Saturday, May 5, 2018
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Re: Sunset back on our mooring
Its been a busy busy week at the marina. We checked off many things on the to do list.Today was a beautiful day. We motored back to our mooring, put the dinghy back in the water and took ourselves in to Russel for a nice hike up to the much maligned Flagstaff. Followed by a beer on the the waterfront and our first (of many to come) provisioning on foot. Steaks on the BBQ for dinner!We notice how quiet it is here in Lily bay. And a nice sunset to end this autumn day in the Bay of Islands (BOI)
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Test post
Preparation for Tonga in progress. If this posts, one more thing checked off the list. Watch this space....
-- Sent from Gmail Mobile
Thursday, October 15, 2015
The wrong side of the bed
Yes it has been awhile. Sorry, seems that land life and internet predispose me to FaceBook and gmail. But, an update is in order.
First off - although this will be a brief update on our life in NZ since I last posted, I am primarily doing this to post about my year long struggle with my hip, so if you are not interested in a blog about how I have come to be having an old person's surgery, don't read past the next paragraph.
The crew of s/v Evergreen are pretty much entrenched in land life in New Zealand. After 14 months of living aboard, which included a winter with me working, full time school + teenager activities for Josh and at long last a full time job for Dennis, we bailed to a flat on land. Josh and I are much happier and Dennis is dealing. Hey there is plenty of room for beer, wine and spirit making, so how can he complain? Now we are only weeks away from Josh finishing up year 13 at Takapuna Grammar. He will head down to Wellington for University at the end of January. Hard to believe he will be leaving the nest..... wasn't it only yesterday I was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and wishing he would sleep? Not sure what Dennis and I will do once he is settled. Right now we are examining our options. Oh yeah and we got a cat - Ronan. Yes, pretty sure we have lost our minds. Ronan is - well a cat with a cat personality. He likes his humans, and would hang out with us more during the day if we were home, but we're not, so he hangs out with the upstairs neighbors.
Okay this paragraph is not about my hip so read on.
Our application for permanent residence is being processed. Having permanent residency will make planning for the future much easier. I will be able to move jobs at will and we will be able to come and go from NZ as we like. I know I would be fine with missing the winters here - maybe hanging out in some blue lagoon in Tonga or Fiji or Vanuatu or New Caledonia. With sailing in mind, we are looking at purchasing a mooring in the Bay of Islands (N. end of the N. Island). It is beautiful up there and the sailing is good.
Keep in mind the population of NZ is 4.5 million which is less than half of the population of LA county. So, no way to get economies of scale - in anything. Fewer people - good in our book. Fewer choices and a "she'll be right" attitude toward things is what makes NZ - NZ. We love it and as with all loves we take the good with the bad.
Okay here comes the hip part - won't hurt my feelings if you bail out here.
Healthcare in NZ is actually pretty good for socialized medicine. As with all healthcare, NZ is heading the way of the US and the world in terms of affordability. The question becomes how does a government funded healthcare system keep up with the demands of an aging population and technology? There is a private insurance component, but - get this - it is really only for surgery. For an outrageous sum (approaching US premiums) you can get office, drug, dental and vision coverage. Most people just go to the public or pay for a visit to the GP. Sort of like the old days in the US, sort of.
So how did I become a consumer of this healthcare? Did you know that not only do the Kiwis drive on the wrong side, but bicycle brakes are reversed as well? I didn't know that when I got my mountain bike in June 2014 - I do now - through painful experience. Yep first ride out on my bike I braked hard (with my right hand) and went flying over the handlebars. Landed on my right shoulder and hip. Now this was far from my first ever fall - right? You all know that "I fell" should be my middle name. Anyway I figured a little ibuprofen (which i might add is stinking expensive here) and a few adjustments by the chiropractor and I would be back to normal in no time. WRONG! After 10 weeks of chiropractic treatment my neck and shoulder were back to normal, My back/leg/hip - not so much. So off to the GP, who sent me to PT (or physio as they say here). After a month with little or no improvement Sam (my amazing physio) referred me to a sports medicine doctor. An xray and mri later, that doctor referred me to a surgeon specializing in hip arthroscopy. The wait for that appointment was close to 3 months, so in the meantime the sports guy sent me for a steroid injection in my hip. That really helped the muscles around my hip and got me exercising again (to a degree) but i still had the grinding pain in my groin. Walking and stairs are the worst, thankfully once I am on my bike it is great.
I got through our hike of Milford sound - which was hard but amazing. Loved it and really loved seeing Corinne and Larry from New Mexico. Also did the Timber trail 42 km on our mountain bikes in July - cold and beautiful.
I finally saw the hip arthroscopy specialist in May. Really nice man, sadly he said that arthroscopy was not a treatment option for my hip and referred me to a joint replacement surgeon. I saw the Joint replacement surgeon (Hugh) at the end of May, and the rest as they say is history. It was a real process to get ACC (accident coverage provided by the government) to finally decline to pay for the hip replacement. I had been told by both surgeons that it was highly unlikely that ACC would cover as the hip deteriorated rapidly after the accident but the arthritis was already there. Anyway now our private insurance will cover and off we go.
My surgery is scheduled for Wednesday 21 October (that is the 20th for you Northern Hemisphere folks). I am not first on the schedule (or list as they say here) which is a bummer, but that's okay. I anticipate I will be home on our Sunday. I am trying to stay positive about the recovery, Hugh (my surgeon) is adamant that I am off 6 weeks and will not release me to drive for that time. I will have a ceramic on ceramic hip something like this:
It should last 15-20 years. No marathons in my future, but hiking, biking, swimming, sailing are all in. May I also add that I look forward to being able to put my right shoe and sock on without pain and contortions. Trust me its the small things.
They say you should never undertake these types of surgery until you just can't stand the way things are. Well I am there. I always said I would be a poor chronic pain patient - I was right. It has been a real struggle to not define myself and my life by my hip pain. I feel old and my sense of self is all out of whack. I take drugs so I can tolerate other drugs. I exercise and it hurts and I don't exercise and it hurts, so I exercise. Finding that amount and type of exercise that keeps me strong enough to rehab well but doesn't push me over the edge of pain and/or mess up my sleep has been a tough negative feedback loop. And it is a constantly changing target, seems to me that I am slowly deteriorating. so yes when I got the text from Hugh at 930pm asking if I wanted a surgery date less than a month out - I said yes (hell yes really, but these guys are still not used to me :) ). So it is only 6 more sleeps and I think "surgery" has finally made the top 10 on the worry list. Dreamt about it last night - nothing bad, which says to me that my inner self really is ready to move on from this stage of my life.
Well, there you have it - you are caught up with my life and its little dramas. I will keep you posted on how things go. Feel free to communicate with me somehow over the next 6 weeks. I will be dying for human interaction.
First off - although this will be a brief update on our life in NZ since I last posted, I am primarily doing this to post about my year long struggle with my hip, so if you are not interested in a blog about how I have come to be having an old person's surgery, don't read past the next paragraph.
The crew of s/v Evergreen are pretty much entrenched in land life in New Zealand. After 14 months of living aboard, which included a winter with me working, full time school + teenager activities for Josh and at long last a full time job for Dennis, we bailed to a flat on land. Josh and I are much happier and Dennis is dealing. Hey there is plenty of room for beer, wine and spirit making, so how can he complain? Now we are only weeks away from Josh finishing up year 13 at Takapuna Grammar. He will head down to Wellington for University at the end of January. Hard to believe he will be leaving the nest..... wasn't it only yesterday I was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and wishing he would sleep? Not sure what Dennis and I will do once he is settled. Right now we are examining our options. Oh yeah and we got a cat - Ronan. Yes, pretty sure we have lost our minds. Ronan is - well a cat with a cat personality. He likes his humans, and would hang out with us more during the day if we were home, but we're not, so he hangs out with the upstairs neighbors.
 |
| Josh and Rose pre Winter Ball Party |
 |
| Ronan from his throne high above his subjects |
Okay this paragraph is not about my hip so read on.
Our application for permanent residence is being processed. Having permanent residency will make planning for the future much easier. I will be able to move jobs at will and we will be able to come and go from NZ as we like. I know I would be fine with missing the winters here - maybe hanging out in some blue lagoon in Tonga or Fiji or Vanuatu or New Caledonia. With sailing in mind, we are looking at purchasing a mooring in the Bay of Islands (N. end of the N. Island). It is beautiful up there and the sailing is good.
Keep in mind the population of NZ is 4.5 million which is less than half of the population of LA county. So, no way to get economies of scale - in anything. Fewer people - good in our book. Fewer choices and a "she'll be right" attitude toward things is what makes NZ - NZ. We love it and as with all loves we take the good with the bad.
Okay here comes the hip part - won't hurt my feelings if you bail out here.
Healthcare in NZ is actually pretty good for socialized medicine. As with all healthcare, NZ is heading the way of the US and the world in terms of affordability. The question becomes how does a government funded healthcare system keep up with the demands of an aging population and technology? There is a private insurance component, but - get this - it is really only for surgery. For an outrageous sum (approaching US premiums) you can get office, drug, dental and vision coverage. Most people just go to the public or pay for a visit to the GP. Sort of like the old days in the US, sort of.
So how did I become a consumer of this healthcare? Did you know that not only do the Kiwis drive on the wrong side, but bicycle brakes are reversed as well? I didn't know that when I got my mountain bike in June 2014 - I do now - through painful experience. Yep first ride out on my bike I braked hard (with my right hand) and went flying over the handlebars. Landed on my right shoulder and hip. Now this was far from my first ever fall - right? You all know that "I fell" should be my middle name. Anyway I figured a little ibuprofen (which i might add is stinking expensive here) and a few adjustments by the chiropractor and I would be back to normal in no time. WRONG! After 10 weeks of chiropractic treatment my neck and shoulder were back to normal, My back/leg/hip - not so much. So off to the GP, who sent me to PT (or physio as they say here). After a month with little or no improvement Sam (my amazing physio) referred me to a sports medicine doctor. An xray and mri later, that doctor referred me to a surgeon specializing in hip arthroscopy. The wait for that appointment was close to 3 months, so in the meantime the sports guy sent me for a steroid injection in my hip. That really helped the muscles around my hip and got me exercising again (to a degree) but i still had the grinding pain in my groin. Walking and stairs are the worst, thankfully once I am on my bike it is great.
I got through our hike of Milford sound - which was hard but amazing. Loved it and really loved seeing Corinne and Larry from New Mexico. Also did the Timber trail 42 km on our mountain bikes in July - cold and beautiful.
 |
| Milford Trek |
 |
| Timber Trail |
I finally saw the hip arthroscopy specialist in May. Really nice man, sadly he said that arthroscopy was not a treatment option for my hip and referred me to a joint replacement surgeon. I saw the Joint replacement surgeon (Hugh) at the end of May, and the rest as they say is history. It was a real process to get ACC (accident coverage provided by the government) to finally decline to pay for the hip replacement. I had been told by both surgeons that it was highly unlikely that ACC would cover as the hip deteriorated rapidly after the accident but the arthritis was already there. Anyway now our private insurance will cover and off we go.
My surgery is scheduled for Wednesday 21 October (that is the 20th for you Northern Hemisphere folks). I am not first on the schedule (or list as they say here) which is a bummer, but that's okay. I anticipate I will be home on our Sunday. I am trying to stay positive about the recovery, Hugh (my surgeon) is adamant that I am off 6 weeks and will not release me to drive for that time. I will have a ceramic on ceramic hip something like this:
It should last 15-20 years. No marathons in my future, but hiking, biking, swimming, sailing are all in. May I also add that I look forward to being able to put my right shoe and sock on without pain and contortions. Trust me its the small things.
They say you should never undertake these types of surgery until you just can't stand the way things are. Well I am there. I always said I would be a poor chronic pain patient - I was right. It has been a real struggle to not define myself and my life by my hip pain. I feel old and my sense of self is all out of whack. I take drugs so I can tolerate other drugs. I exercise and it hurts and I don't exercise and it hurts, so I exercise. Finding that amount and type of exercise that keeps me strong enough to rehab well but doesn't push me over the edge of pain and/or mess up my sleep has been a tough negative feedback loop. And it is a constantly changing target, seems to me that I am slowly deteriorating. so yes when I got the text from Hugh at 930pm asking if I wanted a surgery date less than a month out - I said yes (hell yes really, but these guys are still not used to me :) ). So it is only 6 more sleeps and I think "surgery" has finally made the top 10 on the worry list. Dreamt about it last night - nothing bad, which says to me that my inner self really is ready to move on from this stage of my life.
Well, there you have it - you are caught up with my life and its little dramas. I will keep you posted on how things go. Feel free to communicate with me somehow over the next 6 weeks. I will be dying for human interaction.
Monday, June 16, 2014
June 16 2014
Wow!
– 7.5 months in New Zealand. Time sure
flies. We seem to have settled into our routine. The NZ version of suburbia as a live aboard.
Josh is very
busy with school. The IB(International
Baccalaureate) program is pretty
intense. I think for the most part he
enjoys it. He has a tutor for Physics as
he has never been exposed to physics before and all his classmates have had at
least on year. He is keeping up, so it
is all good. Socially, phwew! Busy boy.
He has a very diverse and nice group of friends and they are constantly
up to something. No girlfriend (that we
know of) but you never know when that will change. Not sure where he would find time for
one. He has picked up two new sports –
waterpolo and rugby. I certainly have no
clue about the rules for either and frankly watching hurts my stomach. In water polo I worry that some punk from the
other team will drown him and rugby – OMG they hit hard – and no pads. Can you hear him now? “C’mon Mom – really?” As long as he enjoys it – right? Hopefully I won’t have a stroke worrying
about him……He has lost 5kgs and rearranged the rest – looking pretty buff. Is it wrong for Mom to notice? How impressed am I that he is up at 0515
three days a week to bike to the gym!!
 |
| Waterpolo team |
 |
| After rugby |
 |
| Takapuna Grammar School - kinda like Hogwarts. |
Dennis is not
working. He has applied for a job – will interview when things at the office
are back under control from the un forecasted cyclonic force winds last
week. The job is with the Department of
Conservation working in the Islands doing re provisioning and ensuring
biosecurity is enforced. Right up his
alley. Keep your fingers crossed. He is busy though - doing maintenance on the
boat, working his still and keeping Josh and I fed (which is a full time job
itself with Josh). He just completed installation of a new hot water
heater. Seems US and NZ plumbing
fittings are very different. Not sure I
understand it all, but it gives him a pain.
Next is chasing down and fixing the water leak on the engine. AARRGGHHH sounds like more plumbing!!!
So yeah –
last week’s storm. Pretty crazy. 15K+ miles under our keel and the most wind
we have seen has been right here at the dock.
Dennis slept through the whole thing!
Hard to believe I know, but hey he turns off the worry button when we
are tied to a dock. Frankly for me and
Josh it was too noisy – we had to be up in the morning, so ear plugs were not
an option. Also we were heeling like
crazy. So around 0245 we were up –
adding lines, securing things on the deck and taking the bikes off the side of
the boat. Dennis’ bike got a little
munched – hoping it is fixable. Mine was
okay, but we put it on deck anyway.
After securing Evergreen, Josh and I walked down the dock to check on
Don Quixote (friends from Mexico/Seattle area).
Wow it looked like an earthquake the way the dock was undulating. Josh figures the height of the wave was at
least a foot. DQ suffered some damage to
her solar panels, but fortunately was being blown into the dock – so all secure
there. The major damage occurred to the
Ferry ramp and Marina office building.
The ferry loading ramp blew away, bounced off the office roof and landed
in the water between shore and the dock.
I think Josh and I just missed it.
I bet it would have been cool to see.
Anyway the office has a huge hole in the roof and the ferry ramp is
toast. Ferry service started back today
from their slip in the marina. Will be
interesting tonight to see the backing in process. The office has been moved to the building
next door, which also required closing of the lounge, necessitating a new study
place for Josh. Not sure when the lounge
will be available, but in the meantime DQ has let us set Josh up in their
boat. They don’t live aboard anymore and
the slip is very close to the gate. Just
set it up yesterday – so far, so good.
They say it was the worst storm in 35 years – gust to 170 kph (so like
100 mph). The severity wasn’t not
forecasted until late Tuesday night, so most people were caught unaware. The original forecast was nothing to get
excited about, hence no one was concerned.
Not much else to report on these days… Work, eat, sleep – repeat. Back to looking forward to the weekend.
 |
May have to enlarge, but this is the before
see the blue roof thing, that is what blew away
|
 |
| After - blue thing is in the water between the rocks and the dock |
I am working
at a private surgical hospital as their Quality Manager. It is very nice, very laid back. Soooo not what I am used to. Funny when a good thing stresses you
out. I really like it and the people I
work with. NZ has a very different health
care delivery system. This hospital only
does surgery - day stay and inpatients.
No ER, no in house pharmacy or lab, no ICU (a small intermediate care
unit but nothing more specialized), no blood bank. It is generally a nice calm and controlled
environment. Many things are the same as
the US as far as healthcare initiatives (surgical care improvement project, who
check list, VTE prevention, CLABSI project) and just as many things are totally
alien (very little in the way of lawsuits, laid back to the point of needing
cpr, attitude about things, no joint commission). So I have lots to learn and get used to. My commute is about an hour. Ferry to the city, bus and then a 1.1km
walk. It is pretty nice. I enjoy the time to wake up or regroup. Driving is horrendous and takes the same
amount of time. So I am doing my thing
for the environment and staying sane – works for all.
New Zealand
itself also has its good points and not so good points. But, for the most part I think the good
outweighs the bad. With only 4.5 million
people it is not crowded – 1.5 million of them live in the Auckland area, so
doesn’t take long to get away from it all (on single lane windy roads). However it means not a lot of competition in
the economy – a seller’s market. Things
like clothes, housing, shoes, housewares, electronics are outrageously
expensive. More than importing to an
island can account for. I think really
that is my biggest issue. In Hawaii we
paid 10-20% more for things because of shipping – here it’s more like 110%
more. Sad when it is less expensive to
buy and ship from the US. The rest
though is pretty good. Josh is in a good
school in a safe area. It is obscenely
beautiful. The people are friendly and
don’t get their knickers in a twist about much (except maybe the All Blacks –rugby
team). The laid back thing has its good
and bad points as well, but…… nothing is perfect and here is pretty darn good.
Dennis and I
have also made some good friends and are much more social as a couple than we
were in CA. So, also nice. We went to a school fundraiser dance last
month – What a hoot. Great music,
relatively inexpensive alcohol and free food. Good company and dancing. What is not to like! Oh yeah and raised money for school sports
programs.
On the
downside I have been unable to work cycling into my life. I just can’t see me getting up and out the door
by 0400 to ride by myself in the dark. The
roads here are really not conducive to riding – it is all stop and go with
traffic. How crazy is it that there is a
beautiful bike lane right up to the intersection, then it disappears and there
is nowhere to go except into the traffic?!
So I have re boxed my bike and put her in storage at a friend’s house. Can’t bring myself to sell her yet – maybe in
the summer. In the meantime I am looking
for a used mountain bike. There are some
good places to drive to for mountain biking and once I have one, it is
something Dennis and I can do together.
Thanks to all for the birthday wishes on facebook etc. I had a great weekend - Rugby, Godzilla, friends, cake and in NZ I don't have to share with Dennis - Father's Day is in September!!
Not much else to report on these days… Work, eat, sleep – repeat. Back to looking forward to the weekend.
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| Josh Birthday |
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| Josh School Picture |
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