? for Leo and Hugh

[valleyofthesun]

:) Good Afternoon,

Please forgive me to being so bold as to send message directly to you; however, after reading some of your messages, it is obvious you are an expert on traveling with someone who needs assistance.

We are planning our first cruise in February 2008 with our adult children, twins age 39 and son 46. We have a SY Veranda handicap room and the VB Veranda outside room right next door on the HAL Oosterdam. My husband, age 78, and I, age 67, used to enjoy traveling but for the past three years, our traveling has been restructed due to his chronic illness. He is a COPD patient with Emphysema, requires oxygen 24/7, nebulizer treatements every 4 hours and most recently diagnosed with Periphal Neuropathy. Along with those, he also had CHF so suffers with edema on a regular basis. Currently he is recovering from Staph infection acquired during last hospital stay. This along with the edema has caused ulcers that do not want to heal due to poor circulation in his legs. We have been told that if the ulcers do not heal there is a possibility he may lose his legs. Through all of this, I still believe it could be so much worse than it is and I do have a positive attitude.

Our plan is to drive to San Diego, approximately 6 hour drive, to board the Oosterdam and cruise to Mexico. Knowing my son will be driving a van, we do have the option of transporting our Pride Legend scooter along with our transport chair. Of course, we will need to make arrangements for the oxygen delivery and hope to have the same system we have at home which is Helios, liquid oxygen. A Helios portable unit easily fits in the front basket of a scooter for short tripts to the restaurant, coffee shop, etc.and may be refilled from the large unit in the room. That said, would appreciate your opinioin about which scooter would be great for traveling. I did see a message from someone about the Lexis Light scooter. Several good testimonials on their site. It appears this scooter would be easy for me to handle also, since I am the one to load and unload the transport chair in the trunk.

Any information and/or suggestion you wish to offer would be appreciated.

[leoandhugh]

OK Valley of the Sun must mean Phoenix or Scottsdale, so that would explain the 6hr drive.

Leo is the amputee, and we travel with a Pride Go-Go and a fold-up wheel chair. The Pride Go-Go is somewhat smaller than your Legend, weighs a little less, breaks down in to 3 pieces which I can load in the trunk. Let's go with the assumption you are coming with the Legend - do you plan to stay overnight here the night before departure. Thinking about the pressure of leaving early from there if you do it the same day.

The Legend will be fine onboard; assuming that you have SY6108, we have been on Oosterdam to Mexico and up to Vancouver in that same cabin and it works fine. Actually the Legend with its 3.5inch clearance will do better with the ramps out to the verandah than the Go-Go with less clearance. If, by travel chair you mean the one with small rear wheels, they do not work well on board because of all the carpeting, and, of course, require someone to push them. Our fold up has the large rear wheels which are much more usable aboard and ashore. So that is something I think you should consider in planning.

If you do decide to stay overnight, I suggest Holiday Inn on the Bay (not Holiday Inn - Bayside) because it is right across Harbor Drive from the Cruise terminal, and I believe I read that starting in January, they will be offering a park and cruise package with a one night stay. Call them and check it out.

Can't help with the oxygen; one bridge we have not had to cross yet.

Also I am sure that you are aware that Cabo San Lucas is a tendering port and not always possible to get the wheelchair and occupant off and in to the tender. Puerta Vallarta and Mazatlan, you will dock, but will need to make arrangements for a vehicle to take a scooter - there are not many available in Mexican ports.

If you need more info mail me direct at leo2hugh@msn.com but do it in the next couple of days. We sail for Hawaii RT San Diego on Serenade of the Seas on Friday, Oct 5:) Hugh

[sandyblue029]

Just read your post and sorry to but in... I am on oxygen 24/7 and I do not think you will be able to get liquid oxygen on the ship. I have rented and now own an Inogen One portable unit, it is battery operated and the batteries can be recharged. I am on 3.5 to 4 ltrs and a battery will last me about 2.5 hours. I have been told that given enough notice some oxygen suppliers (major companies) do have the portable units available for their clients at no charge. I rented one from from Oxygen to Go but there are many companies that rent the portable units. Also when you are in the car you can plug the unit into the power system in the car. Guess you can tell I really like this unit.

[FryGirl]

sandyblue029 you said """I have rented and now own an Inogen One portable unit, it is battery operated and the batteries can be recharged.

I rented one from from Oxygen to Go."""

 

I'm looking into renting this Inogen One for our cruise to Panama Cancal

can you answer some thing for me Do they need a Dr.'s Perspiration or will

a Dr's Statement like the one for Princess Cruises work.???

I have oxygen already but want to leave the big machine at home and take a little one on the cruise. Not sure if the army Dr. will give me another perspiration.

Did you like there service.???

 

Thank You for your help

FryGirl

[sandyblue029]

Frygirl;

 

I remember there was paper work involved and I think they just faxed something to the doctor and the doctor signed it and sent it back, not a big deal at all. I can't remember everything because their were airlines involved too and they wanted a lot of paperwork.

Yes I liked the service etc from Oxygen to Go, they were very friendly and extremely helpful. When I purchased my Inogen I purchased it used from American Medical (www.1oxygen.com) and they too were very friendly and helpful.

Hope this was some help. This is much easier than a large concentrator and tanks.

Oh yes, there is a company that the cruise lines do business with that will rent you the concentrator and tanks.

[FryGirl]

sandyblue029

 

Thank You for your help I will give them a call Monday and see if I can get on for the cruise in Jan 2008 I hope so.

 

FryGirl :D

[Bette]

I recently ordered this scooter for my husband to use when we travel. He also has a Victory. The Lexis Light is not quite as easy to use as they say it is It does fold so can be loaded into a taxi. The problem is that it is 54 pounds without the heavy battery. In their ad it looks like it can easily be pulled like luggage. That is not true. The balance is bad.It is more comfortable than the GoGo which we have rented before.We plan to take it to Mexico to a resort in December.It is not as easy as they say to get it into the car though.He plans to use it quite a bit before we go. We have only had it a week.

[JNCRUISEBUMS]

I just got back from a 2 week cruise on the celebrity to Hawaii leaving from San Diego and I have a Merits 5 skooter. It fits in a van and you don't have to break it down. It was a blessing to have it, I was all over the ship and loved every minute! Nancie I drove it right to the airplane door and they took it and brought it back to me. It's going to San Juan with us Nov. 22 and we are doing 2 weeks on the Crown Princess!