Hydro therapy - 5 days after the operation

In January I travelled to Gent in Belgium for a hip resurfacing operation with Dr Koen De Smet. Several people asked me to post about my experience there but I was waiting for some photos to arrive. They are now here (no gory ones) so read on …

I have had osteoarthritis in my right hip for about 25 years. It became severe in 2007. I developed a limp and was kept awake at night with the pain.  Dr John Lyon, my former GP in Scotland, suggested that, as I was active, I should look at hip resurfacing rather than a total hip replacement. I’m very grateful to him for this advice.

Hip replacement is a relatively new technique developed in the UK. The main difference from traditional replacement surgery is that it preserves the patient’s own femur instead of lopping off the head and replacing it. It allows one to resume a very active lifestyle - even ski-ing. Traditional replacements may only last for 10-15 years but a resurfacing should never wear out. Resurfacing is typically done on patients under 65 who are active and have good bone density.

It isn’t possible to get this type of  surgery in Greece so I investigated alternatives. I came across the AMC Hip Clinic in Gent, which attracted me due to its rehabilitation facilities. Through various Internet sites I discovered that the surgeon at the AMC, Koen De Smet, is one of the world’s leading experts on resurfacing. Dr De Smet offers free consultancy via email.. I sent him my x-rays and a bone density scan. Luckily I have good strong bones and he told me I was a very good candidate for the procedure.

The only possible complication in my case is that I have a skin sensitivity to nickel. Some patients develop an allergy to the metal resurfacing device. Dr De Smet advised me that there is no known correlation between skin sensitivity and deep tissue allergy. Although tests are being developed he does not believe these are reliable as yet. He chose to use a recently developed prothesis which has been shown to produce far less metal ions than earlier variations.

The Wright Conserve Plus device used in my operation

I arrived in Gent two days before my operation. George came with me and stayed until after the operation. We stayed at the Villa Cento Passi, run by Hugo Contini, a large building that houses both the clinic and rehabilitation centre. George and I spent a day exploring Gent (well, as much as my limping would allow). We also met and talked with other patients who were due to be operated on the same week as myself.

The Villa Cento Passi

The clinic is on the ground floor of the Villa and it was very stress-free to be able to sit in my room reading while I waited to be called for my pre-op examinations - cardiologist, X-rays etc.

The operation took place at 0930 on a Wednesday morning. It lasted about an hour and was performed in a small public hospital in Gent. The hospital was very clean, the staff excellent, and the food awful - no make that really awful - although the coffee was good. The only real discomfort I felt was for about an hour in the recovery room. After that I was amazed at how painfree I was. My hip and knee had bothered me for years but from that morning all pain was gone. Fantastic!

On the morning after my surgery I had my first physiotherapy session and went for a walk on crutches along the hospital corridor. In the afternoon I tried again but fainted (luckily I had time to warn the nurse). I understand this is a not uncommon reaction to the anasthetic. The following day I was shown how to tackle stairs and then we were allowed ‘home’ to the Villa.

The Villa is a rehab centre like they should be. Comfortable rooms with adjustable beds, minibars, big walk in showers, raised toilets. You can set up your laptop with Internet access and each room has a large TV screen. In the hall there is an ice machine for filling up the ice packs so useful in reducing swelling at the incision site.

The ground floor houses the hydrotherapy pool, gym and fitness centre. Our first hydrotherapy session was on Friday afternoon, two days post-op. It was wonderful! After months of walking in pain and two days on crutches it was amazing to be able to walk painlessly and unaided with the support of the water.

The first day’s session was simply walking around the pool - forwards, backwards, sideways, with the physiotherapist making sure we were walking correctly. Over the course of the next week we gradually had more exercises added until we were jogging, cycling and doing ski-turns in the water. Here are some photos of the hydrotherapy sessions which will interest anyone who is thinking of going there. Click on the thumbnails to see an enlarged image.

On the top floor of the Villa the restaurant serves delicious food and a wide selection of the famous Belgium beer as well as tasty wines. We appreciated it all the more after the slices of bread and cold meat we were offered in the hospital. The restaurant became a focus and meeting point for the patients while I was there. I belive that most weeks a similar thing happens and patients and their accompanying relatives form a strong support group for each other, offering encouragement, teasing, motivation.

During my week we tended to eat in the Villa but some groups make trips to nearby restaurants. We also entertained ourselves and on our penulatimate evening invited the staff along. Ralph Nichols, former lead singer with the Sandpipers and the Lettermen, was a fellow patient. He borrowed a keyboard and sang beautifully. What a lovely voice and human being - you can learn more about Ralph on his website which is here. Before he performed I did a little ‘warm up’ with a poem I had written about the staff and patients who were there.

My final photographs are of the patients in the restaurant. I hope they show how relaxed and comfortable everyone was. If it were not for the crutches, the daily visit to the nurse for wound dressing and heparin injections (and the alcohol) we could have been in a health spa. 

Myself and Stelios, also from Greece

The thumbnails below show some of the patients in the restaurant, my ‘recitation’ , and Ralph at the keyboard being watched by Koen. Apparently Koen wanted to be a musician but decided to become a surgeon instead. I’m very glad he did!

Today I celebrate 9 weeks with my new joint. I can do every normal daily activity with no pain or discomfort. I’ve been getting a lot of physiotherapy (Greek physios are very good) and I try to walk a couple of kms each day.

I haven’t been sailing yet but it I have been on the yachts in harbour. My balance is so much better crossing the passarelle now that I can fully support myself on both legs. I’m looking forward to this summer and plenty of activity.

We have a number of medical clients so if anyone wants more information please contact me by email and I’ll happily answer questions about my operation and my experience in Belgium. I’d thoroughly recommend this procedure but it is more technically challenging than a hip replacement so requires an experienced surgeon for successful results.

I thought that those of you who have only been here during the hot summer months might be interested in this photograph. People sometimes do not believe that we get cold winters here!

The photo was taken while driving home along the north coast and shows the hills around Athens covered with snow.

We’ve had quite a smattering of snow this winter on the higher hills. Some days the temperature has fallen to a few degrees even on Aegina, which tends to be a little warmer due to the surrounding seas.

It’s beautiful though, isn’t it? Reminds me of Scotland.

The night that I returned from Belgium, Afea, our three year old Labrador gave birth to seven lovely puppies. They are shown here at one day old. The father, Vigaro, was a golden Labrador.

Unfortunately one of them subsequently died but she still has four golden girls and two little black boys. We will be keeping one (probably a girl) and the others already have homes, including one in Germany.

Will update you with more pictures as they grow.

… would YOU know how best to survive at sea?

Well equipped yachts carry modern safety equipment to help you - lifejackets, flares, EPIRB, and liferaft. Hopefully most people will never have to use any of this equipment in earnest.

But if you were in an emergency situation, would you know what to do?

The RYA one-day Sea Survival course is designed to give you the information and skills you would need to ensure your best chance of rescue and survival.

Those who want to obtain a commercial RYA Yachtmaster qualification must take this course. It is also highly recommended for leisure sailors, especially those who sail in more remote areas or who are thinking of undertaking a longer passage, such as from Britain to the Med.

Last month George ran an RYA Sea Survival course on Corfu for Corfu Sea School. Steve Hills, Principal of Corfu Sea School sent us these photographs of the students practising their ‘in water’ skills.

If you would like to participate in a Sea Survival course please contact us and let us know. We plan to run the next course on Aegina towards the end of May.

Meanwhile click on any of the thumbnails below to see a bigger version of the image.

The October 2007 mile building trip to the Cyclades was due to start on the afternoon of Saturday 21 October. On Friday night a gale warning went out for the week end – Force 9 for the Sunday. There were nine people of six different nationalities booked to sail with me. Most of the crew were qualified RYA Day Skippers but some had limited further experience. Our aim was to cover 350 – 450 miles in a week at sea, including some Yachtmaster qualifying passages of over 60 nm.  

On Saturday morning I drove to the ferry fully loaded with extra equipment normally not carried by charter boats. MCA approved life-jackets, wet weather suits, Dan bouy, hand held radio, extra charts etc.  With me was Georgina Lawrie, (George 2) a student who has sailed with us several times and who would be the watch leader of ‘Red Watch’. We arrived at Kalamaki Marina, outside Athens at 11:15 and started loading our yacht for the trip, an Ocean Star 51.2 yacht called ‘Cronos’. Glenn Brown, another former student, soon joined us and, after discussing sleeping arrangements and watch bills, Georgina and I set off to the local supermarket to provision the yacht. Glenn stayed on board to welcome the other crew members as they arrived. 

By 16:30 all but one member of the crew was on board. Isaac Boxx had not been able to make the deadline due to travel problems. In view of the forecast we set sail for Poros in the Saronic Gulf rather than heading straight for the Cyclades.  We sailed into 18kts of wind from the southeast and after three long tacks arrived in Poros at 21:00.  We had covered 51 miles under sail and mostly in the dark.  We had a great dinner at George’s restaurant ending with a nightcap. (Having heard the Rugby World Cup final result Glenn was drowning his sorrows.)   

The missing crew man, Isaac, had lost his luggage en route so missed a flight, and then unfortunately the second flight was late arriving. We arranged a taxi to take him to Pireaus where he stayed overnight in a hotel then caught an early catamaran to join us in Poros at 0900 the next morning. 

With Isaac safely onboard and having had a crew brief we sailed at 11:00 on Sunday with Red Watch on. The forecast was still for gale force winds in the Cyclades and so we decided to head up towards Navplion, where lighter winds were expected. It was also a nice place to spend a day should we be forced to stay in port. We left via the east entrance of Poros, motor sailing the first 8 miles.  It was noted that the barometer was falling at a millibar an hour.  We sailed on west to the Argolic Gulf in 8 – 12 kts of wind.  We anchored in Nisos Korakas in 7.5 meters of water for a swim, lunch. and underwater maintenance; our speed log had fouled up. It was still warm but the sky was filling up with ‘mares tails’ and ‘mackerel skies’ - not a good sign with the barometer falling. With lunch finished and our log now working we upped anchor and sailed on with 8-12 kts wind from astern. 

We arrived at Navplion at 19:45 having come 61 miles. The entrance is very picturesque with castles on both sides, including one on a small island to the north of the channel into the harbour. Shortly after arriving the skies opened. The rain that came was like a monsoon with strong winds.  We had a lovely meal under the castle steps (a thousand, I am told) – we ate inside I hastily add. 

Next morning the rain had not stopped and the wind was 28-32 kts in the protected harbour.  We decided not to sail until we had the morning weather forecast.  Poppy and Victor went to the Port Police harbour control for a forecast and were told that there was a complete ban on all shipping movement in the Aegean Sea.  Having confirmed this with our office on Aegina we decided to re-secure the yacht from Mediterranean mooring to alongside.  I decided to use long warps and the anchor to move the yacht as we had a swirling wind over 30 kts blowing.  Once along side we used the anchor to keep us off the jetty as the wind was coming from all directions in the harbour. We spent a comfortable, if noisy, night alongside.   

Later that day a large ship carrying quarry stones tried to enter harbour. There were 30 odd kts of wind behind her and, as she turned west and came beam-on, she was blown sideways on to a mud bank out of the dredged channel. Attempts to move her only made matters worse; she ended up across the harbour mouth.  We were now well ‘bottled up’. The following morning, Tuesday, the weather forecast was better for our area, although winds up to Force 11 had been reported in the Cycladic Islands the previous day. We obtained permission to sail and squeezed past the luckless ship.   

We planned to sail to Nisos Naxos in the Cyclades, 150  miles away. This would put us back into the area we originally intended to sail in. Bearing in mind the gales around, we had five bail-out harbours to choose from if necessary.   Our route was to take us south of Hydra and her outlying small islands.

We had an uneventful sail until 8 miles south of the east lighthouse on Hydra.  Blue Watch, the watch on deck, reported 18-20kts of wind and a building sea. We ‘hove-to’ and put one reef in the main and two in the foresail then continued sailing on. Once clear of the lighthouse the sea began to build to 3 metres with some waves over 4 metres.  Those who have sailed in the Mediterranean will know that the seas have a very small fetch making passages uncomfortable.

At this point we had three choices:- 

1.   Carry on – we still had 100 miles to go.
2.  Clear Hydra then sail north to Poros.
3. Turn back west, south of Hydra and, when clear, go north to Ermiomi. 

As some of the less experienced members of the crew were feeling anxious about continuing on such a long trip in these conditions I chose Option 3. We arrived in Ermioni at 19:45 to find the harbour completely full with sheltering yachts. Rather than anchor off, we went around to Mandrakia, on the south of the Ermioni peninsula. This was beautifully calm, despite the forecast. Our total mileage for the day was 68nm. Two of our other school yachts were berthed there and the skippers Ian and Mark and their crew met up with us in the restaurant.   

The next morning the forecast was still F8 and F9 in the Cyclades so we abandoned plans to go to the islands and instead sailed south to Monavassia.  A great sail was had with 18-20 kts wind from the southwest.

We arrived under the dramatic rock at 19:20, a trip of over 52 miles.  Total mileage now stood at 230nm - a long way from our target of 400nm.  We ate at ‘To Kononi’ rooftop restaurant, well recommended in the travel books (and by us) 

On Thursday 25^th we sailed late to give everyone a chance to explore wonderful Monavassia by day.  We slipped at 13:30 and, as the wind had dropped, motored to Yerikas, a small village well off the beaten track.  I had found a sub-terrain cave many years ago whilst snorkelling. It can be explored by dinghy, with care.  After two trips to the cave we moved on. There was still no wind so we stopped at the spectacular bay of Kiparisi. 

There is a wonderful cove with just a small chapel and landing jetty. I have visited it many times in the past and have spent many memorable nights there.  After a curry supper we set sail at 21:00 with White Watch on watch for our planned all-night sail.   

Our course was towards the light house at the east end of Hydra.  On the way we spotted a school of dolphins, and had five hours night sailing, the first time some of those onboard had sailed for this length of time overnight. 

At 07:55 we arrived at the Island of Poros where we picked up fuel, milk and bread.  We had sailed 75 miles and our total mileage was now over 300, more like a milebuilder.  We sailed again at 11:15 stopping at the island of Moni, south west of Aegina, for a swim and lunch. It was now sunny but we had to beat all the way against 10 kts wind.   

We arranged to sail past the main Aegina harbour for a photo shoot. This turned out very well.  The photos were taken by Peter and delivered by Maria in record time, nine in all. Unfortunately six of the crew had to leave the next morning, Poppy and Victor to their house on Aegina, Leo and Anastria to a hotel for the week-end, Glenn and Isaac for  flights home. 

The remaining crew, Horris, Georgina, Igor, and I motored back to Cronos’s home port of Kalamaki, cleaning and packing on the way.  We arrived at 11:30, having covered 350nm, with 18 hours night sailing, and three passages over 60nm. All of this completed in winds up to F7 and 3 to 4m seas.

Crew:  

Red Watch:      Watch Leader Georgina, Leonid, Horatiu (Horris) 

White Watch:               “           Glenn, Anastasia, Isaac

Blue Watch                  “           Igor, Victor, Poppy 

My thanks to the crew, office staff, and the owner of the yacht, Vassilis Kamarotakis, for making the October milebuilding trip a success despite very inclement weather. 

George Burton, Skipper

More photos here - click for a larger image:

Well, the best laid pirate plans come adrift at times. We didn’t manage to celebrate ITLAPD quite as we’d hoped due to a number of unexpected problems.

However, here are three pirates waiting to welcome in our yachts outside NOAs cafe on Aegina. Three fearsome wenches if you ask me …

After a really smooth running summer the last few weeks have brought us a number of problems.

The major one is that Zotelot, our Oceanis 400, was taken up to the Ionian for three weeks in August. Unfortunately she had an engine fire and has not yet been able to return to the Aegean. There was a long wait for a part that had to be ordered from the Netherlands. This has now arrived and we expect her back soon but it is unlikely that she will be here before the end of the month.

Fortunately we have been able to use another yacht, Erofili, that is based in Aegina. When we looked at Valentine with a view to buying her, we also looked at Erofili on the same day. We were very tempted by her and it was really a choice between those two out of the many yachts we saw.

So it is quite a co-incidence that she has ended up on Aegina, and even more strange that we are now using her for the school.

Erofili is an Athena 44, the same size as Valentine. She is very comfortable and has one advantage over our other boats in having a cabin with twin bunks. She does not have quite the same spec of navigation equipment but has enough for courses. We have moved over a lot of the school’s safety equipment to ensure that she meets RYA standards.

As well as being ‘down’ a yacht, we are also currently short of an instructor. Martin Chambers, who has been with us since mid August, has returned to the UK for a couple of weeks. His father is undergoing an operation and Martin wanted to be nearer home.

We hope to welcome him back soon. Meanwhile Brian Wray, a very experienced skipper and instructor, who has sailed in this area for many years, has kindly agreed to ’stand in’ for him.

We don’t think that these changes will affect the standard of tution you receive on our courses over the next few weeks and hope that all will have returned to normal by early October.

Here are some photographs that I have been sent by Agathi Vallianatos, Natali Fili, and Janet Mehers, who sailed on Erofili with Martin on 9 September. Also on board were John Mehers and Natasha Chia.

At this time of year we generally get a number of people travelling alone as well as couples. It is really nice to see how well they get on together. Many keep in touch with each other after their sailing course.

My thanks to another (unknown) Martin Chambers who received these photographs by mistake as he has a similar email address to our Martin. Instead of just ignoring them he kindly told everyone that they had been sent to the wrong person.

I’ve now passed on Martin’s correct email to his crew.

During the week 16 September we augmented our normal fleet (well, fleet is a bit grand but it sounds good ..) with Papazafs, a Dufour Atoll. As we celebrated International Talk Like a Pirate Day during that week the crew planned to return to Aegina dressed as pirates and flying a suitable flag.

They stopped the yacht just outside the harbour mouth, brought down the sails, and donned their pirate gear including eye patches.

Captain George put the engine into gear to motor in slowly for a photograph . . . and the engine stopped. Immeditely the crew had to man the sails, which was impossible wearing eyepatches (how did those pirates do it?) so unfortunately the photographs we have are not of them looking as fearsome as we would like.

However we did get some nice shots of Papazas under sail, as she made her way in to raft up against anohter yacht in the marina.

 The sea had been very choppy that day and dirt in the bottom of the fuel tank had been churned up by the motion. All was fixed that evening and the crew were able to have an additional day’s sailing taking her back to Faliro Marina, her normal base.

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch with us enquiring about whether we are all right.

We have been lucky enough not to have had any fires on Aegina. Like most of Greece we have pine covered mountains and so we are vulnerable like everywhere else. I posted a photo of the fires on Hydra a week or so back.

Last Saturday strong winds blew in the smoke clouds from the mainland, bringing soot and ash that fell like snow. For about three days the air smelled of fire and the clouds had a horrid black and red appearance.

It must have been terrifying to have been closer; it was creepy enough 30 miles away.

We feel so sorry for the families that were affected by the blaze.

For those who have courses booked with us over the next few weeks there is no need to make any changes to your travel plans. We had to avoid a few ports during the worst of the fires but everything is under control now.

The sky is blue again, the temperature is beautiful. September is almost here and I think that this one of the nicest times of the year to visit Greece.