“Cruising in the time of coronavirus”

Cancer survivor Susan Lister, 70, shares her experience of cruising in the time of a pandemic with type 2 diabetes

Susan Lister is a true survivor, living with type 2 and beating cancer. She is also recovering from an Achilles tendon operation this year and has problems with her other foot. None of this stopped her from embarking on a cruise with friends which departed Dubai on March 12 this year. However, the global pandemic forced Sue to return home on March 29 for two weeks of quarantine at a Sydney hotel.

I CAN BE STUBBORN

“I’d paid off the cruise over 18 months. When coronavirus came along, they told us there were no refunds if we cancelled. The travel agent and cruise operator told us everything was fine.”

Her family tried to talk her out of her travel plans. But, “I can be a pretty stubborn old thing,” she says ruefully. “After paying all that money and being reassured that the cruise would stay on schedule, I wouldn’t listen.”

Sue was travelling with nine girlfriends she’d met through a running club. “I used to love a good run or walk, but I lost part of my right lung after surgery for bi-lateral lung cancer in 2017,” she explains. “I also had radiation, which has caused problems with swallowing. When all of this was happening, that’s when they found out I had type 2.”

THE ILL FATED CRUISE

At the beginning of her trip, Sue and her friends flew to Dubai and stayed two nights before boarding.

“When we got to Dubai we were told again everything was on track and the cruise would go ahead according to plan,” she says. “We found out later that

800 people who had been booked didn’t get on, and some of them decided against it after they arrived in Dubai. By then, we were all already on the ship.”

Sue and her friends were looking forward to a 17-day cruise through the Middle East and other ports, before finishing in Milan. That didn’t happen.

“All of the ports started shutting as soon as we sailed from Dubai,” continues Sue. “We did sail through the Suez Canal, but we docked in Marseilles on March 24 after everything closed. From there we caught a flight to England.

“One of the girls I was travelling with had a cousin in London, and we stayed with her for two nights. A flight home had been organised for us on Qantas.”

Sue says there were a lot of delays at every point of the journey home. At Marseilles, they were kept waiting six hours with no food or water. “They called [everyone with diabetes] and offered us chips, peanuts, water and a few apples that the Australian Consul lady had in her car,” says Sue. “We left Marseilles at 7pm that night.”

In London, Sue and her travel

companions were required to split up and follow different instructions from the Australian Consul to get them home. Sue flew from London to Sydney via Darwin for refuelling.

RETURN TO AUSTRALIA

In quarantine, Sue and her fellow travellers were not given time outside for fresh air or exercise. As a result, Sue was only able to do daily exercises in her room.

Having had high blood pressure for many years and three bouts of diverticulitis in the past year, Sue is careful with what she eats. However, in quarantine, she had no control over her food.

“The food was not good,” she says. “There was very little protein. They delivered frozen food that had been reheated, and by the time you got it, it was cold. It was all shrunken under the plastic wrap.

Sue had left her blood glucose testing kit at home by accident and didn’t know how she was tracking with her diabetes. She takes blood pressure tablets and metformin daily, but began to worry when she was down to only four days’ supply of her blood pressure tablets.

“A Red Cross nurse started ringing to see how I was getting on. They told me to ring them to let them know I needed blood pressure tablets,” she says.

Sue had also rung the Diabetes Hotline and spoken with Donna, a CDE and pharmacist, who “was kind and very helpful”.

Not surprisingly, the best part of this trip was getting home to her unit at Bribie Island.

“I had a little cry in the first couple of days in quarantine,” she says. “I counted down the days until I could go home.” ■