husband with heart problems-can he cruise?

[Vals]

Hi everyone, we are DVC owners. my husband (48) had a aorta dissection & a heart attack during the emergency surgery June 22. He is reccoperating very nicely. ? does anyone know if he will be able to cruise? ie are there "rules" that one cannot go if they have heart problems? It will be some time before he will be up for it-just wondering . thanks Val S.

 

[RKB]

Not sure - you should probably call them directly. I know that they do have a state of the art medical facility on board (ship wise) and a Dr. on the ship. You will want to also ask his physician for his advice. Hope it works out!

 

[KyCruisinSusan]

I am a registered nurse in a transitional care unit. We care for a lot of post op heart patients.

I would definetly get travel plans approved by both DH's surgeon and cardiologist.

And then, just to be on the safe side, make sure your travel insurance covers pre-existing conditions and has good coverage for emergency air transport, should the worst possible thing happen. Better safe than sorry, because stat flight here runs about $5000 a pop. Don't want to think about what it would cost to have to be flown in from a foreign port.

 

[JenKatt]

The only rules are against pregnant women over 24 weeks sailing and anyone with a communicable diease and those rules are vaied as well. As a nurse I would speak with your health care providers and give DCL a call. But as far as being allowed on the ship, as long as he isn't pregnant or have something like TB he'll be ok from what I understand.

 

[NancyDVC]

For special needs DCL has a medical from which must be filled out by your husband's physician. It includes medical history, diet restrictions, etc. They can accommodate special diets if they know in advance.
If you are cruising on points and made ressies through DVC Member Services just call them and they can fax the form to you. Or you can call DCL directly and they can send it to you (fax or mail).
I did it for my Mom and her cardiologist is going to complete it on her next visit. (She had a 4 vessel heart bypass 10 years ago.)
According to posts I've read they have had kids with very special needs and were able to accommodate them.
So ask his physicians (cardiac surgeon and cardiologist) and get info from DCL.
My prayers are with you for his recovery.

 

[Mickey4Me]

I was in the same place as you 2 years ago prior to our July 4th cruise. DH had a quad bypass in early May (he too was 46) and we were scheduled to sail the end of June. My real angst was over the fact that DH who is definitely NOT a flyer, was planning on driving himself down to FL (we lived in PA at the time). The girls and I were flying and he would not let me change plans so that we could drive with him. I made sure that both his surgeon and cardiologist signed off on the plan before I agreed to it ( they said the drive would be fine for him as long as he took breaks and got out and walked around).

Ended up I had nothing to worry about! We all had a wonderful cruise and DH did fine. We got up early every day and walked 2miles around deck 4 and he felt great. We scaled back on some of the excursions (no snorkeling) but other than that, we made no other changes to our plans. Cruising is such a relaxing vacation that I think it actually helped speed DH's recovery.

Good luck on your DH's recovery and I hope you have a great cruise.

 

[Susan Prescott]

Hi, my husband went into atrial fibrillation two weeks prior to our 7 day cruise. The doctor was able to do a cardioversion of his heart and it put his heart back into sinous rhythm. As a result, however, he was put on Coumadin, which required daily lab visits to regulate the amount. We checked with both his cardiologist and regular MD, who felt he would be fine. I made sure to have all phone numbers handy just in case he needed medical attention. I also found out the locations of pharmacies near the port as well as medical facilities. To top things off for us, my daughter was diagnosed with pneumonia the day before my husband had his atrial fibrillation. I thought for sure we wouldn't be able to go. Things worked out really well for us and I'm sure they will for you. You and your DH are in my prayers.

 

[Vals]

Thanks to all of you who posted, You have given us something to look forward to! We are now thinking that DH might be able to travel in Nov, the weather will be getting cooler here & we will be ready for a vacation-but im more than ready now, but he just tires too easily right now, but each & every day he is improving. We are going to talk to his MD this week on his regular visit & will speak to his cardiologist & surgeon as well. My DH had what John Ritter died of. He is very very lucky to be alive. Thanks again,
Val S.