Personal Update

Thought I would give a little update about my current situation since a few people have been contacting me to ask and I haven't mentioned much on the forum.

As many will know I went back to the UK at the beginning of May to try and get some health issues resolved. I was in the UK for 3 weeks, managed a quick trip back to Cancun for 2 weeks and have been back in England for another 2 weeks.

My problem is blocked arteries in my upper legs, leading to reduced blood supply to my lower legs, caused by 30 years of smoking mixed with some unfortunate hereditary. This means I experience painful cramps after walking even short distances and I also developed an ulcer which showed no sign of healing after 5 months and was in fact getting worse. I did try to get things resolved while in Mexico but with no success.

I had my appointment with a vascular consultant 10 days ago, reputedly one of the best in his field in the country. Unfortunately, there is nothing they can do right now. The blockages are too numerous and too extensive for stents to do any good. A bypass operation is only a very last resort when amputation is the only other option - thankfully I'm a long way from that. A femoral bypass has a 70% chance of failure within 2 years and I'd need two of them. If the bypass fails, and most do, then you can say goodbye to your legs.

The consultants advice is to continue with not smoking (I'm doing good so far!) walk as much as possible (not easy given my condition) and my body should build extra blood vessels to circumvent the blockages. My leg ulcer is responding to treatment and is healing slowly but surely.

I was told pretty much the same in Mexico but I had a nagging doubt that superior healthcare in the UK might provide some miracle cure I was missing out on. At least that question has been answered, and despite the less than stellar news my mood is much more positive than it was. It's fair to say I was slowly spiralling into depression and it was beginning to affect not only me but my family.

Next week I am going to Kefalonia (a Greek Island) for a week to see my Dad who is retired and has a small apartment there that he and my StepMum stay at during the summer. I haven't seen my Dad for a year and if I miss him this time it will probably be another year before the next chance. So, I'm looking forward to that.

Then I'll be flying back to Cancun probably the 7th July, although that's not confirmed yet. I'll continue with my exercise and I'm determined not to smoke ever again. All being well I'll be on the cruise on the 8th July and the ones after that.

Apologies for the personal nature of the post but thought it best to bring everyone up to date since I have a ton of friends here and so many people wished me well when I flew back to the UK a couple of months ago.

Oh and if you ever need a reason to quit smoking then please read the above again, and do it!