FAQ - Medical Care

David's been feeling under the weather the last couple of days. A touch of the flu, perhaps? Nothing serious, he's just not feeling 100%. This brings up a very frequently asked question – what do you do about medical care while you're sailing around the world? First, we do not have medical insurance and haven't had since we moved aboard. There are three primary reasons for this, just in case you're interested. First, of course, the cost of monthly insurance premiums even for catastrophic coverage is beyond what we can reasonably afford. Quite honestly, the cost of any medical care we've needed thus far has been significantly less than any insurance policy we could get. Second, Marcie was not insurable until recently (breast cancer in 1997). And third, US health insurance policies do not usually cover health care issues out of country. That said, how do we handle routine healthcare and emergencies?

Routine healthcare is easy. We have routine physicals every few years. We maintain all of our own health records, lab reports and physician reports. Marcie has had mammograms in several different countries and we have all the x-rays (now digital) aboard to prove it. Dental appointments (every six months) are part of our routine and our budget. Eye exams happen every two years or whenever we feel the need for new glasses (or lose a pair overboard!). We've had colonoscopies in Cape Town, mammos in Chile and skin checks in Venezuela. Prevention and early detection are part of our insurance program.

We do belong to DAN (Divers Alert Network) which provides for emergency transport to the nearest medical facility as needed including air ambulance as long as you're more than 50 miles (80km) away from home. Accidents or illness do not need to be diving related. The membership is minimal and friends who have had medical emergencies found DAN's assistance and benefits to be excellent.

Health care is a comparative bargain in many places. Most countries we visited in South America, for instance, offered excellent private healthcare if you ferreted out the right facility and the right physician. David had major surgery and hospitalization in Chile. Marcie had an MRI, cortisone shots and PT in Ecuador for a back problem. All costs were a small fraction of what the same care would have cost in the USA...or Australia for that matter.

So what do we do aboard? We carry a good medical kit which we try to update regularly. Most local physicians will write us prescriptions for what we need once they know our situation and, in fact, will make suggestions of new products available or drugs that make sense to add because of the area in which we're traveling. In Colombia, for instance, the local physician suggested yellow fever shots. In Vanuatu, we were both given malaria kits for testing and treatment in case we needed them. We've both taken CPR classes that admittedly could be refreshed. Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) to which we belong offered several “medicine at sea” classes which we took during one of their gams. They probably offer them as part of their virtual Seven Seas University, now, which would allow you to take them from anywhere in the world.

We carry two books aboard that we use as references: Merck's Manual of Medical Information. Merck's is a good overall guide to symptoms and potential diseases/medical issues although after looking up “rash”, we usually come away thinking we have an obscure, incurable disease. The Onboard Medical Handbook is a practical approach to common and some uncommon problems and how to handle them. Everything from emergency dentistry to dermatology to jellyfish stings to yeast infections is covered and it also provides a good list of what to include in an on-board medical kit.

Staying healthy is a good part of medical care. Trying to eat properly, exercise and stay fit is key in maintaining our health. Sometimes easier said than done, but being aware is the first step. Being prudent is another key element to staying healthy. Regular check-ups and reasonable follow-up when something doesn't seem right make sense when medical care is more than just a phone call away.

In our nearly 13 years aboard, we have not had any major emergencies to handle other than David's surgery and Marcie's back problem. We were close enough to shore for both of these to get medical help in a reasonable period of time. Other bruises, cuts and infections have been handled aboard with advice from fellow cruising physicians when necessary and the contents of our on-board medical kit.

If you have questions that you'd like to have answered about living on a sailboat or traveling from place to place, leave a comment or send an email? Thanks to David V. for suggesting this post topic.

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

National Almond Day

Yum, my favorite nut and they're healthy for you, too. Eat almonds today!

Exploring King Island 2 - Lighthouses, Cheese and Raptors

 

We had high hopes for the day. A morning shower dampened us a bit as we motored ashore in the dinghy, but resulted in a rainbow over the bay. Then we saw the flat tire on the rental car.

This is not quite what David had in mind when he wrote about repairs in exotic places, but he changed the tire with minimal grumbling and we were off. We stopped in Currie to get another spare and headed north.

King Island was once quite forested, but milling, clearing and fires have rendered it mostly grassy, rolling hills now that stretch from sea to sea, good for farming and pastureland. Only a few main roads on the island are paved, the rest are gravel or hard packed dirt. Wallabies jump out of the bush at you frequently. Wild North American turkeys comb the fields for breakfast and peafowl and ring-necked pheasants roam quite freely. We probably saw more raptors (kestrels, harriers and falcons) than any other type of bird, except maybe pied magpies and ravens. An abundance of roadkill provides food for scavengers all up and down the food chain.

We headed first to Penny's Lagoon in the Martha Lavinia Nature Reserve. This is place noted for observing a wide array of native birds, but we saw very few . Perhaps we were too late in the day with our flat tire delay. We did the circuit walk and did see two large tiger snakes in the bush which gave me an adrenaline rush. We think it was coitus interruptus because they scurried off, each in their own direction, embarrassed by our intrusion. We beach combed for a short while on sprawling Lavinia Beach known primarily for its surfing waves. The rollers were huge, but other than two surf casters, the beach was totally deserted … save massive hordes of huge biting flies.

At the northernmost point of the island sits the Cape Wickham Lighthouse. Now, this is a traditional lighthouse, unmanned, but still in operation. It's a beauty. Completed in 1861 and constructed of local granite, it is the tallest lighthouse in Australia and the southern hemisphere. In case you're wondering, the Deal Island Lighthouse is the “highest” light, not the tallest.

The views of Cape Wickham, with huge rollers crashing on the reefs and rocks below, was stupendous and definitely sobering. Several stone memorials nearby marked the graves of people drowned at sea as well as lighthouse keepers and their families who had died here.

We'd sampled King Island cheese while in Tassie and there was no question that we'd stop at their Fromagerie and tasting room along the route. We were allowed to taste nearly a dozen different cheeses. We had little rating sheets to help us make our buying selection at the end. We liked them all though, so we bought a bit of everything. We'll be good on cheeses in the larder for quite some time to come.

Beyond the cheeses, we'd heard wonderful things about King Island beef, but unfortunately David didn't have the chance to try any. We're always on the lookout for unique items at each place we visit. The kelp industry and art are, of course, unique, but we found more. King Island Cloud Juice is the local gourmet bottled rain water available in lots of upscale places worldwide. King Island honey is considered quite a delicacy. At the Cultural Center in Currie, we found mutton bird oil for sale for softening leather as well as feral cat skins which I guess can be fashioned into hats, fur collars, etc. (Here, Tabby, Tabby.)

We reconnoitered Currie and then Grassy for a potential dinner-out alternative. Unfortunately, our budget and the menu prices were not in sync. We passed and headed back to Cups. That old frugal versus cheap thing won out. As we congratulated each other over our savings by eating aboard Cups, thoughts of how we could spend that money on another car rental down the road came to mind.

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

International Gumdrop Day

It might be easy to just buy gumdrops in your favorite flavor and pop them in your mouth, but where's the celebration in that? They're not hard to make yourself. Give it a try!

Valentine's Day 2013

 

Let me interrupt this sailing adventure for a little romance. I'm a hopeless romantic. I admit it. I love chick flicks where girl meets boy, a little conflict ensues, they work everything out, sail off into the sunset and live happily ever after. Why not? That's MY life! I don't need roses and chocolates, just give me the romance and I'm a happy girl.

A little background on Valentine's Day (because you know how I am). It all began as a liturgical celebration for a Christian priest named Valentinus who was martyred by the Romans for performing weddings and ministering to Christians. It was actually during the Middle Ages when the tradition of courtly love was at its height that the day became associated with romantic love. I read somewhere that Geoffrey Chaucer mentioned it first in one of his poems. (We English majors know important things like this.) It evolved into a day for lovers to express themselves through flowers and candy and especially cards which became known as valentines and then Hallmark got hold of it and the rest is history.

So, how do we celebrate the day aboard Nine of Cups? Well, it depends where we are. When we were anchored in a little cove in Patagonia, David whipped up a bead necklace as my valentine gift. I usually make something special for dinner … something David is particularly fond of. I'll make cupcakes with pink frosting; wear my red t-shirt … get in the spirit. If we have a bottle of champagne, we figure this is a good occasion to crack it open and celebrate love … just because we can.

Live a little...love a little. It does your heart good! I'll be humming “My Funny Valentine” all day.

Back on track tomorrow!