What a week

Things have been strange since I last did my Blog. The week started OK My Mum came down Saturday and we had a lovely Pub Lunch at the Royal Oak near Hayling Island, well recommended if anyone is down that way. It was great to see her as the last time had been May when she came down to Devon. Then Sunday after a nice roast beef lunch onboard I went for a bike ride to work off lunch. I set myself the target of 50miles which I achieved but it was all on the flat. I think it can be harder on the flat doing a long distance as it is constant peddling and although you don't have the exertion of going up hill you don't get the joy of coming down hill at 30 with no pedaling.

Anyway things all went pear shaped come Sunday night, I went to bed at about 2300 and a few minutes later the pain started. It was even worse than back in January and no amount of Paracetamol or walking around would shift it. Someone has likened the pain of gall stones to the pain ladies go through giving birth which helps me appreciate even more what Debbie went through when the little ones arrived. Anyway I just couldn't shift the pain and by then I had broken out in a fever which didn't help. So come about 0600 I gave up trying to go to sleep and went up to the bridge to crack on with work and try to take my mind off things. It helped a little and the pain eased off. Well as the Doc had just come back offleave I popped down to see him for pain killers and told him my symptoms and he reckoned I might have an infection so he sent me up the QA. I must have been a great first patient after his leave. Anyway up to the QA I went and after a few tests they confirmed that may Gall Bladder was infected due to the stones, told me they would whip it out and stuck me on a drip with antibiotics. Unfortunately as I am on the C list it is a bit hit and miss with having the OP. So Tuesday I was nil by mouth until just gone 1600 when they decided that it wouldn't get done, same on Wednesday and then today I almost got down but they just ran out of time. Hopefully I will get done tomorrow but it will be nil by mouth from midnight again and then hopefully if I get done tomorrow I will be out by Saturday with five little keyholes in me from the surgery.

It's not all bad though as Debbie came down to my Mums Tuesday so I got to see Debbie, Beth and William on Tuesday and Debbie and Beth came back down yesterday. It was really good to see them, especially as I didn't think I would see them until at least September. When they got here Tuesday little Beth's face lit up and she ran towards me for a big cuddle and William gave me some really big smiles. I had nice a cuddle from Debbie as well even though she had had a journey from hell with William crying most of the way.

Everyone has been so understanding on the ship, especially Dave who dropped me off on Monday and then took time out Monday night to come and see me with the customary bowl of grapes. Then Tuesday Dave and Mark came down and I did the handover from the hospital bed which was a bit surreal. It was just ashame as I had just started to get my self settled, I was over the joining blues and was looking forward to getting to sea, and dare I say it Navy Days.

With three to four weeks recovery it doesn't look like I will be back before September which means Christmas onboard a ship but at least I will be home for our Wedding anniversary. Hopefully I will be back on my feet and we will be able to get a babysitter so Debbie and I can have a trip out by ourselves. Hopefully a few days after the Op I should be able to help Debbie with the night feeds or the early mornings so she can catch up on her sleep. As long as the little blighters don't jump up and down on my stomach I should be fine but I have a feeling they will try.

Well lets just hope they cut me open tomorrow so I can get back down to Devon and recover and help Debbie with the little ones before I go back to sea. I wonder what I will have to write about in my next blog.

Two Weeks In

It has been another busy week at my end and at Debbie's end. Little William seems to be getting worse with his sleeping habits so poor Debbie is getting little sleep. I got a little upset when I was home as everyone said 'It's all right for you, you can have a break when you go back to work'. In some ways this is true, as at least I get a full nights sleep and can escape occasionally. Whereas Debbie gets broken sleep and has no escape. I really hope little William starts to sleep better soon so that Debbie can get some sleep.

Well work is as stressful as ever but I am getting good at having a duel personality due to the gapped billets. I tend to do Ops in the morning from 6 to 12 and Navs in the afternoon from 1 - 6/7. The main thing is that things are really busy so time is going by quite quickly. Before we know it, it will be October and Little William will have his Christening on board. I really hope it goes as well as the one we had for Beth.

After a stressful week it was nice to see my Mum earlier, we met up at the Royal Oak which was a good ride from the ship, nice and flat so I managed to do 10 miles in about 40 minutes. Needless to say I had good suction for my first pint of cider. Anyway we had a good chinwag and a nice lunch, the Royal Oak in Havant / Hayling Island is well recommended.

Well just trying to work out what to do tomorrow, I know I will have to spend some time with the dreaded WECDIS, I am slowly getting used to it but it can be so frustrating at times. I tried to get some PI information from it during the week for my note book and managed to crash the system a number of times. Whats even more frustrating was I put in a route to check a distance and it threw a wobbly, for some reason the first leg, which was a mile long registered on the machine as 320 miles long. At times it can be good but part of me still misses paper charts. Gone are the days from a couple of years ago that you could pull out a chart that had the name of the chap that had drawn it in the 1800s.

I do miss home, Debbie and the little ones. At least when we are alongside I get to skype home so I get to see them all. Little Elizabeth always gives me a big smile and a wave when she sees me. She is getting good at playing peek a boo as well which is cute. Little William is usually crawling around the floor when I call. I am looking forward to getting home again, I know it won't be for a while but I can't wait all the same.

One Week In

Well back at sea, well alongside and it seems a while since I last did my blog. It has been a hard first week as I really have missed Debbie and the little ones.

I did have a good leave though, a month longer than I thought, but it still went to quickly. Little ones are really hard work and it surprising how quickly you become immune to being covered in baby puke from dawn to dusk. At least whilst I was home I got to see William start crawling. He is getting quite fast now.

During my last couple of weeks at home me and William even had a blokes night out down the pub, which was nice. However I couldn't persuade him to give me a game of pool as he was more interested in sitting on the bar pulling at the beer mats and oogling my pint of Rattlers. Mind you I am crap at pool so he would have probably beaten me anyway.

Little Elizabeth was her usual cheery self and she now has a craving for hats and Teddies. Wherever we went we had to make sure all three went with us.

The only thing is she has two teddies that are the same size as her and she tends to drop them so they get run over by the push chair.

The only shame about my leave was that Debbie didn't really get much of a break if any as little William woke us up virtually every night, so we were both knackered most of the time. Ontop of which every time we got ready to go out he would throw up on us and then giggle.

Anyway the day finally came and I had to come back to work and as always I joined a ship where there was two people doing the Navigators and Ops jobs and then they both paid off so as always I am doing both. It's not to bad though as we are alongside for a bit so I have time to get my feet under the table and get my head around everything before we sail. Once again stuck on the coast so no foreign port visits, well unless you class Scotland as a foreign country, after all it is North of the North. I do however have something to look forward to part way through as we are going to get William christened onboard (all being well). It will be nice to do it on here as this is the ship where I first met Debbie (although we didn't start going out until after we had left the ship.)

I always hate the first couple of weeks onboard as I get really home sick and spend it worrying about staying on top of the job and worrying how Debbie is and how she is coping with two little ones. At least being on the coast I can Skype home and get to see all three of them.

Thankfully Debbie persuaded me to bring my bike back with me so I do have an escape from the ship and after all the exercise bike in the gym can get a bit dull. Last weekend I did quite well as I cycled to Chichester and back, a total of 42miles and then the next day I did a further 20. My next challenge is to do over 50miles in one day, which down here should not be that hard as there are no real hills.

Well I suppose I have wittered on enough for one day, so until next time bye, bye.