A Fractured LIVE - Fractured My Ankle on Carnival Spirit - In hospital in Cartagena

[TravelBluebird]

Today was a day of rest (I’m not a person who ever sleeps during the day...but today I did sleep through the day). Feeling much stronger already with the crutches; couldn’t even operate them yesterday from exhaustion.  In between naps contacting doctors and other medical stuff (including a pair of crutches that actually shorty here).

 

Some ship gossip from those on board..from 2 different sources I’ve heard that there are 40 case of COVID on the ship, including the ship doctor!  Of course, I had major exposure to the ship’s doctor after my ankle broke.  So far so good though, including my 2 negative COVID tests in Colombia. Haven’t heard of any serious symptoms/cases though. 

 

 

[WhiteOptima]

Glad you are home and feeling better!  Being home when you are sick makes things much better.

[TravelBluebird]

11 hours ago, bigrednole said:

Glad you made it home. I am sure it has been an adventure to say the least. Besides all the updates, I am very curious to hear how the rest of the story goes...the insurance coverage. It is not until you have to deal with insurance you realize how bad it is to deal with them. That was our experience in another situation and I can tell you that insurance companies are only your friend when you are paying them.

 

I will definitely give everyone information how the insurance coverage plays out. Tomorrow I’m going online to get completely updated credit card bills so we don’t miss any charges on there (and to also have firmly in our minds how many american dollars we spent, although Russ was doing some conversions in his head as we got the bills).

 

And then I assume I deal with BCBS here in the states—I have received a referral to an in-network orthopedic surgery group with ankle surgery as a specialty. 

 

My only other major insurance situation was in 1994 after the Northridge Earthquake tore my house apart. The initial offer from the insurance company was $4,000. The actual insurance payout after hiring an adjuster was well over $100,000. Hope this is easier than that was.

[bigrednole]

It helps to see how the different companies manage it. We are not at the point of traveling multiple times a year, but when we do we will get the annual travel insurance. 

[TravelBluebird]

9 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

Glad you're home.  Gate 60 D concourse at MIA is my nightmare gate.  Seems all smaller places gate there.  I once had to walk from there to  rental car agency with a heavy box, carry-on bag, a bad knee and no cane.    Then back again for return flight.  So I empathize with your trek.

 

@crewsweeper Gosh 60D in Miami really is a nightmare gate. The entire process with the wheelchairs and at the gate was  very smooth and professional at the Cartagena airport, and then again the International part of the Miami airport.  Once dropped off at 60D, however, it was chaos. First of all, as mentioned, they don’t have enough wheelchairs so they drop you off at the gate and say they will come back to board you later.  And since 60D is indeed the smaller planes gate (there are, I think like 10 sub-gates) there are not enough seats for disabled people. So I got dumped in a regular seat which was extremely uncomfortable, and had to sit there for 3 hours. My husband arranged for someone to come get me for a bathroom break close to boarding time, but they instead came an hour after we were at the gate.

 

Then finally when we boarded, you board up these rickety ramp things that look like they are from the 1950s. Before the wheelchair assistant wheels me up the thing, I remind him I need an aisle chair (couldn’t walk more than 3 steps yesterday with the crutches). He nods. When we get to the plane’s door, he hands me my crutches. I remind him that I need the aisle chair, and he then tells me that there is ONE for all those 60D gates and its in use somewhere else (!!). My calm husband looks like he’s going to deck the guy, when the very nice flight attendant says “hold on! We have one on the plane behind the food carts.”. He digs it out and I finally get on the plane (again with the entire plane of passengers looking on as I delay their flight). Ugh. American Airlines, do better!

 

And I now REALLY have sympathy for the permanently disabled and their flying situation. I hope it is better for them once they get on a cruise ship.

Edited April 26, 2022 by TravelBluebird

[lazydayz]

OP, there is a wonderful live report being done by a wheelchair user currently on the Wonder of the Seas transatlantic.  She has a great attitude and is giving us a lot of insight as to how cruise ship travel is for wheelchair users.  When you are feeling up to it, you should check it out.  Glad you are getting some much needed rest today.  

[TravelBluebird]

2 hours ago, lazydayz said:

OP, there is a wonderful live report being done by a wheelchair user currently on the Wonder of the Seas transatlantic.  She has a great attitude and is giving us a lot of insight as to how cruise ship travel is for wheelchair users.  When you are feeling up to it, you should check it out.  Glad you are getting some much needed rest today.  

 

@lazydayz I will do that!! Thank you for the recommendation!

[wikoffclan]

On 4/24/2022 at 7:34 PM, ginabab said:

Hi,

 

My experience:

We have a medical supply service here (Apria) 

 

My experience ---fractured my heel stepping in a hole in Havana in 2019. Missed the second day in Cuba but wouldn't have traded the trip for anything. Once I got home I found a "knee scooter" for sale at Walmart. Cost all of $115. Best investment ever. I've since donated it to a church's medical supply "loan closet". Worth every penny I paid and will be useful to others in the future.

 

(BTW - in 1992 I had a 2 year old and broke a foot bone. Put the boy on a leash when we went out and scooted around the house with my knee on an office chair 🙂

[Joe817]

1 minute ago, wikoffclan said:

My experience ---fractured my heel stepping in a hole in Havana in 2019. Missed the second day in Cuba but wouldn't have traded the trip for anything. Once I got home I found a "knee scooter" for sale at Walmart. Cost all of $115. Best investment ever. I've since donated it to a church's medical supply "loan closet". Worth every penny I paid and will be useful to others in the future.

 

(BTW - in 1992 I had a 2 year old and broke a foot bone. Put the boy on a leash when we went out and scooted around the house with my knee on an office chair 🙂

What a great post! Thanks for sharing! 👍

[TravelBluebird]

33 minutes ago, wikoffclan said:

My experience ---fractured my heel stepping in a hole in Havana in 2019. Missed the second day in Cuba but wouldn't have traded the trip for anything. Once I got home I found a "knee scooter" for sale at Walmart. Cost all of $115. Best investment ever. I've since donated it to a church's medical supply "loan closet". Worth every penny I paid and will be useful to others in the future.

 

(BTW - in 1992 I had a 2 year old and broke a foot bone. Put the boy on a leash when we went out and scooted around the house with my knee on an office chair 🙂

We are looking into knee scooters...I’m going to talk to my local orthopedic specialist to make sure it is OK if I use one with a replaced knee. If I do it we’ll either rent or buy a used one (new ones are like $500)

 

Last night and this morning before I got the wheelchair we did just that..hubby wheeled me around in MY office chair!  But goodness, broken foot bone with a 2 year old! I’m having trouble just with my clingy cat!

[TravelBluebird]

The COVID on board the ship was confirmed tonight with letters delivered to all state rooms. No confirmation on the number (ship gossip is 40)  I know someone who is in quarantine and they have been told it’s a 10 day (!!) quarantine. Two areas of the ship with quarantine rooms.

The letters informed the guests of COVID aboard (trust me, they all already knew...news travels fast) and that masks would be required indoors everywhere on the ship except when eating or drinking. All cases so far are mild or asymptomatic.

This seems similar to other, longer Panama Canal cruises recently, and other longer than 7 day ones such as TransAtlantics.

 

And this on a completely vaccinated, boosted, and 2x tested ship.  

 

Such a great crew, and I met so many wonderful passengers on the ship. I’m sorry they are having to go through this (and with so many sea days to follow too).

[Bostwick girl]

Look into your insurance getting the knee scooter for you. My son fell from a ladder about 10’ up, landed on his foot, fractured his heel in 6 pieces. This was a workers comp insurance case, but they bought a knee scooter for him. He was off work for 20 months so it was a huge help for him to get around.

 

[TravelBluebird]

2 hours ago, Bostwick girl said:

Look into your insurance getting the knee scooter for you. My son fell from a ladder about 10’ up, landed on his foot, fractured his heel in 6 pieces. This was a workers comp insurance case, but they bought a knee scooter for him. He was off work for 20 months so it was a huge help for him to get around.

 

 Thanks—we will do this!  We did go ahead and just buy correctly fitting crutches yesterday (theres a medical supply place right near us that we use for my Mom’s care), and we’ll worry about the $$ later. They were only $50, so seemed worth it to get them right away and worry about the details later!

[Schoifmom]

4 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 Thanks—we will do this!  We did go ahead and just buy correctly fitting crutches yesterday (theres a medical supply place right near us that we use for my Mom’s care), and we’ll worry about the $$ later. They were only $50, so seemed worth it to get them right away and worry about the details later!

 

If your insurance won't cover a knee scooter, get one anyway!  They are a lifesaver.  I spent a total of 12 weeks on one after some foot/ankle surgery and couldn't image having to do anything without it.  Check on Amazon and Walmart if you have to pay out of pocket for one.  They have excellent prices.

[EllieinNJ]

You can also post on your local community FB page to see if any religious organizations have one to loan or anyone selling a used one.

[firstcruise92]

I am so glad you made it home safely.  I hope you have a speedy recovery.  

[lazydayz]

1 hour ago, Schoifmom said:

 

If your insurance won't cover a knee scooter, get one anyway!  They are a lifesaver.  I spent a total of 12 weeks on one after some foot/ankle surgery and couldn't image having to do anything without it.  Check on Amazon and Walmart if you have to pay out of pocket for one.  They have excellent prices.

We got ours on Amazon, along with a sheepskin cover for the knee pad and waterproof sealer to protect the cast while showering.  Total cost was about $160.  Well worth it!

[Host Carolyn]

I'm glad you are home safe and on the road to recovery.  Thank you for posting this TravelBlueBird, and thank you everyone for such a thoughtful thread! Le t us know how you're doing

[TravelBluebird]

7 minutes ago, Host Carolyn said:

I'm glad you are home safe and on the road to recovery.  Thank you for posting this TravelBlueBird, and thank you everyone for such a thoughtful thread! Le t us know how you're doing

 

Thank you @Host Carolyn.  I have appreciated everyone’s input and spirit-lifting me on this thread so much. ❤️

 

I am doing well!  I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon/specialist in ankles and I have my prelim appointment tomorrow (for images etc...needed to proceed since we have partial hospital records, and they are in Spanish).  There is pain but much less than I anticipated! Mobility and getting around my house (and where to stay) is a puzzle, since we have a 3 level house (house on a hill). Being laid up for me is by far the hardest part (as people can see from my LIVE blogs, I’m a very active/busy person. Resting/relaxing is always hard for me!

 

I have promised to update everyone with how the insurance works out. Today hubby will be scanning our bills over to Allianz.

[letstrythisplace]

Happy you made it home safe. So sorry you got injured and you had to cut your trip short. I hope you have a full recovery and that the travel insurance pulls through. I was pleased to hear how helpful the cruise line was! We've bought travel insurance for our cruise/trip that starts tomorrow. Hopefully we won't need to use it.

[TravelBluebird]

Would like to correct an earlier post. The captain announced to those on the Spirit this morning that there are 19 COVID cases. Not 40 which was the gossip, although not sure if the 19 includes crew or not. 

 

I hope everyone (except those with covid, of course) on ship can get off the ship in Cabo, since if not they will have 8 straight sea days!

[TravelBluebird]

2 minutes ago, letstrythisplace said:

Happy you made it home safe. So sorry you got injured and you had to cut your trip short. I hope you have a full recovery and that the travel insurance pulls through. I was pleased to hear how helpful the cruise line was! We've bought travel insurance for our cruise/trip that starts tomorrow. Hopefully we won't need to use it.

 

@letstrythisplace So glad you have the travel insurance for your trip tomorrow! Which ship?

 

And Carnival was extremely helpful. I will talk to corporate this week to see if there is any way to recover any of the cost of our trip, or if we can shift the $$ to a Panama Canal trip next year (yep, I’d like to get right back on that horse!)  I realize they are under no obligation to do so, but I’m still going to ask.

 

Big shout-out to their Cartagena local liasion Jair, who was outstanding.  Got us the wheelchair to leave the hotel before we even asked for it, drove us to the airport in his own car so we didn’t have to deal with a taxi, and was extremely kind and helpful for whatever we needed. He used to work as crew for several cruise lines including the old Royal Viking line, and loves the cruise industry, and it showed. 

[letstrythisplace]

Our cruise leaves on Saturday, we'll be on the Carnival Panorama for the Mexican Riviera.

 

I hope they can at least do the second option! The injury did happen on their ship. Jair sounds like a gem. I hope all of the local liaisons are as helpful as he was.

[TravelBluebird]

16 minutes ago, letstrythisplace said:

Our cruise leaves on Saturday, we'll be on the Carnival Panorama for the Mexican Riviera.

 

I hope they can at least do the second option! The injury did happen on their ship. Jair sounds like a gem. I hope all of the local liaisons are as helpful as he was.

 

@letstrythisplace Have a fantastic time! I did the Mexican Riviera once a long time ago on the Carnival Splendor; was a fine cruise! Never been on the Panorama.

[letstrythisplace]

1 minute ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

@letstrythisplace Have a fantastic time! I did the Mexican Riviera once a long time ago on the Carnival Splendor; was a fine cruise! Never been on the Panorama.

 

Thank-you, I've watched many videos it looks like it should be a good time 🤞🏾