Tripus interruptus

English translation from the Latin: interrupted trip.

Yes, for the fourth trip in a row (the transatlantic cruise, TN4, TS4 and now TN5), the trip has not gone according to plan. The truck is not the problem this time; as with the transatlantic cruise, the problem is Jett’s health.

She has not been well for a long time – at least 18 months. She has been suffering severe abdominal pain for the past several months but other than getting blood tests for a possible recurrence of the low hemoglobin problem that scotched our cruise (no problem – the hemoglobin levels were tolerable), she has resisted going to a doctor, rationalizing that she will see her regular, trusted PC physician when she gets north.

But on the evening of our arrival in Flagler Beach after the 5 hour first hop of TN5, she was in so much pain that I took her to the ER at AdventHealth Hospital in Palm Coast. They did a CT scan, gave her a prescription for pain medication and sent her home with some unintelligible scan results and a recommendation that she return to discuss the CT scan with a specialist. We extended our stay so that we could see the specialist on Friday. The upshot of that meeting was we agreed to stick around for more tests.

We called the owner at the campground in NH where we were due on May 21 to begin working and informed him that we would be unable to work for him this summer. It was pretty clear that, though we didn’t have a complete diagnosis, Jett was too ill to work. I also cancelled our campground reservations for most of TN5, though we are still hopeful of getting to VA at some point.

But when? The scheduled tests will keep us in Flagler Beach for at least 2 more weeks.

I went out today looking at other campgrounds because Beverly Beach Campground, while wonderful in many respects (and Jett loves the sea breeze and the pounding surf), is very expensive and the salt spray gets EVERYWHERE. It would probably eat the truck away if we stayed for two more weeks. So we will move to another campground on Monday and start the tests on Tuesday.

This is not fun, but the fact that we are finally taking steps to deal with her pain is a relief. Hopefully this will be the start of a recovery and a happier, healthier Jett.

If we had to get stuck somewhere, the beach is a good choice.