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You are welcome to apply any part of this article to your own personal use. Please do NOT publish any part of the article or apply any part of it to any non-personal use without the express written concent of the author.
I've had enough inquiries as to my status to warrant one more dispatch.
Yes, I'm doing quite well, better in fact than expected. Although my stamina is not back to normal, it is headed in that direction and is expected to return over the next year.
I had enough stamina by the middle of November to attend an on-the-water clinic for sailing instructors in San Francisco Bay to certify me to teach sailing at higher levels within the US SAILING program. It was challenging to say the least. For example part of the clinic involved nighttime man-overboard recovery drills in 35 knots of wind with very steep, choppy seas in a very tender sailboat. Needless to say, I passed and am now officially certified to teach US SAILING classes in the larger cruising boats.
And Volant has taken us out on a mini cruise, my first time out in her as captain since the nodules showed up in my CT Scan last May. It was chilly the last weekend of November, but with our diesel forced-air heater we were quite toasty. Heading out to Port Orchard the wind was too blustery for me to safely sail the boat given my current level of energy, so we motored the entire way. On the way back the wind was too light for sailing, so we motored all the way back too. Port Orchard is only about 15 nautical miles away, so normally we wouldn't even mention such a short trip. But being the first time out on our own boat without additional crew for support, for us this was a worthy milestone indeed.
My normal body hair has started to return and is growing back in all the normal places, so I no longer feel like I'm living in a 12-year-old body. The hair on the top of my head seems to be coming in darker than it was before, which makes the light sprinkling of salt more evident. I'm told to expect that it'll return to its old color and texture within a year, but not to expect the salt to go away. I should have my first haircut in a couple of weeks. I find I'm liking the very short 'do, at least for now, so don't be surprised the next time you see me if I have decided to keep it that way.
The chest scars are healing nicely and should be hardly noticeable in a few years time.
On the other side of the coin my short-term memory has suffered from the chemotherapy. Chemo-brain is a recognized phenomenon, and can be quite frustrating at times. For example during the written examinations during the sailing instructor clinic I was unable to tap into my memory to access things I knew that I knew. As a consequence many of my answers were wrong that I would normally have gotten right. I passed my first test, but just barely. Because of how I did on that one I knew I'd fail the second one. Which I did, making the same kinds of mistakes. Fortunately the one I passed was the required one which enabled me to receive my increased certification. The second test was optional and can be retaken at any time. The doc told me that this side effect of chemotherapy "usually" goes away over time, which could be as long as a full year. When I'm back to my old self, or as close as it appears that I'll get, I'll retake the second test.
During this adventure a number of folks have contributed directly to my support in small, but meaningful ways. This seems to be the appropriate time to acknowledge them. I list them here in no particular order or significance:
Apologies to anyone I might have missed.
We are now in the throws of a busy holiday schedule. Our plans for our next cruise are not yet jelled, but we're working on them. I'm not saying what that cruise will turn out to be, but don't be surprised if you check in next spring to find that we've already returned to the Alaska trip that was so rudely interrupted.
Stay tuned to this website for further dispatches as our subsequent adventures unfold.
Namaste, dear readers, and fair winds.
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