Hello all,
Mark Twain: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Yeah, well, that’s a great sentiment, expressed by a surprisingly shrewd and sharp old guy – but this morning I’m more worried about the fates – whatever they are – being against us, even though we’re all set to throw off the bowlines and motor away from our safe harbor. This morning’s decision is, we’ll just have to explore, dream, and discover at a later day.
By 5PM yesterday we were finally set to depart. The last of the boat glimp from our marina storage shed was loaded and secured, Kap had gone through everything on board to make certain nothing was left behind, and our car was safely stored in a mini-storage facility just outside Anacortes. With a last-night dinner reservation at Il Posto – an Italian restaurant just up the street from the marina – we had a great send-off dinner. Our conversation was all about the next few days and how we’d spend them.
We walked back to Flying Colours at 7:30, then took Raz and Gator for a last walk while it was still light (Raz is getting quite blind, and she needs to be taken out before dark). Along the sidewalk just outside the marina, Raz finished her “business” first, and as our custom I’d take her back to the boat while Kap stayed with the more particular Gator (particular in finding his “spot”). I looked back at Kap just before rounding the corner to the marina entrance and saw her lying on the sidewalk, with Gator at her side. I raced back to her just as she was getting up – I could see she’d cut her lip, and was favoring her right wrist and right knee. Thinking she just had a sprain, we exchanged dog leashes and I took over Gator while Kap headed back to the boat with Raz.
When I stepped through the salon door a few minutes later, Kap said, “we need to call 911 – I think I’ve broken my wrist”. Without looking at her wrist (I probably would have passed out), I grabbed my cell phone and dialed 911. I knew there was a hospital not far away, but without our car the best option was an ambulance, and the 911 operator promised an aid car would be there in moments. We quickly locked up the boat, and halfway across the marina parking lot we met the big red medic truck. The two medics ushered us in by the side door, and they immediately set about taking her vital signs. They wrapped an ice pack around her wrist and padded it with a pillow taped around it, then one medic got behind the wheel and we headed off. We were at the hospital in about a minute, as it was barely five blocks from the marina.
At the emergency room, it didn’t take long for a doctor to give Kap a quick exam, and she was then wheeled in for an X-ray. Within the hour, a male nurse came in to put a splint on – one that started at the tip of the thumb, immobilizing it at a specific angle from her fingers, applied an Ace bandage around her entire forearm, then wrapped it with some hi-tech fiberglass splint that was initially pliable, but then somehow turned solid in minutes. I could tell from the look on Kap’s face that the pain was almost unbearable – she rated it at an 8 on a scale of 10 to the nurse. She was then released, with a bottle of Vicodin for pain control, and instructions to see an orthopedic surgeon first thing on Tuesday to find out the next course of action.
Ahhh, yes, the next course of action – in more ways than one. We made the decision to head home first thing in the morning, where everything would be easier – easier to take showers with a splint, easier to handle the dogs and cat – where they have a pet door – and where there are more options on orthopedic surgeons. Beyond that, the next big question is – what will this do to our summer’s cruise to SE Alaska? I guess we’ll deal with that when we deal with it – but maybe we’ll have to cut it a bit shorter. . . with a bit less dreaming, exploring, and discovering.
That’s our story for the day, and I’m sticking with it.
Ron