The Florida Trip in Jeopardy?

 February 26, 2012

The boat is packed, "Damn Dink" is loaded on the back of the pickup and our spirits are high as we prepare to leave tomorrow morning for our long awaited Florida trip.  But, yesterday, after a freak accident, a trip to the emergency room produced a diagnosis of damaged rotator cuff!  I can't raise my right arm. 

It happened while I was up on the boat, rinsing it off.  The ladder that I use to get onto the boat fell so I started to crawl down the side of the boat so as to step onto the spare tire then onto the ground.  As I began lowering myself down, I felt this excruciating pain in my right shoulder.  I will be setting up an appointment with an orthopedist later today to access the extent of the damage. 

We are not using the word "cancel" but we are going to have to delay the departure for a while.  Our uneducated goal is to leave in a week.  Our hopes are high. 

 

March 1, 2012

 

Well, I made my visit to the orthopedist yesterday and we have an appointment with the MRI mochine on Monday, March 5, and then a consult with the guy on Wednesday the 7th.  He pulled, pushed, and bent my arms around and began describing the processes involved in arthroscopic surgery and discussing extended recovery times.  He would not give us a diagnosis as such, however, his discussion lead us to believe that some downtime is definitely in our future. 

Much to our chagrin, we have placed the Florida trip on the shelf and assume that we will be able to head out for another adventure sometime in the summer.  We have been looking as charts of Lake Superior and are thinking that a month in the cool north country in the heat of the summer would be appropriate.  The boat is still packed with non perishable food and supplies and we have wrapped it in a tarp for the rest of the winter.  

We'll keep you updated on our happenings.

March 7, 2012

My orthopedist greeted me with "What do you want first, the bad news or the bad news!"  I boils down to a tear in my rotator cuff.  For those interested, the actual diagnosis is a separation in the supraspinatus ligament that runs from the greater tubercle of the humerus (a bump beside the ball on the upper arm bone) to the supraspinatus muscle which attaches to the scapula (shoulder blade).  We have a tentative surgery date of March 20 with a potential rehab period that could last from 8 to 12 months.  We have done a bit of research and feel good about my surgeon and after a visit with a cardiologist (a former student of mine) we will head for the out patient procedure.  

I want to express my sincere appreciation for the multitude of encouraging comments that we have received from you.  It's actually really neat to realize that so many of you actually read my emails.  The doc with whom we consulted this morning pointed out that sailing would be out of the question for quite a long time so it appears that fate and old age has set our plans for at least a while. 

Since so many of you have expressed interest in the outcome of this surgical adventure, I will plan to give you a periodic brief update on my progress.

Again, we thank you for your interest and concerns.

Steve and Janine