Yes, I Am Still Alive . . .

SHIP'S LOG:

        . . . .but barely. I am falling apart piece by piece. Let's see, where to start?

      March was pretty much n awful month. There was some type of plague going around that was particularly insidious. One did not get it but one time, rather one was subject to it three times. A "victim" got eh original strain - coughing, headache, fever, terminal post-nasal drip, gastrointestinal - which lasted about a week.It really knocked you down for a day or three but you felt miserable for the entire week.When you finally came alive again felling human enough to return to work, and you did, that lasted about three days and then the whole pattern started over again. And then again. 'round these parts here, everyone had it. I am not sure if we passed it from one to another or we all were afflicted independently, but everyone got it from somewhere somehow. Made the sail loft sound like a tubercular ward. Suffice it to say that it made March pretty much of a wash.

     In addition, my regular dentist sent me to an Periodontics practitioner as the molar which resides in front of the spot formerly occupied by the departed impacted winsome tooth had been giving me trouble and she surmised that it would require root canal and crowning. As with the wisdom tooth extraction, prior to the visit I heard every horror story involving root canals know to the mind of man. After a "painless" visit, the dentist gave me the "good news/bad news." The good news was that he recommended strongly that I not have root canal done, for the simple reason I would need to have done all over again in a bout a year. The molar was split , the crack running below the gum line. The molar had already died and the nerves had gone to wherever nerves go when they shuffle of the mortal coil and the sensation I felt when I bit down was a developing abscess. Since there was really no way to repair the crack below the gum line, doing a root canal procedure would simple correct the problem for about a year when it would happen all over again. The molar, after long decades of service, simply had to go. And it will, on May 16th.

     And then there are the knees. The left one, fitted as it is with an "off-loading brace" - don't ask - has some cartilage left and merely aches horribly. The right knee has no cartilage and the bone merely grind on each other. Any bending results in a grating, grinding an popping that can be heard as well as felt. The result is that I unconsciously try to walk without bending the knees and end up walking like a drunk man on stilts. Stairs are terrible in either direction but trying to maneuver around the sail loft floor covered with slippery sail cloth is the worst. One wrong step and I go ass-over-teakettle and, in the end, everything gets hurt, including my dignity. It got so bad that the day after Easter I called Dr. Sean for an appointment, after a number of X-rays and a lot of twisting and poking and prodding, the prognosis was the left knee was doing as well as could be expected considering the state it was in and  didn't absolutely  need replacement at this time. Maybe in  a year or two, probably within five, but not today. The right knee however is due. The right knee, after decades of service, with go wherever sometime n November 10th. This will allow me to keeping helping Kevin - who also has serious knee problems -  in the sail loft and also run the launch for the yacht club. To help with the immediate pain problem, young Dr. Sean shot the right knee up with a cocktail of lidocain and cortisone.  t was like getting a new knee. The pain went away, as did the stiffness and I could walk without looking like Long John Silver . . .  . for about a week. This past Tuesday, at 10:37 AM, I was walking across the sail loft floor when the pain and stiffness came back like someone turned on a switch. Using too much ibuprofen or aspirin can me kidney problems or ulcers, so I am using this cream that I have to put on 4 times a day. Actually, it is pretty good, not as good as the "cocktail," but good enough for now. I only have to tough it out til November. I will be able to get a couple more "cocktails" between now and then, so with the cream I will make it. I can't wait. It was wonderful having a "new knee" even if only for a week.

     Friend Fred and I have begun work on ABISHAG, not a lot, simply a beginning. The most difficult part so far was the uncovering. Covers as she was with blue-poly traps, the rains and snow of the winter past trapped  good 30 gallons of water in the deck area. Since the traps were secured with an intricate lacing of lines holding them in place,all of which were secured underneath the boat, removing the tarps was something akin to a game where if you pulled the wrong line you got soaked. For the most part, I avoided a soaking but the same can not be said for my sneaks. But she is uncovered and the work can begin . .  .at last. There will be sailing this summer.