My wife almost died...That's why we cruise every year!

[manmtnmike]

Good morning, to all who cruise with a profound purpose...and not just for the destinations, as great as they can be!

 

Make the choice to enjoy the moment and each experience of life.:)

Mike

[FritzG]

The young man at my library said he was jealous when I was checking out guide books for several countries. I told him to work hard, save his money, be lucky enough to get a good pension, and he could do it too. We did all of those things, and now we can afford to cruise and enjoy what we worked for all our lives.

Edited March 18, 2010 by FritzG

[jimandsteph1070]

because like most people life is too short. Being in ny during 9/11 and having a dh that work down there for 18 months I want memories of good times. not bad .

[ballawana13]

My DW and I will be celebrating our 30th Anniversary this year. We had talked about going to Italy for our next vacation (her family is from Italy and spoke Italian at home) and this was the year for our anniversary trip (family issues 5 years ago prevented us from doing much for our 25th). We saw specials advertised in January for a Mediterranean cruise that hit all the key points in Italy but also Nice, Athens and other ports. We had never been on a cruise as my DW is afraid that her normal motion sickness (cars, boats, planes, you name it) will cause her to feel trapped and sick for the duration of the cruise. We went to Hawaii for my 50th birthday and she wore the patch. It helped for the flights and when we were whale watching. She had no hints of motion sickness.

 

Late last year my dear MIL fell and broke her hip and passed away this year at the end of January. She had never been in the hospital and lived 94 years. We decided to spend the few dollars we got from her inheritance on excursions on our cruise and will keep her mother's memories alive. We look forward to cruising this fall and hope to do many more.

[bsblindab]

We are married 37years this year..and like most people first you get married, have kids, work hard, put kids through college and get them married. Our plan was on our 25th to go on a trip to Switzerland..well for some reason or another,,we never made it and planned on a cruise for our 30th..that came and we had 2 weddings and one off to college that year..(everytime we had money put away the kids "smelled" it) The year prior my husband was put out on medical disability at age 52 and still is. My husband had a knee replacement and when our 35th anniversery came around we FINALLY went on a 5 day cruise..loved it (didn't let the kids know about our savings) My husband went into the hospital 3wks later to have the other knee replaced. We loved the cruising so much, but can't afford to do it every year..but this August for our 37th anniversery we are going to Alaska for a 7day cruise, and have plans for in 5yrs when I turn 60 and God willing retire, go on a Med cruise. They are something special..and even if we don't cruise every year..we try to do "something" for vacation now..as kids we really didn't go on any...and now the grandkids are old enough to come on vacation with us..Maybe it's not the amount of time you spend with them..but the Quality of time you spend together and memories made will be what keeps you going..

[Jan_In_Maine]

We too will be celebrating our 37th anniversary in August (the 18th) --- 1973 was a wonderful year! Jan

[manmtnmike]

Here's hoping we appreciate our wives and mothers.

This mother's day....Give them the gift that keeps on crusin'...

the "I thank you" of love.:)

[Jahla Jahla]

I find that there are two ways that families are. You get married and have kids right away, or you get married, and wait to have kids. We had our kids early in the marriage. So by the time I was in early 40's we were still young enough to travel. We made a lot of land trips over the pond, and in 04 found cruising. We made 7 cruises in 4 years. I am soon going on my 8th with my kids. My DH will make his last cruise also. He passed away 3 weeks ago with complications from COPD. My plans are to spread his ashes at sea. He spent most of his life in the Navy and we spent a lot of our time traveling on the sea and over the sea. I am glad that I have wonderful memories of all of our travels. It looks like I may be a solo traveler in the future because I just don't want to stop traveling.

[katieralph]

Heart surgery in the future. 46 years married to the same fellow; always traveled. Cruising an easy choice. Cardiologist amazed how slow my problem is progressing. Could it be the sea air?

[pinkie1]

I find that there are two ways that families are. You get married and have kids right away, or you get married, and wait to have kids. We had our kids early in the marriage. So by the time I was in early 40's we were still young enough to travel. We made a lot of land trips over the pond, and in 04 found cruising. We made 7 cruises in 4 years. I am soon going on my 8th with my kids. My DH will make his last cruise also. He passed away 3 weeks ago with complications from COPD. My plans are to spread his ashes at sea. He spent most of his life in the Navy and we spent a lot of our time traveling on the sea and over the sea. I am glad that I have wonderful memories of all of our travels. It looks like I may be a solo traveler in the future because I just don't want to stop traveling.

 

I am so sorry for you loss:( I hope you will be comforted by those who are close to you.

 

As a nurse I see how life can be cut short at any time. My girlfriend, who is a hospice nurse, mentioned that we can work really hard all our lives and when we retire have the money to travel but may not have the health to travel.

So true, so I've decided to not wait. I have been very blessed to have gone on some extravegant vacations (cruise and land trips) and I'm only 37, and I will continue as long as I can afford it. We still are very careful with our money (no debt, contributing to our retirement accts, etc). Growing up we didn't have money and never got to see the world. Even though my son is only 7 I want to make sure that he has the opprotunity to see some historical sites that I had always dreamed of.

 

Crusing is the perfect vacation because you only unpack once and see more than one place!

[annecolorgreen]

I lost my mom to cancer when I was 13 years old. She was 46 and it was the night before my parent's 25th wedding anniversary. They had planned to go to Hawaii for their 25th...as long as I could remember...and didn't make it.

 

God willing, my husband and I will sail in September to Hawaii for our 25th. Throughout our marriage, we've made it a priority to vacation together--alone--reasonably often. (we do vacation with the kids too...and did do a Disney cruise with them) Our favorite vacation is to cruise!

[ger_77]

Jahla Jahla, I am so sorry for your loss - I can't begin to imagine how you are feeling. What a nice thing you are doing in your DH's honour by spreading his ashes at sea - a place where you and he created those beautiful memories. My prayers are with you and your family for comfort, peace, smiles, and much more travel in the future to create new memories to accompany the old.

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

[BlueCat1105]

I just found this thread, and like the original poster stated, we began cruising after I had a near-death experience that began as a bout of the flu. You know, since the H1N1 and the bird flu scares brought it to the attention of the world, people now seem to have read a lot more about how deadly the flu can be, but prior to that, there was the story of the 1918 influenza epidemic that people just seem to have put out of their collective minds on purpose possibly, due to the horrendousness of that pandemic.

 

I caught the flu in January of 2005. OK, fine, I thought. I'm sick and I have to go to work because it's busy (I worked in a payroll department at the time, and year-end and W2s are big issues in January). We were also going to be short handed because a coworker was going to have to take some time off to be with their DIL, who was having pregnancy complications. Just regular life, I guess, was making me go in to work when I should have been listening to the distress signs. We were in that "work, work, work" mode too because he had lost a job when the tech stocks took a nose dive, and had only just found another in January. Just a couple of days prior to the coworker's scheduled time off, I said "you know, I'm going to take this Thursday and Friday off to try and kick this," and emailed them Wednesday evening of Ground Hog's Day to say that I'd be taking those two days off sick. "See you Monday!" I said.

 

Well, Thursday the coughing and shortness of breath got worse, and I began to feel an uneasiness when I laid down - as if my heart were beating funny. DH had the flu at the same time, so he was home for a couple of days too. He had gone to the emergency room because it was after hours on Wednesday, and they gave him some fluids and sent him home. He kept saying that it made him feel so much better - maybe I needed to be seen. No, I'll be OK. Then I relented on Friday afternoon and he took me to the local ER, where I sat for a couple of hours before being seen. When I walked in to the room and the ER doctor came in, he began asking me questions and poking around, and all of a sudden he's got me in a bear hug, perspiration streaming down his brow, slapping my face and asking pointed questions about my husband's cell phone number (he had stepped out for a breath of air and I guess they couldn't find him). I thought at the time, 'here I am - finally able to doze off and he's slapping me to wake me up!' but actually I was losing consciousness due to septic shock and double pneumonia. Every major organ was failing.

 

It was touch and go after that for 5 days in ICU, and several more in the heart ward. DNR orders were signed because they were relatively sure I was going to "throw a clot" and that would be the end. Then they sent me home for a short time, but I ended up back for another week, where they had to shock my heart and other unpleasantries. To ice the cake, due to all this - possibly due to the cardioversion - my vocal chord became paralyzed for the next 7 months.

 

To make my long story only a little longer, after three months I was able to return to work with my funny little voice remaining until after Halloween, but I was not cleared by the last of the specialists until two years after the original illness. In the meantime, doctors found a cancerous tumor on my husband's face, which also led to several plastic surgeries and many worries.

 

We booked our first cruise to the Mediterranean for our 20th anniversary in 2007, because we hadn't really ever gone on vacations (we were frugal), but after that ordeal, we both realized how fleeting life can be and what in the world were we waiting for???

 

THAT'S why we cruise! :D

Edited July 15, 2010 by BlueCat1105

[manmtnmike]

WOW! ...There is just no good reason to ignore the opportunities to celebrate with those who are close to us!

 

As we just returned from our wonderful Carnival Valor cruise, I'm looking for our next one, while my wife just shook her head and laughed.

 

Anyone else know what I'm talkin about?:)

 

Mike

[equusvilla]

I know exactly what you are talking about. DH starts his second round of chemo (much more aggresive) after we return from our cruise. It will likely last for a year. We wanted to take this cruise now so that :

 

1. We can do something exciting and fun that he can reflect on this next year..and

 

2. Plan our next cruise to give him something extra wonderful to look forward to!

[MiamiSpartan]

A lot of touching stories here...

OP, our story is nowhere close to yours....and thank God your story turned out well..!

The main reason we cruise, aside from the opportunity to spend quality time together is we CANNOT STAND TO FLY ANYMORE!!

Fortunately, we live in South Florida, so we have the ability to drive to the ports and not have to deal with the hassles of the TSA...

[manmtnmike]

Someone had asked me where this thread had gone...glad I found it!

Anyone else?

 

Mike

[bubbles61]

We have always made sure thast we took vacations while our son was growing up and now that he is married him and his wife of 5 years travel all over. They have been to China and the Great Wall and Japan and many other trips each year. We have booked our first cruise on Carnival Spirit for March 11/11 and can't wait, it is a belated 40th Anniversary present. We retired early in our early fifties and have travelled to Lake Havasu every year since and stay 4 months. If anything should happen to either of us we would have no regrets as we have done so much together and find that each year our love for each other grows stronger.:):):)

[PROCRUISE]

I survived a car accident that killed my DH. It was then that I realized just how precious our family and our lives are. I have since remarried and we have cruised together, taken our kids and grandkids too. To the poster who takes their kids out of school - good for you. We sailed with our 4 grandchildren to Mexico and the memories are so vivid. We were on Pride, eating dinner next to a big window at the very aft. The sun was going down and as it disappeared "under the sea" my 7 year old grandson said "Wow, this is way better than Disneyland". Life is so short. I wish every "too hard working person" would realize that and get out and enjoy.

 

As an ER/ Trauma RN I see how short life is everyday. Work hard yes, but take the time and spend the money to enjoy life also, for yourself and those you love!

[jaxkai]

ive read all these and in 90 days or so take my semi adult kids on our first cruise single mom raising 3 kids without help of family or their father , i made sure we did some fun things and some special things. my mother died when i was 12 and my grandfather who was my rock a couple years later, the list goes on ,so im well aware of the lessons that you learn about not waiting, i say i love you to everyone i care about every day, i hug because i might not get to again. they start their real lives this next year so im grabbing them wh8ile i can and my daughter has even promised we will try and have a mom daughter vacation every year just us . ok im rambling the reason i posted is now i want my grand daughter to come and she is just two so i will see what i can do about on a future cruise, hmmm maybe just her and i sometimes :)

 

thank you for sharing i know how hard things hurt and how emotions get stuffed away to deal with real life, i see the people here let them out and live.

 

i was reading this post to my daughter lol, she says mom you are agoraphobic and we never told you so we are hoping cruising will be your new safe place to have adventures. more lessons to be learned :)

[Talisker92]

Both my wife and I lost our spouses 5 years ago, so we know about seizing the day! We will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary in a few days, and have 5 trips booked including 2 cruises.

If you would like to read about our experiences, our website is http://www.stevekathytravels.com

Edited November 2, 2010 by SJGOCH
add web address

[sbflcruiser]

We have travelled since our kids were little, we have gone to many countries, both via land and cruises. We do not have a lot of money and have forgone extragavant Christmas, Birthday gifts, etc to pay for our travels. We have always used the thought making memories is much more lasting than having "stuff". They did not get the new gaming system or a bunch of video games, we did not buy videos, dvds or really go to the movies more than 2-3 times per year. The youngest have now graduated from High School and they still talk about the various trips we have taken over time. They still look forward to cruising with us, we are planning a trip to the Greek Isles in 2012, and they are saving us and taking another familly vacation together. (this will be an extended family trip with many going, which we do a few years). Last one was in 2009 to Alaska, the kids too had a blast.

 

No matter future circumstances we all share the many memories we have experienced. Which is much more valuable than the newest video game system, which all these years later would be sooo outdated and not remembered anyway.

 

That is why we cruise.... to create life long memories, seeing the wonders and majesty of the world...

[ibcruiseing]

we travel and cruise it has always been a must for us we go every year someplace, this will be our 3rd cruise, first was our sons Make-A-Wish cruise in 07, the 2nd a extended family cruise with all family grand's and sibs in 08. this trip will be to remember our son, our first Christmas with out our oldest child.In a blink your life can be changed we look at all the travel we have done as a family and regret nothing, gone at 20 years old cancer Sucks!

Travel and make memorys in the end that is all you will have.

[Mrs.C05]

We cruise mainly because we love it, but recently this year we had somewhat of a wake-up call of God showing us he had/has a different plan than what we had. Fortunately, the outcome was the best of all possibilities.

 

I will share my story since everyone else has, but I apologize if I bore anyone.:o

 

I was born a 24 week preemie, weighing 1lb 12oz, so I had my share of medical conditions. When I was a baby/child I had my airway rebuilt so that I could live without having a trach for the rest of my life (had one the first 3 years of my life before getting it permanently taken out). I had check-ups from the time I had it rebuilt to until I was about 10 years old. My airway had stopped growing granulation, which is a good thing, so we didn't have to come back, unless we felt we needed to.

Fast forward 15 years, October 2009, I came down with bronchitis and started choking, so I instantly knew something was wrong and not right. Before I got bronchitis my husband thought maybe I had asthma, only to have a 2nd opinion (a better doctor IMO) and be told it wasn't asthma at all, it was my airway. This past January we went to Ohio (thankfully my pediatric otolaryngologist was still practicing and agreed to see me), thinking it'd be a quick fix but we were told we weren't leaving until it was fixed. Once we were told that, we made arrangements for everything, including canceling our cruise for Feb 2010. We got all our money back except our deposit. :( We ended up being there for 4 weeks. I had a tracheal resection done on my airway (cut out the very narrowed part and sewed the 2 good half's back together) as an end result. I have had 5 follow-ups since that surgery and this last one, there was no build-up/granulation/scar tissue growing.

We were free to go and have a family!

My husband and I wanted to start trying this past March to have a family but that caught us by surprise in January, which now that we look back, is a blessing in disguise! That is why this cruise is going to be so special to us!

We love cruising and hope to introduce our children to it, haha!

[jobythebay]

It often takes a wake up call like that. Good luck on your "family."

 

We are older - have kids your age and we say that when there is less time ahead than there was behind it is time to stop procrastinating. This year Jan. 2010 alone we have been to Spain, camping in Vermont, camping in Acacia National Park, Israel, and a cruise to Alaska and my husband isn't retired!