Originally Posted By: MarioD
Originally Posted By: eddie1261
You missed the part where you got to go home with a gorgeous wife who is your perfect mate. That would be worth more than the gig money to me.


That describes me also!

Notes, you and I are very fortunate men.


I count myself in that club.

It is truly amazing how much hardship a loving relationship gets you through. My wife was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in March of 2020, which subsequently was identified as stage 3 when the surgery was done. During part of her after care I started having issues of my own with multiple episodes of syncope that I thought were due to a bleeding esophageal ulcer. One episode put me in the hospital for 3 weeks when it occurred while I was handling scalding hot water and that resulted in 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my foot and two skin graft surgeries. COVID-19 was epidemic in Mobile at the time, and I spent 48 hours in a hallway being cared for before I could get a room. Even though we have a 10 bed, state of the art burn ICU at the University Hospital, I was finally admitted to one of the medical floors because the Burn ICU was completely taken over by COVID patients. No visitors allowed of course and my wife had just started going through the stage of her treatment where her hair fell out. She just had her port removed about 4 weeks ago just in time for another syncope episode for me and a hospital admission that identified Congestive Heart Failure. They pushed IV lacix for three days and I lost 34 pounds of water weight.

This was not how we expected to spend our retirement years, but we DID expect to spend them together. Yes, we are fortunate. Even if given the choice, I would rather be not healthy and having the relationship that we have with each other, than perfectly well and being alone.

Keith
2025 Audiophile Windows 11 RYZEN THREADRIPPER 3960X 4.5GHZ 128 GB RAM 2 Nvidia RTX 3090s, Vegas,Acid,SoundForge,Izotope Production,Melodyne Studio,SONAR,3 Raven Mtis