Well, we’re off… sort of

Well, I’m not writing this from Florida as I’d hoped.

The most important reason for our delay is the photo in this post. Those are Dave’s hands. Notice the large bump on the right hand? He’d been having some swelling on the back side of that hand since October. It was intermittent at first, not nearly as large, and more spread out across the back of his hand; sometimes one section would swell and not another. By December it was more focused near the wrist and more persistent. Since late January it’s been as you see it and it feels less like fluid. Since October he’s seen two primary care physicians, two osteopath assistants and one osteopath; he’s been prescribed exercises and a formed splint; he’s had an x-ray, an ultra-sound guided cortisone injection (effects lasted all of two days) and an MRI. This past Wednesday he finally landed with a hand specialist who told him he needs surgery to remove the inflamed tissue gathering there, to check that the underlying tendons are okay and to repair them if necessary. It will be a short in/out procedure with a two week recovery period. His surgery is schedule for the first week of March.

In the meantime, we’re heading down to the boat in Florida for two weeks to install all the upgrades to our solar-electric system, fix our freezer and make a repair to dingy. The freezer failed the day before we left in September, at the end of our diving trek to the Keys. At least it had good timing. Dingy has rub marks from how we have her mounted under our solar roof and Dave will be adding some rubber in those areas so she doesn’t rub herself into a leak. We’re also hoping that the Ocean Volt representative (only one in the US) will be able to come aboard one day to do a complete system review with Dave.

Our failed (three times now) battery control box (and parts for the port one still onboard) have made it to the USA and are en route to the marina to meet us. We have all the other parts we need here and will bring them down with us along with the non-perishable provisions for 8 weeks (we’d already bought them before Dave knew he needed surgery), and fresh groceries for the two weeks we’ll be there. We want to avoid any long forays out into public since COVID is spiking again down there and they have a couple of those new strains. We’re driving down, so we have plenty of room for all our stuff.

To sum up: We’re driving down to Florida for about two weeks of repairs. We’re returning for Dave’s surgery and will be home until he is healed. After that, we will return to Lady and cruise, possibly through August. Dave is fine with cruising during hurricane season, I’m less willing to do so after July once it tends to ramp up, so that will be a negotiation, but we have to have a functioning boat and hands first. Baby steps.

Stay safe and take care of each other!