Last month I went on a cruise on the Grand Princess, which kind of reminded me of the Titanic. On Saturday, when I first got on I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who crowded around me. Usually I’m okay with people near me but this was over the top. People touched my communication device, which I hate. Some people seemed sick and out of it, repeating phrases: “I’m scared.” “I’m tired.”
The next day, some of the staff from the agency that provides my caregivers wanted to give Claire, my attendant, a break, but the fill-in attendant got seasick and she couldn’t work until Friday. She kept saying “Never again.”
It was hard to find things to do when we were in port because they couldn’t find anything that was accessible for me off the ship. So I hung out on the deck. I watched movies, talked to people, danced, and shopped. I spent a lot of money. There was a photographer taking pictures of people. I spent a lot of money on pictures.
People tried to take care of me. Claire showed a woman who worked for the agency how to feed me but she wasn’t paying attention so she fed me too fast. She rushed Claire away so I didn’t feel safe.
The last night on the ship I felt nauseated at dinner time. Dinner was beef stew and fettucine. Towards the end of the dinner I started to cough really hard and for a long time. I felt like I was choking on the food. All of a sudden, I threw up everywhere. Claire and Ayesha rushed me down to the infirmary, where they put an IV in me, took some blood, and gave me medicine for nausea. I spent a lot of money there and I hope to get it back from Kaiser.
Overall, the trip was fun: I got plenty of oxygen and I got to look at the ocean. The food was pretty good, aside from the beef stew and fettucine. But the trip was not what I expected and it made it impossible to trust the agency. I won’t be going on another big cruise without my family.
Ana's Blog 