What Happens If You Need Surgery While Full-Time RVing? Our Experience in New Bern, North Carolina

One of the questions people sometimes ask about full-time RV living is what happens when something goes wrong.

It’s easy to imagine the fun parts of living on the road: exploring new places, camping in beautiful locations and having the freedom to decide where you’re going next.

But what happens when you need a doctor?

Or surgery?

Where do you stay while you’re recovering when your home happens to have wheels?

We got an unexpected lesson in all of those things when Ed discovered that he needed cataract surgery while we were traveling.

What could have become a major complication in our full-time RV life instead brought us back to an area we loved, gave us time with family and introduced us to two people who became wonderful friends.

Sometimes RV life has a funny way of working things out.

Needing Surgery While Living Full-Time in an RV

Ed is a photographer, so his eyesight isn’t just important for everyday life. It’s a huge part of what he loves to do.

His cataract had reached the point where surgery couldn’t simply be put off indefinitely.

That presented us with a problem.

When you live in a traditional house, having surgery usually means coming home afterward and recovering.

When you’re a full-time RVer, you still have a home—but that home might currently be parked in the desert, a national forest or a campground hundreds of miles from the doctor you’ll need to see for follow-up appointments.

In our case, help arrived from somewhere we never expected.

An Email That Changed Our Plans

We had heard from a couple named Gary and Marianne who watched our videos.

They were RVers themselves, although not full-timers, and had set up their property to accommodate visiting RVs. They had plenty of space along with electrical and water hookups.

They invited us to come stay.

They didn’t even know about Ed’s eye problem when they initially made the offer.

The timing couldn’t have been better.

Their property was near New Bern, North Carolina, which put us back near our old stomping grounds on the Outer Banks and within reach of relatives.

More importantly, it gave us a safe, comfortable place to stay while Ed had his surgery and recovered.

So off we went.

Our First Experience Moochdocking

“Moochdocking” is one of those funny RV terms that sounds worse than it really is.

Basically, you’re parking your RV on somebody’s private property rather than staying in a campground.

Gary and Marianne took moochdocking to an entirely different level.

When we arrived, Gary showed us around the property and the different places where we could park the trailer. We chose a spot near one of the outbuildings where we could connect to electricity and water.

General was thrilled.

After so much RV travel, suddenly he had a big lawn where he could run around and play.

Gary even bought him a new ball.

It didn’t take very long before we realized this wasn’t going to feel like simply parking on someone’s property.

We spent hours sitting around Gary’s workshop talking.

We got to know them.

And what started as an incredibly generous offer from a couple who watched our videos became a genuine friendship.

Exploring Beaufort and Oriental

Ed’s surgery didn’t happen immediately, so we had some time to explore eastern North Carolina.

One day we headed over to Beaufort.

We had visited years earlier and loved it, and we were happy to find that it still had the charming historic character we remembered.

We also visited Oriental, which was new to us.

This part of North Carolina has a strong connection to the water, from recreational sailing to commercial fishing, and both towns were wonderful places to spend some time while we were in the area.

Our unexpected medical stop was beginning to feel a little more like another chapter in our travels.

Celebrating Our Anniversary in New Bern

Our stay also happened to include July 4th, our wedding anniversary.

That year we were celebrating 20 years.

Gary and Marianne offered to watch General so we could go into New Bern for an anniversary dinner.

We were craving seafood, so we headed to a local grill and raw bar.

Instead of ordering regular entrees, we did something we’ve enjoyed doing at other restaurants: we ordered several appetizers and shared everything.

We had Oysters Rockefeller, Jamaican-seasoned chicken wings, shrimp with bourbon molasses sauce and hot crab dip.

Everything was delicious, and it turned into a wonderful anniversary dinner.

Afterward, we wandered around New Bern and revisited some of the places we remembered from earlier trips.

Exploring Historic New Bern, North Carolina

If you’re staying in the area, New Bern is worth exploring on foot.

It’s one of North Carolina’s oldest towns and is filled with historic buildings and interesting little pieces of local history.

One of its best-known historic attractions is Tryon Palace, the home of colonial governor William Tryon.

New Bern also has another claim to fame that surprises a lot of visitors: Pepsi-Cola originated here.

We walked past the pharmacy associated with the original drink and explored more of the historic downtown.

We also checked to see whether an old-fashioned hardware store we remembered from earlier visits was still there.

It was.

Unfortunately, it was closed at the time, but even looking through the windows reminded us why we’d remembered it.

Sometimes revisiting a place you knew years ago is every bit as enjoyable as discovering somewhere completely new.

Our First Tropical Storm in the RV

While we were there, Tropical Storm Elsa passed through the region.

That was another first for us: a tropical storm while living in the camper.

Fortunately, the storm stayed far enough west that we weren’t seriously affected. We had some wind and a little rain, but nothing like what we’d worried we might encounter.

Considering some of the weather we’d experienced during our travels, we were perfectly happy for our first tropical storm in the RV to be uneventful!

Meanwhile, Gary and Marianne continued spoiling General and even brought home a kiddie pool for him.

He thought life in New Bern was pretty wonderful.

Preparing for Ed’s Cataract Surgery

When Ed finally had his first appointment, we learned that his eye was worse than we’d realized.

The cataract had become so advanced that the doctors couldn’t clearly see the condition of the eye behind it. That meant they couldn’t guarantee how successful the surgery would be.

Naturally, that worried us.

They also decided that both eyes needed surgery, which meant scheduling two procedures along with the necessary follow-up appointments.

Our relatively short stay was becoming an extended one.

Fortunately, we were in about the best situation we could have hoped for.

Creating a Better Recovery Setup

When Gary and Marianne left on an RV trip of their own, we moved our trailer closer to the house, where we could connect to their sewer system as well.

That gave us full hookups and eliminated some of the physical work normally involved in managing the RV.

That mattered because we wanted Ed to be able to rest after surgery rather than worrying about hauling water, moving the trailer or dealing with tanks.

It’s something we’d think about again if either of us needed surgery while traveling.

The medical procedure itself is only part of the equation.

You also need to think about recovery.

Can you comfortably get into your RV?

Will you have to move it?

Do you have reliable electricity and water?

How will you dump your tanks?

How far are you from follow-up care?

Taking care of those practical issues beforehand can make recovery on the road considerably easier.

The Surgery Worked

After Ed’s first cataract surgery, he noticed an improvement almost immediately.

And his vision continued getting better.

For a photographer who had been worrying about his eyesight, that was an enormous relief.

Before long, he was wandering around taking pictures of everything he could find.

Two weeks later, he had the second eye done.

What had begun as a pretty frightening problem had turned out far better than we’d feared.

An Unexpected New Beginning for Old Time Patterns

Something else happened while we were staying with Gary and Marianne that had absolutely nothing to do with Ed’s surgery.

There was a little building on their property that we called the sewing building.

Gary lived in the house where he’d grown up, and his mother had once taught sewing in that little building.

I kept looking at it.

Before we started full-time RVing, I had run a business selling historical clothing sewing patterns. When we decided to live on the road, I sold off boxes and boxes of inventory because there was simply no practical way to bring all of it with us.

I loved that business, but I couldn’t see how it could fit into our new lifestyle.

Sitting there looking at that little sewing building day after day, the answer finally occurred to me.

I didn’t need to carry inventory.

I could design my own historical sewing patterns and sell them digitally.

Suddenly, the business I’d thought I’d had to leave behind could come back in a completely different form.

We drove back to our storage unit on the Outer Banks, retrieved my sewing machine and supplies, and I got started.

Sometimes the solution to a problem appears in the strangest places.

General Turned Six

As if our stay hadn’t already become memorable enough, General celebrated his sixth birthday while we were there.

Gary and Marianne returned from their trip just in time for the celebration.

We made General his special puppy cake and ice cream and gave him another stuffed birthday cake.

That had become a tradition.

Every year he got another stuffed birthday cake, and somehow he managed to keep them. They became some of his favorite toys.

He wasn’t nearly as impressed with the birthday hat.

Spending Time With Family

Being back in eastern North Carolina also put us near family.

My aunt lived about an hour away, so we spent a couple of nights with her and her husband and were able to help celebrate her birthday.

General got another adventure out of that visit, too.

He’d always been fascinated with golf carts, but this time he actually got to ride in one.

He loved it.

One of the unexpected benefits of needing to remain in the area for Ed’s medical care was having enough time to reconnect with people instead of simply passing through.

Visiting New Bern Battlefield

Before leaving the area, we also visited New Bern Battlefield Park.

It’s a relatively small Civil War battlefield, but we were impressed by how well preserved it was and by the interpretive signage.

It was an interesting history stop for us and also gave General a good place to walk.

Those smaller historical sites are often some of our favorite discoveries while traveling.

What We Learned About Medical Care While Full-Time RVing

Having surgery while you’re living in an RV requires some additional planning, but our experience taught us that it certainly doesn’t make full-time travel impossible.

The biggest thing is flexibility.

Our plans changed because Ed needed medical care.

Instead of trying to force our original travel schedule to work, we stayed where we needed to stay.

Having a stable place with hookups made recovery easier. Being close enough for follow-up appointments mattered. Having another driver available was important, too.

And most of all, we learned that you don’t necessarily have to figure everything out alone.

The Part of RV Life We Never Expected

Eventually it was time to leave Gary and Marianne and continue our journey.

We were genuinely sad to go.

We’d arrived because two people who watched our videos had generously offered us a place to park our trailer.

We left with two wonderful friends.

Years later, that remains one of the things we treasure most about RV life.

Before becoming full-time RVers, we expected to see beautiful places.

We expected adventure.

We expected campfires, national parks, small towns and long drives.

What we didn’t fully understand was how many wonderful people we’d meet along the way.

Sometimes you meet them at a campsite.

Sometimes you meet them online.

And sometimes a simple email arrives at exactly the moment you need it and changes the direction of your journey.

Ed got the surgery he needed.

We spent time with family.

We rediscovered New Bern and Beaufort.

General acquired even more toys.

Old Time Patterns found a way back into my life.

And two people we’d never met before became dear friends.

That’s full-time RV life, too.

We’ll see you down the road…and Over the Hills!

Continue the Journey

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