Winter Onboard in Annapolis

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, January 15

It turned out to be a nice warm day, reaching 50 degrees F in the afternoon. I spent most of the day trying to catch up on my sleep.  I only saw the light of day to use the bathroom at the marina once during the day.

Catching up on my sleep while dreaming
about spending lots of future
time in Mexico.

We are still thinking about a future in Mexico but we are not sure how it will exactly take place at this point in time.  For example, we could spend winters in various places in Mexico and summers here on the Chesapeake Bay OR we could move to a certain place in Mexico permanently OR some combination thereof.  My thoughts as a start would be to rent a place in Mexico for maybe next winter (five or six months) in a place we know we like, like San Miguel de Allende.  But first, I have to rid myself of prostate cancer.

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In a couple paragraphs I will try and describe what it has been like for me over the past couple weeks, living with prostate cancer.  (If you are the least bit squeamish, skip to Saturday's posting.)

I have had consultations with the oncologist at Anne Arundel Medical Center and my urologist at Anne Arundel Urology.  They work closely together and a Nurse Navigator (at Anne Arundel Medical Center) coordinates treatment activities and keeps things moving along. She's in touch with me by phone every couple days.  (This is an excellent service!)

About two weeks ago I developed a frequent urge to urinate, starting out about every hour and a half and, eventually, every half hour. Urination was accompanied by the feeling of burning. This wasn't just during daylight hours but through the night as well. The condition seemed worst in the evening (until about midnight) and sometimes throughout the complete night. Needless to say, I haven't been getting a lot of sleep.  Just in the last two days I have been able to sleep uninterrupted between midnight and 4 AM, which is a big improvement over the previous three or four days. I've been taking naps in the afternoons to get a sufficient amount of sleep.

On Friday of next week, I get a special gel implanted (though a long needle) to the space between my prostate and my bladder (I think)--this gel is intended to keep the radiation focused on my prostate and minimize peripheral damage to my other nearby organs. I'm very concerned about this procedure, because of the size of the needle and where it is injected. The procedure is supposed to take on ly 25 minutes and it is to be done while I'm wide awake (hut, hopefully with the aid of some local anesthetics and laughing gas).

After the gel is in place, the oncologist (on next Mondays' visit) has to check the placement using an MRI and I have to get another PSA test as a reference.  Then, the 5-day per week radiation treatments can begin--they will last 8 weeks.

Saturday, January 16

Everything outside was wet in the morning, from the rain last night.  Even though the outside temperature was somewhat warm, the air contained a cold dampness that penetrated my clothes.  I made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up a side dish for the lunch that I was preparing (marinated boneless pork) for the day.  I stopped along the way at a new bakery on Bay Ridge Avenue, called Baker's & Company--I picked up two delicious chocolate almond croissants.

When I got back to the boat, Maggie was just leaving on her morning walk and I decided to get a much needed shower. Today was rather uneventful--yet another day was rather uneventful!

Maggie and i have had discussion on and off about moving to Mexico for 5 or 6 months in November 2021.  We have decided to rent a furnished residence in San Miguel de Allende, high in the central mountains.  (Yes, Lola will go with us!)  At this point, we plan to come back to the U.S. on April 1 or May 1 2022.

Sunday, January 17

Our team, the Baltimore Ravens, got eliminated from the NFL playoffs last night as they were beat by the Buffalo Bills by a score of 17-3.

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Some obstruction passed through my urinary tract sometime yesterday.  Today, my frequency of urination is slightly less and the pain during urination has subsided. I'm not sure what is going on with my urinary tract.

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The day started out sunny but in the afternoon, the cloud cover thickened, even though it remained somewhat warm (mid-40's).  So far, I'm thankful for the warmer-than-usual winter--I hope it stays that way but I doubt it will.

Monday, January 18 (MLK Jr Holiday)

The holiday nature of today surprised me.  The town was active most of the day with the relatively moderate outside temperature (40's).  People roamed past the boat, gawking into the cockpit enclosure.  I felt like we were in a fish bowl. Of course, Lola is the center of attention!

Maggie walked over the Sophie 's Crepes (about a block away) and picked up crepes for lunch.  I had a Thanksgiving crepe which included turkey and cranberry chutney--it was delicious and quite different but not very filling.  (We had to have ice cream too!)

Sorry, for the lack of photographs in this blogpost--I just haven't felt motivated to take them lately. Let's hope my attitude improves.  Tomorrow, we are planning another visit to our new marina on Kent Island to check the shore power connections for our slip (#A-5). (A friend of mine from the C&C forum was able to measure the water depth at high tide (7 feet) in our new slip since no one at the marina could tell me this.)

Stay tuned for our next marina visit by car.  Thanks for following our blog!