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My recent absence

rudeney

By rudeney,
in Royal Caribbean International

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ace2542

ace2542

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, rudeney said:

I wasn't sure I wanted to post this, or what topic to put it under, but here it is.  You may have read my "live" report from Voyager of the Seas the week of October 2nd where my wife Jan and I sailed to New England and Canada.  We had a fantastic cruise and it will leave me with many wonderful lasting memories.  Unfortunately, those will be the last good memories that I will have of Jan.  She passed away on November 3rd. 

 

We returned home Sunday, October 9th.  That following Wednesday night, she was complaining of a sore throat and by Thursday morning she was feeling worse and tested positive for COVID.  Her symptoms were mostly the sore throat and a dry cough (no real congestion).  She wasn't running a fever and had not body aches.  By Saturday morning, I had the same symptoms and was also positive.  My symptoms cleared in a few days, and by the next Wednesday, I was testing negative.  Jan had not gotten any worse, but not any better.  Our doctor had called in a steroid pack and cough syrup, but neither were doing any good.  By Thursday, she was coughing almost continually, but still a dry cough with no congestion.  She was coughing so hard that her chest hurt and she was even having a hard time catching her breath from all of it.  I checked her blood oxygen saturation and it was in the 80's so we went to the ER.  

 

She spent spent two weeks in the hospital, 12 of which were in the ICU.  I kept a blog to keep friends and family updated that is over 40 pages long, but here's the summary version.  Basically, the doctor determined that she had been suffering from a pulmonary embolism for at least a year, based on existing symptoms which were a chronic cough, shortness of breath, and swelling in the feet and legs.  These are all things she had sought treatment for, but no doctor ever put them together and wanted to check or treat her for PE.  She just assumed the shortness of breath was due to age, weight, and lack of exercise.  The cough was sort of left over from a minor cold she had last fall.  COVID basically exacerbated the PE, so they treated her with oxygen and blood thinners.  She had to have high-flow CPAP/BiPAP oxygen delivery and that's whe whe was in the ICU.  After a week in the hospital, she began to improve.  We assumed the PE was breaking up as her oxygen saturation was improving requiring lower levels of delivery.  

 

That improvement only lasted a few days.  She contracted a staph strain of pneumonia and things quickly went downhill.  On Monday, October 31st, we (Jan, me and the medical team) made the decision to sedate and intubate her.  That was the last time I was able to talk to her and after being together for nearly 40 years, there wasn't much we needed to say, but we still took the opportunity to spend time together.  She never really improved and by Thursday, her stats were so bad that I made the decision to remove the life-saving measures and she passed peacefully.  Although I was devastated with losing my wife and my best friend, I was glad that her suffering was over and thankful that it only lasted a few weeks.

 

This in now way makes me afraid of COVID or of cruising.  I truly believe that had she not contracted pneumonia while in the hospital that she would be here today, happy and healthy.  I don't blame anyone for what happened, although I do wish that over the last year, one of her docs would had put together her symptoms and treated her for the PE.  I am not sure when I will cruise again, but I am sure I will.  I am so very glad that we were able to spend time with just the two of us on that last cruise.  I could not image any better way to remember her.  

I am so sorry mate. I will keep you in my prayers.

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Broons77 "Live from...." Rare

Broons77

Posted
Posted

So sorry 😔  As I read your report and saw your pictures from your cruise, I thought to myself how you seemed like such a lovely couple and hoped we would run into each other on a trip some day. So happy for you guys that you had that time together. Deepest condolences to you and your family. ❤️

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