Sue and our (hopefully) delayed cruising season

Monday, May 26, 2008

037-33.540 N
076-18.720 W

Ahoy from the crew of the BlueJacket!

As some of you may have noticed, we haven't departed for our planned cruise to Newfoundland.  The reason and the bad news is that Sue has cervical cancer.  The good news is that it appears that it was caught at a very early stage and that she should have a complete recovery and should be cured.  As most of you read this on Tuesday morning, Sue will be entering the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA to undergo a radical hysterectomy.  She has a wonderful doctor and she's young and healthy, so she should come through the operation with flying colors.

We found out about this a couple of months ago and since then she's undergone a battery of tests and is quite tired of being poked and prodded.  She's had an amazing attitude and has been quite the trouper.  She's looking forward to having the surgery completed and getting on with life.    The surgery will take place on Tuesday from about 9 AM to 1 PM, so please have her in your thoughts and prayers.

We thought that we were going to skip cruising this year, but after looking at our schedule and her recovery period, it looks like we'll be able to make the cruise after all.  Assuming that all goes well, I plan to move the boat from Deltaville, VA to the Hudson River in NY in about a month.  Once the boat gets there, Sue will have recovered for 6 weeks and should be released to travel.   She'll join the boat in NY and we'll work our way up the Hudson River and Erie Canal, which should be nice and calm for Sue.  Then we'll continue on our way to the St. Lawrence River and on to Newfoundland.

Sue & I just got back from a week of working on BlueJacket.  We had lots of projects that we needed to complete and to check up on, so we headed down for 5 days.  Well, the work didn't go as fast a projected, so we stuck around for another 2 days to get things wrapped up.  I installed a new watermaker control panel, a new VHF antenna for an AIS transceiver, LED anchor light, a new WiFi transceiver and completed a bunch of small projects.  We're had new cockpit cushions fabricated, which turned out great.  We're also having the dodger Strataglass panels re-fabricated and spent quite a bit of time consulting on the design.  BlueJacket is in great shape and ready to explore new places.

Tomorrow will start very early, so I had better wrap this up.  Please keep Sue in your thoughts and payers and I'll let you know how things turn out.

-- Geoff & Sue

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[May 27, 2008]

Ahoy from the crew of the BlueJacket!

I'm happy to report that Sue's surgery went well. According to the surgeon, it went as well as it could have. It was a long surgery, almost 4 hours, but the Dr. wanted to be a thorough as possible and not leave any potential source of cancer. As a result they removed her cervix, uterus and some lymph nodes (this was purely just-in-case).

When Sue's parent's and I finally got to see Sue, she was very sleepy due to the surgery and the hydro-morphine drip that she was receiving for the pain. She was doing her best to stay awake, so we finally left her for the night. The surgeon said that she'll probably be in the hospital until Friday, so if you'd like to call her, please let me know and I'll be glad to provide the number. She's at the Lahey Clinic, Burlington MA, room 7W13.

The bottom line is that so far she's come through the surgery just fine. Now we just hope that the recovery goes well.

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. They've been passed on to Sue.

-- Geoff

P.S. Sorry for the brief note, but I'm beat and have many calls to return.

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[May 28, 2008]

Ahoy everyone!

I'll keep this short and sweet and probably won't provide any more updates for a while, but enough of you have expressed interest in receiving updates that it'll just be much more simple to send out a message to this list instead of individual e-mails.

The bottom line is that Sue is doing great.  I went to see her this morning and the change from yesterday to this morning was remarkable.  I think that she was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia as she was very tired and kept dosing on and off.  But she had already been up and walking, so that was a very good sign. I then ran some errands and came back at around 2 PM.  She was much more alert and had requested that they take her off of the on-demand hydo-morphine machine and give her something that lasted longer and that wasn't quite as strong.  After they switched her, she brightened up to almost her usual state of cheerfulness and we went for a stroll down the hallway.  It wasn't long, but it's a start and the nurses are telling her, with all sincerity, what great progress she's made.  Her digestive system is starting to do the things that it's supposed to do, and if she's a lucky girl, they may upgrade her to Jello this evening!  I need to remember to tell her that this is not a good weight loss regiment.  :-)

We're still expecting her to return home on Friday.  Her mom (a RN) & dad will be staying with us for a few days to make sure that I'm taking care he properly, but I think that I'll be able to handle the job.  Then again, I wouldn't expect much less from my parents.

And before I forget, thank you all for the wonderful messages, thoughts and prayers.  I compiled the messages into one message and read them to Sue.  She thanks you all, as do I.

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[6/2/2008]

I'm happy to report that Sue came home yesterday and is doing very well. After arriving, she was immediately outside checking the gardens. We had moved a lot of plants in preparation for having some trees taken down and yesterday afternoon she was directing her father and I as to where she wanted them replanted. I'd say that she's getting back to her old self! She's up and walking around, albeit very slowly.

She was in the hospital much longer than expected. I would never have guessed that she would have been in there for 5 days, but it took her digestive system a while to restart. I didn't realize that this is an issue after abdominal surgery, but apparently it is. Ah, the things you learn!

Thanks a lot again for all of the flowers, cards, calls and well wishes. They've all been greatly appreciated.

-- Geoff & Sue

Log ID: 1143