Our Alaska cruise, as predicted, was definitely the highlight of our summer. In fact, it was the whole of our summer. Immediately after returning home, surgery on “that foot” became front and center in our lives. Thank you very much for the emails and texts that let me know you were thinking of me. They meant a lot.
Even before surgery, though, I had to get through those pre-surgical appointments. I know I’m getting older, but making me prepare for surgery by running on a treadmill set at a 12% incline with a foot in bad enough shape to require surgery in the first place is kinda cruel, don’t you think? But simply avoiding a crash and burn was apparently enough to clear me for surgery. Onward!
Of course there were complications (it is so much “that” foot!) and recovery lasted six difficult weeks. But through it all, G took care of my every need and most of my wants, made countless trips up and down the stairs carrying food, drink, dirty dishes and dirty clothes, chauffeured me back to the surgeon’s office weekly, picked up medications and supplies, made certain I got my daily laugh and never, ever once complained…and the operation was on his birthday, so, yeah, happy birthday dear. I promise to do better for you next year.
At the end of August, the external fixators were removed (the best day) and further recovery become fairly steady. I began to drive again in early September (despite the surgeon’s blessing, there was a small domestic battle to reclaim that bit of independence), shower standing up and squeeze into a sneaker for increasingly longer periods of time.
And through it all, we tried to plan for this cruise. It wasn’t straightforward, as we had no idea what condition I’d be in when we left home. Things were just too up in the air to commit to active sightseeing activities, although we did book a couple of cancellable excursions to Santiago de Compostela and to the Sete Cidades volcano in Ponta Delgada. Luckily, crossings are heavy with sea days, and this one to Galveston is even more so. I remember from our 2019 transpacific cruise that sea days spent simply walking around the ship were instrumental in my recovery from surgery #11, and anticipate I’ll be feeling significantly better at the end of the three weeks we’ll be on board.
September was spent putting away all the flotsam and jetsam that I’d littered around the house on every nightstand, counter top and side table surface during my recovery. That is so against my OCD nature, but the only way to survive being non-weight bearing and using crutches is to keep everything out and close at hand. I also did a lot of cleaning catch up, re-stocking, packing and trying to rebuild my aerobic stamina after being very sedentary for six weeks. That’s an ongoing process, but the good days are beginning to outnumber the bad ones, for sure.
I did make an exciting purchase during Prime Days in July. We’ve used the same luggage for all of our travels for nearly twenty years, with periodic repairs as needed. G’s especially really needed an upgrade (it was held together with duct tape), so, as is the norm in our house, I bought new luggage for me, and handed my old luggage down to him. 😉 It’s the same reasonably priced Samsonite brand (these are the Winfield 2 model) we’ve used for 40 years, which has a good warranty and is easily locally repairable. I fussed over the color, especially after our luggage-finding issue in San Francisco, and opted for cactus green over our usual black, grey or navy, hoping it will stand out even more. I also bought a backpack as closely matching as I could find…and then adorned it all with our usual caution stripe duct tape for easy identification. It looked nice for a few minutes, at least. And, since I have never in my life had two pieces of luggage that matched, it was like Christmas in July for me.
Before and after 😆
Traveling in several different climates, and having no idea how long it might take to get Elite laundry returned, I had to pack a smidge more heavily than I would have liked; still, my clothes, shoes and toiletries fit in just over half of the large suitcase. The other half of it is packed with a plethora of health-related items, like COVID test kits, KN-95 masks, several rolls of Coban, a 6” Ace wrap, a lumbar traction arch and a lacrosse ball, and it still weighs just 31 pounds (the roll aboard is 14 pounds fully packed). This luggage is light!
We had tossed our aging over the door shoe rack after last season, and cruised without one in June. I found I really missed it, so I replaced it for this trip and just left it in its packaging, knowing I would never be able to re-fold it as compactly. I’m also taking disposable washcloths and makeup remover cloths (of course I know not to flush these). Once burned, twice shy, and if the Regal is suffering from the same shortage of washcloths as the Ruby, I’m prepared.
If all goes to plan (please, this year, may it), both the Regal Princess and I will arrive back in Galveston on October 29 happy, healthy and in good working order. November is shaping up to be quite a busy travel month, so fingers crossed it all works out.
