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Diane's DiaryJanuary 17 Monday Larry and I helped lead a discussion on bottom paint after the security net this morning. The discussion had started yesterday but we got some further information talking to other cruisers yesterday and wanted to pass it on. We finished shortly before 9am- time to go shopping. We arranged to go shopping with Plenum and Sylvester to Makro. We have noticed the prices have gone up considerably and Makro, which used to be so cheap, is no longer as good as it once was. Anyway we got back around 11:30am, put the food away and had lunch. We need to go to Larry's Doctor this afternoon. Larry's PSA level was 7 this time so it has gone up since the few previous tests. The Doctor is concerned so wants to do a biopsy tomorrow. Naturally, this has raised a lot of anxiety in both of us and we are both very worried. We'll go about 3pm tomorrow afternoon and he will do the procedure in the office. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well. I certainly don't want to see Larry getting cancer especially in a foreign country! Well, we'll just have to take one day at a time and see what happens. We both didn't get a good night's sleep last night and are both worried. January 18 Tuesday We needed 500,000B or around $200USD for the biopsy today in addition to the about 120,000B or $50USD for the lab. We had USD but didn't have that much in B's as we are expecting the B to go up and we were going to exchange some money with Giulio in Caracas. So, I needed to get the money today ASAP. Marisol said she was coming with the money but she never showed up and that got me very angry. I told her we had to have the money today and it was very important. I later called her and said I would never use here again and would tell others she is not reliable. Anyway, thankfully, David on Sylvester had some B's, which he was nice enough to lend us. Since this was a medical emergency and we needed the B's immediately, I am sure any cruiser would have lent some to us. However, we didn't want to alert anyone to Larry's problem at this point. Anyway, we waited over an hour in the doctor's office while he took another patient first. It was absolutely freezing in the office and I finally had to go outside as I was shivering. We were very impressed with the doctor - he had another urologist to assist him and an anesthesiologist to administer the IV drugs to knock Larry out. All seemed to go well and we were out of the office by around 6:30pm. We had taken a taxi over and had the same one pick us up on the way back. He's one of the regular drivers around the marina. We had to stop at the pharmacy to get Larry some antibiotics. He seemed to be OK just a little groggy and out of it. I was hoping he would be able to get on the boat himself, as you have to climb over the bow railing to get on the boat since we are med moored. However, it wasn't too bad and he was able to get on the boat without assistance from anyone. He had not eaten since the night before as per the Doctor's orders so I just made him a light dinner of scrambled eggs and toast. I had leftovers myself. The doctor actually gave me the tissue from the biopsy so I could bring it to the lab myself. Unbelievable! In the US, they wouldn't dare let the patient handle the specimen. But I guess that's one way of controlling costs here! Since it was already late by the time we got back to the boat, I'll just bring it to the lab tomorrow. January 19 Wednesday I had to make a bunch of phone calls in the am. At 10:30am, I took the bus into town to go to the lab and drop off the specimen. They said the results will be ready Friday afternoon so that's not too bad but I know we both will have a lot of anxiety until we get the results. Larry isn't feeling so great so he's just staying on the boat and will take it easy. It's a good thing we bought that DVD player as it has really come in handy and we have really gotten our money's worth out of it. Since our wireless Internet card Steph bought for us doesn't work on our computer, we don't have the Internet and I can't find the card here in Venezuela at all. I have called all the Internet stores but they don't have it. But at least we get 5 English stations on the TV along with the DVD player so Larry at least has something to do to keep himself busy. Anyway, David on Sylvester lent us the additional B's to get the lab test done, as I wasn't sure if I was going to have enough money. David and I went to PM in the afternoon to exchange some money, go to the pharmacy and supermarket. We left at 2pm and came back at 5pm. I was so tired from running around all day long that I didn't even take a shower but just stayed in the boat watching TV. We watched the DVD movie "National Treasure" at night. It was OK but not too great. I'm glad I didn't buy it. January 20 Thursday President Bush got sworn into office today to begin his second term. How anyone ever voted for the man I will never know. I think he has done a terrible job and I would never have voted for him. I think he has done a lot of damage to the US image here abroad. Larry is still not feeling well so he's just taking it easy today. I did lots of things though - washed the cockpit, cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed the rugs, waxed the starboard rear of the boat- and that was all in the Am! After lunch I did some more waxing but my shoulder was starting to hurt from all that handwork so I gave up for the day. I made some homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs. I walked this afternoon but only got to do 1 lap, as I didn't have time for any more. I wanted to swim but the pool water was green so I didn't want to go in when it was in that condition. We watched the DVD movie "Alexander" but didn't finish it, as it's 2.5 hours long. The movie got a lot of hype but I was not happy with it and thought it was pretty bad. Another cruiser got mugged today. This one was outside CMO and apparently he had a lot of money on him too - over $10,000 we heard so this was not good. Now the people in the barrio think the cruisers carry around a lot of money on them. I hope this does not put us all in jeopardy and we will have to keep on our toes from now on. January 21 Friday I made my excellent sour cream and banana cake today with the sour cream I brought back from Bonaire. I only have a few cartons left. I went over the West Marine catalog as we are going to place a large order so I wrote down everything I wanted to order. We are going to use Giulio's shipper so things will be cheaper than ordering it directly from Jaime - we have to pay more for shipping. In the pm, I went to the lab in downtown PLC to pick up Larry's test results. Thankfully, the test result was negative for cancer so we were both greatly relieved. We went to the doctor also. He said Larry has BPH; he changed his medication and told him to come back in 3 months. Larry is still having some problems associated with the surgery but the doctor said this was normal and as long as he didn't have fever things were OK. At this time, he said he won't do any surgery but will see how he does with the new medicine. Anyway, we were both in a very good mood now and stopped at the sports bar in PLaza Mayor on the way home for dinner. We definitely had a good reason to celebrate! We had to get some more medicine at the pharmacy also. We got home at 7:30pm and just spent the night watching TV. Larry has to rest for the next few weeks, not lift anything heavy and generally just take it easy. So, I guess we won't be doing too much. We are both just very relieved the diagnosis was not cancer- he can live with the BPH. January 22 Saturday It was a cloudy overcast day out- a perfect day to finish waxing the cockpit and doing the stainless steel on the bow. The stainless steel took some rubbing to get the rust off, as we couldn't find the good cleaner we have on the boat and I had to use the Never Dull. Never Dull works well on straight surfaces but doesn't do well in the corners. However, I got the job all done and finished around 3pm. We invited David from Sylvester over for dinner as Terri went back to the US. I made spaghetti carbonara and it came out great as usual. We finished watching the DVD movie "Alexander" but I didn't think it was that great and was glad I didn't buy it. Anyway, David left at 9:30pm and by that time we were both tired. January 23 Sunday A nice quiet day in the marina. We had no eggs or milk onboard, as it's difficult getting eggs anywhere except for the market. So, I went to the mini-mart here, bought them, the paper and got the Caribbean Compass which had just come in. I played dominoes and did quite well until I got stuck with over 130 points in one hand so it increased my score to almost 400! I walked after dominoes and did 3 laps. Larry is still not feeling well so we aren't doing too much. Thank goodness he has the DVD player to keep himself busy and we were able to borrow lots of DVD's from other cruisers to watch. January 24 Monday I gathered up all the laundry, sorted it and wrote down what I brought in. The laundry sometimes "loses" your clothes so you have to keep a careful tally of what you bring in. I saw a few people along the way and stopped to chat. It was almost 10:30am by the time I left for Plaza Mayor by dinghy. I stopped at the pharmacy, boat store, had lunch, the DVD store, had a batido drink and went to the supermarket. I didn't get back to the boat until nearly 3pm. I went to the potluck to grill my hamburger patties but we didn't stay, as Larry still isn't feeling well. Larry just stayed on the boat while I grilled the food. He doesn't like going to the potluck anyway as people usually make cheap food and there isn't enough for everyone. It's just a lot easier if I just cook the food and we eat it on the boat. January 25 Tuesday I dyed my hair this morning but really wasn't happy with the color. After that I put the financials into the old computer. The computer is still giving us some problems but appears to be working again. Larry is still not feeling well so we're not doing that much. He's trying to rest and take it easy. January 26 Wednesday The light bulb in the bathroom burned out and I had to go to Xanadu marine to pick up another one. They are more expensive than the other marine stores but unfortunately it was the only store that had them. I was going to go to Xanadu this morning but the Polar guy arrived and I needed to speak with him about the tour. We still don't know when it's going to be but hopefully it will be soon. I hope I impressed on them that we all want to go to the gift shop and restaurant. We definitely want to bring some Polar souvenirs home. Anyway, I went downtown in the afternoon and stopped at Tijerazo department store first than went to Xanadu. I also got some Greek pastries, took the bus back and didn't get home until around 5:30pm. I made a quick dinner of ravioli and by the time I got to the shower around 6:30pm there was no water at all! I was very annoyed, as I needed a shower very badly! January 27 Thursday I had to call back several computer stores this morning as they all promised to get the Internet card for us. We have not had the wireless card since we got back to PLC and must be the only cruisers without the Internet on board! Our card seems to work in everyone else's machine but ours. Larry is completely frustrated since he is not feeling well he could really use it. He has lent our card to Jacobite though. I worked on inputting the financials into the computer. I got a manicure and pedicure in the pm as they had a special for both for 10,000B here in the marina - less than $4 for the both of them, which is a cheap price. The job was OK but not as good as some I have gotten done but still worth the money. I had to call the computer stores back in the afternoon as they both said to check back with them but they still don't have the wireless card and I think they aren't going to get it in at all. I just don't think it's available in Venezuela at all now. After all, I don't see that they have much demand for a wireless Internet card so there's no reason for them to get it. Jack, from Stormbird, is in the UK now and his wife said he would get one for us. That was extremely nice of them, as I don't know how we would get one otherwise. He'll be coming back next Monday so that's only a few days away. We have waited so long now a few more days aren't going to hurt. But still Larry is chomping at the bit to get the Internet on board. It will definitely keep him busy then. January 28 Friday At 8:30am, I went to the market with Jeannie and Geri to look for the shrimp lady. I have the shrimp lady's phone number but it hasn't been working. Sure enough, she changed her phone number! She promised to get good shrimp for us tomorrow morning so I guess we'll just have to go back to get it. We did get a bunch of other vegetables though. We got back for the market at 10:30am, had lunch and in the aternoon Jeannie and I took my dinghy to Plaza Mayor to do some grocery shopping. When we got back, I discovered some of the chop meat I had bought was about to go bad so I needed to cook it right away. Actually, Jeannie was the one who said it didn't look right in Unicasa so that's why I opened it when I got back. So, I quickly made a big pot of chili and let it cook for a few hours. I got the DVD "Open Water" which was a dive movie we have heard so much about. I actually switched it for another movie as when I bought Bridget Jones' diary we asked if it was number 1 or 2. They said it was number 2 but it was really number one which I had already seen and didn't want to keep. So, they switched it. The sound and picture quality were horrible. The movie was OK but I was greatly disappointed in it and didn't think it was that good. I'm glad we didn't bother going to the movies to see it. January 29 Saturday I left at 8:30am again with Geri and Jeannie for the market to get the shrimp. Unfortunately, the shrimp was not very good - it wasn't fresh and there was a lot of small ones mixed with large ones so we didn't buy any. We knew the shrimp lady was angry but that's just too bad- we had told her the shrimp had to be fresh and large ones and she didn't listen and tried to pass off some shrimp that wasn't too great. I bought some more fruits and vegetables though. We got back around 10:30am and I developed a horrible headache. We had lunch in the restaurant with S/V Plenum. The restaurant had leftover pabellon Criollo from last night. They had a band last night and for 20,000B you could get unlimited beer and dinner. Larry wasn't feeling well so we didn't go. Actually, he charged us 11,000 B for lunch today and that didn't include any beverages or a band so his price wasn't actually too bad the other night as it did include unlimited beer. Anyway, the lunch was OK but not great. I like the dish a lot but we only had a small portion of meat and didn't think it was worth the price. After we got back from lunch I still had my headache so I lay down for a little while. January 30 Sunday I bought some beautiful eggplant at the market yesterday so made some fried eggplant this morning. It took me over an hour just to fry the eggplant. I love eggplant Parmesan as it's one of my favorite dishes to make but it's a lot of work. We haven't had eggplant Parmesan for such a long time I was dying for some. Anyway, we watched the DVD "The Aviator" that I borrowed this morning. It was OK but not that great. The acting was very good but I surely don't understand why it's up for best picture, as I didn't think it was that good. Anyway, I played dominoes and had my best score in a long time - 309. I almost finished third but probably wound up about 4-5. I came back to the boat and made the spaghetti sauce and put together the eggplant Parmesan. I made pasta also so we had a great dinner. We have leftovers for several other meals. |