33 Days and Counting

by J……

Since it began three years ago, I have waited for it to fix itself.  I have followed the doctors’ orders, taken the medications, and skirted the surgical option to correct a heart arrhythmia.  There was always something that got in the way of that surgical option…my job, our travel, selling our California home, relocating to Florida, fear of surgery and COVID.

I started 2020 without the excuse of a job.  It is my first year of doing whatever my husband and I want to be doing. And, we loaded it up with travel.  My husband and I looked forward to trips that didn’t have a required end-date.  

We booked a trip back to California to visit family and friends.  From there, we were going to Maui.  There was a Caribbean cruise that stopped in St. Barts, an island that we love to visit.  And, we were wrapping up the year with close friends on a river cruise in Europe that visited the Christmas markets.

I was ready for us to enjoy these adventures when the pandemic hit and erased all of them.

I learned a long time ago that I do some of my best thinking on the beach.  When we moved to Florida, we bought a place on the Atlantic, and it has been a big plus during this abnormal time.  As I stared at the waves, I realized that I was out of some of the excuses to put off a potential solution to my health issue.

Fear and COVID haven’t disappeared, but the need to be in better health has one-upped them.  I want to be able to enjoy every day without my heath issue slowing me down.  So, after reading way too many internet articles on the subject of cardiac ablation and interviewing several doctors, I scheduled surgery for October 14.

After taking the appropriate time to recuperate, I should be back on the beach with plenty of time and restored energy to research and plan our 2021 travel.