Change of plans

       The title of this blog has become inaccurate even before the journey begins.  On December 7, after four days of either vomiting or abdominal pain whenever he ate any solid food, I took David to the ER where a CT scan showed he had a partial intestinal obstruction.  He had developed two hernias along the line of the previous surgery in 2014.  A loop of intestine had become caught in one of them, but fortunately not strangulated.  The next evening the surgeon was successful in repairing the hernias and removing the caught intestine.  We were so grateful for the skill of Dr. Ian Cavin, and that this had all happened while we were still at home with good medical care as close as Alta View Hospital.  David was able to come home on Wednesday, but there was no way we could board a plane for Miami the next morning as planned.  Fortunately, there were two embarkation points for this world cruise, in Miami with 21 days to Cuba and both coasts of Central America after traversing the Panama Canal, then to LA which was the second point of embarkation.  As soon as I knew David would need surgery, I called Viking to let them know we would be unable to get to Miami on time.  They gave us new flights to LA the next day! 

       David went for a follow-up appointment yesterday morning and got a written "fit to travel" release from Dr. Cavin.  What a sigh of relief that we will be able to make this (only somewhat modified) dream come true.   Now it's get the houseplants to the very capable babysitter, finally finish cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer, and double check the packing list.  Friday morning we fly to Los Angeles to board the Viking Sun for the remaining 120 days of its World Cruise!