I’m not sure if hypnotist David Knight would have managed any better, but that was the order of the day for Paula - again. Sorry in advance, but you may want to skip this post as I doubt you’ll be entertained or informed, but all I can do is relate the happenings.
She managed a toast and cuppa breakfast before we checked out and headed to Dave and Sue. Nice to see his new vehicle had arrived a bit early.
We hadn’t been there long before Paula headed for a lie down.
The rest of us went to Noah’s 5th birthday party – a pirate theme, so he had a pencilled moustache and eye patch on and later, green hair colour, though where that fits I am not too sure. (Pics to follow, as my camera seems incapable of focussing, which is annoying.) Several kids of course and plenty of adults. I didn’t take his ‘big’ present as we thought it would be better outside and away from home. The sad news is that apparently my ex-wife’s hubby is terminally ill, which is a real shame as he is a really nice chap.
We left about 5:45 and on the way home, we learned of the passing of Cilla Black, just a few days after we’d passed the Cavern Club in Liverpool.
We were expecting to meet a couple of cruisers from last year’s Baltic Cruise, Sheila and Tony, but Paula wasn’t in a state to go, so I went on my own.
Nice to catch up with them. Afterwards, I stayed for a bite to eat and possibly made the wrong choice (no doubt you can guess what that was) and the coffee at home probably didn’t help either.
I’m sure you can guess what came next.
Monday August 3rd
At 5:15am it was my turn for the bathroom, but thankfully without the vomiting, just the usual and the hot sweats.
A bland day with more sleeping and no eating, though Sue brought me some medication for rehydration in sachet form, which seemed to help, so I felt much better.
Although feeling better I shouldn’t have had the late coffee.
More Imodium. Paula a lot better but still tired and quite weak.
Tuesday August 4th
Well, not a very bright and happy birthday really for Paula. We’d cancelled our travel plans for the day and perhaps as well.
We went out late morning to the garden centre for fresh air as much as anything, but as coffee was off for me, we had a pot of tea, but Paula was still feeling a bit woozy. On the way back, into the chemist for new supplies of Imodium and Kwell’s for travel/motion sickness, and a couple of bottles of Lucozade. I did a bit of Googling regarding Noro Virus and it seems that although the major symptoms may last a couple of days, it can take up to a couple of weeks to get back to 100%. Deep joy. With that bombshell, we decided to try and get an earlier flight from LA back to Auckland, so an email to our travel agent, Rachel. We have told her that we’ll be happy with just one night instead of three, to get home earlier, so fingers crossed.
After dropping Paula back home, time to try and get Stewart’s Ford Ka started, as he wants to sell it. It isn’t worth much (rust around the fuel filler cap) so not worth spending much on it. The battery was suspect, but we didn’t have the tools to remove it! It needed a long socket and an extension, neither of which was in Stewart’s toolkit, so we jump started it and drove to get a new battery - and to get it fitted. Easy enough.
Back home and Paula had surfaced and was looking a lot better.
The other advice from the internet was to eat as normally as possible, so we opted to eat an evening meal in, instead of our original plan of going out to celebrate. We both managed the pasta dish, though with smaller portions than normal.
A lie down for me for a while, though I was feeling a lot better.
Then, late evening, brother Dave got infected… I don’t think we’ll be invited back again, as we have been terrible company this time, well, the second week anyway, and no amount of Whittaker’s chocolate is going to compensate our wonderful hosts for this latest turn of events.
In fact, we are even beginning to question whether or not we’ll do the 75 day cruise next year, as this extended time away does have some disadvantages, not the least is the health and tiredness aspect towards the end, but now is not the best time to be making those sort of decisions. Feeling off colour has been bad enough, but feeling guilty is even worse.
The positive part of next year is knowing many of our favourite cruising mates are with us, albeit one or two jumping ship in San Francisco.
Not a very exciting blog folks, sorry, but I suppose that cruisers may need to know the potential effects of this all too common virus, which can affect almost anyone anywhere, even if maintaining good hygiene practices, on or off a cruise ship.
As the Dr. on board said, it is not just from touching infected surfaces either, but it can also be airborne, so the chances of avoiding it can be very slim indeed. All I can do at the moment is apologise to the household and hope that Sue doesn’t get it too, nor son Stewart’s household.
With a bit of luck, the next post on this blog will be a bit more cheerful and I hope to get hold of some pics of the birthday bash to brighten it up. Thanks for the emails and Facebook comments for those who enjoy the read and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.
Oh, I managed a haircut today and even Noah noticed. Pretty good value at the equivalent of $12NZD.
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