Hi everyone.  I thought I would write an update as to where I am in the post cruise planning, packing and preparing.  Monday I should be getting my passport back with the Brazilian visa attached.  I certainly will feel better when I have it in my hot little hands.  Many who were not assigned to the San Francisco visa service have had lots of problems.  My friend Joan was told that her service was not dealing with
Brazil anymore and she had to start over.  I also read on Cruise Critics that there have been many problems. 

I did get an advanced list of all the special nights and themes even though I have not actually received the whole package but that should come next week.  There are 21 special theme nights and 19 of those are formal and 4 of the formal nights are balls.  So, I have tried to prepare for those nights but that is a lot.  Last world cruise I was on there were only 16 formal nights.

I picked up my traveler checks but I am having problems getting my doc to order 4 months of prescriptions filled at one time so the pharmacist can get a vacation ok from the insurance company.  There is always some sort of problem and that is mine.

Everything I am taking is in one room and in a couple of weeks I will pack my cases.  Luggage pickup is December 28th.  I will be leaving the house on January 2nd and will stay at the La Quinta Inn by the airport.  My plane leaves at 7:30 am so I will have to leave the hotel around 5:30 am.

 So the next time I post I will probably be on the ship unless something comes up before that.

Helloooo out there.  I am still in this world and have not passed on to the next yet.  I am feeling fine, my voice is about 90% normal and I will gladly take that, and the only remaining problem is the post thoracotomy pain syndrome and even that is better.  I will have cataracts removed next month but that is just great.  Mot of you will recall that I am constantly taking my glasses off to look glamorous and then I can’t see a thing and I lose my glasses.  I will only need glasses for reading.  The other plus is that I have met my co-pay and  the surgeries will not cost me a dime.

Only two and a half more months give or take a couple of days and I am really getting excited.  My luggage is out on my bed in a guest bedroom (I call this room my packing  room.)  I have all the clothes I need and everything I might take is in the closet in that room.  Nothing more to buy except when I get to Florida I will get some of the bigger items like hair spray and mouth wash.  It is so nice that CSI  provides  a bus that  takes us to a drug store and a grocery store so we can pick up those items the day before we board.
the ship.

I have chosen my tours that I will take with CSI but I never book HAL tours until I am on board and close to the day of that the tour I want to take.

So, I am now waiting for the visa information and , of course, the package so I will know what to pack for formal nights.

HAL did transfer my $800 shipboard credit from the Prinsendam to the Amsterdam so I will have a hefty credit in my account.  I believe it will be about $1,500   I can easily spend that during the cruise.Check in from time to time as I will post again when I get the package.

My manicurist told me I was one tough old bird before I went under the knife and I have to say it takes a tough bird to go through this type of surgery. I am alive and anxious to start driving my new car. I will be able to get out tomorrow on my own.

I was a week in the ICU and over a week in CCU. I did have complications such as defibrillation (which is not unusual) and cannot speak above a whisper at this time. Losing my voice box made it difficult to cough which is part of recovery. I am getting speech therapy and as soon as I am able to cross the Narrows Bridge I will have voice therapy. I am making progress and do believe I will have full capacity to return to my wise cracking ways.

There is no way I will be able to meet the ship so I will just have to look forward to the 2013 WC. This is disappointing but I am completely free of cancer at this time. My luggage certainly must have enjoyed the veranda suite upgrade.

Thank you all for your prayers, thoughts, telephone calls and emails. They brightened my days and obviously brought me through this difficult time.

I have delayed this post as long as I could; not just because I didn't want to post this news but I didn't have anything definitive until last Friday.

When the emergency room xrayed my neck after the accident they spotted a tumor on the upper part of my left lung. After a biopsy and collapsed lung with a shunt until it filled again, a PT scan, and MRI of my brain, they now believe I have a small tumor, a stage one cancer. Last Friday I went through preop and as the ship is sailing away from Fort Lauderdale, I will be undergoing surgery. My Oncologist and Surgeon are both optimistic of a successful outcome and I hope to fly and meet the ship in two weeks. My doc says three weeks but we will see. You all know me and I would rather be sailing than land locked.

I would appreciate all your prayers and good karma. I like to cover all basis.

By the way, my luggage is enjoying the upgrade I received. I had it shipped as scheduled. I have been assigned Cabin 210 which is a small veranda suite.

I now have my itinerary in front of me. I will be going to 7 new countries and Sicily. The new countries are Tunisia, Malta, Romania, Albania, Croatia, Morocco, and Ukraine. We will also be cruising the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. The other countries will be Portugal, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, and Turkey and I have been to all of them before.

This cruise is very port intensive and it is going to make it difficult for me to keep up on my blog. It is nice to have sea days in between ports but at one point during the cruise there are as many as 7 ports in as many days. Fortunately, that is only one time.

The insurance company was very fair and I will have no problem replacing my auto but I am not going to do so until I return from my cruise. I will keep the rental after the insurance won’t pay any more and then will drop it off at the Inn at Gig Harbor and take the shuttle to the airport. Then when I return, I will take the shuttle to the Inn at Gig Harbor and pick up another rental to get me by until I get the new car.

I will probably not post again until I am on the ship but keep checking. With my luck I never know what might happen before I board.

The package arrived last Friday and I just filled out the forms, read the vast amount of information and submitted my orders. I have posted every date and event in my day calendar and I have everything ready to pack with exception of hairspray and a couple of books.

As Yogi Berra use to say, it is déjà vu all over again. You will recall my telling you at the start of my blog last year that I totaled my BMW in the snow. This time I was minding my own business turning left on a green arrow when a car smashed into me. I was T-boned and I will post a photo of the car. The lady driving was 93 years of age, still working, and didn’t even hit her brakes. Both the officer and the insurance investigator said I was lucky to be in my BMW330xi with dual side airbags. The strength of the steel beams and the airbags kept me here to blog. They did take me to the hospital for xrays and I escaped with just abrasions, contusions and soft tissue injuries. A little sore and a little achy.

I should be on a ship. I am not meant to live on land. Anyway, this is the start of my third blog for the Grand Voyage of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Hope I remember how to post and upload photos so this will be my test run.