July 21, 2024

Gallbladder Removal Surgery

One of the big reasons I returned to Philly when ship notified us of the last delay, was to attend to a health item that had surfaced for me, right before originally departing on 5/18/24. It was recommended that I have my gall bladder removed sooner than later due to large stones and a lesion that was showing on recent scans. I had originally scheduled it for 9/11, right after my niece's wedding weekend of 9/7, since I was going to be home then anyway. With the ship notifying us of the delay and itinerary changes, it seemed prudent to get this taken care of now. So on Thursday 7/18/24 I had outpatient surgery to remove my gall bladder. I had it done by a Jefferson Doctor, Sami Tannouri, who does a ton of these everyday at Methodist Hospital. The whole procedure was rather easy and I'm recovering with very little discomfort. I see the Dr. on Tuesday for a follow up and should be cleared to fly and join the ship next weekend for our maiden voyage out of Belfast! Amazing how everything is falling into place.

By Patricia Patrick October 26, 2025
Thursday, October 23rd we arrived in the Port of Bitung, Indonesia to huge fan fare despite the pouring rain. Turns out we were the first cruise ship to visit this Port in a long time!
By Patricia Patrick October 22, 2025
WOW!!! PALAU is the tropical Paradise I have been dreaming about! This is trip just reached a new level of OMG!!
By Patricia Patrick October 16, 2025
Got to love a place that sells shirts saying " Where the heck is Yap? " Colonia ( population 3,100 ) is the Capital and Harbor town of Yap State ( population 11,600 ) one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia. We are in the Pacific Ocean or Philippine Sea just north of the equator, Papua New Guinea and Australia.