Tag Archives: kidney cancer

At Sea, Thursday March 6 ~ Panama Canal Cruise

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Weather Forecast:  Sunny High 82 / Low 77

Sunrise 7:15 am / Sunset 6:58 pm

New Time Zone, one hour ahead

From the Navigator: Throughout the day, Coral Princess will continue to maintain a southwesterly course across the Caribbean Sea towards the island of Aruba.  The Caribbean Sea is part of the Atlantic Ocean and lies between the Islands of the Greater and Lesser Antillies and the coasts of South and Central America.  It covers an area of over 2,500,000 km2 and is considered one of the World’s most marine-rich bodies of water.

We spent this day mostly wandering around and eating.

Tom had a Veteran’s Gathering that started about 15 minutes before Pop Choir so he started there then joined me in choir.

We learned the difference between port and starboard.  According to our guest lecturer, “starboard” is from the old practice of having a steering oar on one side of the ship with the right side thought to be chosen simply because most people are right handed.

The word starboard comes from Old English steorbord, literally meaning the side on which the ship is steered.

The captains didn’t want to damage their oars, so they usually docked with the left side facing the port – and that became the port side.

I saw an interesting brown bird.  Tom said he thought that it was a frigate bird but that they couldn’t get wet.  When I saw the bird dive into the water and come up with a fish, it disproved one or both of Tom’s thoughts.

This may have been what Tom was thinking of:

Frigate birds cannot plunge like pelicans, when wet they can’t take off without difficulty. If their wing span got fully wet it might drown them. Even with a 90 inch wing span water sopping adult frigate birds may have trouble from taking off in water. Surface dipping and fixed habitat feeding may explain species limitations in survival.

From http://www.tropicalbirds.com/frigatebird.php

libraryEventually, we ended up in the library.  Very comfortable chairs!  There were headphone ports with some kind of music available, as well as footstools.

I settled down in my chair with my book and most likely dozed off for a bit.  Next thing I knew, 2 (or more) women were talking behind me.  I heard the entire life story of one of them, I think.

Then, I had a little headache and an ache at the back of my neck.  We went to MUTS to see Mamma Mia! and my headache got a lot worse so we left.

By the time we got back to the cabin, the headache circled my whole head.  I took 2 Tylenol (the only thing I’m allowed to take post-kidney cancer) and lay down a bit with a pillow over my head.  Then 2 more.

About 7ish, I was feeling mostly better so I got up and we went to eat, followed by the movie Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks.

We decided that one of the library talking-women was wearing a perfume I was allergic to.  Tom will be more aware of potential scents in the future.

We had a small bit of rain…

2014-03-06 08.51.20

Cruisin’ With Susan, 2013

Caribbean Cruise 2013

Caribbean Cruise 2013

I’m so excited!  Just over six years ago Susan M, one of my Cushie friends, invited me on a cruise to Bermuda. I was delighted and excited to go. Then I found out I had kidney cancer and had to bow out at the last minute – the cruise embarked the day I left the hospital. My surgeon said that there was no way I could postpone my surgery for another 5 or so days so someone else went in my place.

So, that was it for my first (and only!) Bermuda cruise.

Then in 2008, I heard from my friend again, asking me if I wanted to do the cruise then! Of course, I said yes… She said she was celebrating and upgraded the whole cruise to the Western Caribbean. We had a superior balcony stateroom and I could wear some of the clothes I got for the non-cruise.

You can read all about our 2008 cruise here: http://www.cushingsonline.com/cruise/cruise.htm and see a slideshow of pictures at http://www.cushingsonline.com/cruise/cruise.html

Last year, September of 2011, we went on a land trip to Gloucester, MA.  Blog posts and pictures for that trip start here http://maryoutandabout.posterous.com/last-trip-for-awhile.

I was at work today when I saw Susan’s name pop up on my cellphone and knew she wanted to go on another trip.  As soon as I got in my car, I listened to her message.  YES!  Another cruise!

We talked on the phone and decided on this trip:

January 2013 Cruise

January 2013 Cruise

Then, Susan booked the cruise and called back to say it was even cheaper than we thought it would be.  Major WooHoo.  And, we have the all-important balcony.

Stay tuned!

Cruise Countdown Tickers

Beach Buddies

MaryO

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