Hitting the Wall at Speed
21 March 2017 | Tipperary Waters Marina
Tuesday 21 March 2017
Jan's done with biopsy. Apparently doctors employ drilling equipment similar to that used in Saudi Arabia for other purposes in conjunction with sandwich makers like advertised on TV. Instead of rock grinders there are whirling knives and a vacuum to extract the ore. Ice packs and drugs are enjoying a resurgence of interest on the boat. Makes one wish he was a girl. They have all the fun. Expect the binge-precipitating news at noon on Friday.
Friday Afternoon
Jan has just been diagnosed with early breast cancer. Treatment will extend for at least three months, potentially longer, so we will not be crossing the Indian Ocean this year nor be in the Caribbean next. Assuming treatment is successful we will remain in Australia for whatever time is necessary, probably return to Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) afterward and cross to South Africa next year.
We were both looking forward to finishing the circumnavigation, but like Allen Saunders said (usually attributed to John Lennon), "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans", so here we are. The cancer was caught very early and prognosis is excellent, but we will know more after surgery which should occur in a couple of weeks. We go to the oncologist on Wednesday who will schedule the operation, chemo and radiation as necessary.
On a positive note, feverish passage preparation is no longer a priority so we can screw off, concentrating more on second favorite deadly sin, sloth, and filling our bodies up with wine. First favorite could potentially take a bit of a hit, but we can probably work out an acceptable adjustment.
It's still early in thinking about this, but if the process is going to take several months and since Darwin sucks (my opinion) and is very expensive we (or I) could conceivably take the boat down to Cairns, Townsville or even further south for the duration. However, the people in the screening clinic seem to think treatment here is excellent and delays less than elsewhere, so we'll see. If the public health system starts screwing around we'll go wherever is necessary to get proper, expeditious care.
In other news, Jan picked up a cold after our trip to North America, has kindly shared it with me and we are both eaten up with the particularly itchy attentions of local mosquitos. These conditions, while annoying, don't seem to have the same gravity they did a week ago. Both primary, powered winches have been dismounted, with some effort, in order to replace corroded, alloy bases with new bronze ones. This has led to discovery that none of the 24 holes used to mount the things to the boat or the stems to the bases line up. Thanks Lewmar. Also, after cutting radar connecting cable from chart plotter beneath the cockpit sole to remove pedestal guard cannot get it to work again. After checking wire resistances Raymarine technician thinks the radome is buggered. No worries - see fourth paragraph and second sentence of this one.
Otherwise things are just skippy here.
Jack