How Am I Coping?

For me, it is mostly about seeing myself completely well soon. (Even though in reality it likely will be 1 to 3 months before I have my full health back. My wife and I previously had planned a trip to see our friends in South Korea near Seoul in late May this year so our tickets have been purchased for some time for this happy trip. However, now my health has demonstrated that I cannot eat any Asian types of foods at all for awhile, likely we will have to move our tickets to the fall likely in October instead, as it it just too hot for me to survive there during the summers. So, maybe if we go in October I can also go once again to wonderful Jeju Island which is South Korea's (Hawaii). (Similar in some ways).

Another way I'm coping is refurbishing my 10 year old Leisure Van. While my 19 year old College daughter was growing up I couldn't convince my wife and young daughter to camp much. So, I was mostly disappointed regarding travel in our 65,000 dollar motor home that we bought from the first owner which was a doctor and his wife. The wife had purchased it for the husband as a gift but likely he wasn't a camper. So, when they went to Las Vegas in it from the SF Bay area it wasn't what made them happy. So, when my wife and I saw it the interior reminded my wife of a Yacht she grew up on down in the hold. So, since it reminded her of sailing with her father in Santa Barbara Growing up we bought the Leisure Van built in Canada.

Her father owned a Concordia which was the most marvelous wood sailboat to own in the 1960s through 1980s (while everyone converted to fiberglass boats during this time). I believe the Concordia hull is around a 45 to 50 foot beautifully crafted wooden hull boat. Her father took it to Hawaii in one of the transpack races from I think either Long beach or Newport beach to Hawaii then. His crew loved him because unlike a lot of crews then he actually took enough food and water for his crew to think he was a gentleman and a scholar and not to wind up hating him like many crews did when captains made them starve or go without water in order to try to win the transpack to Hawaii race from California then.

The outside needs to be cleaned and the front window needs to be replaced from crackage and I only have 13,000 miles on it.

It comfortably sleeps 2 to 3 people and is a luxury camper. It has TV VCR, DVD, Aerial (probably needs to be refitted for something like a Dish dome antenna for Internet and some kind of (Anywhere dish service in the Continental United States. It has it's own complete heating and air conditioning system, Hot and cold showers, gasoline generator (to generate electricity when necesssary).

For example, when we have power outages where I live (usually if this happens it is January to March when 100 mile per hour winds come in off the ocean and blow down trees which cause power outages.

So, I go take a 100 foot power cord and go out to the motor home, start the Onan generator and about 12 hours a day (8 am to 8 pm) for however many days the power is out I plug in the refrigerator in my home so I don't lose all my food.

I also can run the TV or I can run the Internet for computers in addition to the refrigerator off the Onan Gas generator built into my Motor home. I have done this for around 10 years straight now.

So, if I now change the windshield which has broken from limbs coming down during storms and replace the Michillin tires (good ones for a motor home because of high quality and last forever, I can take off by myself or with my wife and younger daughter (once she gets out of college on May 1st and travel throughout the continental U.S. this summer and I could even go to Canada and Alaska if I feel strong enough.

(IF I went to Alaska likely I would put the motor home on one of those ship cruises to Fairbanks or Anchorage and drive off the camper transporting ship there after a week heading north likely.

But, I would have to feel really healthy and strong by summer to feel safe enough to pull this off.

Also, I would like a flying lesson flying a float plane in Alaska. (However, my heart condition might legally preclude that). However, I might be able to get a pilot that I hire to allow me to fly the plane after it takes off from it's seaplane configuration instead. We'll see.

Basically, almost dying has completely changed all the possibilities in my life. My wife understands I need to hope otherwise I likely might die this year from my health struggles since March 27th 2015.