But we didn’t
inhale.
It was noted in a previous post dated May 6, 2019 that the crew of Exit
Strategy took a pass on stopping in St. Ann’s- home of Jamaica’s herbal (marijuana) tourism center of Kaya Farms. At that point in time, we had already cruised
past it and anchored in Ocho Rios, Jamaica’s main cruise ship port. (The three
other ports are: Kingston, Montego Bay, and Falmouth Harbor.)
We abhor busy
harbors and were planning to bypass Ocho Rios, too; however, I had begun to
have symptoms of a detached retina in my right eye. What started with what I thought was a smudge on the inside corner of my glasses developed within days to a black curtain that covered nearly three-fourths of my field of vision of my eye. An online search
indicated that there were three ophthalmology offices located there, which offered good odds at seeing a doctor. We arrived in Ocho Rios on a Sunday. On Monday, I began calling ophthalmology
centers at 8:30am when their business hours began. By 9am, I learned that none were in
office on Mondays. The two within
walking distance were scheduled to be in on Wednesday. The third one was seven
miles away in St. Ann's, and I was assured that the doctor could examine my eye on Tuesday at
9am. I made the appointment and the
scheduler said, “That’ll be 5000 JD.” (approximately $34 USD)
We immediately made arrangement to have a taxi take us to St. Ann's for the Tuesday morning appointment, agreeing on a 1000 JD one-way price (approx. $8 USD). The taxi didn't show on Tuesday morning, so a local man on the street helped us flag down a route taxi that was headed there, costing $4 USD one-way.
After my eyes were dilated, the ophthalmologist, who had been trained in the USA, declared that I did indeed have a detached retina and said it should be repaired "yesterday." I suppose that was his way of conveying to us that it was an urgent matter. He explained that the University of the West Indies Hospital in Kingston had staff and the facilities to perform the procedure. He also explained the probable lengthy recovery period (4-6 weeks), adding that we may want to consider having it fixed in the states.
The route taxi ride back to Ocho Rios gave us time to digest what the doc said and then we discussed the options thoroughly upon returning to the boat. It was May 21st and we needed to get Exit Strategy southward to Curaçao before hurricane season began on June 1st. I had a flight scheduled to go up to the states on June 16th. Then on June 26th, I was booked to fly to Bogotá, Columbia with Becky's family to tour for a month. Dan planned to haul the boat out for new bottom paint in Curaçao and meet us in Bogotá on the 26th.
There was no way that having the eye surgery done in Jamaica made any sense. The recovery from the eye surgery disallowed me the option to sail OR fly for 4-6 weeks and we needed to get the boat south for the season.
We wasted no time in alerting our family in Michigan and asked them to secure an appointment with an ophthalmologist ASAP. I flew up there on Wednesday-May 22nd and saw a doc at 8AM on Thursday-May 23rd. Later that morning at 10:45AM, I had the surgery to repair the "horseshoe-shaped" tear in my retina. I am so grateful to Becky and Jeff for coordinating and driving me to the multiple appointments.
The eye patch was removed after 6 hours and I was thrilled to SEE, not clearly at first, but it steadily improved. My normal activity was somewhat limited, but the doc was pleased with the healing of the retina within the first week.
However, there is more to tell. Stay tuned!
We immediately made arrangement to have a taxi take us to St. Ann's for the Tuesday morning appointment, agreeing on a 1000 JD one-way price (approx. $8 USD). The taxi didn't show on Tuesday morning, so a local man on the street helped us flag down a route taxi that was headed there, costing $4 USD one-way.
After my eyes were dilated, the ophthalmologist, who had been trained in the USA, declared that I did indeed have a detached retina and said it should be repaired "yesterday." I suppose that was his way of conveying to us that it was an urgent matter. He explained that the University of the West Indies Hospital in Kingston had staff and the facilities to perform the procedure. He also explained the probable lengthy recovery period (4-6 weeks), adding that we may want to consider having it fixed in the states.
The route taxi ride back to Ocho Rios gave us time to digest what the doc said and then we discussed the options thoroughly upon returning to the boat. It was May 21st and we needed to get Exit Strategy southward to Curaçao before hurricane season began on June 1st. I had a flight scheduled to go up to the states on June 16th. Then on June 26th, I was booked to fly to Bogotá, Columbia with Becky's family to tour for a month. Dan planned to haul the boat out for new bottom paint in Curaçao and meet us in Bogotá on the 26th.
There was no way that having the eye surgery done in Jamaica made any sense. The recovery from the eye surgery disallowed me the option to sail OR fly for 4-6 weeks and we needed to get the boat south for the season.
We wasted no time in alerting our family in Michigan and asked them to secure an appointment with an ophthalmologist ASAP. I flew up there on Wednesday-May 22nd and saw a doc at 8AM on Thursday-May 23rd. Later that morning at 10:45AM, I had the surgery to repair the "horseshoe-shaped" tear in my retina. I am so grateful to Becky and Jeff for coordinating and driving me to the multiple appointments.
The eye patch was removed after 6 hours and I was thrilled to SEE, not clearly at first, but it steadily improved. My normal activity was somewhat limited, but the doc was pleased with the healing of the retina within the first week.
However, there is more to tell. Stay tuned!
