A Cruise? Are You Nuts?

Monday, October 15, 2018
Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy
So about that cruise. I think it was on Friday that I mentioned it to Drew - in fact I think we were at the travel agency when I called him because it seemed a little dicey but again, we were convinced at the time that Mom couldn't fly. We had visions of exploding brains in our heads. But, he thought that two weeks in the middle of the Atlantic ocean on a cruise ship during hurricane season did NOT sound like a good idea. Go figure (lol.) And of course the more I thought about it the more worried I became that we had made a mistake. 
Drew got in touch with his friend, the wonderful Kazuma Nakagawa, Neurologist and head of the stroke unit at Queens. He was really incredible, emailing with Drew, getting the background, talking to me on the phone, text conversations on two separate occasions when the phones didn't work, answering all my questions, offering advice, and putting my mind at ease. What he told us is that there is NO MEDICAL REASON not to fly, and that he puts stroke patients on planes home from Hawaii all the time. The concern is that the people accompanying the patient are able to assist with their personal needs, and that the patient can walk for brief periods and move around to avoid being sedentary for too long. These were all things that we very recently had figured out that Mom and we could do and so after a bit of back and forth and discussion, Karen and I decided that a cruise was a really bad idea and that we would attribute that decision to temporary insanity, lack of correct information and OMIGOD give us a break we are in Italy dealing with my Mom's stroke for God's sake.  
But now, how to get a refund? Mom knew we had booked it and at the time was incredibly agreeable, knowing we were doing our best to figure things out. When we told her Sunday night that we needed to cancel it she was equally agreeable. What faith! On Monday morning, with Mom safely absconded and under our care, and with new medical guidance, we arose with a mission to get flights home.  We still wanted Mom to rest up and gain some strength and so we set our sights on a Thursday departure. Our goal was to take as few legs as possible and to break up the trip in California. 
It was a long morning of frustration. Flights were really high and when we did find them, the credit cards didn't work. Even though Mom had called telling them she was traveling, there appeared to be locks on the cards. More phone calls, more waiting, more frustration. After about 3 hours of this we decided to go to a travel agency recommended by the wonderful guide Sara to see if they would have more luck getting through. This was the best decision ever. Within half an hour she had booked our flights from Milan to Heathrow to San Francisco on Thursday morning, three days from now. Praise Papa Giovanni!!!! This triggered more plans - I booked a room at the Malpensa Airport Sheraton for Wednesday, arranged for Sara's driver to take us there, sent an email to cousin Pauline in Los Gatos for a three night stay to rest up for the final leg, and Omigod we still have to cancel that cruise! 
We finished at the travel agency and went immediately to the cruise office. The first thing Allesandro said was that the 24 cancellation window had closed because we booked it on a Friday and it was now Monday. He was shaking his head sorrowfully. Now I know what you're thinking.... the same thing Mom and I were  thinking which was ah man, they are going to mess with us and the 24 hours has to include business hours and give me the paperwork and I will deal with this when I get home and and and and.... so I decided that Mom and I would LEAVE because I could tell that we definitely weren't going to do any good there, we had a bunch of stuff to get done at the hospital and more importantly, this was a job for the Retail Maven, the Master of Negotiation, the only person I know who can not only talk a policeman into NOT giving her a ticket after pulling her over but into fixing the one that is in her glove compartment! We left Karen to deal with the cruise refund. 
I got a taxi and took Mom to the hospital (by myself! woot woot!) where we intended to pay the bill and give the staff some Hawaii treats. A wonderful nurse walked us through the quite complex process of getting all Mom's images on a disk, and we left without so much as pulling out a credit card because they said Mom would receive the bill in an email. What a country!
Oh, and I got a text from Karen while we were there.....
“FULL REFUND!!!!!!!!!!”
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