As I told you in my last entry in April of 2013 I fell and injured my "good" knee. I was then fortunate to have good friends in Singapore who hosted me in their beautiful home for three months and also operated on the knee.

In August I returned to Switzerland to the spa where I had recovered from my other knee operation in 2007. Though I enjoyed the stay and the many hours spent in the thermal hot water spa, the knee did not cooperate and when I returned to Singapore an Xray revealed a new problem in the knee which could only be taken care of with another operation. Since I have full health care coverage in the USA I checked the Internet for the best orthopedic clinic and found it in New York ... the Hospital for Special Surgery. So on January 8th I left Singapore with Qatar Airline for Washington DC where my old friend Christine offered me a home before and after the operation.

She then took me to New York where I had a very complex knee surgery on February 18. After a week in the hospital I was transferred to a rehab center north of New York on the Hudson. I arrived there to meet up with one meter of snow and the accompanying cold weather. Thank goodness i had a full leg cast and was housebound for 6 weeks. Then the cast came off and since I have been in a full length brace which gets adjusted weekly to increase the degrees to which a I can bend the knee. (This week it will be 60.... still a bit to go to be able to bend it to a comfortable position. However the operation seems to have been a real success. But at my age, recovery is slower and more tedious but I am quite positive that it will ultimately work out.

For the time being I am still with Christine in Arlington, Virginia where I am involved in physical therapy and getting more mobil again. Now spring has finally arrived and the long harsh winter is gone. It is beautiful here with all the blooming trees, bushes and flowers. I hope that by the end of July I should be in shape again to return to my spa in Switzerland and finally back to Singapore to wind up my affairs there.

Then comes the next retirement home... the condo in Hawaii which I bought after selling my house in Mill Valley! Though I am sure I will miss the boat and Singapore, Hawaii is a warm multicultural place which I always liked and which is more easily accessible to my friends in California.

Though I will no longer be sailing, I still hope to be able to travel a bit and I will be keeping this blog site... so do not give up on me yet!