TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Lydia left the Hospital on Monday 10 August with he right arm in a banage with a cast under her arm to stop her bending the elbow or wrist.

Tuesday 11 August as arranged we left Port Goeche and motored to Yacht Classic in Fethiye. Banuhan had kindly arranged for us to use her berth which is along side to make it easy to berth and also for Lydia to get on and off Silver Lady using the boarding gates for the first few days.

Sunday the 16 August and during a visit to Calis market we called at the local public hospital to enquire if they could change the dressing on Lydia’s right arm. Yes no problem but they were unable to confirm the cost until they had changed the dressing as they did not know how much bandage would be required. Having enquired at a private clinic in Fethiye and been told it would cost between 100 and 150 TL we feared the worst. However they refused the 50 TL note as too much and asked for just 4.20 TL even more surprising was it all took less than 30 minutes from walking in to walking out.

Monday 23 August and we returned to Izmir to see Dr Kaplin the surgeon who had operated on Lydia’s finger. We had hoped he would reduce the bandage to just the wrist, but he decided that he could remove it all and just leave a bandage on the damaged index finger which he said was making good progress. He told us that we must return again in one week to have the dressing changed. The trip to Izmir is 6 hours so we tried to pursude him to let us have it dressed in Fethiye, but he said no we must return to see him.

Monday 30 August we got picked up at the hotel at 5 a.m. and then changed to the long distance coach to Izmir. Lydia then checked her appointment card and discovered that it was for the following day. Even worse Monday was a public holiday. Not holding out much hope we phoned the hospital and were told to come to reception when we arrived and they would do there best to see us as soon as possible. We certainly did not expect to see Dr Kaplin.

Within 10 minutes of arriving at the reception desk Dr Kaplin appeared and asked Lydia to go into a cubical where he removed the dressing and the stiches, then took her for an X ray and then to Physio to start getting some movement back. He then personally redressed just the end of the finger and we left the hospital just 45 minutes after arriving and in time to get the 13.30 coach back to Fethiye. The only downside he wants Lydia back again next week to check on progress. Hopefully the pins will come out in two weeks.

We are now planning to move to Marmaris in the next few days as it will reduce the travelling time to the hospital by two hours.

Yacht Classic has been a superb place for Lydia to recover from this accident and we have both managed just fine on Silver Lady, making lots of new friends and getting into a routine of walking into town and visiting the twice weekly market for fruit and vegetables.