07/02/2007
After an unexpected 10 day visit to the hospital I'm finally back on Impossible, home. Not more than 24 hours after checking into the hospital was I given a medication that immediately started to make me feel better. But as the days went by more meds were added and the lengthy stay was because of making sure the doses were right for me. I still will have to go for another couple of blood tests before getting the all clear to travel home, just to make sure the amount I'm taking is okay.
Thank you to all who have sent emails and left comments. All your good thoughts are helping me! Fortnately for us the medical system (private) is excellent and I received first rate attention from the two doctors I was seeing.
It's good to be back on the boat but I am sad that our adventure has been cut short. We should be back home in another week or two, knowing that we are returning to Victoria the kids are very excited and really are looking forward to going back. They are excellent travelers but sitting here on the docks for four weeks now has been enough for them and for Stan and I. This has been the longest we've stayed anywhere in our travels.
I left the hospital yesterday and today Christina and I went for a different kind of therapy while Johnathon hung out with an American boy on the yacht next door and Stan helped some workers install our new toilets/heads. Christina and I went to the mall for some clothes shopping and I got a manicure and pedicure! Very therapeutic!
We still will make more entries before we return home, there are still some sights to visit here, more photos to post. Oh and by the way in case anyone is wondering we have decided to leave Impossible here and have her transported back to Victoria with dockwise (a special freighter) in November, we'll fly back. Stan was seriously considering sailing her back with another crew but the length of time away from us (at least 6 weeks) and the threat of stormy weather off the Mexican coast changed his mind.
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Comments [1]
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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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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