Last Friday Geoff was walking his bike up the ramp from the dock to the shore and slipped on the last step onto the shore. He fell into the water, bike and all. On the way down, he hit a sharp rock in the water (luckily this was the only thing he hit other than the water). The rock cut a 3 inch gash in his leg. Luckily Karen was just arriving (Geoff was going out to meet her at the gate) to drive us around to run errands for the day, so after getting Geoff hauled out of the water and putting some bandages on him, we went to the emergency department at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital. We spent the better part of the day waiting to been seen by a doctor. As the emergency doctor was cleaning out the wound she found bits of gravel pushed up into the wound. She was unsure whether she could get all the dirt out, so it was decided that Geoff should have surgery to open the wound up and be sure all the rocks were taken out.On Saturday morning, Geoff went in for surgery which went well - it turns out he had also cut 60% of the tendon attaching his quad muscle to his knee.We are now staying at Geoff's mom's as he can't bend his leg while the tendon and the cut heal. His leg is supposed to be in a splint for two weeks, and then there'll be two weeks to regain movement (10% a day). After that, assuming all goes well, the surgeon says he's cleared to move back onto the boat.
Given all this, we are delayed at least 4 weeks while Geoff recovers. We will know in a couple of weeks how things are going and when we will be heading out. Given the delays, the route has changed and will no longer go via Montreal and Lake Champlain, but instead via the Oswego and Erie Canals. We wouldn't have time to get through the locks on the Chambly Canal north of Lake Champlain before they close in mid-October .
