Guess where I am. If you guessed New Hampshire, you win.
Dave’s hand continues to improve, but the incision is not completely healed yet. He had the stitches removed Monday, but at the center of the incision line, as you can see in the post picture above, there’s a small hole where his skin is taking it’s time closing up. The doctor wasn’t concerned about it; Dave just has to keep it covered. As the swelling continues to go down he gains more mobility. The doctor told him it could take another month or more to get back to full mobility. He should use but not overuse his hand to help him recover. Just yesterday he got a call from the orthopedic center that one pathology report finally came back with a positive test for an unspecified acid-fast bacillus. We’ve suspected Dave could have been infected with Mycobaterium marinum, which is an acid-fast bacillus, back in late August when he scraped his knuckles on some barnacles. We are still waiting on the results of a DNA test to confirm or refute that. In the meantime, Dave has been referred to an infectious disease specialist for additional treatment to ensure the bacteria get eradicated.
While I’m on the topic of disease… The window for our age group (50-64) to register for the COVID vaccine in NH opens this coming Monday. We will stick around to take care of that. Once we get an appointment date and the hole in Dave’s hand is fully healed, we will make a decision about where and when to do some cruising this season. Until then, we continue to be in a holding pattern.
Dave’s chomping at the bit to get onto the boat to truly start our cruising life. Poor guy. He’s distracting himself with some woodworking projects and brewing.
I’m filling time with small sewing projects and finally *focusing* on some online weather webinars to better understand how the weather impacts me on my boat. I had been dabbling in this, but the spatial visualization necessary is not one of my strengths and it makes my head want to explode. So mostly I’ve been avoiding it. That’s probably fodder for a future post.
I’m not a “plans up in the air” kind of person, so I’m flailing a little in this holding pattern. This is different than the uncertainty of plans while living aboard. I’m not a fan of that uncertainty either, but I’ve gotten used to that. Living aboard is our retirement plan, and that plan involves spending at least part of most days exploring our surroundings both on land and under the water. If conditions aren’t conducive to that or to moving on to our next destination, well, onboard there’s *always* something that needs doing, so we fill those days with those chores.
Right now, here in NH, I feel like I’m just waiting to not be here. If there weren’t a pandemic I’d be filling the time socializing with family and friends and doing volunteer work for AARP, and I’d be very thankful for that. Since that’s mostly not an option right now, I’m trying to fill my time with things that feel productive, like the weather lessons and keeping up with AARP goings-on by attending virtual meetings and trainings. I’m looking forward to the warm spate of weather next week because it means I will try to hook up with some friends for outdoor activities. Waiting, waiting, waiting…I don’t like this endless waiting. Okay, I’ll stop whining now and go find something productive to do.
Stay safe and take care of each other!
Life on Lady 