06/26/2007, Panama City
Well it seems life never likes being to predictable , we are currently sitting in Panama and are dealing with a unexpected health problem with Linda which will require us to stop our adventure . On our way down from Costa Rica Linda started to develope slight swelling around her ankles which eventually spread to her upper legs abdomen and face scary to say the least. We carry a fairly well stocked medical kit and she started to take some penicilin which after about 3 days really seemed to take care of the swelling and how she was feeling, so much so that we slowed down once we arrived at the Las Pearlas Islands .These islands are about 30 miles outside of Panama City and we all enjoyed some great Beaches and clear water, We then proceeded to Panama, on arrival Linda made arrangements to see a specialist which we did and she was proclaimed in great condition, with one minor issue being a slight return of swelling around one ankle. The doctor ordered some tests which came back negative a little extra protein in her urine test which can be normal with with a urine or kidney infection the doctor thought Linda probably had. One week later Linda's swelling seemed to be getting worse and after visiting the doctor and getting some new tests they found a some bacteria in Linda's urine ,which they created a culture from and she was given a prescription for penicilin no big deal, there was nothing out of the ordinary we were told. As Linda started taking the Penicilin her swelling had increased along with a real loss of energy and to top it all off the Penicillin was really upsetting her stomach. After about four days with the swelling still present and meds hard to hold down Linda's energy really started to go down ,we checked intoo a very good hospital ,called Hospital Pattila. The doctors then went to work ordering a battery of tests trying to see if there was something else going on. Linda' tests started coming back and were basically showing nothing to serious , her exrays did show some fluid around one lung which explained her energy loss and the right side of her heart was slightly swollen which could have been caused by Lindas previous heart problem and or current infection. The doctors told us that more than likely she would be back to normal in no time and that we did not have to think about stopping our trip prematurly. Our heart specialist then decided to do a additional echo test on Lind's heart and personally spent over one hour doing this test which creates a ultra sound look at the heart and it was at this time that they unfortunatly found a blood clot in Lindas heart on the right side. All I can say is, if this type of thing neede to happen thank goodness it was here with access to great medical care and not somewhere in the middle of the ocean, the consequances had the clot dislodged out at sea are unthinkable. What does this mean for Linda, it will require preventive medicin to thin her blood, regular supervision more at the beggining and less regular as time goes by. We are all looking forward to Linda getting out of the hospital and being cleared to travel home, hopefully within the next few weeks. The trip so far has been filled with great adventures and many wonderfull memories of new friends and places visited. Living life for the moment is a much used saying that no matter how many times you hear it should never get old,
We all look forward to getting home soon, getting mom well again and are extremly gratefull to the guardian angels who have watched over us during our travels. I will do an update once Linda is out of the hospital and ready to head home.
Captain and Happy Crew
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Comments [4]
06/13/2007
For the past three months we have been faced with the dilema that most cruisers must face at one time or another, where to go from here? From the start our ´loose´plan was to sail down the coast of Central America, north through the Caribbean Sea and then across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. If we really pushed ourselves we might have been able to accomplish this voyage this year, but being near the start of the hurricane season in the Caribbean we are now ´stuck´down here. Our other options that we had considered were to sail down to the South Pacific (would have been easier to do this from Mexico), or sail down to Ecuador (which has become really popular lately with sailors on their way to the S. Pacific) or to the Galapagos Islands. Those options would have been ´long´voyages that at this time we didn´t really feel like doing.
Not until we were going across the Gulf of Tehuantepec in Mexico that we decided what we would do - leave Impossible in Panama during the rainy season (hurricanes don´t come down this far south) and fly over to Europe.
So for the next 4 months we will be in Europe, after returning we will then explore around the Atlantic side of Panama then head north to Cuba and around the Caribbean until about this time next year. That´s a long time from now and who knows if we will change our minds again, but that is the plan for now.
At the moment we are still waiting for our new toilets to arrive (supposedly tomorrow) and for our fuel tanks to be cleaned out (supposedly tomorrow), then we can get Impossible measured up for the canal crossing, and arrange for the extra line handlers, lines etc. So we´re here in Panama City/Balboa for at least another week. Oh and I got the swelling thing back, it is a kidney infection, and I´m waiting to get tests back to determine which would be the best medicine to take. Seeing doctors here is quite easy, of course it isn´t free like back home, but neither is it outrageously expensive. Johnathon and Christina both finished their school work for the year and I sent the last of it in last Monday. I´m not sure who is more relieved to get it done, them or me!
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06/03/2007
I can´t believe we´ve been here for a week already. The days just go by so fast when we are not sailing and visiting new anchorages. I´ve been feeling normal again after the swelling I experienced in Costa Rica and in northern Panama. I started to get a little swelling in my ankles which was due to lack of exercise and heat. While in Golfito though it became worse, my legs and stomach were really swelling up and I would wake up in the morning with swelling in my face. But I wasn´t feeling sick, just low energy. While in northern Panama I started to get terrible stomach cramps so I took an antibiotic medicine that we bought in Mexico for when Stan and Johnathon had a stomach bug. The medicine worked immediately. No more swelling, I called it a swelling bug. But I did see a cardiologist here the other day (just a routine check for my defibrillator) and he thought I might have had a kidney infection.
Here´s a brief recap of our first week here in Panama city (in no particular order):
Visited all the major chandlry stores.
Ordered two new toilets for Impossible
Have eaten out at least once every day since arriving.
Visited a large mall, largest one I have been in a long time with a lot of American style stores. The abundance of materialism was a shock to our senses.
Went to Pirates of the Caribbean 3.
Had dinner with our British friends on ´Cloud Nine´whom we last saw in El Salvador.
Went out for dim sum breakfast with a bunch of other cruisers.
Met a Yugoslavian couple living here and involved in real estate. Had dinner with them.
Went to a grocery store called Riba Smith, it has the best selection of north american brand foods I´ve seen since the US.
Take taxis everywhere, it´s cheap, only 2-4 dollars a trip. Learn a lot from the taxi drivers.
Trying to complete school work for the year.
Visited cardiologist, interesting to see how Panamian medical clinic operates.
Stan flew back to Victoria yesterday for a week.
So it´s just the kids and I for a week. It will be school work and visiting more touristy/cultural sites this week. Many of the cruisers we´ve met make it down here and without planning to they end up staying here for a very long time, some have even bought property here (there is a big real estate boom here). Panama city has some nice sections to it and with the strong presence here of foreigners and the remnants of all the American housing, military buildings and green space it is appealling.
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05/27/2007
Just a quick update, we arrived today at in Panama City. Quite a culture shock from the past few weeks spent cruising. This place is like a major cosmopolitan city, lots of growth, lots of new cars, lots of restaurants etc, etc.
From Bahia Honda we spent a terrible night at an anchorage called Naranja cove (orange). The next morning we left in big seas and 11 - 15 knot winds, which weren´t bad but the confused swells weren´t comfortable. I was ready to turn back and find another anchorage but it didn´t look like the weather was going to change much for the next few days so we decided to press on. This was an overnight passage, we thought we could make it to Balboa (Panama City) but wind and current weren´t in our favor so we decided to keep going across the Gulf of Panama to the Islas Perlas. This was quite a passage as we were rounding Punta Mala during night hours, Punta Mula has heavy freighter traffic so we had to really be careful and keep a constant look out. This is one of the most congested freighter traffic areas in the Pacific. To add to the intensity we were also travelling with unreliable fuel, seems like the fuel we took on in Hualtulco wasn´t that clean and now our port side tank is quite dirty. This caused our engine to stop only 2 hours into the trip. Luckily Stan was able to replace the filters and switch tanks. Then around 7:30 that night he noticed our batteries weren´t charging, again he quickily found out that a fuse was burnt out. What could happen next we thought. But the rest of the passage was trouble free and we ended up at a wonderful, peaceful island called Isla Pedro Gonzalez. There we found a great anchorage on the east side, beautiful sandy beach with palm trees and flowering hibiscus´. This was by far our nicest anchorage yet. We spent 2 days there then travelled the 40 miles north to come here. Being in Panama we have to really think twice about our bearings we have no longer been travelling south but north (just look at a map and you´ll know what I mean).
I think I caught some sort of bug in Costa Rica, feeling good now but had a few bad days earlier on last week. Will explain it more next time.
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