Our life after living on a boat.

We started blogging in earnest when we decided to sell our houses and move onto a boat. We had many wonderful adventures aboard our Nordhavn 46 named Salish Aire . Seven years have passed and we have sold Salish Aire, purchased a house near the southern tip of the Salish Sea and often travel around North America towing Salish Airstream. It seems a good time to start a new blog about our further adventures but leave our boating blog intact for those who want to refer to our adventures on the boat. (http://salishaire.blogspot.com)

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Chapter 5 - Waking up from pain's shadow

 

Our last entry had us heading back north from a vacation in the American Southwest way back in March. So what happened between then and now – early December 2022?

To put it simply – a lot!  BUT there was a big shadow hanging low that needs to be addressed before moving on to the fun stuff.  I had been pushing against feeling depressed for some time likely going back to being critically ill in January of 2020.  The Covid pandemic and the disruptions of life associated with it both physically and socially didn’t help at all.  In the end the factor I couldn’t seem to mentally overcome without help was becoming disabled. 

I will try to lead through the journey with a reminder that back in 2005 or thereabouts I had a benign tumor grow quit large in my lower spine.  The good news was that it was removed without obvious damage to the nerves and my very real fear of being paralyzed did not come to be.  I have had residual pain in my legs from the nerves that were likely damaged but I learned to live with it and have even walked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon since that time.  Physically what has been happening since the original surgery is that my spinal canal has been continuing to “heal” around the original surgical site and has basically closed off to the point where the spinal nerves were once again being impinged upon. If you follow the photo essay you will note that as time moved forward, really increasing dramatically about the time of our trip to the southwest (when I took a “bucket list” steam train ride to the south rim of the Grand Canyon but ended up being unable to do much except hobble to a bench and sit and look out at some of the most amazing scenery in the world before I hobbled back to wait for the train to return me to where Clarice, Jarvis and our Airstream waited), I went from using walking poles to assist me walking to NEEDING to use walking poles, to being able to use walking poles rather than a walker only when I had recently had a steroid injection into my spine to being only about to walk less than a block with a walker.

Steam train rides are special to me - For years I wanted to ride the 
Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to the South Rim

This was just before I gave up enjoying much of the rim walk and 
hobbled back to the train depot to wait for the return ride

I tried to add some levity by saying that "old people have walkers but young people have broomsticks" with Erin helping by making a "Nimbus 2000" logo for the walker. 

Trying to get out and about while visiting the San Juan Islands

I started seeking treatment for my back in March or April and finally was able to go to the spine clinic in Seattle in April.  The physician and I agreed to try non-surgical approached (drugs and physical therapy) which in the long run did not work.  I was only able to get short term relief with steroid injections which worked very well but only for about a month at a time.  It wasn’t until September 29th that I was able to get approved for and get an appointment for an outpatient laminectomy where bone fragments and sections were removed from my back in order to allow the nerves to have room to function as they should.  Initially there was a LOT of nerve/leg pain as the nerves and muscles that had been malfunctioning for years (?) found themselves again having normal impulses.  The very very good news is that while I had hoped to go back to my baseline function (some ongoing chronic pain), my pain is 95% gone!  As of this writing I am still on a 10# weight lifting limit and am in the early stages of physical therapy to retrain my muscle habits to protect my back and to use healthy pathways rather than the survival pathways that had developed over time. The first comment Clarice made was that she hadn’t seen me stand up straight in years and I immediately noticed that I didn’t feel like I was dragging my lower legs along when I walked.

So as I started to say a couple of paragraphs ago, being disabled (requiring a walker to walk anywhere , even around the house) and feeling like I wasn’t getting anywhere with a treatment led me to send this rather desperate email to my PCP:

June 30 Dr.:  Please consider ordering an antidepressant for me.  I am finding that after a day of pain anytime I walk and feeling like there is no hope for it to end, I go to bed exhausted and depressed most nights.  I hate to say it but I feel like I am getting passed from specialist to specialist with no one willing to say, “live with it – we have nothing to offer you”.  At this point I am waiting for an EMG (earliest appointment is August) and then ????  Thanks Norman

My PCP responded very quickly and ordered me medication and made sure his staff followed up with me.  The medication was very helpful and now that my pain is gone I have halved my dose planning to stop once the winter solstice is a way behind us (It has also been suggested that I have a longstanding touch of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and so I don’t want to push my luck – having energy and a positive outlook is a nice thing after the darkness.  I add this section not to ask for sympathy but to remind readers that help is available but sometimes we need to ask for it.

BUT YES!  We did have some good times too!

One of our big goals was to take Hyacinth our Albin 25 micro trawler up the Inside Passage come early summer.  We have made this trip before in a 25 ft boat and of course to our wonderful adventure north in Salish Aire when we lived on her. The boat now has a canvas cover, new electronics, new heating and cooking equipment, new refrigeration, cleaned and checked fuel and engine systems, new upper deck paint, and is cleaned and buffed to Clarice’s satisfaction. 

Sanding the deck before final painting to make the surface non-skid

Boats need shiny props!

Despite all of that work our early trial runs in the boat made it very very clear that staying out for an extended run in very remote waters was really not a good option when we had to transport a walker everywhere with us and knowing that I likely would not be able to help reboard myself if I fell into the water nor could I rescue Clarice if she fell overboard.  Finally sitting while captaining the boat for more than a couple of hours at a time made the leg nerve pain much worse.  One night out of frustration I was having a pity party and decided that really as much as I wanted to enjoy the ride of going north again, I really really wanted to revisit friends we had made along the way especially during our winter stay in Sitka.  I looked at our long ignored mileage plan and realized that we could fly there for a week for almost nothing and asked our priest friend at the Sitka St. Peter by the Sea Episcopal Church if she could help us find an affordable place to stay for a week.  Rev. Julie and Lloyd kindly took us into their home and provided us a chance to recall why we had fallen in love with their town and the people in it if only for a week.  So for the last week of May we played in lovely weather on Baranof Island which really helped my mood and helped me keep my strength up as I walked with my poles (I had “saved” one of my 3 annual back injection opportunities for just before the trip) everywhere I could. 

Taking a boat ride with Rev. Julie and Lloyd

Sitka Sound

Blue Lake

Sitka Cross Trail passing through a muskeg section

Julie and Lloyd's boat

Mount Edgecomb 

Flying out over Baranof Island

One fun thing that has come about has been our periodic Boondockers.com visitors.  Boondockers.com is an on-line “club” where RV owners make space available on their property for other RV owners to stay and virtually no cost.  When private and public camping sites can run from $40 -$75 per night, this system is really helpful for those of us who try to travel on the cheap. We have yet to stay at a Boondockers.com site but to get a free membership we decided to offer our little gravel driveway pad as a listing thinking that not a lot of folks would be interested in stopping here.  Instead “Lacey Rest”, as we are known, has been quite popular with people who need a place to recharge (emotionally and literally as we offer a power outlet to plug in to) for a day or two while heading north or south along interstate 5.  The unexpected benefit is that while I am bound by disability to be home, I can get to visit with new people with similar interests who come to us.

Our first visitor from Boondockers.com was a photography student living in her van

We took a trip to Mt Rainier with our Boondockers guest where she practiced her photography skills

Our first (of several) Canadian guests - this couple from Quebec.

Another challenge has been my mother’s health who turned 95 this year.  My mother with her very strong mind had a physical event of some kind (heart most likely) that has resulted in fairly rapid loss of first short-term memories and more recently long-term memories.  This does not seem to be to classic confusion of dementia but it is very destressing for all of us especially her as she is very aware of her losses.  We live only a few minutes away from where she lives fairly independently in her apartment (she has to walk down to get meals provided for her) but requires daily checking to make sure she has taken her medications and not gotten lost in her small world.  Even with family and friends helping out this has become a burden from which Clarice and I need to rest periodically so we take camping and boating outings when we can and make sure her needs are covered while we are gone.  I especially feel for Clarice who has had to deal with her mentally and physically challenged husband during all of this time as well.
Mom gets joy from Jarvis visiting in her apartment

One of our outings was to take Hyacinth to the San Juan Islands while our daughter Erin flew out for a week to care for her grandmother.  The trip was a great success  but ended up getting cut short when I was given a chance to visit the neurosurgeon in two days or two months.  We literally made a U-turn in the water and were able to make it to the appointment where the decision was made to proceed with surgery.
On the dock at Blake Island State Park across from Seattle

Seattle and Mt Rainier from Blake Island

Clarice with her "I'm on MY boat smile"
Jarvis is getting his sea legs again after spending much of his life on boats

Jemma Cove State Park north of Olympia

Docked in Olympia

Also before surgery (BS) we were able to take Hyacinth the grand-daughter camping with us a couple of times including once with Michelle our sort-of-God-grand-daughter.  These outing in our Airstream serve to lift our spirits wonderfully and help us appreciate the kids while we can.

Hyacinth playing with Russian stacking dolls from Sitka

Helping clean up Jarvis' paw prints


Climbing the biggest rock she can find in Mt Rainier National Park

Michell, Jarvis and Hyacinth deciding if they are ready to wake up after sleeping in the Airstream

"This little window is just for me!"

Grandma and Hyacinth

Fall leaves and fall colored hair.

After surgery (AS) we were able to keep our previously made plans to visit our daughter and her family in Ontario Canada where the fall colors were going strong.  This was a wonderful week long visit and included a tour of a long retired Niagara Falls power plant which includes access to the bottom of the falls through the no longer used outlet tunnel that used to return water from the turbines to the river.  Apparently the plant had been kept in standby condition until fairly recently when it was decided that the combination of its generators requiring a complete overhaul from their designed 48 V 50 hz (used in another era of time) and the water it would take from more efficient generating facilities when Ontario is only allocated a certain percentage of the river flow per international agreement did not justify the rebuild so it was turned over to the Ontario Parks in a condition that made conversion to a tourist site very feasible.

One of the first photos with me standing up straight with 
Erin and Paul in Ontario

Niagara Falls from the hydroelectric tunnel


American Falls and Rainbow Bridge


Walking back up the tunnel

We are both finding more energy to get re-involved with volunteer projects, church projects, and hobbies with Clarice baking and sewing up-a-storm while me joining my ham radio club in things like helping out with a Scout night hike event (helped out by other sort-of-God grand-daughter Ash who was a Godsend to me as the event ran into the early morning hours long after my AS endurance gave out as she practiced her ham radio skills and skittered about helping keep scouts from getting lost in the dark).  I get stronger daily and we both look forward to my lifting and activity restrictions getting lifted so that we can get back to our Life’s Adventures!

Just enjoying a warm fire at home

We continue to be very involved helping keep this trailer functioning to provide showers to the homeless once a week

Clarice made pillows to match the new nursery curtains at Church

I was able to take short turns on the pressure washing gun (brother-in-law Darrell did most of the work) to clean the siding on our church

Clarice on the church roof washing windows.


Jarvis taking a bike trailer ride (yes, its a smile not a growl)

Clarice landscaping the yard

Second coat of stain on the back fence after pressure washing 


Visiting Mt Rainier with Darrell

Darrell learned that the poles that Margie gifted him really increased how far he could walk

Narada falls Mt Rainier National Park




 

 















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