Feb. 17, Toulon, France

"Toulon is located 30 miles east of Marseille, an hour away by train and an hour and 15 mins by car. It's the most sheltered port in the Mediterranean with two docking areas, the Seyne pier which is ten mins. from Toulon by shuttle boat and the downtown pier. A Nice shore excursion might be a scenic tour to Aix en Provence which is about five hours long and involves a lot of walking."

Well, it was nice seeing Toulon from the ship. I slept most of the day, my head was hot and I was feverish and the rest of me was freezing, teeth chattering with violent shivering. I was so weak I couldn't do anything, food didn't interest me nor a show or trivia or shopping, I was totally wasted. About 5p.m. I realized I needed to see a Dr. and asked Pat to make the arrangements. I was hoping the Dr. made cabin calls but no, I'd have to go to the ships hospital. Well, I was in no shape to even clean myself up, get dressed or comb my hair, I was a total mess and frankly I didn't care. They sent a wheelchair and driver to get me still in my pj's. and much to my dismay we used the regular elevators which were full of passengers returning from their outing to Toulon.
Thankfully my friend Pat had the foresight to give me a sheet which I put over my face, it was embarrassing but hopefully nobody saw me or would remember me. I also thought it worked well as I was obviously so sick so I kept the sheet over my mouth lest I had the dreaded cruise ship norvo virus. Those poor people must have been thinking holy crap, what luck, my one minute in the elevator and I get stuck with some infectious woman. I was almost in tears but too weak to even cry.
The Dr. determined that I had pneumonia, put me on a nebulizer and antibiotic drip, non aspirin for the headache and cough medicine in a childproof bottle that I wasn't strong enough or smart enough to open. I've never had pneumonia before and I hope it was the first and last time. It's nasty and I actually faced the possibility that I could die in some foreign country far away from home with my husband not even aware I was ill.