll probably go ahead & buy it. I've always broke-even with the deluxe beverage package, give or take $30-$40 either way. I just like the convenience of buying what I want, when I want & wherever I want and not wonder if I should have bought the package. Plus, it lets my try new drinks and if I don't like it, I won't feel guilty of throwing a $14 dollar drink away. With 4 sea days & a Coco Cay, I'm sure I'll get my money's worth on my upcoming Adventure cruise.

 

[George C]

7 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

In the past they have usually gone in on my hand. Not sure why the did the arm this time. The vein specialist used the ultra sound and got a good vein. Not sure why it clogged as they started anesthesia. Nothing is ever easy with me.

 

 

 

Thats my understanding. Yes that could be serious and could cause death.

Greg what were your psa test ? I didn’t have my biopsy until it was at 6.0 , first biopsy by doctor in hospital with me totally out they couldn’t find a thing .

 

[HBE4]

7 hours ago, h20skibum said:

I know we will be taking our son out for Father’s Day, but not sure where.  
 

Too bad they don’t have one of these here.

 

 

This has been one of my favorite places.  Of course, adding to my duck collection may have something to do with it.  

 

Nearest one to me is 97 miles away.   Warm, sunny days, clear skies and low humidity this weekend might mean putting the top down on the old Saab convertible and take a road trip to PA. Maybe pickup some fireworks at Phantom Fireworks which seem to be at the first exit of every highway that crosses into PA.

 

 

Edited June 14 by HBE4

[Sea Dog]

10 minutes ago, George C said:

Greg what were your psa test ? I didn’t have my biopsy until it was at 6.0 , first biopsy by doctor in hospital with me totally out they couldn’t find a thing .

 

Here was the latest:

Recent PSA value(s): 3/11/2024 6.18 ng/mL.

[George C]

5 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Here was the latest:

Recent PSA value(s): 3/11/2024 6.18 ng/mL.

My brother who is about your age has about the same psa he is just monitoring it , I do blood test every 6 months for multiple reasons , was happy  that I was able to avoid the surgery with radiation. Good luck.

[Sea Dog]

1 minute ago, George C said:

My brother who is about your age has about the same psa he is just monitoring it , I do blood test every 6 months for multiple reasons , was happy  that I was able to avoid the surgery with radiation. Good luck.

Thanks my friend. I hope that will be my case too. May end up getting Turp procedure or water ablation. I hear the ablation is less evasive.

[Lionesss]

@Sea Dog

 

Glad you are home and the test was completed. 
 

Before I retired our  company also provided anesthesia services for MRI. 
 

We were there 90% of the time for people who had difficulty being in the tunnel and felt closed in. 
The other 10% was for people who suffered from back pain and the restrictions of the narrow tube made it difficult to get comfy. 
 

In saying that I must say we had a history of pulling out the “big guns” of sedation to get a satisfactory level.
 

It was not uncommon to administer 2-3 times the typical anesthesia dosages to attain a satisfactory level. 
 

Our people had to go to sleep and maintain their own airway and keep breathing on their own without any breathing tubes. Our hospital did not let us do that for insurance reasons. 
The only people who were completely on ventilators were patients who were already intubated from intensive care. And we were not there. No need to be. They were already drugged because of the breathing tube. 
 

It was a fine line of sleeping and not knowing anything to stop breathing. 
 

We used a cocktail if drugs. 
 

Just listing for your FYI. 

 

Glycopyralate -dry mouth. Safe airway

 

Ketamine— Dissociative anesthesia. Drug gets bad rap date rape  drug. Forms of it used for animal  anesthesia   (woof). Can cause bad dreams. 

 

Versed. Sedative. Causes loss of memory. Also prevents bad dreams from ketamine. 

Alfentanyl narcotic.  Able to tolerate flat tube and laying still. 
 

Propofol. (Michael Jackson) drug. Crème d la crème. Causes sweet dreams. 
 

And finally the skills of your anesthesia provider monitoring and doing a balancing act to keep you in the safest possible way. 
Emergency supplies at my side. 
Ear plugs in my ears as I sit by your side in the room with the emergency shut off button in my hand. 
 

These are one of the hardest assignments for  anesthesia. 
 

We rotate this and usually are assigned every other month. 
 

Phew!!!!!

Thats what I did. Amongst other things. 
 

But now. I do other fun things with the spouse. Like cruising. 
 

This weekend a land cruise. 
Roughing it camping. 
 

Be safe. 

[h20skibum]

37 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Here was the latest:

Recent PSA value(s): 3/11/2024 6.18 ng/mL.

Greg, I hope you can avoid a biopsy.  One out of three I had done was a horror. Don’t know if you are on any drugs for it, but they double mine to figure what the actual psa would be without. 
 

Last time I was in, my doctor said it was up to me if I wanted to continue psa screening. He said they usually don’t recommend screening after 70, because any cancer would be slow growing, and you would die from something else before it became a problem.

 

 I said I am healthy and plan to live at least another 25 years, so I still do the yearly screening.  

[Sea Viewer]

@Sea Dog Greg, a biopsy while invasive and not something to have on your bucket list will give you more information to make treatment decisions. If negative continue with checking PSA, If positive, the Gleason Score will help guide further treatment decisions as you will know how aggressive the cancer is. This is obviously very worrying but it is not an emergency so take the time to make the right decision for you,

 

M

 

  

[Momof3gurlz]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Back home after a long day. Everything went well despite my nerves and anxiety.

 

Glad I got the sedation and was put completely out. Unfortunately it took 4 tries to get an IV in. First time no luck, second time no luck then a vein specialist came in with ultra sound and got in. Then right as they administering anesthesia the doc noticed the line had become clogged or something and that line taken out and a new one put into my hand.

 

They put me to sleep outside the room so I didn’t even see the MRI machine which was good.

 

I got the results back this afternoon and while I don’t understand it all it looks like 2 areas where rated PI-Rads 2 which is Low (clinically significant cancer is unlikely to be present) and one area was rated PI-Rads 3 which is 

Intermediate (the presence of clinically significant cancer is equivocal)

I had to look up equivocal to see exactly what that meant and it says “not clear and seeming to have two opposing meanings, or confusing and able to be understood in two different ways.”

 

It sounds also like they recommend doing a biopsy which is what I thought the MRI was supposed to bypass doing that. Either way it looks like I have going to have more visits to deal with this.

 

Back home now and having trouble urinating like I did after hernia surgery and eventually went to the ER and had a catheter put in. I am going a little bit better now. Hopefully my system will wake up from the anesthesia and I know they pumped me through with a lot of fluids. No drinking tonight and just sips of water to stay hydrated. Hopefully I will get batter.

 

Thank you my friends for all the well wishes and concern. I love you all very much.

 

 

Glad to hear there was nothing glaring in the report Greg.  The biopsy won’t be pleasant for sure - we have a good friend who has one every year - but better to get a firm answer to know where things stand. I hope you start feeling better soon so you can enjoy a nice, well deserved cocktail!

[Luckynana]

9 hours ago, h20skibum said:

I am still trying to wrap my head around some of these crazy prices in California, since they created that high minimum wage for fast food workers.

We ordered this for a lunch one day our grandson was home from school early.  What a $37 pizza looks like.  

 

I was not impressed.  
 

Last night, we decided to order in five meals from Chick Fil A.  Total cost for five chicken sandwiches, a drink and a side was $140.   I don’t know how these places will keep in business. 

 

These prices are insane!🤬

 

On another note, where do you get your energy, Mark?  Painting rooms, staining a deck....what a great Dad you are!

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

What makes matters worse is that they say no food or drink after midnight when having anesthesia. So that could have been a factor. Thanks for your well wishes.

But still do hydrate before midnight or you go to bed. I forgot and had some coffee with creme before the anesthesia and I was ok. I think it's a just in case kind of thing. 

 

I started to worry again about my friends hubby after your post. I called just now and he got on the phone. Monitoring every 6 months some kind of levels. And its only in one quadrant of his prostrate. And then he said his dad died of prostate cancer so all this slow growing dont worry we are monitoring it didnt make me feel better. I guess the word csncer worries me. Or well his dad made it's to 93 before he died of prostate cancer. Like that's acceptable. I just talked to him on the phone.

 

So if I'm extra worried about you forgive me, I'm a worrier. It's a fear I have of that in particular.

[helen haywood]

I just got a kitty hug!!

 

 

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, helen haywood said:

I just got a kitty hug!!

 

 

That's a really big kitty!