Never a Dull Moment

Much has transpired since the last post. I will put it down as succinctly as possible: italics = Kris, normal font = Suzi.

David is on crutches right now with his right knee in a light weight brace keeping it immobile. On Saturday, after we brought the boat into the marina, med tied from the stern, washed Sidewinder and our dinghy, Worm, down with fresh water and soap, we motored out into the bay, tested her engine/transmission out and dumped the holding tank. We brought her back in, anchored, Tim (MacKay from Jackson Hole) arrived successfully, we walked with Sharon and John to a little restaurant where we had a great dinner, and on the way back, David was in so much pain, Tim and John had to almost carry him back to the dinghy.

Sunday Stacy and I drove David to a small emergency clinic where we were met by an orthopedic surgeon on call; he took xrays, and we heard the possible bad news. Very possibly this pain was from the degenerated calcification of his knee padding and a torn meniscus. Juan drove us all the way to Guadalajara (a 3 hr. drive) to get an MRI and yes, indeed, David has a degeneration of his knee with bone spurs, 3 small cysts, missing liquid, and a tear in his meniscus. Poor guy, his knee seems to have fallen apart. There still is a good possibility that with Celebrex and staying off of it, his pain will subside and he will be able to function fine.

Suzi was able to send the info. and scans from the doctor in Guadalajara to Tom Myer, who rebuilt both of David's hips last summer. The following day Suzi said: I received an email from Tom this morning which said that David definitely has a medial meniscus tear but the rest of the mess inside his knee is normal degeneration at this age. Tom really believes that the inflammation will subside in about 5 days with Celebrex and keeping the knee immobile without weight. He thinks that David will be back to normal aches and that life does not have to radically change. He doesn't recommend surgery now, unless the pain does not go away. David is much better each day, but is still in pain.

I have spoken to Suzi since then, and they are considering two options: 1) continuing south to Zihuatanejo to meet us next week (fortunately Tim is a capable sailor whose knees work) or 2) heading north and either leaving the boat somewhere safe and flying back to fix the knee problem or, more likely, sailing back into the Sea of Cortez to spend the summer there. It is all very much up in the air at the moment; I won't post again until decisions have been made.
-Kris
P.S. This is not an April Fools joke.