I have lots of excuses for not having even looked at this here blog for over 5 months. We got a new laptop which naturally led to pesky reinstallation of software; we were traveling all over the place with only intermittent opportunities to connect to teh Interwebs,...you've heard it all before from lots of bloggers. Well, here's my version of what happened after we landed in Puerto Lucia last June.
GB and I spent the first month getting The Fox squared away after our passage to Ecuador from Costa Rica. Much general cleaning was done. Sails came down and were inspected for broken threads and chafe; repair projects were scheduled. Engine, watermaker, batteries, hoses, lines, we cleaned and inspected pretty much everything. We made lists of all desired repairs and upgrades, plus we generated a list of parts and supplies that were more economical to buy during a trip to the US and carry back in our luggage, rather than either find them locally (some things just aren't available in Ecuador) or get them shipped here (Ecuadorean Customs regulations can make importation expensive and time consuming). We had some fun, too, during June - we got familar with where all the cool markets were in La Libertad, and we just had to try out Puerto Lucia's gym. We stayed busy.
We'd planned to spend July in the US to visit family, do a bit of tourism around south-central New Mexico, and get a few routine medical exams out of the way as long as we were there anyway. However, life got a little bit in our way:
GB arrived in the US with a bad case of the flu and was ill for the first 10 days. He also had a chronic ear infection and a newly-infected tooth. And then? Once these minor ailments were under control, one of his routine exams showed that his heartbeat was a bit too irregular. Long story short, he has a congenital cardiac condition that's manageable with medication but needs occasional intervention as he ages, and July 2010 turned out to be one such occasion. Voila, our 4-week trip instantly transmogrified into a 2-month, 115-degrees-every-day, July-thru-August stay in Phoenix, Arizona.
GB's MDs were hip, though, to our situation with living abroad aboard a sailboat and having a limited amount of time in the US. To our pleasant surprise the MDs successfully performed a combo platter of 3 outpatient cardiac procedures on GB in one day. Usual timing of these procedures takes about 6 weeks. Awesome. GB is also to be commended for his baseline physical resilience, which made the combo procedures possible, even given all the other ways his immune system had been compromised.
Bottom line: since I was the healthy one, I became GB's driver through all of the Phoenix metro area. When we weren't seeing MDs or dentists, we were buying boat parts. And did I mention how breathtakingly hot it was? I've had better trips.
At this point I would like to extend large cyberspace thanks to my big brother and sis-in-law, who allowed us full use of their house as well as their pickup truck during this visit. GB and I are especially grateful for their generosity considering that after we left my brother had to repair his truck, replace his air conditioner, fix his outdoor BBQ, patch his roof, cut down 3 trees, and remodel his kitchen and family room. I swear it's not my fault my brother's house broke. But the summer of 2010 is already known in Smith family history as the Zombie Nightmare MS/GB Visit From Hell.
m
Comments