Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

I have now had the first two out of twenty radiotherapy sessions. These first two sessions took extra long as a lot of further calibration was required. This was all expected. On the second session we took the camera and Helen took a lot of pictures.

The Peter Mac Center is very nicely laid out. In the main waiting room there’s a TV, fish tank and a couple of jigsaws to pass the time. It even has a screen showing how the timetable is keeping on each of the four radiotherapy machines and on the other ‘tools’ such as the CT scanner.

I now have a personalized tray where my gown for each of the sessions will be kept. This is in a second waiting room which we’re sent to when we’re nearly ready. On my first session I was in this room for barely a minute while the second time it was about half an hour. Fortunately Helen is allowed in there with me. I usually try to break the ice by chatting with the other folks and they all seem willing to talk.

In the machine room itself I lay face down with my head held by the plastic mask. It’s actually quite comfortable but so snug I can’t open my eyes. So I have to listen to everyone doing their jobs, very professionally, around me. Session 1 was nearly an hour long. Session 2 was about half this. I am told the time will come down further as time goes by,

In some of the pictures you’ll see green laser lights which are used to position me accurately. I’m all for this of course.

The machine emits high energy focused X-Rays to zap the tumours. If you’re interested the machine is definitely a Varian Clinac but I’m not yet sure which model number it is. Information on all the Clinac machines can be found here and how they work can be found here.

Here is the full set of pics.

Friday also saw the big event of Dignity’s new mast being stepped. John from Passages very kindly observed the process and took pictures of the work taking place. As he has a lot of experience in the boating industry it was good to hear him confirm the work appeared to have been done very well.

On Wednesday morning we headed back to the airport to fly back to Brisbane. On the way we stopped by the Alfred Hospital to take some pictures and then went onto the passport office to pick up our apostilled documents. One last stop at the Fed Ex office and we were done. Getting to Brisbane presented no difficulties. Now that the school hols are over, we’re back to $80 flights each way which is a fantastic deal.

A taxi ride back to Manly and we were back on the boat. We managed to run into Pam from Passages on the dock and soon had an evening meet up agreed. Later we randomly ran into John too. The evening saw us first on Passages for a little social then back at the marina club house for dinner and ending up Dignity for some more socializing.

On Thursday and Friday Helen and I were hard at it doing as many remaining chores as possible. We are just about done now so today has been a bit of a light day. This morning we had a couple of prospective buyers round. They were a very nice couple who are planning to go cruising. While we hope they become Dignity’s next owners we do wish them all the very best for this next phase of their lives, even if they decide on another boat.

During their visit I noticed the starboard bilge had more water in it than it should. Once they’d left I momentarily overrode the bilge switch but from then on it work fine, even when it stopped and I put more water in. The bilge switches have some ‘smarts’ to prevent fuel in the bilge (were it to go in there) going overboard. Not a bad idea but this time I suspect it was spoofed by some dirt that may have built up over time sitting here on the dock. Once the thing started running it probably cleaned itself. I ran plenty of fresh water into the bilge just in case and did the same in the port bilge while I was at it.

I also changed out the pump on the collection tray for the main cabin A/C. We’d known it was a bit noisy and had ordered a spare which Sam brought when he came to NZ. It was a bit frustrating changing the pump as I had to cut the cable ties holding the old pump. Doing jobs like this I am reminded how weak (relative to my old self) my hands (and the rest of my body) are. I’d run into a similar problem in the morning when I was unable to lift the floor board to show the water maker.

By now almost all our belongings destined to go back to the Uk are packed and the pickup scheduled for Tuesday. I’ve put together some new pamphlets to sell some more of our spare stuff as most of the last lot are now sold. Today Sam took these ashore an put them up in a number of the local buildings.

Sam showed up on Friday and we’ve managed, since then, to spend a good amount of time with him. Right now he’s back off into Brisbane doing his thing. We may see him this evening.

For now, with little left to do, we’ve both slowed down a bit. It’s nice to be able to relax.