Cruising with TPN

[Trixie21]

Has anyone recently cruised while on TPN or similar?

Specifically on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean,  although your general experience on whatever cruise line would be welcomed.

My wife is on HPN , although she is able to eat and drink small amounts of specific foods and drinks as well.

She administers her own fluids at home overnight and is free to do what she is able during the day.

I just wondered about the logistics of storing the fluid bags on the ship (they need to be chillled) - she requires one bag per day.

There is also the issue of flights and getting the PN bags to the ship.

We are from the UK and have cruised quite a lot on Royal but this medical issue is new to my wife and she doesn't want to give up her cruises lol.

We are probably looking at departures ex Southampton to make things a bit easier so we would consider any cruise line really who could offer what we want and guarantee to provide chilled storage for the bags etc.

Another point is how insurance reacted to such a condition?

Any input at all is welcome.

[jaz33]

Hi, I've just replied to you on my old thread regarding this.  Don't be daunted by cruising with TPN.  Yes it is a little more work and preparation but well worth it.  Email me and we can discuss it further boyes(dot)ian(at)gmail(dot)com 

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Ian

[RusticSeagull]

@Trixie21 & @jaz33

Thank you both for your TPN info here and on the jaz33 thread.  I am in the midst of arranging TPN for my wife on B2B 7-day cruises on the Anthem out of Southampton in May (2023).  We are from the US, so her TPN must be refrigerated and has a shelf life of just over a week.  We are looking onto it, but it looks like the only way to get a 2 week supply is have it shipped by the infusion company directly to Royal at the beginning of each cruise.  Not sure if we can get this to work.  Her TPN cycle is 14 hours 5 days a week.

ART

[Trixie21]

3 hours ago, RusticSeagull said:

@Trixie21 & @jaz33

Thank you both for your TPN info here and on the jaz33 thread.  I am in the midst of arranging TPN for my wife on B2B 7-day cruises on the Anthem out of Southampton in May (2023).  We are from the US, so her TPN must be refrigerated and has a shelf life of just over a week.  We are looking onto it, but it looks like the only way to get a 2 week supply is have it shipped by the infusion company directly to Royal at the beginning of each cruise.  Not sure if we can get this to work.  Her TPN cycle is 14 hours 5 days a week.

ART

Hi

Yes there is going to be a lot of organisation. 

Regarding the shelf life of the TPN , when my wife was in hospital here in the UK the shelf life of the TPN bags was 7 days. But now that she is administering it at home herself they have a longer shelf life (I know it is at least 2 weeks). This makes organising supplies much easier - is a longer shelf life TPN not available in the US?

[RusticSeagull]

17 hours ago, Trixie21 said:

Hi

Yes there is going to be a lot of organisation. 

Regarding the shelf life of the TPN , when my wife was in hospital here in the UK the shelf life of the TPN bags was 7 days. But now that she is administering it at home herself they have a longer shelf life (I know it is at least 2 weeks). This makes organising supplies much easier - is a longer shelf life TPN not available in the US?

 

@Trixie21  Thanks for your reply.  As far as I can tell, the FDA controls the expiration and it is set at 9 days.  There are advocates who are trying to change it (see link below) but due to current restrictions, only 1 week of supplies can be distributed by infusion companies.  Our infusion company: https://optioncarehealth.com/ is no different.

 

TPN Advocate:  http://tpnstrong.com/current-issues-for-tpn-consumers/

[jaz33]

Hi

 

In the UK the nutrition team are able to prescribe what are commonly called ‘off the shelf’ bags. These are TPN bags that are stable at room temperature. The different components of the medication are separated into separate chambers in the bag and before using the internal seals are broken to mix the components together before infusing. It sounds more complicated than it actually is. These bags have a long shelf life (6 months +). Are these available to you?  Also, the last time I checked, Royal Caribbean don’t have medical refrigeration to store the cold bags, therefore our only option is to take the off the shelf bags. 
 

I hope this helps. 
 

regards

 

ian. 

[kokopelli-az]

1 hour ago, jaz33 said:

Also, the last time I checked, Royal Caribbean don’t have medical refrigeration to store the cold bags, therefore our only option is to take the off the shelf bags. 

Royal Caribbean has medical refrigeration but you have to notify them 30 days in advance that you will need this.  

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising/equipment

[jaz33]

Thanks for this. The last time I asked Royal Caribbean they did say they had medical fridges but only he small table top type to keep temperature sensitive medication in, such as as insulin.  Unfortunately these are not big enough to hold 14 x 2.5 litre bags of TPN.

 

The next time we cruise I will ask again just in case this has changed.

 

Thanks again

 

Ian

[Trixie21]

On 2/12/2023 at 4:00 PM, RusticSeagull said:

@Trixie21 & @jaz33

Thank you both for your TPN info here and on the jaz33 thread.  I am in the midst of arranging TPN for my wife on B2B 7-day cruises on the Anthem out of Southampton in May (2023).  We are from the US, so her TPN must be refrigerated and has a shelf life of just over a week.  We are looking onto it, but it looks like the only way to get a 2 week supply is have it shipped by the infusion company directly to Royal at the beginning of each cruise.  Not sure if we can get this to work.  Her TPN cycle is 14 hours 5 days a week.

ART

Hi

I hope you don't mind me asking if you managed to organise your back to back anthem cruises with your wife's TPN?

I hope it all worked out and you had a great time!

My wife's condition deteriorated over the first half of this year so we decided to not risk any holidays until next year when hopefully things will have settled back down a little.

We are starting to look at next year and are currently looking at Princess from Southampton as they have been able to give an assurance they can store the TPN in a fridge , whereas Royal have not been able to give me that assurance,

If they were able to do it for you that would be of great help to us as we are diamond plus with Royal and my wife would prefer to stay with them .

I