2-11-04 - 2-18-04
Morning finally came and they let me sit in his room. He was still
coming off the drugs and looked terrible. He did wake from time to time,
but they would come and put him back out (apparently it's uncomfortable
being intubated so they liked to keep him out during that time). Disney
travel called to see if they could help find me a hotel. They did find a
Super 8 and I took it. After waiting an hour for my shuttle each way, I
was glad when the hospital's customer relations person looked me up in
dad's room and asked if she could assist me in finding a hotel room
closer to the hospital. She found a room in the full nearby Hampton Inn
for a hospital discount, so I jumped at taking it, but couldn't get in
until the next day. Dad continued to come out of the drugs for short
spell before they'd put him back to sleep. He took it all in really good
stride---as he always did! By evening, he was awake more and trying to
spell things in the air with his fingers---air writing. He had no idea
where he was or how he got there, so was surprised to hear about the tug
boat and lear jet.
That night I went to have dinner in the hospital cafe---the cusomer rep
had given me about 8 $5 coupons. The cafe food was actually pretty good.
The night in the Super 8 was noisy, but I was so tired it didn't
matter. I was glad for the move the next morning, though. The hospital
even provided a free taxi for me.
Next morning Dad looked a lot better---more alert. Probably could have
come off the intibater, but the respitory Dr. wanted to leave him on it
another day. He said with "near drownings" (or as Dad liked to call it
"attempted drowning"), there's so much salt left in the lungs that it
draws more water into the lungs. That evening, as Dad was air-writing, a
new nurse handed me a paper with the alphabet on it. Sure made it
easier! I wonder why none of the other nurses offered it!? Or why I
didn't think of it!?
Curt (Dad's friend from Atlanta, Georgia), showed up that day. It was
really nice having a familiar face around. He even treated me to dinner 2
nights and i treated him to the cafe. He also got a hospital discount
room at the Hampton (told them Dad was his brother). He truelly made
himself part of my family!
Next morning they took the tube out. Dad's heart then started having
periods of rapid heartbeat waves (not A-fib, though). He didn't notice
them, but it still worried me. They moved him to CCU and started giving
him heart medicine. That night they changed the meds and it went back to
normal. When Curt and I went to see him after breakfast, he was
gone----off to a regular room. There's where he started referring to the
hospital as North Ridge Medical Center and Resort. He was feeling good,
but they wanted to keep an eye on him for awhile more. His "roomy" was
also feeling pretty good. He had gone in for a physical, then they
decided he needed a triply by-pass and wouldn't let him out before the
surgery. So between Dad, Curt, and Don (the roomy), they had lots of war
stories (all three retirees from the military) and life stories (all
the same generation). His wife even ate dinner with Curt and me one
night. Those 2 nights the 3 guys and I even played cribbage 'til 10 or
so at night. The nurses seemed amused and kept reminding us that it was a
hospital and there were sick people there---then they'd shut our door
and let us stay. Don was even quite relieved to be able to ask Curt
several questions about bi-pass surgery since he had it about 4 month
previously.
Finally, on Sat., the Dr. asked if Dad would like to leave on Sun. So I
spent several hours on my cell phone working out the arrangements for us
to get home. Disney again tried, but could only come up with airfares
over $1500. So I called AmericanAirlines directly and was able to pay
the $100@ change fees and rebooked us. But the earliest they could book
us was for the following Wed.. BEing our original tickets, we had to fly
out of Orlando and be booked in the same fare code. I found a car
rental and Curt took me to pick it up. Hampton was kicking him out that
day, so he made me a deal that if I go to have sushi with him that
night, he'd stay another night in a Best Western. How could I resist?!
After dinner we went back to the hospital to visit and play more
cribbage.
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The next morning Dad was finally released. We went straight to the
Hampton, where I'd secured another couple nights, and Dad wanted to hit
the jacuzzi. We even went to Walmart where Dad picked up another
cribbage set for Don and we went back and visited with him another 3
hours that night.
The next day, Dad and I took off to Key Largo and the Everglades. I was a
bit disappointed in Key Largo. But we didn't have much time there.
Don't know what I was expecting. But Dad did get a big kick out of the
African Queen boat.
I was impressed with the Everglades. Lots of birds, fish and
alligators. it was a nice day, no mosquitos, and nice wooden trails.
a cormorant
gar
tri-colored heron
anhinga drying off
alligator
Dad looking really good from the nearly life ending experience he'd had just a few days ago!
wonder what he's taking a picture of
one of my all time favorite photos of dad.
We got back into town in time to visit with Don awhile more--until they brought him a new roommate.
Next morning---we drove off to Orlando. We spent the night in the
airport Hyatt so that we could be at the airport by 4:45 the next
morning. (I also had to make sure Dad's medical release had made it to
the airlines so they wouldn't deny him boarding). We flew to Dallas,
Texas, together, then parted ways.
2004 July 7 nt. Graduation Cruise to the Western Caribbean with Angie on Carnival Elation: Progresso; Belize; Cozumel
July 4, 2004:
This was another mother/daughter trip. The excuse for this trip was celebration of her graduation from K-state the month before.
We got an early start to the day. Our
flight to Houston left at 6:30 am, so we were at the airport about 5:45.
We arrived in Houston about 8:30 where we retrieved our luggage, then
waited until 10:45 for our shuttle to Port Galveston to catch our cruise
ship, Carnival's Elation. One thing we discovered from this
cruise---when you cruise out of Texas, 90%+ of the passengers are down
home Texans! Lots of ye-haws and cowboy hats! Nothing wrong with that,
just found it interesting and amusing.
I picked this particular cruise for a
couple of reasons. I always heard about the great barrier reef by Belize
and wanted to snorkel there. The other reason was because I found a
travel agent selling that cruise on Ebay for $450@ + $150 onboard
credit.
And that's it for another great mother/daughter trip.
7-9&10-2004 sea days
Time to chill out and recuperate from the busy port days we just had.
I think Angie was ready to rest.
And eat---here our Maitre D is welcoming us---I think.
2 of our table mates. We had assigned dining and had some really interesting table mates.
Had great servers, too.
They use to have a talent show on board and the judges were really funny. Our table mate, Nicole, was exceptional and won the talent show.
The ship dancers performed, too. You know you're on a Carnival cruise when they wear outfits like this.
and this
Nicole with her trophy
The next night she brought a bottle of champagne to dinner and shared it with all of us.
Late in the cruise Angie and I discovered the piano bar. This guy was exceptional, too. We spent many late hours listening to him.
7-8-04 Belize!
This was my much anticipated stop in Belize.
It looked like we might be
totally washed out, but we did manage to tender off onto our snorkel
excursion to Goff Island.
Goff Island is a tiny island off of Belize.
We had a ball snorkeling there.
The snorkeling off this
little island was really good.
The water was crystal clear and there
were lots of fish and coral.
We even wandered around the little island a bit. Then the rain moved in
and we had to board our tender and head back to the ship.
On the tender heading back to the ship
The rains did find us, but at least the day wasn't a total wash out!
Back on board the ship, it was time to rest up and enjoy the warm breezes.
Then on to dinner. We had a great time with our dinner mates----at least
these 2 ladies. The other 4 single ladies at our table were rather
strange as was the one single guy (who was also there as a graduation
trip with his parents). The parents were pretty neat, though.
7-7-04 Cozumel
Again we were up early for our excursion. This one for a jeep/snorkel
tour in Cozumel.
Wonder where those ferries are going?
Hard Rock along the ocean front.
More views of Cozumel
Our companion in port---love when they leave before us and we can hear their Disney horn blow
Our ship
When it came time to get our jeeps and head out, Angie
and i were left driverless, so one of the guides (Pony), became our
driver. That was really neat having our personal guide.
Our excursion took us about 30 minutes away to beautiful Chankanaab National Park.
The roads we travelled weren't always paved, but it was fun riding in the jeeps.
We continued on about 17 miles from Cozumel to Punta Sur.
Entrance to
the reserve also includes the historic lighthouse, where you can climb
up, a small maritime museum and then onto the beach.
Here in the reserve is a swampy area where you can even go see salt water crocodiles.
Would hate come across one of these guys while I'm snorkeling!
Here's a view of the lighthouse and ocean from a lookout by the swamp.
in the little maritime museum
On the ocean side of Punta Sur, we had time to snorkel and enjoy the
beach.
The snorkeling was a bit disappointing, but the beach was
beautiful. We snorkeled in a group--they really kept an eye on everyone.
They even had a boat ride along side which did have to take a couple
people back to shore. We did see lots of purple fan coral.
And the water felt great!
Lots of shade on the beach, too.
The real highlight for Angie was that Pony let her drive back and
actually taught her to drive a stick shift. Again, our guides were
really great.
Back at the port we were docked next to the Disney Magic. Walking along
side of them really gives you a better idea of just how big these ships
really are!
Back on board the ship, we watched a Julia Roberts movie (Mona Lisa Smiles). Then we went on deck to watch as we left Cozumel.
Then it was on to dinner---tenderloin with goose liver on it (which I
didn't eat), grilled veggies and apple pie for dinner. Soon after dinner
we went to the Makado room to wait for the talent show. Our dinner
mate, Nicole, was the star of the talent show. She was spectacular!
Her winnings was a bottle of champagne which she brought to dinner the
next night and shared with us all.
After all the entertainment, we went up to the Lido deck to check out the midnight mexican buffet.
