Back to Indiantown

On January 4^th we set out by car, loaded to the gills, headed for Florida. This time, because my daughter had a newborn, we took Lucy with us, hoping she could adapt to being a boat dog. We were lucky and encountered no bad weather along the way.

We spent 3 nights on the road with the highlight being our afternoon stroll and dinner at the 1790 restaurant in Savannah. We also bought the book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”, which was a wonderful story that painted a vivid picture of this remarkable city, along with a real-life murder mystery. We left vowing to return and spent more time exploring.

 We arrived in Indiantown on January 7^th. The boat was in great shape and we began our routine cleaning and maintenance on the next day after being moved to the work-yard.

 I had brought my sewing machine to reinforce our canvas for new grommets and to patch the worn bits caused by our pesky solar support problem. Unfortunately David punched through a couple of extra layers and added some new holes. Oh well, more patching and the cover was stronger than ever! I also started making bread and lists – two of my favourite activities.

All was going swimmingly well until a week later when David had an accident. He had been standing on our folding stepladder, cleaning the highest part of the bow that I couldn’t reach. There had been heavy rains and the sandy ground was mushy under the tarp. Suddenly one leg of the ladder descended into a “sink-hole” and fell out from under him. For a moment, he dangled from the railing, but made the decision to let go and drop to the ground without calling for help. “It was only about 4 feet down” he said.

Unfortunately, his foot caught in the ladder on the ground. His weight came down on it with a twisting motion, snapping his fibula, tearing the skin, ligaments and joint capsule, and dislocating his ankle. The fellow working on the next boat heard to thud and came to his side. After nearly losing his lunch at the bloody sight he called 911.

Meanwhile I was at the Dollar Store in the village, completely oblivious. When the phone rang and I saw it was David, I assumed we had forgotten something on my shopping list. When he said, “I’m in an ambulance on my way to the hospital” I thought he was kidding. No joke, he was off to the local acute care facility in Stuart.

I came back to the boatyard and spoke to Graham, the service manager, who described the injury and gave me directions to the hospital. He also offered to look after Lucy who was patiently waiting for us to return, tethered under the boat.

Off I went to find David already receiving care in the Emergency Room by a physician and a bevy of nurses with NO waiting time at all. When I arrived, they were about to address the dislocation with the help of some “good” IV drugs. That being accomplished in very short order, the wound was cleaned, bandaged and x-rayed for the second time to ensure alignment.

Within an hour after being admitted to the ER, he was also seen by a pharmacist and an orthopaedic surgeon. An open fracture with the bone exposed represents a serious risk of infection and it was determined that surgery was required as soon as possible. Within 4 hours of his accident, he was in the OR! A couple of hours later, I met him in his bright sunny private room on the orthopaedic unit with a wristband I altered to better reflect his identity. Note the book of lists, which is always with us!

 Again, he received prompt care from friendly, happy nurses, a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist. All we could do was look on in awe as this efficient healthcare “machine” provided David with the best possible care in a beautiful facility. Even the meals were superb ordered from a room service menu and delivered whenever he wanted them! The contrast with my mother’s experience was radical!

After one night David was discharged “home”. Because of the 15-foot ladder climb to board the boat, we asked the marina to move our “splash” date up by a week. That night we stayed in a motel in Stuart and treated ourselves to ribs!

 For so many years, working in the Canadian healthcare system, I had always felt a sense of superiority over our American cousins. However, my views have changed significantly. Our health care may be “free” but we pay much higher taxes and we still pay many thousands of dollars a year in private health insurance and services that are not covered!

Yes, there is a need for improved access for many people in the U.S., which I believe is being addressed by changes in their health insurance system. But their health care is run like an efficient business, unlike ours that now looks to me like a crumbling, fragmented bureaucracy. We were gob-smacked to see many electronic billboards advertising their emergency wait times!

 I fear for the future of Canada’s system as the population ages and wish now that I could have done more over the course of my career from inside the system to make it better. It’s too late for me. I just hope the next generation of politicians and planners can do better. Rant over.

The next afternoon, we were in the water where David could easily use his crutches to board and then hop around. Lucy was returned to us after a wonderful weekend with Graham and his wife Ara, true dog lovers.

David had no pain and was keen to get back to “normal” boat maintenance duties. It didn’t take too many days before he realized how exhausting it was to hop, crawl on his hands and knees, and to walk on crutches. So we slowed our pace a tad but pressed on.

Taking advantage of improvements in weather, we waxed and polished like maniacs, and I tackled another teak refinishing project. It's hard work but I like to say it's as satisfying as cleaning a dirty bathtub. Is that sick?

We celebrated my birthday, watched the Superbowl on TV and enjoyed the many beautiful Indiantown sunsets.

Early on we had decided to abandon the idea of crossing to the Bahamas. However, as the weeks passed by and David got stronger and more nimble we began to think it might just be possible.

During this time, we were fortunate to be tied up next to a lovely couple whose home was near Ottawa. Ron is a keen bean handyman and helped David with the many Mr. Fix-it chores that needed to be done if we were going to venture out to the Bahamas.

One in particular would make our navigation much simpler. When we purchased our chart plotter several years ago, the upper helm was not closed in. So the decision was made to install it in the main cabin’s helm station. Trouble was we never steer from the lower helm station given that the visibility is so much better up top. Encouraged by Ron who was confident it could be done, David did the wiring diagram and they tackled the job. No mean feat with the mess of wiring going every which way on Peapod!

Our neighbours also had a serene boat dog we hoped would be a role model for Lucy. After two check-ups with the surgeon, who was happy with David’s progress, we decided to go for it. The only wild card at this point was Lucy, who is anything but a boat dog. With her long skinny legs and high centre of gravity, she was a klutz even when we were tied up at the dock. More than once when attempting to climb the steps to the fly bridge, she landed on her chin with her legs splayed out like Bambi on ice. Sad but hilarious.

My biggest concern, besides her discomfort with rocking and rolling, was getting Lucy on and off the boat when we were at anchor. Carrying her down the steps to the dinghy was not something I was confident I could safely do and I felt it was too risky for David standing on one foot! Just beaching the dinghy to let her relieve herself and get some exercise seemed overwhelming to me without a 2-legged companion. The safest solution would be to dock at marinas every night.

However, our 10-year cruising plan (and more importantly our cruising budget) did not factor in marina costs except when factors such as bad weather, lack of a safe anchorage, or absence of a dinghy landing necessitated it. This year with the Canadian dollar at rock bottom, it’s even more of an issue.

We approached Graham and Ara, who had fallen in love with Lucy during her weekend stay with them. They readily agreed to take her whenever we were ready to leave for the Bahamas.  She would have a lovely dog-friendly home, Ara’s company all day (she works from home), walks with Graham every evening and lots of TLC.  Nevertheless, we had mixed feelings. Guilt over leaving her and being a burden to her hosts versus fear of unexpected events and risk caused me many a sleepless night. In the end, my anxiety trumped the guilt and we decided to leave her.