Summer is Ending Soon so is it Time To Travel?

redfin blue - Great place for lunch and views of the river and the city

I looked back at my posts this year and see that I have really slowed down on writing these. For that I apologize and I certainly hope to get better at it in the coming year. So what is my excuse? I could say that it has been a very busy summer, but that would not really be accurate. We certainly were quite busy early on with working on the fifth wheel, but since we shipped it off for repairs, things definitely slowed down a bit.

So if we weren’t busy, why haven’t I posted much? There are definitely a few reasons. The main one being we really didn’t do a whole lot of exciting things to share. We spent most of the summer either at the campground in Linesville or in Pittsburgh at our daughter Katie’s house. At each place, we seem to spend our time at home, enjoying solitude at the campground or “chaos” with toddlers when in Pittsburgh. You know; just day to day life like everyone else.

alec and rosie jamming - mixing bowls make the best drums!

I do have to say that spending time with the grandchildren is wonderful and extra special. I am so happy that we are able to do that and wish it could be more time, especially with Alexzander. With his parents work schedule and our time at the campground, it is hard to fit in visits. It is definitely easier with Nova Rose (Rosie) since we stay at her house. Although I did say we spent most of our time at home, I did get out a few times with Katie and Rosie to enjoy some of Pittsburgh’s attractions. We have visited a few playgrounds, the Carnegie Museum, the Pittsburgh Zoo and Kennywood Park. I’ve included some pictures below of fun times with the grandkids. I hope you enjoy the pics. It is so wonderful seeing these old favorites through a toddler’s eyes.

just a little chaos - trent wanted to join their race

Besides enjoying time with the family, I was quite busy for awhile planning a big trip in the motorhome before we head to Florida for the winter. I actually had plans that we would have left in early August and traveled out to South Dakota before heading south to Florida. It would have been a 3 month trip that would have provided for lots of blog posts. So what happened????

Unfortunately, a week before we were to leave I got a call from my Pulmonologist’s office that halted the travels. This is reason two for not posting sooner. More medical issues to deal with and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to share until I knew more. With my past diagnosis of Sarcoidosis, I now see Pulmonology annually and they ordered Chest CT scans to follow up on 2 small nodules in my lungs. Well, the lungs are fine and the nodules have not changed in the past 2 years. Good news so we were ready to travel, so we thought!

Well those CT scans show a lot more than the lungs and even though they gave me a thumbs up on the lungs; they called back with another issue. The first CT scan a few years ago showed a large hiatal hernia. All of my doctors - PCP, Pulmonolgy and Cardiology commented on it but never said I needed to do anything about it. I ask and they say they are just keeping an eye on it and as long as I don’t have symptoms, we didn’t need to do anything about it. Well, I guess this year, it is a little bigger and it showed signs of my stomach possibly turning over.

They wanted me to see a surgeon before I traveled because if the stomach turns, I could be in an emergency situation that could become life threatening. Just what you want to hear - this situation can be lethal! So I canceled our reservations and luckily we didn’t lose any money. I was able to get an appointment with a surgeon in August which went fairly well. He explained the situation really well and gave me a couple of options which of course all lead to surgery to correct the hernia.

He wants me to lose weight first as he says there are much better outcomes and less recurrence of the hernia if I do that. Then he said I had to lose 50 lbs first, which is a lot! I have to say that really hit me hard. I know I have definitely gained weight over the years and have tried diets but always put weight back on after losing it. This is now serious and I have to succeed!

The first 2 options are weight loss first, 1 - do it on my own or 2 - use one of those weight loss drugs, like Ozempic. I don’t really want to consider option 3 - he does the surgery now to fix the hernia and does a gastric bypass at the same time. That sounds a bit too drastic to me, so I am trying the weight loss. Unfortunately, insurance has not approved one of the medications yet, so I am trying it on my own while the doctor’s offices tries to get it approved. In the first month, I have lost 10 lbs so I am on my way.

While I am trying to lose the weight, I am also getting some tests done that the doctor ordered. I had an endoscopy last week and have a Barium Swallow test tomorrow. I guess both of those tests will help him decide if the surgery can wait until I lose the weight.

So what does this all mean for travel? Well, we are hoping the surgery can wait until next summer and I can have it done when we return from Florida. I won’t really know for sure until the surgeon gets the results of these tests and tells me the surgery can wait. I did keep the travel plans to South Dakota. Who knows, maybe we will be able to do it next year.

That takes me to reason number 3 for not posting sooner. We started a serious discussion about traveling and if I will be able to do it next year with needing surgery and then recovery time. I have a feeling it will be another summer without time for travel. So we started talking about what does life without traveling look like and what is best for our future. We are just exploring at this point but think a small 1 bedroom condo may be the best option for us. That would make it easy to be snowbirds - have a home in Pittsburgh and the fifth wheel in Florida. So we have checked out a few condo’s in the area and didn’t find the perfect one yet, but we do like a building that is only a couple of blocks from Katie. More to come on that in the future.

In the meantime, we are continuing to enjoy our time in Pittsburgh with the family and are hopeful that we will be on the road by early October. Of course, I am working on the weight loss and Tim is helping by following the diet too. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

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Summer is Ending Soon so is it Time To Travel?

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