We experienced a glitch yesterday, and our post didn’t appear. Here it is today!

As we’ve traveled the world over these past 12 years (as of October 31), we’ve been entirely in control of where we are and what we’re doing. During these past many months, while we waited for appointments at the Cleveland Clinic, we have been subject to the desire for answers regarding my heart health and a plan for the future.

No, I don’t need imminent open heart surgery, for which I am incredibly grateful, after three previous misdiagnoses by cardiologists in three countries, including the US. There’s no doubt I have ongoing heart issues, not so much my heart itself but my irregular plumbing and electrical systems.

My mitral and tricuspid valves are regurgitating but not at a pace that requires surgery right now. One of my past bypasses has failed, and my arteries are clogged again by about 60%. The severity of these situations could change in a short period. I’ll need to be tested yearly.

There’s not much that can be done in either case at this time, although we’re waiting on test results to see if I need other heart procedures in the months to come. We will know when I receive the results from the recent two-week monitor I wore.

If a cardiac ablation isn’t necessary, we can leave here after all the tests are completed in December. If not, we must stay until February, when the procedure will be done. In any case, we’ll be here for at least two more months, four months at the most. We both have accepted this reality.

As we have written many times in the past, with almost 4500 posts since March 2012, the only situation that would slow us down is health. I’ve often used the words “health providing” to express our acceptance that such a scenario is inevitable. And now, over this past year, when the awful Afib escalated while we were in Ecuador, we knew the time had come to stop for a while. (The Afib and PVCs started the day I was diagnosed with COVID-19 on April 20, 2023)

No, it doesn’t mean ending our travels. However, it has meant a break in time for me to sign up for a Medicare supplement with a comprehensive plan to cover the extensive costs of determining the extent of my heart disease and discovering the results with necessary treatment. We’re almost there.

Since I don’t want to be taking a dozen different heart drugs, which doctors at Cleveland Clinic have not recommended, my options are limited. I refuse to be subject to side effects causing lethargy, exhaustion, and muscle pain. Quality of life is more important to me in the long run.

Based on a healthy diet, an attempt at a stringent exercise program, a loving “home,” a positive attitude, and an overall healthy lifestyle, the odds may be in my favor, as opposed to taking countless medications that will ultimately immobilize me.

We plan to carry on. We plan to continue traveling the world when the doctors working on my case give us “the good to go.” Regardless of the test results, I doubt they’ll say we should stop traveling. They know how important this is to both of us and how it is the essence of who we are as a couple and as individuals.

Such an essential part of our lives has been the opportunity to write to all of you each day, sharing our story, whether filled with adventure or somewhat mundane in quiet times such as now. Each morning, when I pick up my laptop to begin, I question if I have something to say. But then, I think of all of you and the love and support you’ve continually provided over the years, and if, by magic, my fingers fly across the keyboard, hoping something we have to say rings true, if only for one of you.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this precious gift and opportunity.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, October 16, 2014:

Sunset over the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii. For more photos, please click here.