It's not all about you...

[PALady]

Some forum readers may recall my anxiety about a forthcoming trip to the USA as, since the last time we undertook a long-distance trip, I have had some increase in AF activity and been prescribed warfarin. The pre-trip advice I received through the forum was most welcome.Things did not however all go to plan while we were away.

We have just returned to the UK having had to cut short our trip due to illness - but not mine. My husband suffered a severe episode of Meniere's disease, resulting in a Saturday night trip in a New York ambulance and a few anxious hours in an emergency medicine unit. This was followed by dashing around New York on a Sunday trying to locate his prescribed medicine (the type we took with us wasn't proving effective enough), waiting to hear from a travel insurer who seemed to ignore us, keeping our finances under control after our principal credit card was refused, missing my 60th birthday Caribbean cruise departure and organising our return home. With only brief exceptions, my heart behaved remarkably well. Through all the tiredness - I now understand why New York never sleeps, as nor did I -and anxiety, my heart did not add to our troubles.

I hope the above will show a) we should not forget that those upon whom we rely sometimes need us more than we need them and b) we can often deal with bad situations much better than we think we will.

As a footnote, we are safely back in the UK and husband is much better now. Part of me still wishing we were on that cruise ship, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

[daveboy99]

Thankyou for a thoughtful and lucid account of what must have been a hair raising and fraught time. Bad enough here at home but in New York......another story entirely!

You clearly had to draw on some deep down reserves of tenacity and courage...so well done you and good to hear that your husband is improving.

Once all is calm and settled I think you owe it to yourself and husband to rebook that cruise...you have earned it!

[Buffafly]

Interesting if scary. I am interested because my husband and I are thinking of going on a special holiday this year (usually we go on trips in an old camper van). Thanks to our limitations we have worked out our choices are limited to a rail or rail/river cruise holiday (hideously expensive for us!) but I still feel anxious in case things go wrong. You have encouraged me, thanks!

[PALady in reply to Buffafly]

Hello Buffafly. If I could suggest something that may give you reassurance, I think that being on an organised trip with a travel representative would be good for you. Although our multi-part trip was all organised by a single company, there was no 'travel rep' to whom we could turn for assistance. For all the jokes we make at their expense (own up, we've all said at one time or another that they are just there to sell overpriced excursions) they do at least have some training and resources to help when you are in difficulty. I do hope you feel confident to make plans, and more importantly, stay well enough to see them through.

[Buffafly in reply to PALady]

Hi, thank you for your thoughtful reply. I had already decided to book an organised tour if we decide to go at all after my previous experience of a trip to Paris. My beloved wanted to 'take me' to Paris but his sole input would be to pay the bill! I wanted to book an organised mini break but my family of daughters who are all very experienced travellers pooh-poohed that idea and I ended up organising the whole thing. We had a lovely time in the end and nothing important went wrong but it was a nightmare for me, we could have done with more advice while there, and was no cheaper. Our insurance was very expensive and may be prohibitive next time as we have picked up a couple of extra problems since!

I hope your news from the Cardiologist does not prevent you rearranging a lovely replacement holiday. Best wishes to both of you.

[PALady]

As a post-script, I have had a call from my cardiologist this afternoon inviting me to a follow up appointment after I had an event monitoring device for a month over Christmas/New Year. I had assumed there was nothing thrown up from the monitoring that would warrant a change of medication etc as it was nearly 2 months since it went back for analysis, and the monitoring had been as the result of an unscheduled hospital visit last October, so there didn't seem to be anything to worry about. The timing of the monitoring was only determined by the availability of the device, so I don't know if it was coincidence that I did have some noticeably bad days to record, or if my heart actually misbehaves more than I know. In the build up period between New Year and our holiday I had felt particularly well, despite being exceptionally busy at work and having the usual winter colds. The experience of the last week has however made me wonder if my heart actually works best when under some stress! I always have noticed symptoms more when at rest and particularly at weekends. I'm so glad I didn't get this call before our departure date, as although we did miss a large part of our planned holiday, it could have been difficult to persuade the insurers to give me cover in the circumstances, and we could have missed out on the trip altogether.

[Elaine1951]

Poor both of you. You'll go to cruise again xx

[PALady in reply to Elaine1951]

Thanks Elaine - this was 'strike 2' in terms of cruises cancelled for health reasons. Will need to regain my confidence before we try for third time lucky.

[Hidden]

Very good point you make. We are flying next week and yes, my anxiety about is has been all about me. I will look at this trip differently now, thankyou.