Inside Skinny

I guess my role model for how to act when you’re not well is my Dad. He’d just kind of get quiet and not say anything until we’d notice, but he’d just say that he was OK. That was that. And he’d go to work every day, do the stuff he needed to do, and he eventually was OK again.

I just realized that I am trying to do that stiff upper lip stuff..but I’m not my Dad and there’s no way to pretend that I can do the normal things that I do around the boat. Don’t get me wrong, progress has been faster than predicted and I’m getting around fairly well but tonight my battery operated toothbrush got the best of me!

Replacing the batteries in this thing is difficult in the best of times but tonight it defied me. I couldn’t pry the thing open. I wrestled with the thing for 15 minutes, turning it this way, then holding it down with one hand and pulling with the other, you know the way you do when you’re out of ideas of how to get the thing apart. Finally I noticed a small separation between the end cap and the handle. I dug out a screw driver and prised the cap off, revealing the offending batteries, pulled two fresh ones out of the blister pack under the nav station and began to struggle with the cap to close the thing up. NASA should have used these O-rings on the Shuttle; they’d still be flying that thing today.

Finally, after slamming the end of the handle down on the bathroom floor in frustration, I heard that satisfying click that says you’ll soon be “cookin’ with gas” electrically speaking.

Dead batteries…

I don’t know why batteries on a boat are so much more likely to fail, or leak, or not do what what they’re supposed to do. I will say that the second time was no easier than the first, but the forty five minutes spent replacing two AA batteries in my toothbrush left me exhausted and with a few doubts about my recovery time.

Escape Velocity may not be the be easiest place to recover, but it sure is good to be home and every day we venture ashore collecting things we need is a step foward while we wait for the news from the doctor. The true heroes of this adventure are going home soon. Marce’s sister and brother-in-law are taking us back to the Cleveland Clinic today, hopefully one last time.

Touch wood!

6 Comments

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6 Responses to Inside Skinny

  1. Hope the news is good and that you get back on your sea legs and get the hell out of Dodge, so to speak. Just rush away untll you feel well enough 🙂

  2. That was supposed to say, Don’t rush away until you feel well enough. Old timers is setting in.

  3. good luck today, Jack! I’m sending all the positive vibes I can muster to you!!

  4. deb

    Lighting candles and praying for good news! Keep us posted.

  5. Ericka

    Hoping for the best news today. Don’t rush the recovery, take the rest that you need & get all better!

    ” you know the way you do when you’re out of ideas of how to get the thing apart” – I have had a few of these encounters in the past few weeks, you put it perfectly 🙂

  6. Anita

    Good to hear from you Jack – and you know – the prayers are flowing, and have been flowing down your way!

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