The Cruise

This may have been the voyage from hell, but only if hell is sweet, soft, boozy, and has really good food.

My extended family signed up for a twelve-day big cruise to the Baltic.  We love cruising, and like to have many family members there. We don't need to spend all our time together, but we interact enough to keep things interesting.  My brother and sister-in-law, two of the kids, my brother-in-law, and my mother came along.

Sadly, the second night out, I woke to my mother crying "Help! Help!".  She had fallen as she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, and hurt herself badly. There was blood, and she couldn't get up.  The emergency services and medical center on the ship were quick and efficient, but she was (is) still hurt.  They patched her up (the cuts not bad) and took xrays of her back and knee.  She hurt her back badly, but nothing showed as broken on the xrays.  For the rest of the voyage, she needed a wheel chair, to have someone with her at all hours, and intimate assistance with hygine. Of course, the family helped me, but all the intimate care (and night time interruptions) was mine.  Due to her failure to get any better in her back, the ship's doctor sent us to an emergency room in Stockholm, where we spent a sleepless night waiting for xrays, which also confirmed nothing was broken. That day was the only viable opportunity to leave the trip early, but my mother refused to go ("I don't want to ruin your vacation" "You are spending all your time shrieking or whimpering in pain and I'm spending all my time mopping up your urine - I'm sorry but you already have!").  With my utter exhaustion, I wasn't capable of making arrangements in the face of her obstinancy.

The trip home several days later was awful, watching her grey face as she simply endured, though I upgraded her to business class (which then was bumped for no more money all the way to first class with a lay-flat bed and a more private rest room).  I skipped going to my house, got her to bed in her apartment, and slept on the floor in the next room.  I arranged for my nephew to pick up my dogs, one of whom had major emergency surgery the day before we left and would need his stitches removed soon.  We were able to see her doctor in her continuing care community first thing the next morning (and they had wheelchairs to borrow to get her there). She was admitted to the short-term rehap nursing home they have there later that afternoon, where finally someone else took responsibility for her.  I slept like a log for ten hours.  I was supposed to climb back on an airplane and take my youngest out to the midwest for freshman orientation, but her father stepped up and did that.

My mother had a lengthy MRI on Friday, and we'll go see the orthopedic surgeon on Monday to see if there is anything operable or some way to fix the pain.  This means I'm not going back to work as scheduled, another bit of anxiety.

So aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did it go?

How about this:  I spent twelve days on a cruise ship, for the most part ate everything I wanted to eat, drank not a little alcohol, and gained not a single pound.  Nothing, nada, same as when I left.

How did this happen?  It seemed to me I was eating a lot of desserts and drinking quite a bit.  But I did really pay attention to what I ate and drank.  I thought carefully every time before eating or drinking, "do I really want this?".  It was balanced with what I had already had, and what I would be planning to have later that day.  I ate things I do not normally eat - bread and pasta - but not all the time and not as if it didn't matter. I did not feel bad about leaving food on my plate if I didn't like it (rare) or I felt full.  I never felt deprived.  A couple of times I felt bad from eating too much, and that helped make future decisions easier.  For reasons of hygine, everything is served to you on a dish (no scooping your own stuff from a hot table) so there was automatic portion control, always a problem for me.

Mixology Class

So I'm not suddenly a super ninja intuitive eater.  I got home and ate a giant helping of the only sweet thing in my cupboard - all there was.  When I left on the cruise, I was up about ten pounds from my goal weight I was at in early December. Given the trend, I really expected to have gained weight.  I've been evaluating my goals, and trying to decide how I'm going to eat for the rest of my life.

Another thing I did on the ship was use the fitness center.  Three times (ok, not a lot in 12 days but something) I went and ran on the treadmill, then stretched and worked with weights.  The running really really helped calm me down, and the weights and stretching made me feel good.  How nice to be doing what is good for me, and it feels good.

When I could step away from my mother, there were definite highlights on the cruise.  We had a lovely day trip to Berlin - a city I had never seen.  And the small city of Talinn in Estonia is very cute.  Perhaps my favorite moment was sitting in the square drinking pear cider with my nephew and my sister-in-law.

I had a full day ashore in St. Petersburg, touring Catherine's Palace and a whirlwind through L'Hermitage.  In Gotenburg (Sweden) there was a fun kayaking trip through the harbor and around the medieval city, using the old moat-turned-canal.  And in Kiel, Germany, there was a tall ship event going on, so watching the harbor traffic from the deck was very fun.

Here's to the sandwich generation:  college orientation went well, and the prospect of the empty nest is more appealing than not.  But new responsibilities at the other end of the spectrum will tie me close to home for a while.

I am probably going to try the Whole30 food experiment in July, with my brother and sister-in-law.  So more to come, as things evolve with my mother and with me.