Dialysis

[luvmy2kids]

Hi. My husband and I, our two kids, my brother and his girlfriend, and my mom and dad are booked on the Sensation 5 day departing 5/22. My dad just found out yesterday that he has to begin dialysis. They inserted the little tube thing today. Does this mean that he won't be able to go on the cruise? I think its supposed to be 3 times per week. Our cruise departs on a Monday, so he would probably be able to go to a session that morning and we return on a saturday so maybe he can go to a session then. My question is would he be able to miss one session like that? I read about a dialysis center in nassau, but don't know much about this. Please excuse my ignorance, but I really would love my mom and dad to go on this cruise. Its their first cruise and their 25th wedding anniversary this year. Thanks in advance.

[biensur]

Princess Cruises allows dialysis patients to use the medical center for their treatments. (I am not sure about other lines) But I do know that a passenger had a problem once. I don't know anything about dialysis personally, but what hapened was the tubing was the wrong size or had the wrong sized connector. The passenger did not check out all the supplies that were delivered to the ship by the medical supplier he had contracted directly BEFORE HE SAILED and had to be taken off the ship in the next port of call, to fly home for treatment.

 

Contact the head or corporate office and ask to speak to the person responsible for passengers with medical conditions/disabilities. Do not rely on the customer service staff on this one, and double check everything along the way.

[Efisio]

I don't want to be a spoilsport, but as a new dialysis patient, with very little experience of what it all entails, I seriously believe it would be a very unwise decision to travel at this stage.

[cruzbums]

My wife is on peritoneal dialysis and we still cruise. She is not tied to a dialysis machine but we inform the cruise line that we will be bringing supplies aboard and what her situation is.

 

It sounds like your father is on hemiodialysis which involves hooking up to a machine 3 times a week.

 

There is a company called Dialysis AT Sea ( you can go to their website) that provides this service. They only do it on certain ships and cruises and you must have your doctors permission, etc.

 

My suggestion would be to talk to your doctor, the Renal Center that is treating your father and the Dialysis at Sea group.

 

Good luck.

[luvmy2kids]

thank you for your input. its such a new thing for our family. we will talk with his doctors and his center about it. i really hope he can come. thanks again.

[RevSmith]

With a dialysis patient the poisons build up in the body and make the patient ill, it takes approx. 8 to 10 days for a patient to die without dialysis, so as you can see it is a very serious thing. My husband once went without for 4 days, he did not feel well and as soon as we arrived home he was dialized...not a good thing. There is a wonderful organization called Dialysis at Sea. You can find them online. They are located in Largo, Florida. They set up trips for dialysis patients and administer the dialysis on board. My husband and many others have used them successfully many times. They bring their own machines, doctors and nurses on board...your dad will be dialized on a schedule...it works great. Cancel dad's trip, it is an illness, so you will probably get back total refund and look into traveling safely with him on a scheduled dialysis trip with Dialysis at Sea...you won't regret it. Good luck and happy sailing.