Home, again.

We have been very busy since getting back to Santa Barbara. I've had two appointments with my wonderful primary care physician, Rick Ponce. On Thursday, he cleaned and dressed the sore, gave me a shot in the butt and enough samples of Bactrim to last 10 days. He also took a culture.

On Friday we went back to see him to have the dressing changed. He decided at that point that it really needed to be lanced to relieve pressure. The worst part of that was the sting from the Lidocaine shot.

I am to see him again on Monday and hope that I will be well on my way to full recovery by then. The next step will be to work on the original problem, the tightness in my right knee.

We had some good news from AAT/Kings, the tour operator in Australia. They are going to refund 80% of what we paid for the land tour. I had intended to get insurance but it had slipped away from me. I was also able to redeposit my miles that we had used for the return flight. United charges a $150.00 per person fee. Still, it was worth it to get the 320,000 miles back.

We have heard from friends who are still onboard Radiance that an outbreak of Norovirus has started. It began with a few people, then dozens and now many more. The standard precautions are being put in effect with the expected changes to services and the whole cruise experience.

All in all, perhaps it wasn't such a bad call to leave the ship in HNL.