DIS Dads DDC XXXIV: The Original Home Of The DISDads!!!

[wasnotafan]

Well.. mixed feeling day in MarkLT1-land. We are supposed to set sail on the Fantasy on April 4th. It is to be a big celebration cruise for us- my parents 42nd anniversary, my wife and I's 15th anniversary, and both of our boys' birthdays while we are onboard.

The unfortunate part is my dad- he is 84, and finished lymphoma treatment about a year ago. He is also missing half a lung from an accident when he was in his 40s. While most people can weather COVID-19 without much issue, he is in about the highest risk group there is (according the the WHO data, someone with is kind of conditions has a mortality rate well above the averages, estimates that go up into the double digits percent). He had a chat with both his primary care doc and oncologist today, and both said while the likelihood of him catching it is relatively low (though increasing daily), the outcomes if he did would likely be devastating. When he brought up the flu, and that risk, the response was "you have the flu vaccine which mitigates the risk significantly" and followed up with "And we know how to treat the flu for people in your shoes.. and the data shows those same treatments aren't working well for susceptible people with COVID." They were strongly encouraging him to be cautious over the next few months, just around here (we learned about our first COVID patient in our state today), let alone traveling by airport/plane and on a cruise ship.

Luckily, DCL is now offering the ability to reschedule your cruise with no penalty, so we'll be doing that- putting down a deposit on a November cruise that coincides with kids being off school. We'll wait it out for a couple weeks before we officially cancel, just in case there is some miraculous turnaround with the spread of this bug. I think it is two fold- my dad is at much higher risk, and so we'd probably be worrying the entire trip, which would be no fun. And ultimately, if we decided to go through the whole airport/cruise ship thing, which would put him at higher risk, and he did get it.. it most definitely would not be worth it.

So on one hand, I'm quite disappointed.. this was going to be an amazing cruise and we've been planning it for 2-years. On the other hand, I am very relieved, as we'll just postpone it several months, and hopefully by that time, we wont have to be worrying about potential outcomes for my dad, so we wont be "looking over our shoulder" for the whole trip.

Also, VERY thankful it was going to be a surprise for the kids. They have no idea what they'll likely be missing out on.

Sorry you have to postpone but all for the best. First case of Covid in KY today as well.

 

[MarkLT1]

Sorry you have to postpone but all for the best. First case of Covid in KY today as well.

Aye.. it will definitely be for the best. This afternoon as I chatted with my mom, she was really sad, as we seriously considered postponing.. Then we got hit with news of the first COVID case in our state, and then the 21 people on the Grand Princess who tested positive, and when I spoke with her this evening, she sounded very relieved. So if nothing else, it will lead to a much less stressful vacation when the time comes.

 

[pkondz]

Well.. mixed feeling day in MarkLT1-land.

Sorry to hear all that. I'm going to be having a conversation with my 87 year old mom about our cruise in May soon. While not in the same boat as your dad, I still need to talk to her about it.
Hope it works out and they get this thing under control eventually.

 

[MarkLT1]

Sorry to hear all that. I'm going to be having a conversation with my 87 year old mom about our cruise in May soon. While not in the same boat as your dad, I still need to talk to her about it.
Hope it works out and they get this thing under control eventually.

I hope so as well. If it really starts to spread here, I'll be concerned about him just in general due to his lung issues. All that being said, I am starting to feel quite relieved, as I've been worrying more and more about it each day. Knowing we have a good backup plan (if you can call a 90% its going to happen, a backup), and that we can wait for this to blow over, is quite freeing.

 

[pkondz]

I hope so as well. If it really starts to spread here, I'll be concerned about him just in general due to his lung issues. All that being said, I am starting to feel quite relieved, as I've been worrying more and more about it each day. Knowing we have a good backup plan (if you can call a 90% its going to happen, a backup), and that we can wait for this to blow over, is quite freeing.

Do you have a backup to your backup? I believe SARS took 2 years to completely go away...

 

[MarkLT1]

Do you have a backup to your backup? I believe SARS took 2 years to completely go away...

Yup, we have cancel for any reason insurance on it. About as much of a backup to the backup as you can get.

 

[pkondz]

Morning, gents.

Got home late last night, after an evening shift. TV was on... thought I'd check the guide and see what was on. All the channels say "To be announced"... huh... must've been a power failure.
Set alarm for the morning and go to bed. After a really crappy night's sleep, my alarm goes off at 5am. Time for work. I get up, throw on a robe, let the dogs out, feed them, let 'em out again (don't ask) and open my phone to see what's new...

My face when I notice the time on my phone says 4:38am. Don't know if my clock somehow reset itself after the power failure or DW set it wrong. The midnight shift was happy at least when I came in early and I sent him home.

 

[MarkLT1]

My face when I notice the time on my phone says 4:38am. Don't know if my clock somehow reset itself after the power failure or DW set it wrong. The midnight shift was happy at least when I came in early and I sent him home.

Man.. TOMORROW (well.. tonight) is the night you're supposed to lose an hour of sleep.

 

[wasnotafan]

Morning, gents.

Got home late last night, after an evening shift. TV was on... thought I'd check the guide and see what was on. All the channels say "To be announced"... huh... must've been a power failure.
Set alarm for the morning and go to bed. After a really crappy night's sleep, my alarm goes off at 5am. Time for work. I get up, throw on a robe, let the dogs out, feed them, let 'em out again (don't ask) and open my phone to see what's new...

My face when I notice the time on my phone says 4:38am. Don't know if my clock somehow reset itself after the power failure or DW set it wrong. The midnight shift was happy at least when I came in early and I sent him home.

Ouch. The cat and I seem to have developed a routine. She gets up around 3:30, I let her out while I fill her dish, let her back in and then I get about another hour of sleep before I let her out again. She's not too bright but then again she has me trained.

 

[pkondz]

Man.. TOMORROW (well.. tonight) is the night you're supposed to lose an hour of sleep.

Oh no. Tomorrow is much worse than that. I get to lose an hour of sleep (effectively getting up at 4am) and then get to stay up until 8-9am on Monday.

Ouch. The cat and I seem to have developed a routine. She gets up around 3:30, I let her out while I fill her dish, let her back in and then I get about another hour of sleep before I let her out again. She's not too bright but then again she has me trained.

I think I know which one is the bright one.

 

[AirGoofy]

Happy Saturday morning. Been a good day of EPL this AM. Youngest at tennis and DW shopping. I have the house too myself for awhile.

My suggestions for dealing with Coronavirus...Wash your hands. Don't pick your nose. Eat right, stay hydrated and get plenty of rest. Avoid being around sick people. Maybe I should be the new WHO coordinator for dealing with this.

So, what you are saying is, I can clean my hands? Shocking.

Well.. mixed feeling day in MarkLT1-land. We are supposed to set sail on the Fantasy on April 4th. It is to be a big celebration cruise for us- my parents 42nd anniversary, my wife and I's 15th anniversary, and both of our boys' birthdays while we are onboard.

The unfortunate part is my dad- he is 84, and finished lymphoma treatment about a year ago. He is also missing half a lung from an accident when he was in his 40s. While most people can weather COVID-19 without much issue, he is in about the highest risk group there is (according the the WHO data, someone with is kind of conditions has a mortality rate well above the averages, estimates that go up into the double digits percent). He had a chat with both his primary care doc and oncologist today, and both said while the likelihood of him catching it is relatively low (though increasing daily), the outcomes if he did would likely be devastating. When he brought up the flu, and that risk, the response was "you have the flu vaccine which mitigates the risk significantly" and followed up with "And we know how to treat the flu for people in your shoes.. and the data shows those same treatments aren't working well for susceptible people with COVID." They were strongly encouraging him to be cautious over the next few months, just around here (we learned about our first COVID patient in our state today), let alone traveling by airport/plane and on a cruise ship.

Luckily, DCL is now offering the ability to reschedule your cruise with no penalty, so we'll be doing that- putting down a deposit on a November cruise that coincides with kids being off school. We'll wait it out for a couple weeks before we officially cancel, just in case there is some miraculous turnaround with the spread of this bug. I think it is two fold- my dad is at much higher risk, and so we'd probably be worrying the entire trip, which would be no fun. And ultimately, if we decided to go through the whole airport/cruise ship thing, which would put him at higher risk, and he did get it.. it most definitely would not be worth it.

So on one hand, I'm quite disappointed.. this was going to be an amazing cruise and we've been planning it for 2-years. On the other hand, I am very relieved, as we'll just postpone it several months, and hopefully by that time, we wont have to be worrying about potential outcomes for my dad, so we wont be "looking over our shoulder" for the whole trip.

Also, VERY thankful it was going to be a surprise for the kids. They have no idea what they'll likely be missing out on.

Glad you have the options. Not related to illness at all, but we had a dvc vacation at Vero beach when hurricane happened. We were allowed to cancel within 30 days and recoup all points without penalty. Disney may be expensive, but at least they do the right thing in these situations.

Sorry you have to postpone but all for the best. First case of Covid in KY today as well.

I heard that. Perhaps closer to you than me. Someone posted something about washing your hands or washing other people's hands or something like that.

Ouch. The cat and I seem to have developed a routine. She gets up around 3:30, I let her out while I fill her dish, let her back in and then I get about another hour of sleep before I let her out again. She's not too bright but then again she has me trained.

So far, I survived the pet discussion. Both DW and dd want a cat, and I stand alone in opposition. I know I'll end up doing something silly like getting up at 3:30 AM to take care of it.

Morning, gents.

Got home late last night, after an evening shift. TV was on... thought I'd check the guide and see what was on. All the channels say "To be announced"... huh... must've been a power failure.
Set alarm for the morning and go to bed. After a really crappy night's sleep, my alarm goes off at 5am. Time for work. I get up, throw on a robe, let the dogs out, feed them, let 'em out again (don't ask) and open my phone to see what's new...

My face when I notice the time on my phone says 4:38am. Don't know if my clock somehow reset itself after the power failure or DW set it wrong. The midnight shift was happy at least when I came in early and I sent him home.

Even your phone is plotting against your sleep schedule.

 

[pkondz]

Even your phone is plotting against your sleep schedule.

The phone was right... the clock wasn't. Either somehow got screwed up from the power outage or DW set it wrong...

 

[AirGoofy]

Afternoon all. I could hardly think most of the day. And, not in a good, alcohol buzzed way. This daylight savings has to go.

The phone was right... the clock wasn't. Either somehow got screwed up from the power outage or DW set it wrong...

I got ya know. I have 3 clocks in the house that aren't connected to the Internet - my radio alarm clock from the 90s, oven/ range clock, and grandfather clock. The alarm clock has the back-up battery and oven just goes to 0 when power is out. But, I used to have a VCR that would do what you were talking about, and I couldn't figure out why it said 11 AM when I walked in the door after a work shift.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

So on one hand, I'm quite disappointed.. this was going to be an amazing cruise and we've been planning it for 2-years. On the other hand, I am very relieved, as we'll just postpone it several months, and hopefully by that time, we wont have to be worrying about potential outcomes for my dad, so we wont be "looking over our shoulder" for the whole trip.

I'm disappointed with you about the postponement, but it sounds like the best course in your case.

Sorry to hear all that. I'm going to be having a conversation with my 87 year old mom about our cruise in May soon. While not in the same boat as your dad, I still need to talk to her about it.
Hope it works out and they get this thing under control eventually.

I'm having similar thoughts about our cruise in late July. Right now, I'm optimistic that things will be under control by then.

I hope.

My face when I notice the time on my phone says 4:38am. Don't know if my clock somehow reset itself after the power failure or DW set it wrong. The midnight shift was happy at least when I came in early and I sent him home.

Oh no. Tomorrow is much worse than that. I get to lose an hour of sleep (effectively getting up at 4am) and then get to stay up until 8-9am on Monday.

But, I used to have a VCR that would do what you were talking about, and I couldn't figure out why it said 11 AM when I walked in the door after a work shift.

My VCR just blinked "12:00" for about 13 years.

 

[pkondz]

Afternoon, gents.
It is afternoon, isn't it? Midnight shifts are not for those who like to know when and where they are...

I'm having similar thoughts about our cruise in late July. Right now, I'm optimistic that things will be under control by then.

I hope.

Good luck.
I think there's no way this will be over by summer, but... hoping for you.

My VCR just blinked "12:00" for about 13 years.

I think it was Jay Leno who had a story about how he bought his parents a VCR and his mom would call and say it was blinking 12:00. So he'd go over and set it. She'd call the next day. He'd go back. "Ma? Are you doing anything to it?" "No."
Next day, same thing. "Are you sure you're not doing anything?" "No."

Finally, after a few days of this he says "Are you sure you're not doing anything? Tell me all you do to it."
"Nothing! We only do like you told us. I push this button to turn it on, put the tape in, push this button to watch the show, push this button to rewind it after. That's all!"
"Huh. That's all? Nothing else?"
"No. Nothing. We unplug it every night, but that's it."

"You... unplug... it... WHY DO YOU UNPLUG IT?"
"To save electricity."

 

[AirGoofy]

And there's another Monday. We are up 60 degrees and windy today. The birds are chirping non-stop in the morning. Hope that means Spring is here.

My VCR just blinked "12:00" for about 13 years.

Well, at least it was right twice a day. That's more often than the husband in a marriage.

"You... unplug... it... WHY DO YOU UNPLUG IT?"
"To save electricity."

All the old people do that at the Church. Coffee makers, microwaves, etc are all unplugged. I guess someone on the news told them to unplug everything.

But, they leave all the scented air fresheners plugged in so it smells like a vanilla bomb at all times. But, don't worry, the electric air fresheners don't use any electricity.

 

[pkondz]

But, they leave all the scented air fresheners plugged in so it smells like a vanilla bomb at all times. But, don't worry, the electric air fresheners don't use any electricity.

 

[declansdad]

Well hello all.

Made it back from the cruise today. Had a great time with the Chief and Brian as well as the spouses. DW had a bit of news when we got home, the Department of Education announced tonight that any teacher that traveled internationally and hadn't returned to Canada by March 8, couldn't come to school for 14 days. It doesn't count against there sick time and they have to prepare all the lesson plans but stay home. I don't think she's all to happy about the whole thing.

Before anyone says pictures or it didn't happen...





So did I miss anything important?

 

[declansdad]

And I just found out that volunteers are suppose to stay away as well. That's going to make it difficult for me to coach.

 

[pkondz]

Well hello all.

Welcome back, Darcy.
Interesting about DW and school. Not happy? But it’s two more weeks of vacation.