The title of this page has nothing to do with Mark going under the boat to get barnacles off the bottoms of the hulls and the props.  Why is he wearing jeans and a t-shirt, you ask?  Because he thinks it will keep him warmer.  Notice how dark the water is here.  The next time he cleans the bottom, hopefully we can take an underwater photo of him doing it in the clear waters of the Bahamas.  No, I’m the one who keeps having to call for an ambulance.

Last winter, while at a marina in Corpus Christi, we had to call 911 because I thought I was having a heart attack or stroke.  It turned out to be Benign Positional Vertigo, and I wasn’t transported to the hospital.  Yesterday, we had to call an ambulance again and this time I ended up in the emergency room.  I guess the fact that I went 62 years before having to call an ambulance and being brought to an emergency room should be a blessing, but last night was not something I ever want to repeat.

I wasn’t feeling very well all day and by the evening, I vomited and had EXTREME pain near my right hip.  After searching the symptom checker page of  mayoclinic.com, and putting in a call to a family member in the medical profession (Linda), we decided to take the dinghy to the marina, normally a 10-15 minute ride, but about 5 minutes at full throttle through a no wake zone at 10 pm.  At first, the plan was to call a cab to pick us up at the marina, but by then I was in EXCRUCIATING pain, and told Mark to call 911.  The ambulance arrived quickly and transported us to the Broward General Medical Center, which was the only hospital in Ft. Lauderdale open on Sunday night, and also the only trauma center in the city.  It’s just 5 minutes from the marina, so we were there quickly.  I learned that it is a good idea to arrive at an emergency room in an ambulance, as they had already prepped me and had some of my medical information.  The nurse in the ER knew almost immediately that it was a kidney stone, and when they gave me a strong pain killer and the pain stopped, they were even more sure.  I had a catscan and they found out that it is 2 mm, the size normally being 1-6 mm.  If it is on the larger side, they break it up, but this one was small enough that they felt I could pass it.  At about 2:30 am, they let me leave, armed with a strainer to try to catch the stone when it passes, and several prescriptions.  Apparently, you can bring the stone to a urologist to find out what kind of stone it is and adjust your diet accordingly, but the main thing to do to avoid them is to drink lots of water.  Unfortunately, the pharmacies we passed in the taxi on the way back to our dinghy were all closed, so we had to go out this morning to get the prescriptions filled.  So far I’ve had no more pain.  Apparently it has passed, as kidney stones can break up into sandy fragments and go right through the strainer, or it made its way into my bladder, and the pain part is over.  (The pain is caused when it is in the ureter, on its way from the kidney to the bladder.)

Thank goodness this didn’t happen when we were on our way to the Bahamas, although that is a 50 mile, one day trip.  And, thank goodness it didn’t happen when we are anchored at some  small island with no hospitals on them.  The good news it that I got more pain pills than I’ll need and if it ever does happen again, I’ll be ready.

Part of the problem with “new to me” medical problems like the two above, is the uncertainty of what is happening.  I actually had another vertigo episode a few weeks ago.  This time, I didn’t hyperventilate causing my arms to tingle which added to the scariness last time.  I just got on my back, did some yoga breathing and within less than an hour I was fine. 

Mark went under the boat today to scrape barnacles off the propellers.  My job for the day was to re-inventory what we have and make a shopping list for tomorrow.  Also, I reorganized some of our storage areas.  We’re also picking up our wifi extender which we have been advised is an essential in the Bahamas in order to pick up Internet signals.  The one we chose was recommended by a number of people who have it. 

Today, we spent $10 to use the dinghy dock at The Oyster Bar.  We hadn’t planned on it.  Mark was going to drop me off there so I could walk across the street to a pharmacy to get my kidney stone meds while he went back to the public ramp to walk Daisy.  However, someone at the restaurant saw us coming and before I could climb out of the dinghy, he came over to get $10 from us.  We went back for dinner and that $10 applied to the bill.  The food was inexpensive, so we only spent an additional $10 for a good meal. 

On the way to the Oyster Bar, we went down a channel where we saw “his” and “her” boats in front of a house.  The motor vessel is named “Play Penn” and the sailboat is “Susie Q 4.”  They are a matched pair, looking like bookends at the dock.  We’d love to know the story about this.  Regardless, this couple is obviously prepared for all cruising conditions.