9/29/2016 0 Comments Mrs Argos Walks AgainYes, it’s true – if you have been anywhere around the Southport area in past days you might have caught site of her, not walking 100% normally but doing a pretty good version of her old self. It has been 6 weeks now since I had my first awesome days back at home aboard Argos and 21 weeks – yep that over 5 months – since that one fateful little slip. My what a journey it has been. But I am so happy to be able to say that I am now able to mobilise without the use of crutches and can walk quite well, albeit slowly, with only minimal pain. I can’t walk far without needing to take a rest-stop but I am so happy to be able to be out and about and doing things again. I have even had a few jaunts out and about alone, though getting into and out of the dinghy at the jetty still proves to be the trickiest aspect of any such expeditions. My recovery has unfortunately been significantly hampered by the development of a painful bursitis in my left hip. I have osteo-arthritis in both hip joints and pretty much ignored the hip pain at first, assuming it was part and parcel of the joyful process of aging, but at my last orthopaedic appointment the doctor was bemused to hear that I felt so much more pain in my hip than around the site of the break. I was sent straight back to x-ray and then on to ultrasound to investigate what they saw as a pretty significant problem. I wonder if there will ever be a time in my life when I listen to pain and take it seriously? Anyway the ultrasound revealed several areas of bursitis and I was offered a cortisone injection into the worst area. This has been marvellous. I wouldn’t make it a routine thing, knowing how this can have a negative impact, but I am so happy to have experienced such a rapid and noticeable decline in pain! In fact, now I can actually feel the pain in my tibia when I walk instead of only noticing the intense pain in my hip. So I am back to doing regular physio – at the Gold Coast University Hospital - every week or two and I have joined a gym and go to yoga once a week, to increase my general well-being and flexibility. At home I walk, climb steps, do my exercises and take every opportunity to move, and live as normally as I can. In general, since returning home, life on board Argos has been pretty quiet and calm. I’ve been ‘spring’ or ‘post-broken-leg’ cleaning a little each day, sorting, tidying, getting things ship-shape and have even been able to return to that always-growing list of ‘boat-jobs’ that had to be let go of while I was away when all I could do was focus on everyone surviving and me recovering. It’s great to be able to move enough to be able to move forwards and start to tackle some of the most pressing items on my list. In addition, I am working hard on several articles for the magazines I write for, a new e-book, an app for my Miles Away recovery support people and of course chapters for Becoming Mrs Argos. Life truly has begun to return to normal for Mrs Argos.
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September 2017
Our life aboard Argos has been seriously challenged this year with the surprise departure of our skipper. As a writer, diesel mechanics and the complexities of many aspects of Argos’ on-going maintenance are way beyond me! We would like to see Argos continue to sail and eventually hope to use her to offer support, encouragement and a break to people who are struggling in their lives. Any on-going help towards maintaining Argos would be greatly appreciated and enable us to achieve this goal.
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