An unusual few weeks

A few Tuesdays ago I posted on here that I was going to be away for a little while, firstly teaching in Hobart, and then on a writing retreat. Not all went to plan…

On the Tuesday that I posted, I was descending into a flu-like illness. It wasn’t the flu, but it was pretty awful. I desperately wanted to be well, as I needed to go to Hobart on the Friday afternoon, and be well enough to teach a class all that weekend.

Unfortunately that never happened. By Friday afternoon I wouldn’t have been well enough to get to the front gate of where we live, let alone all the way to Hobart. With the sickness of some of the class participants as well, the executive decision was made to unfortunately cancel the class.

However, that wasn’t all that I needed to be well for. I was planning to leave for my writing retreat on the following Monday, and for that I needed to be well. You see, I was going on a cruise for my writing retreat!

I had planned to get away from it all to get some writing done, and thinking it through, I realised that one really good way to do that would be to go on a cruise. Then they’d take care of the cooking and the cleaning, there’d be no easy access to the internet, and I could just concentrate on writing. However, if you’re not well, they won’t let you on a cruise, because they don’t want everyone to get sick – quite understandable!

On the Friday, I realised that the cruise just was not going to be possible. I wasn’t well, and there really wasn’t any chance that I would be. A trip to the doctor on Saturday morning confirmed that I wasn’t going anywhere.

Eventually I ended up at the emergency department of the local hospital on Saturday morning. Apparently I was very very sick. I mean I knew I wasn’t well, but the doctors at the hospital found more to be concerned about!

While giving the history of the illness, I mentioned that I had been planning to go on a cruise on Monday. The doctor in charge of the emergency department said, “Is that the 9 day cruise to Noumea?” Um, yes… (me thinking, “this is weird. How would you know that?”) “I’m going on that one with my family!”

Anyway, I stayed overnight, while they pumped me full of various liquids and kept checking my blood, blood pressure, heart rate etc. They had talked about me staying until Monday morning. On Sunday morning though, my blood test results were so much improved and I was feeling so much brighter, that they suggested going home at lunch time.

And then… one of the doctors said, “When does your cruise leave tomorrow?” I replied, “I have to board about lunch time, but I’m not going! I’m not well enough!” And off he went. When he came back, I said “Is there a chance that I MIGHT be well enough to go?”

Eventually they sent me home and told me to keep my appointment with my GP on Monday morning. They said that if he thought I was well enough to go, then I could go. Wow! What a turn around!

That afternoon I packed to go on the cruise. I figured that if I could manage packing, then I might be well enough, but if I couldn’t manage that, then there really wasn’t any point in even considering it. I managed it. 🙂

On Monday morning, the doctor did some more blood tests, and got the results back within a few hours and confirmed that I was right to go. I took all my hospital discharge papers with me, to show to the ship’s doctor, who I knew I would have to also convince that I was well enough to go. My husband took me in to the ship, and the first thing we did was to fill out the health questionnaire. Basically they’re screening for people who have flu, or norovirus. Answering the questions completely truthfully though, we realised that I didn’t even need to see the ship’s doctor – I passed the health questionnaire!

So off I went on a 9 day cruise to Noumea. First stop was Isle of Pines, one of the Loyalty Islands, then Noumea, then Lifou and Mare (two more of the Loyalty Islands). It was lovely! The food was fantastic, and Israel, my stateroom attendant did a great job of keeping my room lovely.

At the port stops, I usually went across on the first tender of the day, and spent an hour or two on the island, and then went back to the ship to get on with work. It meant that I had a lovely mix of sightseeing, relaxing and working hard. It gave me a chance to recover from my illness, and also get an awful lot of work done.

I think my favourite place was the Isle of Pines. I took some of my embroidery across to the island with me and went and sat on the peaceful, beautiful, heavenly Kanumera Beach for a couple of hours and embroidered. There was practically no-one there when I arrived, and the beach slowly filled as the morning went on. I think it would have to be the nicest place that I have ever done any embroidery. It is a memory that will stay with me forever.

Travelling by myself was quite successful. I met many lovely people at meal times (that was one of the other things about going on a cruise, it meant that I would not be a hermit, and would still have human contact, while on my writing retreat!). Often I’d have people who I had previously dined with, come up to me during the cruise and ask how the writing was going. It felt like I had a whole cheer squad, cheering me on!

I missed my family very much, though I was able to email them a few times at great expense to the management! I did see the doctor from the hospital with his family a few times, though he showed no signs of recognition – I did look very, very unwell when I was at the hopsital! I also found that a girl I had known in my teenage years and had since lost contact with, was on the cruise with her family. It was lovely to have her as a familiar face around the place, and someone familiar to chat to when I needed it.

Would I go on a cruise again as a writing retreat? Yes, I might! I got much, much more work done than I ever expected to, particularly because of my illness I had significantly reduced my expectations. It worked really well for me, and because I got so much done, I felt it was a worthwhile use of my time and money. If I did not have good self-discipline, it would not have worked. I could have very easily spent all of the port days exploring, and all of the nights living it up. However, I limited the amount of time spent exploring, and when I needed a break from writing, I did embroidery (still work, but relaxing work!).

It is wonderful to be home, and I’m looking forward to seeing my family when they get home from their day’s activities.