1. < Transplants

What about cruising post transplant?

Posted by silverwoman @silverwoman, Aug 21, 2019

Hi everyone! I'm Sharon and I received my liver transplant on 11/14/18 in Jacksonville. (Thank God for Dr. Burns and the entire Transplant Team). I'm doing very well and 8 months post Tx am beginning to feel stronger and more energetic than my pre-Tx self. I've started to think about traveling again; travel has been a central passion of my life. Has anyone had experience with cruising? When I think about floating around in a container with thousands of others far from medical personnel familiar with transplants and all the dietary restrictions regarding buffets and proper degrees of cooking, I'm leery. Is cruising for post transplants possible or just a bad idea?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Transplants Support Group.

Mentor
Ginger, Volunteer Mentor | @gingerw | Jan 15, 2020
In reply to @rosemarya "I hope that it is a good morning for you, wherever you are. Are you logging..." + (show)
@rosemarya

I hope that it is a good morning for you, wherever you are. Are you logging if from home of traveling?

I am at home in central Kentucky and my husband and I are beginning to plan our trip to Olympic National Park and Mt Ranier National Park in the late summer. I am looking forward to the outdoors and the hiking, but not the flight to get there! I feel comfortable, though, because I have managed to fly without picking up any germy issues in the past. My handsanitizer and my own water and snacks are my constant companions all the time-on the trail, in the plane, on the road. And, to add a new meaning to what my 6 yr old granddaughter is learning in school: "Keep your hands to yourself". I think that is a handy helpful travel tip!

Who else has some interesting travel plans for this new year? Maybe you were gifted a surprise trip during the holidays? Maybe you have already planned something? Maybe you are a seasoned traveler who has a transplant - or a new transplant recipient who wants to travel ? Pull up a chair, pour cup pf tea, coffee and lets talk about good times ahead!
I invite @silverwoman, @luckonetj, @jolinda, @gingerw, @scottb32, @contentandwell, @gingerw, to begin-because you are already experts !

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@rosemarya Although I am not a transplant patient, I do have a 4 day trip planned in mid-March. I will be carrying my own water/snacks. I make sure I am in optimal health possible. My husband is a kidney recipient Starting in April he will be flying frequently back and forth as he transitions into retirement, working part time at his current job, training people to take his place. It will be a challenge to convince him to take precautions such as a mask, or hand sanitizer, etc.
Ginger

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JK | @contentandwell | Jan 15, 2020
In reply to @silverwoman "What a pleasant topic to start the day with. I have traveled pretty extensively in pre-transplant..." + (show)
@silverwoman

What a pleasant topic to start the day with. I have traveled pretty extensively in pre-transplant days. My first big trip post- is coming this September when several friends and I will fly to Boston, bus up to Montreal and sail down the St. Lawrence seaway around the Maritimes and back to Boston. I am so looking forward to this trip; I feel a good deal of the pleasure of travel is in the anticipation. I think all of the tips and cautions which have been discussed are valuable. In the end, it appears to come down to weighing risk vs. reward. I am of the opinion that JK is correct about being covered with good travel insurance and I would add the importance of booking with a reputable and international travel company. I have to believe that years of experience will have faced them with enough emergent situations that a big, well connected international company will be able to handle whatever we transplants can throw at them.

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@silverwoman your trip sounds great. I presume the sailing is on a riverboat type of vessel. I don’t have any desire to go on an ocean cruise but I love the sound of river cruises. I hope you have a little time to explore Boston too. I may live in NH, but Boston is where my heart is, I grew up in a suburb And lived in Boston when I was single.
If we do go to the Caribbean I was planning to book it myself but you make a good point there. Also, someone I know with a different problem told me that they could not get travel health insurance because he has a pre-existing condition. Ihope that’s not true but I plan to look into it before I make any further plans.
@travelgirl do you know anything about that?
JK

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1 reply
silverwoman | @silverwoman | Jan 15, 2020
In reply to @contentandwell "@silverwoman your trip sounds great. I presume the sailing is on a riverboat type of vessel...." + (show)
@contentandwell

@silverwoman your trip sounds great. I presume the sailing is on a riverboat type of vessel. I don’t have any desire to go on an ocean cruise but I love the sound of river cruises. I hope you have a little time to explore Boston too. I may live in NH, but Boston is where my heart is, I grew up in a suburb And lived in Boston when I was single.
If we do go to the Caribbean I was planning to book it myself but you make a good point there. Also, someone I know with a different problem told me that they could not get travel health insurance because he has a pre-existing condition. Ihope that’s not true but I plan to look into it before I make any further plans.
@travelgirl do you know anything about that?
JK

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I had chronic liver disease for more than 30 years before my transplant. I've found that insurers, at least during those years and the insurers I was dealing with, waived the pre-existing condition clauses of their contracts if the insurance was purchased at the time the trip was booked, at the time of the down payment. It's been a couple of years since I bought a travel insurance policy, but I'm guessing that is still true. I'm sure I did diligence when I booked my Boston to Boston journey but I'm going to go back and read that policy because I'm getting a bit forgetful in my old age. And yes, we're going to spend 3 days in Boston before our tour starts; I'm collecting restaurant reviews in case you have any recommendations. Your cruise sounds so relaxing and you'll be able to defrost!

REPLY
1 reply
JK | @contentandwell | Jan 16, 2020
In reply to @silverwoman "I had chronic liver disease for more than 30 years before my transplant. I've found that..." + (show)
@silverwoman

I had chronic liver disease for more than 30 years before my transplant. I've found that insurers, at least during those years and the insurers I was dealing with, waived the pre-existing condition clauses of their contracts if the insurance was purchased at the time the trip was booked, at the time of the down payment. It's been a couple of years since I bought a travel insurance policy, but I'm guessing that is still true. I'm sure I did diligence when I booked my Boston to Boston journey but I'm going to go back and read that policy because I'm getting a bit forgetful in my old age. And yes, we're going to spend 3 days in Boston before our tour starts; I'm collecting restaurant reviews in case you have any recommendations. Your cruise sounds so relaxing and you'll be able to defrost!

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@silverwoman i spoke to a travel insurance person today and since I’ve had no problems in 3 years it is not considered to be a pre-existing condition. Apparently I would have to have had a problem more recently.
JK

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jodeej | @jodeej | Jan 18, 2020
In reply to @contentandwell "@rosemarya We are, as I have mentioned, going to Denver to visit our son on Superbowl..." + (show)
@contentandwell

@rosemarya We are, as I have mentioned, going to Denver to visit our son on Superbowl weekend. This has been a father-son tradition for about 10 years now, no matter what teams are playing. We are disappointed of course that Patriots have been eliminated but it will be fun regardless. I used to not go, thinking it was a good father-son bonding time, but when his current wife became a part of it a few years ago I figured I might as well go too, and now that he is in Denver he has a spacious house so we can stay with him, not in a hotel. We leave on Thursday, January 31st, and will be back on Wednesday, February 5th. We actually are flying on the 4th but getting in to Manchester pretty late in the evening.
I almost always wear a mask when flying. I skipped it once but I definitely wear one during flu season. For others flying who need protection, there are masks that have an anti-viral coating so that is the better one to get.
We hope to go somewhere warm in March too. Where has not been decided yet. We have been to the Caribbean two times and enjoyed our type of lodging - small buildings right on the beach. The picture is looking out of our building in Antigua. That's impossible to find in Florida so now we are considering going to Antigua again. I'm a little bit nervous about the possibility of getting sick in a place with medical care that is not up to our standards but we will hopefully get insurance so if a problem arose I would be able to be airlifted back to the US.
Have any other transplant patients traveled to areas like the Caribbean? I think I will need immunizations if we go since my immune system is so compromised. I would be very interested in hearing about others' experiences.
JK

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That looks heavenly! It's currently 10 degrees here with a wind-chill of -10.

JoDee

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1 reply
JK | @contentandwell | Jan 18, 2020
In reply to @jodeej "That looks heavenly! It's currently 10 degrees here with a wind-chill of -10. JoDee" + (show)
@jodeej

That looks heavenly! It's currently 10 degrees here with a wind-chill of -10.

JoDee

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@jodeej It really was idyllic. We just discovered that our passports are expiring in February. My husband keeps them and thought it was later this year so today we sent in applications for new passports which puts things off until March unless we stay in this country. My only concern is going to an all-inclusive I know I will be eating too much sodium. I prefer a VRBO for that reason.
JK

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1 reply
jodeej | @jodeej | Jan 19, 2020
In reply to @contentandwell "@jodeej It really was idyllic. We just discovered that our passports are expiring in February. My..." + (show)
@contentandwell

@jodeej It really was idyllic. We just discovered that our passports are expiring in February. My husband keeps them and thought it was later this year so today we sent in applications for new passports which puts things off until March unless we stay in this country. My only concern is going to an all-inclusive I know I will be eating too much sodium. I prefer a VRBO for that reason.
JK

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VRBO's are nice. Our family is renting a cabin in Minnesota in June. It will be so fun to have a long weekend with the kids. I'm so excited!!
Blessings,
JoDee

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chugly11 | @chugly11 | Jan 26, 2020

I went a 2 week cruise 10 months out of heart transplant, that was 24 years ago on Celeberty cruise line and did fine remember your sea sick patches,I only used one but thank God L had it. Good luck and happy cruising.

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2 replies
JK | @contentandwell | Jan 27, 2020
In reply to @chugly11 "I went a 2 week cruise 10 months out of heart transplant, that was 24 years..." + (show)
@chugly11

I went a 2 week cruise 10 months out of heart transplant, that was 24 years ago on Celeberty cruise line and did fine remember your sea sick patches,I only used one but thank God L had it. Good luck and happy cruising.

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@chugly11 Right now I am looking for a place in the Caribbean to vacation and finding my restrictions to be limiting. We would love to go where we went before but I called them and they cannot prepare food with low-sodium. Plus, from everything I hear, I should not eat fruit that has been cut up in the kitchen. You don't know the cleanliness of where it was cut, and probably the outside of the fruit was not washed so bacteria can be dragged through the flesh when cutting. I will have to be very careful of everything I order and definitely want a place with a little fridge and microwave in the room so I can prepare breakfasts like yogurt or oatmeal, and maybe we can have things like cheese and crackers for lunch.
I have a huge fear of big cruise ships, not only because of the food preparation, but also because of the outbreaks that have occurred on cruises a number of times. My husband never wanted to cruise anyway, but now I don't want to either.

@jolinda Grand Cayman was high on my list but when we did google images of the 7-mile beach it looked overly crowded. Do you know if the otherh areas of Grand Cayman are nice?
At this point I am seriously considering either St. Martin, or Eleuthera. Any input on them? I am finding it very difficult to choose with all of my considerations. First, I have to have an excellent ocean view. That to me is what it's all about, looking out over the ocean. My blood pressure will probably go down to normal with that view.
JK

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1 reply
joanaiken | @joanaiken | Jan 27, 2020

I have no good suggestions or alternatives. I have survived 2 liver transplants and am awaiting a kidney. I would never risk my health by going on a cruise. I would seek safer alternatives for a nice vacation, explore all the options. Best wishes.

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