Mike & Missy Plus Six-A 9/11/11 Dream Trip Report! Update-12/08-COMPLETE!!

[Misskitty3]

Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I just wanted to apologize for not having updated in the past few days. Mike went to the Dr. on Tuesday morning for what we thought was a very large boil on his right arm. His Dr. referred him to a surgeon that same afternoon to have it cut open as it appeared to be very infected. I went with him to the surgeon, and he took one look at it and told him that he would need surgery. He also stated that he believed it to be a staph infection which totally confused us as we had no idea how he would've gotten something like that. So, Mike was scheduled for surgery on Wednesday morning at 11. Thankfully all went well. They cut out about the size of a nickel from his arm, so it isn't pretty to say the least. Today is my first day back at work since Tuesday afternoon as I've been at home trying to take care of him. We did go back to the surgeon yesterday morning for a follow-up visit and he showed me how to "pack" the opening. Needless to say I was a little hestitant at first, but I'm getting there. I'm definitely not cut out for the medical field as seeing things like that make me a little uneasy and week in the knees. The surgeon did say that he was sending what he cut out to be tested, so we should know more when we go back in Monday. I hope to be back in the swing of things by Monday, so hopefully I can get an update done by then. I hope y'all will hang in there with me. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

 

[Jennifer48]

Sorry to hear that Missy. You and Mike will be in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Sorry to hear that Missy. You and Mike will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Thank you, Jennifer! It really means a LOT to me!

 

[Pinkocto]

You guys will difinitely be in my thoughts and prayers. Poor Mike, that must have been quite scary! I'm so glad you were able to take off work and take care of him. Please let us know what the doc says the infection was. I hope it wasn't staph, that can be quite contagious. Did they put him on any meds?

 

[UGAFan0829]

You guys will difinitely be in my thoughts and prayers. Poor Mike, that must have been quite scary! I'm so glad you were able to take off work and take care of him. Please let us know what the doc says the infection was. I hope it wasn't staph, that can be quite contagious. Did they put him on any meds?

Thank you so very much!

I will definitely keep you posted as to what the results are. I've heard of staph before, but until now I really had no idea what it was, and I didn't know that it was contagious...the Dr. never mentioned that. They put him on 2 different antibiotics, and other than a pain med that's it. Thankfully he hasn't felt like he's needed anything for pain since yesterday.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Oh no! Staph is not fun! I wonder what type it was? I hope he recovers quickly!

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm a new nurse, so I still don't know everything, but it depends on what bacteria is the cause, some are more infectious than others. Make sure you're on top on hand washing and keeping his wound clean and it shouldn't be a problem. Doctors sometimes drop the ball and let the nurses talk about precautions when leaving, and sadly sometimes they drop the ball also. I am quickly learning the health care system is not the perfect place I envisioned. Make sure he keeps to his antibiotic schedule, he must finish every single pill. Don't mean to be pushy but that is so so important when taking antibiotics so your body doesn't build up a resistance to the bacteria. I'm glad the pain is under control, that was quite a big hole they created!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Oh no! Staph is not fun! I wonder what type it was? I hope he recovers quickly!

Thanks, Lessa. Hopefully we'll know something for sure on Monday.

I'm a new nurse, so I still don't know everything, but it depends on what bacteria is the cause, some are more infectious than others. Make sure you're on top on hand washing and keeping his wound clean and it shouldn't be a problem. Doctors sometimes drop the ball and let the nurses talk about precautions when leaving, and sadly sometimes they drop the ball also. I am quickly learning the health care system is not the perfect place I envisioned. Make sure he keeps to his antibiotic schedule, he must finish every single pill. Don't mean to be pushy but that is so so important when taking antibiotics so your body doesn't build up a resistance to the bacteria. I'm glad the pain is under control, that was quite a big hole they created!

I've definitely been on top of hand washing. It's something I've always tried to pay close attention to, but especially so now. I don't think you're being pushy at all, and I reall appreciate the info.

 

[Pinkocto]

I hope Mike's feeling better today

 

[BusyBeesMom]

Praying for you both. Hoping for good results next week! I had a close friend come down with a staph infection from being in the hospital and it took almost 3 months to get under control.

 

[iloverags2]

Oh goodness...how scary for you guys. Will keep Mike in my prayers (and you too!).

 

[UGAFan0829]

I hope Mike's feeling better today

Thank you! He has felt much better. Thankfully, he hasn't had any pain except for when we change the packing. Hopefully that will get better though.

Praying for you both. Hoping for good results next week! I had a close friend come down with a staph infection from being in the hospital and it took almost 3 months to get under control.

Thank you! I'm hoping for the same! I've heard that staph can be very difficult to get under control.

Oh goodness...how scary for you guys. Will keep Mike in my prayers (and you too!).

Thank you so much!!


We go back to the surgeon at 1 today, so hopefully he will give us the results of the Pathology test as he promised last week. Mike's hoping that we won't have to pack the wound as often as that's the only time that it really bothers him. It does seem to look like it's healing pretty good, but I'm no Dr., so hopefully the surgeon will think the same thing! I'll keep you all posted, and thank you all again for the kind words!

 

[Pinkocto]

So glad it looks to be healing well, I've been thinking about you guys

 

[UGAFan0829]

When I last left off, we'd just checked out of AKL and were on our way to the coast.

It seems like we passed through a hundred toll booths which made an already long ride seem much longer. In reality, it's really not that long of a drive, as I'm sure some of you know, but for some reason it seemed really long on this day!

Thankfully before too much longer, the sight we had been waiting to behold finally came in to view!

Dustin was really amazed at how big it was, even from that far away!

We followed the signs around and made our way to the correct terminal. It was about 11:15, but the traffic wasn't too bad at all. Last year it was somewhat of a mess as there were so many vehicles that were dropping off and picking up that it made it difficult to navigate. It was much, much easier this time.

Mike dropped me off at the curb along with the luggage, and Gayle and Brandi joined me along with all their luggage while the men folk went to find a parking place in the garage. We decided to wait for them so that we could all enter together.

Even though there was a little bit of a line to go through security, it went pretty fast, and before we knew it, we were inside the terminal. We did stop at one of the desks to fill out the health questionaire and to make sure that we had all our documentation in hand before we headed over to check in.

Once again, there was a small line for check-in, but it moved pretty quickly. It was while we were waiting in line that I realized they had already started boarding! Within just a few minutes we were all checked in and ready to go. The CM who helped us gave us our boarding number, which turned out to be #3! And since they were already calling through number 7, we could have immediately walked right on in. But, instead, we decided to jump in line for a quick hello with Captain Mickey. This has become a tradition for us, so we wanted to keep it going.

As you can probably guess, the line was pretty long, but moved pretty quickly. By this time, I was really impressed with the way DCL had changed things as it really seemed to be working pretty well. Within a few short minutes, we were at the front of the line and ready to greet the Captain!

Mike made sure to tell Mickey that this was Dustin's first cruise and that he was a little bashful, so in true Disney fashion, Dustin got a little extra attention. As we were walking away, the photog told Dustin that the Captain wanted a special picture of just the two of them. It turned out SO cute and it's definitely one of my favorite pictures from the entire trip:

After we waited for the rest of the gang to greet Mickey, we all grabbed up our belongings and made our way to those big, beautiful ears!!

We of course stopped to have our boarding pic made and decided to get one with the whole gang this time:

Next came the atrium where we were welcomed back!! It was such a great feeling to be back on board! Initially, we were told to head up to Cabanas for lunch, but then got stopped by another CM who directed us to Enchanted Garden as he had been told that Cabanas was getting too full.

One thing that I do like about eating in the restaurants after boarding versus up top at the buffet is that you're seated instead of having to search for a table.

We were seated pretty close to the middle of the restaurant, which was really close to the fountain, so of course I had to get a shot!

I have to say that I was a tad bit disappointed in the food as there wasn't very much that I found that I liked. Everyone else seemed to find several things that they loved and ended up going back a couple times.

Once everyone had their tummies full, we decided to head up top to check things out while we waited for our rooms to open. Brandi stopped to check out the interactive art as we made our way out:

I was in LOVE with all the light fixtures and how they were so shiny and sparkly, so I had to take a few pictures of those as well!

Of course, my favorite was the chandelier in the atrium! I ended up taking several shots of it throughout the cruise. I'm betting it's probably one of the most photographed things on the ship!

We finally made our way up top and strolled around making note of where everything was. I took a few random shots along the way:

We ended up finding a comfy chair while we waited for time to pass!

I was so anxious about seeing our room that it seemed like it took forever for the clock to hit 1:30! And as soon as it did, we headed straight to deck 8!

We made the long walk all the way forward where we found our home for the next 4 nights--room 8508! Of course it took a minute to figure out how to open the door since you have to push down kinda hard on the lever. Once we finally made it inside with the help of our stateroom host I was really happy with what we saw!
As you can see, instead of having the bunk over the couch, we had the murphy bed which is what I had hoped for.

Our Castaway Club gift was waiting for us:

The round shower was really neat, and I was glad that we'd gotten one as I was very pleased with it!!

I found out that the porthole wasn't quite wide enough for me to be comfortable, so I didn't get to enjoy the view very long!

Everything in the room was wonderful! All the details were amazing...right down to the DCL logos on the bedding:

It was all so beautiful, and we were very impressed with our accomodations!!

Up Next: Bon Voyage!

 

[iloverags2]

Love the pic of Dusin and Captain Mickey, and also love your group boarding photo! Everyone looks great (and it is so difficult to get multiple people to look great at one time...we have finally given up on family group boarding photos looking good! LOL).

Love your room...but disappointed to hear the bench seat in the window is not very wide. When we sail the Dream next year, we tossed around the idea of booking an oceanview with the porthole seat mainly because I wanted to sit in it. Might have to rethink that idea!

I hear you on the boarding day lunch...I was not impressed at all with the selections when I did a tour a few weeks ago. Maybe Cabanas is different...hoping so.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Love the pic of Dusin and Captain Mickey, and also love your group boarding photo! Everyone looks great (and it is so difficult to get multiple people to look great at one time...we have finally given up on family group boarding photos looking good! LOL).

Love your room...but disappointed to hear the bench seat in the window is not very wide. When we sail the Dream next year, we tossed around the idea of booking an oceanview with the porthole seat mainly because I wanted to sit in it. Might have to rethink that idea!

I hear you on the boarding day lunch...I was not impressed at all with the selections when I did a tour a few weeks ago. Maybe Cabanas is different...hoping so.

Thank you...I thought our picture turned out pretty good as well! It is hard to get a decent looking group photo sometimes!

As far as the window, maybe it's just me, but I certainly wasn't comfortable. Of course I am a little wider than some, so you have to take that into consideration as well. But one thing that is for sure...the portholes in the rooms aren't nearly as wide as the ones around the common areas of the ships that have the padded seating area.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who wasn't impressed with the boarding lunch! I thought maybe it was just me since I tend to be picky!

 

[Pinkocto]

Love the update, couldn't wait for you to see the ship! I'm sorry about the window seat I had originally booked a deluxe family specifically so I could take advantage of that seat, but then I read another TR where a dad described it as only being big enough for his daughter to enjoy, it was just too narrow, so I switched us to a regular deluxe oceanview. I agree, the picture of Dustin with Mickey and the family picture are just so cute!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Love the update, couldn't wait for you to see the ship! I'm sorry about the window seat I had originally booked a deluxe family specifically so I could take advantage of that seat, but then I read another TR where a dad described it as only being big enough for his daughter to enjoy, it was just too narrow, so I switched us to a regular deluxe oceanview. I agree, the picture of Dustin with Mickey and the family picture are just so cute!

Thank you...It's okay about the window seat...I'm not sure that I would have been able to spend much time there anyway as Dustin's bed let down right in front of it, so there was no room to sit there. I did like that the window itself was nice and big so we had a great view!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The Dream is so beautiful! Hopefully one of these days I will get to cruise on the Dream/Fantasy but it won't be for a long time!