The Trip that Almost Wasn't!

Despite the pain, I look incredibly happy.  Dogs will do that to me!

Two months ago today I was lying in the hospital staring at the ceiling, experiencing some of the most excruciating pain I'd ever had. That morning they had diagnosed me first with a bulging disc, and then worse yet, with a broken sacrum.  After trips to the ER on two consecutive days, they finally admitted me, and the MRI they performed the next morning verified that I was not exaggerating my pain level!   

For those who don't know about the sacrum, this is a bone in the lower back that connects to the pelvic bones.  Together the three form a sort of "bowl" that supports the torso.  So a broken sacrum is an extremely painful situation!  At that point I began to see dreams of a Grand Africa & Mediterranean cruise wafting out the window into the cold January air!  Neither Chuck nor I wanted to cancel, but we really didn't see how we'd be able to do the cruise. 

However, both my orthopedic surgeon (who doesn't do backs) and the pain doctor refused to rule it out.  The orthopedic surgeon knew of a relatively rare procedure called a sacroplasty that might help.  The pain doctor, who was in charge of my case, did some research and discovered that, while they didn't do this procedure in the hospital where I'd been admitted, there was someone at a neighboring hospital who did!  He arranged to have me transferred, and the following morning I had another MRI and spoke with the Interventional Radiologist who would do the procedure.  He assured me that although the procedure only worked about 50% of the time, it was a relatively safe procedure.  I decided to take the chance and had the procedure done that same morning.

Very fortunately I was in the 50% where the procedure worked.  By the end of the day, I was able to stand up with somewhat less pain.  By the time I left the hospital I was managing to walk with a walker, though the pain was still pretty bad.

To make a long story short, after leaving the hospital, I spent two weeks in a rehab center, and had three weeks of home therapy before starting outpatient therapy.  All of my therapists felt confident that I'd be sufficiently mobile to do the cruise.  The pain doctor examined me and gave me the go-ahead - with certain limitations.  I was to take a wheelchair, my walker, and my cane, and I was not to do anything that might jeopardize my progress.  No worries there.  I do not want to start over with this process!   I priced the rental and purchase of wheelchairs and discovered that purchase was more economical. So now I own a wheelchair.  (Just what I wanted???)

Normally we start packing a couple of months in advance, but I didn't get doctor's approval until February 18th.  Our luggage was picked up today.  That gave us just over two weeks to get ourselves packed.  But we did it!  Chuck has been a wonderful help in getting things done for me when I couldn't.  We both had great incentive - a trip we'd been planning for about 18 months!

The luggage is now on its way to Fort Lauderdale, and we will be heading out in a few days. 

Bottom line:  I'm thrilled to be able to go!  We are looking forward to the trip, and we are especially pleased to have our friend Alice, whom we met on the 2012 Grand World and again on the 2013 Grand World sharing a table with us at dinner!  I will not be going out and about nearly as much as I have in the past so these blog entries will not be quite the same. I have a feeling Chuck will be doing most of the writing.  In addition, this is a much more port-intensive cruise, and there may not be time to do a blog for each port. But at least we will make an attempt to share our adventures with you.

So, the adventure begins... A week from today we will be in Florida relaxing (hopefully) for a couple of days before boarding the ms Prinsendam for our Grand Africa and Mediterranean cruise, followed by a two-week extension, Iberian and Gallic Explorer.

BT