A Tale of Two Months

A long time since the last update mainly because of being busy and many weeks of not much to report. But now that there is a lull as we sit in mid-February, figured we’d provide a wrap up for 2021 as well as early news for 2022.

The end of the year was filled with meeting up with family as well as a two week “vacation” in between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. We got to have several visits with our growing grand girls in November including trips to the park, lunch, and baby sitting at home. We are happy to report that they are finally growing some hair too!

On Thanksgiving Day, we flew to Miami in prep for a 14 day cruise, our first since our disastrous attempt at a trans-Atlantic several years ago. We cruised on Azamara Quest, a 3 (soon to be 4) ship cruise line where each ship has a maximum capacity of around 700 passengers (we had about 450 on our cruise). The captain is a friend we met many years ago when we started small ship cruising and we had been keeping in touch and were excited to discover he would be on board during our cruise.

Before boarding, we spent a night on South Beach at the Kimpton Angler’s. This was a great little boutique hotel a few blocks from the beach with a very laid back vibe.

After an early check in, we strolled over to Collins Ave, much of which has been closed off to vehicles which provides a nice walking tour of many of the refurbished art deco buildings that make South Beach so famous. We strolled down this famous avenue with the beach and Atlantic Ocean to our right and one restored building after another to our left. After awhile, we were hungry enough to try out one of the many restaurants and cafes that spill onto the street. We had a relaxing long brunch before returning to our hotel for rest and relaxation.

On November 26th, we checked out of our hotel and headed over to the Port of Miami to board the Quest. Given COVID precautions, boarding was a whole new experience for us. We were provided specific times to check in (although it appears a large portion of passengers showed up early, thus clogging up the process somewhat). First stop was the COVID testing station. All passengers on this cruise line were required to be fully vaccinated and had to show proof to move on in the process. Once you got your nose fully cleared out with the swab up to your sinuses, you moved to a waiting area where TV screens displayed 4-digit codes associated with each person’s test. It was sort of nerve racking, worrying about what would happen if you tested positive. When our numbers came up, it was sort of like winning the lottery (although in this case, we had paid way more to play this one!).

Then on to another waiting area. In order to limit large gatherings, the ship had implemented staged boarding where people boarded in groups to gather in one of two places for instructions on life boat and life jacket info. After some initial confusion and shuffling (this was the ship’s first boarding from Miami with these new procedures), we finally found ourselves on board, orientation completed and in our cabin. It was a nice space that included a veranda on the port side, a peaceful place we spent many mornings with our coffee. Our departure was delayed due to an ill passenger that had to be disembarked prior to departure. That gave us time for some evening pictures before heading down to dinner and soon we were off.

Next morning found us arriving at Key West, FL. Dan had visiting Key West many times in the past and Jill was fine staying on board so we never got off the ship this first day. We were up early to observe the arrival and docking. We enjoyed time at the pool, ate, drank and generally relaxed all day. The main highlight was the Captain’s Welcome prior to dinner when Johannes Tysse introduced his officers. We’d “run into” the captain one or move time each day which at first, was a big mystery to us. We were always amazed how he’d find us all over the ship. That was, until we realized there are cameras all over and it maybe wasn’t so hard to find us! It was wonderful speaking with him throughout the two weeks.

Departing Key West, we had two and a half days at sea ahead of us. We’ve always enjoyed sea days more than days at ports as it allows us to enjoy all the amenities of the ship. In addition to the aforementioned eating, drinking, reading, and sleeping, we also played Bingo (and won!).

Finally, on the afternoon of November 30th, we arrived at our first stop of Aruba. The ship would remain here for two nights, leaving on the morning of December 2nd. As with Key West, we had visited Aruba in the past and were happy to remain on board during this visit. We enjoyed another day on board as well as one of several bands in the evening.

Next stop was Curacao, another Dutch island. We enjoyed a half day exploring the island which included seeing lots of wild flamingos, an artist’s home (a former plantation home), a beautiful beach and the rugged north coast of the island.

Next up was the last of the “ABC” islands, Bonaire. While approaching the island, we were greeted with a beautiful full rainbow seen right from our veranda. During our time there, we toured around the island, finding more flamingos, visited a small museum, and saw the salt flats where salt is still farmed from the ocean via huge holding ponds. During the salt farm visit, we also visited former enslaved housing which now sit starkly looking out to sea.

Another day at sea was followed by a day at St. Barts. The day at sea was spent relaxing and watching our flying friends cruise along next to our veranda. In addition to the birds, we spotted a bunch of flying fish (too fast to get a good picture). In addition to the birds, we were lucky enough to enjoy time with our friend in his cabin, an enjoyable meal and conversation!

Another day & night brought us a few surprises. We enjoyed more on-board entertainment, got a surprise meal of Pancit (Philippine dish that Dan always enjoyed and even helped make during his many visits to The Philippines), and observed the Seadream II passing us the other way, heading for St. Barts.

Our next stop brought us to St. Maarten, the Dutch side of the island also shared with France. We left the ship for a little shopping. This was the busiest port we visited with several cruise ships coming and going during our visit. We docked across from the Eclipse, the largest privately owned yacht currently at sea (not sure if Elon Musk’s new boat will be larger). It is supposedly owned by a rich Russian.

With the ship mostly empty, we also had a chance to get pictures of some of the interior.

After St. Maarten, we had a few more days at sea before returning back where we had started in Miami. We enjoyed more onboard entertainment, relaxing days, and lots of food!

Another day and night spent on Miami Beach included some time at the beach.

Our final memory of our trip was a picture taken of the entire crew while we were onboard for their holiday virtual card.

Soon after our return, it was time for our girl’s 2nd birthday. We originally had planned to have a party at a local park but it was so cold we moved it indoors. The girls enjoyed all the attention and presents (to be repeated in just one week at Christmas!).

Thus, a wonderful month of December, full of sights and fun with our grand kids.

And then, January arrived…

First up was a hip replacement for Dan’s mom. This procedure had been postponed several times going back to April of 2021. After passing many hurdles, she finally gained clearance to proceed and on January 3rd, she received a new left hip. After a touch of pneumonia, she was home a week after surgery. Dan had to remain with her 24/7 for about 10 days to ensure she remained safe and to take care of her and her needs. This left Jill alone at the rig at our friend’s land up in Cartersville.

Dan’s mom’s condition continued to improve with at-home PT and thus he was able to return to Jill before the end of the month. Unfortunately, while Dan had been tending to his mom, Jill had experienced a fall while attempting to clean the steps of the RV. At first, it seemed it was just a bad bruise but the pain seemed to worsen every day. We were able to get an appointment to see an Orthopedist but all they could do was confirm she had fractured a sacral bone (right above the tail bone) and there was nothing that could be done but take some pain meds and rest while it healed. Unfortunately, the pain meds made Jill very sick and thus she now had back pain and vomiting!

Next step, go to an urgent care center to see if they could determine anything else and help in any way. Unfortunately, we received similar news but also got several more prescriptions. No nausea from these but unfortunately not much relief in pain either. Finally, we decided our only choice was to go to the Emergency Room. We headed to Piedmont Hospital since all of our doctors work with them and all of Jill’s records would be accessible.

At that point, we were advised that in addition to the fractured sacrum, she also had a compression fracture of the L2 vertebrae. This fracture could and should be addressed by a procedure where cement is injected into the bone to help decompress the bone as well as provide stability and relieve pain. This was supposed to be a minor procedure….”supposed to be” is the catch.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. The surgery was successful but Jill had a reaction to the cement or the agent used to bring her out of the anesthesia. She went into anaphylactic shock and had to be intubated. Instead of heading to a regular room and starting her rehab, she ended up in the ICU for the next 3 days while her systems recovered from the shock. When she moved back to a regular room, she then had to slowly start rehab because, although the L2 was fixed, she still had the pain from the sacrum fracture. This was a very slow recovery (not helped by some poor service by some people and departments at the hospital). In all, Jill spent 15 days in the hospital! We finally got her home on Feburary 8th.

But, there is more to this story. Earlier (before Jill’s injury), we had taken Adele to the vet and they had discovered some growths on her spleen and liver. We set up an appointment with a specialist vet but unfortunately had had to reschedule after Jill’s injury. While Jill was in the hospital, our dog Adele had not been feeling well. She stopped eating and seemed to be in pain. Dan took her back to the vet and they discovered she was very jaundiced and felt that her liver was probably failing (plus, she was in a lot of pain). We had to make the very difficult decision to let our sweet Adele go and she crossed the rainbow bridge. This is the first time we’ve been in an RV without a dog and the first time in over 10 years without a dog in our family. We hope Adele is enjoying her time and that Brandy isn’t hassling her too much 🙂

If this wasn’t true, you’d think this was the theme of a country song – mother gets a new hip, wife breaks her back, and the dog dies…

We are now in mid-Feburary, Jill is feeling better and starting outpatient PT (after more screw-ups by the hospital) and we are hopeful she will be good as new soon. In a month, we head to Hilton Head for a two week “vacation” at our favorite RV Resort. So hopefully, our next update will be all good news!