We're baaack!!

 We are finally back on board Orion and ready to start our great loop.  As you might remember the plan was to return the week after New Year's, but let me tell you why that did not happen...  😒 My mom was undergoing treatment for bladder cancer and was hospitalized in early December for what turned out to be a 2 month ordeal. We decided to remain in Wisconsin for a couple more weeks so I could make sure she was doing ok, when on Jan. 6th I slipped on the ice, did a complete seat drop and fractured a vertebrae. As the Ortho doc put it - I broke my back.  I ended up in a back brace, using a walker and eventually having a procedure where they injected bone cement in the fracture, effectively curing the break.  This all took 6 weeks and the week after my surgery mom came home so Tom and I stayed with her to help her transition to independent living again.

Once again, we were off!  We left Feb. 11th for Baltimore with a rented SUV packed to the gills with our belongings and a dog and a cat.  We spent a week with Dan, Andrea and the girls before heading back to the boat and moving onto it.  I was fortunate enough to get Covid vaccine appointments for both Tom and I at the end of that week, although they were in Baltimore (a 5 hour drive from Chesapeake VA where the boat is.) We had a rental car for the week, drove back to Baltimore on Thursday, got our shots and headed back to the boat on Friday.  We thought Tom was having bad side effects from the vaccine and he continued to feel worse throughout Saturday.  Our triumphant return to Orion was cut short when Tom passed out and fell in the bathroom.  I managed to get him upright and back onto the couch but we thought he had broken his shoulder.  I am not too proud to say that I called Daniel at 4 am in tears and begged him to come get us off the boat and to Baltimore so Tom could go to the hospital.  Dan collected us the next day and after the 5 hour drive, took Tom directly to the ER.  I was able to go in with him and they did a million tests for heart issues and lots of bloodwork. After a couple hours of this the doctor popped in to say that Tom's Covid test was positive!! They feel that he somehow contracted it right before his vaccine, if not the day of.  I asked for a test also even though I was asymptomatic and was positive as well.  More tears.....

This was March 1st and the next month was spent recovering from Covid.  Tom had a severe case and was hospitalized for 9 days, but was not in ICU or on a ventilator, thank heavens.  I did start to have mild symptoms over the next 2 days and was able to receive an infusion of Monoclonal antibodies which made all symptoms disappear in 24 hours.  Getting to Baltimore with it's wonderful medical resources was the right decision and Mercy Hospital is the best!  We were in an Airbnb for 3 weeks while we were both serving our quarantine time and thankfully Daniel and his whole family never got sick.  They must have immune systems like no other.....

We were not physically ready to return to the boat, so we stayed in Baltimore for 2 more weeks and right after Easter drove the RV back to Wisconsin to spend some additional recovery time with Jana, Tom's sister.  We made the decision to sell the RV while in WI and did just that.  Bittersweet, but we don't need both an RV and a boat...  Stayed there a little more than a week, then rented a car, loaded up again and headed to Nashville to stay with Johanna for 10 days.  Tom started getting his strength back while we were there, so we really enjoyed our visit. 

We returned to Orion last Wednesday and have spent the last few days moving back on, cleaning and organizing - finally! Both Madison and Dewey are happy to be back full time and the weather has warmed up which is a treat.  We stayed here a couple of days longer than planned in Chesapeake due to high winds moving through the area, but plan to pull out tomorrow morning.  Only heading 12 miles north to Norfolk because the 3rd week of May we have new upgraded electronics being installed and that will take place near Norfolk.  There is a lot of puttering around we can do in the meantime, and get our sea legs back.

2021 did not start out as we had hoped and for awhile I wondered if we were ever going to get out from under that black cloud following us, but we are healthy and happy and have so much to be thankful for.  Thanks for all the prayers and kind words while we were recovering - I truly believe things happen as they are meant to and now we are right where we are supposed to be. Stayed tuned as we begin our loop!