Our final day at sea (we had 5 total sea days) found me realizing I had not taken time to capture some of the culinary artwork the chefs had on display for us in the dining room.
The guys sadly went to their last trivial pursuit game. Never won a game. Always gave it their best efforts. And once in a while Patricia or I would know an answer they didn't know and the guys would be shocked. But it was never enough to triumph over the teams who always won.
During lunch an announcement came over the loud speaker informing us the ship was slowing down to investigate what looked like an abandoned ship. Later they confirmed there were no people on board and they had reported the sighting to the coast guard. That was a little bit of excitement in our sea day.
One of our favorite things we did that day was went to an information session called Life @ Sea.
Dan and Chris, the cruise directors, were sharing with us what it is like to live and work on board a cruise ship--from the perspective of those who earn a paycheck doing just that. I always find it hard to believe the employees are willing to be away from their families for so many months at a time.
It was American night in the dining room that evening.
This was my most favorite meal I ate while on the ship--a good old-fashioned turkey dinner.
Baked Alaska presentation by the waiters.
Some of the after-dinner entertainment was listening to the Princess Pop Choir performing. It definitely didn't draw the crowds of spectators like the previous cruise choir Glen had participated in.
There were a measly 5 women and 2 men singing is all. The guy on the end was trying his best to move and shake while using his cane as an anchor to keep himself upright.
Before the evening show, the cruise directors passed out colored balloons to the passengers and pretty soon they were all blown up and were being hit about the room. Quite the festive party atmosphere.
Then we went to bed. When we got up we were back in Ft. Lauderdale and it was time to get off the ship. We went to the airport and waited a while before catching our flight to Atlanta.
Look at poor, sick Patricia. She had decided to take off her seasickness patch the night before because the water was so calm and then she was vomiting all night long. She was still struggling to keep anything in her body all day long.
Since our return home, we have learned she was extremely ill with horrible withdrawal effects of the patch and ended up in the emergency room at the end of the week where they gave her anti-nausea medication. She continued to have a slow recovery the next few days following the hospital visit. Poor girl!!
And across the aisle from sick Patricia was sick me. I never recovered from the Influenza B. My cough kept getting worse and worse. My lungs were being affected with wheezing which caused the coughing to be relentless.
Nothing like trying to suppress consistent coughing while in an airplane knowing all the passengers are absolutely not enjoying listening to a hacker the whole plane ride.
Travel day (Monday, April 28) was the day there was so much damage and destruction in the midwest due to gigantic storms in the area. Our flight from Atlanta was delayed by a couple of hours because of it. I was getting sicker and sicker to my stomach while waiting and by the time we got settled on the plane, I was so absolutely miserable.
I nearly fainted because I had to sit totally upright. All I wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep. I had to defy the stay-in-your-seats-with-your-seat-belts-fastened command because I was going to spew from one end or the other or both and felt like the flight attendants and fellow passengers would rather I do it in the lavatory and not in my seat. It was so awful!!!!!
The extra bad news while I was in such misery was hearing the pilot announce they had to reroute way out of the way to get around the bad weather and it would add more than an hour extra flying time to our already long, cross-country flight. I was about ready to cry hysterically at that point.
I had kept my seasickness patch on all through the day until I went to bed that evening, so I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms when I took my patch off. I do wonder, though, if the patch aggravates my lungs. The past 3 cruises, halfway through, I have started to develop a wheeze and a cough and have had to go on medication once I got home. Don't know if it's a coincidence or not...
Thankfully, we made it to Salt Lake City where Ben was waiting to pick us up at the airport. It was after 11 p.m. by this point in our long day. We had added an extra 2 hours to our day because of the time zone change. It was one of the longest days of my life!
I had made a doctor's appointment for the next day and it was a good thing I had. I was really struggling to breathe because of all the coughing and wheezing. I got put on an antibiotic and prednisone and hoped for it to begin working quickly.
Because of being so worn down and sickly and having absolutely no energy, I must confess that I had Arby's as our dinner not just once,
but twice in the next several days. Ben was popping in and out as he was making his transition moving into a new apartment, interviewing, training and getting things going with his summer internship.
It has been 3 weeks since the beginning of all the ship-board illness. It has been 3 weeks I have been struggling with violent coughing and fighting to breathe. Finally--on day 8 of the antibiotic--I had some relief from the wheezing. Thankfully the coughing is subsiding. It has been a very long haul of feeling weak, exhausted and sick.
Alas, poor Glen is now sick. He actually had recovered from his illness by the end of the cruise and was feeling great when we got home. Then he got a very bad sore throat and a cough a few days later and is now very sick and miserable and is blaming me for making him sick.
I can't blame him for blaming me. I have definitely been a germ fest for a very long time.
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