Yesterday, when I returned three hours after the cardiology appointment after I had another echocardiogram, the third in a year, I couldn’t bring myself to write the post. I needed to talk to Tom, devise a plan, and get to work on implementing a plan to ease our minds.

No, the results were not good. The status of my mitral and tricuspid valves had worsened progressively in the three echocardiograms I had in the past year. The state of the valves progressed from “moderate” to “severe” in less than a year, indicating that I need Surgery, according to the cardiologist, the second such cardiologist making this diagnosis since November 2023.

My hope would have been that I could have the easy repair done through the groin with a few devices, but I am not a candidate for that procedure based on my prior open Heart surgery in February 2019. Here we go again, another open heart surgery which, last time, took me a year to recover.

I had plenty of time to prepare myself for this eventuality and wasn’t shocked when the doctor told me yesterday that it was too risky to wait. Sure, I might get lucky, and it wouldn’t get worse. But leaving it, when it doesn’t heal by itself, would put an end to our ability to Travel again and could result in a fatal heart attack or severe damage to my heart from which there would be no coming back.

At this point, my heart is healthy. However, the valves pumping blood through my system have caused serious regurgitation. Most seniors have some degree of regurgitation, a normal aspect of aging, but mine is far beyond that safe zone.

Even if we didn’t travel, there are too many risks to either ignore or postpone this scenario. I could have a fatal heart attack wherever we may be at any given time. I’ve thought about my age at 76; maybe my life expectancy isn’t very long anyway. Living with this and worrying about it is not my style. I want to be active and able to tackle whatever we do in whatever upcoming years we may have left.

I have faced this reality over the past year since I was diagnosed with Afib (the bad valves are causing the Afib) and researched options if I did need surgery as to where I’d have it done. Ultimately, I chose the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Mark Gillinov, the top valve surgeon in the US, if not worldwide.

The question would be, could I get a timely appointment with him in Cleveland, Ohio, to address this situation? Yesterday, after Tom and I had discussed the problem at length, I decided I’d get to work to get an appointment with Dr. Gillinov, knowing he’s booked months in advance.

The process has started. This morning, we headed to the UPS store to make copies and mail all the documents I’ve gathered and questions I’ve answered according to their requests on a comprehensive checklist. Once he receives the documents and reviews my situation, he’ll determine when he can see me and when the surgery is likely to occur. After a lengthy conversation, his assistant Tina assured me yesterday that July might be the soonest I can get in.

That’s only three months away. If I started having bad symptoms, they’d get me in sooner on an emergency basis. The symptoms are being tired and having swollen legs and ankles. I have neither of these symptoms now. They can occur in a day or gradually over time.

Here’s our plan. We will continue to travel in the US to see family, starting in four days when we depart Lake Las Vegas. When we hear from Dr. Gillinov, we’ll drop everything and head to Cleveland, Ohio. It could be in a month or, as mentioned above, in three months, most likely not later.

Last night, I called Louise to tell her we are postponing our trip to Marloth Park after I have been cleared to travel on the long flight and feel well enough to tackle it. I told her to hang on to our deposit. As always, she was always wonderful and supportive. The house on Ratel will be waiting for us once we know when we can get there.

As travelers, it’s easy for us to find a place in Cleveland where we’ll stay for the surgery and subsequent recovery. Also, the clinic has accommodations for reasonable rents, and it would be comforting to be close to the hospital after this extensive surgery.

How do I feel? I’m ok, not depressed or feeling hopeless at all. I’m anxious to get this over with, but I will enjoy our family members and friends during our travels in the US in the interim. Tom is always supportive and will do everything he can to help me during this process.

I know we’ll lose many of our readers over the next six months, and I fully understand your reluctance to continue reading our posts until we’re on the move again. Please start checking back with the news of when we’ll return to Africa.

For those of you who will continue to read our posts through all this mundane news, I will continue to do a daily post and update you on the surgery dates, during which I may not post for about two weeks.

We’ll be back with more tomorrow. I guess it’s time to start packing.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, March 28, 2014:

The post We’re back…News on test results…What does the future hold?…Four days and counting… first appeared on WorldWideWaftage.

The post We’re back…News on test results…What does the future hold?…Four days and counting… appeared first on WorldWideWaftage.