Yesterday I was sanding teak on Galapagos when suddenly a large splintered area stabbed my finger, ripping it open and possibly leaving a nasty splinter deep under the skin. I can’t tell yet. The finger is still too tender and raw to really know until the swelling goes down. It happened so fast! There was a lot of blood. If I had xeniatrophobia, I’d be really worried about infection because it would mean I’d have to go to some doctor I’ve never met before. This phobia is the fear of unknown doctors.

Actually, if I had this fear, I’d be even more worried about sailing outside of Commencement Bay in Tacoma. I don’t know any of the doctors we might encounter should we need medical care while we are away from home. Good thing this is a fear I actually don’t have. But I do get a bit concerned about getting hurt or ill while we are doing a passage across the ocean.

Not really in denial, just enough worry to motivate me to action.

We’ve lived in the same general area for 30 years, which is so weird to me I can hardly believe it. When we go sailing we will be leaving behind our carefully chosen medical providers with whom we’ve had good relationships over many years. Here at home, if I have a medical concern, I know who to call and how to get to her office. If there is an emergency, there is a hospital down the road.  What will we do if we need medical care when we are at sea? I can get into the nice protective space of denial on things like this because on some level, I just do not think that’s going to happen. Then I do things like rip my finger open with no warning. That’s how accidents happen, generally. With no apparent warning. Amy G. Dala begins to awaken and begins spinning her dark web of fantasies. What if someone breaks a bone? What if someone cuts themselves badly? What if? What if?

Just shut the hell up, Amy, right?

We always want to be as independent as possible and medical care is no exception. As is the case on all other things like the engine, water availability, food, etc, we will prepare to the best of our ability and then, we will have to let go and just make the leap. By way of preparing, we will both be taking at least one marine first aid course designed for people who are going offshore. There are also wilderness medicine courses like this one, but it’s more expensive. Still, might spring for it as it looks comprehensive. Anyone taken that class from Longleaf Wilderness Medicine? 

Second, we will have a fully stocked medical kit on board. I will work with my primary care provider to get medications we might need and instructions on using them. There are many lists of medical supplies for cruisers that we can use as reference for buying supplies. As usual,where there is a need, someone has found a way to fill it so you can buy prepared medical supply kits designed for cruising in mind. I have not decided about this. The convenience of buying something already put together may trump any money I could save by putting it together myself. Any suggestions from experienced cruisers out there?  Some people even carry things like intravenous equipment, but since we are not trained medical personnel, I’m not sure we’ll be doing that. On the other hand, if it’s available, we’d have it to share with other people, or with a cruising doctor or nurse who would know how to use it.

We will also carry paper copies of first aid books like this one. There is a free PDF of the third edition of A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness and Travel Medicine, a similar book by the same author, but without the marine emphasis, if you want to download it. I like having paper books for quick reference. Thumbing through my kindle to find the right page is not something I want to wrap my brain around in an emergency. 

Third, we will have a sat phone like the Iridium Go or the Delorme Inreach. These two sat phones are a little like anchors. Everyone has their favorite. Not many have used both. So we will just choose and let it be done. We’ll leave with the phone number of someone we can contact for advice in case of an emergency. In fact, my primary care provider offers services via skype, so if I need to talk to her, I can probably set something up. The chances of something that difficult happening during an actual passage are probably less likely than Amy G. Dala thinks. I mean, the longest passage we’ll likely have will be about 5 weeks depending on wind.  This is one of those times when you just prepare as well as you can, then trust and go.

Because people all over the world get medical care, I am not overly worried about finding a qualified doctor or nurse, or even dentist,  if we are in port. There is medical care of some kind almost everywhere and we are both in good general health (knock on wood, throw salt over the shoulder, spit three times and sacrifice a number of virgins if I can find them). Being a member of the Women Who Sail FB group has relieved my mind about this on a number of occasions as women post questions about who to go see in this port or that port, all over the world, and receive detailed answers with phone numbers and even offers of assistance getting to the office. It’s a great resource, although there are other cruiser resources as well, such as Noonsite. The great thing about the cruising community is that there is a network of people who know where to go and how much it’s likely to cost (hint: much less than it does here in the United States).

Do you know anyone who has xeniatrophobia? If not, teach the word to any children in your vicinity so they can wow their friends with their word knowledge. The young children of today are the word geeks of tomorrow.

Hey! We are almost finished with the A to Z Challenge! But you may have just joined us and want to read about anxiety from the beginning. Here’s a link to the first post.

This week I had lunch with a good friend and she asked a critical question: “When you go sailing, will you have a way to make fresh water out of sea water?”. She was, of course, referring to a water maker. The answer to that is probably not. But it’s not because we don’t want to have one. When I think about the possibility that we would be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and run out of fresh water, I can feel the wheels in my head start turning. I cannot let that happen.

Running out of fresh water? OH NOOOO!

Galapagos carries 300 gallons of water in two tanks. Allegedly, according to Mike, you can isolate one tank from the other, but as far as I can remember, we haven’t ever done that.  300 gallons is a lot of water.  We cruised for 5 weeks this summer and never even came close to running out. In fact, it’s possible we are still using the remains of that water as we sit at the dock. We have no way to measure how much we are actually using.

So how can we really know how much water to plan for when cruising in a hot climate? Our water usage will go up when we are in Mexico. When cruising in Canada, we can go a week or more without showering. We just don’t get very dirty and we don’t sweat much. But in Mexico? Pretty sure that we’re going to want to shower more often than that! Plus, I’m probably going to be almost neurotic about keeping salt and sand out out of the boat interior. That means we need to be able to rinse off with fresh water while on the aft deck. So how can we know how much water we need?

From back in the days of my Koi pond. I miss them sometimes. But I don’t miss taking care of the pond.

To answer that question, I cast my net to the Women Who Sail FB page and asked about water usage. What I got from the many answers to my question came down to this:

1. Water usage is so individual it’s hard to know. Water conservation is important if you don’t have a water maker.
2. Most people would kill to be able to carry 300 gallons of water. We agree that’s a lot of water.
3. Many people who have water makers would never be without one, and many people who don’t have them wish they did. It seems to depend somewhat on your cruising grounds. Lots of people cruising in Mexico have them because it’s sometimes hard to find potable water. The single reason people given for loving them is the freedom of self-sufficiency. If you have one and it’s working, then you never have to worry about finding a good water source. You can stay in that isolated anchorage as long as you want. Come to think of it, that’s why we put in solar panels and are going to be getting more. Freedom.

All of that was helpful. I was relieved that it looks like we could probably be fine for anywhere from 6 weeks to two months and not even worry overly much about water conservation.  I was starting to  decide we didn’t need one,  but then  Amy G. Dala got her knickers in a little bit of a twist. She has some thoughts about carrying water and cruising in a desert environment such as the Sea of Cortez.

Here is what she thinks:

1.  What if the first tank springs some kind of leak you can’t fix and you lose your water? The water in the second tank goes into the first tank. All the water could be lost into the bilge. If you are far away from fresh water, you could die.
2. What if the water somehow gets fouled? You could die.
3. What if you run out and you aren’t close to anywhere you can get water? It’s a hostile desert out there! You might die.
4. What if the water available to you isn’t very clean? You could get a tropical disease and die!
5. What if your water pump breaks, and then your spare water pump breaks, and then the spare spare water pump breaks? You might die!
6. If you drink sea water, you’ll die.
   

   One word for this desert: Hostile. He’s just waiting for pale skinned people who don’t know nothin’ about needing more water in the desert.

Well, Fran ‘the frontal’ Cortex may scoff at these whinings, she may think they are slightly crazy. None of these things is very likely to happen. She may speak sternly to Amy G. Dala and tell her to go to her room and stay until she calms down. But what if? We all know that Amy G. Dala’s job is to mitigate possible death scenarios, not play the odds.

It’s not as though we don’t know how to cruise with a small water tank. On Moonrise, our Cal 34, we carried 40 gallons of water for three people. I learned how to conserve water really well on that boat. I could take a shower with less than a tea kettle of water. I washed dishes and clothes in salt water and rinsed them in fresh. We never left the tap running. Mike chose to conserve water by forgoing showers and shaves. We all make sacrifices, and this was mine.  Oh, we know about water conservation. Another thing I know is that Galapagos is going to be our home. I’m willing to conserve to the same extent that we already do (except I’ll be taking normal showers on that boat, thank you.) . But I’m not going to be camping out. I’m okay with having a little luxury on board our boat.

One of the complaints people have about water makers is that historically they have not been reliable, tending to break down often and needing proprietary parts in order to get them going again. They are also downright pricey to buy new. This one, however, is supposed to be both reliable and easy to repair with no proprietary parts. It gets good reviews, and several of the women in the WWS group have one and love it. I think the technology has probably come a long way since watermakers were first introduced to the non-commercial market.

One thing I was charmed by in Mexico was the shrines built by the road. I might need a shrine if we run out of water.

In the end, it’s going to come down to money for us. We will not let the lack of a water maker keep us at the dock one minute longer than necessary, especially when we already carry 300 gallons. If we can afford to get one after we’ve addressed our list of actual ‘needs’, then that would be great. If not, the plan is to go sailing, then see how it goes. If we decide we want one, then we’ll find a way to get one.

Meanwhile, to get Amy G. Dala to shut up, I plan to carry water in large sealed jugs, just like I did on Moonrise, in case of emergency. I’ll just stow them away somewhere and if we get into the middle of the Pacific and all of our water somehow gets polluted or whatever, then we will have enough drinking water for the passage.

Now, shut up, Amy. We’re done here.

Want to read from the letter A? We’re almost finished with the A to Z Challenge!

When you have generalized anxiety, there is an underlying belief system that the world is a dangerous place. People with this disorder have brains that seem to filter out the good stuff and retain the bad stuff even more than the overall population.  Ask them about their day and you are likely to get a litany of things that went wrong. It’s as though the entire world is filled with lemons and lemonade is a drink only other people enjoy. These are people who, when they have downed half of their coffee, look in their cup in despair because the coffee is halfway gone already. They are already planning for their next cup rather than enjoying the coffee they still have left.  Instead of enjoying all the times that nothing bad is happening, they are busy waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Our back yard soothes us when it’s nice outside.

The thing is, anxiety can be progressive for many people. What starts as negative thinking left unchecked can end up in Agoraphobia, that thing where in severe cases people don’t leave their homes because the world is simply too dangerous. In other words, their comfort zones get smaller and smaller. Is that any way to live? I submit that it is not.

So what to do in a situation where a person has Generalize Anxiety Disorder and Fran ‘the frontal’ Cortex wants to go explore the world, but Amy G. Dala is on fire? You have to find some ways to specifically address the underlying belief system that the world is too dangerous and that the only safe place is your special bed, under the covers, eyes tightly shut. you can’t do that when your inner Amy is way overstimulated. You need some tools to get her to relax a bit so you can hear what Fran ‘the frontal’ Cortex has to say. Let’s start thinking of Amy as an overly tired toddler whose screams drown out all sensible solutions.

You ever been around an overly tired toddler? It’s hilarious (if you are not the parent, that is). They are hyperactive. They run around, swing their arms, kick things, slap their own face (or your face) anything to keep stimulating their brains so they don’t fall asleep standing up. They have chronic meltdowns. They are completely oppositional. Woe be to the parent who asks the overly tired toddler a question that begins with ‘Do you want…’.  HAHAHAHA! Those parents are really setting themselves up. Once you’ve allowed a toddler to get to this point, you’re in trouble. It’s going to be very difficult. Amy G. Dala is exactly like that. Trying to use coping skills when she is really upset is only going to go so far. You need to have been paying more attention from the get go. You need to keep her in a better state of zen.

So what do you pay attention to? What over-stimulates your brain such that Generalized Anxiety gets hold of you? In our modern world, there are many ways that we are overstimulated. We live in the TMI days. Too. Much. Information. We are constantly over-exposed. Think of it like the sun. You over expose yourself, you will get blistered. And it will hurt and be bad for you.

Over-exposure comes in many forms. And you probably will have to give up something that you THINK you are enjoying, but is actually just putting Amy’s knickers in a twist. You don’t have to give it up forever. But learning how to mitigate your exposure to things that create tension is important in the long run. It’s hard to notice how things are effecting you until you give them up. It’s kind of like a wheat sensitivity. You might not notice you have one until you eat clean for a month, then add wheat back in and suffer the consequences. Then, you make the connection. See what I mean? Here’s a short list of possibilities.

1.  Too much news coverage. If you have GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), please stop watching TV news until your brain simmers down. And please stop reading sensationalized news coverage on the interwebs, which pretty much includes any of the mass media websites. Is there anything you can do about the evil geniuses in our world? So what if Vladimir Putin has posed without his shirt on once more? Why is it a surprise that Kim Jong-un has shown the world his own special brand of crazy again? Oh, the Mexican drug cartels have committed more murders? Do tell. The world has always been filled with crazy madmen. You have no control over that.Remember that TV and other media have to compete with each other for readers/viewers. If they can make things overly dramatic, they will do so. A constant barrage of over-stimulation by bad news is bad for the brain. It gives a skewed view of reality and people with GAD already do a good enough job of that. Take a news break.If you feel you must be ‘informed’ ask yourself why? What can you possibly do about anything that is happening in the news unless it is in your own backyard, in which case you will hear about it soon enough. You will not be a bad citizen if you protect your brain from being overly stimulated by being hyper-aroused by TV news. You know what is not news? The fact that every day in our world billions of people go about their business and live perfectly ordinary lives with no drama. No. Drama.
2. Listen much to talk radio? Unless it’s NPR, talk radio is likely to be designed to elicit strong emotion, i.e. piss you off. If you find that talk radio puts your head in a space where it won’t shut the hell up, just say no to talk radio.Also, have you ever noticed many talk radio programs center around conspiracy theory? Ever wonder why that is? I opine it’s because fear is the way to get to people’s hearts. These people are like emotional terrorists. Think about it: so what if there is a conspiracy? What will you be able to do about it? So much of dealing with anxiety is knowing that you have ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL, and probably the same amount of responsibility to ‘fix it’. Revel in the freedom that lack of control brings you on things like whether the world is run by reptilian aliens in disguise as presidential candidates. You have no super power. There is nothing you can do about it.
   

   Pause for a calming photo.

3.  Scary movies. Really? Do we have to go into this one? Why would anyone with anxiety go to see a horror movie or true crime flick? Just a glutton for punishment? If you somehow believe that this is going to ‘teach you to handle fear’, I just don’t know what to say to that except NO.While we are on the subject, can I just put a plug in here to keep young children from viewing scary media? Just don’t take little kids to movies such as Star Wars (which I LOVE).  Young children are not ready for the complete over stimulation and in-your-face experience of this kind of movie, much less some of the others out there. When we went to see Lord of the Rings, someone had brought an infant. Really? Your 4 year old might TELL you that they know that things that happen in movies or on TV aren’t real, but they are only saying that to please you because you’ve told them that, and because they can tell how much you want them to give you that answer. Their brains are not quite ready for that. If you continually allow your young child to be overstimulated, and then they are anxious kids, don’t blame me. (Of course, it’s usually more complex than that, but point made.)
4. Video games. Yeah, if you are a lover of intense video games, may want to rethink that, especially if they are violent. And actually, are there any popular ones that are not? Think about the images in these games. Is that what you want to put into your head? I’m not saying you have to never play a video game. But in all seriousness, when your brain is always on fire, this is like blowing on hot coals.
5. Facebook drama. Facebook is great. I use it all the time. But ever notice how some people on your feed are always posting negative things? Maybe they have anxiety. Who knows? But if someone on your FB feed is always posting things that make you feel bad, for whatever reason, just unfollow them for awhile. You don’t have to block them, or unfriend them, or whatever. Just don’t expose yourself. Because it doesn’t help you. It hurts you.
6. Physical surroundings. Look around the place where you live. Is it overly cluttered? Are you able to completely relax there? Do you have too much stuff? Is your place physically safe? (Recall the woman who lived in a gang infested area and thought she had anxiety.) If you have too much stuff, get rid of some of it. Have a home or boat that is fairly organized and tidy enough that you are not visually and energetically overstimulated by too much stuff. You want to be able to sigh, ‘Ahhhhh…’ in relief when you come home.
   

   Nature is a good calmer-downer.

7. Too much busy-ness. Take a look at how you live your day. Are you trying to cram too much into one day and feeling chronically stressed out? Is there a way to cut back on that? How can you, for instance, use the time sitting in traffic to your advantage rather than getting spun up about it? How can you give yourself time to relax each day and unwind? You might consider talking to a professional who can look at your lifestyle and help you find ways to be creative about time.
8. Are you getting enough good quality sleep? You need at least 7 hours of good sleep each night. Sleep deprivation is a huge cause of anxiety. Do you have sleep apnea? A brain deprived of oxygen is a brain trying to survive.
9. Exercise. Do you get any? Lack of exercise can keep you spun up for no good reason. Find something that works for you. Walking is a very good exercise for anxiety. Working that excess tension out with physical activity is good on all levels. It really does help.

I hope you can see a general trend here. You should be looking for any kind of activity that creates tension in your body because tension sends a signal to your brain that all is not well. Understanding what creates tension for you, and that you can choose to forego some of that for a time, will help you learn to control your anxiety. Give your system a chance to calm down. Again, think of a toddler. If you never give that toddler a structured time to rest and recoup, can you really blame him for being out of control?

Get some exercise to help Amy G. Dala calm down.

Finally, take stock of your level of chronic tension. Give it a number, like we did in the exercise with couples.   Don’t forget that many people have chronic, underlying issues that create a default level of tension all the time. This morning, for instance, I’m typing this post and my internal state of tension is about a 2, mostly because I’m wanting to get it finished. I’m alone, so I don’t have to worry about being able to hear anyone.

What is your current level of tension and anxiety? If it’s above a 2, how can you bring that down? The more your brain can rest from being on high alert, the more healing you will experience.

We are almost finished with the A to Z Challenge! Want to read from the letter A? Go here.