One Year Anniversary Cruise- Part Three

At Progresso, our agenda involved touring Mayan ruins, lunch, and an afternoon show. This translated into lots of walking in the Mexican heat. Given my shaky morning, I had to rest many times at the beginning and could not keep up with the larger group. But I was not allowed to slow down.

I welcomed that lunch break and was thankful the afternoon section involved watching a show in the shade before returning to the ship. Once again, I did not have the strength to attend dinner that night. I was exhausted and used the evening to rest in silence. Once again, my husband left me alone in the room as to not ruin his vacation.

The next morning, I realized that I had a bad sunburn. You would think by now I would have learned the painful lesson that sunburns and adrenal insufficiency do not mix and I need to be more mindful with reapplying sunscreen. You would be wrong. For some reason, I feel the need to teach myself this painful lesson frequently.

I spent the last day at sea mostly indoors, nursing my sunburn. I stopped by the medical bay in order to purchase aloe vera lotion. Did you know that cruise ships are able to administer IV fluids at sea? If at any moment I was unable to keep ahead of my adrenal insufficiency, the sick bay would have been able to treat me. I was incredibly encouraged by this revelation.

The next day, we disembarked and spent a couple of hours in Galveston before driving to Houston to fellowship with a few friends from college.

There were scary moments on the cruise but I was able to prevent my adrenal insufficiency from spiraling into a full blown Adrenal Crisis. Most of the intervention came in the form of additional steroids, more fluids, and ample rest. Although that meant that I did not participate in every activity that I wanted to, it also meant that I did not end up in an international hospital.