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MACKAY MADNESS...continued |
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I took Leanne back to the boat. All she wanted to do was lie down. Instead I got her out for short walks as often as possible to get her functioning and get her metabolic rate up to help get rid of the drugs. This worked, but took two days before she could even eat much, and a full week to recover from the effects.
We were very lucky that, while walking Leanne around the marina, we met a couple from the local sailing community, Kerry and Sue, who took us to their home and helped us. They had medical connections in Mackay and in a few hours they got us a contact and within half an hour’s notice of that, and on a Saturday evening to boot, we received excellent medical assistance. This was followed up by a raft of tests, counselling, phone calls to specialists in Brisbane, and a diagnosis of her condition. From the hospital, we got nothing.
Leanne is now back on Masala, and is well again apart from the fact that her left eye no longer points in the correct direction – it is pulled to the left, with consequent unpleasant effects on her vision and balance. Naturally she is very self-conscious about how she looks, and from where I sit it is distressing to see her in this way. At least her pain has gone.
Despite extensive testing there is no direct evidence for what has happened. The theory is that she had a blocked blood vessel behind the eye, which caused the pain. This has since resolved itself. However, the loss of blood flow has caused damage to the nerves that operate the muscles that control her left eye. We have been advised to wait two months to see if the situation will correct itself without intervention. This long time period is necessary because nerves are very slow to heal. If it doesn’t, surgery may be required. There is no point hanging around here so we will set off and see how we go. Fingers (and eyes!!) crossed. Back to Brampton Island! |
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BRAMPTON ISLAND |
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3-8 JULY. We were very worried that Leanne’s disturbed vision would make her prone to sea-sickness and to falling, especially when we were sailing. So we decided to return to Brampton Island and take it easy for a while, with a gentle sail there to test the waters.
Oops! It was a baptism of fire. Although the winds were modest, there was an ugly sea still running from the 10 days of 20-30 knot SE winds. We unfurled the genoa, and Masala took off, hitting 9.5 knots. Leanne coped surprisingly well. What guts! |
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Over the next few days we explored the walking tracks on the island. This was a challenge for Leanne since she couldn’t judge distance when she looked down – a major problem when trying to place your feet on a rocky walking track. I had to lead her along in places, but we took it slowly and each day she became more co-ordinated. Normally Leanne goes first on the track as she has excellent vision and finds all sorts of stuff along the way. But not this time, which was lucky as we encountered four snakes sunning themselves on the various tracks. |
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Left: sunsets such as this at Brampton Island helped sooth our souls as Leanne recovered slowly from her eye problem & I recovered from the anguish of the experience. |