What is this?

Hi everyone,

I have heart valve replacement surgery coming up in about a month, so I wanted to work on this blog and to focus on recovery.

I don’t want to dwell on how frightening it is. It certainly is scary, and it will be painful. But I realize that it will be less dangerous and painful than what a lot of women go through giving birth.I can have the same courage and positivity that women have.

Which is not to minimize my or anyone else’s experience. However, I want to focus on the positive. The positive is that in recovery, I can go back to being the vibrant and strong person I used to be.

I can be stronger.

I never have done a handstand, but by the end of 2026, I want to do that. And I want to hike and jog. I want to do another 10K. I used to do them all the time. I want to mow my lawn and shovel the walk. I want to take out the garbage. I want to do through hikes. I want to be the strongest 55 year old I can be.

I want to write and post about this so if you’re going through this, you can stay positive and focused as well. It sucks, but being positive makes it suck less.

If you’re going through this or something like this, remember you’re not the first. You’ve got this.

So I’ll be posting here semi-regularly. I hope you join me for this journey.

I want to do a handstand before January 2027. Right now it’s December 2025. My surgery will be some time in February of 2026. My recovery starts now, before my surgery.