Hi Dennis, Sorry to hear about your grounding, but better than all of us having to set your boat out into Lake Pontchartaine and firing blazing arrow at her......
Get well soon. I have a bit of a similar story if the listers want to read on...it has a sailing twist... A number of years ago, I was diagnosed with a heart murmur due to a bicuspid valve that caused turbulence in my aorta stressing the walls. My cardiologist said they were going to watch it on a regular basis and when it reached 55mm, they were going to wrap it in sailcloth and I could carry on. About 15 years later, I was in emergency due to a fractured ankle when they discovered once again that I had a heart murmur and atrial fibrillation, so off to the cardiologist I went who then told me and my wife that it was now time because it had distended to 52mm and the goalposts had been set back to 50. My response, before thinking was, "Oh is that operation where you wrap some sailcloth around my aorta". "Not quite" said he, " we cut you open, remove a 3" section of your aorta, the aortic valve then replace the aorta with a Dacron sleeve and the valve with either a mechanical or tissue valve." Of course my wife wasn't too thrilled to hear all this and neither was I because I figured my business would have to go on hold for 3 months while I recovered....then as well, I was just reaching the end game of my restoration of the 1974 C&C 35 so not much if any sailing....but what had to get done, had to get done, so we sawed it off at a July operation. Managed to launch and then due to 2 postponements, managed to sail for the first time since 2006 and then came the time for the operation: August 12, 2014. At the pre-op interview, we met the surgeon for the first time and upon hearing his name, I asked if he had any connection to Nova Scotia, which he had, having ancestors living in Lunenburg since 1753. At that point I was most relieved and turned to my wife and said "This guys ancestors repaired sails in clipper ships while underway, so it's in his DNA to sew well under pressure". I forgot what his reaction was. The night before my 6:00 AM appointment, a friend and I then removed both the bow and aft pulpits so they could get polished during my convalescence, an operation that lasted till 2:00 AM. At 5:25, our daughter woke us up thinking we had already left, as my ingest was scheduled for 6:00. A bit of a rush, but no worries, as we lived close by, so at exactly 6:00 sharp we showed up for registration. At 6:30 the good surgeon arrived, at 7:30 or so, I succumbed to anesthesia and by 14:30 was already waking up. A bit more than an hour later, the good surgeon showed up to ask how I was and I told him of my escapade the night before almost catching pneumonia in the downpour that took place on deck. Not blinking an eye, he calmly asked what kind of boat I was restoring whereupon I told him a 1974 C&C 35 at which he equally calmly said he owned a 1969 Redwing 30. Wow, quelle coincidence! He then asked me where I kept the boat, and I said ABYC whereupon he asked if that was the club that required members input. He was still keeping his boat in Nova Scotia and was contemplating bringing it to Toronto and was interested in checking out the various clubs. I then pointed to my chest and said "well when this is healed, come on down and we'll go sailing and you can check out the club" not thinking that he had just been fixing up stuff there not 3 hours previously. 8 weeks later, he and 2 other friends of mine were out on a stunningly breezy October morn to sail around Ashbridges Bay. He introduced himself to the other club members as "Hi, I'm Alex's mechanic. He had some work done and he wants me along for the test drive...." So Dennis, there is hope....good luck with the recovery. Alex Giannelia CC 35-II 1974 launched, to be renamed TORONTO, Ontario ag@@airsensing.com
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