Jayestravellingadventures

2nd August – 16th August 2024

Hopefully you have read part 1 & 2, if you haven’t then I suggest you read those before continuing as it might not make much sense. I will try to shorten it down for you but not leave anything out.

So I went on the ships tour and then to the captains night, after this my family brought me Beef Wellington to try to make me feel better. I took one look at it and that was it. I started to vomit every 30 minutes, my head was pounding and I was having hot and cold flushes. This continued throughout the night, not knowing why I was like this I tried everything. I moved my bed to the floor, had sickness bands on as well as took anti sickness etc but nothing stopped it. The cabin was in darkness.

I had a wet towel over my face to try to relieve my headache but nothing helped. My mum (my hero) had to pack my suitcases in the dark. We decided it was time to call the doctors onboard, I hadn’t eaten or drank anything since the morning prior and I was extremely dehydrated. An officer came with a wheel chair and I was wheeled down to medical.

After being put in a room very quickly and given an overview of what was going on, they tried to get a canula in me for fluids and medication. unfortunately, because I was so dehydrated my veins had started to collapse so it took 5 doctors/nurses and 8 attempts to find a vein. After some fluid, anti sickness and pain killers were given to me, they sent me back to my cabin.

I felt relatively okay until 2am when I started to feel awful again, I have never felt pain in my head like it! It was a quick and straight forward process again where I went back to the hospital onboard and they had a bed ready for me. They tried everything and nothing was touching the pain in my head so, they decided to give me Fentanyl (which still have 0 effect other than making me sleep). They let me go back to my cabin with my cannula in to try and get some sleep. They also gave me medication to take when travelling home. We all put it down to Gastroenteritis.

We finally docked in Southampton and the next challenge was getting off board. I was still so weak and in pain. The medical team took my cannula out and arranged for me to be wheeled off the ship and to my car. My sister had to drive my car home with myself and my mum whilst, my brother-in-law took all our luggage and my niece. Once home I laid straight on the sofa and fell asleep for a few hours. For once I was happy to be home.

I will shorten this up as I am no longer on the cruise and back in Bedford. I woke up again feeling unwell and went to my local A&E. They admitted me quite quickly and before anything I was having anti biotics, brain scans and 6 lumber punctures. I finally got to the bottom of it and my Lumber Puncture came back positive (POSITIVE). It was confirmed I had meningitis!!

The treatment onboard cost me £1,500, which wasn’t as back as I thought it was going to be. The nurses and doctors onboard were amazing, and made me feel calm, safe and as relaxed as I could of been. I am truly grateful and would urge anyone that the cost is nothing if your life is at risk! For never going to medical, I sure made up for it on this cruise. It hasn’t put me off cruising at all and I cant wait for my next cruise.

** This could of happened anywhere, it was in my system ready to be triggered. If anything I was lucky I was on a cruise with medical help, than abroad and needing to catch a flight or attend a hospital abroad.

My holiday with the family was amazing and the memories will be cherished forever. I cant wait to go on another family holiday and make even more memories!!

Also, I have been lucky enough to be able to join Cruise Maps to allow you to capture your cruise memories in a photo. Click on the link The Cruise Maps: Satellite Precision Customised Cruise Maps or head to their website and use my code JAYESTRAVELLINGADVENTURES at checkout to get 10% off.